The wonderful sheep (10)

The wonderful sheep (10)

And then she began to think where she could go for safety ー for this forest was so close to her father's castle that she might be seen and recognised by the first passer-by, and, beside that, it was full of lions and wolves, who would have snapped up a princess just as soon as a stray chicken.

So she began to walk as first as she could, but the forest was so large and the sun was so hot that she nearly died of heat and terror and fatigue ; look which way she would there seemed to be no end to the forest, and she was so frightened that she fancied every minute that she heard the king running after her to kill her.

You may imagine how miserable she was, and how she cried as she went on, not knowing which path to follow, and with the thorny bushes scratching her dreadfully and tearing her pretty frock to pieces.

At last she heard the bleating of a sheep, and said to herself :
" No doubt there are shepherds here with their flocks ; they will show me the way to some village where I can live disguised as a peasant girl. Alas ! it is not always Kings and princess who are the happiest people in the world. Who could have believed that I should ever be obliged to run away and hide because the King, for no reason at all, wishes to kill me ? "

(10/35)