This she pinned to its robe , and then very sadly she was shutting the basket , when in sprang the little mouse and sat on the baby 's pillow . ` Ah ! little one , ' said the Queen , ` it cost me dear to save your life . How shall I know now whether my Delicia is being taken care of or no ? Anyone else would have let the greedy old woman have you , and eat you up , but I could not bear to do it . ' Whereupon the Mouse answered : ` Believe me , madam , you will never repent of your kindness . ' The Queen was immensely astonished when the Mouse began to speak , and still more so when she saw its little sharp nose turn to a beautiful face , and its paws to hands and feet ; then it suddenly grew tall , and the Queen recognised the Fairy who had come with the wicked King to visit her . The Fairy smiled at her astonished look , and said : ' I wanted to see if you were faithful and capable of feeling a real friendship for me , for you see we fairies are rich in everything but friends , and those are hard to find . ' ` It is not possible that YOU should want for friends , you charming creature , ' said the Queen , kissing her . ` Indeed it is so , ' the Fairy said . ` For those who are only friendly with me for their own advantage , I do not count at all . But when you cared for the poor little mouse you could not have known there was anything to be gained by it , and to try you further I took the form of the old woman whom you talked to from the window , and then I was convinced that you really loved me . ' Then , turning to the little Princess , she kissed her rosy lips three times , saying : ` Dear little one , I promise that you shall be richer than your father , and shall live a hundred years , always pretty and happy , without fear of old age and wrinkles . ' The Queen , quite delighted , thanked the Fairy gratefully , and begged her to take charge of the little Delicia and bring her up as her own daughter . This she agreed to do , and then they shut the basket and lowered it carefully , baby and all , to the ground at the foot of the tower . The Fairy then changed herself back into the form of a mouse , and this delayed her a few seconds , after which she ran nimbly down the straw rope , but only to find when she got to the bottom that the baby had disappeared . In the greatest terror she ran up again to the Queen , crying : ` All is lost ! my enemy Cancaline has stolen the Princess away . You must know that she is a cruel fairy who hates me , and as she is older than I am and has more power , I can do nothing against her . I know no way of rescuing Delicia from her clutches . '
When the Queen heard this terrible news she was heart-broken , and begged the Fairy XXXXX do all she could to get the poor little Princess back again .
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