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114 enough? There I cannot help you. The true stupidity is natural, not acquired."

"I will be as stupid as I can," said I, with proud humility. "The lovely Princess Vanella shall be mine. I am enchanted with her already. She shall be mine."

"Enough!" said my father; and I withdrew.

In a few days I started, with my father's blessing, carrying all my possessions in a silk handkerchief slung from a stout staff. Upon my way I kept a sharp lookout for old men with bundles of fagots too heavy for their strength, aged women asking alms, and, in fact, for all unattractive wayfarers; for I knew that fairies were likely to take such forms.

And my vigilance was rewarded. At the first cross-roads I saw an ancient beggar crone hurling stones at a tree with more earnestness than aim.

"What seekst thou, honest dame?" I inquired in an anxious tone, as a rock avoided the tree and came most marvelously close to my right ear.

"Alas! my best bonnet has flown on the zephyr's wing, and roosts in yon tree," she replied, poising another boulder.

Resolved to stop the bombardment at any cost, I spoke hastily:

"Nay, pelt not the shrub! Care thou for my burden, and I will scale the branches and rescue the errant triumph of the milliner's art!"

My language was romantic in those days, perhaps too romantic, for she failed to catch my meaning, and waved the stone uneasily.

"Hold on!" I said. "Drop the rock, and I 'll get the bonnet. If you hit it, you might smash all the style out of it."

My praise of her bonnet was not unpleasant to her, for when I brought it she said gratefully:

"You are a noble youth. I have little with which to reward you; but give me the pen and inkhorn that dangles from your belt, and a