In the hut of Pon, the gardener's boy, Button-Brightwas the first to waken in the morning. Leaving hiscompanions still asleep, he went out into the freshmorning air and saw some blackberries growing on bushesin a field not far away. Going to the bushes he found theberries ripe and sweet, so he began eating them. Morebushes were scattered over the fields, so the boywandered on, from bush to bush, without paying any heedto where he was wandering. Then a butterfly fluttered by.He gave chase to it and followed it a long way. Whenfinally he paused to look around him, Button-Bright couldsee no sign of Pon's house, nor had he the slightest ideain which direction it lay.

"Well, I'm lost again," he remarked to himself. "Butnever mind; I've been lost lots of times. Someone is sureto find me."

Trot was a little worried about Button-Bright when sheawoke and found him gone. Knowing how careless he was,she believed that he had strayed away, but felt that hewould come back in time, because he had a habit of notstaying lost. Pon got the little girl some food for herbreakfast and then together they went out of the hut andstood in the sunshine.

Pon's house was some distance off the road, but theycould see it from where they stood and both gave a startof surprise when they discovered two soldiers walkingalong the roadway and escorting Princess Gloria betweenthem. The poor girl had her hands bound together, toprevent her from struggling, and the soldiers rudelydragged her forward when her steps seemed to lag.

Behind this group came King Krewl, wearing his jeweledcrown and swinging in his hand a slender golden staffwith a ball of clustered gems at one end.

"Where are they going?" asked Trot. "To the house ofthe Wicked Witch, I fear," Pon replied. "Come, let usfollow them, for I am sure they intend to harm my dearGloria."

"Won't they see us?" she asked timidly.

"We won't let them. I know a short cut through thetrees to Blinkie's house," said he.

So they hurried away through the trees and reached thehouse of the witch ahead of the King and his soldiers.Hiding themselves in the shrubbery, they watched theapproach of poor Gloria and her escort, all of whompassed so near to them that Pon could have put out a handand touched his sweetheart, had he dared to.

Blinkie's house had eight sides, with a door and awindow in each side. Smoke was coming out of the chimneyand as the guards brought Gloria to one of the doors itwas opened by the old witch in person. She chuckled withevil glee and rubbed her skinny hands together to showthe delight with which she greeted her victim, forBlinkie was pleased to be able to perform her wickedrites on one so fair and sweet as the Princess.

Gloria struggled to resist when they bade her enter thehouse, so the soldiers forced her through the doorway andeven the King gave her a shove as he followed closebehind. Pon was so incensed at the cruelty shown Gloriathat he forgot all caution and rushed forward to enterthe house also; but one of the soldiers prevented him,pushing the gardener's boy away with violence andslamming the door in his face.

"Never mind," said Trot soothingly, as Pon rose fromwhere he had fallen. "You couldn't do much to help thepoor Princess if you were inside. How unfortunate it isthat you are in love with her!"

"True," he answered sadly, "it is indeed my misfortune.If I did not love her, it would be none of my businesswhat the King did to his niece Gloria; but the unluckycircumstance of my loving her makes it my duty to defendher."

"I don't see how you can, duty or no duty," observedTrot.

"No; I am powerless, for they are stronger than I. Butwe might peek in through the window and see what they aredoing."

Trot was somewhat curious, too, so they crept up to oneof the windows and looked in, and it so happened thatthose inside the witch's house were so busy they did notnotice that Pon and Trot were watching them.

Gloria had been tied to a stout post in the center ofthe room and the King was giving the Wicked Witch aquantity of money and jewels, which Googly-Goo hadprovided in payment. When this had been done the Kingsaid to her:

"Are you perfectly sure you can freeze this maiden'sheart, so that she will no longer love that lowgardener's boy?"

"Sure as witchcraft, your Majesty," the creaturereplied.

"Then get to work," said the King. "There may be someunpleasant features about the ceremony that would annoyme, so I'll bid you good day and leave you to carry outyour contract. One word, however: If you fail, I shallburn you at the stake!" Then he beckoned to his soldiersto follow him, and throwing wide the door of the housewalked out.

This action was so sudden that King Krewl almost caughtTrot and Pon eavesdropping, but they managed to runaround the house before he saw them. Away he marched, upthe road, followed by his men, heartlessly leaving Gloriato the mercies of old Blinkie.

When they again crept up to the window, Trot and Ponsaw Blinkie gloating over her victim. Although nearlyfainting from fear, the proud Princess gazed with haughtydefiance into the face of the wicked creature; but shewas bound so tightly to the post that she could do nomore to express her loathing.

Pretty soon Blinkie went to a kettle that was swingingby a chain over the fire and tossed into it severalmagical compounds. The kettle gave three flashes, and atevery flash another witch appeared in the room.

These hags were very ugly but when one-eyed Blinkiewhispered her orders to them they grinned with joy asthey began dancing around Gloria. First one and thenanother cast something into the kettle, when to theastonishment of the watchers at the window all three ofthe old women were instantly transformed into maidens ofexquisite beauty, dressed in the daintiest costumesimaginable. Only their eyes could not be disguised, andan evil glare still shone in their depths. But if theeyes were cast down or hidden, one could not help butadmire these beautiful creatures, even with the knowledgethat they were mere illusions of witchcraft.

Trot certainly admired them, for she had never seenanything so dainty and bewitching, but her attention wasquickly drawn to their deeds instead of their persons,and then horror replaced admiration. Into the kettle oldBlinkie poured another mess from a big brass bottle shetook from a chest, and this made the kettle begin tobubble and smoke violently. One by one the beautifulwitches approached to stir the contents of the kettle andto mutter a magic charm. Their movements were gracefuland rhythmic and the Wicked Witch who had called them toher aid watched them with an evil grin upon her wrinkledface.

Finally the incantation was complete. The kettle ceasedbubbling and together the witches lifted it from thefire. Then Blinkie brought a wooden ladle and filled itfrom the contents of the kettle. Going with the spoon toPrincess Gloria she cried:

"Love no more! Magic artNow will freeze your mortal heart!"

With this she dashed the contents of the ladle fullupon Gloria's breast.

Trot saw the body of the Princess become transparent,so that her beating heart showed plainly. But now theheart turned from a vivid red to gray, and then to white.A layer of frost formed about it and tiny icicles clungto its surface. Then slowly the body of the girl becamevisible again and the heart was hidden from view. Gloriaseemed to have fainted, but now she recovered and,opening her beautiful eyes, stared coldly and withoutemotion at the group of witches confronting her.

Blinkie and the others knew by that one cold look thattheir charm had been successful. They burst into a chorusof wild laughter and the three beautiful ones begandancing again, while Blinkie unbound the Princess and sether free.

Trot rubbed her eyes to prove that she was wide awakeand seeing clearly, for her astonishment was great whenthe three lovely maidens turned into ugly, crooked hagsagain, leaning on broomsticks and canes. They jeered atGloria, but the Princess regarded them with cold disdain.Being now free, she walked to a door, opened it andpassed out. And the witches let her go.

Trot and Pon had been so intent upon this scene that intheir eagerness they had pressed quite hard against thewindow. Just as Gloria went out of the house the window-sash broke loose from its fastenings and fell with acrash into the room. The witches uttered a chorus ofscreams and then, seeing that their magical incantationhad been observed, they rushed for the open window withuplifted broomsticks and canes. But Pon was off like thewind, and Trot followed at his heels. Fear lent themstrength to run, to leap across ditches, to speed up thehills and to vault the low fences as a deer would.

The band of witches had dashed through the window inpursuit; but Blinkie was so old, and the others socrooked and awkward, that they soon realized they wouldbe unable to overtake the fugitives. So the three who hadbeen summoned by the Wicked Witch put their canes orbroomsticks between their legs and flew away through theair, quickly disappearing against the blue sky. Blinkie,however, was so enraged at Pon and Trot that she hobbledon in the direction they had taken, fully determined tocatch them, in time, and to punish them terribly forspying upon her witchcraft.

When Pon and Trot had run so far that they wereconfident they had made good their escape, they sat downnear the edge of a forest to get their breath again, forboth were panting hard from their exertions. Trot was thefirst to recover speech, and she said to her companion:

"My! wasn't it terr'ble?"

"The most terrible thing I ever saw," Pon agreed.

"And they froze Gloria's heart; so now she can't loveyou any more."

"Well, they froze her heart, to be sure," admitted Pon,"but I'm in hopes I can melt it with my love."

Where do you s'pose Gloria is?" asked the girl, after apause.

"She left the witch's house just before we did. Perhapsshe has gone back to the King's castle," he said.

"I'm pretty sure she started off in a diff'rentdirection," declared Trot. "I looked over my shoulder, asI ran, to see how close the witches were, and I'm sure Isaw Gloria walking slowly away toward the north."

"Then let us circle around that way," proposed Pon,"and perhaps we shall meet her."

Trot agreed to this and they left the grove and beganto circle around toward the north, thus drawing nearerand nearer to old Blinkie's house again. The Wicked Witchdid not suspect this change of direction, so when shecame to the grove she passed through it and continued on.

Pon and Trot had reached a place less than half a milefrom the witch's house when they saw Gloria walkingtoward them. The Princess moved with great dignity andwith no show of haste whatever, holding her head high andlooking neither to right nor left.

Pon rushed forward, holding out his arms as if toembrace her and calling her sweet names. But Gloria gazedupon him coldly and repelled him with a haughty gesture.At this the poor gardener's boy sank upon his knees andhid his face in his arms, weeping bitter tears; but thePrincess was not at all moved by his distress. Passinghim by, she drew her skirts aside, as if unwilling theyshould touch him, and then she walked up the path a wayand hesitated, as if uncertain where to go next.

Trot was grieved by Pon's sobs and indignant becauseGloria treated him so badly. But she remembered why.

"I guess your heart is frozen, all right," she said tothe Princess. Gloria nodded gravely, in reply, and thenturned her back upon the little girl. "Can't you likeeven me?" asked Trot, half pleadingly.

"No," said Gloria.

"Your voice sounds like a refrig'rator," sighed thelittle girl. "I'm awful sorry for you, 'cause you weresweet an' nice to me before this happened. You can't helpit, of course; but it's a dreadful thing, jus' the same."

"My heart is frozen to all mortal loves," announcedGloria, calmly. "I do not love even myself."

"That's too bad," said Trot, "for, if you can't loveanybody, you can't expect anybody to love you."

"I do!" cried Pon. "I shall always love her."

"Well, you're just a gardener's boy," replied Trot,"and I didn't think you 'mounted to much, from the first.I can love the old Princess Gloria, with a warm heart an'nice manners, but this one gives me the shivers."

"It's her icy heart, that's all," said Pon.

"That's enough," insisted Trot. "Seeing her heart isn'tbig enough to skate on, I can't see that she's of any useto anyone. For my part, I'm goin' to try to find Button-Bright an' Cap'n Bill."

"I will go with you," decided Pon. "It is evident thatGloria no longer loves me and that her heart is frozentoo stiff for me to melt it with my own love; therefore Imay as well help you to find your friends."

As Trot started off, Pon cast one more imploring lookat the Princess, who returned it with a chilly stare. Sohe followed after the little girl.

As for the Princess, she hesitated a moment and thenturned in the same direction the others had taken, butgoing far more slowly. Soon she heard footsteps patteringbehind her, and up came Googly-Goo. a little out ofbreath with running.

"Stop, Gloria!" he cried. "I have come to take you backto my mansion, where we are to be married."

She looked at him wonderingly a moment, then tossed herhead disdainfully and walked on. But Googly-Goo keptbeside her.

"What does this mean?" he demanded. "Haven't youdiscovered that you no longer love that gardener's boy,who stood in my way?"

"Yes; I have discovered it," she replied. "My heart isfrozen to all mortal loves. I cannot love you, or Pon, orthe cruel King my uncle, or even myself. Go your way,Googly-Goo, for I will wed no one at all."

He stopped in dismay when he heard this, but in anotherminute he exclaimed angrily:

"You must wed me, Princess Gloria, whether you want toor not! I paid to have your heart frozen; I also paid theKing to permit our marriage. If you now refuse me it willmean that I have been robbed -- robbed -- robbed of myprecious money and jewels!"

He almost wept with despair, but she laughed a cold,bitter laugh and passed on. Googly-Goo caught at her arm,as if to restrain her, but she whirled and dealt him ablow that sent him reeling into a ditch beside the path.Here he lay for a long time, half covered by muddy water,dazed with surprise.

Finally the old courtier arose, dripping, and climbedfrom the ditch. The Princess had gone; so, mutteringthreats of vengeance upon her, upon the King and uponBlinkie, old Googly-Goo hobbled back to his mansion tohave the mud removed from his costly velvet clothes.