THE WHITE DOVE WITH THE GOLD RING. 191

home to me until I have him with me. I will go to the King myself,
and talk to him about little Buttercup.”

So the mother went, and the King told her that she might leave
the beautiful country where her home now was, and go into Winter
Land, to try if she could not help her child.

“You may only stay in Winter Land for a day or two,” said the
King, “and you must never really show yourself to your boy, but
doubtless you will find ways of aiding him.”

Tt was little wonder, therefore, that when Buttercup heard that
sweet voice in the air which helped him so much when he was staying
with Mrs. Discipline, he should think of his mother, for she was
really there.

This mother knew, therefore, that Buttercup would soon come to
the golden country, and she, and her husband, and the other three
children were all waiting to welcome him when the Prince brought
him inside the gates.

It would be impossible for me to tell of the joy which filled the
little boy’s heart when he kissed his mother again—when he knew
that the time of danger and difficulty was over.

«Now you must come and see our home,” said Primrose. «We
have a house of our own here, and—and how am I to tell you all that
we have really got? Will you try, Cowslip ?”’

« We have everything that we used to long for when we lived in the
cottage which faced the Blue Mountains,” began Cowslip.

« And,” continued Primrose, “ when a wish comes into our hearts
it is at once granted, for no one thinks of naughty wishes in this
country.”

« And the flowers don’t wither,” said Buttercup’s mother, “ and
no one grows old, and there is no pain and no sorrow; but the
crowning thing of all is this: we see the King.”

« JT will bring you to him to-morrow, Buttercup,” said his father ;
“and then you will know what it is to be perfectly satisfied. Take
my hand now, and let us go home.”

So the four children and their father and mother went home.

THE END.