The little prince arrived at the palace in the sky and said to the princess, "Our love is so deep that we can never part. Now that we have been detected by your father, I am sure he won't allow me to stay here any longer. There is only one way out. Come home with me. I know my father will like you."

The princess agreed and said, "Wherever you go, I will go too." The two hurried out of the palace in the sky and flew away on the wooden horse. They had been flying for a long time when the princess suddenly cried out, "I forgot to bring the two precious stones my mother gave me when I was a little girl. Let me go back and get them. I should like to give them to your parents at our wedding."

"We are already a long way from the palace," said the little prince. "Let's not bother with them now." But the princess insisted on going back, and in the end, the little prince had to give in. He tightened the screws and the wooden horse landed.

The prince said, "I'll wait for you here. Go to the palace on the wooden horse and come back as soon as you have collected the precious stones." The princess mounted the wooden horse and flew away.

Meanwhile, the king, who had been brought round by his courtiers, feared the worst for his daughter. He hurried up to the palace in the sky and, just as expected, found the place empty. He was at his wits' end when suddenly the princess arrived on the wooden horse. His men captured her and took her down to his palace, where they locked her up in an empty room. The wooden horse also fell into the hands of the king, but he had no idea how to use it and just stored it in another empty room.

Long before all this, there had been another king who, hearing of the beauty of the princess, had asked for her hand for his own son, only to be rejected by the princess' father. After this affair, however, it suited him to marry her to someone who lived a long way away, and he sent a message to this king, saying, "My daughter has reached the age of marriage, and I am therefore willing to marry her to your son. This will make our two families closely related and will bring an enduring peace to our two kingdoms. Please let your son come and take his bride."

But let us leave aside the king and his daughter and turn once more to the little prince.

He waited for a long time, but there was no sign of the princess. Looking around, he found himself in a boundless stretch of desert with towering sand dunes in every direction. The sand was blowing in the wind, the scorching sun was directly over head and there was not so much as a single blade of grass to be seen. Time passed, and he became hungry and thirsty. But when he rose to his feet and went in search of water, there was not a drop to be found. "I may be able to see something from the top of those dunes," he thought, but as he climbed, the shifting sand buried his feet, making every step a struggle. With great difficulty he finally reached the top. As he raised his head to look around, the sand underneath gave way like melting ice in spring. He slipped over and downward and when he came to a stop, he saw before him a lush orchard filled with all kinds of fruit trees. The ripe fruits, red and green, hung heavy on the trees. His mouth watered. He ran in, picked several peaches and began gobbling them up. He ate his fill of the sweet, juicy fruits and then fell asleep against a tree.
关键字:The Wooden House,木房子
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