mother's cottage? Could the princess be there? He bounded up the
mountain like one of its own goats, and before the sun was up, the
thread had brought him indeed to his mother's door. There it vanished
from his fingers, and he could not find it, search as he might.
The door was on the latch, and he entered. There sat his mother by the
fire, and in her arms lay the princess fast asleep.
"Hush, Curdie!" said his mother. "Do not wake her. I'm so glad you're
come! I thought the cobs must have got you again!"
With a heart full of delight, Curdie sat down at a corner of the hearth,
on a stool opposite his mother's chair, and gazed at the princess, who
slept as peacefully as if she had been in her own bed. All at once she
opened her eyes and fixed them on him.
"Oh, Curdie! you're come!" she said quietly. "I thought you would!"
Curdie rose and stood before her with downcast eyes.
"Irene," he said, "I am very sorry I did not believe you."
Madhuri Noah
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