dwarf, for she was sure he must live in a cave. For days she wandered until she was in the[Pg 119] deep forest, and at last she came to a high rock over which she could not climb. [Pg 119] Cilla sat down and leaned against the rock to rest, when, to her surprise, she heard the sound of weeping. She looked all around, but could see no opening except a big crack in one side, and this was too small for her to get through. She was just about to call out and ask who was inside weeping when she heard some one coming through the bushes. Cilla ran behind the rock and watched, and in a minute the dwarf came bounding out of the bush and briers. He carried in his hand an iron bar, and with this he opened the crack in the rock, which was a door, and entered the rock, leaving the door open behind him. Cilla was a very brave girl or she would have stayed where she was, but no sooner had the dwarf disappeared than she ran in after him. He was standing beside a poor, half-starved-looking little white rabbit, and Cilla heard him say, “Do you consent or will you starve?” The little white rabbit only blinked and[Pg 120] turned away, and then Cilla saw something that made her start, for hanging on a ragged bit of rock was the wedding-dress the Princess was to have worn the night she disappeared. [Pg 120] Cilla did not wait to see more. She dashed toward the dwarf and grabbed him by his long nose, and, giving it a hard twist, she cried out: “Where is my mistress, you wretch? Where is she, I say?” A very strange thing happened when Cilla gave the long nose a twist; the dwarf howled like the sound of thunder, and instead of the dwarf there stood before Cilla a huge toad that hopped away so fast she could not see where it disappeared. “You poor half-starved little rabbit,” said Cilla. “I wish I had something to give you to eat, but I must hunt for my mistress first, for I know she must be here.” Then Cilla thought of the bean. “I’ll give you this,” she said to the rabbit. “I am sure I shall have no use for it.” When the rabbit swallowed the bean Cilla’s eyes popped
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