Then came the second prince, who made as
sure of obtaining the crown as his brother had done, but, alas! with
no better success; for though his piece of cambric was exquisitely
fine, yet it could not be drawn through the eye of the needle. It was
now the turn of the youngest prince, who accordingly advanced, and
opening an elegant little box inlaid with jewels, took out a walnut
and cracked the shell, imagining he should immediately perceive his
piece of cambric; but what was his astonishment to see nothing but a
filbert! He did not, however, lose his hopes; he cracked the filbert,
and it presented him with a cherry-stone. The lords of the court, who
had assembled to witness this extraordinary trial, could not, any more
than the princes his brothers, refrain from laughing, to think he
should be so silly as to claim the crown on no better pretensions. The
prince, however, cracked the cherry-stone, which was filled with a
kernel; he divided it, and found in the middle a grain of wheat, and
in that a grain of millet-seed. He was now absolutely confounded, and
could not help muttering between his teeth, "O white cat, white cat,
thou hast deceived me!" At this instant he felt his hand scratched by
the claw of a cat; upon which he again took courage, and opening the
grain of millet-seed, to the astonishment of all present, he drew
forth a piece of cambric four hundred yards long, and fine enough to
be threaded with perfect ease through the eye of the needle.
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