looking at the moon and sighing over her lost lover and his love she saw a nightingale caught by its wing in a tree.

The tree was so close that the Princess had only to reach out and rescue the poor bird and set it free.

The nightingale, in gratitude for its life, began to sing so sweetly that the Princess exclaimed, “Oh, sing each night by my window, beautiful bird, that I may for a little while at least forget my sorrow.”

The hour of midnight was just then striking, and as the last stroke of twelve died away the nightingale changed into a fairy.

“I am powerless to use my magic until the[Pg 54] hour of midnight strikes,” said the little fairy. “I have chosen to become a nightingale until then, and the Queen will not give me the power of a fairy until I change my form to one.

[Pg 54]

“If it had not been for your kindness I might never have become a fairy again, for the nightingale’s wing would have been broken, and no imperfect creature can reclaim its form, once it has changed from a fairy.

“If I can help you, tell me and I will go to the Queen and ask to remain a fairy, and then no matter how hard the task you set I am sure I can make you happy.”

Of course, the Princess did not know about the magic ring, and she could only tell the fairy how once she had felt sure that Nardo loved her and then suddenly he had changed and would not notice her at all.

The fairy listened to the Princess and told her not to worry; that she was sure there was something wrong; that Nardo still loved her, and at midnight the next night she would return, and away she flittered in the moonlight, leaving the Princess happier than she had been for many a day.

It took the fairy but a short time to unravel the mystery, and the next night when the Princess[Pg 55] went to her window she found the little fairy waiting for her, perched on the sill.

[Pg 55]

“Do not grieve, my Princess,” said the fairy. “Nardo still loves you; it is all the work of his wicked brother Stephen, who loved you, too.”

Then she told the Princess the story of the ring and how Stephen had got the old witch to get it for him, and that if he had given her the gold he would have married the Princess in spite of all she could have done.

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