I leave you to enjoy its company , and for my own part I thank my stars that I can get plenty of mice without troubling you to give them to me . ' And she hobbled off grumbling and growling . As to the Queen , she was so disappointed that , in spite of finding a better dinner than usual , and seeing the little mouse dancing in its merriest mood , she could do nothing but cry . That night when her baby was fast asleep she packed it into the basket , and wrote on a slip of paper , ` This unhappy little girl is called Delicia ! ' 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 XXXXX up again to the Queen , crying : ` All is lost !
begged find know let live ran seeing shutting thank wrote