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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 01:29:46 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 01:29:46 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20850-h.zip b/20850-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3291070 --- /dev/null +++ b/20850-h.zip diff --git a/20850-h/20850-h.htm b/20850-h/20850-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd8ecb7 --- /dev/null +++ b/20850-h/20850-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2667 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Prince Prigio</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + TD { vertical-align: top; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray;} + + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Prince Prigio, by Andrew Lang</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Prince Prigio, by Andrew Lang, Illustrated by +Gordon Browne + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Prince Prigio + + +Author: Andrew Lang + + + +Release Date: March 19, 2007 [eBook #20850] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRINCE PRIGIO*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1889 J. W. Arrowsmith edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"> +<img alt="Book cover" src="images/cover.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h1>PRINCE PRIGIO</h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">by</span><br /> +ANDREW LANG<br /> +<span class="smcap">author of</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">“the mark of cain</span>, “<span +class="smcap">the gold of fairnilee</span>”<br /> +<span class="smcap">etc.</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center">Twenty-seven Illustrations by +Gordon Browne</p> +<p style="text-align: center">1889<br /> +BRISTOL<br /> +<span class="smcap">J. W. Arrowsmith</span>, <span +class="smcap">Quay Street</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">london</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Simpkin</span>, <span class="smcap">Marshall +& Co.</span>, 4 <span class="smcap">Stationers’ Hall +Court</span><br /> +<i>All rights reserved</i></p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p0b.jpg"> +<img alt="“So the two went into the gardens together, and +talked about a number of things.”" src="images/p0s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page i--><a +name="pagei"></a><span class="pagenum">p. i</span>PRINCE +PRIGIO<br /> +<span class="smcap">is</span><br /> +Dedicated<br /> +<span class="smcap">to</span><br /> +ALMA<br /> +THYRA<br /> +EDITH<br /> +ROSALIND<br /> +NORNA<br /> +CECILY<br /> +AND VIOLET</p> +<h2><!-- page ii--><a name="pageii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +ii</span>PREFACE.</h2> +<p>In compiling the following History from the Archives of +Pantouflia, the Editor has incurred several obligations to the +Learned. The Return of Benson (chapter xii.) is the fruit +of the research of the late Mr. <span class="smcap">Allen +Quatermain</span>, while the final <i>wish</i> of Prince Prigio +was suggested by the invention or erudition of a Lady.</p> +<p>A study of the <i>Firedrake</i> in South Africa—where he +is called the <i>Nanaboulélé</i>, a difficult +word—has been published in French (translated from the +Basuto language) by M. <span class="smcap">Paul +Sébillot</span>, in the <i>Revue des Traditione +Populaires</i>. For the <i>Remora</i>, the Editor is +indebted to the <i>Voyage à la Lune</i> of M. <span +class="smcap">Cyrano de Bergérac</span>.</p> +<h2><!-- page 1--><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +1</span>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p1.jpg"> +<img alt="Chapter heading picture" src="images/p1.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><i>How the Fairies were not Invited to Court</i>.</p> +<p>Once upon a time there reigned in Pantouflia a king and a +queen. With almost everything else to make them happy, they +wanted one thing: they had no children. This vexed the king +even more than the queen, who was very clever and learned, and +who had hated <!-- page 2--><a name="page2"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 2</span>dolls when she was a child. +However, she, too in spite of all the books she read and all the +pictures she painted, would have been glad enough to be the +mother of a little prince. The king was anxious to consult +the fairies, but the queen would not hear of such a thing. +She did not believe in fairies: she said that they had never +existed; and that she maintained, though <i>The History of the +Royal Family</i> was full of chapters about nothing else.</p> +<p>Well, at long and at last they had a little boy, who was +generally regarded as the finest baby that had ever been +seen. Even her majesty herself remarked that, though she +could never believe all the courtiers told her, yet he certainly +was a fine child—a very fine child.</p> +<p>Now, the time drew near for the christening party, and the +king and queen were sitting at breakfast in their summer parlour +talking over <!-- page 3--><a name="page3"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 3</span>it. It was a splendid room, hung +with portraits of the royal ancestors. There was +Cinderella, the grandmother of the reigning monarch, with her +little foot in her glass slipper thrust out before her. +There was the Marquis de Carabas, who, as everyone knows, was +raised to the throne as prince consort after his marriage with +the daughter of the king of the period. On the arm of the +throne was seated his celebrated cat, wearing boots. There, +too, was a portrait of a beautiful lady, sound asleep: this was +Madame La Belle au Bois-dormant, also an ancestress of the royal +family. Many other pictures of celebrated persons were +hanging on the walls.</p> +<p>“You have asked all the right people, my dear?” +said the king.</p> +<p>“Everyone who should be asked,” answered the +queen.</p> +<p><!-- page 4--><a name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +4</span>“People are so touchy on these occasions,” +said his majesty. “You have not forgotten any of our +aunts?”</p> +<p>“No; the old cats!” replied the queen; for the +king’s aunts were old-fashioned, and did not approve of +her, and she knew it.</p> +<p>“They are very kind old ladies in their way,” said +the king; “and were nice to me when I was a boy.”</p> +<p>Then he waited a little, and remarked:</p> +<p>“The fairies, of course, you have invited? It has +always been usual, in our family, on an occasion like this; and I +think we have neglected them a little of late.”</p> +<p>“How <i>can</i> you be so <i>absurd</i>?” cried +the queen. “How often must I tell you that there are +<i>no</i> fairies? And even if there were—but, no +matter; pray let us drop the subject.”</p> +<p>“They are very old friends of our family, my <!-- page +5--><a name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 5</span>dear, +that’s all,” said the king timidly. +“Often and often they have been godmothers to us. +One, in particular, was most kind and most serviceable to +Cinderella I., my own grandmother.”</p> +<p>“Your grandmother!” interrupted her majesty. +“Fiddle-de-dee! If anyone puts such nonsense into the +head of my little Prigio—”</p> +<p>But here the baby was brought in by the nurse, and the queen +almost devoured it with kisses. And so the fairies were not +invited! It was an extraordinary thing, but none of the +nobles could come to the christening party when they learned that +the fairies had not been asked. Some were abroad; several +were ill; a few were in prison among the Saracens; others were +captives in the dens of ogres. The end of it was that the +king and queen had to sit down alone, one at each end of a very +long table, <!-- page 6--><a name="page6"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 6</span>arrayed with plates and glasses for a +hundred guests—for a hundred guests who never came!</p> +<p>“Any soup, my dear?” shouted the king, through a +speaking-trumpet; when, suddenly, the air was filled with a sound +like the rustling of the wings of birds.</p> +<p><i>Flitter</i>, <i>flitter</i>, <i>flutter</i>, went the +noise; and when the queen looked up, lo and behold! on every seat +was a lovely fairy, dressed in green, each with a <i>most +interesting-looking parcel</i> in her hand. Don’t you +like opening parcels? The king did, and he was most +friendly and polite to the fairies. But the queen, though +she saw them distinctly, took no notice of them. You see, +she did not believe in fairies, nor in her own eyes, when she saw +them. So she talked across the fairies to the king, just as +if they had not been there; but the king behaved as <!-- page +7--><a name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 7</span>politely +as if they were <i>real</i>—which, of course, they +were.</p> +<p>When dinner was over, and when the nurse had brought in the +baby, all the fairies gave him the most magnificent +presents. One offered a purse which could never be empty; +and one a pair of seven-leagued boots; and another a cap of +darkness, that nobody might see the prince when he put it on; and +another a wishing-cap; and another a carpet, on which, when he +sat, he was carried wherever he wished to find himself. +Another made him beautiful for ever; and another, brave; and +another, lucky: but the last fairy of all, a cross old thing, +crept up and said, “My child, you shall be <i>too</i> +clever!”</p> +<p>This fairy’s gift would have pleased the queen, if she +had believed in it, more than anything else, because she was so +clever herself. But <!-- page 8--><a name="page8"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 8</span>she took no notice at all; and the +fairies went each to her own country, and none of them stayed +there at the palace, where nobody believed in them, except the +king, a little. But the queen tossed all their nice boots +and caps, carpets, purses, swords, and all, away into a dark +lumber-room; for, of course, she thought that they were <i>all +nonsense</i>, and merely old rubbish out of books, or pantomime +“properties.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 9--><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +9</span>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p9.jpg"> +<img alt="Chapter heading picture" src="images/p9.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><i>Prince Prigio and his Family</i>.</p> +<p>Well, the little prince grew up. I think I’ve told +you that his name was Prigio—did I not? Well, that +<i>was</i> his name. You cannot think how clever he +was. He argued with his nurse as soon as he could speak, +which was very soon. He argued that he did not like to be +washed, because <!-- page 10--><a name="page10"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 10</span>the soap got into his eyes. +However, when he was told all about the <i>pores of the skin</i>, +and how they could not be healthy if he was not washed, he at +once ceased to resist, for he was very reasonable. He +argued with his father that he did not see why there should be +kings who were rich, while beggars were poor; and why the +king—who was a little greedy—should have poached eggs +and plum-cake at afternoon tea, while many other persons went +without dinner. The king was so surprised and hurt at these +remarks that he boxed the prince’s ears, saying, +“I’ll teach you to be too clever, my lad.” Then +he remembered the awful curse of the oldest fairy, and was sorry +for the rudeness of the queen. And when the prince, after +having his ears boxed, said that “force was no +argument,” the king went away in a rage.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p11.jpg"> +<img alt="Prigio reading a book" src="images/p11.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Indeed, I cannot tell you how the prince <!-- page 11--><a +name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>was hated by +all! He would go down into the kitchen, and show the cook +how to make soup. He would visit the poor people’s +cottage, and teach them how to make the beds, and how to make +plum-pudding out of turnip-tops, and venison cutlets out of rusty +bacon. He showed the fencing-master how to fence, and the +professional cricketer how to bowl, and <!-- page 12--><a +name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 12</span>instructed +the rat-catcher in breeding terriers. He set sums to the +Chancellor of the Exchequer, and assured the Astronomer Royal +that the sun does not go round the earth—which, for my +part, I believe it does. The young ladies of the Court +disliked dancing with him, in spite of his good looks, because he +was always asking, “Have you read this?” and +“Have you read that?”—and when they said they +hadn’t, he sneered; and when they said they <i>had</i>, he +found them out.</p> +<p>He found out all his tutors and masters in the same horrid +way; correcting the accent of his French teacher, and trying to +get his German tutor not to eat peas with his knife. He +also endeavoured to teach the queen-dowager, his grandmother, an +art with which she had long been perfectly familiar! In +fact, he knew everything better than anybody else; and the <!-- +page 13--><a name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +13</span>worst of it was that he <i>did</i>: and he was never in +the wrong, and he always said, “Didn’t I tell you +so?” And, what was more, he <i>had</i>!</p> +<p>As time went on, Prince Prigio had two younger brothers, whom +everybody liked. They were not a bit clever, but +jolly. Prince Alphonso, the third son, was round, fat, +good-humoured, and as brave as a lion. Prince Enrico, the +second, was tall, thin, and a little sad, but <i>never</i> too +clever. Both were in love with two of their own cousins +(with the approval of their dear parents); and all the world +said, “What nice, unaffected princes they are!” +But Prigio nearly got the country into several wars by being too +clever for the foreign ambassadors. Now, as Pantouflia was +a rich, lazy country, which hated fighting, this was very +unpleasant, and did not make people love Prince Prigio any +better.</p> +<h2><!-- page 14--><a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +14</span>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<p><i>About the Firedrake</i>.</p> +<p>Of all the people who did not like Prigio, his own dear papa, +King Grognio, disliked him most. For the king knew he was +not clever, himself. When he was in the counting-house, +counting out his money, and when he happened to say, +“Sixteen shillings and fourteen and twopence are three +pounds, fifteen,” it made him wild to hear Prigio whisper, +“One pound, ten and twopence”—which, of course, +it <i>is</i>. And the king was afraid that Prigio would +conspire, and get made king himself—which was the last +thing Prigio really wanted. He much preferred to <!-- page +15--><a name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 15</span>idle +about, and know everything without seeming to take any +trouble.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p15b.jpg"> +<img alt="The King at his desk" src="images/p15s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Well, the king thought and thought. How was he to get +Prigio out of the way, and make Enrico or Alphonso his +successor? He read in books about it; and all the books +showed that, if a king sent his three sons to do anything, <!-- +page 16--><a name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +16</span>it was always the youngest who did it, and got the +crown. And he wished he had the chance. Well, it +arrived at last.</p> +<p>There was a very hot summer! It began to be hot in +March. All the rivers were dried up. The grass did +not grow. The corn did not grow. The thermometers +exploded with heat. The barometers stood at <span +class="smcap">Set Fair</span>. The people were much +distressed, and came and broke the palace windows—as they +usually do when things go wrong in Pantouflia.</p> +<p>The king consulted the learned men about the Court, who told +him that probably a</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Firedrake</span></p> +<p>was in the neighbourhood.</p> +<p>Now, the Firedrake is a beast, or bird, about the bigness of +an elephant. Its body is made of iron, and it is always +red-hot. A more terrible <!-- page 17--><a +name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>and cruel +beast cannot be imagined; for, if you go near it, you are at once +broiled by the Firedrake.</p> +<p>But the king was not ill-pleased: “for,” thought +he, “of course my three sons must go after the brute, the +eldest first; and, as usual, it will kill the first two, and be +beaten by the youngest. It is a little hard on Enrico, poor +boy; but <i>anything</i> to get rid of that Prigio!”</p> +<p>Then the king went to Prigio, and said that his country was in +danger, and that he was determined to leave the crown to +whichever of them would bring him the horns (for it has horns) +and tail of the Firedrake.</p> +<p>“It is an awkward brute to tackle,” the king said, +“but you are the oldest, my lad; go where glory waits +you! Put on your armour, and be off with you!”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p18b.jpg"> +<img alt="“Put on your armour and be off with you!”" +src="images/p18s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><!-- page 19--><a name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +19</span>This the king said, hoping that either the Firedrake +would roast Prince Prigio alive (which he could easily do, as I +have said; for he is all over as hot as a red-hot poker), or +that, if the prince succeeded, at least his country would be +freed from the monster.</p> +<p>But the prince, who was lying on the sofa doing sums in +compound division for fun, said in the politest way:</p> +<p>“Thanks to the education your majesty has given me, I +have learned that the Firedrake, like the siren, the fairy, and +so forth, is a fabulous animal which does not exist. But +even granting, for the sake of argument, that there is a +Firedrake, your majesty is well aware that there is no kind of +use in sending <i>me</i>. It is always the eldest son who +goes out first and comes to grief on these occasions, and it is +always the third son that succeeds. Send <!-- page 20--><a +name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +20</span>Alphonso” (this was the youngest brother), +“and <i>he</i> will do the trick at once. At least, +if he fails, it will be most unusual, and Enrico can try his +luck.”</p> +<p>Then he went back to his arithmetic and his slate, and the +king had to send for Prince Alphonso and Prince Enrico. +They both came in very warm; for they had been whipping tops, and +the day was unusually hot.</p> +<p>“Look here,” said the king, “just you two +younger ones look at Prigio! You see how hot it is, and how +coolly he takes it, and the country suffering; and all on account +of a Firedrake, you know, which has apparently built his nest not +far off. Well, I have asked that lout of a brother of yours +to kill it, and he says—”</p> +<p>“That he does not believe in Firedrakes,” +interrupted Prigio. “The weather’s warm enough +without going out hunting!”</p> +<p><!-- page 21--><a name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +21</span>“Not believe in Firedrakes!” cried +Alphonso. “I wonder what you <i>do</i> believe +in! Just let me get at the creature!” for he was as +brave as a lion. “Hi! Page, my chain-armour, +helmet, lance, and buckler! <i>A Molinda</i>! <i>A +Molinda</i>!” which was his <i>war-cry</i>.</p> +<p>The page ran to get the armour; but it was so <i>uncommonly +hot</i> that he dropped it, and put his fingers in his mouth, +crying!</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p21.jpg"> +<img alt="The page crying" src="images/p21.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“You had better put on flannels, Alphonso, for this kind +of work,” said Prigio. “And if I were you, +I’d take a light garden-engine, full of water, to squirt at +the enemy.”</p> +<p>“Happy thought!” said Alphonso. “I +will!” And off he went, kissed his dear Molinda, bade +her keep a lot of dances for him (there was to <!-- page 22--><a +name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>be a dance +when he had killed the Firedrake), and then he rushed to the +field!</p> +<p>But he never came back any more!</p> +<p>Everyone wept bitterly—everyone but Prince Prigio; for +he thought it was a practical joke, and said that Alphonso had +taken the opportunity to start off on his travels and see the +world.</p> +<p>“There is some dreadful mistake, sir,” said Prigio +to the king. “You know as well as I do that the +youngest son has always succeeded, up to now. But I +entertain great hopes of Enrico!”</p> +<p>And he grinned; for he fancied it was all <i>nonsense</i>, and +that there were no Firedrakes.</p> +<p>Enrico was present when Prigio was consoling the king in this +unfeeling way.</p> +<p>“Enrico, my boy,” said his majesty, “the +task awaits you, and the honour. When <i>you</i> <!-- page +23--><a name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>come +back with the horns and tail of the Firedrake, you shall be crown +prince; and Prigio shall be made an usher at the Grammar +School—it is all he is fit for.”</p> +<p>Enrico was not quite so confident as Alphonso had been. +He insisted on making his will; and he wrote a poem about the +pleasures and advantages of dying young. This is part of +it:</p> +<blockquote><p><i>The violet is a blossom sweet</i>,<br /> + <i>That droops before the day is done</i>—<br +/> +<i>Slain by thine overpowering heat</i>,<br /> + <i>O Sun</i>!</p> +<p><i>And I</i>, <i>like that sweet purple flower</i>,<br /> + <i>May roast</i>, <i>or boil</i>, <i>or broil</i>, +<i>or bake</i>,<br /> +<i>If burned by thy terrific power</i>,<br /> + <i>Firedrake</i>!</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This poem comforted Enrico more or less, and he showed it to +Prigio. But the prince only laughed, and said that the +second line of <!-- page 24--><a name="page24"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 24</span>the last verse was not very good; for +violets do not “roast, or boil, or broil, or +bake.”</p> +<p>Enrico tried to improve it, but could not. So he read it +to his cousin, Lady Kathleena, just as it was; and she cried over +it (though I don’t think she understood it); and Enrico +cried a little, too.</p> +<p>However, next day he started, with a spear, a patent +refrigerator, and a lot of the bottles people throw at fires to +put them out.</p> +<p>But <i>he</i> never came back again!</p> +<p>After shedding torrents of tears, the king summoned Prince +Prigio to his presence.</p> +<p>“Dastard!” he said. “Poltroon! +<i>Your</i> turn, which should have come first, has arrived at +last. <i>You</i> must fetch me the horns and the tail of +the Firedrake. Probably you will be grilled, thank +goodness; but who will give me back Enrico and +Alphonso?”</p> +<p><!-- page 25--><a name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +25</span>“Indeed, your majesty,” said Prigio, +“you must permit me to correct your policy. Your only +reason for dispatching your sons in pursuit of this dangerous but +I believe <i>fabulous</i> animal, was to ascertain which of us +would most worthily succeed to your throne, at the +date—long may it be deferred!—of your lamented +decease. Now, there can be no further question about the +matter. I, unworthy as I am, represent the sole hope of the +royal family. Therefore to send me after the Firedrake were +<a name="citation25"></a><a href="#footnote25" +class="citation">[25]</a> both dangerous and unnecessary. +Dangerous, because, if he treats me as you say he did my +brothers—my unhappy brothers,—the throne of +Pantouflia will want an heir. But, if I do come back +alive—why, I cannot be more the true heir than I am at +present; now <i>can</i> I? Ask the Lord Chief Justice, if +you don’t believe <i>me</i>.”</p> +<p>These arguments were so clearly and undeniably correct that +the king, unable to answer them, withdrew into a solitary place +where he could express himself with freedom, and give rein to his +expression.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<p><i>How Prince Prigio was Deserted by Everybody</i>.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, Prince Prigio had to suffer many unpleasant +things. Though he was the crown prince (and though his +arguments were unanswerable), everybody shunned him for a +coward. The queen, who did not believe in Firedrakes, alone +took his side. He was not only avoided by all, but he had +most disagreeable scenes with his own cousins, Lady Molinda and +Lady Kathleena. In the garden Lady Molinda met him walking +alone, and did not bow to him.</p> +<p>“Dear Molly,” said the prince, who liked <!-- page +28--><a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 28</span>her, +“how have I been so unfortunate as to offend +you?”</p> +<p>“My name, sir, is Lady Molinda,” she said, very +proudly; “and you have sent your own brother to his +grave!”</p> +<p>“Oh, excuse me,” said the prince, “I am +certain he has merely gone off on his travels. He’ll +come back when he’s tired: there <i>are</i> no Firedrakes; +a French writer says they are ‘purement fabuleux,’ +purely fabulous, you know.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p29b.jpg"> +<img alt="“My name, sir, is Lady Molinda, she said.”" +src="images/p29s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“Prince Alphonso has gone on his travels, and will come +back when he is tired! And was he then—tired—of +<i>me</i>?” cried poor Molinda, bursting into tears, and +forgetting her dignity.</p> +<p>“Oh! I beg your pardon, I never noticed; I’m +sure I am very sorry,” cried the prince, who, never having +been in love himself, never thought of other people. And he +tried to take <!-- page 30--><a name="page30"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 30</span>Molinda’s hand, but she +snatched it from him and ran away through the garden to the +palace, leaving Prince Prigio to feel foolish, for once, and +ashamed.</p> +<p>As for Lady Kathleena, she swept past him like a queen, +without a word. So the prince, for all his cleverness, was +not happy.</p> +<p>After several days had gone by, the king returned from the +solitary place where he had been speaking his mind. He now +felt calmer and better; and so at last he came back to the +palace. But on seeing Prince Prigio, who was lolling in a +hammock, translating Egyptian hieroglyphs into French poetry for +his mother, the king broke out afresh, and made use of the most +cruel and impolite expressions.</p> +<p>At last, he gave orders that all the Court should pack up and +move to a distant city; and that Prince Prigio should be left +alone in the <!-- page 31--><a name="page31"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 31</span>palace by himself. For he was +quite unendurable, the king said, and he could not trust his own +temper when he thought of him. And he grew so fierce, that +even the queen was afraid of him now.</p> +<p>The poor queen cried a good deal; Prigio being her favourite +son, on account of his acknowledged ability and talent. But +the rest of the courtiers were delighted at leaving Prince Prigio +behind. For his part, he, very good-naturedly, showed them +the best and shortest road to Falkenstein, the city where they +were going; and easily proved that neither the chief secretary +for geography, nor the general of the army, knew anything about +the matter—which, indeed, they did not.</p> +<p>The ungrateful courtiers left Prigio with hoots and yells, for +they disliked him so much that they forgot he would be king one +day. He <!-- page 32--><a name="page32"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 32</span>therefore reminded them of this +little fact in future history, which made them feel uncomfortable +enough, and then lay down in his hammock and went to sleep.</p> +<p>When he wakened, the air was cold and the day was beginning to +grow dark. Prince Prigio thought he would go down and dine +at a tavern in the town, for no servants had been left with +him. But what was his annoyance when he found that his +boots, his sword, his cap, his cloak—all his clothes, in +fact, except those he wore,—had been taken away by the +courtiers, merely to spite him! His wardrobe had been +ransacked, and everything that had not been carried off had been +cut up, burned, and destroyed. Never was such a spectacle +of wicked mischief. It was as if hay had been made of +everything he possessed. What was worse, he had not a penny +in his pocket to buy <!-- page 33--><a name="page33"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 33</span>new things; and his father had +stopped his allowance of fifty thousand pounds a month.</p> +<p>Can you imagine anything more cruel and <i>unjust</i> than +this conduct? for it was not the prince’s fault that he was +so clever. The cruel fairy had made him so. But, even +if the prince had been born clever (as may have happened to you), +was he to be blamed for that? The other people were just as +much in fault for being born so stupid; but the world, my dear +children, can never be induced to remember this. If you are +clever, you will find it best not to let people know it—if +you want them to like you.</p> +<p>Well, here was the prince in a pretty plight. Not a +pound in his pocket, not a pair of boots to wear, not even a cap +to cover his head from the rain; nothing but cold meat to eat, +and never a servant to answer the bell.</p> +<h2><!-- page 34--><a name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +34</span>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<p><i>What Prince Prigio found in the Garret</i>.</p> +<p>The prince walked from room to room of the palace; but, unless +he wrapped himself up in a curtain, there was nothing for him to +wear when he went out in the rain. At last he climbed up a +turret-stair in the very oldest part of the castle, where he had +never been before; and at the very top was a little round room, a +kind of garret. The prince pushed in the door with some +difficulty—not that it was locked, but the handle was +rusty, and the wood had swollen with the damp. The room was +very dark; only the last grey light of the rainy evening came +through a slit of a window, one of those <!-- page 35--><a +name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>narrow +windows that they used to fire arrows out of in old times.</p> +<p>But in the dusk the prince saw a heap of all sorts of things +lying on the floor and on the table. There were two caps; +he put one on—an old, grey, ugly cap it was, made of +felt. There was a pair of boots; and he kicked off his +slippers, and got into <i>them</i>. They were a good deal +worn, but fitted as if they had been made for him. On the +table was a purse with just three gold coins—old ones, +too—in it; and this, as you may fancy, the prince was very +well pleased to put in his pocket. A sword, with a +sword-belt, he buckled about his waist; and the rest of the +articles, a regular collection of odds and ends, he left just +where they were lying. Then he ran downstairs, and walked +out of the hall door.</p> +<h2><!-- page 36--><a name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +36</span>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<p><i>What Happened to Prince Prigio in Town</i>.</p> +<p>By this time the prince was very hungry. The town was +just three miles off; but he had such a royal appetite, that he +did not like to waste it on bad cookery, and the people of the +royal town were bad cooks.</p> +<p>“I wish I were in ‘The Bear,’ at +Gluckstein,” said he to himself; for he remembered that +there was a very good cook there. But, then, the town was +twenty-one leagues away—sixty-three long miles!</p> +<p>No sooner had the prince said this, and taken just three +steps, than he found himself at the door of the “Bear +Inn” at Gluckstein!</p> +<p><!-- page 37--><a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +37</span>“This is the most extraordinary dream,” said +he to himself; for he was far too clever, of course, to believe +in seven-league boots. Yet he had a pair on at that very +moment, and it was they which had carried him in three strides +from the palace to Gluckstein!</p> +<p>The truth is, that the prince, in looking about the palace for +clothes, had found his way into that very old lumber-room where +the magical gifts of the fairies had been thrown by his clever +mother, who did not believe in them. But this, of course, +the prince did not know.</p> +<p>Now you should be told that seven-league boots only take those +prodigious steps when you say you <i>want</i> to go a long +distance. Otherwise they would be very +inconvenient—when you only want to cross the room, for +example. Perhaps this has not been explained to you by your +governess?</p> +<p><!-- page 38--><a name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +38</span>Well, the prince walked into “The Bear,” and +it seemed odd to him that nobody took any notice of him. +And yet his face was as well known as that of any man in +Pantouflia, for everybody had seen it, at least in +pictures. He was so puzzled by not being attended to as +usual, that <i>he quite forgot to take off his cap</i>. He +sat down at the table, however, and shouted +“<i>Kellner</i>!” at which all the waiters jumped, +and looked round in every direction, but nobody came to +him. At first he thought they were too busy, but presently +another explanation occurred to him.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p38.jpg"> +<img alt="The waiters" src="images/p38.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><!-- page 39--><a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +39</span>“The king,” he said to himself, “has +threatened to execute anybody who speaks to me, or helps me in +any way. Well, I don’t mean to starve in the midst of +plenty, anyhow; here goes!”</p> +<p>The prince rose, and went to the table in the midst of the +room, where a huge roast turkey had just been placed. He +helped himself to half the breast, some sausages, chestnut +stuffing, bread sauce, potatoes, and a bottle of red +wine—Burgundy. He then went back to a table in a +corner, where he dined very well, nobody taking any notice of +him. When he had finished, he sat watching the other people +dining, and smoking his cigarette. As he was sitting thus, +a very tall man, an officer in the uniform of the Guards, came +in, and, walking straight to the prince’s table, said: +“Kellner, clean this table, and bring in the bill of +fare.”</p> +<p><!-- page 40--><a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +40</span>With these words, the officer sat down suddenly in the +prince’s lap, as if he did not see him at all. He was +a heavy man, and the prince, enraged at the insult, pushed him +away and jumped to his feet. As he did so, <i>his cap +dropped off</i>. The officer fell on his knees at once, +crying:</p> +<p>“Pardon, my prince, pardon! I never saw +you!”</p> +<p>This was more than the prince could be expected to +believe.</p> +<p>“Nonsense! Count Frederick von Matterhorn,” +he said; “you must be intoxicated. Sir! you have +insulted your prince and your superior officer. Consider +yourself under arrest! You shall be sent to a prison +to-morrow.”</p> +<p>On this, the poor officer appealed piteously to everybody in +the tavern. They all declared that they had not seen the +prince, nor even had an <!-- page 41--><a name="page41"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 41</span>idea that he was doing them the +honour of being in the neighbourhood of their town.</p> +<p>More and more offended, and convinced that there was a +conspiracy to annoy and insult him, the prince shouted for the +landlord, called for his bill, threw down his three pieces of +gold without asking for change, and went into the street.</p> +<p>“It is a disgraceful conspiracy,” he said. +“The king shall answer for this! I shall write to the +newspapers at once!”</p> +<p>He was not put in a better temper by the way in which people +hustled him in the street. They ran against him exactly as +if they did not see him, and then staggered back in the greatest +surprise, looking in every direction for the person they had +jostled. In one of these encounters, the prince pushed so +hard against a poor old beggar woman that she fell down. As +<!-- page 42--><a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +42</span>he was usually most kind and polite, he pulled off his +cap to beg her pardon, when, behold, the beggar woman gave one +dreadful scream, and fainted! A crowd was collecting, and +the prince, forgetting that he had thrown down all his money in +the tavern, pulled out his purse. Then he remembered what +he had done, and expected to find it empty; but, lo, there were +three pieces of gold in it! Overcome with surprise, he +thrust the money into the woman’s hand, and put on his cap +again. In a moment the crowd, which had been staring at +him, rushed away in every direction, with cries of terror, +declaring that there was a magician in the town, and a fellow who +could appear and disappear at pleasure!</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p42b.jpg"> +<img alt="The crowd running" src="images/p42s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>By this time, you or I, or anyone who was not so extremely +clever as Prince Prigio, would have understood what was the +matter. He <!-- page 44--><a name="page44"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 44</span>had put on, without knowing it, not +only the seven-league boots, but the cap of darkness, and had +taken Fortunatus’s purse, which could never be empty, +however often you took all the money out. All those and +many other delightful wares the fairies had given him at his +christening, and the prince had found them in the dark +garret. But the prince was so extremely wise, and learned, +and scientific, that he did not believe in fairies, nor in fairy +gifts.</p> +<p>“It is indigestion,” he said to himself: +“those sausages were not of the best; and that Burgundy was +extremely strong. Things are not as they appear.”</p> +<p>Here, as he was arguing with himself, he was nearly run over +by a splendid carriage and six, the driver of which never took +the slightest notice of him. Annoyed at this, the prince +leaped up behind, threw down the two footmen, <!-- page 45--><a +name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 45</span>who made no +resistance, and so was carried to the door of a magnificent +palace. He was determined to challenge the gentleman who +was in the carriage; but, noticing that he had a very beautiful +young lady with him, whom he had never seen before, he followed +them into the house, not wishing to alarm the girl, and meaning +to speak to the gentleman when he found him alone.</p> +<p>A great ball was going on; but, as usual, nobody took any +notice of the prince. He walked among the guests, being +careful not to jostle them, and listening to their +conversation.</p> +<p>It was all about himself! Everyone had heard of his +disgrace, and almost everyone cried “Serve him +right!” They said that the airs he gave himself were +quite unendurable—that nothing was more rude than to be +always in the <!-- page 46--><a name="page46"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 46</span>right—that cleverness might be +carried far too far—that it was better even to be born +stupid (“Like the rest of you,” thought the prince); +and, in fact, nobody had a good word for him.</p> +<p>Yes, one had! It was the pretty lady of the +carriage. I never could tell you how pretty she was. +She was tall, with cheeks like white roses blushing: she had dark +hair, and very large dark-grey eyes, and her face was the kindest +in the world! The prince first thought how nice and good +she looked, even before he thought how pretty she looked. +<i>She</i> stood up for Prince Prigio when her partner would +speak ill of him. She had never seen the prince, for she +was but newly come to Pantouflia; but she declared that it was +his <i>misfortune</i>, not his fault, to be so clever. +“And, then, think how hard they made him work at +school! Besides,” said this kind <!-- page 47--><a +name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span>young lady, +“I hear he is extremely handsome, and very brave; and he +has a good heart, for he was kind, I have heard, to a poor boy, +and did all his examination papers for him, so that the boy +passed first in <i>everything</i>. And now he is Minister +for Education, though he can’t do a line of Greek +prose!”</p> +<p>The prince blushed at this, for he knew his conduct had not +been honourable. But he at once fell over head and ears in +love with the young lady, a thing he had never done in his life +before, because—he said—“women were so +stupid!” You see he was so clever!</p> +<p>Now, at this very moment—when the prince, all of a +sudden, was as deep in love as if he had been the stupidest +officer in the room—an extraordinary thing happened! +Something seemed to give a whirr! in his brain, and in one +instant <i>he knew all about it</i>! He believed <!-- page +48--><a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 48</span>in +fairies and fairy gifts, and understood that his cap was the cap +of darkness, and his shoes the seven-league boots, and his purse +the purse of Fortunatus! He had read about those things in +historical books: but now he believed in them.</p> +<h2><!-- page 49--><a name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +49</span>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<p><i>The Prince Falls in Love</i>.</p> +<p>He understood all this, and burst out laughing, which nearly +frightened an old lady near him out of her wits. Ah! how he +wished he was only in evening dress, that he might dance with the +charming young lady. But there he was, dressed just as if +he were going out to hunt, if anyone could have seen him. +So, even if he took off his cap of darkness, and became visible, +he was no figure for a ball. Once he would not have cared, +but now he cared very much indeed.</p> +<p>But the prince was not clever for nothing. <!-- page +50--><a name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 50</span>He +thought for a moment, then went out of the room, and, in three +steps of the seven-league boots, was at his empty, dark, cold +palace again. He struck a light with a flint and steel, lit +a torch, and ran upstairs to the garret. The flaring light +of the torch fell on the pile of “rubbish,” as the +queen would have called it, which he turned over with eager +hands. Was there—yes, there <i>was</i> another +cap! There it lay, a handsome green one with a red +feather. The prince pulled off the cap of darkness, put on +the other, and said:</p> +<p>“<i>I wish I were dressed in my best suit of white and +gold</i>, <i>with the royal Pantouflia diamonds</i>!”</p> +<p>In one moment there he was in white and gold, the greatest and +most magnificent dandy in the whole world, and the handsomest +man!</p> +<p>“How about my boots, I wonder,” said <!-- page +51--><a name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 51</span>the +prince; for his seven-league boots were stout riding-boots, not +good to dance in, whereas <i>now</i> he was in elegant shoes of +silk and gold.</p> +<p>He threw down the wishing cap, put on the other—the cap +of darkness—and made three strides in the direction of +Gluckstein. But he was only three steps nearer it than he +had been, and the seven-league boots were standing beside him on +the floor!</p> +<p>“No,” said the prince; “no man can be in two +different pairs of boots at one and the same time! +That’s mathematics!”</p> +<p>He then hunted about in the lumber-room again till he found a +small, shabby, old Persian carpet, the size of a hearthrug. +He went to his own room, took a portmanteau in his hand, sat down +on the carpet, and said:</p> +<p>“I wish I were in Gluckstein.”</p> +<p><!-- page 52--><a name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +52</span>In a moment there he found himself; for this was that +famous carpet which Prince Hussein bought long ago, in the market +at Bisnagar, and which the fairies had brought, with the other +presents, to the christening of Prince Prigio.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p52.jpg"> +<img alt="The Prince on the carpet" src="images/p52.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>When he arrived at the house where the ball was going on, he +put the magical carpet in the portmanteau, and left it in the +cloak-room, receiving a numbered ticket in exchange. Then +he marched in all his glory (and, of course, without the cap of +darkness) into the room where they were dancing. Everybody +made place for him, bowing down to the ground, and the loyal band +struck up <i>The Prince’s March</i>!</p> +<blockquote><p><!-- page 53--><a name="page53"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 53</span><i>Heaven bless our Prince +Prigio</i>!<br /> +<i>What is there he doesn’t know</i>?<br /> +<i>Greek</i>, <i>Swiss</i>, <i>German</i> (<i>High and +Low</i>),<br /> +<i>And the names of the mountains in Mexico</i>,<br /> + <i>Heaven bless the +prince</i>!</p> +</blockquote> +<p>He used to be very fond of this march, and the +words—some people even said he had made them himself. +But now, somehow, he didn’t much like it. He went +straight to the Duke of Stumpfelbahn, the Hereditary Master of +the Ceremonies, and asked to be introduced to the beautiful young +lady. She was the daughter of the new English Ambassador, +and her name was Lady Rosalind. But she nearly fainted when +she heard who it was that wished to dance with her, for she was +not at all particularly clever; and the prince had such a bad +character for snubbing girls, and asking them difficult +questions. However, it was impossible to refuse, and so she +danced with the prince, <!-- page 54--><a name="page54"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 54</span>and he danced very well. Then +they sat out in the conservatory, among the flowers, where nobody +came near them; and then they danced again, and then the Prince +took her down to supper. And all the time he never once +said, “Have you read <i>this</i>?” or “Have you +read <i>that</i>?” or, “What! you never heard of +Alexander the Great?” or Julius Cæsar, or Michael +Angelo, or whoever it might be—horrid, difficult questions +he used to ask. That was the way he <i>used</i> to go on: +but now he only talked to the young lady about <i>herself</i>; +and she quite left off being shy or frightened, and asked him all +about his own country, and about the Firedrake-shooting, and said +how fond she was of hunting herself. And the prince +said:</p> +<p>“Oh, if <i>you</i> wish it, you shall have the horns and +tail of a Firedrake to hang up in your hall, to-morrow +evening!”</p> +<p><!-- page 55--><a name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +55</span>Then she asked if it was not very dangerous work, +Firedrake hunting; and he said it was nothing, when you knew the +trick of it: and he asked her if she would but give him a rose +out of her bouquet; and, in short, he made himself so agreeable +and <i>unaffected</i>, that she thought him very nice indeed.</p> +<p>For, even a clever person can be nice when he +likes—above all, when he is not thinking about +himself. And now the prince was thinking of nothing in the +world but the daughter of the English ambassador, and how to +please her. He got introduced to her father too, and quite +won his heart; and, at last, he was invited to dine next day at +the Embassy.</p> +<p>In Pantouflia, it is the custom that a ball must not end while +one of the royal family goes on dancing. <i>This</i> ball +lasted till the light came in, and the birds were singing out of +<!-- page 56--><a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +56</span>doors, and all the mothers present were sound +asleep. Then nothing would satisfy the prince, but that +they all should go home singing through the streets; in fact, +there never had been so merry a dance in all Pantouflia. +The prince had made a point of dancing with almost every girl +there: and he had suddenly become the most beloved of the royal +family. But everything must end at last; and the prince, +putting on the cap of darkness and sitting on the famous carpet, +flew back to his lonely castle.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p56.jpg"> +<img alt="The mothers asleep" src="images/p56.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><!-- page 57--><a name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +57</span>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<p><i>The Prince is Puzzled</i>.</p> +<p>Prince Prigio did not go to bed. It was bright daylight, +and he had promised to bring the horns and tail of a Firedrake as +a present to a pretty lady. He had said it was easy to do +this; but now, as he sat and thought over it, he did not feel so +victorious.</p> +<p>“First,” he said, “where is the +Firedrake?” He reflected for a little, and then ran +upstairs to the garret.</p> +<p>“It <i>should</i> be here!” he cried, tossing the +fairies’ gifts about; “and, by George, here it +is!”</p> +<p>Indeed, he had found the spyglass of carved <!-- page 58--><a +name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 58</span>ivory which +Prince Ali, in the <i>Arabian Nights</i>, bought in the bazaar in +Schiraz. Now, this glass was made so that, by looking +through it, you could see anybody or anything you wished, however +far away. Prigio’s first idea was to look at his +lady. “But she does not expect to be looked +at,” he thought; “and I +<i>won’t</i>!” On the other hand, he determined +to look at the Firedrake; for, of course, he had no delicacy +about spying on <i>him</i>, the brute.</p> +<p>The prince clapped the glass to his eye, stared out of window, +and there, sure enough, he saw the Firedrake. He was +floating about in a sea of molten lava, on the top of a +volcano. There he was, swimming and diving for pleasure, +tossing up the flaming waves, and blowing fountains of fire out +of his nostrils, like a whale spouting!</p> +<p>The prince did not like the looks of him.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p59.jpg"> +<img alt="The Prince looking through the telescope" +src="images/p59.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><!-- page 59--><a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +59</span>“With all my cap of darkness, and my shoes of +swiftness, and my sword of sharpness, I never could get near that +beast,” he said; “and if I <i>did</i> stalk him, I +could not hurt him. Poor little Alphonso! poor Enrico! what +plucky fellows they were! I fancied that there was no such +thing as a Firedrake: he’s not in the Natural History +books, and I thought the boys <!-- page 61--><a +name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 61</span>were only +making fun, and would be back soon, safe and sound. How +horrid being too clever makes one! And now, what <i>am</i> +I to do?”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p60b.jpg"> +<img alt="The Remora" src="images/p60s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>What was he to do, indeed? And what would you have +done? Bring the horns and tail he must, or perish in the +adventure. Otherwise, how could he meet his +lady?—why, she would think him a mere braggart!</p> +<p>The prince sat down, and thought and thought; and the day went +on, and it was now high noon.</p> +<p>At last he jumped up and rushed into the library, a room where +nobody ever went except himself and the queen. There he +turned the books upside down, in his haste, till he found an old +one, by a French gentleman, Monsieur Cyrano de Bergerac. It +was an account of a voyage to the moon, in which there is a great +deal of information about matters not generally <!-- page 62--><a +name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 62</span>known; for +few travellers have been to the moon. In that book, Prince +Prigio fancied he would find something he half remembered, and +that would be of use to him. And he <i>did</i>! So +you see that cleverness, and minding your book, have some +advantages, after all. For here the prince learned that +there is a very rare beast, called a Remora, which is at least as +cold as the Firedrake is hot!</p> +<p>“Now,” thought he, “<i>if I can only make +these two fight</i>, why the Remora may kill the Firedrake, or +take the heat out of him, at least, so that I may have a +chance.”</p> +<p>Then he seized the ivory glass, clapped it to his eye, and +looked for the Remora. Just the tip of his nose, as white +as snow and as smooth as ice, was sticking out of a chink in a +frozen mountain, not far from the burning mountain of the +Firedrake.</p> +<p><!-- page 63--><a name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +63</span>“Hooray!” said the prince softly to himself; +and he jumped like mad into the winged shoes of swiftness, stuck +on the cap of darkness, girdled himself with the sword of +sharpness, and put a good slice of bread, with some cold tongue, +in a wallet, which he slung on his back. Never you fight, +if you can help it, except with plenty of food to keep you going +and in good heart. Then off he flew, and soon he reached +the volcano of the Firedrake.</p> +<h2><!-- page 64--><a name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +64</span>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p64.jpg"> +<img alt="Chapter heading picture" src="images/p64.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><i>The Prince and the Firedrake</i>.</p> +<p>It was dreadfully hot, even high up in the air, where the +prince hung invisible. Great burning stones were tossed up +by the volcano, and nearly hit him several times. Moreover, +the steam and smoke, and the flames which the Firedrake spouted +like foam from his nostrils, would have daunted even the bravest +man. The sides of the hill, too, were covered with the +blackened ashes of his victims, whom he had roasted when they +came out to kill him. The garden-engine of poor little +Alphonso was lying in the valley, all <!-- page 65--><a +name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 65</span>broken and +useless. But the Firedrake, as happy as a wild duck on a +lonely loch, was rolling and diving in the liquid flame, all +red-hot and full of frolic.</p> +<p>“Hi!” shouted the prince.</p> +<p>The Firedrake rose to the surface, his horns as red as a red +crescent-moon, only bigger, and lashing the fire with his hoofs +and his blazing tail.</p> +<p>“Who’s there?” he said in a hoarse, angry +voice. “Just let me get at you!”</p> +<p>“It’s me,” answered the prince. It was +the first time he had forgotten his grammar, but he was terribly +excited.</p> +<p>“What do you want?” grunted the beast. +“I wish I could see you”; and, horrible to relate, he +rose on a pair of wide, flaming wings, and came right at the +prince, guided by the sound of his voice.</p> +<p><!-- page 66--><a name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +66</span>Now, the prince had never heard that Firedrakes could +fly; indeed, he had never believed in them at all, till the night +before. For a moment he was numb with terror; then he flew +down like a stone to the very bottom of the hill, and +shouted:</p> +<p>“Hi!”</p> +<p>“Well,” grunted the Firedrake, “what’s +the matter? Why can’t you give a civil answer to a +civil question?”</p> +<p>“Will you go back to your hole and swear, on your honour +as a Firedrake, to listen quietly?”</p> +<p>“On my sacred word of honour,” said the beast, +casually scorching an eagle that flew by into ashes. The +cinders fell, jingling and crackling, round the prince in a +little shower.</p> +<p>Then the Firedrake dived back, with an awful splash of flame, +and the mountain roared round him.</p> +<p><!-- page 67--><a name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +67</span>The prince now flew high above him, and cried:</p> +<p>“A message from the Remora. He says you are afraid +to fight him.”</p> +<p>“Don’t know him,” grunted the Firedrake.</p> +<p>“He sends you his glove,” said Prince Prigio, +“as a challenge to mortal combat, till death do you +part.”</p> +<p>Then he dropped his own glove into the fiery lake.</p> +<p>“Does he?” yelled the Firedrake. “Just +let me get at him!” and he scrambled out, all red-hot as he +was.</p> +<p>“I’ll go and tell him you’re coming,” +said the prince; and with two strides he was over the frozen +mountain of the Remora.</p> +<h2><!-- page 68--><a name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +68</span>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<p><i>The Prince and the Remora</i>.</p> +<p>If he had been too warm before, the prince was too cold +now. The hill of the Remora was one solid mass of frozen +steel, and the cold rushed out of it like the breath of some icy +beast, which indeed it <i>was</i>. All around were things +like marble statues of men in armour: they were the dead bodies +of the knights, horses and all, who had gone out of old to fight +the Remora, and who had been frosted up by him. The prince +felt his blood stand still, and he grew faint; but he took <!-- +page 69--><a name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +69</span>heart, for there was no time to waste. Yet he +could nowhere see the Remora.</p> +<p>“Hi!” shouted the prince.</p> +<p>Then, from a narrow chink at the bottom of the smooth, black +hill,—a chink no deeper than that under a door, but a mile +wide,—stole out a hideous head!</p> +<p>It was as flat as the head of a skate-fish, it was deathly +pale, and two chill-blue eyes, dead-coloured like stones, looked +out of it.</p> +<p>Then there came a whisper, like the breath of the bitter east +wind on a winter day:</p> +<p>“Where are you, and how can I come to you?”</p> +<p>“Here I am!” said the prince from the top of the +hill.</p> +<p>Then the flat, white head set itself against the edge of the +chink from which it had peeped, and slowly, like the movement of +a sheet of ice, it slipped upwards and curled upwards, and <!-- +page 70--><a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +70</span>up, and up! There seemed no end to it at all; and +it moved horribly, without feet, holding on by its own frost to +the slippery side of the frozen hill. Now all the lower +part of the black hill was covered with the horrid white thing +coiled about it in smooth, flat, shiny coils; and still the head +was higher than the rest; and still the icy cold came nearer and +nearer, like Death.</p> +<p>The prince almost fainted: everything seemed to swim; and in +one moment more he would have fallen stiff on the mountain-top, +and the white head would have crawled over him, and the cold +coils would have slipped over him and turned him to stone. +And still the thing slipped up, from the chink under the +mountain.</p> +<p>But the prince made a great effort; he moved, and in two steps +he was far away, down in the valley where it was not so very +cold.</p> +<p><!-- page 71--><a name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +71</span>“Hi!” he shouted, as soon as his tongue +could move within his chattering teeth.</p> +<p>There came a clear, hissing answer, like frozen words dropping +round him:</p> +<p>“Wait till I come down. What do you +want?”</p> +<p>Then the white folds began to slide, like melting ice, from +the black hill.</p> +<p>Prince Prigio felt the air getting warmer behind him, and +colder in front of him.</p> +<p>He looked round, and there were the trees beginning to blacken +in the heat, and the grass looking like a sea of fire along the +plains; for the Firedrake was coming!</p> +<p>The prince just took time to shout, “The Firedrake is +going to pay you a visit!” and then he soared to the top of +a neighbouring hill, and looked on at what followed.</p> +<h2><!-- page 72--><a name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +72</span>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<p><i>The Battle</i>.</p> +<p>It was an awul sight to behold! When the Remora heard +the name of the Firedrake, his hated enemy, he slipped with +wonderful speed from the cleft of the mountain into the +valley. On and on and on he poured over rock and tree, as +if a frozen river could slide downhill; on and on, till there +were miles of him stretching along the valley—miles of the +smooth-ribbed, icy creature, crawling and slipping +forwards. The green trees dropped their leaves as he +advanced; the birds fell down dead from the sky, slain by his +frosty breath! But, fast as the Remora stole forward, the +Firedrake came quicker yet, flying and <!-- page 73--><a +name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 73</span>clashing his +fiery wings. At last they were within striking distance; +and the Firedrake, stooping from the air, dashed with his burning +horns and flaming feet slap into the body of the Remora.</p> +<p>Then there rose a steam so dreadful, such a white yet fiery +vapour of heat, that no one who had not the prince’s magic +glass could have seen what happened. With horrible grunts +and roars the Firedrake tried to burn his way right through the +flat body of the Remora, and to chase him to his cleft in the +rock. But the Remora, hissing terribly, and visibly melting +away in places, yet held his ground; and the prince could see his +cold white folds climbing slowly up the hoofs of the +Firedrake—up and up, till they reached his knees, and the +great burning beast roared like a hundred bulls with the +pain. Then up the Firedrake leaped, and <!-- page 74--><a +name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 74</span>hovering on +his fiery wings, he lighted in the midst of the Remora’s +back, and dashed into it with his horns. But the flat, +cruel head writhed backwards, and, slowly bending over on itself, +the wounded Remora slid greedily to fasten again on the limbs of +the Firedrake.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, the prince, safe on his hill, was lunching on the +loaf and the cold tongue he had brought with him.</p> +<p>“Go it, Remora! Go it, Firedrake! you’re +gaining. Give it him, Remora!” he shouted in the +wildest excitement.</p> +<p>Nobody had ever seen such a battle; he had it all to himself, +and he never enjoyed anything more. He hated the Remora so +much, that he almost wished the Firedrake could beat it; for the +Firedrake was the more natural beast of the pair. Still, he +was alarmed when he saw that the vast flat body of the Remora was +now <!-- page 75--><a name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +75</span>slowly coiling backwards, backwards, into the cleft +below the hill; while a thick wet mist showed how cruelly it had +suffered. But the Firedrake, too, was in an unhappy way; +for his legs were now cold and black, his horns were black also, +though his body, especially near the heart, glowed still like +red-hot iron.</p> +<p>“Go it, Remora!” cried the prince: “his legs +are giving way; he’s groggy on his pins! One more +effort, and he won’t be able to move!”</p> +<p>Encouraged by this advice, the white, slippery Remora streamed +out of his cavern again, more and more of him uncoiling, as if +the mountain were quite full of him. He had lost strength, +no doubt: for the steam and mist went up from him in clouds, and +the hissing of his angry voice grew fainter; but so did the roars +of the Firedrake. Presently they sounded more <!-- page +76--><a name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 76</span>like +groans; and at last the Remora slipped up his legs above the +knees, and fastened on his very heart of fire. Then the +Firedrake stood groaning like a black bull, knee-deep in snow; +and still the Remora climbed and climbed.</p> +<p>“Go it now, Firedrake!” shouted the prince; for he +knew that if the Remora won, it would be too cold for him to draw +near the place, and cut off the Firedrake’s head and +tail.</p> +<p>“Go it, Drake! he’s slackening!” cried the +prince again; and the brave Firedrake made one last furious +effort, and rising on his wings, dropped just on the spine of his +enemy.</p> +<p>The wounded Remora curled back his head again on himself, and +again crawled, steaming terribly, towards his enemy. But +the struggle was too much for the gallant Remora. The flat, +cruel head moved slower; the steam from his thousand wounds grew +fiercer; and he gently <!-- page 77--><a name="page77"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 77</span>breathed his last just as the +Firedrake, too, fell over and lay exhausted. With one final +roar, like the breath of a thousand furnaces, the Firedrake +expired.</p> +<p>The prince, watching from the hill-top, could scarcely believe +that these two <i>awful scourges of Nature</i>, which had so long +devastated his country, were actually dead. But when he had +looked on for half-an-hour, and only a river ran where the Remora +had been, while the body of the Firedrake lay stark and cold, he +hurried to the spot.</p> +<p>Drawing the sword of sharpness, he hacked off, at two blows, +the iron head and the tail of the Firedrake. They were a +weary weight to carry; but in a few strides of the shoes of +swiftness he was at his castle, where he threw down his burden, +and nearly fainted with excitement and fatigue.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p78b.jpg"> +<img alt="The Prince in front of the Firedrake" +src="images/p78s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><!-- page 79--><a name="page79"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +79</span>But the castle clock struck half-past seven; dinner was +at eight, and the poor prince crawled on hands and knees to the +garret. Here he put on the wishing-cap; wished for a pint +of champagne, a hot bath, and his best black velvet and diamond +suit. In a moment these were provided; he bathed, dressed, +drank a glass of wine, packed up the head and tail of the +Firedrake, sat down on the flying carpet, and knocked at the door +of the English ambassador as the clocks were striking eight in +Gluckstein.</p> +<p><i>Punctuality is the politeness of princes</i>! and a prince +<i>is</i> polite, when he is in love!</p> +<p>The prince was received at the door by a stout porter and led +into the hall, where <i>several</i> butlers met him, and he laid +the mortal remains of the Firedrake under the cover of the flying +carpet.</p> +<p><!-- page 80--><a name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +80</span>Then he was led upstairs; and he made his bow to the +pretty lady, who, of course, made him a magnificent +courtesy. She seemed prettier and kinder than ever. +The prince was so happy, that he never noticed how something went +wrong about the dinner. The ambassador looked about, and +seemed to miss someone, and spoke in a low voice to one of the +servants, who answered also in a low voice, and what he said +seemed to displease the ambassador. But the prince was so +busy in talking to his lady, and in eating his dinner too, that +he never observed anything unusual. He had <i>never</i> +been at such a pleasant dinner!</p> +<h2><!-- page 81--><a name="page81"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +81</span>CHAPTER XII.</h2> +<p><i>A Terrible Misfortune</i>.</p> +<p>When the ladies left, and the prince and the other gentlemen +were alone, the ambassador appeared more gloomy than ever. +At last he took the prince into a corner, on pretence of showing +him a rare statue.</p> +<p>“Does your royal highness not know,” he asked, +“that you are in considerable danger?”</p> +<p>“Still?” said the prince, thinking of the +Firedrake.</p> +<p>The ambassador did not know what he meant, for <i>he</i> had +never heard of the fight, but he answered gravely:</p> +<p>“Never more than now.”</p> +<p><!-- page 82--><a name="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +82</span>Then he showed the prince two proclamations, which had +been posted all about the town.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p82.jpg"> +<img alt="The ambassador showing the Prince the proclamation" +src="images/p82.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Here is the first:</p> +<blockquote><p>TO ALL LOYAL SUBJECTS.</p> +<p><i>Whereas</i>,</p> +<p>Our eldest son, Prince Prigio, hath of late been guilty of +several high crimes and misdemeanours.</p> +<p><!-- page 83--><a name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +83</span>First: By abandoning the post of danger against the +Firedrake, whereby our beloved sons, Prince Alphonso and Prince +Enrico, have perished, and been overdone by that monster.</p> +<p>Secondly: By attending an unseemly revel in the town of +Gluckstein, where he brawled in the streets.</p> +<p>Thirdly: By trying to seduce away the hearts of our loyal +subjects in that city, and to blow up a party against our crown +and our peace.</p> +<p><i>This is to give warning</i>,</p> +<p>That whoever consorts with, comforts, aids, or abets the said +Prince Prigio, is thereby a partner in his treason; and</p> +<p>That a reward of <span class="smcap">Five Thousand +Purses</span> will be given to whomsoever brings the said prince, +alive, to our Castle of Falkenstein.</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Grognio +R.</span></p> +<p><!-- page 84--><a name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +84</span>And here is the second proclamation:</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">reward</span>.<br /> +<span class="smcap">the firedrake</span>.</p> +<p><i>Whereas</i>,</p> +<p>Our dominions have lately been devastated by a Firedrake (the +<i>Salamander Furiosus</i> of Buffon);</p> +<p><i>This is to advise all</i>,</p> +<p>That whosoever brings the horns and tail of the said Firedrake +to our Castle of Falkenstein, shall receive <span +class="smcap">Five Thousand Purses</span>, the position of Crown +Prince, with the usual perquisites, and the hand of the +king’s niece, the Lady Molinda.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Grognio +R.</span></p> +</blockquote> +<p>“H’m,” said the prince; “I did not +think his majesty wrote so well;” and he would have +<i>liked</i> to say, “Don’t you think we might join +the ladies.”</p> +<p>“But, sir,” said the ambassador, “the +streets are lined with soldiers; and I know not how <!-- page +85--><a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 85</span>you +have escaped them. <i>Here</i>, under my roof, you are safe +for the moment; but a prolonged stay—excuse my +inhospitality—could not but strain the harmonious relations +which prevail between the Government of Pantouflia and that which +I have the honour to represent.”</p> +<p>“We don’t want to fight; and no more, I think, do +you,” said the prince, smiling.</p> +<p>“Then how does your royal highness mean to treat the +proclamations?”</p> +<p>“Why, by winning these ten thousand purses. I can +tell you £1,000,000 is worth having,” said the +prince. “I’ll deliver up the said prince, +alive, at Falkenstein this very night; also the horns and tail of +the said Firedrake. But I don’t want to marry my +Cousin Molly.”</p> +<p>“May I remind your royal highness that Falkenstein is +three hundred miles away? <!-- page 86--><a +name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 86</span>Moreover, my +head butler, Benson, disappeared from the house before dinner, +and I fear he went to warn Captain Kopzoffski that you are +<i>here</i>!”</p> +<p>“That is nothing,” said the prince; “but, my +dear Lord Kelso, may I not have the pleasure of presenting Lady +Rosalind with a little gift, a Philippine which I lost to her +last night, merely the head and tail of a Firedrake which I +stalked this morning?”</p> +<p>The ambassador was so astonished that he ran straight +upstairs, forgetting his manners, and crying:</p> +<p>“Linda! Linda! come down at once; here’s a +surprise for you!”</p> +<p>Lady Rosalind came sweeping down, with a smile on her kind +face. <i>She</i> guessed what it was, though the prince had +said nothing about it at dinner.</p> +<p>“Lead the way, your royal highness!” cried <!-- +page 87--><a name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +87</span>the ambassador; and the prince, offering Lady Rosalind +his arm, went out into the hall, where he saw neither his carpet +nor the horns and tail of the Firedrake!</p> +<p>He turned quite pale, and said:</p> +<p>“Will you kindly ask the servants where the little +Persian prayer-rug and the parcel which I brought with me have +been placed?”</p> +<p>Lord Kelso rang the bell, and in came all the servants, with +William, the under-butler, at their head.</p> +<p>“William,” said his lordship, “where have +you put his royal highness’s parcel and his +carpet?”</p> +<p>“Please, your lordship,” said William, “we +think Benson have took them away with him.”</p> +<p>“And where is Benson?”</p> +<p>“We don’t know, your lordship. We think he +have been come for!”</p> +<p><!-- page 88--><a name="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +88</span>“Come for—by whom?”</p> +<p>William stammered, and seemed at a loss for a reply.</p> +<p>“Quick! answer! what do you know about it?”</p> +<p>William said at last, rather as if he were making a +speech.</p> +<p>“Your royaliness, and my lords and ladies, it was like +this. His royaliness comed in with a rug over his arm, and +summat under it. And he lays it down on that there seat, +and Thomas shows him into the droring-room. Then Benson +says: ‘Dinner’ll be ready in five minutes; how tired +I do feel!’ Then he takes the libbuty of sitting +hisself down on his royaliness’s rug, and he says, asking +your pardon, ‘I’ve had about enough of service +here. I’m about tired, and I thinks of bettering +myself. I wish I was at the king’s court, and +butler.’ <!-- page 89--><a name="page89"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 89</span>But before the words was out of his +mouth, off he flies like a shot through the open door, and his +royaliness’s parcel with him. I run to the door, and +there he was, flying right hover the town, in a northerly +direction. And that’s all I know; for I would not +tell a lie, not if it was never so. And me, and +Thomas—as didn’t see <!-- page 90--><a +name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 90</span>it,—and +cook, we thinks as how Benson was come for. And cook says +as she don’t wonder at it, neither; for a grumblinger, more +ill-conditioneder—”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p89b.jpg"> +<img alt="The Butler on the carpet" src="images/p89s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“Thank you, William,” said Lord Kelso; “that +will do; you can go, for the present.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 91--><a name="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +91</span>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<p><i>Surprises</i>.</p> +<p>The prince said nothing, the ambassador said nothing, Lady +Rosalind said never a word till they were in the +drawing-room. It was a lovely warm evening, and the French +windows were wide open on the balcony, which looked over the town +and away north to the hills. Below them flowed the clear, +green water of the Gluckthal. And still nobody said a +word.</p> +<p>At last the prince spoke:</p> +<p>“This is a very strange story, Lord Kelso!”</p> +<p>“Very, sir!” said the ambassador.</p> +<p><!-- page 92--><a name="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +92</span>“But true,” added the prince; “at +least, there is no reason in the nature of things why it +shouldn’t be true.”</p> +<p>“I can hardly believe, sir, that the conduct of Benson, +whom I always found a most respectable man, +deserved—”</p> +<p>“That he should be ‘come for,’” said +the prince. “Oh, no; it was a mere accident, and +might have happened to any of us who chanced to sit down on my +carpet.”</p> +<p>And then the prince told them, shortly, all about it: how the +carpet was one of a number of fairy properties, which had been +given him at his christening; and how so long a time had gone by +before he discovered them; and how, probably, the carpet had +carried the butler where he had said he wanted to go, +namely—to the king’s Court at Falkenstein.</p> +<p>“It would not matter so much,” added the <!-- page +93--><a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +93</span>prince, “only I had relied on making my peace with +his majesty, my father, by aid of those horns and that +tail. He was set on getting them; and if the Lady Rosalind +had not expressed a wish for them, they would to-day have been in +his possession.”</p> +<p>“Oh, sir, you honour us too highly,” murmured Lady +Rosalind; and the prince blushed and said:</p> +<p>“Not at all! Impossible!”</p> +<p>Then, of course, the ambassador became quite certain that his +daughter was admired by the crown prince, who was on bad terms +with the king of the country; and a more uncomfortable position +for an ambassador—however, they are used to them.</p> +<p>“What on earth am I to do with the young man?” he +thought. “He can’t stay here for <!-- page +94--><a name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 94</span>ever; +and without his carpet he can’t get away, for the soldiers +have orders to seize him as soon as he appears in the +street. And in the meantime Benson will be pretending that +<i>he</i> killed the Firedrake—for he must have got to +Falkenstein by now,—and they will be for marrying him to +the king’s niece, and making my butler crown prince to the +kingdom of Pantouflia! It is dreadful!”</p> +<p>Now all this time the prince was on the balcony, telling Lady +Rosalind all about how he got the Firedrake done for, in the most +modest way; for, as he said: “<i>I</i> didn’t kill +him: and it is really the Remora, poor fellow, who should marry +Molly; but he’s dead.”</p> +<p>At this very moment there was a <i>whizz</i> in the air: +something shot past them, and, through the open window, the king, +the <!-- page 95--><a name="page95"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +95</span>queen, Benson, and the mortal remains of the Firedrake +were shot into the ambassador’s drawing-room!</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p95.jpg"> +<img alt="The King and Queen on the carpet" src="images/p95.jpg" +/> +</a></p> +<h2><!-- page 96--><a name="page96"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +96</span>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> +<p><i>The King Explains</i>.</p> +<p>The first who recovered his voice and presence of mind was +Benson.</p> +<p>“Did your lordship ring for coffee?” he asked, +quietly; and when he was told “Yes,” he bowed and +withdrew, with majestic composure.</p> +<p>When he had gone, the prince threw himself at the king’s +feet, crying:</p> +<p>“Pardon, pardon, my liege!”</p> +<p>“Don’t speak to me, sir!” answered the king, +very angrily; and the poor prince threw himself at the feet of +the queen.</p> +<p>But she took no notice of him whatever, no <!-- page 97--><a +name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 97</span>more than if +he had been a fairy; and the prince heard her murmur, as she +pinched her royal arms:</p> +<p>“I shall waken presently; this is nothing out of the way +for a dream. Dr. Rumpfino ascribes it to imperfect +nutrition.”</p> +<p>All this time, the Lady Rosalind, as pale as a marble statue, +was leaning against the side of the open window. The prince +thought he could do nothing wiser than go and comfort her, so he +induced her to sit down on a chair in the balcony,—for he +felt that he was not wanted in the drawing-room;—and soon +they were talking happily about the stars, which had begun to +appear in the summer night.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, the ambassador had induced the king to take a seat; +but there was no use in talking to the queen.</p> +<p>“It would be a miracle,” she said to herself, <!-- +page 98--><a name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +98</span>“and miracles do not happen; therefore this has +not happened. Presently, I shall wake up in my own bed at +Falkenstein.”</p> +<p>Now, Benson, William, and Thomas brought in the coffee, but +the queen took no notice. When they went away, the rest of +the company slipped off quietly, and the king was left alone with +the ambassador; for the queen could hardly be said to count.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p99b.jpg"> +<img alt="The King and Queen" src="images/p99s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“You want to know all about it, I suppose?” said +his majesty, in a sulky voice. “Well, you have a +right to it, and I shall tell you. We were just sitting +down to dinner at Falkenstein, rather late,—hours get later +every year, I think—when I heard a row in the premises, and +the captain of the guard, Colonel McDougal, came and told us that +a man had arrived with the horns and tail of the Firedrake, and +was claiming the reward. Her majesty and I rose and <!-- +page 100--><a name="page100"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +100</span>went into the outer court, where we found, sitting on +that carpet with a glass of beer in his hand, a +respectable-looking upper servant, whom I recognised as your +butler. He informed us that he had just killed the beast, +and showed us the horns and tail, sure enough; there they +are! The tail is like the iron handle of a pump, but the +horns are genuine. A pair were thrown up by a volcano, in +my great-grandfather’s time, Giglio I. <a +name="citation100"></a><a href="#footnote100" +class="citation">[100]</a> Excellent coffee this, of +yours!”</p> +<p>The ambassador bowed.</p> +<p>“Well, we asked him <i>where</i> he killed the +Firedrake, and he said in a garden near Gluckstein. Then he +began to speak about the reward, and the ‘perkisits,’ +as he called them, which it seems he had read about in my +proclamation. <!-- page 101--><a name="page101"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 101</span>Rather a neat thing; drew it up +myself,” added his majesty.</p> +<p>“Very much to the point,” said the ambassador, +wondering what the king was coming to.</p> +<p>“Glad you like it,” said the king, much +pleased. “Well, where was I? Oh, yes; your man +said he had killed the creature in a garden, quite near +Gluckstein. I didn’t much like the whole affair: he +is an alien, you see; and then there was my niece, +Molinda—poor girl, <i>she</i> was certain to give +trouble. Her heart is buried, if I may say so, with poor +Alphonso. But the queen is a very remarkable +woman—very remarkable—”</p> +<p>“Very!” said the Ambassador, with perfect +truth.</p> +<p>“‘Caitiff!’ she cries to your butler;” +his majesty went on, “‘perjured knave, thou liest in +thy throat! Gluckstein is a hundred leagues <!-- page +102--><a name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +102</span>from here, and how sayest thou that thou slewest the +monster, and camest hither in a few hours’ +space?’ This had not occurred to me,—I am a +plain king, but I at once saw the force of her majesty’s +argument. ‘Yes,’ said I; ‘how did you +manage it?’ But he—your man, I mean—was +not a bit put out. ‘Why, your majesty,’ says +he, ‘I just sat down on that there bit of carpet, wished I +was here, and here <i>I ham</i>. And I’d be glad, +having had the trouble,—and my time not being my +own,—to see the colour of them perkisits, according to the +proclamation.’ On this her majesty grew more +indignant, if possible. ‘Nonsense!’ she cried; +‘a story out of the <i>Arabian Nights</i> is not suited for +a modern public, and fails to win æsthetic +credence.’ These were her very words.”</p> +<p>“Her majesty’s expressions are ever choice and +appropriate,” said the Ambassador.</p> +<p><!-- page 103--><a name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +103</span>“‘Sit down there, on the carpet, +knave,’ she went on; ‘ourself and +consort’—meaning <i>me</i>—‘will take our +places by thy side, and <i>I</i> shall wish us in Gluckstein, at +thy master’s! When the experiment has failed, thy +head shall from thy shoulders be shorn!’ So your man +merely said, ‘Very well, mum,—your majesty, I +mean,’ and sat down. The queen took her place at the +edge of the carpet; I sat between her and the butler, and she +said, ‘I wish we were in Gluckstein!’ Then we +rose, flew through the air at an astonishing pace, and here we +are! So I suppose the rest of the butler’s tale is +true, which I regret; but a king’s word is sacred, and he +shall take the place of that sneak, Prigio. But as we left +home before dinner, and as <i>yours</i> is over, may I request +your lordship to believe that I should be delighted to take +something cold?”</p> +<p><!-- page 104--><a name="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +104</span>The ambassador at once ordered a sumptuous collation, +to which the king did full justice; and his majesty was shown to +the royal chamber, as he complained of fatigue. The queen +accompanied him, remarking that she was sound asleep, but would +waken presently. Neither of them said +“Good-night” to the prince. Indeed, they did +not see him again, for he was on the balcony with Lady +Rosalind. They found a great deal to say to each other, and +at last the prince asked her to be his wife; and she said that if +the king and her father gave their permission—why, then she +would! After this she went to bed; and the prince, who had +not slept at all the night before, felt very sleepy also. +But he knew that first he had something that must be done. +So he went into the drawing-room, took his carpet, and wished to +be—now, where do you suppose? Beside the dead body +<!-- page 105--><a name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +105</span>of the Firedrake! There he was in a moment; and +dreadful the body looked, lying stark and cold in the white +moonshine. Then the prince cut off its four hoofs, put them +in his wallet, and with these he flew back in a second, and met +the ambassador just as he came from ushering the king to +bed. Then the prince was shown his own room, where he +locked up the hoofs, the carpet, the cap of darkness, and his +other things in an iron box; and so he went to bed and dreamed of +his Lady Rosalind.</p> +<h2><!-- page 106--><a name="page106"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 106</span>CHAPTER XV.</h2> +<p><i>The King’s Cheque</i>.</p> +<p>When they all wakened next morning, their first ideas were +confused. It is often confusing to waken in a strange bed, +much more so when you have flown through the air, like the king, +the queen, and Benson the butler. For her part, the queen +was the most perplexed of all; for she did undeniably wake, and +yet she was not at home, where she had expected to be. +However, she was a determined woman, and stood to it that nothing +unusual was occurring. The butler made up his mind to claim +the crown princeship and the hand of the Lady Molinda; <!-- page +107--><a name="page107"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +107</span>because, as he justly remarked to William, here was +such a chance to better himself as might not soon come in his way +again. As for the king, he was only anxious to get back to +Falkenstein, and have the whole business settled in a +constitutional manner. The ambassador was not sorry to get +rid of the royal party; and it was proposed that they should all +sit down on the flying carpet, and wish themselves at home +again. But the queen would not hear of it: she said it was +childish and impossible; so the carriage was got ready for her, +and she started without saying a word of good-bye to +anyone. The king, Benson, and the prince were not so +particular, and they simply flew back to Falkenstein in the usual +way, arriving there at 11.35—a week before her majesty.</p> +<p>The king at once held a Court; the horns and tail of the +monster were exhibited amidst general <!-- page 108--><a +name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 108</span>interest, +and Benson and the prince were invited to state their claims.</p> +<p>Benson’s evidence was taken first. He declined to +say exactly where or how he killed the Firedrake. There +might be more of them left, he remarked,—young ones, that +would take a lot of killing,—and he refused to part with +his secret. Only he claimed the reward, which was offered, +if you remember, <i>not</i> to the man who killed the beast, but +to him who brought its horns and tail. This was allowed by +the lawyers present to be very sound law; and Benson was cheered +by the courtiers, who decidedly preferred him to Prigio, and who, +besides, thought he was going to be crown prince. As for +Lady Molinda, she was torn by the most painful feelings; for, +much as she hated Prigio, she could not bear the idea of marrying +Benson. Yet one or the other choice seemed certain.</p> +<p><!-- page 109--><a name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +109</span>Unhappy lady! Perhaps no girl was ever more +strangely beset by misfortune!</p> +<p>Prince Prigio was now called on to speak. He admitted +that the reward was offered for bringing the horns and tail, not +for killing the monster. But were the king’s +<i>intentions</i> to go for nothing? When a subject only +<i>meant</i> well, of course he had to suffer; but when a king +said one thing, was he not to be supposed to have meant +another? Any fellow with a waggon could <i>bring</i> the +horns and tail; the difficult thing was to kill the +monster. If Benson’s claim was allowed, the royal +prerogative of saying one thing and meaning something else was in +danger.</p> +<p>On hearing this argument, the king so far forgot himself as to +cry, “Bravo, well said!” and to clap his hands, +whereon all the courtiers shouted and threw up their hats.</p> +<p><!-- page 110--><a name="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +110</span>The prince then said that whoever had killed the +monster could, of course, tell where to find him, and could bring +his hoofs. He was ready to do this himself. Was Mr. +Benson equally ready? On this being interpreted to +him—for he did not speak Pantouflian—Benson grew pale +with horror, but fell back on the proclamation. He had +brought the horns and tail, and so he must have the perquisites, +and the Lady Molinda!</p> +<p>The king’s mind was so much confused by this time, that +he determined to leave it to the Lady Molinda herself.</p> +<p>“Which of them will you have, my dear?” he asked, +in a kind voice.</p> +<p>But poor Molinda merely cried. Then his majesty was +almost <i>driven</i> to say that he would give the reward to +whoever produced the hoofs by that day week. But no sooner +had he said <!-- page 111--><a name="page111"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 111</span>this than the prince brought them +out of his wallet, and displayed them in open Court. This +ended the case; and Benson, after being entertained with sherry +and sandwiches in the steward’s room, was sent back to his +master. And I regret to say that his temper was not at all +improved by his failure to better himself. On the contrary, +he was unusually cross and disagreeable for several days; but we +must, perhaps, make some allowance for his disappointment.</p> +<p>But if Benson was irritated, and suffered from the remarks of +his fellow-servants, I do not think we can envy Prince +Prigio. Here he was, restored to his position indeed, but +by no means to <i>the royal favour</i>. For the king +disliked him as much as ever, and was as angry as ever about the +deaths of Enrico and Alphonso. Nay, he was even <i>more</i> +angry; and, perhaps, not without reason. He called up +Prigio before <!-- page 112--><a name="page112"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 112</span>the whole Court, and thereon the +courtiers cheered like anything, but the king cried:</p> +<p>“Silence! McDougal, drag the first man that shouts +to the serpent-house in the zoological gardens, and lock him up +with the rattlesnakes!”</p> +<p>After that the courtiers were very quiet.</p> +<p>“Prince,” said the king, as Prigio bowed before +the throne, “you are restored to your position, because I +cannot break my promise. But your base and malevolent +nature is even more conspicuously manifest in your selfish +success than in your previous dastardly contempt of duty. +Why, confound you!” cried the king, dropping the high style +in which he had been speaking, and becoming the <i>father</i>, +not the <i>monarch</i>,—“why, if you <i>could</i> +kill the Firedrake, did you let your poor little brothers go and +be b—b—b—broiled? Eh! what do you <!-- +page 113--><a name="page113"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +113</span>say, you sneak? ‘You didn’t believe +there <i>were</i> any Firedrakes?’ That just comes of +your eternal conceit and arrogance! If you were clever +enough to kill the creature—and I admit that—you were +clever enough to know that what everybody said must be +true. ‘You have not generally found it +so?’ Well, you <i>have</i> this time, and let it be a +lesson to you; not that there is much comfort in that, for it is +not likely you will ever have such another +chance”—exactly the idea that had occurred to +Benson.</p> +<p>Here the king wept, among the tears of the lord chief justice, +the poet laureate (who had been awfully frightened when he heard +of the rattlesnakes), the maids of honour, the chaplain royal, +and everyone but Colonel McDougal, a Scottish soldier of fortune, +who maintained a military reserve.</p> +<p>When his majesty had recovered, he said to <!-- page 114--><a +name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 114</span>Prigio (who +had not been crying, he was too much absorbed):</p> +<p>“A king’s word is his bond. Bring me a pen, +somebody, and my cheque-book.”</p> +<p>The royal cheque-book, bound in red morocco, was brought in by +eight pages, with ink and a pen. His majesty then filled up +and signed the following satisfactory document—(Ah! my +children, how I wish Mr. Arrowsmith would do as much for +<i>me</i>!):</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p114b.jpg"> +<img alt="A cheque for ten thousand purses, payable to Prince +Prigio" src="images/p114s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><!-- page 115--><a name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +115</span>“There!” said his majesty, crossing his +cheque and throwing sand over it, for blotting-paper had not yet +been invented; “there, take <i>that</i>, and be off with +you!”</p> +<p>Prince Prigio was respectfully but rapidly obeying his royal +command, for he thought he had better cash the royal cheque as +soon as possible, when his majesty yelled:</p> +<p>“Hi! here! come back! I forgot something; +you’ve got to marry Molinda!”</p> +<h2><!-- page 116--><a name="page116"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 116</span>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> +<p><i>A Melancholy Chapter</i>.</p> +<p>The prince had gone some way, when the king called after +him. How he wished he had the seven-league boots on, or +that he had the cap of darkness in his pocket! If he had +been so lucky, he would now have got back to Gluckstein, and +crossed the border with Lady Rosalind. A million of money +may not seem much, but a pair of young people who really love +each other could live happily on less than the cheque he had in +his pocket. However, the king shouted very loud, as he +always did when he meant to be obeyed, and the prince sauntered +slowly back again.</p> +<p>“Prigio!” said his majesty, “where were you +off to? Don’t you remember that this is <!-- page +117--><a name="page117"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +117</span>your wedding-day? My proclamation offered, not +only the money (which you have), but the hand of the Lady +Molinda, which the Court chaplain will presently make your +own. I congratulate you, sir; Molinda is a dear +girl.”</p> +<p>“I have the highest affection and esteem for my cousin, +sir,” said the prince, “but—”</p> +<p>“I’ll never marry him!” cried poor Molinda, +kneeling at the throne, where her streaming <!-- page 118--><a +name="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 118</span>eyes and +hair made a pretty and touching picture. +“Never! I despise him!”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p117.jpg"> +<img alt="Molinda before the King" src="images/p117.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“I was about to say, sir,” the prince went on, +“that I cannot possibly have the pleasure of wedding my +cousin.”</p> +<p>“The family gibbet, I presume, is in good working +order?” asked the king of the family executioner, a tall +gaunt man in black and scarlet, who was only employed in the case +of members of the blood royal.</p> +<p>“Never better, sire,” said the man, bowing with +more courtliness than his profession indicated.</p> +<p>“Very well,” said the king; “Prince Prigio, +you have your choice. <i>There</i> is the gallows, +<i>here</i> is Lady Molinda. My duty is painful, but +clear. A king’s word cannot be broken. Molly, +or the gibbet!”</p> +<p><!-- page 119--><a name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +119</span>The prince bowed respectfully to Lady Molinda:</p> +<p>“Madam, my cousin,” said he, “your clemency +will excuse my answer, and you will not misinterpret the apparent +discourtesy of my conduct. I am compelled, most +unwillingly, to slight your charms, and to select the Extreme +Rigour of the Law. Executioner, lead on! Do your +duty; for me, <i>Prigio est prêt</i>;”—for this +was his motto, and meant that he was ready.</p> +<p>Poor Lady Molinda could not but be hurt by the prince’s +preference for death over marriage to her, little as she liked +him.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p119.jpg"> +<img alt="The family executioner" src="images/p119.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“Is life, then, so worthless? and is Molinda <!-- page +120--><a name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 120</span>so +terrible a person that you prefer <i>those</i> arms,” and +she pointed to the gibbet, “to +<i>these</i>?”—here she held out her own, which were +very white, round and pretty: for Molinda was a good-hearted +girl, she could not bear to see Prigio put to death; and then, +perhaps, she reflected that there are worse positions than the +queenship of Pantouflia. For Alphonso was gone—crying +would not bring him back.</p> +<p>“Ah, Madam!” said the prince, “you are +forgiving—”</p> +<p>“For <i>you</i> are brave!” said Molinda, feeling +quite a respect for him.</p> +<p>“But neither your heart nor mine is ours to give. +Since mine was another’s, I understand too well the feeling +of <i>yours</i>! Do not let us buy life at the price of +happiness and honour.”</p> +<p>Then, turning to the king, the prince said:</p> +<p>“Sir, is there no way but by death or marriage? +<!-- page 121--><a name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +121</span>You say you cannot keep half only of your promise; and +that, if I accept the reward, I must also unite myself with my +unwilling cousin. Cannot the whole proclamation be +annulled, and will you consider the bargain void if I tear up +this flimsy scroll?”</p> +<p>And here the prince fluttered the cheque for £1,000,000 +in the air.</p> +<p>For a moment the king was tempted; but then he said to +himself:</p> +<p>“Never mind, it’s only an extra penny on the +income-tax.” Then, “Keep your dross,” he +shouted, meaning the million; “but let <i>me</i> keep my +promise. To chapel at once, or—” and he pointed +to the executioner. “The word of a king of Pantouflia +is sacred.”</p> +<p>“And so is that of a crown prince,” answered +Prigio; “and <i>mine</i> is pledged to a lady.”</p> +<p>“She shall be a mourning bride,” cried the <!-- +page 122--><a name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +122</span>king savagely, “unless”—here he +paused for a moment—“unless you bring me back +Alphonso and Enrico, safe and well!”</p> +<p>The prince thought for the space of a flash of lightning.</p> +<p>“I accept the alternative,” he said, “if +your majesty will grant me my conditions.”</p> +<p>“Name them!” said the king.</p> +<p>“Let me be transported to Gluckstein, left there +unguarded, and if, in three days, I do not return with my +brothers safe and well, your majesty shall be spared a cruel +duty. Prigio of Pantouflia will perish by his own +hand.”</p> +<p>The king, whose mind did not work very quickly, took some +minutes to think over it. Then he saw that by granting the +prince’s conditions, he would either recover his dear sons, +or, at least, get rid of Prigio, without the unpleasantness of +having him executed. For, <!-- page 123--><a +name="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 123</span>though some +kings have put their eldest sons to death, and most have wished +to do so, they have never been better loved by the people for +their Roman virtue.</p> +<p>“Honour bright?” said the king at last.</p> +<p>“Honour bright!” answered the prince, and, for the +first time in many months, the royal father and son shook +hands.</p> +<p>“For you, madam,” said Prigio in a stately way to +Lady Molinda, “in less than a week I trust we shall be +taking our vows at the same altar, and that the close of the +ceremony which finds us cousins will leave us brother and +sister.”</p> +<p>Poor Molinda merely stared; for she could not imagine what he +meant. In a moment he was gone; and having taken, by the +king’s permission, the flying carpet, he was back at the +ambassador’s house in Gluckstein.</p> +<h2><!-- page 124--><a name="page124"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 124</span>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> +<p><i>The Black Cat and the Brethren</i>!</p> +<p>Who was glad to see the prince, if it was not Lady +Rosalind? The white roses of her cheeks turned to red roses +in a moment, and then back to white again, they were so alarmed +at the change. So the two went into the gardens together, +and talked about a number of things; but at last the prince told +her that, before three days were over, all would be well, or all +would be over with him. For either he would have brought +his brothers back, sound and well, to Falkenstein, or he would +not survive his dishonour.</p> +<p><!-- page 125--><a name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +125</span>“It is no more than right,” he said; +“for had I gone first, neither of them would have been sent +to meet the monster after I had fallen. And I <i>should</i> +have fallen, dear Rosalind, if I had faced the Firedrake before I +knew <i>you</i>.”</p> +<p>Then when she asked him why, and what good she had done him, +he told her all the story; and how, before he fell in love with +her, he didn’t believe in fairies, or Firedrakes, or caps +of darkness, or anything nice and impossible, but only in horrid +useless facts, and chemistry, and geology, and arithmetic, and +mathematics, and even political economy. And the Firedrake +would have made a mouthful of him, then.</p> +<p>So she was delighted when she heard this, almost as much +delighted as she was afraid that he might fail in the most +difficult adventure. <!-- page 126--><a +name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 126</span>For it was +one thing to egg on a Remora to kill a Firedrake, and quite +another to find the princes if they were alive, and restore them +if they were dead!</p> +<p>But the prince said he had his plan, and he stayed that night +at the ambassador’s. Next morning he rose very early, +before anyone else was up, that he might not have to say +“Good-bye” to Lady Rosalind. Then he flew in a +moment to the old lonely castle, where nobody went for fear of +ghosts, ever since the Court retired to Falkenstein.</p> +<p>How still it was, how deserted; not a sign of life, and yet +the prince was looking everywhere <i>for some living +thing</i>. He hunted the castle through in vain, and then +went out to the stable-yard; but all the dogs, of course, had +been taken away, and the farmers had offered homes to the +poultry. At last, stretched <!-- page 127--><a +name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 127</span>at full +length in a sunny place, the prince found a very old, half-blind, +miserable cat. The poor creature was lean, and its fur had +fallen off in patches; it could no longer catch birds, nor even +mice, and there was nobody to give it milk. But cats do not +look far into the future; and this old black cat—Frank was +his name—had got a breakfast somehow, and was happy in the +sun. The prince stood and looked at him pityingly, and he +thought that even a sick old cat was, in some ways, happier than +most men.</p> +<p>“Well,” said the prince at last, “he could +not live long anyway, and it must be done. He will feel +nothing.”</p> +<p>Then he drew the sword of sharpness, and with one turn of his +wrist cut the cat’s head clean off.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p128b.jpg"> +<img alt="Poor old Frank" src="images/p128s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>It did not at once change into a beautiful young <!-- page +129--><a name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +129</span>lady, as perhaps you expect; no, that was improbable, +and, as the prince was in love already, would have been vastly +inconvenient. The dead cat lay there, like any common +cat.</p> +<p>Then the prince built up a heap of straw, with wood on it, and +there he laid poor puss, and set fire to the pile. Very +soon there was nothing of old black Frank left but ashes!</p> +<p>Then the prince ran upstairs to the fairy cupboard, his heart +beating loudly with excitement. The sun was shining through +the arrow-shot window, all the yellow motes were dancing in its +rays. The light fell on the strange heaps of fairy +things—talismans and spells. The prince hunted about +here and there, and at last he discovered six ancient +water-vessels of black leather, each with a silver plate on it, +and on the plate letters engraved. <!-- page 130--><a +name="page130"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 130</span>This was +what was written on the plates:</p> +<p style="text-align: center">AQVA. DE. FONTE. LEONVM. <a +name="citation130"></a><a href="#footnote130" +class="citation">[130]</a></p> +<p>“Thank heaven!” said the prince. “I +thought they were sure to have brought it!”</p> +<p>Then he took one of the old black-leather bottles, and ran +downstairs again to the place where he had burned the body of the +poor old sick cat.</p> +<p>He opened the bottle, and poured a few drops of the water on +the ashes and the dying embers.</p> +<p>Up there sprang a tall, white flame of fire, waving like a +tongue of light; and forth from the heap jumped the most +beautiful, strong, funny, black cat that ever was seen!</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p130.jpg"> +<img alt="The Prince and the bottles" src="images/p130.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><!-- page 131--><a name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +131</span>It was Frank as he had been in the vigour of his youth; +and he knew the prince at once, and rubbed himself against him +and purred.</p> +<p>The prince lifted up Frank and kissed his nose for joy; and a +bright tear rolled down on Frank’s face, and made him rub +his nose with his paw in the most comical manner.</p> +<p>Then the prince set him down, and he ran round and round after +his tail; and, lastly, cocked his tail up, and marched proudly +after the prince into the castle.</p> +<p>“Oh, Frank!” said Prince Prigio, “no cat +since the time of Puss in Boots was ever so well taken care of as +you shall be. For, if the fairy water from the Fountain of +Lions can bring <i>you</i> back to life—why, there is a +chance for Alphonso and Enrico!”</p> +<p>Then Prigio bustled about, got ready some cold luncheon from +the store-room, took all his <!-- page 132--><a +name="page132"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 132</span>fairy +things that he was likely to need, sat down with them on the +flying carpet, and wished himself at the mountain of the +Firedrake.</p> +<p>“I have the king now,” he said; “for if I +can’t find the ashes of my brothers, by Jove! +I’ll!—”</p> +<p>Do you know what he meant to do, if he could not find his +brothers? Let every child guess!</p> +<p>Off he flew; and there he was in a second, just beside poor +Alphono’s garden-engine. Then Prigio, seeing a little +heap of grey ashes beside the engine, watered them with the fairy +water; and up jumped Alphonso, as jolly as ever, his sword in his +hand.</p> +<p>“Hullo, Prigio!” cried he; “are you come +after the monster too? I’ve been asleep, and I had a +kind of dream that he beat me. But the pair of us will +tackle him. How is Molinda?”</p> +<p><!-- page 133--><a name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +133</span>“Prettier than ever,” said Prigio; +“but anxious about you. However, the +Firedrake’s dead and done for; so never mind him. But +I left Enrico somewhere about. Just you sit down and wait a +minute, till I fetch him.”</p> +<p>The prince said this, because he did not wish Alphonso to know +that he and Enrico had not had quite the best of it in the affair +with the monster.</p> +<p>“All right, old fellow,” says Alphonso; “but +have you any luncheon with you? Never was so hungry in my +life!”</p> +<p>Prince Prigio had thought of this, and he brought out some +cold sausage (to which Alphonso was partial) and some bread, with +which the younger prince expressed himself satisfied. Then +Prigio went up the hill some way, first warning Alphonso +<i>not</i> to sit on his carpet for fear of <i>accidents</i> like +that which <!-- page 134--><a name="page134"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 134</span>happened to Benson. In a +hollow of the hill, sure enough there was the sword of Enrico, +the diamonds of the hilt gleaming in the sun. And there was +a little heap of grey ashes.</p> +<p>The prince poured a few drops of the water from the Fountain +of Lions on them, and up, of course, jumped Enrico, just as +Alphonso had done.</p> +<p>“Sleepy old chap you are, Enrico,” said the +prince; “but come on, Alphonso will have finished the grub +unless we look smart.”</p> +<p>So back they came, in time to get their share of what was +going; and they drank the Remora’s very good health, when +Prigio told them about the fight. But neither of them ever +knew that they had been dead and done for; because Prigio +invented a story that the mountain was enchanted, and that, as +long as the Firedrake lived, everyone who came there fell +asleep. He <!-- page 135--><a name="page135"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 135</span>did tell them about the flying +carpet, however, which of course did not much surprise them, +because they had read all about it in the <i>Arabian Nights</i> +and other historical works.</p> +<p>“And now I’ll show you fun!” said Prigio; +and he asked them both to take their seats on the carpet, and +wished to be in the valley of the Remora.</p> +<p>There they were in a moment, among the old knights whom, if +you remember, the Remora had frozen into stone. There was +quite a troop of them, in all sorts of armour—Greek and +Roman, and Knight Templars like Front de Bœuf and Brian du +Bois Gilbert—all the brave warriors that had tried to fight +the Remora since the world began.</p> +<p>Then Prigio gave each of his brothers some of the water in +their caps, and told them to go round pouring a drop or two on +each frozen <!-- page 136--><a name="page136"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 136</span>knight. And as they did it, lo +and behold! each knight came alive, with his horse, and lifted +his sword and shouted:</p> +<p style="text-align: center">“Long live Prince +Prigio!”</p> +<p>in Greek, Latin, Egyptian, French, German, and +Spanish,—all of which the prince perfectly understood, and +spoke like a native.</p> +<p>So he marshalled them in order, and sent them off to ride to +Falkenstein and cry:</p> +<p>“Prince Prigio is coming!”</p> +<p>Off they went, the horses’ hoofs clattering, banners +flying, sunshine glittering on the spear-points. Off they +rode to Falkenstein; and when the king saw them come galloping +in, I can tell you he had no more notion of hanging Prigio.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p136b.jpg"> +<img alt="Riding off to Falkenstein" src="images/p136s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><!-- page 138--><a name="page138"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 138</span>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> +<p><i>The Very Last</i>.</p> +<p>The princes returned to Gluckstein on the carpet, and went to +the best inn, where they dined together and slept. Next +morning they, and the ambassador, who had been told all the +story, and Lady Rosalind, floated comfortably on the carpet back +to Falkenstein, where the king wept like anything on the +shoulders of Alphonso and Enrico. They could not make out +why he cried so, nor why Lady Molinda and Lady Kathleena cried; +but soon they were all laughing and happy again. But +then—would you believe he could be so <!-- page 139--><a +name="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +139</span>mean?—he refused to keep his royal promise, and +restore Prigio to his crown-princeship! Kings are like +that.</p> +<p>But Prigio, very quietly asking for the head of the Firedrake, +said he’d pour the magic water on <i>that</i>, and bring +the Firedrake back to life again, unless his majesty behaved +rightly. This threat properly frightened King Grognio, and +he apologised. Then the king shook hands with Prigio in +public, and thanked him, and said he was proud of him. As +to Lady Rosalind, the old gentleman quite fell in love with her, +and he sent at once to the Chaplain Royal to get into his +surplice, and marry all the young people off at once, without +waiting for wedding-cakes, and milliners, and all the rest of +it.</p> +<p>Now, just as they were forming a procession to march into +church, who should appear but the queen! Her majesty had +been travelling <!-- page 140--><a name="page140"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 140</span>by post all the time, and, luckily, +had heard of none of the doings since Prigio, Benson, and the +king left Gluckstein. I say <i>luckily</i> because if she +<i>had</i> heard of them, she would not have believed a word of +them. But when she saw Alphonso and Enrico, she was much +pleased, and said:</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p140.jpg"> +<img alt="The Queen and her sons" src="images/p140.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“Naughty boys! Where have you been hiding? +The king had some absurd story about your having been killed by a +fabulous monster. Bah! don’t tell <i>me</i>. I +always said <!-- page 141--><a name="page141"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 141</span>you would come back after a little +trip—didn’t I, Prigio?”</p> +<p>“Certainly, madam,” said Prigio; “and I said +so, too. Didn’t I say so?” And all the +courtiers cried: “Yes, you did;” but some added, to +themselves, “<i>He always says</i>, ‘Didn’t I +say so?’”</p> +<p>Then the queen was introduced to Lady Rosalind, and she said +it was “rather a short engagement, but she supposed young +people understood their own affairs best.” And they +do! So the three pairs were married, with the utmost +rejoicings; and her majesty never, her whole life long, could be +got to believe that anything unusual had occurred.</p> +<p>The honeymoon of Prince Prigio and the Crown Princess Rosalind +was passed at the castle, where the prince had been deserted by +the Court. But now it was delightfully fitted <!-- page +142--><a name="page142"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +142</span>up; and Master Frank marched about the house with his +tail in the air, as if the place belonged to him.</p> +<p>Now, on the second day of their honeymoon, the prince and +princess were sitting in the garden together, and the prince +said, “Are you <i>quite</i> happy, my dear?” and +Rosalind said, “Yes; <i>quite</i>.”</p> +<p>But the prince did not like the tone of her voice, and he +said:</p> +<p>“No, there’s something; do tell me what it +is.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Rosalind, putting her head on his +shoulder, and speaking very low, “I want everybody to love +you as much as I do. No, not quite so very much,—but +I want them to like you. Now they <i>can’t</i>, +because they are afraid of you; for you are so awfully +clever. Now, couldn’t you take the wishing cap, and +<!-- page 143--><a name="page143"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +143</span>wish to be no cleverer than other people? Then +everybody would like you!”</p> +<p>The prince thought a minute, then he said:</p> +<p>“Your will is law, my dear; anything to please +you. Just wait a minute!”</p> +<p>Then he ran upstairs, for the last time, to the fairy garret, +and he put on the wishing cap.</p> +<p>“No,” thought he to himself, “I won’t +wish <i>that</i>. Every man has one secret from his wife, +and this shall be mine.”</p> +<p>Then he said aloud: “<span class="smcap">I wish to SEEM +no cleverer than other people</span>.”</p> +<p>Then he ran downstairs again, and the princess noticed a great +difference in him (though, of course, there was really none at +all), and so did everyone. For the prince remained as +clever as ever he had been; but, as nobody observed it, he became +the most popular prince, <!-- page 144--><a +name="page144"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 144</span>and finally +the best-beloved king who had ever sat on the throne of +Pantouflia.</p> +<p>But occasionally Rosalind would say, “I do believe, my +dear, that you are really as clever as ever!”</p> +<p>And he <i>was</i>!</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p144.jpg"> +<img alt="The Prince putting on the wishing cap" +src="images/p144.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">printing office +of the publisher</span>.</p> +<h2>Footnotes</h2> +<p><a name="footnote25"></a><a href="#citation25" +class="footnote">[25]</a> Subjunctive mood! He was a +great grammarian!</p> +<p><a name="footnote100"></a><a href="#citation100" +class="footnote">[100]</a> The History of this Prince may +be read in a treatise called <i>The Rose and the Ring</i>, by +<span class="smcap">M. A. Titmarsh</span>. London, +1855.</p> +<p><a name="footnote130"></a><a href="#citation130" +class="footnote">[130]</a> Water from the Fountain of +Lions.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRINCE PRIGIO***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 20850-h.htm or 20850-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/8/5/20850 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Prince Prigio + + +Author: Andrew Lang + + + +Release Date: March 19, 2007 [eBook #20850] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRINCE PRIGIO*** + + + + +Transcribed from the 1889 J. W. Arrowsmith edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + +{Book cover: cover.jpg} + + + + + +PRINCE PRIGIO + + +BY +ANDREW LANG +AUTHOR OF +"THE MARK OF CAIN, "THE GOLD OF FAIRNILEE" +ETC. + +Twenty-seven Illustrations by Gordon Browne + +1889 +BRISTOL +J. W. ARROWSMITH, QUAY STREET +LONDON +SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO., 4 STATIONERS' HALL COURT +_All rights reserved_ + +{"So the two went into the gardens together, and talked about a number +of things.": p0.jpg} + +PRINCE PRIGIO +IS +Dedicated +TO +ALMA +THYRA +EDITH +ROSALIND +NORNA +CECILY +AND VIOLET + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In compiling the following History from the Archives of Pantouflia, the +Editor has incurred several obligations to the Learned. The Return of +Benson (chapter xii.) is the fruit of the research of the late Mr. ALLEN +QUATERMAIN, while the final _wish_ of Prince Prigio was suggested by the +invention or erudition of a Lady. + +A study of the _Firedrake_ in South Africa--where he is called the +_Nanaboulele_, a difficult word--has been published in French (translated +from the Basuto language) by M. PAUL SEBILLOT, in the _Revue des +Traditione Populaires_. For the _Remora_, the Editor is indebted to the +_Voyage a la Lune_ of M. CYRANO DE BERGERAC. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +{Chapter heading picture: p1.jpg} + +_How the Fairies were not Invited to Court_. + +Once upon a time there reigned in Pantouflia a king and a queen. With +almost everything else to make them happy, they wanted one thing: they +had no children. This vexed the king even more than the queen, who was +very clever and learned, and who had hated dolls when she was a child. +However, she, too in spite of all the books she read and all the pictures +she painted, would have been glad enough to be the mother of a little +prince. The king was anxious to consult the fairies, but the queen would +not hear of such a thing. She did not believe in fairies: she said that +they had never existed; and that she maintained, though _The History of +the Royal Family_ was full of chapters about nothing else. + +Well, at long and at last they had a little boy, who was generally +regarded as the finest baby that had ever been seen. Even her majesty +herself remarked that, though she could never believe all the courtiers +told her, yet he certainly was a fine child--a very fine child. + +Now, the time drew near for the christening party, and the king and queen +were sitting at breakfast in their summer parlour talking over it. It +was a splendid room, hung with portraits of the royal ancestors. There +was Cinderella, the grandmother of the reigning monarch, with her little +foot in her glass slipper thrust out before her. There was the Marquis +de Carabas, who, as everyone knows, was raised to the throne as prince +consort after his marriage with the daughter of the king of the period. +On the arm of the throne was seated his celebrated cat, wearing boots. +There, too, was a portrait of a beautiful lady, sound asleep: this was +Madame La Belle au Bois-dormant, also an ancestress of the royal family. +Many other pictures of celebrated persons were hanging on the walls. + +"You have asked all the right people, my dear?" said the king. + +"Everyone who should be asked," answered the queen. + +"People are so touchy on these occasions," said his majesty. "You have +not forgotten any of our aunts?" + +"No; the old cats!" replied the queen; for the king's aunts were +old-fashioned, and did not approve of her, and she knew it. + +"They are very kind old ladies in their way," said the king; "and were +nice to me when I was a boy." + +Then he waited a little, and remarked: + +"The fairies, of course, you have invited? It has always been usual, in +our family, on an occasion like this; and I think we have neglected them +a little of late." + +"How _can_ you be so _absurd_?" cried the queen. "How often must I tell +you that there are _no_ fairies? And even if there were--but, no matter; +pray let us drop the subject." + +"They are very old friends of our family, my dear, that's all," said the +king timidly. "Often and often they have been godmothers to us. One, in +particular, was most kind and most serviceable to Cinderella I., my own +grandmother." + +"Your grandmother!" interrupted her majesty. "Fiddle-de-dee! If anyone +puts such nonsense into the head of my little Prigio--" + +But here the baby was brought in by the nurse, and the queen almost +devoured it with kisses. And so the fairies were not invited! It was an +extraordinary thing, but none of the nobles could come to the christening +party when they learned that the fairies had not been asked. Some were +abroad; several were ill; a few were in prison among the Saracens; others +were captives in the dens of ogres. The end of it was that the king and +queen had to sit down alone, one at each end of a very long table, +arrayed with plates and glasses for a hundred guests--for a hundred +guests who never came! + +"Any soup, my dear?" shouted the king, through a speaking-trumpet; when, +suddenly, the air was filled with a sound like the rustling of the wings +of birds. + +_Flitter_, _flitter_, _flutter_, went the noise; and when the queen +looked up, lo and behold! on every seat was a lovely fairy, dressed in +green, each with a _most interesting-looking parcel_ in her hand. Don't +you like opening parcels? The king did, and he was most friendly and +polite to the fairies. But the queen, though she saw them distinctly, +took no notice of them. You see, she did not believe in fairies, nor in +her own eyes, when she saw them. So she talked across the fairies to the +king, just as if they had not been there; but the king behaved as +politely as if they were _real_--which, of course, they were. + +When dinner was over, and when the nurse had brought in the baby, all the +fairies gave him the most magnificent presents. One offered a purse +which could never be empty; and one a pair of seven-leagued boots; and +another a cap of darkness, that nobody might see the prince when he put +it on; and another a wishing-cap; and another a carpet, on which, when he +sat, he was carried wherever he wished to find himself. Another made him +beautiful for ever; and another, brave; and another, lucky: but the last +fairy of all, a cross old thing, crept up and said, "My child, you shall +be _too_ clever!" + +This fairy's gift would have pleased the queen, if she had believed in +it, more than anything else, because she was so clever herself. But she +took no notice at all; and the fairies went each to her own country, and +none of them stayed there at the palace, where nobody believed in them, +except the king, a little. But the queen tossed all their nice boots and +caps, carpets, purses, swords, and all, away into a dark lumber-room; +for, of course, she thought that they were _all nonsense_, and merely old +rubbish out of books, or pantomime "properties." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +{Chapter heading picture: p9.jpg} + +_Prince Prigio and his Family_. + +Well, the little prince grew up. I think I've told you that his name was +Prigio--did I not? Well, that _was_ his name. You cannot think how +clever he was. He argued with his nurse as soon as he could speak, which +was very soon. He argued that he did not like to be washed, because the +soap got into his eyes. However, when he was told all about the _pores +of the skin_, and how they could not be healthy if he was not washed, he +at once ceased to resist, for he was very reasonable. He argued with his +father that he did not see why there should be kings who were rich, while +beggars were poor; and why the king--who was a little greedy--should have +poached eggs and plum-cake at afternoon tea, while many other persons +went without dinner. The king was so surprised and hurt at these remarks +that he boxed the prince's ears, saying, "I'll teach you to be too +clever, my lad." Then he remembered the awful curse of the oldest fairy, +and was sorry for the rudeness of the queen. And when the prince, after +having his ears boxed, said that "force was no argument," the king went +away in a rage. + +{Prigio reading a book: p11.jpg} + +Indeed, I cannot tell you how the prince was hated by all! He would go +down into the kitchen, and show the cook how to make soup. He would +visit the poor people's cottage, and teach them how to make the beds, and +how to make plum-pudding out of turnip-tops, and venison cutlets out of +rusty bacon. He showed the fencing-master how to fence, and the +professional cricketer how to bowl, and instructed the rat-catcher in +breeding terriers. He set sums to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and +assured the Astronomer Royal that the sun does not go round the +earth--which, for my part, I believe it does. The young ladies of the +Court disliked dancing with him, in spite of his good looks, because he +was always asking, "Have you read this?" and "Have you read that?"--and +when they said they hadn't, he sneered; and when they said they _had_, he +found them out. + +He found out all his tutors and masters in the same horrid way; +correcting the accent of his French teacher, and trying to get his German +tutor not to eat peas with his knife. He also endeavoured to teach the +queen-dowager, his grandmother, an art with which she had long been +perfectly familiar! In fact, he knew everything better than anybody +else; and the worst of it was that he _did_: and he was never in the +wrong, and he always said, "Didn't I tell you so?" And, what was more, +he _had_! + +As time went on, Prince Prigio had two younger brothers, whom everybody +liked. They were not a bit clever, but jolly. Prince Alphonso, the +third son, was round, fat, good-humoured, and as brave as a lion. Prince +Enrico, the second, was tall, thin, and a little sad, but _never_ too +clever. Both were in love with two of their own cousins (with the +approval of their dear parents); and all the world said, "What nice, +unaffected princes they are!" But Prigio nearly got the country into +several wars by being too clever for the foreign ambassadors. Now, as +Pantouflia was a rich, lazy country, which hated fighting, this was very +unpleasant, and did not make people love Prince Prigio any better. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +_About the Firedrake_. + +Of all the people who did not like Prigio, his own dear papa, King +Grognio, disliked him most. For the king knew he was not clever, +himself. When he was in the counting-house, counting out his money, and +when he happened to say, "Sixteen shillings and fourteen and twopence are +three pounds, fifteen," it made him wild to hear Prigio whisper, "One +pound, ten and twopence"--which, of course, it _is_. And the king was +afraid that Prigio would conspire, and get made king himself--which was +the last thing Prigio really wanted. He much preferred to idle about, +and know everything without seeming to take any trouble. + +{The King at his desk: p15.jpg} + +Well, the king thought and thought. How was he to get Prigio out of the +way, and make Enrico or Alphonso his successor? He read in books about +it; and all the books showed that, if a king sent his three sons to do +anything, it was always the youngest who did it, and got the crown. And +he wished he had the chance. Well, it arrived at last. + +There was a very hot summer! It began to be hot in March. All the +rivers were dried up. The grass did not grow. The corn did not grow. +The thermometers exploded with heat. The barometers stood at SET FAIR. +The people were much distressed, and came and broke the palace windows--as +they usually do when things go wrong in Pantouflia. + +The king consulted the learned men about the Court, who told him that +probably a + +FIREDRAKE + +was in the neighbourhood. + +Now, the Firedrake is a beast, or bird, about the bigness of an elephant. +Its body is made of iron, and it is always red-hot. A more terrible and +cruel beast cannot be imagined; for, if you go near it, you are at once +broiled by the Firedrake. + +But the king was not ill-pleased: "for," thought he, "of course my three +sons must go after the brute, the eldest first; and, as usual, it will +kill the first two, and be beaten by the youngest. It is a little hard +on Enrico, poor boy; but _anything_ to get rid of that Prigio!" + +Then the king went to Prigio, and said that his country was in danger, +and that he was determined to leave the crown to whichever of them would +bring him the horns (for it has horns) and tail of the Firedrake. + +"It is an awkward brute to tackle," the king said, "but you are the +oldest, my lad; go where glory waits you! Put on your armour, and be off +with you!" + +{"Put on your armour and be off with you!": p18.jpg} + +This the king said, hoping that either the Firedrake would roast Prince +Prigio alive (which he could easily do, as I have said; for he is all +over as hot as a red-hot poker), or that, if the prince succeeded, at +least his country would be freed from the monster. + +But the prince, who was lying on the sofa doing sums in compound division +for fun, said in the politest way: + +"Thanks to the education your majesty has given me, I have learned that +the Firedrake, like the siren, the fairy, and so forth, is a fabulous +animal which does not exist. But even granting, for the sake of +argument, that there is a Firedrake, your majesty is well aware that +there is no kind of use in sending _me_. It is always the eldest son who +goes out first and comes to grief on these occasions, and it is always +the third son that succeeds. Send Alphonso" (this was the youngest +brother), "and _he_ will do the trick at once. At least, if he fails, it +will be most unusual, and Enrico can try his luck." + +Then he went back to his arithmetic and his slate, and the king had to +send for Prince Alphonso and Prince Enrico. They both came in very warm; +for they had been whipping tops, and the day was unusually hot. + +"Look here," said the king, "just you two younger ones look at Prigio! +You see how hot it is, and how coolly he takes it, and the country +suffering; and all on account of a Firedrake, you know, which has +apparently built his nest not far off. Well, I have asked that lout of a +brother of yours to kill it, and he says--" + +"That he does not believe in Firedrakes," interrupted Prigio. "The +weather's warm enough without going out hunting!" + +"Not believe in Firedrakes!" cried Alphonso. "I wonder what you _do_ +believe in! Just let me get at the creature!" for he was as brave as a +lion. "Hi! Page, my chain-armour, helmet, lance, and buckler! _A +Molinda_! _A Molinda_!" which was his _war-cry_. + +The page ran to get the armour; but it was so _uncommonly hot_ that he +dropped it, and put his fingers in his mouth, crying! + +{The page crying: p21.jpg} + +"You had better put on flannels, Alphonso, for this kind of work," said +Prigio. "And if I were you, I'd take a light garden-engine, full of +water, to squirt at the enemy." + +"Happy thought!" said Alphonso. "I will!" And off he went, kissed his +dear Molinda, bade her keep a lot of dances for him (there was to be a +dance when he had killed the Firedrake), and then he rushed to the field! + +But he never came back any more! + +Everyone wept bitterly--everyone but Prince Prigio; for he thought it was +a practical joke, and said that Alphonso had taken the opportunity to +start off on his travels and see the world. + +"There is some dreadful mistake, sir," said Prigio to the king. "You +know as well as I do that the youngest son has always succeeded, up to +now. But I entertain great hopes of Enrico!" + +And he grinned; for he fancied it was all _nonsense_, and that there were +no Firedrakes. + +Enrico was present when Prigio was consoling the king in this unfeeling +way. + +"Enrico, my boy," said his majesty, "the task awaits you, and the honour. +When _you_ come back with the horns and tail of the Firedrake, you shall +be crown prince; and Prigio shall be made an usher at the Grammar +School--it is all he is fit for." + +Enrico was not quite so confident as Alphonso had been. He insisted on +making his will; and he wrote a poem about the pleasures and advantages +of dying young. This is part of it: + + _The violet is a blossom sweet_, + _That droops before the day is done_-- + _Slain by thine overpowering heat_, + _O Sun_! + + _And I_, _like that sweet purple flower_, + _May roast_, _or boil_, _or broil_, _or bake_, + _If burned by thy terrific power_, + _Firedrake_! + +This poem comforted Enrico more or less, and he showed it to Prigio. But +the prince only laughed, and said that the second line of the last verse +was not very good; for violets do not "roast, or boil, or broil, or +bake." + +Enrico tried to improve it, but could not. So he read it to his cousin, +Lady Kathleena, just as it was; and she cried over it (though I don't +think she understood it); and Enrico cried a little, too. + +However, next day he started, with a spear, a patent refrigerator, and a +lot of the bottles people throw at fires to put them out. + +But _he_ never came back again! + +After shedding torrents of tears, the king summoned Prince Prigio to his +presence. + +"Dastard!" he said. "Poltroon! _Your_ turn, which should have come +first, has arrived at last. _You_ must fetch me the horns and the tail +of the Firedrake. Probably you will be grilled, thank goodness; but who +will give me back Enrico and Alphonso?" + +"Indeed, your majesty," said Prigio, "you must permit me to correct your +policy. Your only reason for dispatching your sons in pursuit of this +dangerous but I believe _fabulous_ animal, was to ascertain which of us +would most worthily succeed to your throne, at the date--long may it be +deferred!--of your lamented decease. Now, there can be no further +question about the matter. I, unworthy as I am, represent the sole hope +of the royal family. Therefore to send me after the Firedrake were {25} +both dangerous and unnecessary. Dangerous, because, if he treats me as +you say he did my brothers--my unhappy brothers,--the throne of +Pantouflia will want an heir. But, if I do come back alive--why, I +cannot be more the true heir than I am at present; now _can_ I? Ask the +Lord Chief Justice, if you don't believe _me_." + +These arguments were so clearly and undeniably correct that the king, +unable to answer them, withdrew into a solitary place where he could +express himself with freedom, and give rein to his expression. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +_How Prince Prigio was Deserted by Everybody_. + +Meanwhile, Prince Prigio had to suffer many unpleasant things. Though he +was the crown prince (and though his arguments were unanswerable), +everybody shunned him for a coward. The queen, who did not believe in +Firedrakes, alone took his side. He was not only avoided by all, but he +had most disagreeable scenes with his own cousins, Lady Molinda and Lady +Kathleena. In the garden Lady Molinda met him walking alone, and did not +bow to him. + +"Dear Molly," said the prince, who liked her, "how have I been so +unfortunate as to offend you?" + +"My name, sir, is Lady Molinda," she said, very proudly; "and you have +sent your own brother to his grave!" + +"Oh, excuse me," said the prince, "I am certain he has merely gone off on +his travels. He'll come back when he's tired: there _are_ no Firedrakes; +a French writer says they are 'purement fabuleux,' purely fabulous, you +know." + +{"My name, sir, is Lady Molinda, she said.": p29.jpg} + +"Prince Alphonso has gone on his travels, and will come back when he is +tired! And was he then--tired--of _me_?" cried poor Molinda, bursting +into tears, and forgetting her dignity. + +"Oh! I beg your pardon, I never noticed; I'm sure I am very sorry," +cried the prince, who, never having been in love himself, never thought +of other people. And he tried to take Molinda's hand, but she snatched +it from him and ran away through the garden to the palace, leaving Prince +Prigio to feel foolish, for once, and ashamed. + +As for Lady Kathleena, she swept past him like a queen, without a word. +So the prince, for all his cleverness, was not happy. + +After several days had gone by, the king returned from the solitary place +where he had been speaking his mind. He now felt calmer and better; and +so at last he came back to the palace. But on seeing Prince Prigio, who +was lolling in a hammock, translating Egyptian hieroglyphs into French +poetry for his mother, the king broke out afresh, and made use of the +most cruel and impolite expressions. + +At last, he gave orders that all the Court should pack up and move to a +distant city; and that Prince Prigio should be left alone in the palace +by himself. For he was quite unendurable, the king said, and he could +not trust his own temper when he thought of him. And he grew so fierce, +that even the queen was afraid of him now. + +The poor queen cried a good deal; Prigio being her favourite son, on +account of his acknowledged ability and talent. But the rest of the +courtiers were delighted at leaving Prince Prigio behind. For his part, +he, very good-naturedly, showed them the best and shortest road to +Falkenstein, the city where they were going; and easily proved that +neither the chief secretary for geography, nor the general of the army, +knew anything about the matter--which, indeed, they did not. + +The ungrateful courtiers left Prigio with hoots and yells, for they +disliked him so much that they forgot he would be king one day. He +therefore reminded them of this little fact in future history, which made +them feel uncomfortable enough, and then lay down in his hammock and went +to sleep. + +When he wakened, the air was cold and the day was beginning to grow dark. +Prince Prigio thought he would go down and dine at a tavern in the town, +for no servants had been left with him. But what was his annoyance when +he found that his boots, his sword, his cap, his cloak--all his clothes, +in fact, except those he wore,--had been taken away by the courtiers, +merely to spite him! His wardrobe had been ransacked, and everything +that had not been carried off had been cut up, burned, and destroyed. +Never was such a spectacle of wicked mischief. It was as if hay had been +made of everything he possessed. What was worse, he had not a penny in +his pocket to buy new things; and his father had stopped his allowance of +fifty thousand pounds a month. + +Can you imagine anything more cruel and _unjust_ than this conduct? for +it was not the prince's fault that he was so clever. The cruel fairy had +made him so. But, even if the prince had been born clever (as may have +happened to you), was he to be blamed for that? The other people were +just as much in fault for being born so stupid; but the world, my dear +children, can never be induced to remember this. If you are clever, you +will find it best not to let people know it--if you want them to like +you. + +Well, here was the prince in a pretty plight. Not a pound in his pocket, +not a pair of boots to wear, not even a cap to cover his head from the +rain; nothing but cold meat to eat, and never a servant to answer the +bell. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +_What Prince Prigio found in the Garret_. + +The prince walked from room to room of the palace; but, unless he wrapped +himself up in a curtain, there was nothing for him to wear when he went +out in the rain. At last he climbed up a turret-stair in the very oldest +part of the castle, where he had never been before; and at the very top +was a little round room, a kind of garret. The prince pushed in the door +with some difficulty--not that it was locked, but the handle was rusty, +and the wood had swollen with the damp. The room was very dark; only the +last grey light of the rainy evening came through a slit of a window, one +of those narrow windows that they used to fire arrows out of in old +times. + +But in the dusk the prince saw a heap of all sorts of things lying on the +floor and on the table. There were two caps; he put one on--an old, +grey, ugly cap it was, made of felt. There was a pair of boots; and he +kicked off his slippers, and got into _them_. They were a good deal +worn, but fitted as if they had been made for him. On the table was a +purse with just three gold coins--old ones, too--in it; and this, as you +may fancy, the prince was very well pleased to put in his pocket. A +sword, with a sword-belt, he buckled about his waist; and the rest of the +articles, a regular collection of odds and ends, he left just where they +were lying. Then he ran downstairs, and walked out of the hall door. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +_What Happened to Prince Prigio in Town_. + +By this time the prince was very hungry. The town was just three miles +off; but he had such a royal appetite, that he did not like to waste it +on bad cookery, and the people of the royal town were bad cooks. + +"I wish I were in 'The Bear,' at Gluckstein," said he to himself; for he +remembered that there was a very good cook there. But, then, the town +was twenty-one leagues away--sixty-three long miles! + +No sooner had the prince said this, and taken just three steps, than he +found himself at the door of the "Bear Inn" at Gluckstein! + +"This is the most extraordinary dream," said he to himself; for he was +far too clever, of course, to believe in seven-league boots. Yet he had +a pair on at that very moment, and it was they which had carried him in +three strides from the palace to Gluckstein! + +The truth is, that the prince, in looking about the palace for clothes, +had found his way into that very old lumber-room where the magical gifts +of the fairies had been thrown by his clever mother, who did not believe +in them. But this, of course, the prince did not know. + +Now you should be told that seven-league boots only take those prodigious +steps when you say you _want_ to go a long distance. Otherwise they +would be very inconvenient--when you only want to cross the room, for +example. Perhaps this has not been explained to you by your governess? + +Well, the prince walked into "The Bear," and it seemed odd to him that +nobody took any notice of him. And yet his face was as well known as +that of any man in Pantouflia, for everybody had seen it, at least in +pictures. He was so puzzled by not being attended to as usual, that _he +quite forgot to take off his cap_. He sat down at the table, however, +and shouted "_Kellner_!" at which all the waiters jumped, and looked +round in every direction, but nobody came to him. At first he thought +they were too busy, but presently another explanation occurred to him. + +{The waiters: p38.jpg} + +"The king," he said to himself, "has threatened to execute anybody who +speaks to me, or helps me in any way. Well, I don't mean to starve in +the midst of plenty, anyhow; here goes!" + +The prince rose, and went to the table in the midst of the room, where a +huge roast turkey had just been placed. He helped himself to half the +breast, some sausages, chestnut stuffing, bread sauce, potatoes, and a +bottle of red wine--Burgundy. He then went back to a table in a corner, +where he dined very well, nobody taking any notice of him. When he had +finished, he sat watching the other people dining, and smoking his +cigarette. As he was sitting thus, a very tall man, an officer in the +uniform of the Guards, came in, and, walking straight to the prince's +table, said: "Kellner, clean this table, and bring in the bill of fare." + +With these words, the officer sat down suddenly in the prince's lap, as +if he did not see him at all. He was a heavy man, and the prince, +enraged at the insult, pushed him away and jumped to his feet. As he did +so, _his cap dropped off_. The officer fell on his knees at once, +crying: + +"Pardon, my prince, pardon! I never saw you!" + +This was more than the prince could be expected to believe. + +"Nonsense! Count Frederick von Matterhorn," he said; "you must be +intoxicated. Sir! you have insulted your prince and your superior +officer. Consider yourself under arrest! You shall be sent to a prison +to-morrow." + +On this, the poor officer appealed piteously to everybody in the tavern. +They all declared that they had not seen the prince, nor even had an idea +that he was doing them the honour of being in the neighbourhood of their +town. + +More and more offended, and convinced that there was a conspiracy to +annoy and insult him, the prince shouted for the landlord, called for his +bill, threw down his three pieces of gold without asking for change, and +went into the street. + +"It is a disgraceful conspiracy," he said. "The king shall answer for +this! I shall write to the newspapers at once!" + +He was not put in a better temper by the way in which people hustled him +in the street. They ran against him exactly as if they did not see him, +and then staggered back in the greatest surprise, looking in every +direction for the person they had jostled. In one of these encounters, +the prince pushed so hard against a poor old beggar woman that she fell +down. As he was usually most kind and polite, he pulled off his cap to +beg her pardon, when, behold, the beggar woman gave one dreadful scream, +and fainted! A crowd was collecting, and the prince, forgetting that he +had thrown down all his money in the tavern, pulled out his purse. Then +he remembered what he had done, and expected to find it empty; but, lo, +there were three pieces of gold in it! Overcome with surprise, he thrust +the money into the woman's hand, and put on his cap again. In a moment +the crowd, which had been staring at him, rushed away in every direction, +with cries of terror, declaring that there was a magician in the town, +and a fellow who could appear and disappear at pleasure! + +{The crowd running: p42.jpg} + +By this time, you or I, or anyone who was not so extremely clever as +Prince Prigio, would have understood what was the matter. He had put on, +without knowing it, not only the seven-league boots, but the cap of +darkness, and had taken Fortunatus's purse, which could never be empty, +however often you took all the money out. All those and many other +delightful wares the fairies had given him at his christening, and the +prince had found them in the dark garret. But the prince was so +extremely wise, and learned, and scientific, that he did not believe in +fairies, nor in fairy gifts. + +"It is indigestion," he said to himself: "those sausages were not of the +best; and that Burgundy was extremely strong. Things are not as they +appear." + +Here, as he was arguing with himself, he was nearly run over by a +splendid carriage and six, the driver of which never took the slightest +notice of him. Annoyed at this, the prince leaped up behind, threw down +the two footmen, who made no resistance, and so was carried to the door +of a magnificent palace. He was determined to challenge the gentleman +who was in the carriage; but, noticing that he had a very beautiful young +lady with him, whom he had never seen before, he followed them into the +house, not wishing to alarm the girl, and meaning to speak to the +gentleman when he found him alone. + +A great ball was going on; but, as usual, nobody took any notice of the +prince. He walked among the guests, being careful not to jostle them, +and listening to their conversation. + +It was all about himself! Everyone had heard of his disgrace, and almost +everyone cried "Serve him right!" They said that the airs he gave +himself were quite unendurable--that nothing was more rude than to be +always in the right--that cleverness might be carried far too far--that +it was better even to be born stupid ("Like the rest of you," thought the +prince); and, in fact, nobody had a good word for him. + +Yes, one had! It was the pretty lady of the carriage. I never could +tell you how pretty she was. She was tall, with cheeks like white roses +blushing: she had dark hair, and very large dark-grey eyes, and her face +was the kindest in the world! The prince first thought how nice and good +she looked, even before he thought how pretty she looked. _She_ stood up +for Prince Prigio when her partner would speak ill of him. She had never +seen the prince, for she was but newly come to Pantouflia; but she +declared that it was his _misfortune_, not his fault, to be so clever. +"And, then, think how hard they made him work at school! Besides," said +this kind young lady, "I hear he is extremely handsome, and very brave; +and he has a good heart, for he was kind, I have heard, to a poor boy, +and did all his examination papers for him, so that the boy passed first +in _everything_. And now he is Minister for Education, though he can't +do a line of Greek prose!" + +The prince blushed at this, for he knew his conduct had not been +honourable. But he at once fell over head and ears in love with the +young lady, a thing he had never done in his life before, because--he +said--"women were so stupid!" You see he was so clever! + +Now, at this very moment--when the prince, all of a sudden, was as deep +in love as if he had been the stupidest officer in the room--an +extraordinary thing happened! Something seemed to give a whirr! in his +brain, and in one instant _he knew all about it_! He believed in fairies +and fairy gifts, and understood that his cap was the cap of darkness, and +his shoes the seven-league boots, and his purse the purse of Fortunatus! +He had read about those things in historical books: but now he believed +in them. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +_The Prince Falls in Love_. + +He understood all this, and burst out laughing, which nearly frightened +an old lady near him out of her wits. Ah! how he wished he was only in +evening dress, that he might dance with the charming young lady. But +there he was, dressed just as if he were going out to hunt, if anyone +could have seen him. So, even if he took off his cap of darkness, and +became visible, he was no figure for a ball. Once he would not have +cared, but now he cared very much indeed. + +But the prince was not clever for nothing. He thought for a moment, then +went out of the room, and, in three steps of the seven-league boots, was +at his empty, dark, cold palace again. He struck a light with a flint +and steel, lit a torch, and ran upstairs to the garret. The flaring +light of the torch fell on the pile of "rubbish," as the queen would have +called it, which he turned over with eager hands. Was there--yes, there +_was_ another cap! There it lay, a handsome green one with a red +feather. The prince pulled off the cap of darkness, put on the other, +and said: + +"_I wish I were dressed in my best suit of white and gold_, _with the +royal Pantouflia diamonds_!" + +In one moment there he was in white and gold, the greatest and most +magnificent dandy in the whole world, and the handsomest man! + +"How about my boots, I wonder," said the prince; for his seven-league +boots were stout riding-boots, not good to dance in, whereas _now_ he was +in elegant shoes of silk and gold. + +He threw down the wishing cap, put on the other--the cap of darkness--and +made three strides in the direction of Gluckstein. But he was only three +steps nearer it than he had been, and the seven-league boots were +standing beside him on the floor! + +"No," said the prince; "no man can be in two different pairs of boots at +one and the same time! That's mathematics!" + +He then hunted about in the lumber-room again till he found a small, +shabby, old Persian carpet, the size of a hearthrug. He went to his own +room, took a portmanteau in his hand, sat down on the carpet, and said: + +"I wish I were in Gluckstein." + +In a moment there he found himself; for this was that famous carpet which +Prince Hussein bought long ago, in the market at Bisnagar, and which the +fairies had brought, with the other presents, to the christening of +Prince Prigio. + +{The Prince on the carpet: p52.jpg} + +When he arrived at the house where the ball was going on, he put the +magical carpet in the portmanteau, and left it in the cloak-room, +receiving a numbered ticket in exchange. Then he marched in all his +glory (and, of course, without the cap of darkness) into the room where +they were dancing. Everybody made place for him, bowing down to the +ground, and the loyal band struck up _The Prince's March_! + + _Heaven bless our Prince Prigio_! + _What is there he doesn't know_? + _Greek_, _Swiss_, _German_ (_High and Low_), + _And the names of the mountains in Mexico_, + _Heaven bless the prince_! + +He used to be very fond of this march, and the words--some people even +said he had made them himself. But now, somehow, he didn't much like it. +He went straight to the Duke of Stumpfelbahn, the Hereditary Master of +the Ceremonies, and asked to be introduced to the beautiful young lady. +She was the daughter of the new English Ambassador, and her name was Lady +Rosalind. But she nearly fainted when she heard who it was that wished +to dance with her, for she was not at all particularly clever; and the +prince had such a bad character for snubbing girls, and asking them +difficult questions. However, it was impossible to refuse, and so she +danced with the prince, and he danced very well. Then they sat out in +the conservatory, among the flowers, where nobody came near them; and +then they danced again, and then the Prince took her down to supper. And +all the time he never once said, "Have you read _this_?" or "Have you +read _that_?" or, "What! you never heard of Alexander the Great?" or +Julius Caesar, or Michael Angelo, or whoever it might be--horrid, +difficult questions he used to ask. That was the way he _used_ to go on: +but now he only talked to the young lady about _herself_; and she quite +left off being shy or frightened, and asked him all about his own +country, and about the Firedrake-shooting, and said how fond she was of +hunting herself. And the prince said: + +"Oh, if _you_ wish it, you shall have the horns and tail of a Firedrake +to hang up in your hall, to-morrow evening!" + +Then she asked if it was not very dangerous work, Firedrake hunting; and +he said it was nothing, when you knew the trick of it: and he asked her +if she would but give him a rose out of her bouquet; and, in short, he +made himself so agreeable and _unaffected_, that she thought him very +nice indeed. + +For, even a clever person can be nice when he likes--above all, when he +is not thinking about himself. And now the prince was thinking of +nothing in the world but the daughter of the English ambassador, and how +to please her. He got introduced to her father too, and quite won his +heart; and, at last, he was invited to dine next day at the Embassy. + +In Pantouflia, it is the custom that a ball must not end while one of the +royal family goes on dancing. _This_ ball lasted till the light came in, +and the birds were singing out of doors, and all the mothers present were +sound asleep. Then nothing would satisfy the prince, but that they all +should go home singing through the streets; in fact, there never had been +so merry a dance in all Pantouflia. The prince had made a point of +dancing with almost every girl there: and he had suddenly become the most +beloved of the royal family. But everything must end at last; and the +prince, putting on the cap of darkness and sitting on the famous carpet, +flew back to his lonely castle. + +{The mothers asleep: p56.jpg} + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +_The Prince is Puzzled_. + +Prince Prigio did not go to bed. It was bright daylight, and he had +promised to bring the horns and tail of a Firedrake as a present to a +pretty lady. He had said it was easy to do this; but now, as he sat and +thought over it, he did not feel so victorious. + +"First," he said, "where is the Firedrake?" He reflected for a little, +and then ran upstairs to the garret. + +"It _should_ be here!" he cried, tossing the fairies' gifts about; "and, +by George, here it is!" + +Indeed, he had found the spyglass of carved ivory which Prince Ali, in +the _Arabian Nights_, bought in the bazaar in Schiraz. Now, this glass +was made so that, by looking through it, you could see anybody or +anything you wished, however far away. Prigio's first idea was to look +at his lady. "But she does not expect to be looked at," he thought; "and +I _won't_!" On the other hand, he determined to look at the Firedrake; +for, of course, he had no delicacy about spying on _him_, the brute. + +The prince clapped the glass to his eye, stared out of window, and there, +sure enough, he saw the Firedrake. He was floating about in a sea of +molten lava, on the top of a volcano. There he was, swimming and diving +for pleasure, tossing up the flaming waves, and blowing fountains of fire +out of his nostrils, like a whale spouting! + +The prince did not like the looks of him. + +{The Prince looking through the telescope: p59.jpg} + +"With all my cap of darkness, and my shoes of swiftness, and my sword of +sharpness, I never could get near that beast," he said; "and if I _did_ +stalk him, I could not hurt him. Poor little Alphonso! poor Enrico! what +plucky fellows they were! I fancied that there was no such thing as a +Firedrake: he's not in the Natural History books, and I thought the boys +were only making fun, and would be back soon, safe and sound. How horrid +being too clever makes one! And now, what _am_ I to do?" + +{The Remora: p60.jpg} + +What was he to do, indeed? And what would you have done? Bring the +horns and tail he must, or perish in the adventure. Otherwise, how could +he meet his lady?--why, she would think him a mere braggart! + +The prince sat down, and thought and thought; and the day went on, and it +was now high noon. + +At last he jumped up and rushed into the library, a room where nobody +ever went except himself and the queen. There he turned the books upside +down, in his haste, till he found an old one, by a French gentleman, +Monsieur Cyrano de Bergerac. It was an account of a voyage to the moon, +in which there is a great deal of information about matters not generally +known; for few travellers have been to the moon. In that book, Prince +Prigio fancied he would find something he half remembered, and that would +be of use to him. And he _did_! So you see that cleverness, and minding +your book, have some advantages, after all. For here the prince learned +that there is a very rare beast, called a Remora, which is at least as +cold as the Firedrake is hot! + +"Now," thought he, "_if I can only make these two fight_, why the Remora +may kill the Firedrake, or take the heat out of him, at least, so that I +may have a chance." + +Then he seized the ivory glass, clapped it to his eye, and looked for the +Remora. Just the tip of his nose, as white as snow and as smooth as ice, +was sticking out of a chink in a frozen mountain, not far from the +burning mountain of the Firedrake. + +"Hooray!" said the prince softly to himself; and he jumped like mad into +the winged shoes of swiftness, stuck on the cap of darkness, girdled +himself with the sword of sharpness, and put a good slice of bread, with +some cold tongue, in a wallet, which he slung on his back. Never you +fight, if you can help it, except with plenty of food to keep you going +and in good heart. Then off he flew, and soon he reached the volcano of +the Firedrake. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +{Chapter heading picture: p64.jpg} + +_The Prince and the Firedrake_. + +It was dreadfully hot, even high up in the air, where the prince hung +invisible. Great burning stones were tossed up by the volcano, and +nearly hit him several times. Moreover, the steam and smoke, and the +flames which the Firedrake spouted like foam from his nostrils, would +have daunted even the bravest man. The sides of the hill, too, were +covered with the blackened ashes of his victims, whom he had roasted when +they came out to kill him. The garden-engine of poor little Alphonso was +lying in the valley, all broken and useless. But the Firedrake, as happy +as a wild duck on a lonely loch, was rolling and diving in the liquid +flame, all red-hot and full of frolic. + +"Hi!" shouted the prince. + +The Firedrake rose to the surface, his horns as red as a red crescent- +moon, only bigger, and lashing the fire with his hoofs and his blazing +tail. + +"Who's there?" he said in a hoarse, angry voice. "Just let me get at +you!" + +"It's me," answered the prince. It was the first time he had forgotten +his grammar, but he was terribly excited. + +"What do you want?" grunted the beast. "I wish I could see you"; and, +horrible to relate, he rose on a pair of wide, flaming wings, and came +right at the prince, guided by the sound of his voice. + +Now, the prince had never heard that Firedrakes could fly; indeed, he had +never believed in them at all, till the night before. For a moment he +was numb with terror; then he flew down like a stone to the very bottom +of the hill, and shouted: + +"Hi!" + +"Well," grunted the Firedrake, "what's the matter? Why can't you give a +civil answer to a civil question?" + +"Will you go back to your hole and swear, on your honour as a Firedrake, +to listen quietly?" + +"On my sacred word of honour," said the beast, casually scorching an +eagle that flew by into ashes. The cinders fell, jingling and crackling, +round the prince in a little shower. + +Then the Firedrake dived back, with an awful splash of flame, and the +mountain roared round him. + +The prince now flew high above him, and cried: + +"A message from the Remora. He says you are afraid to fight him." + +"Don't know him," grunted the Firedrake. + +"He sends you his glove," said Prince Prigio, "as a challenge to mortal +combat, till death do you part." + +Then he dropped his own glove into the fiery lake. + +"Does he?" yelled the Firedrake. "Just let me get at him!" and he +scrambled out, all red-hot as he was. + +"I'll go and tell him you're coming," said the prince; and with two +strides he was over the frozen mountain of the Remora. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +_The Prince and the Remora_. + +If he had been too warm before, the prince was too cold now. The hill of +the Remora was one solid mass of frozen steel, and the cold rushed out of +it like the breath of some icy beast, which indeed it _was_. All around +were things like marble statues of men in armour: they were the dead +bodies of the knights, horses and all, who had gone out of old to fight +the Remora, and who had been frosted up by him. The prince felt his +blood stand still, and he grew faint; but he took heart, for there was no +time to waste. Yet he could nowhere see the Remora. + +"Hi!" shouted the prince. + +Then, from a narrow chink at the bottom of the smooth, black hill,--a +chink no deeper than that under a door, but a mile wide,--stole out a +hideous head! + +It was as flat as the head of a skate-fish, it was deathly pale, and two +chill-blue eyes, dead-coloured like stones, looked out of it. + +Then there came a whisper, like the breath of the bitter east wind on a +winter day: + +"Where are you, and how can I come to you?" + +"Here I am!" said the prince from the top of the hill. + +Then the flat, white head set itself against the edge of the chink from +which it had peeped, and slowly, like the movement of a sheet of ice, it +slipped upwards and curled upwards, and up, and up! There seemed no end +to it at all; and it moved horribly, without feet, holding on by its own +frost to the slippery side of the frozen hill. Now all the lower part of +the black hill was covered with the horrid white thing coiled about it in +smooth, flat, shiny coils; and still the head was higher than the rest; +and still the icy cold came nearer and nearer, like Death. + +The prince almost fainted: everything seemed to swim; and in one moment +more he would have fallen stiff on the mountain-top, and the white head +would have crawled over him, and the cold coils would have slipped over +him and turned him to stone. And still the thing slipped up, from the +chink under the mountain. + +But the prince made a great effort; he moved, and in two steps he was far +away, down in the valley where it was not so very cold. + +"Hi!" he shouted, as soon as his tongue could move within his chattering +teeth. + +There came a clear, hissing answer, like frozen words dropping round him: + +"Wait till I come down. What do you want?" + +Then the white folds began to slide, like melting ice, from the black +hill. + +Prince Prigio felt the air getting warmer behind him, and colder in front +of him. + +He looked round, and there were the trees beginning to blacken in the +heat, and the grass looking like a sea of fire along the plains; for the +Firedrake was coming! + +The prince just took time to shout, "The Firedrake is going to pay you a +visit!" and then he soared to the top of a neighbouring hill, and looked +on at what followed. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +_The Battle_. + +It was an awul sight to behold! When the Remora heard the name of the +Firedrake, his hated enemy, he slipped with wonderful speed from the +cleft of the mountain into the valley. On and on and on he poured over +rock and tree, as if a frozen river could slide downhill; on and on, till +there were miles of him stretching along the valley--miles of the smooth- +ribbed, icy creature, crawling and slipping forwards. The green trees +dropped their leaves as he advanced; the birds fell down dead from the +sky, slain by his frosty breath! But, fast as the Remora stole forward, +the Firedrake came quicker yet, flying and clashing his fiery wings. At +last they were within striking distance; and the Firedrake, stooping from +the air, dashed with his burning horns and flaming feet slap into the +body of the Remora. + +Then there rose a steam so dreadful, such a white yet fiery vapour of +heat, that no one who had not the prince's magic glass could have seen +what happened. With horrible grunts and roars the Firedrake tried to +burn his way right through the flat body of the Remora, and to chase him +to his cleft in the rock. But the Remora, hissing terribly, and visibly +melting away in places, yet held his ground; and the prince could see his +cold white folds climbing slowly up the hoofs of the Firedrake--up and +up, till they reached his knees, and the great burning beast roared like +a hundred bulls with the pain. Then up the Firedrake leaped, and +hovering on his fiery wings, he lighted in the midst of the Remora's +back, and dashed into it with his horns. But the flat, cruel head +writhed backwards, and, slowly bending over on itself, the wounded Remora +slid greedily to fasten again on the limbs of the Firedrake. + +Meanwhile, the prince, safe on his hill, was lunching on the loaf and the +cold tongue he had brought with him. + +"Go it, Remora! Go it, Firedrake! you're gaining. Give it him, Remora!" +he shouted in the wildest excitement. + +Nobody had ever seen such a battle; he had it all to himself, and he +never enjoyed anything more. He hated the Remora so much, that he almost +wished the Firedrake could beat it; for the Firedrake was the more +natural beast of the pair. Still, he was alarmed when he saw that the +vast flat body of the Remora was now slowly coiling backwards, backwards, +into the cleft below the hill; while a thick wet mist showed how cruelly +it had suffered. But the Firedrake, too, was in an unhappy way; for his +legs were now cold and black, his horns were black also, though his body, +especially near the heart, glowed still like red-hot iron. + +"Go it, Remora!" cried the prince: "his legs are giving way; he's groggy +on his pins! One more effort, and he won't be able to move!" + +Encouraged by this advice, the white, slippery Remora streamed out of his +cavern again, more and more of him uncoiling, as if the mountain were +quite full of him. He had lost strength, no doubt: for the steam and +mist went up from him in clouds, and the hissing of his angry voice grew +fainter; but so did the roars of the Firedrake. Presently they sounded +more like groans; and at last the Remora slipped up his legs above the +knees, and fastened on his very heart of fire. Then the Firedrake stood +groaning like a black bull, knee-deep in snow; and still the Remora +climbed and climbed. + +"Go it now, Firedrake!" shouted the prince; for he knew that if the +Remora won, it would be too cold for him to draw near the place, and cut +off the Firedrake's head and tail. + +"Go it, Drake! he's slackening!" cried the prince again; and the brave +Firedrake made one last furious effort, and rising on his wings, dropped +just on the spine of his enemy. + +The wounded Remora curled back his head again on himself, and again +crawled, steaming terribly, towards his enemy. But the struggle was too +much for the gallant Remora. The flat, cruel head moved slower; the +steam from his thousand wounds grew fiercer; and he gently breathed his +last just as the Firedrake, too, fell over and lay exhausted. With one +final roar, like the breath of a thousand furnaces, the Firedrake +expired. + +The prince, watching from the hill-top, could scarcely believe that these +two _awful scourges of Nature_, which had so long devastated his country, +were actually dead. But when he had looked on for half-an-hour, and only +a river ran where the Remora had been, while the body of the Firedrake +lay stark and cold, he hurried to the spot. + +Drawing the sword of sharpness, he hacked off, at two blows, the iron +head and the tail of the Firedrake. They were a weary weight to carry; +but in a few strides of the shoes of swiftness he was at his castle, +where he threw down his burden, and nearly fainted with excitement and +fatigue. + +{The Prince in front of the Firedrake: p78.jpg} + +But the castle clock struck half-past seven; dinner was at eight, and the +poor prince crawled on hands and knees to the garret. Here he put on the +wishing-cap; wished for a pint of champagne, a hot bath, and his best +black velvet and diamond suit. In a moment these were provided; he +bathed, dressed, drank a glass of wine, packed up the head and tail of +the Firedrake, sat down on the flying carpet, and knocked at the door of +the English ambassador as the clocks were striking eight in Gluckstein. + +_Punctuality is the politeness of princes_! and a prince _is_ polite, +when he is in love! + +The prince was received at the door by a stout porter and led into the +hall, where _several_ butlers met him, and he laid the mortal remains of +the Firedrake under the cover of the flying carpet. + +Then he was led upstairs; and he made his bow to the pretty lady, who, of +course, made him a magnificent courtesy. She seemed prettier and kinder +than ever. The prince was so happy, that he never noticed how something +went wrong about the dinner. The ambassador looked about, and seemed to +miss someone, and spoke in a low voice to one of the servants, who +answered also in a low voice, and what he said seemed to displease the +ambassador. But the prince was so busy in talking to his lady, and in +eating his dinner too, that he never observed anything unusual. He had +_never_ been at such a pleasant dinner! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +_A Terrible Misfortune_. + +When the ladies left, and the prince and the other gentlemen were alone, +the ambassador appeared more gloomy than ever. At last he took the +prince into a corner, on pretence of showing him a rare statue. + +"Does your royal highness not know," he asked, "that you are in +considerable danger?" + +"Still?" said the prince, thinking of the Firedrake. + +The ambassador did not know what he meant, for _he_ had never heard of +the fight, but he answered gravely: + +"Never more than now." + +Then he showed the prince two proclamations, which had been posted all +about the town. + +{The ambassador showing the Prince the proclamation: p82.jpg} + +Here is the first: + + TO ALL LOYAL SUBJECTS. + + _Whereas_, + + Our eldest son, Prince Prigio, hath of late been guilty of several + high crimes and misdemeanours. + + First: By abandoning the post of danger against the Firedrake, whereby + our beloved sons, Prince Alphonso and Prince Enrico, have perished, + and been overdone by that monster. + + Secondly: By attending an unseemly revel in the town of Gluckstein, + where he brawled in the streets. + + Thirdly: By trying to seduce away the hearts of our loyal subjects in + that city, and to blow up a party against our crown and our peace. + + _This is to give warning_, + + That whoever consorts with, comforts, aids, or abets the said Prince + Prigio, is thereby a partner in his treason; and + + That a reward of FIVE THOUSAND PURSES will be given to whomsoever + brings the said prince, alive, to our Castle of Falkenstein. + +GROGNIO R. + +And here is the second proclamation: + + REWARD. + THE FIREDRAKE. + + _Whereas_, + + Our dominions have lately been devastated by a Firedrake (the + _Salamander Furiosus_ of Buffon); + + _This is to advise all_, + + That whosoever brings the horns and tail of the said Firedrake to our + Castle of Falkenstein, shall receive FIVE THOUSAND PURSES, the + position of Crown Prince, with the usual perquisites, and the hand of + the king's niece, the Lady Molinda. + + GROGNIO R. + +"H'm," said the prince; "I did not think his majesty wrote so well;" and +he would have _liked_ to say, "Don't you think we might join the ladies." + +"But, sir," said the ambassador, "the streets are lined with soldiers; +and I know not how you have escaped them. _Here_, under my roof, you are +safe for the moment; but a prolonged stay--excuse my inhospitality--could +not but strain the harmonious relations which prevail between the +Government of Pantouflia and that which I have the honour to represent." + +"We don't want to fight; and no more, I think, do you," said the prince, +smiling. + +"Then how does your royal highness mean to treat the proclamations?" + +"Why, by winning these ten thousand purses. I can tell you 1,000,000 +pounds is worth having," said the prince. "I'll deliver up the said +prince, alive, at Falkenstein this very night; also the horns and tail of +the said Firedrake. But I don't want to marry my Cousin Molly." + +"May I remind your royal highness that Falkenstein is three hundred miles +away? Moreover, my head butler, Benson, disappeared from the house +before dinner, and I fear he went to warn Captain Kopzoffski that you are +_here_!" + +"That is nothing," said the prince; "but, my dear Lord Kelso, may I not +have the pleasure of presenting Lady Rosalind with a little gift, a +Philippine which I lost to her last night, merely the head and tail of a +Firedrake which I stalked this morning?" + +The ambassador was so astonished that he ran straight upstairs, +forgetting his manners, and crying: + +"Linda! Linda! come down at once; here's a surprise for you!" + +Lady Rosalind came sweeping down, with a smile on her kind face. _She_ +guessed what it was, though the prince had said nothing about it at +dinner. + +"Lead the way, your royal highness!" cried the ambassador; and the +prince, offering Lady Rosalind his arm, went out into the hall, where he +saw neither his carpet nor the horns and tail of the Firedrake! + +He turned quite pale, and said: + +"Will you kindly ask the servants where the little Persian prayer-rug and +the parcel which I brought with me have been placed?" + +Lord Kelso rang the bell, and in came all the servants, with William, the +under-butler, at their head. + +"William," said his lordship, "where have you put his royal highness's +parcel and his carpet?" + +"Please, your lordship," said William, "we think Benson have took them +away with him." + +"And where is Benson?" + +"We don't know, your lordship. We think he have been come for!" + +"Come for--by whom?" + +William stammered, and seemed at a loss for a reply. + +"Quick! answer! what do you know about it?" + +William said at last, rather as if he were making a speech. + +"Your royaliness, and my lords and ladies, it was like this. His +royaliness comed in with a rug over his arm, and summat under it. And he +lays it down on that there seat, and Thomas shows him into the droring- +room. Then Benson says: 'Dinner'll be ready in five minutes; how tired I +do feel!' Then he takes the libbuty of sitting hisself down on his +royaliness's rug, and he says, asking your pardon, 'I've had about enough +of service here. I'm about tired, and I thinks of bettering myself. I +wish I was at the king's court, and butler.' But before the words was +out of his mouth, off he flies like a shot through the open door, and his +royaliness's parcel with him. I run to the door, and there he was, +flying right hover the town, in a northerly direction. And that's all I +know; for I would not tell a lie, not if it was never so. And me, and +Thomas--as didn't see it,--and cook, we thinks as how Benson was come +for. And cook says as she don't wonder at it, neither; for a +grumblinger, more ill-conditioneder--" + +{The Butler on the carpet: p89.jpg} + +"Thank you, William," said Lord Kelso; "that will do; you can go, for the +present." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +_Surprises_. + +The prince said nothing, the ambassador said nothing, Lady Rosalind said +never a word till they were in the drawing-room. It was a lovely warm +evening, and the French windows were wide open on the balcony, which +looked over the town and away north to the hills. Below them flowed the +clear, green water of the Gluckthal. And still nobody said a word. + +At last the prince spoke: + +"This is a very strange story, Lord Kelso!" + +"Very, sir!" said the ambassador. + +"But true," added the prince; "at least, there is no reason in the nature +of things why it shouldn't be true." + +"I can hardly believe, sir, that the conduct of Benson, whom I always +found a most respectable man, deserved--" + +"That he should be 'come for,'" said the prince. "Oh, no; it was a mere +accident, and might have happened to any of us who chanced to sit down on +my carpet." + +And then the prince told them, shortly, all about it: how the carpet was +one of a number of fairy properties, which had been given him at his +christening; and how so long a time had gone by before he discovered +them; and how, probably, the carpet had carried the butler where he had +said he wanted to go, namely--to the king's Court at Falkenstein. + +"It would not matter so much," added the prince, "only I had relied on +making my peace with his majesty, my father, by aid of those horns and +that tail. He was set on getting them; and if the Lady Rosalind had not +expressed a wish for them, they would to-day have been in his +possession." + +"Oh, sir, you honour us too highly," murmured Lady Rosalind; and the +prince blushed and said: + +"Not at all! Impossible!" + +Then, of course, the ambassador became quite certain that his daughter +was admired by the crown prince, who was on bad terms with the king of +the country; and a more uncomfortable position for an ambassador--however, +they are used to them. + +"What on earth am I to do with the young man?" he thought. "He can't +stay here for ever; and without his carpet he can't get away, for the +soldiers have orders to seize him as soon as he appears in the street. +And in the meantime Benson will be pretending that _he_ killed the +Firedrake--for he must have got to Falkenstein by now,--and they will be +for marrying him to the king's niece, and making my butler crown prince +to the kingdom of Pantouflia! It is dreadful!" + +Now all this time the prince was on the balcony, telling Lady Rosalind +all about how he got the Firedrake done for, in the most modest way; for, +as he said: "_I_ didn't kill him: and it is really the Remora, poor +fellow, who should marry Molly; but he's dead." + +At this very moment there was a _whizz_ in the air: something shot past +them, and, through the open window, the king, the queen, Benson, and the +mortal remains of the Firedrake were shot into the ambassador's drawing- +room! + +{The King and Queen on the carpet: p95.jpg} + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +_The King Explains_. + +The first who recovered his voice and presence of mind was Benson. + +"Did your lordship ring for coffee?" he asked, quietly; and when he was +told "Yes," he bowed and withdrew, with majestic composure. + +When he had gone, the prince threw himself at the king's feet, crying: + +"Pardon, pardon, my liege!" + +"Don't speak to me, sir!" answered the king, very angrily; and the poor +prince threw himself at the feet of the queen. + +But she took no notice of him whatever, no more than if he had been a +fairy; and the prince heard her murmur, as she pinched her royal arms: + +"I shall waken presently; this is nothing out of the way for a dream. Dr. +Rumpfino ascribes it to imperfect nutrition." + +All this time, the Lady Rosalind, as pale as a marble statue, was leaning +against the side of the open window. The prince thought he could do +nothing wiser than go and comfort her, so he induced her to sit down on a +chair in the balcony,--for he felt that he was not wanted in the drawing- +room;--and soon they were talking happily about the stars, which had +begun to appear in the summer night. + +Meanwhile, the ambassador had induced the king to take a seat; but there +was no use in talking to the queen. + +"It would be a miracle," she said to herself, "and miracles do not +happen; therefore this has not happened. Presently, I shall wake up in +my own bed at Falkenstein." + +Now, Benson, William, and Thomas brought in the coffee, but the queen +took no notice. When they went away, the rest of the company slipped off +quietly, and the king was left alone with the ambassador; for the queen +could hardly be said to count. + +{The King and Queen: p99.jpg} + +"You want to know all about it, I suppose?" said his majesty, in a sulky +voice. "Well, you have a right to it, and I shall tell you. We were +just sitting down to dinner at Falkenstein, rather late,--hours get later +every year, I think--when I heard a row in the premises, and the captain +of the guard, Colonel McDougal, came and told us that a man had arrived +with the horns and tail of the Firedrake, and was claiming the reward. +Her majesty and I rose and went into the outer court, where we found, +sitting on that carpet with a glass of beer in his hand, a respectable- +looking upper servant, whom I recognised as your butler. He informed us +that he had just killed the beast, and showed us the horns and tail, sure +enough; there they are! The tail is like the iron handle of a pump, but +the horns are genuine. A pair were thrown up by a volcano, in my great- +grandfather's time, Giglio I. {100} Excellent coffee this, of yours!" + +The ambassador bowed. + +"Well, we asked him _where_ he killed the Firedrake, and he said in a +garden near Gluckstein. Then he began to speak about the reward, and the +'perkisits,' as he called them, which it seems he had read about in my +proclamation. Rather a neat thing; drew it up myself," added his +majesty. + +"Very much to the point," said the ambassador, wondering what the king +was coming to. + +"Glad you like it," said the king, much pleased. "Well, where was I? Oh, +yes; your man said he had killed the creature in a garden, quite near +Gluckstein. I didn't much like the whole affair: he is an alien, you +see; and then there was my niece, Molinda--poor girl, _she_ was certain +to give trouble. Her heart is buried, if I may say so, with poor +Alphonso. But the queen is a very remarkable woman--very remarkable--" + +"Very!" said the Ambassador, with perfect truth. + +"'Caitiff!' she cries to your butler;" his majesty went on, "'perjured +knave, thou liest in thy throat! Gluckstein is a hundred leagues from +here, and how sayest thou that thou slewest the monster, and camest +hither in a few hours' space?' This had not occurred to me,--I am a +plain king, but I at once saw the force of her majesty's argument. 'Yes,' +said I; 'how did you manage it?' But he--your man, I mean--was not a bit +put out. 'Why, your majesty,' says he, 'I just sat down on that there +bit of carpet, wished I was here, and here _I ham_. And I'd be glad, +having had the trouble,--and my time not being my own,--to see the colour +of them perkisits, according to the proclamation.' On this her majesty +grew more indignant, if possible. 'Nonsense!' she cried; 'a story out of +the _Arabian Nights_ is not suited for a modern public, and fails to win +aesthetic credence.' These were her very words." + +"Her majesty's expressions are ever choice and appropriate," said the +Ambassador. + +"'Sit down there, on the carpet, knave,' she went on; 'ourself and +consort'--meaning _me_--'will take our places by thy side, and _I_ shall +wish us in Gluckstein, at thy master's! When the experiment has failed, +thy head shall from thy shoulders be shorn!' So your man merely said, +'Very well, mum,--your majesty, I mean,' and sat down. The queen took +her place at the edge of the carpet; I sat between her and the butler, +and she said, 'I wish we were in Gluckstein!' Then we rose, flew through +the air at an astonishing pace, and here we are! So I suppose the rest +of the butler's tale is true, which I regret; but a king's word is +sacred, and he shall take the place of that sneak, Prigio. But as we +left home before dinner, and as _yours_ is over, may I request your +lordship to believe that I should be delighted to take something cold?" + +The ambassador at once ordered a sumptuous collation, to which the king +did full justice; and his majesty was shown to the royal chamber, as he +complained of fatigue. The queen accompanied him, remarking that she was +sound asleep, but would waken presently. Neither of them said +"Good-night" to the prince. Indeed, they did not see him again, for he +was on the balcony with Lady Rosalind. They found a great deal to say to +each other, and at last the prince asked her to be his wife; and she said +that if the king and her father gave their permission--why, then she +would! After this she went to bed; and the prince, who had not slept at +all the night before, felt very sleepy also. But he knew that first he +had something that must be done. So he went into the drawing-room, took +his carpet, and wished to be--now, where do you suppose? Beside the dead +body of the Firedrake! There he was in a moment; and dreadful the body +looked, lying stark and cold in the white moonshine. Then the prince cut +off its four hoofs, put them in his wallet, and with these he flew back +in a second, and met the ambassador just as he came from ushering the +king to bed. Then the prince was shown his own room, where he locked up +the hoofs, the carpet, the cap of darkness, and his other things in an +iron box; and so he went to bed and dreamed of his Lady Rosalind. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +_The King's Cheque_. + +When they all wakened next morning, their first ideas were confused. It +is often confusing to waken in a strange bed, much more so when you have +flown through the air, like the king, the queen, and Benson the butler. +For her part, the queen was the most perplexed of all; for she did +undeniably wake, and yet she was not at home, where she had expected to +be. However, she was a determined woman, and stood to it that nothing +unusual was occurring. The butler made up his mind to claim the crown +princeship and the hand of the Lady Molinda; because, as he justly +remarked to William, here was such a chance to better himself as might +not soon come in his way again. As for the king, he was only anxious to +get back to Falkenstein, and have the whole business settled in a +constitutional manner. The ambassador was not sorry to get rid of the +royal party; and it was proposed that they should all sit down on the +flying carpet, and wish themselves at home again. But the queen would +not hear of it: she said it was childish and impossible; so the carriage +was got ready for her, and she started without saying a word of good-bye +to anyone. The king, Benson, and the prince were not so particular, and +they simply flew back to Falkenstein in the usual way, arriving there at +11.35--a week before her majesty. + +The king at once held a Court; the horns and tail of the monster were +exhibited amidst general interest, and Benson and the prince were invited +to state their claims. + +Benson's evidence was taken first. He declined to say exactly where or +how he killed the Firedrake. There might be more of them left, he +remarked,--young ones, that would take a lot of killing,--and he refused +to part with his secret. Only he claimed the reward, which was offered, +if you remember, _not_ to the man who killed the beast, but to him who +brought its horns and tail. This was allowed by the lawyers present to +be very sound law; and Benson was cheered by the courtiers, who decidedly +preferred him to Prigio, and who, besides, thought he was going to be +crown prince. As for Lady Molinda, she was torn by the most painful +feelings; for, much as she hated Prigio, she could not bear the idea of +marrying Benson. Yet one or the other choice seemed certain. + +Unhappy lady! Perhaps no girl was ever more strangely beset by +misfortune! + +Prince Prigio was now called on to speak. He admitted that the reward +was offered for bringing the horns and tail, not for killing the monster. +But were the king's _intentions_ to go for nothing? When a subject only +_meant_ well, of course he had to suffer; but when a king said one thing, +was he not to be supposed to have meant another? Any fellow with a +waggon could _bring_ the horns and tail; the difficult thing was to kill +the monster. If Benson's claim was allowed, the royal prerogative of +saying one thing and meaning something else was in danger. + +On hearing this argument, the king so far forgot himself as to cry, +"Bravo, well said!" and to clap his hands, whereon all the courtiers +shouted and threw up their hats. + +The prince then said that whoever had killed the monster could, of +course, tell where to find him, and could bring his hoofs. He was ready +to do this himself. Was Mr. Benson equally ready? On this being +interpreted to him--for he did not speak Pantouflian--Benson grew pale +with horror, but fell back on the proclamation. He had brought the horns +and tail, and so he must have the perquisites, and the Lady Molinda! + +The king's mind was so much confused by this time, that he determined to +leave it to the Lady Molinda herself. + +"Which of them will you have, my dear?" he asked, in a kind voice. + +But poor Molinda merely cried. Then his majesty was almost _driven_ to +say that he would give the reward to whoever produced the hoofs by that +day week. But no sooner had he said this than the prince brought them +out of his wallet, and displayed them in open Court. This ended the +case; and Benson, after being entertained with sherry and sandwiches in +the steward's room, was sent back to his master. And I regret to say +that his temper was not at all improved by his failure to better himself. +On the contrary, he was unusually cross and disagreeable for several +days; but we must, perhaps, make some allowance for his disappointment. + +But if Benson was irritated, and suffered from the remarks of his fellow- +servants, I do not think we can envy Prince Prigio. Here he was, +restored to his position indeed, but by no means to _the royal favour_. +For the king disliked him as much as ever, and was as angry as ever about +the deaths of Enrico and Alphonso. Nay, he was even _more_ angry; and, +perhaps, not without reason. He called up Prigio before the whole Court, +and thereon the courtiers cheered like anything, but the king cried: + +"Silence! McDougal, drag the first man that shouts to the serpent-house +in the zoological gardens, and lock him up with the rattlesnakes!" + +After that the courtiers were very quiet. + +"Prince," said the king, as Prigio bowed before the throne, "you are +restored to your position, because I cannot break my promise. But your +base and malevolent nature is even more conspicuously manifest in your +selfish success than in your previous dastardly contempt of duty. Why, +confound you!" cried the king, dropping the high style in which he had +been speaking, and becoming the _father_, not the _monarch_,--"why, if +you _could_ kill the Firedrake, did you let your poor little brothers go +and be b--b--b--broiled? Eh! what do you say, you sneak? 'You didn't +believe there _were_ any Firedrakes?' That just comes of your eternal +conceit and arrogance! If you were clever enough to kill the +creature--and I admit that--you were clever enough to know that what +everybody said must be true. 'You have not generally found it so?' Well, +you _have_ this time, and let it be a lesson to you; not that there is +much comfort in that, for it is not likely you will ever have such +another chance"--exactly the idea that had occurred to Benson. + +Here the king wept, among the tears of the lord chief justice, the poet +laureate (who had been awfully frightened when he heard of the +rattlesnakes), the maids of honour, the chaplain royal, and everyone but +Colonel McDougal, a Scottish soldier of fortune, who maintained a +military reserve. + +When his majesty had recovered, he said to Prigio (who had not been +crying, he was too much absorbed): + +"A king's word is his bond. Bring me a pen, somebody, and my +cheque-book." + +The royal cheque-book, bound in red morocco, was brought in by eight +pages, with ink and a pen. His majesty then filled up and signed the +following satisfactory document--(Ah! my children, how I wish Mr. +Arrowsmith would do as much for _me_!): + +{A cheque for ten thousand purses, payable to Prince Prigio: p114.jpg} + +"There!" said his majesty, crossing his cheque and throwing sand over it, +for blotting-paper had not yet been invented; "there, take _that_, and be +off with you!" + +Prince Prigio was respectfully but rapidly obeying his royal command, for +he thought he had better cash the royal cheque as soon as possible, when +his majesty yelled: + +"Hi! here! come back! I forgot something; you've got to marry Molinda!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +_A Melancholy Chapter_. + +The prince had gone some way, when the king called after him. How he +wished he had the seven-league boots on, or that he had the cap of +darkness in his pocket! If he had been so lucky, he would now have got +back to Gluckstein, and crossed the border with Lady Rosalind. A million +of money may not seem much, but a pair of young people who really love +each other could live happily on less than the cheque he had in his +pocket. However, the king shouted very loud, as he always did when he +meant to be obeyed, and the prince sauntered slowly back again. + +"Prigio!" said his majesty, "where were you off to? Don't you remember +that this is your wedding-day? My proclamation offered, not only the +money (which you have), but the hand of the Lady Molinda, which the Court +chaplain will presently make your own. I congratulate you, sir; Molinda +is a dear girl." + +"I have the highest affection and esteem for my cousin, sir," said the +prince, "but--" + +"I'll never marry him!" cried poor Molinda, kneeling at the throne, where +her streaming eyes and hair made a pretty and touching picture. "Never! +I despise him!" + +{Molinda before the King: p117.jpg} + +"I was about to say, sir," the prince went on, "that I cannot possibly +have the pleasure of wedding my cousin." + +"The family gibbet, I presume, is in good working order?" asked the king +of the family executioner, a tall gaunt man in black and scarlet, who was +only employed in the case of members of the blood royal. + +"Never better, sire," said the man, bowing with more courtliness than his +profession indicated. + +"Very well," said the king; "Prince Prigio, you have your choice. _There_ +is the gallows, _here_ is Lady Molinda. My duty is painful, but clear. A +king's word cannot be broken. Molly, or the gibbet!" + +The prince bowed respectfully to Lady Molinda: + +"Madam, my cousin," said he, "your clemency will excuse my answer, and +you will not misinterpret the apparent discourtesy of my conduct. I am +compelled, most unwillingly, to slight your charms, and to select the +Extreme Rigour of the Law. Executioner, lead on! Do your duty; for me, +_Prigio est pret_;"--for this was his motto, and meant that he was ready. + +Poor Lady Molinda could not but be hurt by the prince's preference for +death over marriage to her, little as she liked him. + +{The family executioner: p119.jpg} + +"Is life, then, so worthless? and is Molinda so terrible a person that +you prefer _those_ arms," and she pointed to the gibbet, "to +_these_?"--here she held out her own, which were very white, round and +pretty: for Molinda was a good-hearted girl, she could not bear to see +Prigio put to death; and then, perhaps, she reflected that there are +worse positions than the queenship of Pantouflia. For Alphonso was +gone--crying would not bring him back. + +"Ah, Madam!" said the prince, "you are forgiving--" + +"For _you_ are brave!" said Molinda, feeling quite a respect for him. + +"But neither your heart nor mine is ours to give. Since mine was +another's, I understand too well the feeling of _yours_! Do not let us +buy life at the price of happiness and honour." + +Then, turning to the king, the prince said: + +"Sir, is there no way but by death or marriage? You say you cannot keep +half only of your promise; and that, if I accept the reward, I must also +unite myself with my unwilling cousin. Cannot the whole proclamation be +annulled, and will you consider the bargain void if I tear up this flimsy +scroll?" + +And here the prince fluttered the cheque for 1,000,000 pounds in the air. + +For a moment the king was tempted; but then he said to himself: + +"Never mind, it's only an extra penny on the income-tax." Then, "Keep +your dross," he shouted, meaning the million; "but let _me_ keep my +promise. To chapel at once, or--" and he pointed to the executioner. +"The word of a king of Pantouflia is sacred." + +"And so is that of a crown prince," answered Prigio; "and _mine_ is +pledged to a lady." + +"She shall be a mourning bride," cried the king savagely, "unless"--here +he paused for a moment--"unless you bring me back Alphonso and Enrico, +safe and well!" + +The prince thought for the space of a flash of lightning. + +"I accept the alternative," he said, "if your majesty will grant me my +conditions." + +"Name them!" said the king. + +"Let me be transported to Gluckstein, left there unguarded, and if, in +three days, I do not return with my brothers safe and well, your majesty +shall be spared a cruel duty. Prigio of Pantouflia will perish by his +own hand." + +The king, whose mind did not work very quickly, took some minutes to +think over it. Then he saw that by granting the prince's conditions, he +would either recover his dear sons, or, at least, get rid of Prigio, +without the unpleasantness of having him executed. For, though some +kings have put their eldest sons to death, and most have wished to do so, +they have never been better loved by the people for their Roman virtue. + +"Honour bright?" said the king at last. + +"Honour bright!" answered the prince, and, for the first time in many +months, the royal father and son shook hands. + +"For you, madam," said Prigio in a stately way to Lady Molinda, "in less +than a week I trust we shall be taking our vows at the same altar, and +that the close of the ceremony which finds us cousins will leave us +brother and sister." + +Poor Molinda merely stared; for she could not imagine what he meant. In +a moment he was gone; and having taken, by the king's permission, the +flying carpet, he was back at the ambassador's house in Gluckstein. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +_The Black Cat and the Brethren_! + +Who was glad to see the prince, if it was not Lady Rosalind? The white +roses of her cheeks turned to red roses in a moment, and then back to +white again, they were so alarmed at the change. So the two went into +the gardens together, and talked about a number of things; but at last +the prince told her that, before three days were over, all would be well, +or all would be over with him. For either he would have brought his +brothers back, sound and well, to Falkenstein, or he would not survive +his dishonour. + +"It is no more than right," he said; "for had I gone first, neither of +them would have been sent to meet the monster after I had fallen. And I +_should_ have fallen, dear Rosalind, if I had faced the Firedrake before +I knew _you_." + +Then when she asked him why, and what good she had done him, he told her +all the story; and how, before he fell in love with her, he didn't +believe in fairies, or Firedrakes, or caps of darkness, or anything nice +and impossible, but only in horrid useless facts, and chemistry, and +geology, and arithmetic, and mathematics, and even political economy. And +the Firedrake would have made a mouthful of him, then. + +So she was delighted when she heard this, almost as much delighted as she +was afraid that he might fail in the most difficult adventure. For it +was one thing to egg on a Remora to kill a Firedrake, and quite another +to find the princes if they were alive, and restore them if they were +dead! + +But the prince said he had his plan, and he stayed that night at the +ambassador's. Next morning he rose very early, before anyone else was +up, that he might not have to say "Good-bye" to Lady Rosalind. Then he +flew in a moment to the old lonely castle, where nobody went for fear of +ghosts, ever since the Court retired to Falkenstein. + +How still it was, how deserted; not a sign of life, and yet the prince +was looking everywhere _for some living thing_. He hunted the castle +through in vain, and then went out to the stable-yard; but all the dogs, +of course, had been taken away, and the farmers had offered homes to the +poultry. At last, stretched at full length in a sunny place, the prince +found a very old, half-blind, miserable cat. The poor creature was lean, +and its fur had fallen off in patches; it could no longer catch birds, +nor even mice, and there was nobody to give it milk. But cats do not +look far into the future; and this old black cat--Frank was his name--had +got a breakfast somehow, and was happy in the sun. The prince stood and +looked at him pityingly, and he thought that even a sick old cat was, in +some ways, happier than most men. + +"Well," said the prince at last, "he could not live long anyway, and it +must be done. He will feel nothing." + +Then he drew the sword of sharpness, and with one turn of his wrist cut +the cat's head clean off. + +{Poor old Frank: p128.jpg} + +It did not at once change into a beautiful young lady, as perhaps you +expect; no, that was improbable, and, as the prince was in love already, +would have been vastly inconvenient. The dead cat lay there, like any +common cat. + +Then the prince built up a heap of straw, with wood on it, and there he +laid poor puss, and set fire to the pile. Very soon there was nothing of +old black Frank left but ashes! + +Then the prince ran upstairs to the fairy cupboard, his heart beating +loudly with excitement. The sun was shining through the arrow-shot +window, all the yellow motes were dancing in its rays. The light fell on +the strange heaps of fairy things--talismans and spells. The prince +hunted about here and there, and at last he discovered six ancient water- +vessels of black leather, each with a silver plate on it, and on the +plate letters engraved. This was what was written on the plates: + +AQVA. DE. FONTE. LEONVM. {130} + +"Thank heaven!" said the prince. "I thought they were sure to have +brought it!" + +Then he took one of the old black-leather bottles, and ran downstairs +again to the place where he had burned the body of the poor old sick cat. + +He opened the bottle, and poured a few drops of the water on the ashes +and the dying embers. + +Up there sprang a tall, white flame of fire, waving like a tongue of +light; and forth from the heap jumped the most beautiful, strong, funny, +black cat that ever was seen! + +{The Prince and the bottles: p130.jpg} + +It was Frank as he had been in the vigour of his youth; and he knew the +prince at once, and rubbed himself against him and purred. + +The prince lifted up Frank and kissed his nose for joy; and a bright tear +rolled down on Frank's face, and made him rub his nose with his paw in +the most comical manner. + +Then the prince set him down, and he ran round and round after his tail; +and, lastly, cocked his tail up, and marched proudly after the prince +into the castle. + +"Oh, Frank!" said Prince Prigio, "no cat since the time of Puss in Boots +was ever so well taken care of as you shall be. For, if the fairy water +from the Fountain of Lions can bring _you_ back to life--why, there is a +chance for Alphonso and Enrico!" + +Then Prigio bustled about, got ready some cold luncheon from the store- +room, took all his fairy things that he was likely to need, sat down with +them on the flying carpet, and wished himself at the mountain of the +Firedrake. + +"I have the king now," he said; "for if I can't find the ashes of my +brothers, by Jove! I'll!--" + +Do you know what he meant to do, if he could not find his brothers? Let +every child guess! + +Off he flew; and there he was in a second, just beside poor Alphono's +garden-engine. Then Prigio, seeing a little heap of grey ashes beside +the engine, watered them with the fairy water; and up jumped Alphonso, as +jolly as ever, his sword in his hand. + +"Hullo, Prigio!" cried he; "are you come after the monster too? I've +been asleep, and I had a kind of dream that he beat me. But the pair of +us will tackle him. How is Molinda?" + +"Prettier than ever," said Prigio; "but anxious about you. However, the +Firedrake's dead and done for; so never mind him. But I left Enrico +somewhere about. Just you sit down and wait a minute, till I fetch him." + +The prince said this, because he did not wish Alphonso to know that he +and Enrico had not had quite the best of it in the affair with the +monster. + +"All right, old fellow," says Alphonso; "but have you any luncheon with +you? Never was so hungry in my life!" + +Prince Prigio had thought of this, and he brought out some cold sausage +(to which Alphonso was partial) and some bread, with which the younger +prince expressed himself satisfied. Then Prigio went up the hill some +way, first warning Alphonso _not_ to sit on his carpet for fear of +_accidents_ like that which happened to Benson. In a hollow of the hill, +sure enough there was the sword of Enrico, the diamonds of the hilt +gleaming in the sun. And there was a little heap of grey ashes. + +The prince poured a few drops of the water from the Fountain of Lions on +them, and up, of course, jumped Enrico, just as Alphonso had done. + +"Sleepy old chap you are, Enrico," said the prince; "but come on, +Alphonso will have finished the grub unless we look smart." + +So back they came, in time to get their share of what was going; and they +drank the Remora's very good health, when Prigio told them about the +fight. But neither of them ever knew that they had been dead and done +for; because Prigio invented a story that the mountain was enchanted, and +that, as long as the Firedrake lived, everyone who came there fell +asleep. He did tell them about the flying carpet, however, which of +course did not much surprise them, because they had read all about it in +the _Arabian Nights_ and other historical works. + +"And now I'll show you fun!" said Prigio; and he asked them both to take +their seats on the carpet, and wished to be in the valley of the Remora. + +There they were in a moment, among the old knights whom, if you remember, +the Remora had frozen into stone. There was quite a troop of them, in +all sorts of armour--Greek and Roman, and Knight Templars like Front de +Boeuf and Brian du Bois Gilbert--all the brave warriors that had tried to +fight the Remora since the world began. + +Then Prigio gave each of his brothers some of the water in their caps, +and told them to go round pouring a drop or two on each frozen knight. +And as they did it, lo and behold! each knight came alive, with his +horse, and lifted his sword and shouted: + +"Long live Prince Prigio!" + +in Greek, Latin, Egyptian, French, German, and Spanish,--all of which the +prince perfectly understood, and spoke like a native. + +So he marshalled them in order, and sent them off to ride to Falkenstein +and cry: + +"Prince Prigio is coming!" + +Off they went, the horses' hoofs clattering, banners flying, sunshine +glittering on the spear-points. Off they rode to Falkenstein; and when +the king saw them come galloping in, I can tell you he had no more notion +of hanging Prigio. + +{Riding off to Falkenstein: p136.jpg} + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +_The Very Last_. + +The princes returned to Gluckstein on the carpet, and went to the best +inn, where they dined together and slept. Next morning they, and the +ambassador, who had been told all the story, and Lady Rosalind, floated +comfortably on the carpet back to Falkenstein, where the king wept like +anything on the shoulders of Alphonso and Enrico. They could not make +out why he cried so, nor why Lady Molinda and Lady Kathleena cried; but +soon they were all laughing and happy again. But then--would you believe +he could be so mean?--he refused to keep his royal promise, and restore +Prigio to his crown-princeship! Kings are like that. + +But Prigio, very quietly asking for the head of the Firedrake, said he'd +pour the magic water on _that_, and bring the Firedrake back to life +again, unless his majesty behaved rightly. This threat properly +frightened King Grognio, and he apologised. Then the king shook hands +with Prigio in public, and thanked him, and said he was proud of him. As +to Lady Rosalind, the old gentleman quite fell in love with her, and he +sent at once to the Chaplain Royal to get into his surplice, and marry +all the young people off at once, without waiting for wedding-cakes, and +milliners, and all the rest of it. + +Now, just as they were forming a procession to march into church, who +should appear but the queen! Her majesty had been travelling by post all +the time, and, luckily, had heard of none of the doings since Prigio, +Benson, and the king left Gluckstein. I say _luckily_ because if she +_had_ heard of them, she would not have believed a word of them. But +when she saw Alphonso and Enrico, she was much pleased, and said: + +{The Queen and her sons: p140.jpg} + +"Naughty boys! Where have you been hiding? The king had some absurd +story about your having been killed by a fabulous monster. Bah! don't +tell _me_. I always said you would come back after a little trip--didn't +I, Prigio?" + +"Certainly, madam," said Prigio; "and I said so, too. Didn't I say so?" +And all the courtiers cried: "Yes, you did;" but some added, to +themselves, "_He always says_, 'Didn't I say so?'" + +Then the queen was introduced to Lady Rosalind, and she said it was +"rather a short engagement, but she supposed young people understood +their own affairs best." And they do! So the three pairs were married, +with the utmost rejoicings; and her majesty never, her whole life long, +could be got to believe that anything unusual had occurred. + +The honeymoon of Prince Prigio and the Crown Princess Rosalind was passed +at the castle, where the prince had been deserted by the Court. But now +it was delightfully fitted up; and Master Frank marched about the house +with his tail in the air, as if the place belonged to him. + +Now, on the second day of their honeymoon, the prince and princess were +sitting in the garden together, and the prince said, "Are you _quite_ +happy, my dear?" and Rosalind said, "Yes; _quite_." + +But the prince did not like the tone of her voice, and he said: + +"No, there's something; do tell me what it is." + +"Well," said Rosalind, putting her head on his shoulder, and speaking +very low, "I want everybody to love you as much as I do. No, not quite +so very much,--but I want them to like you. Now they _can't_, because +they are afraid of you; for you are so awfully clever. Now, couldn't you +take the wishing cap, and wish to be no cleverer than other people? Then +everybody would like you!" + +The prince thought a minute, then he said: + +"Your will is law, my dear; anything to please you. Just wait a minute!" + +Then he ran upstairs, for the last time, to the fairy garret, and he put +on the wishing cap. + +"No," thought he to himself, "I won't wish _that_. Every man has one +secret from his wife, and this shall be mine." + +Then he said aloud: "I WISH TO SEEM NO CLEVERER THAN OTHER PEOPLE." + +Then he ran downstairs again, and the princess noticed a great difference +in him (though, of course, there was really none at all), and so did +everyone. For the prince remained as clever as ever he had been; but, as +nobody observed it, he became the most popular prince, and finally the +best-beloved king who had ever sat on the throne of Pantouflia. + +But occasionally Rosalind would say, "I do believe, my dear, that you are +really as clever as ever!" + +And he _was_! + +{The Prince putting on the wishing cap: p144.jpg} + +PRINTING OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER. + + + + +Footnotes + + +{25} Subjunctive mood! He was a great grammarian! + +{100} The History of this Prince may be read in a treatise called _The +Rose and the Ring_, by M. A. TITMARSH. London, 1855. + +{130} Water from the Fountain of Lions. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRINCE PRIGIO*** + + +******* This file should be named 20850.txt or 20850.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/8/5/20850 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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