TWILIGHT LAND

balcony of the king’s palace; and when the soldier caught
his wind again he found himself without a hat, and with
hardly any wits in his head.

There he sat upon the stool for a long time without
daring to move, for he did not know what might happen
to him next. There he sat and sat, and by-and-by his
ears got cold in the night air, and then he noticed for the
first time that he had lost his head gear, and bethought
himself of the feather cap in his pocket. So out he drew
it and clapped it upon his head, and then—lo and behold !
—he found he had become as invisible as thin air—not a
shred or a hair of him could be seen. ‘‘ Well!” said he,
‘‘here is another wonder, but I am safe now at any rate.”
And up he got to find some place not so cool as where he
sat.

He stepped in at an open window, and there he found
himself in a beautiful room, hung with cloth of silver and
blue, and with chairs and tables of white and gold;
dozens and scores of waxlights shone like so many stars,
and lit every crack and cranny as bright as day, and there
at one end of the room upon a couch, with her eyelids
closed and fast asleep, lay the prettiest princess that ever
the sun shone upon. The soldier stood and looked and
looked at her, and looked and looked at her, until his
heart melted within him like soft butter, and then he
kissed her.

“Who is that?” said the princess, starting up, wide-
awake, but not a soul could she see, because the soldier
had the feather cap upon his head.

‘Who is that?” said she again; and then the soldier

answered, but without taking the feather cap from his
head.

Io