'my name is Irene.'
'That's my name!' cried the princess.
'I know that. I let you have mine. I haven't got your name.
You've got mine.'
'How can that be?' asked the princess, bewildered. 'I've always
had my name.'
'Your papa, the king, asked me if I had any objection to your
having it; and, of course, I hadn't. I let you have it with
pleasure.'
'It was very kind of you to give me your name - and such a pretty
one,' said the princess.
'Oh, not so very kind!' said the old lady. 'A name is one of those
things one can give away and keep all the same. I have a good many
such things. Wouldn't you like to know who I am, child?'
'Yes, that I should - very much.'
'I'm your great-great-grandmother,' said the lady.
'What's that?' asked the princess.
'I'm your father's mother's father's mother.'
'Oh, dear! I can't understand that,' said the princess.
'I dare say not. I didn't expect you would. But that's no reason
why I shouldn't say it.'
'Oh, no!' answered the princess.
'I will explain it all to you when you are older,' the lady went
on. 'But you will be able to understand this much now: I came here
to take care of you.
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