NOW, after Prince Frank had seen Princess Hilda and the cat disappear up the trunk of the tall pine-tree, he had sat down rather disconsolately beside the fire, which blazed away famously, blue, red, and yellow. Every once in a while he took a fagot from the pile and put it in the flame, lest it should go out; but he was very careful not to step outside the circle which the cat had drawn with the tip of his tail. So things went on for a very long time, and Prince Frank began to get very sleepy, for never before had he sat up so late; but still Princess Hilda and the cat did not return, and he knew that if he were to lie down to take a nap, the fire might go out before he waked up again, and then Rumpty-Dudget would have blackened Henry’s face all over with one of the burnt logs, and he never could be saved. He kept on putting fresh fagots in the flame, therefore, though it was all he could do to keep his eyes open; and the fire kept on burning red, blue and yellow.

But after another very long time had gone by, and there were still no Princess Hilda and the cat, Prince Frank, when he went to take a fresh fagot from the pile, found that there was only that one fagot left of all that he and Hilda had gathered together. At this he was very much frightened, and knew not what to do; for when that fagot was burned up, as it soon would be, what was he to do to keep the fire going? There were no more sticks inside the ring, and the cat had told him that if he went outside of it, all would be lost.

In order to make the fagot last as long as possible, he broke it apart, and only put one stick in the flame at a time; but after a while, all but the last stick was gone, and when he had put that in, Prince Frank sat down quite in despair, and cried with all his might. Just then, however, he heard a voice calling him, and looking up, he saw a little gray man standing just outside the circle, with a great bundle of fagots in his arms. Prince Frank’s eyes were so full of tears that he did not see that the little gray man was Rumpty-Dudget.

“What are you crying for, my dear little boy?” asked the gray dwarf, smiling from ear to ear.

“Because I have used up all my fagots,” answered Prince Frank; “and if the fire goes out, my brother Henry cannot be saved.”

“That would be too bad, surely,” said the dwarf; “luckily, I have got an armful, and when these are gone, I will get you some more.”

“Oh, thank you—how kind you are!” cried Prince Frank, jumping up in great joy and going to the edge of the circle. “Give them to me, quick, for there is no time to be lost; the fire is just going out.”

“I can’t bring them in,” replied the dwarf; “I have carried them already from the other end of the forest, and that is far enough; surely you can come the rest of the way yourself.”

“Oh, but I must not come outside the circle,” said Prince Frank “for the cat told me that if I did, all would go wrong.”

“Pshaw! what does the cat know about it?” asked the dwarf. “At all events, your fire will not burn one minute longer; and you know what will happen then.”

When Prince Frank heard this, he knew not what to do; but anything seemed better than to let the fire go out; so he put one foot outside the circle and stretched out his hand for the fagots. But immediately the dwarf gave a loud laugh, and threw the fagots away as far as he could; and rushing into the circle, he began to stamp out with his feet the little of the fire that was left.

Then Prince Frank remembered what the cat had told him; he turned and rushed back also into the circle; and as the last bit of flame flickered at the end of the stick, he laid himself down upon it like a bit of fire-wood. And immediately Rumpty-Dudget gave a loud cry and disappeared; and the fire blazed up famously, yellow, blue and red, with poor little Prince Frank in the midst of it!

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