Harper's Young People, January 20, 1880

"Nor dinners either," replied the little man. "Why should we have dinners?"

"But at least you have suppers," said the princess, desperately, and feeling ready to cry again.

"What are you thinking of?" asked the gate-keeper, with an air of surprise.

Then the princess grew angry.

"What am I thinking of?" she cried, at the top of her voice. "I am thinking of something to eat--that's what I'm thinking of, and I'm almost starved."

The little gate-keeper looked up, with a curious smile on his face, and answered:

"Well, then, my dear princess, if that is what makes you unhappy, pray don't think of it any more. No one ever eats anything here. Indeed, I can not imagine anything more absurd."

Then, being at heart a very kind and obliging little person, he came close to the princess, and said:

"I am sorry for you--indeed I am, but don't give way to tears. They won't turn stones into bread. I beseech you, my dear Princess B&eacute