closed her eyes and went to sleep.

King Theophile's heart was broken, for the baby, and not he, himself, had
made Elene smile and weep. When the days of the court mourning were over
the little daughter was christened, and to her christening came all the
wise women of the kingdom. Each told what this child would be. One said,
"She will have the beauty of shimmering rainbows"; another, "She will be
as wise as she is good." But the Wisest Woman of all said, "Every person
will read his future in her tears."

Now this prophecy troubled King Theophile and awoke love in his heart for
his little daughter, who was already showing how beautiful she would be
some day. So he watched over her, and made one of his echoing rooms into
the royal nursery.

Now the nurses knew what the Wisest Woman had said--that the tears of
this Princess would be a magic mirror of the future; and one day when
the child was two years old, the head nurse, who had a sweetheart and
wished to know whether she would marry him, resolved to make the
little girl cry.

Now she was puzzled how to do this, for the royal maid was sweet-tempered
and obedient; but the nurse knew that Elene loved most dearly a beautiful
doll as big as herself, so one afternoon, when the Princess was clasping
this treasure to her little breast, the nurse making sure first that no
one was looking, snatched it from her and threw it into the sea.

[Illustration: THE NURSE SEES HER WEDDING IN THE PRINCESS'S TEARS]

The baby-princess when she saw her darling doll falling into the water