Page:Fairy tales and stories (Andersen, Tegner).djvu/139

Rh The dog was out of the room in an instant, and before the soldier could give it a thought, he saw him returning with the princess, who was sitting on the dog's back asleep. She was so lovely, that any one could see she was a real princess; the soldier could not help it, he had to kiss her, for he was a true soldier.

The dog then ran back again with the princess, but when the morning came and the king and queen were having their cup of tea, the princess said she had had such a wonderful dream in the night about a dog and a soldier. She had ridden upon the dog and the soldier had kissed her. "That 's a pretty story, I must say!" said the queen.

One of the old court-ladies was then set to watch by the princess's bedside next night, to see if it really had been a dream, or what it might be.

The soldier was longing terribly to see the beautiful princess again, and in the night the dog came for her; he took her on his back and ran as fast as he could, but the old lady put on spring-heeled boots and ran behind, keeping up the same pace as they. When she saw them disappear in a big house, she thought to herself: "Now I know where it is," and made a big cross on the gate with a piece of chalk. She then went home, and soon afterward the dog came back with the princess; but when he saw that a cross had been put on the gate where the soldier lived, he took a piece of chalk and make a cross on all the gates all over town; this was clever of him, for now the court-lady could not find the right gate, since there were crosses on all of them.

Early next morning the king and the queen, the old court-lady and all the officers went to see where the princess had been to.

"There it is!" said the king, when he saw the first gate with a cross on it.

"No, my dear, there it is!" said the queen, who saw another gate with a cross.

"But here is one, and there is one!" said all of them; wherever they looked there were crosses on the gates. So they knew it would be of no use to go on searching any farther.

But the queen was a very clever woman, who could do something more than ride in a carriage. She took her large pair of gold scissors, cut out a large piece of silk and made a nice little bag, which she filled with small fine buckwheat groats. This she tied to the princess's back, and when this was done, she cut a little hole in the bag, so that the groats should run out along the ground the whole of the way the princess went.

In the night the dog came again; he took the princess on his back and ran with her to the soldier, who was so deeply in love with her, and who wished so much he had been a prince, that he might make her his wife.

The dog did not notice that the groats were running out of the bag all the way from the palace right up to the soldier's window, where he