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Through the Fire.

Jack lay still, looking at the bright new moon through the window. A white crisp layer of snow covered the housetops, on which the moon’s light shone silver and clear. As he lay and watched, the candle flickered down in its socket, and then went out altogether.

“This time last year I saw the Princess,” said Jack to himself, “but I shan’t see her again,” and he sighed.

“Little Jack,” called a low sweet voice that made him start and tremble.

He looked up at the window, and there, standing in a moonbeam, was the Princess, looking far more beautiful even than before, and the Prince stood close beside her.

“Did you think you would never see us again?” she asked. “But this will be for the last time, for we are going to live on the other side of the moon, and shall never come back again. Now see what we have brought you. This is a magic belt, and we have been a whole year making it. You must put it on, and it will make you quite strong, and in a few years you will no longer be a cripple.”

Jack then saw that between them they bore a

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