FAR away in the Land of the Fire Fairies, King Red Flame mourned daily the loss of his dear daughter. As day followed day and no news of her reached him he became more and more fearful that he should never again look upon her exquisite flame, or hear her voice speaking to him in tenderness and love.

The old nurse, Grey Smoke, did all that she could to hearten him, and as for[223] herself, she never lost the hope and belief that at no distant day her beloved mistress would come safely home.

The Fire Fairies spoke of her always in hushed voices, and when they repeated her story to one another as they worked or played, they would sigh, and whisper, “Ah, she was beautiful, our Princess White Flame—beautiful and good as none else.” But they spoke of her always as one who would never come again.

At last one day King Red Flame could bear his anxious thoughts no longer. He left the Palace of Burning Coals, and took his way to the hut of the Wise One. There he hoped to find encouragement and counsel. Arrived at the low red door he knocked, and presently he heard the Wise One’s voice bidding him enter.

[224]The King did so, and talked to him long and despondently, but the Wise One enjoined upon him not to give up hope. “There will be difficulties to be met and conquered,” he told him, “and that takes time. But something assures me that the Princess is alive and well. As for Prince Radiance, you may trust him entirely. Take courage; at any time they may return in triumph.”

While the Wise One spoke thus to the King, Grey Smoke stood in the high tower of the Palace of Burning Coals and gazed earnestly out across the country, as she did many times each day, in order that she might be the first to catch a glimpse of the Princess when she should return.

Grey Smoke was old, but her eyes were still keen. On this day, as she looked, she saw in the distance two[225] travelers approaching hand in hand. One of these travelers appeared to her to be Prince Radiance. She waited a few moments to make sure of it; but soon she could no longer doubt. It was he in very truth. The other, her eyes told her for a certainty, was her beloved young mistress. The heart of old Grey Smoke leaped for joy. As rapidly as her age would permit she descended the steps of the tower, calling out with trembling voice, “The Princess comes! The Princess White Flame comes!”

The palace fairies at their tasks heard it. Knowing that Grey Smoke was one who made no mistakes, they seized upon the glad news, and rushed from one end of the palace to the other shouting it: “The Princess comes! The Princess comes!”

The garden fairies were not slow to[226] hear it, and they too took up the excited cr............