Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 3).djvu/312



HERE were once a king and queen who had three beautiful daughters, and the organism of these three princesses was remarkable for their each being furnished with a heart of glass.

"Children! children!" said the queen, when the princesses were still quite small, "whatever you do, take care of your hearts, for they are of fragile make."

The children therefore tried to be very careful, and for some time all went well, and the hearts remained unbroken.

But one day the eldest girl, who was leaning out of the window, looking down into the garden below, noticed a little bee which was buzzing busily round some flowers. The little creature interested her so much that she leaned out farther, so as to be able to watch it more closely when suddenly—smash!—there came a sound of broken glass! The young princess had crushed her heart against the window-sill, and so, alas! the poor girl expired.

After this exceedingly sad accident the other two sisters were still more careful about their hearts.

Some time after the death of the princess, the second daughter very thoughtlessly drank a cup of rather hot coffee, and when she had finished it something was suddenly heard to crack, and she fell back, fainting, into an armchair. The sound on this occasion, however was not so loud as on the first. The queen rushed to where the princess lay, and, on examining her, found, to her great delight, that the heart was only slightly cracked, and not broken, and that her daughter was still alive.