noon
`` John could reach the baby now , and the little princess was handed down by the tongs . * * * * * `` One fine summer day , a month after these her first adventures , during which time she had been very carefully watched , the princess was lying on the bed in the queen 's own chamber , fast asleep . One of the windows was open , for it was noon , and the day so sultry that the little girl was wrapped in nothing less etherial than slumber itself . The queen came into the room , and not observing that the baby was on the bed , opened another window . A frolicsome fairy wind which had been watching for a chance of mischief , rushed in at the one window , and taking its way over the bed where the child was lying , caught her up , and rolling and floating her along like a piece of flue , or a dandelion-seed , carried her with it through the opposite window , and away . The queen went down stairs , quite ignorant of the loss she had herself occasioned .