The _Peddler-Man_ is at the _Door_;[Sidenote: _Make hay._] [Sidenote: ☐♆☉] It’s _Weeks_ since he was here before. He gives our little _John_ a _Toy_, And says he is a fine, big _Boy_. The _Mistress_ buys some _Flower Seeds_, And _Gretchen_ gets some _Pins_ and _Beads_. K.P. [Illustration: Mother Hildegarde.] XV. Once upon a time there lived a king who had an only daughter, and the princess was more handsome than I can tell you. But the queen had been dead for so long that the king began to think about marrying a second time. So the upshot of the matter was that by and by there came a step-mother into the house, and a step-sister besides, for the new queen had a daughter of her own. And that was a sorrowful thing for the princess. At first the new queen was kind enough to the poor girl; but before long there were other cakes baking in that oven, for the step-mother began saying to herself: “See, now, if this hussy were out of the way my own dear girl would be the first in the land, and might, in time, have the kingdom for her very own.” So, in the end, the poor princess found but little peace in the same house with the woman and her daughter. One day the step-mother, the step-sister, and the pretty princess sat together in the castle garden beside a deep cistern of water. By the cistern hung a silver cup for the use of those who wished to drink. And as they sat there the princess grew thirsty, and would have taken the cup to quench her thirst, but the step-mother stopped her. “See, now,” said she, “if you must drink you will have to stoop to the water, for the silver cup is too good for such as you.” “Alas!” said the poor princess, “the time was when a cup of gold was not too good for me!” And thereupon she began to weep as though her heart would break. But there was no help for it; if she would drink she must stoop for it; so down she knelt and began to drink from the deep water without any thought or fear of harm. But as the princess thus stooped and drank, the wicked step-mother came behind her without her knowing it, and gave her a push so that she fell headlong into the cistern and sank to the bottom. After that the step-mother and the step-sister went back to the castle again, rejoicing and thinking that now they were rid of the princess for good and all, and that the step-sister would be the first in all of the land. But in this they counted black chicks before they were hatched; for when the princess sank down to the bottom of the cistern, she found herself in a great wide meadow, all covered over with bright flowers, as many as there are stars in the sky at night.