asleep, and looked so lovely, that every one who saw her would know she
was a real princess. The soldier could not help kissing her, true soldier as he
was. Then the dog ran back with the princess; but in the morning, while at
breakfast with the king and queen, she told them what a singular dream she
had had during the night, of a dog and a soldier, that she had ridden on the
dog’s back, and been kissed by the soldier.
“That is a very pretty story, indeed,” said the queen. So the next night one
of the old ladies of the court was set to watch by the princess’s bed, to
discover whether it really was a dream, or what else it might be.
The soldier longed very much to see the princess once more, so he sent
for the dog again in the night to fetch her, and to run with her as fast as ever
he could. But the old lady put on water boots, and ran after him as quickly
as he did, and found that he carried the princess into a large house. She
thought it would help her to remember the place if she made a large cross
on the door with a piece of chalk. Then she went home to bed, and the dog
presently returned with the princess. But when he saw that a cross had been
made on the door of the house, where the soldier lived, he took another
piece of chalk and made crosses on all the doors in the town, so that the
lady-in-waiting might not be able to find out the right door.
Early the next morning the king and queen accompanied the lady and all
the officers of the household, to see where the princess had been.
“Here it is,” said the king, when they came to the first door with a cross
on it.
“No, my dear husband, it must be that one,” said the queen, pointing to a
second door having a cross also.
“And here is one, and there is another!” they all exclaimed; for there were
crosses on all the doors in every direction.
So they felt it would be useless to search any farther. But the queen was a
very clever woman; she could do a great deal more than merely ride in a
carriage. She took her large gold scissors, cut a piece of silk into squares,
and made a neat little bag. This bag she filled with buckwheat flour, and
