'Now, Little Mother, let's have a good 'un!' 'What shall it be about, Maggy?'
'Oh, let's have a princess,' said Maggy, 'and let her be a reg'lar one.
Beyond all belief, you know!' Little Dorrit considered for a moment; and with a rather sad smile upon
her face, which was flushed by the sunset, began:
'Maggy, there was once upon a time a fine King, and he had everything he
could wish for, and a great deal more. He had gold and silver, diamonds
and rubies, riches of every kind. He had palaces, and he had--'
'Hospitals,' interposed Maggy, still nursing her knees. 'Let him have
hospitals, because they're so comfortable. Hospitals with lots of
Chicking.' 'Yes, he had plenty of them, and he had plenty of everything.'
'Plenty of baked potatoes, for instance?' said Maggy. 'Plenty of everything.' 'Lor!' chuckled Maggy, giving her knees a hug. 'Wasn't it prime!'
'This King had a daughter, who was the wisest and most beautiful
Princess that ever was seen. When she was a child she understood all her
lessons before her masters taught them to her; and when she was grown
up, she was the wonder of the world. Now, near the Palace where this
Princess lived, there was a cottage in which there was a poor little
tiny woman, who lived all alone by herself.'
'An old woman,' said Maggy, with an unctuous smack of her lips. 'No, not an old woman. Quite a young one.' 'I wonder she warn't afraid,' said Maggy. 'Go on, please.'
'The Princess passed the cottage nearly every day, and whenever she went
by in her beautiful carriage, she saw the poor tiny woman spinning at
her wheel, and she looked at the tiny woman, and the tiny woman looked
at her. So, one day she stopped the coachman a little way from the
cottage, and got out and walked on and peeped in at the door, and there,
as usual, was the tiny woman spinning at her wheel, and she looked at
the Princess, and the Princess looked at her.'
'Like trying to stare one another out,' said Maggy. 'Please go on,
Little Mother.' 'The Princess was such a wonderful Princess that she had the power of
knowing secrets, and she said to the tiny woman, Why do you keep it
there? This showed her directly that the Princess knew why she lived
all alone by herself spinning at her wheel, and she kneeled down at
the Princess's feet, and asked her never to betray her. So the Princess
said, I never will betray you. Let me see it. So the tiny woman closed
the shutter of the cottage window and fastened the door, and trembling
from head to foot for fear that any one should suspect her, opened a
very secret place and showed the Princess a shadow.'