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The Seeds of Love.

loved her well, but Zaire was so busy thinking of her magic candle that she did not grieve for her grandmother’s death, but sat brooding over what great thing she should wish for when she lit it.

“I will keep it till I know of something I long for very much indeed,” she said to herself. So she put the candle safely away; and Blanchelys put hers away also, meaning to take her grandmother’s advice, and never to light it. So the two girls lived in the same little cottage, going out as before to open the gates for the passers-by. On the other side of the river was a grand castle which belonged to the King. Long ago he used to stay there to hunt, but now he was grown too old, and the castle was never used. One day the girls heard that the King’s son was coming, and all the village was to be decorated in his honour. The first day he rode through it on his way to the hunt, Zaire and Blanchelys knew that he would cross the bridge; so they both dressed themselves in their very best to come out and open the gates ; but Zaire said to Blanchelys, “You stand back, and let me go first, for, as people say I am the prettiest girl in the village, it is right I should be seen.” So Blanchelys

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