‘Good gracious!’ exclaimed the master; ‘how is it that he lets you touch him, when no one else can go near him?’ ‘Perhaps he knows me,’ answered the stable-boy. Two or three days later the master said to him: ‘The Porcelain Maiden is here: but, though she is as lovely as the dawn, she is so wicked that she scratches everyone that approaches her. Try if she will accept your services.’ When the youth entered the room where she was, the Golden Blackbird broke forth into a joyful song, and the Porcelain Maiden sang too, and jumped for joy. ‘Good gracious!’ cried the master. ‘The Porcelain Maiden and the Golden Blackbird know you too?’ ‘Yes,’ replied the youth, ‘and the Porcelain Maiden can tell you the whole truth, if she only will.’ Then she told all that had happened, and how she had consented to follow the young man who had captured the Golden Blackbird. ‘Yes,’ added the youth, ‘I delivered my brothers, who were kept prisoners in an inn, and, as a reward, they threw me into a lake. So I disguised myself and came here, in order to prove the truth to you.’ So the old lord embraced his son, and promised that he should inherit all his possessions, and he put to death the two elder ones, who had deceived him and had tried to slay their own brother. The young man married the Porcelain Maiden, and had a splendid wedding-feast. Sebillot. THE LITTLE SOLDIER I Once upon a time there was a little soldier who had just come back from the war. He was a brave little fellow, but he had lost neither arms nor legs in battle. Still, the fighting was ended and the army disbanded, so he had to return to the village where he was born. Now the soldier’s name was really John, but for some reason or other his friends always called him the Kinglet; why, no one ever knew, but so it was. As he had no father or mother to welcome him home, he did not hurry himself, but went quietly along, his knapsack on his back and his sword by his side, when suddenly one evening he was seized with a wish to light his pipe. He felt for his match-box to strike a light, but to his great disgust he found he had lost it. He had only gone about a stone’s throw after making this discovery when he noticed a light shining through the trees. He went towards it, and perceived before him an old castle, with the door standing open. The little soldier entered the courtyard, and, peeping through a window, saw a large fire blazing at the end of a low hall. He put his pipe in his pocket and knocked gently, saying politely: ‘Would you give me a light?’ But he got no answer. After waiting for a moment John knocked again, this time more loudly. There was still no reply. He raised the latch and entered; the hall was empty.