Queen Hildegarde had plenty of courage of a certain sort, but she could _not_ face a spider.

The golden throne had become a "siege perilous," and she abdicated in favor of the grasshopper and his black and horrent visitor.
What should she do now?
The charm of the morning had made her idle and drowsy, and she did not feel like going home to help Nurse Lucy in making the butter, though she often did so with right good-will.

She looked dreamily around, her eyes wandering here and there over the great meadow and the neat stone walls which bounded it.

Presently she spied the chimneys and part of the red roof of a little cottage which peeped from a thick clump of trees just beyond the wall.

Who lived in that cottage, Hilda wondered.