but the spinning-wheel and the chair beside it. When she came back,
she
sat down again, and without a word began her spinning once more,
while
Irene, who had never seen a spinning-wheel, stood by her side and
looked
on. When the old lady had succeeded in getting her thread fairly in
operation again, she said to the princess, but without looking at her:
"Do you know my name, child?"
"No, I don't know it," answered the princess.
"My name is Irene."
"That's _my_ name!" cried the princess.
"I know that. I let you have mine. I haven't got your name. You've got
mine."
"How can that be?" asked the princess, bewildered. "I've always had my
name."
"Your papa, the king, asked me if I had any objection to your having it;
and of course I hadn't. I let you have it with pleasure."
"It was very kind of you to give me your name--and such a pretty one,"
said the princess.
Madhuri Noah
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