Catherine had come of age. She was sitting in her room in her father’s well-appointed house when I flew in with my wheel of fortune.
“Catherine,” I said. “Which would you rather have? A happy youth or a happy old age?”
After some consideration she said, “Give me a happy old age.”
Soon after, her father’s ships were lost at sea, with all his goods, and he himself died of disappointment.
Catherine went to work.
Destiny in Catherine and Her Destiny, Pink Fairy Book. Illustration by Hans Sebald Beham.
