Now there was one amongst the suitors whom the Princess herself favored, as was but natural.  He was a slender, fair-haired youth, with dreamy blue eyes and a rosy complexion, and although he loved the Princess dearly he despaired of finding a riddle that the King could not guess.

But while he stood leaning against the wall the Princess approached him and whispered in his ear a riddle she had just thought of.  Instantly his face brightened, and when the King called, “Now, Master Gracington, it is your turn,” he advanced boldly to the throne.

“Speak your riddle, sir,” said the King, gaily; for he thought this youth would also fail, and that he might therefore keep the Princess by his side for a time longer.

But Master Gracington, with downcast eyes, knelt before the throne and spoke in this wise: 

“This is my riddle, oh King: 

    Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
    Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
    All the King’s horses
    And all the King’s men
    Cannot put Humpty together again!”

“Read me that, sire, an’ you will!”

The King thought earnestly for a long time, and he slapped his head and rubbed his ears and walked the floor in great strides; but guess the riddle he could not.

“You are a humbug, sir!” he cried out at last; “there is no answer to such a riddle.”

“You are wrong, sire,” answered the young man; “Humpty Dumpty was an egg.”

“Why did I not think of that before!” exclaimed the King; but he gave the Princess to the young man to be his bride, and they lived happily together.

And thus did Humpty Dumpty, even in his death, repay the kindness of the fair girl who had shown him such sights as an egg seldom sees.

The Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

The Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

    There was an old woman
    Who lived in a shoe,
    She had so many children
    She did n’t know what to do;
    She gave them some broth
    Without any bread,
    And whipped them all soundly
    And sent them to bed.

A long time ago there lived a woman who had four daughters, and these in time grew up and married and went to live in different parts of the country.  And the woman, after that, lived all alone, and said to herself, “I have done my duty to the world, and now shall rest quietly for the balance of my life.  When one has raised a family of four children and has married them all happily, she is surely entitled to pass her remaining days in peace and comfort.”

She lived in a peculiar little house, that looked something like this picture.

It was not like most of the houses you see, but the old woman had it built herself, and liked it, and so it did not matter to her how odd it was.  It stood upon the top of a little hill, and there was a garden at the back and a pretty green lawn in front, with white gravel paths and many beds of bright colored flowers.