"How silly they are! Any one can see that red is the colour to wear in
your dark hair!"
The Princess looked from one to the other and was puzzled. She thought
all the stones were so beautiful that she would have liked to wear them
all; but she did not think they would look really nice all together.
"What am I to do?" she said, puckering up her forehead. "How can I
choose when they are all so beautiful?"
Then there was a very long discussion about it. Each of the three
fairies wished his own stone to be worn, and the Princess could not tell
what to do.
"Each of them is quite beautiful," she said, "but, dear fairies, I am
obliged to say that I do _not_ like the look of them all together!"
All this time a very small fairy had been sitting quietly in the corner,
saying nothing, but thinking a great deal. He came forward now and
spoke.
"Give the stones to me," he said, "and I will settle the question."
So he took the three stones and flew away, far up into the sky, above
the Princess's dark head, above the houses and the trees, above the
Crystal Mountain even, into the misty sunshine behind the clouds.