“What have you under your apron?” said the king. But to this the princess could not answer a single word. Then somebody who stood near snatched away her apron, and there was the basket full of kitchen scrapings, and all the time the princess stood so heart-struck with shame that she saw nothing but the cracks in the floor. But the king stepped down from his golden throne, dressed all in his golden robes, just as he was, and took the princess by the hand. “And do you not know me?” said he; “look! I am the gooseherd.” [Illustration: The Princess knoweth the Young King.] And so he was! She could see it easily enough now, but that made her more ashamed than ever. And listen: the king had more to tell her yet. He was the tipsy countryman and had knocked over her basket of eggs himself, and more than that he was the swineherd who had driven his pigs over her basket of apples so that they were spilled on the ground. But the princess only bowed her head lower and lower, for her pride was broken. “Come,” says the king, “you are my own sweetheart now;” and he kissed her on the cheek and seated her beside himself, and if the princess cried any more the king wiped away her tears with his own pocket-handkerchief. As for the poor and rough clothes in which she was dressed, he thought nothing of them, for they were nothing to him. That is the end of this story, for everything ends aright in a story worth the telling. But if the princess was proud and haughty before, she never was again; and that is the plain truth, fresh from the churn and no hairs in it, and a lump of it is worth spreading your bread with, I can tell you. [Illustration] [Illustration] Ten O’clock· Out of the _Cupboard_ [Sidenote: ○] The _Kobold_ takes Some bits of the _Morning Griddle-Cakes_. The _Windows_ rattle, [Sidenote: _Cold and windy._] [Sidenote: ☾] The _North Wind_ blows, But the _Ashes_ are warm Between his _Toes_. [Sidenote: K.P.] The little grey _Mouse_ [Sidenote: ●] Looks out of the _Wall_, And wishes he had The _Crumbs_ that fall. [Illustration: How Two _went into_ Partnership.] XXII. This was the way of it. Uncle Bear had a pot of honey and a big cheese, but the Great Red Fox had nothing but his wits. The fox was for going into partnership, for he says, says he, “a head full of wits is worth more than a pot of honey and a big cheese,” which was as true as gospel, only that wits cannot be shared in partnership among folks, like red herring and blue beans, or a pot of honey and a big cheese. All the same, Uncle Bear was well enough satisfied, and so they went into partnership together, just as the Great Red Fox had said. As for the pot of honey and the big cheese, why, they were put away for a rainy day, and the wits were all that were to be used just now.