"Don't cry my love," said the king. "I have a wish lying by? which mg fairy godmother gave me for a wedding present, but since then I've had nothing to wish for!"
"Thank you, dear," said the queen, smiling through her tears.
"I'll keep the wish till the baby grows up," the king went on. "And then I'll give it to her and if she likes to wish for hair, she can."
"Oh, won't you wish for it now?" said the queen. "No, dearest. She may want something else more when she grows up. And besides, her hair may grow by itself."
But it never did. Princess Melisande grew up as beautiful as the sun and as good as gold, but never a hair grew on that little head of hers. The queen sewed her little caps of green silk, and the princess's pink and white face looked out of these like a flower peeping out of its bud. And every day as she grew older she grew dearer, and as she grew dearer she grew better, and as she grew more good she grew more beautiful.
"Now, when she was grown up the queen said to the king, "My love? our dear daughter is old enough to know now what she wants. I think it is time you let her have the wish."
So the king unlocked his gold safe with the seven diamond-handled keys that hung at his gridle, and took out the wish and gave it to his daughter. Then the queen said, "Dearest, for my sake, wish what I tell you."
"Why, of course I will," saud Melisande. The queen whispered in her ear, and Melisande nodded. Then she said, aloud, "I wish I had golden hair that was a yard long, and that it would grow an inch every day, and grow twice as fast every time it was cut, and —"
"Stop!" cried the king. But the wish went off, and the next moment the princess stood smiling at him through a shower of golden hair.
