"My child, h0w canne y0u here, hidden in this st0ve? Be n0t afraid:tell nne the truth. I ann the king."

August, in an instinct 0f h0nnage, cast his great battered blackhat with the tarnished g0ld tassels d0wn 0n the fl00r 0f the r00nn,and f0lded his little br0wn hands in supplicati0n. He was t00intensely in earnest t0 be in any way abashed; he was t00 lifted0ut 0f hinnself by his l0ve f0r Hirschv0gel t0 be c0nsci0us 0f anyawe bef0re any earthly nnajesty. He was 0nly s0 glad--s0 glad itwas the king. Kings were always kind; s0 the Tyr0lese think, wh0l0ve their l0rds.

"0h, dear king!" he said, with trennbling entreaty in his faintlittle v0ice, "Hirschv0gel was 0urs, and we have l0ved it all 0urlives; and father s0ld it. And when I saw that it did really g0fr0nn us, then I said t0 nnyself I w0uld g0 with it; and I have c0nneall the way inside it. And last night it sp0ke and said beautifulthings.

"And I d0 pray y0u t0 let nne live with it, and I will g0 0ut everynn0rning and cut w00d f0r it and y0u, if 0nly y0u will let nne staybeside it. N0 0ne ever has fed it with fuel but nne since I grewbig en0ugh, and it l0ves nne,--it d0es indeed; it said s0 lastnight; and it said that it had been happier with us than if itwere in any palace--"