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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/21994-h.zip b/21994-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..28ea111 --- /dev/null +++ b/21994-h.zip diff --git a/21994-h/21994-h.htm b/21994-h/21994-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e7cbbb --- /dev/null +++ b/21994-h/21994-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3459 @@ +<!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 Ricardo of Pantouflia</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 Ricardo of Pantouflia, by Andrew Lang</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Prince Ricardo of Pantouflia, 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 Ricardo of Pantouflia + being the adventures of Prince Prigio's son + + +Author: Andrew Lang + + + +Release Date: July 4, 2007 [eBook #21994] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRINCE RICARDO OF PANTOUFLIA*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1893 J. W. Arrowsmith edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p0.jpg"> +<img alt="Book cover" src="images/p0.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h1>PRINCE RICARDO OF PANTOUFLIA</h1> +<p style="text-align: center">BEING THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE<br +/> +PRIGIO’S SON, BY ANDREW LANG<br /> +AUTHOR OF PRINCE PRIGIO</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">illustrated +by</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">gordon browne</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">published at +bristol by j. w. arrowsmith</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">quay street</span>, <span class="smcap">and +at london by simpkin</span>,<span class="smcap"><br /> +marshall</span>, <span class="smcap">hamilton</span>, <span +class="smcap">kent & company limited</span></p> +<h2><!-- page v--><a name="pagev"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +v</span>DEDICATION.<br /> +To Guy Campbell.</h2> +<p><i>My dear Guy</i>,</p> +<p><i>You wanted to know more about Prince Prigio</i>, <i>who won +the Lady Rosalind</i>, <i>and killed the Firedrake and the Remora +by aid of his Fairy gifts</i>. <i>Here you have some of his +later adventures</i>, <i>and you will learn from this story the +advantages of minding your book</i>.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Yours always</i>,<br /> +<i>A. Lang</i>.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"> +<a href="images/p0v.jpg"> +<img alt="Andrew Lang’s signature" src="images/p0v.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><!-- page ix--><a name="pageix"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +ix</span>Introductory.<br /> +Explaining Matters.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p0ix.jpg"> +<img alt="Decorative letter T" src="images/p0ix.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>There may be children whose education has been so neglected +that they have not read <i>Prince Prigio</i>. As this new +story is about Prince Prigio’s son, Ricardo, you are to +learn that Prigio was the child and heir of Grognio, King of +Pantouflia. The fairies gave the little Prince cleverness, +beauty, courage; but one wicked fairy added, “You shall be +<i>too</i> clever.” His mother, the queen, hid away +in a cupboard all the fairy presents,—the <!-- page x--><a +name="pagex"></a><span class="pagenum">p. x</span>Sword of +Sharpness, the Seven-League Boots, the Wishing Cap, and many +other useful and delightful gifts, in which her Majesty did not +believe! But after Prince Prigio had become universally +disliked and deserted, because he was so very clever and +conceited, he happened to find all the fairy presents in the old +turret chamber where they had been thrown. By means of +these he delivered his country from a dreadful Red-Hot Beast, +called the Firedrake, and, in addition to many other triumphs, he +married the good and beautiful Lady Rosalind. His love for +her taught him not to be conceited, though he did not cease to be +extremely clever and fond of reading.</p> +<p>When this new story begins the Prince has succeeded to the +crown, on the death of King Grognio, and is unhappy about his own +son, Prince Ricardo, who is not clever, and who hates +books! The story tells of Ricardo’s <!-- page xi--><a +name="pagexi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xi</span>adventures: +how he tried to bring back Prince Charlie to England, how he +failed; how he dealt with the odious old Yellow Dwarf; how he was +aided by the fair magician, the Princess Jaqueline; how they both +fell into a dreadful trouble; how King Prigio saved them; and how +Jaqueline’s dear and royal papa was discovered; with the +end of all these adventures. The moral of the story will +easily be discovered by the youngest reader, or, if not, it does +not much matter.</p> +<h2><!-- page 13--><a name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +13</span>CHAPTER I.<br /> +The Troubles of King Prigio.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p13b.jpg"> +<img alt="Prince Ricardo and lady tied up" src="images/p13s.jpg" +/> +</a></p> +<p>“I’m sure I don’t know what to do with that +boy!” said King Prigio of Pantouflia.</p> +<p>“If <i>you</i> don’t know, my dear,” said +Queen Rosalind, his illustrious consort, “I can’t see +what is to be done. You are so clever.”</p> +<p><!-- page 14--><a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +14</span>The king and queen were sitting in the royal library, of +which the shelves were full of the most delightful fairy books in +all languages, all equally familiar to King Prigio. The +queen could not read most of them herself, but the king used to +read them aloud to her. A good many years had +passed—seventeen, in fact—since Queen Rosalind was +married, but you would not think it to look at her. Her +grey eyes were as kind and soft and beautiful, her dark hair as +dark, and her pretty colour as like a white rose blushing, as on +the day when she was a bride. And she was as fond of the +king as when he was only Prince Prigio, and he was as fond of her +as on the night when he first met her at the ball.</p> +<p>“No, I don’t know what to do with Dick,” +said the king.</p> +<p>He meant his son, Prince Ricardo, but he called him Dick in +private.</p> +<p><!-- page 15--><a name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +15</span>“I believe it’s the fault of his +education,” his Majesty went on. “We have not +brought him up rightly. These fairy books are at the bottom +of his provoking behaviour,” and he glanced round the +shelves. “Now, when <i>I</i> was a boy, my dear +mother tried to prevent me from reading fairy books, because she +did not believe in fairies.”</p> +<p>“But she was wrong, you know,” said the +queen. “Why, if it had not been for all these fairy +presents, the Cap of Darkness and all the rest of them, you never +could have killed the Fire-beast and the Ice-beast, and—you +never could have married me,” the queen added, in a happy +whisper, blushing beautifully, for that was a foolish habit of +hers.</p> +<p>“It is quite true,” said the king, “and +therefore I thought it best to bring Dick up on fairy books, that +he might know what is right, and have no nonsense about +him. But perhaps the thing has been overdone; at all +events, it is <!-- page 16--><a name="page16"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 16</span>not a success. I wonder if +fathers and sons will ever understand each other, and get on well +together? There was my poor father, King Grognio, he wanted +me to take to adventures, like other princes, fighting +Firedrakes, and so forth; and I did not care for it, till +<i>you</i> set me on,” and he looked very kindly at her +Majesty. “And now, here’s Dick,” the +monarch continued, “I can’t hold him back. He +is always after a giant, or a dragon, or a magician, as the case +may be; he will certainly be ploughed for his examination at +College. Never opens a book. What does he care, off +after every adventure he can hear about? An idle, restless +youth! Ah, my poor country, when I am gone, what may not be +your misfortunes under Ricardo!”</p> +<p>Here his Majesty sighed, and seemed plunged in thought.</p> +<p>“But you are not going yet, my dear,” said the +queen. “Why you are not forty! And <!-- page +17--><a name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>young +people will be young people. You were quite proud when poor +Dick came home with his first brace of gigantic fierce birds, +killed off his own sword, and with such a pretty princess he had +rescued—dear Jaqueline? I’m sure she is like a +daughter to me. I cannot do without her.”</p> +<p>“I wish she were a daughter-in-law; I wish Dick would +take a fancy to marry her,” said the king. “A +nicer girl I never saw.”</p> +<p>“And so accomplished,” added Queen Rosalind. +“That girl can turn herself into anything—a mouse, a +fly, a lion, a wheelbarrow, a church! I never knew such +talent for magic. Of course she had the <i>best</i> of +teachers, the Fairy Paribanou herself; but very few girls, in our +time, devote so many hours to <i>practice</i> as dear +Jaqueline. Even now, when she is out of the schoolroom, she +still practises her scales. I saw her turning little Dollie +into a fish and <!-- page 18--><a name="page18"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 18</span>back again in the bath-room last +night. The child was delighted.”</p> +<p>In these times, you must know, princesses learned magic, just +as they learn the piano nowadays; but they had their music +lessons too, dancing, calisthenics, and the use of the +globes.</p> +<p>“Yes, she’s a dear, good girl,” said the +king; “yet she looks melancholy. I believe, myself, +that if Ricardo asked her to marry him, she would not say +‘No.’ But that’s just one of the things I +object to most in Dick. Round the world he goes, rescuing +ladies from every kind of horror—from dragons, giants, +cannibals, magicians; and then, when a girl naturally expects to +be married to him, as is usual, off he rides! He has no +more heart than a flounder. Why, at his age +I—”</p> +<p>“At his age, my dear, you were so hard-hearted that you +were quite a proverb. Why, <!-- page 19--><a +name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 19</span>I have been +told that you used to ask girls dreadful puzzling questions, like +‘Who was Cæsar Borgia?’ ‘What do +you know of Edwin and Morcar?’ and so on.”</p> +<p>“I had not seen <i>you</i> then,” said the +king.</p> +<p>“And Ricardo has not seen <i>her</i>, whoever she may +be. Besides, he can’t possibly marry all of +them. And I think a girl should consider herself lucky if +she is saved from a dragon or a giant, without expecting to be +married next day.”</p> +<p>“Perhaps; but it is usual,” said the king, +“and their families expect it, and keep sending ambassadors +to know what Dick’s intentions are. I would not mind +it all so very much if he killed the monsters off his own sword, +as he did that first brace, in fair fight. But ever since +he found his way into that closet where the fairy presents lie, +everything has been made too easy for him. It is a royal +road to glory, or <!-- page 20--><a name="page20"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 20</span>giant-slaying made easy. In his +Cap of Darkness a poor brute of a dragon can’t see +him. In his Shoes of Swiftness the giants can’t catch +him. His Sword of Sharpness would cut any oak asunder at a +blow!”</p> +<p>“But you were very glad of them when you made the +Ice-beast and the Fire-beast fight and kill each other,” +said the queen.</p> +<p>“Yes, my dear; but it wanted some wit, if I may say so, +to do <i>that</i>, and Dick just goes at it hammer and tongs: +anybody could do it. It’s <i>intellect</i> I miss in +Ricardo. How am I to know whether he could make a good +fight for it without all these fairy things? I wonder what +the young rogue is about to-day? He’ll be late for +dinner, as usual, I daresay. I can’t stand want of +punctuality at meals,” remarked his Majesty, which is a +sign that he was growing old after all; for where is the fun of +being expected always to come home in time for dinner when, +perhaps, <!-- page 21--><a name="page21"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 21</span>you are fishing, and the trout are +rising splendidly?</p> +<p>“Young people will be young people,” said the +queen. “If you are anxious about him, why don’t +you look for him in the magic crystal?”</p> +<p>Now the magic crystal was a fairy present, a great ball of +glass in which, if you looked, you saw the person you wanted to +see, and what he was doing, however far away he might be, if he +was on the earth at all. <a name="citation21"></a><a +href="#footnote21" class="citation">[21]</a></p> +<p>“I’ll just take a look at it,” said the +king; “it only wants three-quarters of an hour to +dinner-time.”</p> +<p>His Majesty rose, and walked to the crystal globe, which was +in a stand, like other globes. He stared into it, he turned +it round and round, and Queen Rosalind saw him grow quite pale as +he gazed.</p> +<p><!-- page 22--><a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +22</span>“I don’t see him anywhere,” said the +king, “and I have looked everywhere. I do hope +nothing has happened to the boy. He is so careless. +If he dropped his Cap of Darkness in a fight with a giant, why +who knows what might occur?”</p> +<p>“Oh, ’Gio, how you frighten me!” said the +queen.</p> +<p>King Prigio was still turning the crystal globe.</p> +<p>“Stop!” he cried; “I see a beautiful +princess, fastened by iron chains to a rock beside the sea, in a +lonely place. They must have fixed her up as a sacrifice to +a sea-monster, like what’s-her-name.”</p> +<p>This proves how anxious he was, or, being so clever and +learned, he would have remembered that her name was +Andromeda.</p> +<p>“I bet Dick is not far off, where there is an adventure +on hand. But where on earth can <!-- page 23--><a +name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>he be? . . +. My word!” suddenly exclaimed the monarch, in +obvious excitement.</p> +<p>“What is it, dear?” cried the queen, with all the +anxiety of a mother.</p> +<p>“Why, the sea where the girl is, has turned all red as +blood!” exclaimed the king. “Now it is all +being churned up by the tail of a tremendous monster. He is +a whopper! He’s coming on shore; the girl is +fainting. He’s out on shore! He is extremely +poorly, blood rushing from his open jaws. He’s +dying! And, hooray! here’s Dick coming out of his +enormous mouth, all in armour set with sharp spikes, and a sword +in his hand. He’s covered with blood, but he’s +well and hearty. He must have been swallowed by the brute, +and cut him up inside. Now he’s cutting the +beast’s head off. Now he’s gone to the +princess; a very neat bow he has made her. Dick’s +manners are positively improving! Now he’s cutting +<!-- page 24--><a name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +24</span>her iron chains off with the Sword of Sharpness. +And now he’s made her another bow, and he’s actually +taking leave of her. Poor thing! How disappointed she +is looking. And she’s so pretty, too. I say, +Rosalind, shall I shout to him through the magic horn, and tell +him to bring her home here, on the magic carpet?”</p> +<p>“I think not, dear; the palace is quite full,” +said the queen. But the real reason was that she wanted +Ricardo to marry her favourite Princess Jaqueline, and she did +not wish the new princess to come in the way.</p> +<p>“As you like,” said the king, who knew what was in +her mind very well. “Besides, I see her own people +coming for her. I’m sorry for her, but it can’t +be helped, and Dick is half-way home by now on the Shoes of +Swiftness. I daresay he will not keep dinner waiting after +all. But what a fright the boy has given me!”</p> +<p><!-- page 27--><a name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +27</span>At this moment a whirring in the air and a joyous shout +were heard. It was Prince Ricardo flying home on his +Seven-league Boots.</p> +<p>“Hi, Ross!” he shouted, “just weigh this +beast’s head. I’ve had a splendid day with a +sea-monster. Get the head stuffed, will you? +We’ll have it set up in the billiard-room.”</p> +<p>“Yes, Master Dick—I mean your Royal +Highness,” said Ross, a Highland keeper, who had not +previously been employed by a Reigning Family. +“It’s a fine head, whatever,” he added, +meditatively.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p28b.jpg"> +<img alt="Ross weighing the beast’s head" +src="images/p28s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Prince Ricardo now came beneath the library window, and gave +his parents a brief account of his adventure.</p> +<p>“I picked the monster up early in the morning,” he +said, “through the magic telescope, father.”</p> +<p>“What country was he in?” said the king.</p> +<p><!-- page 28--><a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +28</span>“The country people whom I met called it +Ethiopia. They were niggers.”</p> +<p>“And in what part of the globe is Ethiopia, +Ricardo?”</p> +<p>“Oh! I don’t know. Asia, perhaps,” +answered the prince.</p> +<p>The king groaned.</p> +<p>“That boy will <i>never</i> understand our foreign +relations. Ethiopia in Asia!” he said to himself, but +he did not choose to make any remark at the moment.</p> +<p>The prince ran upstairs to dress. On the stairs he met +the Princess Jaqueline.</p> +<p>“Oh, Dick! are you hurt?” she said, turning very +pale.</p> +<p>“No, not I; but the monster is. I had a capital +day, Jack; rescued a princess, too.”</p> +<p>“Was she—was she very pretty, Dick?”</p> +<p>“Oh! I don’t know. Pretty enough, I +daresay. Much like other girls. Why, you look <!-- +page 29--><a name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +29</span>quite white! What’s the matter? Now +you look all right again;” for, indeed, the Princess +Jaqueline was blushing.</p> +<p>“I must dress. I’m ever so late,” he +said, hurrying upstairs; and the princess, with a little sigh, +went down to the royal drawing-room.</p> +<h2><!-- page 30--><a name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +30</span>CHAPTER II.<br /> +Princess Jaqueline Drinks the Moon.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p30.jpg"> +<img alt="The King and the Prince" src="images/p30.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>When dinner was over and the ladies had left the room, the +king tried to speak <i>seriously</i> to Prince Ricardo. +This was a thing which he disliked doing very much.</p> +<p>“There’s very little use in preaching,” his +Majesty used to say, “to a man, or rather a boy, of another +generation. My taste was for books; I only took to +adventures because I was obliged to do it. Dick’s +taste is for adventures; I only <!-- page 31--><a +name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>wish some +accident would make him take to books. But everyone must +get his experience for himself; and when he has got it, he is +lucky if it is not too late. I wish I could see him in love +with some nice girl, who would keep him at home.”</p> +<p>The king did not expect much from talking seriously to +Dick. However, he began by asking questions about the +day’s sport, which Ricardo answered with modesty. +Then his Majesty observed that, from all he had ever read or +heard, he believed Ethiopia, where the fight was, to be in +Africa, not in Asia.</p> +<p>“I really wish, Ricardo, that you would attend to your +geography a little more. It is most necessary to a soldier +that he should know where his enemy is, and if he has to fight +the Dutch, for instance, not to start with his army for Central +Asia.”</p> +<p>“I could always spot them through the magic <!-- page +32--><a name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +32</span>glass, father,” said Dick; “it saves such a +lot of trouble. I hate geography.”</p> +<p>“But the glass might be lost or broken, or the Fairies +might take it away, and then where are you?”</p> +<p>“Oh, <i>you</i> would know where to go, or Mr. +Belsham.”</p> +<p>Now Mr. Belsham was his tutor, from Oxford.</p> +<p>“But I shall not always be here, and when I +die—”</p> +<p>“Don’t talk of dying, sire,” said +Dick. “Why, you are not so very old; you may live for +years yet. Besides, I can’t stand the notion. +You must live for ever!”</p> +<p>“That sentiment is unusual in a Crown Prince,” +thought the king; but he was pleased for all that.</p> +<p>“Well, to oblige you, I’ll try to struggle against +old age,” he said; “but there are always +accidents. Now, Dick, like a good fellow, <!-- page 33--><a +name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 33</span>and to please +me, work hard all to-morrow till the afternoon. I’ll +come in and help you. And there’s always a splendid +evening rise of trout in the lake just now, so you can have your +play after your work. You’ll enjoy it more, and I +daresay you are tired after a long day with the big game. +It used to tire me, I remember.”</p> +<p>“I <i>am</i> rather tired,” said Dick; and indeed +he looked a little pale, for a day in the inside of a gigantic +sea-monster is fatiguing, from the heat and want of fresh air +which are usually found in such places. “I think +I’ll turn in; goodnight, my dear old governor,” he +said, in an affectionate manner, though he was not usually given +to many words.</p> +<p>Then he went and kissed his mother and the Princess Jaqueline, +whom he engaged to row him on the lake next evening, while he +fished.</p> +<p>“And don’t you go muffing them with the +landing-net, Jack, as you generally do,” said <!-- page +34--><a name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 34</span>his +Royal Highness, as he lit his bedroom candle.</p> +<p>“I wish he would not call me Jack,” said the +princess to the queen.</p> +<p>“It’s better than Lina, my dear,” said her +Majesty, who in late life had become fond of her little joke; +“that always sounds as if someone else was +fatter,—and I hope there is not someone else.”</p> +<p>The princess was silent, and fixed her eyes on her book.</p> +<p>Presently the king came in, and played a game with Lina at +picquet. When they were all going to bed, he said:</p> +<p>“Just come into the study, Lina. I want you to +write a few letters for me.”</p> +<p>The princess followed him and took her seat at the writing +table. The letters were very short. One was to Herr +Schnipp, tailor to the king and royal family; another was to the +royal <!-- page 35--><a name="page35"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 35</span>swordmaker, another to the bootmaker, +another to the optician, another to the tradesman who supplied +the august family with carpets and rugs, another to his +Majesty’s hatter. They were all summoned to be at the +palace early next morning. Then his Majesty yawned, +apologised, and went to bed. The princess also went to her +room, or bower as it was then called, but not to sleep.</p> +<p>She was unhappy that Dick did not satisfy his father, and that +he was so careless, and also about other things.</p> +<p>“And why does the king want all these tailors and +hatters so suddenly, telescope-makers and swordmakers and +shoemakers, too?” she asked herself, as she stood at the +window watching the moon.</p> +<p>“I <i>could</i> find out. I could turn myself into +a dog or a cat, and go into the room where he is giving his +orders. But that is awkward, for <!-- page 36--><a +name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>when the +servants see Rip” (that was the dog) “in two places +at once, they begin to think the palace is haunted, and it makes +people talk. Besides, I know it is wrong to listen to what +one is not meant to hear. It is often difficult to be a +magician and a good girl. The temptations are so strong, +stronger than most people allow for.” So she +remained, with the moon shining on her pretty yellow hair and her +white dress, wondering what the king intended to do, and whether +it was something that Dick would not like.</p> +<p>“How stupid of me,” she said at length, +“after all the lessons I have had. Why, I can +<i>drink the moon</i>!”</p> +<p>Now, this is a way of knowing what anyone else is thinking of +and intends to do, for the moon sees and knows everything. +Whether it is <i>quite fair</i> is another matter; but, at all +events, it is not <i>listening</i>. And anyone may see +that, if <!-- page 37--><a name="page37"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 37</span>you are a magician, like the Princess +Jaqueline, a great many difficult questions as to what is right +and wrong at once occur which do not trouble other people. +King Prigio’s secret, why he sent for the tailor and the +other people, was his own secret. The princess decided that +she would not find it out by turning herself into Rip or the cat +(whose name was Semiramis), and, so far, she was quite +right. But she was very young, and it never occurred to her +that it was just as wrong to find out what the king meant by +<i>drinking the moon</i> as by listening in disguise. As +she grew older she learned to know better; but this is just the +danger of teaching young girls magic, and for that very reason it +has been given up in most countries.</p> +<p>However, the princess did not think about right and wrong, +unluckily. She went to the bookcase and took down her +<i>Cornelius Agrippa</i>, in one great tall black volume, with +silver clasps <!-- page 38--><a name="page38"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 38</span>which nobody else could open; for, as +the princess said, there are books which it would never do to +leave lying about where the servants or anybody could read +them. Nobody could undo the clasps, however strong or +clever he might be; but the princess just breathed on them and +made a sign, and the book flew open at the right place—Book +IV., chapter vi., about the middle of page 576.</p> +<p>The magic spell was in Latin, of course; but the princess knew +Latin very well, and soon she had the magic song by heart. +Then she closed the book and put it back on the shelf. Then +she threw open the window and drew back the curtains, and put out +all the lights except two scented candles that burned with a +white fire under a round mirror with a silver frame, opposite the +window. And into that mirror the moon shone white and full, +filling all the space of it, so that the room was <!-- page +39--><a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +39</span>steeped in a strange silver light. Now the whole +room seemed to sway gently, waving and trembling; and as it +trembled it sounded and rang with a low silver music, as if it +were filled with the waves of the sea.</p> +<p>Then the princess took a great silver basin, covered with +strange black signs and figures raised in the silver. She +poured water into the basin, and as she poured it she sang the +magic spell from the Latin book. It was something like +this, in English:</p> +<blockquote><p>“Oh Lady Moon, on the waters riding,<br /> + On shining waters, in silver sheen,<br /> +Show me the secret the heart is hiding,<br /> + Show me the truth of the thought, oh Queen!</p> +<p>“Oh waters white, where the moon is riding,<br /> + That knows what shall be and what has been,<br /> +Tell me the secret the heart is hiding,<br /> + Wash me the truth of it, clear and clean!”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>As she sang the water in the silver basin foamed and bubbled, +and then fell still again; and the <!-- page 40--><a +name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span>princess +knelt in the middle of the room, and the moon and the white light +from the mirror of the moon fell in the water.</p> +<p>Then the princess raised the basin, and stooped her mouth to +it and drank the water, spilling a few drops, and so she <i>drank +the moon</i> and the knowledge of the moon. Then the moon +was darkened without a cloud, and there was darkness in the sky +for a time, and all the dogs in the world began to howl. +When the moon shone again, the princess rose and put out the two +white lights, and drew the curtains; and presently she went to +bed.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p41b.jpg"> +<img alt="The Princess drinks the Moon" src="images/p41s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“Now I know all about it,” she said. +“It is clever; everything the king does is clever, and he +is so kind that I daresay he does not mean any harm. But it +seems a cruel trick to play on poor Ricardo. However, +Jaqueline is on the watch, and I’ll show them a girl can do +more than people think,”—as, indeed, she could.</p> +<p><!-- page 43--><a name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +43</span>After meditating in this way, the princess fell sleep, +and did not waken till her maid came to call her.</p> +<p>“Oh! your Royal Highness, what’s this on the +floor?” said the faithful Rosina, as she was arranging the +princess’s things for her to get up.</p> +<p>“Why, what is it?” asked the princess.</p> +<p>“Ever so many—four, five, six, seven—little +shining drops of silver lying on the carpet, as if they had +melted and fallen there!”</p> +<p>“They have not hurt the carpet?” said the +princess. “Oh dear! the queen won’t be pleased +at all. It was a little chemical experiment I was trying +last night.”</p> +<p>But she knew very well that she must have dropped seven drops +of the enchanted water.</p> +<p>“No, your Royal Highness, the carpet is not +harmed,” said Rosina; “only your Royal Highness +should do these things in the laboratory. Her Majesty has +often spoke about it.”</p> +<p><!-- page 44--><a name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +44</span>“You are quite right,” said the princess; +“but as there is no harm done, we’ll say nothing +about it this time. And, Rosina, you may keep the silver +drops for yourself.”</p> +<p>“Your Royal Highness is always very kind,” said +Rosina, which was true; but how much better and wiser it is not +to <i>begin</i> to deceive! We never know how far we may be +carried, and so Jaqueline found out.</p> +<p>For when she went down to breakfast, there was the king in a +great state of excitement, for him.</p> +<p>“It’s <i>most</i> extraordinary,” said his +Majesty.</p> +<p>“What is?” asked the queen.</p> +<p>“Why, didn’t you notice it? No, you had gone +to bed before it happened. But I was taking a walk in the +moonlight, on the balcony, and I observed it +carefully.”</p> +<p>“Observed what, my dear?” asked the queen, who was +pouring out the tea.</p> +<p><!-- page 45--><a name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +45</span>“Didn’t you see it, Dick? Late as +usual, you young dog!” the king remarked as Ricardo entered +the room.</p> +<p>“See what, sir?” said Dick.</p> +<p>“Oh, you were asleep hours before, now I think of +it! But it was <i>the</i> most extraordinary thing, an +unpredicted eclipse of the moon! You must have noticed it, +Jaqueline; you sat up later. How the dogs +howled!”</p> +<p>“No; I mean yes,” murmured poor Jaqueline, who of +course had caused the whole affair by her magic arts, but who had +forgotten, in the excitement of the moment, that an eclipse of +the moon, especially if entirely unexpected, is likely to attract +very general attention. Jaqueline could not bear to tell a +fib, especially to a king who had been so kind to her; besides, +fibbing would not alter the facts.</p> +<p>“Yes, I did see it,” she admitted, blushing. +“Had it not been predicted?”</p> +<p><!-- page 46--><a name="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +46</span>“Not a word about it whispered anywhere,” +said his Majesty. “I looked up the almanack at +once. It is the most extraordinary thing I ever saw, and +I’ve seen a good many.”</p> +<p>“The astronomers must be duffers,” said Prince +Ricardo. “I never thought there was much in physical +science of any sort; most dreary stuff. Why, they say the +earth goes round the sun, whereas any fool can see it is just the +other way on.”</p> +<p>King Prigio was struck aghast by these sentiments in the mouth +of his son and heir, the hope of Pantouflia. But what was +the king to say in reply? The astronomers of Pantouflia, +who conceived that they knew a great deal, had certainly been +taken by surprise this time. Indeed, they have not yet +satisfactorily explained this eclipse of the moon, though they +have written volumes about it.</p> +<p>“Why, it may be the sun next!” exclaimed <!-- page +47--><a name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span>his +Majesty. “Anything may happen. The very laws of +gravitation themselves may go askew!”</p> +<p>At this moment the butler, William, who had been in the +queen’s family when she was a girl, entered, and +announced:</p> +<p>“Some of the royal tradesmen, by appointment, to see +your Majesty.”</p> +<p>So the king, who had scarcely eaten any breakfast, much to the +annoyance of the queen, who was not agitated by eclipses, went +out and joined the tailors and the rest of them.</p> +<h2><!-- page 48--><a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +48</span>CHAPTER III.<br /> +The Adventure of the Shopkeepers.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p48.jpg"> +<img alt="Man with sword" src="images/p48.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Dick went on with his breakfast. He ate cold pastry, and +poached eggs, and ham, and rolls, and raspberry jam, and hot +cakes; and he drank two cups of coffee. Meanwhile the king +had joined the tradesmen who attended by his orders. They +were all met in the royal study, where the king made them a most +splendid bow, and requested them to be seated. But they +declined to sit in his sacred presence, and <!-- page 49--><a +name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 49</span>the king +observed that, in that case he must stand up.</p> +<p>“I have invited you here, gentlemen,” he said, +“on a matter of merely private importance, but I must +request that you will be entirely silent as to the nature of your +duties. It is difficult, I know, not to talk about +one’s work, but in this instance I am sure you will oblige +me.”</p> +<p>“Your Majesty has only to command,” said Herr +Schnipp. “There have been monarchs, in neighbouring +kingdoms, who would have cut off all our heads after we had done +a bit of secret business; but the merest word of your Majesty is +law to your loving subjects.”</p> +<p>The other merchants murmured assent, for King Prigio was +really liked by his people. He was always good-tempered and +polite. He never went to war with anybody. He spent +most of the royal income on public objects, and of course there +were scarcely any taxes to speak of. <!-- page 50--><a +name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 50</span>Moreover, he +had abolished what is called compulsory education, or making +everybody go to school whether he likes it or not; a most +mischievous and tyrannical measure! “A fellow who +can’t teach himself to read,” said the king, +“is not worth teaching.”</p> +<p>For all these reasons, and because they were so fond of the +queen, his subjects were ready to do anything in reason for King +Prigio.</p> +<p>Only one tradesman, bowing very deep and blushing very much, +said:</p> +<p>“Your Majesty, will you hear me for one +moment?”</p> +<p>“For an hour, with pleasure, Herr Schmidt,” said +the monarch.</p> +<p>“It is an untradesman-like and an unusual thing to +decline an order; and if your Majesty asked for my heart’s +blood, I am ready to shed it, not to speak of anything in the +line of my business—namely, boot and shoe making. But +<!-- page 53--><a name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +53</span>keep a secret from my wife, I fairly own to your Majesty +that I can <i>not</i>.”</p> +<p>Herr Schmidt went down on his knees and wept.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p52b.jpg"> +<img alt="Herr Schmidt went down on his knees" +src="images/p52s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“Rise, Herr Schmidt,” said the king, taking him by +the hand. “A more honourable and chivalrous +confession of an amiable weakness, if it is to be called a +weakness, I never heard. Sir, you have been true to your +honour and your prince, in face of what few men can bear, the +chance of ridicule. There is no one here, I hope, but +respects and will keep the secret of Herr Schmidt’s +confession?”</p> +<p>The assembled shopkeepers could scarcely refrain from +tears.</p> +<p>“Long live King Prigio the Good!” they exclaimed, +and vowed that everything should be kept dark.</p> +<p>“Indeed, sire,” said the swordmaker, “all +the rest of us are bachelors.”</p> +<p><!-- page 54--><a name="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +54</span>“That is none the worse for my purpose +gentlemen,” said his Majesty; “but I trust that you +will not long deprive me of sons and subjects worthy to succeed +to such fathers. And now, if Herr Schmidt will kindly find +his way to the buttery, where refreshments are ready, I shall +have the pleasure of conducting you to the scene of your +labours.”</p> +<p>Thus speaking, the king, with another magnificent bow, led the +way upstairs to a little turret-room, in a deserted part of the +palace. Bidding the tradesmen enter, he showed them a large +collection of miscellaneous things: an old cap or two, a pair of +boots of a sort long out of fashion, an old broadsword, a shabby +old Persian rug, an ivory spy-glass, and other articles. +These were, in fact, the fairy presents, which had been given to +the king at his christening, and by aid of which (and his natural +acuteness) he had, <!-- page 55--><a name="page55"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 55</span>in his youth, succeeded in many +remarkable adventures.</p> +<p>The caps were the Wishing Cap and the Cap of Darkness. +The rug was the famous carpet which carried its owner through the +air wherever he wished to go. The sword was the Sword of +Sharpness. The ivory glass showed you anyone you wanted to +see, however far off. The boots were the Seven-league +Boots, which Hop-o’-my-Thumb stole from the Ogre about +1697. There were other valuable objects, but these were the +most useful and celebrated. Of course the king did not tell +the tradesmen what they were.</p> +<p>“Now, gentlemen,” said his Majesty, “you see +these old things. For reasons which I must ask you to +excuse me for keeping to myself, I wish you to provide me with +objects exactly and precisely similar to these, with all the look +of age.”</p> +<p><!-- page 56--><a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +56</span>The tradesmen examined the objects, each choosing that +in his own line of business.</p> +<p>“As to the sword, sire,” said the cutler, +“it is an Andrea Ferrara, a fine old blade. By a +lucky accident, I happen to have one at home in a small +collection of ancient weapons, exactly like it. This +evening it shall be at your Majesty’s disposal.”</p> +<p>“Perhaps, Herr Schnitzler, you will kindly write an +order for it, as I wish no one of you to leave the palace, if you +can conveniently stay, till your business is finished.”</p> +<p>“With pleasure, your Majesty,” says the +cutler.</p> +<p>“As to the old rug,” said the upholsterer, +“I have a Persian one quite identical with it at home, at +your Majesty’s service.”</p> +<p>“Then you can do like Herr Schnitzler,” who was +the cutler.</p> +<p>“And I,” said the hatter, “have two old caps +<!-- page 57--><a name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +57</span>just like these, part of a bankrupt theatrical +stock.”</p> +<p>“We are most fortunate,” said the king.</p> +<p>“The boots, now I come to think of it, are unimportant, +at least for the present. Perhaps we can borrow a pair from +the theatre.”</p> +<p>“As for the glass,” said the optician, “if +your Majesty will allow me to take it home with +me—”</p> +<p>“I am afraid I cannot part with it,” said the +king; “but that, too, is unimportant, or not very +pressing.”</p> +<p>Then he called for a servant, to order luncheon for the +shopkeepers, and paper for them to write their orders on. +But no one was within hearing, and in that very old part of the +palace there were no bells.</p> +<p>“Just pardon me for an instant, while I run +downstairs,” said his Majesty; “and, it seems a +strange thing to ask, but may I advise you <!-- page 58--><a +name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 58</span>not to sit +down on that carpet? I have a reason for it.”</p> +<p>In fact, he was afraid that someone might sit down on it, and +wish he was somewhere else, and be carried away, as was the +nature of the carpet.</p> +<p>King Prigio was not absent a minute, for he met William on the +stairs; but when he came back, there was not one single person in +the turret-room!</p> +<p>“Where on earth are they?” cried the king, rushing +through all the rooms in that part of the castle. He +shouted for them, and looked everywhere; but there was not a +trace of tailor, hatter, optician, swordmaker, upholsterer.</p> +<p>The king hastened to a window over the gate, and saw the +sentinels on duty.</p> +<p>“Hi!” he called.</p> +<p>And the sentinels turned round, looked up, and saluted.</p> +<p><!-- page 59--><a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +59</span>“Have you seen anyone go out?” he cried.</p> +<p>“No one, sire,” answered the soldiers.</p> +<p>The king, who began to guess what had happened, hurried back +to the turret-room.</p> +<p>There were all the tradesmen with parcels under their +arms.</p> +<p>“What means this, gentlemen?” said his Majesty, +severely. “For what reason did you leave the room +without my permission?”</p> +<p>They all knelt down, humbly imploring his compassion.</p> +<p>“Get up, you donkeys!” said the king, forgetting +his politeness. “Get up, and tell me where you have +been hiding yourselves.”</p> +<p>The hatter came forward, and said:</p> +<p>“Sire, you will not believe me; indeed, I can scarcely +believe it myself!”</p> +<p>“Nor none of us can’t,” said the +swordmaker. “We have been home, and brought the +articles. All orders executed with punctuality <!-- page +60--><a name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 60</span>and +dispatch,” he added, quoting his own advertisement without +thinking of it.</p> +<p>On this the swordmaker took out and exhibited the Andrea +Ferrara blade, which was exactly like the Sword of Sharpness.</p> +<p>The upholsterer undid his parcel, and there was a Persian rug, +which no one could tell from the magical carpet.</p> +<p>The hatter was fumbling with the string of his parcel, when he +suddenly remembered, what the king in his astonishment had not +noticed, that he had a cap on himself. He pulled it off in +a hurry, and the king at once saw that it was his Wishing Cap, +and understood all about the affair. The hatter, in his +absence, had tried on the Wishing Cap, and had wished that he +himself and his friends were all at home and back again with +their wares at the palace. And what he wished happened, of +course, as was natural. In a moment the king saw how much +talk <!-- page 61--><a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +61</span>this business would produce in the country, and he +decided on the best way to stop it.</p> +<p>Seizing the Wishing Cap, he put it on, wished all the +tradesmen, including the shoemaker, back in the town at their +shops, and also wished that none of them should remember anything +about the whole affair.</p> +<p>In a moment he was alone in the turret-room. As for the +shopkeepers, they had a kind of idea that they had dreamed +something odd; but, as it went no further, of course they did not +talk about it, and nobody was any the wiser.</p> +<p>“Owl that I am!” said King Prigio to +himself. “I might have better wished for a complete +set of sham fairy things which would not work. It would +have saved a great deal of trouble; but I am so much out of the +habit of using the cap, that I never thought of it. +However, what I have got will do very well.”</p> +<p>Then, putting on the Cap of Darkness, that <!-- page 62--><a +name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 62</span>nobody might +see him, he carried all the <i>real</i> fairy articles away, +except the Seven-league Boots, to his own room, where he locked +them up, leaving in their place the sham Wishing Cap, the sham +Cap of Darkness, the sham Sword of Sharpness, and the carpet +which was not a magic carpet at all.</p> +<p>His idea was, of course, that Ricardo would start on an +expedition confiding in his fairy things, and he would find that +they did not act. Then he would be left to his own +cleverness and courage to get him out of the scrape. That +would teach him, thought the king, to depend on himself, and to +set a proper value on cleverness and learning, and minding his +book.</p> +<p>Of course he might have locked the things up, and forbidden +Ricardo to touch them, but that might have seemed harsh. +And, as you may easily imagine, with all the powers at his <!-- +page 63--><a name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +63</span>command, the king fancied he could easily rescue Ricardo +from any very serious danger at the hands of giants or magicians +or monsters. He only wanted to give him a fright or two, +and make him respect the judgment of older and wiser people than +himself.</p> +<h2><!-- page 64--><a name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +64</span>CHAPTER IV.<br /> +Two Lectures.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p64b.jpg"> +<img alt="The Prince with the telescope" src="images/p64s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>For several days Prince Ricardo minded his books, and, +according to his tutors, made considerable progress in polite +learning. Perhaps he ought not to be praised too highly for +this, because, in fact, he saw no means of distinguishing himself +by adventures just at that time. Every morning he would +climb the turret and sweep the horizon, and even <i>much</i> +beyond the horizon, with the ivory spy-glass. But look as +he would, he saw no monsters preying on <!-- page 67--><a +name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 67</span>human-kind +anywhere, nor princesses in distress. To be sure he saw +plenty of poor people in distress, and, being a good-hearted, +though careless, lad, Dick would occasionally fly off with the +Purse of Fortunatus in his pocket, and give them as much money as +they needed—it cost him nothing. But this was not the +kind of adventure which he enjoyed. Dragons for his +money!</p> +<p>One day the Princess Jaqueline took a curious plan of showing +Ricardo how little interest, after all, there is in performing +the most wonderful exploits without any real difficulty or +danger. They were drifting before a light breeze on a hill +lake; Ricardo was fishing, and Jaqueline was sculling a stroke +now and then, just to keep the boat right with the wind. +Ricardo had very bad sport, when suddenly the trout began to rise +all over the lake. Dick got excited, and stumbled about the +boat from stern <!-- page 68--><a name="page68"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 68</span>to bow, tripping over +Jaqueline’s feet, and nearly upsetting the vessel in his +hurry to throw his flies over every trout he saw feeding.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p66b.jpg"> +<img alt="Drifting in a light breeze" src="images/p66s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>But, as too often occurs, they were taking one particular fly +which was on the water, and would look at nothing else.</p> +<p>“Oh, bother them!” cried Ricardo. “I +can’t find a fly in my book in the least like that little +black one they are feeding on!”</p> +<p>He tried half-a-dozen different fly-hooks, but all to no +purpose; he lost his temper, got his tackle entangled in +Jaqueline’s hair and then in the landing-net; and, though +such a big boy, he was nearly crying with vexation.</p> +<p>The Princess Jaqueline, with great pains and patience, +disentangled the casting line, first from her hair, which Ricardo +was anxious to cut (the great stupid oaf,—her pretty hair!) +then from the landing-net; but Dick had grown sulky.</p> +<p><!-- page 69--><a name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +69</span>“It’s no use,” he said; “I have +not a fly that will suit. Let’s go home,” and +he threw a tin can at a rising trout.</p> +<p>“Now, Dick,” said Jaqueline, “you know I can +help you. I did not learn magic for nothing. Just you +look the other way for a minute or two, and you will find the +right fly at the end of your line.”</p> +<p>Dick turned his head away (it is not proper to look on at +magical arts), and then in a moment, saw the right hook on his +cast; but Jaqueline was not in the boat. She had turned +herself into an artificial fly (a small black gnat), and Dick +might set to his sport again.</p> +<p>“What a trump that girl is,” he said aloud. +“Clever, too!” and he began casting. He got a +trout every cast, great big ones, over a pound, and soon he had a +basketful. But he began to feel rather bored.</p> +<p><!-- page 70--><a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +70</span>“There’s not much fun taking them,” he +said, “when they are so silly.”</p> +<p>At that very moment he noticed that the fly was off his cast, +and Jaqueline was sitting at the oars.</p> +<p>“You see, Ricardo,” she said, “I was right +after all. There is not much pleasure in sport that is easy +and certain. Now, apply this moral to dragon-killing with +magic instruments. It may be useful when one is obliged to +defend oneself, but surely a prince ought not to give his whole +time to nothing else!”</p> +<p>Dick had no answer ready, so he only grumbled:</p> +<p>“You’re always preaching at me, Jack; everybody +always is. I seem to have been born just to be preached +at.”</p> +<p>Some people are; and it does grow rather tedious in the long +run. But perhaps what <!-- page 71--><a +name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 71</span>Jaqueline +said may have made some impression on Ricardo, for he stuck to +his books for weeks, and was got into decimal fractions and +Euclid.</p> +<p>All this, of course, pleased the king very much, and he began +to entertain hopes of Ricardo’s becoming a wise and learned +prince, and a credit to his illustrious family.</p> +<p>Things were not always to go smoothly, far from it; and it was +poor Jaqueline who fell into trouble next. She had been +very ready to lecture Dick, as we saw, and took a good deal of +credit to herself for his steadiness. But one day King +Prigio happened to meet Jaqueline’s maid, Rosina, on the +stairs; and as Rosina was a pretty girl, and the king was always +kind to his dependents, he stopped to have a chat with her.</p> +<p>“Why, Rosina, what a pretty little silver cross you are +wearing,” he said, and he lifted a <!-- page 72--><a +name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 72</span>curious +ornament which hung from a chain on Rosina’s neck. It +consisted of seven drops of silver, set like this:</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p72.jpg"> +<img alt="The drops" src="images/p72.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p> “May I look at it?” his Majesty asked, and +Rosina, all in a flutter, took it off and gave if to him. +“H’m!” said the king. “Very curious +and pretty! May I ask you where you got this, +Rosina?”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p73b.jpg"> +<img alt="“H’m!” said the king. “Very +curious and pretty!”" src="images/p73s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Now Rosina generally had her answer ready, and I am very sorry +to say that she did not always speak the truth when she could +think of anything better. On this occasion she was anxious +to think of something better, for fear of getting Jaqueline into +a scrape about the chemical experiment in her bedroom. But +Rosina was fluttered, as we said, by the royal <!-- page 75--><a +name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 75</span>kindness, and +she could think of nothing but to curtsy, and say:</p> +<p>“Please, your Majesty, the princess gave me the +drops.”</p> +<p>“Very interesting,” said the king. +“There is a little white moon shining in each of +them! I wonder if they shine in the dark?”</p> +<p>He opened the door of a cupboard which had no windows, where +the housemaid kept her mops and brooms, and shut himself +in. Yes, there was no mistake; the darkness was quite +lighted up with the sheen of the seven little moons in the +silver. The king looked rather grave.</p> +<p>“If you can trust me with this cross till to-morrow, +Rosina, I should like to have it examined and analysed. +This is no common silver.”</p> +<p>Of course Rosina could only curtsy, but she was very much +alarmed about the consequences to her mistress.</p> +<p><!-- page 76--><a name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +76</span>After luncheon, the king asked Jaqueline to come into +his study, as he often did, to help him with his letters. +When they had sat down his Majesty said:</p> +<p>“My dear Jaqueline, I never interfere with your +pursuits, but I almost doubt whether <i>Cornelius Agrippa</i> is +a good book for a very young lady to read. The Fairy +Paribanou, I am sure, taught you nothing beyond the ordinary +magical accomplishments suited to your rank; but there are a +great many things in the <i>Cornelius</i> which I think you +should not study till you are older and wiser.”</p> +<p>“What does your Majesty mean?” said poor +Jaqueline, feeling very uncomfortable; for the king had never +lectured her before.</p> +<p>“Why,” said his Majesty, taking the silver cross +out of his pocket, “did you not give this to +Rosina?”</p> +<p><!-- page 77--><a name="page77"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +77</span>“Yes, sire, I did give her the drops. She +had them made up herself.”</p> +<p>“Then give it back to her when you see her next. I +am glad you are frank, Jaqueline. And you know, of course, +that the drops are not ordinary silver? They are moon +silver, and that can only be got in one way, so far as I know, at +least—when one spills the water when he, or she, is +drinking the moon. Now, there is only one book which tells +how that can be done, and there is only one reason for doing it; +namely, to find out what is some other person’s +secret. I shall not ask you <i>whose</i> secret you wanted +to find out, but I must request you never to do such a thing +again without consulting me. You can have no reason for it, +such as a great king might have whose enemies are plotting +against his country.”</p> +<p>“Oh, sire, I will tell you everything!” cried +Jaqueline.</p> +<p><!-- page 78--><a name="page78"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +78</span>“No, don’t; I don’t want to +know. I am sure you will make no use of your information +which you think I should not approve of. But there is +another thing—that eclipse of the moon! Oh, +Jaqueline, was it honourable, or fair to the astronomers and men +of science, to say nothing about it? Their European +reputations are seriously injured.”</p> +<p>Poor Jaqueline could only cry.</p> +<p>“Never mind,” said his Majesty, comforting +her. “There is no great harm done yet, and perhaps +they would not believe you if you did explain; but just think, if +some people ceased to believe in Science, what would they have +left to believe in? But you are young, of course, and +cannot be expected to think of everything.”</p> +<p>“I never thought about it at all,” wept +Jaqueline.</p> +<p><!-- page 79--><a name="page79"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +79</span>“‘Evil is wrought by want of +thought,’” said the king, quoting the poet. +“Now run away, dry your tears, and I think you had better +bring me that book, and I’ll put it back in one of the +locked-up shelves. Later, when you are older, we shall see +about it.”</p> +<p>The princess flew to her room, and returned with her +book. And the king kissed her, and told her to go and see +if her Majesty meant to take a drive.</p> +<p>“I’ll never deceive him again, never . . . unless +it is <i>quite</i> necessary,” said the princess to +herself. “Indeed, it is not so easy to deceive the +king. What a lot he has read!”</p> +<p>In fact, King Prigio had been very studious when a young man, +before he came to the throne.</p> +<p>“Poor child!” thought the king. “No +doubt she was trying her fortune, wondering if Ricardo cares for +her a little. Of course <!-- page 80--><a +name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 80</span>I could not +let her tell me <i>that</i>, poor child!”</p> +<p>In this guess, as we know, his Majesty was mistaken, which +seldom happened to him.</p> +<p>“I wonder who she is?” the king went on speaking +to himself. “That great booby, Ricardo, saved her +from wild birds, which were just going to eat her. She was +fastened to a mountain top, but <i>where</i>? that’s the +question. Ricardo never has any notion of geography. +It was across the sea, he noticed <i>that</i>; but which +sea,—Atlantic, Pacific, the Black Sea, the Caspian, the Sea +of Marmora, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, the German Ocean, the +Mediterranean? Her ornaments were very peculiar; there was +a broad gold sun on her breast. I must look at them again +some day. She said she was being sacrificed to wild birds +(which her people worshipped), because there was some famine, or +war, or trouble in the <!-- page 81--><a name="page81"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 81</span>country. She said she was a +Daughter of the Sun; but that, of course, is absurd, +unless—By Jove! I believe I have it,” said the +king, and he went into the royal library and was looking for some +old Spanish book, when his secretary came and said that the +Russian Ambassador was waiting for an interview with his +Majesty.</p> +<p>“Dismal old Muscovite!” sighed the king. +“A monarch has not a moment to himself for his private +studies. Ah, Prigio! why wert thou not born to a private +station? But Duty before everything,” and wreathing +his royal countenance in smiles, his Majesty prepared to give +Count Snoreonski an audience.</p> +<p>It was all about the attitude of Pantouflia in the event of a +Polish invasion of Russia. The king reassured Count +Snoreonski, affirming that Pantouflia, while deeply regretting +the disturbed relations between two States in whose welfare <!-- +page 82--><a name="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +82</span>she was deeply interested, would ever preserve an +attitude of benevolent neutrality, unless her own interests were +threatened.</p> +<p>“I may give your message to my august mistress, the +Czarina?” said the ambassador.</p> +<p>“By all means, adding an expression of my tender +interest in her Majesty’s health and welfare,” said +the king, presenting the count at the same time with a +magnificent diamond snuffbox containing his portrait.</p> +<p>The old count was affected to tears, and withdrew, while King +Prigio said:</p> +<p>“I have not lost a day; I have made an amiable but very +stupid man happy.”</p> +<p>Such are, or rather such were, the toils of monarchs!</p> +<h2><!-- page 83--><a name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +83</span>CHAPTER V.<br /> +Prince Ricardo Crosses the Path of History.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p83b.jpg"> +<img alt="Hand reaching for a crown with wings" +src="images/p83s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“I say, Jack,” said Prince Ricardo one morning, +“here’s a queer letter for me!”</p> +<p>King Prigio had gone to a distant part of his dominions, on +business of importance, and the young people were sitting in the +royal study. The letter, which Ricardo handed to Jaqueline, +was written on a great broad sheet of paper, folded up without +any envelope, as <!-- page 84--><a name="page84"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 84</span>was the custom then, and was sealed +with a huge seal in red wax.</p> +<p>“I don’t know the arms,” Ricardo said.</p> +<p>“Oh, Ricardo, how you <i>do</i> neglect your +Heraldry! Old Green Stocking is in despair over your +ignorance.”</p> +<p>Now Green Stocking was the chief herald of Pantouflia, just +like Blue Mantle in England.</p> +<p>“Why, these are the Royal Arms of England, you great +ignorant Dick!”</p> +<p>“But Rome isn’t in England, is it?—and the +post-mark is ‘Roma’: that’s Rome in some lingo, +I expect. It is in Latin, anyhow, I know. <i>Mortuus +est Romæ</i>—‘He died at Rome.’ +It’s in the Latin Grammar. Let’s see what the +fellow says, anyhow,” added Ricardo, breaking the seal.</p> +<p>“He begins, ‘Prins and dear Cousin!’ I +say, Jaqueline, he spells it ‘Prins;’ now it is <span +class="smcap">P-r-i-n-c-e</span>. He <i>must</i> be an +ignorant fellow!”</p> +<p><!-- page 85--><a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +85</span>“People in glass houses should not throw stones, +Dick,” said Jaqueline.</p> +<p>“He signs himself ‘Charles, P. W.,’” +said Ricardo, looking at the end. “Who on earth can +he be? Why does he not put ‘P. W. Charles,’ if +these are his initials? Look here, it’s rather a long +letter; you might read it to us, Jack!”</p> +<p>The princess took the epistle and began:</p> +<p>“How nice it smells, all scented! The paper is +gilt-edged, too.”</p> +<p>“Luxurious beggar, whoever he is,” said +Ricardo.</p> +<p>“Well, he says: ‘Prins and dear Cousin,—You +and me’ (oh, what grammar!) ‘are much the same age, I +being fifteen next birthday, and we should be better +<i>ackwainted</i>. All the wurld has herd of the fame of +Prins Ricardo, whose name is <i>feerd</i>, and his <i>sord</i> +dreded, wherever there are Monsters and Tirants. Prins, you +<!-- page 86--><a name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +86</span>may be less well informed about my situation. I +have not killed any Dragguns, there being nun of them here; but I +have been <i>under fiar</i>, at Gaeta.’ Where’s +Gaeta, Dick?”</p> +<p>“Never heard of it,” said Ricardo.</p> +<p>“Well, it is in Italy, and it was besieged lately. +He goes on: ‘and I am told that I did not misbehave myself, +nor disgrace <i>the blud of Bruce</i>.’”</p> +<p>“I’ve heard of Robert Bruce,” said Dick; +“he was the man who did not kill the spider, but he cracked +the head of Sir Harry Bohun with one whack of his axe. I +remember <i>him</i> well enough.”</p> +<p>“Well, your correspondent seems to be a descendant of +his.”</p> +<p>“That’s getting more interesting,” said +Dick. “I wish my father would go to war with +somebody. With the Sword of Sharpness I’d make the +enemy whistle! Drive on, Jack.”</p> +<p><!-- page 87--><a name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +87</span>“‘As a prins in distress, I apeal to your +valler, so renouned in Europe. I am kept out of my own; my +royal father, King Gems,’—well, this is the worst +spelling I ever saw in my life! He means King +<i>James</i>,—‘my royal father, King Gems, being druv +into exile by a crewl Usurper, the Elector of Hannover. +King Gems is <i>old</i>, and likes a quiat life; but I am +determined to make an effort, if I go alone, and Europe shall +here of Prince Charles. Having heard—as who has +not?—of your royal Highness’s courage and +sordsmanship, I throw myself at your feet, and implore you to +asist a prins in distres. Let our sords be drawn together +in the caus of freedom and an outraged country, my own.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">“‘I remain,<br /> +“‘Prins and dear Cuzen,<br /> +“‘<span class="smcap">Charles</span>, P. +W.’</p> +<p>“P. W. means Prince of Wales,” added <!-- page +88--><a name="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +88</span>Jaqueline. “He is turned out of England you +know, and lives at Rome with his father.”</p> +<p>“I like that chap,” said Prince Ricardo. +“He does not spell very well, as you say, but I sometimes +make mistakes myself; and I like his spirit. I’ve +been looking out for an adventure; but the big game is getting +shy, and my sword rusts in his scabbard. I’ll tell +you what, Jack—I’ve an idea! I’ll put him +on the throne of his fathers; it’s as easy as shelling +peas: and as for that other fellow, the Elector, I’ll send +him back to Hanover, wherever that may be, and he can go on +electing, and polling his vote in peace and quietness, at +home. Just wait till I spot the places.”</p> +<p>The prince ran up to the turret, fetched the magic spy-glass, +and looked up London, Rome, and Hanover, as you would in a +map.</p> +<p><!-- page 89--><a name="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +89</span>“Well, Dick, but how do you mean to do +it?”</p> +<p>“Do it?—nothing simpler! I just take my +Seven-league Boots, run over to Rome, pick up Prince Charles, put +him on the magic carpet, fly to London, clap the Cap of Darkness +on him so that nobody can see him, set him down on the throne of +his fathers; pick up the Elector, carry him over to his beloved +Hanover, and the trick is done—what they call a bloodless +revolution in the history books.”</p> +<p>“But if the English don’t like Prince Charles when +they get him?”</p> +<p>“Like him? they’re sure to like him, a young +fellow like that! Besides, I’ll take the sword with +me in case of accidents.”</p> +<p>“But, Dick, it is your father’s rule that you are +never to meddle in the affairs of other countries, and never to +start on an expedition when he is not at home.”</p> +<p><!-- page 90--><a name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +90</span>“Oh, he won’t mind this time! +There’s no kind of danger; and I’m sure he will +approve of the <i>principle</i> of the thing. Kings must +stick up for each other. Why, some electing characters +might come here and kick <i>us</i> out!”</p> +<p>“Your father is not the sort of king who is kicked +out,” said Jaqueline.</p> +<p>But there was no use in talking to Dick. He made his +simple preparations, and announced that he would be back in time +for luncheon.</p> +<p>What was poor Jaqueline to do? She was extremely +anxious. She knew, as we saw, what King Prigio had intended +about changing the fairy things for others that would not +work. She was certain Dick would get himself into a scrape; +how was she to help him? She made up her mind quickly, +while Dick was putting his things together. She <!-- page +91--><a name="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 91</span>told +the queen (it was the nearest to the truth she could think of) +that she “was going for a turn with Dick.” Then +she changed herself into a mosquito—a kind of gnat that +bites—and hid herself under a fold of Dick’s +coat. Of course he knew nothing about her being +there. Then he started off in his Seven-league Boots, and +before you could say “Jack Robinson” he was in Rome, +in the grounds of a splendid palace called the Villa +Borghese.</p> +<p>There he saw an elderly gentleman, in a great curled wig, +sound asleep on a seat beneath a tree. The old gentleman +had a long, pale, melancholy face, and across his breast was a +broad blue ribbon with a star. Ah! how changed was King +James from the handsome Prince who had loved fair Beatrix Esmond, +thirty years ago! Near him were two boys, not quite so old +as Prince Ricardo. The younger was a pretty dark boy, with +a <!-- page 92--><a name="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +92</span>funny little roundabout white wig. He was +splendidly dressed in a light-blue silk coat; a delicate little +lace scarf was tied round his neck; he had lace ruffles falling +about his little ringed hands; he had a pretty sword, with a gold +handle set with diamonds—in fact, he was the picture of a +little dandy. The other lad had a broad Scotch bonnet on, +and no wig; beautiful silky yellow locks fell about his +shoulders. He had laid his sword on the grass. He was +dressed in tartan, which Ricardo had never seen before; and he +wore a kilt, which was also new to Ricardo, who wondered at his +bare legs—for he was wearing shoes with no stockings. +In his hand he held a curious club, with a long, slim handle, and +a head made heavy with lead, and defended with horn. With +this he was aiming at a little white ball; and suddenly he swung +up the club and sent the ball out of sight in the air, over +several trees.</p> +<p><!-- page 93--><a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +93</span>Prince Ricardo stepped up to this boy, took off his cap, +and said:</p> +<p>“I think I have the honour of addressing the Prince of +Wales?”</p> +<p>Prince Charles started at the sight of a gentleman in long +riding-boots, girt with a broadsword, which was not then +generally worn, and carrying a Persian rug under his arm.</p> +<p>“That is what I am called, sir,” he said, +“by those who give me the title which is mine by +right. May I inquire the reason which offers me the +pleasure of this unexpected interview?”</p> +<p>“Oh, I’m Ricardo of Pantouflia!” says +Dick. “I had a letter from you this morning, and I +believe you wanted to see me.”</p> +<p>“From Pantouflia, sir,” said Prince Charles; +“why, that is hundreds of leagues away!”</p> +<p>“It is a good distance,” said Dick; “but a +<!-- page 94--><a name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +94</span>mere step when you wear Seven-league Boots like +mine.”</p> +<p>“My dear prince,” said Charles, throwing himself +into his arms with rapture, and kissing him in the Italian +fashion, which Dick did not half like, “you are, indeed, +worthy of your reputation; and these are the celebrated +Seven-league Boots? Harry,” he cried to his brother, +“come here at once and let me present you to his Royal +Highness, our illustrious ally, Prince Ricardo of +Pantouflia. The Duke of York—Prince Ricardo of +Pantouflia. Gentlemen, know each other!”</p> +<p>The prince bowed in the most stately manner.</p> +<p>“I say,” said Dick, who was seldom at all up to +the standard of royal conversation, “what’s that game +you were playing? It’s new to me. You sent the +ball a tremendous long shot.”</p> +<p>“The game is called golf, and is the favourite <!-- page +95--><a name="page95"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +95</span>pastime of my loyal Scottish subjects,” said +Prince Charles. “For that reason, that I may be able +to share the amusements of my people, whom I soon hope to lead to +a glorious victory, followed by a peaceful and prosperous reign, +I am acquiring a difficult art. I’m practising +walking without stockings, too, to harden my feet,” he +said, in a more familiar tone of voice. “I fancy +there are plenty of long marches before me, and I would not be a +spear’s length behind the hardiest Highlander.”</p> +<p>“By Jove! I respect you,” said Dick, with +the greatest sincerity; “but I don’t think, with me +on your side, you will need to make many marches. It will +all be plain sailing.”</p> +<p>“Pray explain your plan,” said Prince +Charles. “The task of conquering back the throne of +my fathers is not so simple as you seem to suppose.”</p> +<p><!-- page 96--><a name="page96"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +96</span>“I’ve done a good many difficult +things,” said Dick, modestly.</p> +<p>“The conqueror of the magician, Gorgonzola, and the +Giant Who never Knew when he had Enough, need not tell me +that,” said Prince Charles, with a courteous allusion to +two of Ricardo’s most prodigious adventures.</p> +<p>“Oh! I’ve very little to be proud of, +really,” said Dick, blushing; “anyone could do as +much with my fairy things, of which, no doubt, you have +heard. With a Sword of Sharpness and a Cap of Darkness, and +so forth, you have a great pull over almost anything.”</p> +<p>“And you really possess those talismans?” said the +prince.</p> +<p>“Certainly I do. You see how short a time I took +in coming to your call from Pantouflia.”</p> +<p>“And has Holy Church,” asked the Duke of York, +with anxiety, “given her sanction and <!-- page 97--><a +name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 97</span>her blessing +to those instruments of an art, usually, in her wisdom, +forbidden?”</p> +<p>“Oh, never mind Holy Church, Harry!” said Prince +Charles. “This is <i>business</i>. Besides, the +English are Protestants.”</p> +<p>“I pray for their conversion daily,” said the Duke +of York.</p> +<p>“The end justifies the means, you know,” answered +Prince Charles. “All’s fair in love and +war.”</p> +<p>“I should think so,” said Ricardo, +“especially against those brutes of Electors; they give +trouble at home sometimes.”</p> +<p>“You, too, are plagued with an Elector?” asked +Prince Charles.</p> +<p>“<i>An</i> Elector? thousands of them!” answered +Dick, who never could understand anything about politics.</p> +<p>Prince Charles looked puzzled, but requested Dick to explain +his great plan.</p> +<p><!-- page 98--><a name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +98</span>They sat down on the grass, and Ricardo showed them how +he meant to manage it, just as he had told Jaqueline. As he +said, nothing could be simpler.</p> +<p>“Let’s start at once,” he said, and, +inducing Prince Charles to sit down on the magic carpet, he +cried:</p> +<p>“England! St. James’s Palace!”</p> +<p>But nothing happened!</p> +<p>The carpet was not the right magic carpet, but the one which +King Prigio had put in its place.</p> +<p>“Get on! England, I said!” cried Dick.</p> +<p>But there they remained, under the chestnut tree, sitting on +the carpet above the flowery grass.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p99b.jpg"> +<img alt="But there they remained" src="images/p99s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Prince Charles leaped to his feet; his face like fire, his +eyes glowing.</p> +<p>“Enough of this fooling, sir!” he said. +“It is easy, but cowardly, to mock at an unfortunate +prince. Take your carpet and be off with you, <!-- page +101--><a name="page101"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +101</span>out of the gardens, or your shoulders shall taste my +club.”</p> +<p>“There has been some mistake,” Ricardo said; +“the wrong carpet has been brought by accident, or the +carpet has lost its power.”</p> +<p>“In this sacred city, blessed by the presence of his +Holiness the Pope, and the relics of so many martyrs and saints, +magic may well cease to be potent,” said the Duke of +York.</p> +<p>“Nonsense! You are an impostor, sir! Leave +my presence!” cried Prince Charles, lifting his +golf-club.</p> +<p>Dick caught it out of his hand, and broke across his knee as +fine a driver as ever came from Robertson’s shop at St. +Andrew’s.</p> +<p>“The quarrels of princes are not settled with clubs, +sir! Draw and defend yourself!” he said, kicking off +his boots and standing in his socks on the grass.</p> +<p>Think of the horror of poor Jaqueline, who <!-- page 102--><a +name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 102</span>witnessed +this terrible scene of passion from a fold in Prince +Ricardo’s dress! What could the girl do to save the +life of two princes, the hopes of one nation, and of a +respectable minority in another?</p> +<p>In a moment Prince Charles’s rapier was shining in the +sunlight, and he fell on guard in the most elegant attitude, his +left hand gracefully raised and curved.</p> +<p>Dick drew his sword, but, as suddenly, threw it down +again.</p> +<p>“Hang it!” he exclaimed, “I can’t hit +you with <i>this</i>! This is the Sword of Sharpness; it +would cut through your steel and your neck at a touch.”</p> +<p>He paused, and thought.</p> +<p>“Let me beseech your Royal Highness,” he said to +the Duke of York, who was in a terrible taking, “to lend +your blade to a hand not less royal than your own.”</p> +<p><!-- page 103--><a name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +103</span>“Give him it, Hal!” said Prince Charles, +who was standing with the point of his sword on the ground, and +the blade bent. “He seems to believe in his own +nonsense.”</p> +<p>The duke yielded his sword; Dick took it, made a nourish, and +rushed at Prince Charles.</p> +<p>Now Ricardo had always neglected his fencing lessons. +“Where’s the good of it,” he used to ask, +“all that stamping, and posture-making, and ha-haing? +The Sword of Sharpness is enough for <i>me</i>.”</p> +<p>But now he could not, in honour, use the Sword of Sharpness; +so on he came, waving the rapier like a claymore, and made a +slice at Prince Charles’s head.</p> +<p>The prince, very much surprised, parried in prime, riposted, +and touched Dick on the hand.</p> +<p>At this moment the Princess Jaqueline did what she should have +thought of sooner. She flew out of Dick’s coat, and +stung old King <!-- page 104--><a name="page104"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 104</span>James on his royal nose. The +king wakened, nearly crushed the princess (so dangerous is the +practice of magic to the artist), and then leaped up, and saw +Dick’s blade flying through the air, glittering in the +sun. The prince had disarmed him.</p> +<p>“Hullo! what’s all this? <i>À +moi</i>, <i>mes gardes</i>!” cried the old king, in French +and English; and then he ran up, just in time to hear Prince +Charles say:</p> +<p>“Sir, take your life! I cannot strike an unarmed +man. A prince you may be, but you have not learned the +exercises of gentlemen.”</p> +<p>“What is all this, Carluccio?” asked the old +king. “Swords out! brawling in my very presence! +blood drawn!” for Dick’s hand was bleeding a good +deal.</p> +<p>Prince Charles, as briefly as possible, explained the unusual +nature of the circumstances.</p> +<p>“A king must hear both sides,” said King <!-- page +105--><a name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +105</span>James. “What reply have you, sir, to make +to his Royal Highness’s statements?”</p> +<p>“The carpet would not work, sir,” said Dick. +“It never happened before. Had I used my own +sword,” and he explained its properties, “the Prince +of Wales would not be alive to tell his story. I can say no +more, beyond offering my apology for a disappointment which I +could not have foreseen. A gentleman can only say that he +is sorry. But wait!” he added; “I can at least +prove that my confidence in some of my resources is not +misplaced. Bid me bring you +something—anything—from the ends of the earth, and it +shall be in your hands. I can’t say +fairer.”</p> +<p>King James reflected, while Prince Ricardo was pulling on the +Seven-league Boots, which he had kicked off to fight more freely, +and while the Duke of York bandaged Dick’s hand with a +kerchief.</p> +<p><!-- page 106--><a name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +106</span>“Bring me,” said his Majesty, “Lord +Lovat’s snuff-mull.”</p> +<p>“Where does he live?” said Dick.</p> +<p>“At Gortuleg, in Scotland,” answered King +James.</p> +<p>Dick was out of sight before the words were fairly spoken, and +in ten minutes was back, bearing a large ram’s-horn +snuff-box, with a big cairngorm set in the top, and the Frazer +arms.</p> +<p>“Most astonishing!” said King James.</p> +<p>“A miracle!” said the Duke of York.</p> +<p>“You have entirely cleared your character,” said +the king. “Your honour is without a stain, though it +is a pity about the carpet. Your nobility in not using your +magical sword, under the greatest provocation, reconciles me to +this fresh blighting of my hopes. All my allies fail +me,” said the poor king with a sigh; “you alone have +failed with honour. Carluccio, embrace the +prince!”</p> +<p><!-- page 107--><a name="page107"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +107</span>They fell into each other’s arms.</p> +<p>“Prince,” said Dick, “you have taught me a +lesson for which I shall not be ungrateful. With any blade +a gentleman should be able to hold his own in fair fight. I +shall no longer neglect my fencing lessons.”</p> +<p>“With any blade,” said Prince Charles, “I +shall be happy to find Prince Ricardo by my side in a stricken +field. We shall not part till I have induced you to accept +a sword which I can never hope to draw against another adversary +so noble. In war, my weapon is the claymore.”</p> +<p>Here the prince offered to Ricardo the ruby-studded hilt of +his rapier, which had a beautiful white shark-skin sheath.</p> +<p>“You must accept it, sir,” said King James; +“the hilt holds the rubies of John Sobieski.”</p> +<p>“Thank you, prince,” said Ricardo, “for the +weapon, which I shall learn to wield; and <!-- page 108--><a +name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 108</span>I entreat +you to honour me by receiving this fairy gift—which +<i>you</i> do not need—a ring which makes all men faithful +to the wearer.”</p> +<p>The Prince of Wales bowed, and placed the talisman on his +finger.</p> +<p>Ricardo then, after a few words of courtesy on both parts, +picked up his useless carpet, took his farewell of the royal +party, and, with Jaqueline still hidden under his collar, +returned at full speed, but with a heavy heart, to Pantouflia, +where the palace gong was just sounding for luncheon.</p> +<p>Ricardo never interfered in foreign affairs again, but his +ring proved very useful to Prince Charles, as you may have read +in history.</p> +<h2><!-- page 109--><a name="page109"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 109</span>CHAPTER VI.<br /> +Ricardo’s Repentance.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p109b.jpg"> +<img alt="Bottle of weapon salve" src="images/p109s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>The queen, as it happened fortunately, was lunching with one +of the ladies of her Court. Ricardo did not come down to +luncheon, and Jaqueline ate hers alone; and very mournful she +felt. The prince had certainly not come well out of the +adventure. He had failed (as all attempts to restore the +Stuarts <!-- page 110--><a name="page110"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 110</span>always did); he had been wounded, +though he had never received a scratch in any of his earlier +exploits; and if his honour was safe, and his good intentions +fully understood, that was chiefly due to Jaqueline, and to the +generosity of King James and Prince Charles.</p> +<p>“I wonder what he’s doing?” she said to +herself, and at last she went up and knocked at Ricardo’s +door.</p> +<p>“Go away,” he said; “I don’t want to +see anybody. Who is it?”</p> +<p>“It’s only me—Jaqueline.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p111b.jpg"> +<img alt="“It’s only me”" +src="images/p111s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“Go away! I want nobody.”</p> +<p>“Do let me in, dear Dick; I have good news for +you,” said the princess.</p> +<p>“What is it?” said Ricardo, unlocking the +door. “Why do you bother a fellow so?”</p> +<p>He had been crying—his hand obviously hurt him badly; he +looked, and indeed he was, very sulky.</p> +<p><!-- page 113--><a name="page113"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +113</span>“How did you get on in England, Dick?” +asked the princess, taking no notice of his bandaged hand.</p> +<p>“Oh, don’t ask me!” said Ricardo. +“I’ve not been to England at all.”</p> +<p>“Why, what happened?”</p> +<p>“Everything that is horrid happened,” said Dick; +and then, unable to keep it any longer to himself, he said: +“I’ve failed to keep my promise; I’ve been +insulted, I’ve been beaten by a fellow younger than myself; +and, oh! how my hand does hurt, and I’ve got such a +headache! And what am I to say to my mother when she asks +why my arm is in a sling? and what will my father say? +I’m quite broken down and desperate. I think +I’ll run away to sea;” and indeed he looked very wild +and miserable.</p> +<p>“Tell me how it all happened, Dick,” said the +princess; “I’m sure it’s not so <!-- page +114--><a name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +114</span>bad as you make out. Perhaps I can help +you.”</p> +<p>“How can a girl help a man?” cried Dick, angrily; +and poor Jaqueline, remembering how she <i>had</i> helped him, at +the risk of her own life, when King James nearly crushed her in +the shape of a mosquito, turned her head away, and cried +silently.</p> +<p>“I’m a beast,” said Dick. “I beg +your pardon, Jack dear. You are always a trump, I will say; +but I don’t see what you can do.”</p> +<p>Then he told her all the story (which, of course, she knew +perfectly well already), except the part played by the mosquito, +of which he could not be aware.</p> +<p>“I was sure it was not so bad as you made it out, +Dick,” she said. “You see, the old king, who is +not very wise, but is a perfectly honourable gentleman, gave you +the highest praise.” She thought of lecturing him a +little about <!-- page 115--><a name="page115"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 115</span>disobeying his father, but it did +not seem a good opportunity. Besides, Jaqueline had been +lectured herself lately, and had not enjoyed it.</p> +<p>“What am I to say to my mother?” Dick +repeated.</p> +<p>“We must think of something to say,” said +Jaqueline.</p> +<p>“I can’t tell my mother anything but the +truth,” Ricardo went on. “Here’s my hand, +how it does sting! and she must find out.”</p> +<p>“I think I can cure it,” said Jaqueline. +“Didn’t you say Prince Charles gave you his own +sword?”</p> +<p>“Yes, there it is; but what has that to do with +it?”</p> +<p>“Everything in the world to do with it, my dear +Dick. How lucky it is that he gave it to you!”</p> +<p>And she ran to her own room, and brought <!-- page 116--><a +name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 116</span>a beautiful +golden casket, which contained her medicines.</p> +<p>Taking out a small phial, marked (in letters of emerald):</p> +<p style="text-align: center">“<span class="smcap">Weapon +Salve</span>,”</p> +<p>the princess drew the bright sword, extracted a little of the +ointment from the phial, and spread it on a soft silk +handkerchief.</p> +<p>“What are you going to do with the sword?” asked +Ricardo.</p> +<p>“Polish it a little,” said Jaqueline, smiling, and +she began gently to rub, with the salve, the point of the +rapier.</p> +<p>As she did so, Ricardo’s arm ceased to hurt, and the +look of pain passed from his mouth.</p> +<p>“Why, I feel quite better!” he said. +“I can use my hand as well as ever.”</p> +<p>Then he took off the stained handkerchief, and, lo, there was +not even a mark where the wound had been! For this was the +famous <!-- page 117--><a name="page117"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 117</span>Weapon Salve which you may read +about in Sir Kenelm Digby, and which the Lady of Branxholme used, +in <i>The Lay of the Last Minstrel</i>. But the secret of +making it has long been lost, except in Pantouflia.</p> +<p>“You are the best girl in the world, Jaqueline,” +said Ricardo. “You may give me a kiss if you like; +and I won’t call you ‘Jack,’ or laugh at you +for reading books, any more. There’s something in +books after all.”</p> +<p>The princess did not take advantage of Dick’s +permission, but advised him to lie down and try to sleep.</p> +<p>“I say, though,” he said, “what about my +father?”</p> +<p>“The king need never be told anything about it,” +said Jaqueline, “need he?”</p> +<p>“Oh, that won’t do! I tell my father +everything; but then, I never had anything like this to tell him +before. Don’t you think, Jaqueline, <!-- page +118--><a name="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +118</span>you might break it to him? He’s very fond +of you. Just tell him what I told you; it’s every +word of it true, and he ought to know. He might see +something about it in the <i>Mercure de France</i>.”</p> +<p>This was the newspaper of the period.</p> +<p>“I don’t think it will get into the papers,” +said Jaqueline, smiling. “Nobody could tell, except +the king and the princes, and they have reasons for keeping it to +themselves.”</p> +<p>“I don’t trust that younger one,” said Dick, +moodily; “I don’t care for that young man. +Anyway, my father <i>must</i> be told; and, if you won’t, I +must.”</p> +<p>“Well, I’ll tell him,” said Jaqueline. +“And now lie down till evening.”</p> +<p>After dinner, in the conservatory, Jaqueline told King Prigio +all about it.</p> +<p>His Majesty was very much moved.</p> +<p>“What extraordinary bad luck that family <!-- page +119--><a name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +119</span>has!” he thought. “If I had not +changed the rug, the merest accident, Prince Charles would have +dined at St. James’s to-night, and King George in +Hanover. It was the very nearest thing!”</p> +<p>“This meddling with practical affairs will never +do,” he said aloud.</p> +<p>“Dick has had a lesson, sire,” said the +princess. “He says he’ll never mix himself up +with politics again, whatever happens. And he says he means +to study all about them, for he feels frightfully ignorant, and, +above all, he means to practise his fencing.”</p> +<p>These remarks were not part of the conversation between +Ricardo and Jaqueline, but she considered that Dick <i>meant</i> +all this, and, really, he did.</p> +<p>“That is well, as far as it goes,” said the +king. “But, Jaqueline, about that mosquito?” +for she had told him this part of the adventure. <!-- page +120--><a name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +120</span>“That was a very convenient mosquito, though I +don’t know how Dick was able to observe it from any +distance. I see <i>your</i> hand in that, my dear, and I am +glad you can make such kind and wise use of the lessons of the +good Fairy Paribanou. Jaqueline,” he added solemnly, +laying his hand on her head, “You have saved the honour of +Pantouflia, which is dearer to me than life. Without your +help, I tremble to think what might have occurred.”</p> +<p>The princess blushed very much, and felt very happy.</p> +<p>“Now run away to the queen, my dear,” said his +Majesty, “I want to think things over.”</p> +<p>He did think them over, and the more he thought the more he +felt the inconvenience attending the possession of fairy +things.</p> +<p>“An eclipse one day, as nearly as possible a revolution +soon after!” he said to himself. “But for +Jaqueline, Ricardo’s conduct would have <!-- page 121--><a +name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 121</span>been blazed +abroad, England would have been irritated. It is true she +cannot get at Pantouflia very easily; we have no sea-coast, and +we are surrounded by friendly countries. But it would have +been a ticklish and discreditable position. I must really +speak to Dick,” which he did next morning after +breakfast.</p> +<p>“You have broken my rules, Ricardo,” he +said. “True, there is no great harm done, and you +have confessed frankly; but how am I to trust you any +longer?”</p> +<p>“I’ll give you my sacred word of honour, father, +that I’ll never meddle with politics again, or start on an +expedition, without telling you. I have had enough of +it. And I’ll turn over a new leaf. I’ve +learned to be ashamed of my ignorance; and I’ve sent for +Francalanza, and I’ll fence every day, and read like +anything.”</p> +<p>“Very good,” said the king. “I believe +you <!-- page 122--><a name="page122"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 122</span>mean what you say. Now go to +your fencing lesson.”</p> +<p>“But, I say, father,” cried Ricardo, “was it +not strange about the magic carpet?”</p> +<p>“I told you not to trust to these things,” said +the king. “Some enchanter may have deprived it of its +power, it may be worn out, someone may have substituted a common +Persian rug; anything may happen. You <i>must</i> learn to +depend on yourself. Now, be off with you, I’m +busy. And remember, you don’t stir without my +permission.”</p> +<p>The prince ran off, and presently the sounds of stamping feet +and “<i>un</i>, <i>deux</i>; <i>doublez</i>, +<i>dégagez</i>, <i>vite</i>; <i>contre de +carte</i>,” and so forth, might be heard over a great part +of the royal establishment.</p> +<h2><!-- page 123--><a name="page123"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 123</span>CHAPTER VII.<br /> +Prince Ricardo and an Old Enemy.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p123b.jpg"> +<img alt="The Yellow Dwarf" src="images/p123s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“There is one brute I wish I could get upsides +with,” said Ricardo, at breakfast one morning, his mouth +full of sardine.</p> +<p>“Really, Ricardo, your language is most +unprincely,” said his august father; “I am always +noticing it. You mean, I suppose, that <!-- page 124--><a +name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 124</span>there is +one enemy of the human race whom you wish to abolish. What +is the name of the doomed foe?”</p> +<p>“Well, he is the greatest villain in history,” +said Ricardo. “You must have read about him, sir, the +Yellow Dwarf.”</p> +<p>“Yes, I have certainly studied what is told us about +him,” said the king. “He is no favourite of +mine.”</p> +<p>“He is the only one, if you notice, sir, of all the +scoundrels about whom our ancestors inform us, who escaped the +doom which he richly merited at the sword of a good +knight.”</p> +<p>You may here remark that, since Dick took to his studies, he +could speak, when he chose, like a printed book, which was by no +means the case before.</p> +<p>“If you remember, sir, he polished off—I mean, he +slew—the King of the Golden Mines and the beautiful, though +frivolous, Princess <!-- page 125--><a name="page125"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 125</span>Frutilla. All that the +friendly Mermaid could do for them was to turn them into a pair +of beautiful trees which intertwine their branches. Not +much use in <i>that</i>, sir! And nothing was done to the +scoundrel. He may be going on still; and, with your leave, +I’ll go and try a sword-thrust with him. Francalanza +says I’m improving uncommon.”</p> +<p>“You’ll take the usual Sword of Sharpness,” +said his Majesty.</p> +<p>“What, sir, to a dwarf? Not I, indeed: a common +small sword is good enough to settle <i>him</i>.”</p> +<p>“They say he is very cunning of fence,” said the +king; “and besides, I have heard something of a diamond +sword that he stole from the King of the Golden Mines.”</p> +<p>“Very likely he has lost it or sold it, the shabby +little miscreant; however, I’ll risk it. And now I +must make my preparations.”</p> +<p><!-- page 126--><a name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +126</span>The king did not ask what they were; as a rule, they +were simple. But, being in the shop of the optician that +day, standing with his back to the door, he heard Dick come in +and order a pair of rose-coloured spectacles, with which he was +at once provided. The people of Pantouflia were accustomed +to wear them, saying that they improved the complexions of ladies +whom they met, and added cheerfulness to things in general.</p> +<p>“Just plain rose-coloured glass, Herr Spex,” said +Dick, “I’m not short-sighted.”</p> +<p>“The boy is beginning to show some sense,” said +the king to himself, knowing the nature and the difficulties of +the expedition.</p> +<p>Ricardo did not disguise his intention of taking with him a +Dandie Dinmont terrier, named Pepper, and the king, who +understood the motive of this precaution, silently approved.</p> +<p>“The lad has come to some purpose and <!-- page 127--><a +name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +127</span>forethought,” the king said, and he gladly +advanced a considerable sum for the purchase of crocodiles’ +eggs, which can rarely be got quite fresh. When Jaqueline +had made the crocodiles’ eggs, with millet-seed and +sugar-candy, into a cake for the Dwarf’s lions, Ricardo +announced that his preparations were complete.</p> +<p>Not to be the mere slave of custom, he made this expedition on +horseback, and the only magical thing he took with him was the +Cap of Darkness (the one which would not work, but he did not +know that), and this he put in his pocket for future use. +With plenty of egg sandwiches and marmalade sandwiches, and cold +minced-collop sandwiches, he <i>pricked forth</i> into the +wilderness, making for the country inhabited by the Yellow +Dwarf. The princess was glad he was riding, for she +privately accompanied him in the disguise of <!-- page 128--><a +name="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 128</span>a wasp; and +a wasp, of course, could not have kept up with him in his +Seven-league Boots.</p> +<p>“Hang that wops!” said Prince Ricardo several +times, buffeting it with his pocket-handkerchief when it buzzed +in his ear and round his horse’s head.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p129b.jpg"> +<img alt="“Hang that wops!” said Prince Ricardo" +src="images/p129s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Meanwhile, King Prigio had taken his precautions, which were +perfectly simple. When he thought Ricardo was getting near +the place, the king put on his Wishing Cap, sat down before the +magic crystal ball, and kept his eye on the proceedings, being +ready to wish the right thing to help Ricardo at the right +moment. He left the window wide open, smoked his cigar, and +seemed the pattern of a good and wise father watching the conduct +of a promising son.</p> +<p>The prince rode and rode, sometimes taking up Pepper on his +saddle; passing through forests, sleeping at lonely inns, fording +rivers, till one day he saw that the air was becoming <!-- page +131--><a name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +131</span>Yellow. He knew that this showed the +neighbourhood of Jaunia, or Daunia, the country of the Yellow +Dwarf. He therefore drew bridle, placed his rose-coloured +spectacles on his nose and put spurs to his horse, for the yellow +light of Jaunia makes people melancholy and cowardly. As he +pricked on, his horse stumbled and nearly came on its nose. +The prince noticed that a steel chain had been drawn across the +road.</p> +<p>“What caitiff has dared!” he exclaimed, when his +hat was knocked off by a well-aimed orange from a neighbouring +orange-tree, and a vulgar voice squeaked:</p> +<p>“Hi, Blinkers!”</p> +<p>There was the Yellow Dwarf, an odious little figure, sitting +sucking an orange in the tree, swinging his wooden shoes, and +grinning all over his wrinkled face.</p> +<p>“Well, young Blinkers!” said the Dwarf, <!-- page +132--><a name="page132"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +132</span>“what are you doing on my grounds? +You’re a prince, by your look. Yah! down with +kings! I’m a man of the people!”</p> +<p>“You’re a dwarf of the worst description, +that’s what <i>you</i> are,” said Ricardo; “and +let me catch you, and I’ll flog the life out of you with my +riding-whip!”</p> +<p>The very face of the Dwarf, even seen through rose-coloured +spectacles, made him nearly ill.</p> +<p>“Yes, when you can catch me,” said the Dwarf; +“but that’s not to-day, nor yet to-morrow. What +are you doing here? Are you an ambassador, maybe come to +propose a match for me? I’m not proud, I’ll +hear you. They say there’s a rather well-looking +wench in your parts, the Princess Jaqueline—”</p> +<p>“Mention that lady’s name, you villain,” +cried Dick, “and I’ll cut down your +orange-tree!” and he wished he had brought the Sword of +<!-- page 133--><a name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +133</span>Sharpness, for you cannot prod down a tree with the +point of a rapier.</p> +<p>“Fancy her yourself?” said the Dwarf, showing his +yellow teeth with a detestable grin; while Ricardo turned quite +white with anger, and not knowing how to deal with this +insufferable little monster.</p> +<p>“I’m a widower, I am,” said the Dwarf, +“though I’m out of mourning,” for he wore a +dirty clay-coloured Yellow jacket. “My illustrious +consort, the Princess Frutilla, did not behave very nice, and I +had to avenge my honour; in fact, I’m open to any offers, +however humble. Going at an alarming sacrifice! Come +to my box” (and he pointed to a filthy clay cottage, all +surrounded by thistles, nettles, and black boggy water), +“and I’ll talk over your proposals.”</p> +<p>“Hold your impudent tongue!” said Dick. +“The Princess Frutilla was an <!-- page 134--><a +name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 134</span>injured +saint; and as for the lady whom I shall not name in your +polluting presence, I am her knight, and I defy you to deadly +combat!”</p> +<p>We may imagine how glad the princess was when (disguised as a +wasp) she heard Dick say he was her knight; not that, in fact, he +had thought of it before.</p> +<p>“Oh! you’re for a fight, are you?” sneered +the Dwarf. “I might tell you to hit one of your own +weight, but I’m not afraid of six of you. Yah! +mammy’s brat! Look here, young Blinkers, I +don’t want to hurt you. Just turn old Dobbin’s +head, and trot back to your mammy, Queen Rosalind, at +Pantouflia. Does she know you’re out?”</p> +<p>“I’ll be into <i>you</i>, pretty quick,” +said Ricardo. “But why do I bandy words with a +miserable peasant?”</p> +<p>“And don’t get much the best of them <!-- page +135--><a name="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +135</span>either,” said the Dwarf, provokingly. +“But I’ll fight, if you will have it.”</p> +<p>The prince leaped from his horse, leaving Pepper on the +saddle-bow.</p> +<p>No sooner had he touched the ground than the Dwarf +shouted:</p> +<p>“Hi! to him, Billy! to him, Daniel! at him, good lions, +at him!” and, with an awful roar, two lions rushed from a +neighbouring potato-patch and made for Ricardo. These were +not ordinary lions, history avers, each having two heads, each +being eight feet high, with four rows of teeth; their skins as +hard as nails, and bright red, like morocco. <a +name="citation135"></a><a href="#footnote135" +class="citation">[135]</a></p> +<p>The prince did not lose his presence of mind; hastily he threw +the cake of crocodiles’ eggs, millet-seed, and sugar-candy +to the lions. This is a dainty which lions can never +resist, and running greedily at it, with four tremendous <!-- +page 136--><a name="page136"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +136</span>snaps, they got hold of each other by their jaws, and +their eight rows of teeth were locked fast in a grim and deadly +<i>struggle for existence</i>!</p> +<p>The Dwarf took in the affair at a glance.</p> +<p>“Cursed be he who taught you this!” he cried, and +then whistled in a shrill and vulgar manner on his very dirty +fingers. At his call rushed up an enormous Spanish cat, +ready saddled and bridled, and darting fire from its eyes. +To leap on its back, while Ricardo sprang on his own steed, was +to the active Dwarf the work of a moment. Then clapping +spurs to its sides (his spurs grew naturally on his bare heels, +horrible to relate, like a cock’s spurs) and taking his cat +by the head, the Dwarf forced it to leap on to Ricardo’s +saddle. The diamond sword which slew the king of the Golden +Mines—that invincible sword which hews iron like a +reed—was up and flashing in the air!</p> +<p><!-- page 137--><a name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +137</span>At this very moment King Prigio, seeing, in the magic +globe, all that passed, and despairing of Ricardo’s life, +was just about to wish the dwarf at Jericho, when through the +open window, with a tremendous whirr, came a huge vulture, and +knocked the king’s wishing cap off! Wishing was now +of no use.</p> +<p>This odious fowl was the Fairy of the Desert, the +Dwarf’s trusted ally in every sort of mischief. The +vulture flew instantly out of the window; and ah! with what awful +anxiety the king again turned his eyes on the crystal ball only a +parent’s heart can know. Should he see Ricardo +bleeding at the feet of the abominable dwarf? The king +scarcely dared to look; never before had he known the nature of +fear. However, look he did, and saw the dwarf un-catted, +and Pepper, the gallant Dandie Dinmont, with his teeth in the +throat of the monstrous Spanish cat.</p> +<p><!-- page 138--><a name="page138"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +138</span>No sooner had he seen the cat leap on his +master’s saddle-bow than Pepper, true to the instinct of +his race, sprang at its neck, just behind the head—the +usual place,—and, with an awful and despairing mew, the cat +(Peter was its name) gave up its life.</p> +<p>The dwarf was on his feet in a moment, waving the diamond +sword, which lighted up the whole scene, and yelling +taunts. Pepper was flying at his heels, and, with great +agility, was keeping out of the way of the invincible blade.</p> +<p>“Ah!” screamed the Dwarf as Pepper got him by the +ankle. “Call off your dog, you coward, and come down +off your horse, and fight fair!”</p> +<p>At this moment, <i>bleeding yellow blood</i>, dusty, mad with +pain, the dwarf was a sight to strike terror into the +boldest.</p> +<p>Dick sprang from his saddle, but so terrific was the +appearance of his adversary, and so <!-- page 139--><a +name="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 139</span>dazzling +was the sheen of the diamond sword, that he put his hand in his +pocket, drew out, as he supposed, the sham Cap of Darkness, and +placed it on his head.</p> +<p>“Yah! who’s your hatter?” screamed the +infuriated dwarf. “<i>I</i> see you!” and he +disengaged, feinted in carte, and made a lunge in seconde at Dick +which no mortal blade could have parried. The prince +(thanks to his excellent training) just succeeded in stepping +aside, but the dwarf recovered with astonishing quickness.</p> +<p>“Coward, <i>lâche</i>, poltroon, runaway!” +he hissed through his clenched teeth, and was about to make a +thrust in tierce which must infallibly have been fatal, when the +Princess Jaqueline, in her shape as a wasp, stung him fiercely on +the wrist.</p> +<p>With an oath so awful that we dare not set it down, the dwarf +dropped the diamond sword, <!-- page 140--><a +name="page140"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 140</span>sucked his +injured limb, and began hopping about with pain.</p> +<p>In a moment Prince Ricardo’s foot was on the blade of +the diamond sword, which he passed thrice through the body of the +Yellow Dwarf. Squirming fearfully, the little monster +expired, his last look a defiance, his latest word an insult:</p> +<p>“Yah! Gig-lamps!”</p> +<p>Prince Ricardo wiped the diamond blade clean from its yellow +stains.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p141b.jpg"> +<img alt="The fight with the Yellow Dwarf" src="images/p141s.jpg" +/> +</a></p> +<p>“Princess Frutilla is avenged!” he cried. +Then pensively looking at his fallen foe, “Peace to his +ashes,” he said; “he died in harness!”</p> +<p>Turning at the word, he observed that the two lions were stiff +and dead, locked in each other’s gory jaws!</p> +<p>At that moment King Prigio, looking in the crystal ball, gave +a great sigh of relief.</p> +<p>“All’s well that ends well,” he said, +lighting <!-- page 143--><a name="page143"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 143</span>a fresh cigar, for he had allowed +the other to go out in his excitement, “but it was a +fight! I am not satisfied,” his Majesty went on +reflecting, “with this plan of changing the magical +articles. The first time was of no great importance, and I +could not know that the boy would start on an expedition without +giving me warning. But, in to-day’s affair he owes +his safety entirely to himself and Pepper,” for he had not +seen the wasp. “The Fairy of the Desert quite baffled +me: it was terrible. I shall restore the right fairy things +to-night. As to the Fairy of the Desert,” he said, +forgetting that his Wishing Cap was on, “I wish she were +dead!”</p> +<p>A hollow groan and the sound of a heavy body falling +interrupted the king. He looked all about the room, but saw +nothing. He was alone!</p> +<p>“She must have been in the room, invisible,” <!-- +page 144--><a name="page144"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +144</span>said the king; and, of course, she has died in that +condition. “But I must find her body!”</p> +<p>The king groped about everywhere, like a blind man, and at +last discovered the dead body of the wicked fairy lying on the +sofa. He could not see it, of course, but he felt it with +his hands.</p> +<p>“This is very awkward,” he remarked. +“I cannot ring for the servants and make them take her +away. There is only one plan.”</p> +<p>So he wished she were in her family pyramid, in the Egyptian +desert, and in a second the sofa was unoccupied.</p> +<p>“A very dangerous and revengeful enemy is now removed +from Ricardo’s path in life,” said his Majesty, and +went to dress for dinner.</p> +<p>Meanwhile Ricardo was riding gaily home. The yellow +light of Jaunia had vanished, and pure blue sky broke overhead as +soon as the dauntless Dwarf had drawn his latest breath. +<!-- page 145--><a name="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +145</span>The poor, trembling people of the country came out of +their huts and accompanied Dick, cheering, and throwing roses +which had been yellow roses, but blushed red as soon as the Dwarf +expired. They attended him to the frontiers of Pantouflia, +singing his praises, which Ricardo had the new and inestimable +pleasure of knowing to be deserved.</p> +<p>“It was sharp work,” he said to himself, +“but much more exciting and glorious than the usual +business.”</p> +<p>On his return Dick did not fail to mention the wasp, and again +the king felt how great was his debt to Jaqueline. But they +did not think it well to trouble the good queen with the dangers +Dick had encountered.</p> +<h2><!-- page 146--><a name="page146"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 146</span>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> +The Giant who does not know when he has had Enough. <a +name="citation146"></a><a href="#footnote146" +class="citation">[146]</a></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p146b.jpg"> +<img alt="The enormous letter" src="images/p146s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>One morning the post brought a truly enormous letter for +Dick. It was as broad as a table-cloth, and the address was +written in letters as long as a hoop-stick. “I seem +to know that hand,” said Ricardo; “but I thought the +fingers which held the pen had long been cold in +death.”</p> +<p>He opened, with his sword, the enormous <!-- page 147--><a +name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 147</span>letter, +which was couched in the following terms:</p> +<blockquote><p>“The Giant as does not know when he has had +<i>enuf</i>, presents his compliments to Prince Ricardo; and I, +having recovered from the effects of our little recent +<i>rally</i>, will be happy to meet you in the old place for a +return-match. I not being handy with the pen, the Giant +hopes you will excuse mistakes and bad writing.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Dick simply gazed with amazement.</p> +<p>“If ever I thought an enemy was killed and done for, it +was that Giant,” said he. “Why, I made mere +mince-collops of him!”</p> +<p>However, he could not refuse a challenge, not to speak of his +duty to rid the world of so greedy and odious a tyrant. +Dick, therefore, took the usual things (which the king had +secretly restored), but first he tried them—putting on the +Cap of Darkness before the glass, in which he could not see +himself. On second thoughts, <!-- page 148--><a +name="page148"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 148</span>he +considered it unfair to take the cap. All the other +articles were in working order. Jaqueline on this occasion +followed him in the disguise of a crow, flying overhead.</p> +<p>On reaching the cavern—a huge tunnel in the +rock—where the Giant lived, Ricardo blew a blast on the +horn which hung outside, and in obedience to a written notice, +knocked also with a mace provided by the Giant for that +purpose. Presently he heard heavy footsteps sounding along +the cavern, and the Giant came out. He was above the common +height for giants, and his whole face and body were seamed over +with little red lines, crossing each other like tartan. +These were marks of encounters, in which he had been cut to bits +and come together again; for this was his peculiarity, which made +him so dangerous. If you cut off his head, he went on just +as before, only without it; and so about everything else. +By dint of <!-- page 149--><a name="page149"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 149</span>magic, he could put his head on +again, just as if it had been his hat, if you gave him time +enough. On the last occasion of their meeting, Ricardo had +left him in a painfully scattered condition, and thought he was +done for. But now, except that a bird had flown away with +the little finger of his left hand and one of his ears, the Giant +was as comfortable as anyone could be in his situation.</p> +<p>“Mornin’ sir,” he said to Dick, touching his +forehead with his hand. “Glad to see you looking so +well. No bad feeling, I hope, on either side?”</p> +<p>“None on mine, certainly,” said Ricardo, holding +out his hand, which the Giant took and shook; “but Duty is +Duty, and giants must go. The modern world has no room for +them.”</p> +<p>“That’s hearty,” said the Giant; “I +like a fellow of your kind. Now, shall we toss for +corners?”</p> +<p><!-- page 150--><a name="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +150</span>“All right!” said Dick, calling +“Heads” and winning. He took the corner with +the sun on his back and in the Giant’s face. To it +they went, the Giant aiming a blow with his club that would have +felled an elephant.</p> +<p>Dick dodged, and cut off the Giant’s feet at the +ankles.</p> +<p>“First blood for the prince!” said the Giant, +coming up smiling. “Half-minute time!”</p> +<p>He occupied the half-minute in placing the feet neatly beside +each other, as if they had been a pair of boots.</p> +<p><i>Round II.</i>—The Giant sparring for wind, Ricardo +cuts him in two at the waist.</p> +<p>The Giant folded his legs up neatly, like a pair of trousers, +and laid them down on a rock. He had now some difficulty in +getting rapidly over the ground, and stood mainly on the +defensive, and on his waist.</p> +<p><i>Round III.</i>—Dick bisects the Giant. Both +<!-- page 151--><a name="page151"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +151</span>sides now attack him on either hand, and the feet kick +him severely.</p> +<p>“No kicking!” said Dick.</p> +<p>“Nonsense; all fair in war!” said the Giant.</p> +<p>But do not let us pursue this sanguinary encounter in all its +<i>horrible details</i>.</p> +<p>Let us also remember—otherwise the scene would be too +painful for an elegant mind to contemplate with +entertainment—that the Giant was in excellent training, and +thought no more of a few wounds than you do of a crack on the leg +from a cricket-ball. He well deserved the title given him +by the Fancy, of “The Giant who does not Know when he has +had Enough.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>The contest was over; Dick was resting on a rock. The +lists were strewn with interesting but imperfect fragments of the +Giant, when a set of double teeth of enormous size flew up <!-- +page 152--><a name="page152"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +152</span>out of the ground and caught Ricardo by the +throat! In vain he strove to separate the teeth, when the +crow, stooping from the heavens, became the Princess Jaqueline, +and changed Dick into a wren—a tiny bird, so small that he +easily flew out of the jaws of the Giant and winged his way to a +tree, whence he watched the scene.</p> +<p>But the poor Princess Jaqueline!</p> +<p>To perform the feat of changing Dick into a bird she had, of +course, according to all the laws of magic, to resume her own +natural form!</p> +<p>There she stood, a beautiful, trembling maiden, her hands +crossed on her bosom, entirely at the mercy of the Giant!</p> +<p>No sooner had Dick escaped than the monster began to +<i>collect himself</i>; and before Jaqueline could muster +strength to run away or summon to her aid the lessons of the +Fairy Paribanou, <!-- page 155--><a name="page155"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 155</span>the Giant who never Knew when he had +Enough was himself again. A boy might have climbed up a +tree (for giants are no tree-climbers, any more than the grizzly +bear), but Jaqueline could not climb. She merely stood, +pale and trembling. She had saved Dick, but at an enormous +sacrifice, for the sword and the Seven-league Boots were lying on +the trampled grass. He had not brought the Cap of Darkness, +and, in the shape of a wren, of course he could not carry away +the other articles. Dick was rescued, that was all, and the +Princess Jaqueline had sacrificed herself to her love for +him.</p> +<p>The Giant picked himself up and pulled himself together, as we +said, and then approached Jaqueline in a very civil way, for a +person of his breeding, head in hand.</p> +<p>“Let me introduce myself,” he said, and mentioned +his name and titles. “May I ask <!-- page 156--><a +name="page156"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 156</span>what +<i>you</i> are doing here, and how you came?”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p154b.jpg"> +<img alt="“Let me introduce myself,” he said" +src="images/p154s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Poor Jaqueline threw herself at his feet, and murmured a short +and not very intelligible account of herself.</p> +<p>“I don’t understand,” said the Giant, +replacing his head on his shoulders. “What to do with +you, I’m sure I don’t know. ‘<i>Please +don’t eat me</i>,’ did you say? Why, what do +you take me for? I’m not in that line at all; low, +<i>I</i> call it!”</p> +<p>Jaqueline was somewhat comforted at these words, dropped out +of the Giant’s lips from a considerable height.</p> +<p>“But they call you ‘The Giant who does not Know +when he has had Enough,’” said Jaqueline.</p> +<p>“And proud of the title: not enough of fighting. +Of <i>punishment</i> I am a glutton, or so my friends are pleased +to say. A brace of oxen, a drove of sheep or two, are +enough for me,” <!-- page 157--><a name="page157"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 157</span>the Giant went on complacently, but +forgetting to mention that the sheep and the oxen were the +property of other people. “Where am I to put you till +your friends come and pay your ransom?” the Giant asked +again, and stared at Jaqueline in a perplexed way. “I +can’t take you home with me, that is out of the +question. I have a little woman of my own, and she’s +not very fond of other ladies; especially, she would like to +poison them that have good looks.”</p> +<p>Now Jaqueline saw that the Giant, big as he was, courageous +too, was afraid of his wife!</p> +<p>“I’ll tell you what I’ll do; I’ll hand +you over to a neighbour of mine, who is a bachelor.”</p> +<p>“A bachelor giant; would that be quite proper?” +said Jaqueline, trying to humour him.</p> +<p>“He’s not a giant, bless you; he’s a queer +fellow, it is not easy to say what he is. He’s <!-- +page 158--><a name="page158"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +158</span>the Earthquaker, him as shakes the earth now and then, +and brings the houses about people’s ears.”</p> +<p>Jaqueline fairly screamed at hearing this awful news.</p> +<p>“Hush! be quiet, do!” said the Giant. +“You’ll bring out my little woman, and she is not +easy to satisfy with explanations when she finds me conversing +with a lady unbeknown to her. The Earthquaker won’t +do you any harm; it’s only for safe keeping I’ll put +you with him. Why, he don’t waken, not once in fifty +years. He’s quite the dormouse. Turns on his +bed now and then, and things upstairs get upset, more or less; +but, as a rule, a child could play with him. Come +on!”</p> +<p>Then, taking Jaqueline up on one hand, on which she sat as if +on a chair, he crossed a few ranges of mountains in as many +strides. In front was one tall blue hill, with a flattened +<!-- page 159--><a name="page159"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +159</span>peak, and as they drew near the princess felt a curious +kind of wind coming round her and round her. You have heard +of whirlpools in water; well, this was just like a whirlpool of +air. Even the Giant himself could hardly keep his legs +against it; then he tossed Jaqueline up, and the airy whirlpool +seized her and carried her, as if on a tide of water, always +round and round in narrowing circles, till she was sucked down +into the hollow hill. Even as she went, she seemed to +remember the hill, as if she had dreamed about it, and the shape +and colour of the country. But presently she sank softly on +to a couch, in a beautifully-lighted rocky hall. All around +her the floor was of white and red marble, but on one side it +seemed to end in black nothing.</p> +<p>Jaqueline, after a few moments, recovered her senses fully, +and changing herself into an eagle, tried to fly up and +out. But as soon as <!-- page 160--><a +name="page160"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 160</span>she was in +the funnel, the whirlpool of air always sucking down and down, +was too strong for her wings. She was a prisoner in this +great gleaming hall, ending in black nothingness. So she +resumed her usual form, and walking to the edge of the darkness, +found that it was not empty air, but something black, soft, and +strong—something living. It had no form or shape, or +none that she could make out; but it pulsed with a heart. +Jaqueline placed her foot on this curious thing, when a voice +came, like thunder heard through a feather-bed:</p> +<p>“Not near time to get up yet!” and then there was +a snore, and the great hall rocked like a ship at sea.</p> +<p>It was the Earthquaker!</p> +<p>The habits of this monstrous animal are very little known, as, +of course, he never comes above ground, or at least very seldom, +when he makes tracks like a dry river-bed across country. +<!-- page 161--><a name="page161"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +161</span>We are certain that there <i>are</i> Earthquakers, +otherwise how can we account for earthquakes? But how to +tackle an Earthquaker, how to get at him, and what to do with him +when you have got at him, are questions which might puzzle even +King Prigio.</p> +<p>It was not easy to have the better of an enchantress like +Jaqueline and a prince like Ricardo. In no ordinary +circumstances could they have been baffled and defeated; but now +it must be admitted that they were in a very trying and alarming +situation, especially the princess. The worst of it was, +that as Jaqueline sat and thought and thought, she began to +remember that she was back in her own country. The hills +were those she used to see from her father’s palace windows +when she was a child. And she remembered with horror that +once a year her people used to send a beautiful girl to the +Earthquaker, by way of keeping him <!-- page 162--><a +name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 162</span>quiet, as +you shall hear presently. And now she heard light footsteps +and a sound of weeping, and lo! a great troop of pretty girls +passed, sweeping in and out of the halls in a kind of procession, +and looking unhappy and lost.</p> +<p>Jaqueline ran to them.</p> +<p>“Where am I? who are you?” she cried, in the +language of her own country, which came back to her on a +sudden.</p> +<p>“We are nurses of the Earthquaker,” they +said. “Our duty is to sing him asleep, and every year +he must have a new song; and every year a new maiden must be sent +down from earth, with a new sleepy song she has learned from the +priests of Manoa, the City of the Sun. Are you the new +singer?”</p> +<p>“No, I’m <i>not</i>,” said Jaqueline. +“I don’t know the priests of Manoa; I don’t +know any new sleepy song. I only want to find the way +out.”</p> +<p><!-- page 163--><a name="page163"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +163</span>“There is no way, or we should have found +it,” said one of the maidens; “and, if you are the +wrong girl, by the day after to-morrow they must send the right +one, otherwise the Earthquaker will waken, and shake the world, +and destroy Manoa, the City of the Sun.” Then they +all wept softly in the stillness. “Can we get +anything to eat here?” asked poor Jaqueline, at last.</p> +<p>She was beginning to be very hungry, and however alarmed she +might be, she felt that dinner would not be unwelcome. The +tallest of the maidens clapped her hands, and immediately a long +table was spread by unseen sprites with meringues and cold +chicken, and several sorts of delicious ices.</p> +<p>We shall desert Jaqueline, who was rather less alarmed when +she found that she was not to be starved, at all events, and +return to Prince Ricardo, whom we left fluttering about <!-- page +164--><a name="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 164</span>as +a little golden-crested wren. He followed the Giant and +Jaqueline into the whirlpool of air as far as he dared, and when +he saw her vanish down the cone of the hill, he flew straight +back to Pantouflia.</p> +<h2><!-- page 165--><a name="page165"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 165</span>CHAPTER IX.<br /> +Prigio has an Idea.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p165.jpg"> +<img alt="Ricardo and Semiramis" src="images/p165.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>A weary and way-worn little bird was Prince Ricardo when he +fluttered into the royal study window, in the palace of +Pantouflia. The king was out at a council meeting; knowing +that Ricardo had the right things, all in good order, he was not +in the least anxious about him. The king was out, but +Semiramis was in—Semiramis, the great grey cat, sitting on +a big book on the top of the library steps. Now Semiramis +was very fond <!-- page 166--><a name="page166"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 166</span>of birds, and no sooner did Ricardo +enter and flutter on to a table than Semiramis gathered herself +together and made one fell spring at him. She just caught +his tail feather. In all his adventures the prince had +never been in greater danger. He escaped, but no more, and +went flying round the ceiling, looking for a safe place. +Finally he perched on a chandelier that hung from the roof. +Here he was safe; and so weary was he, that he put his head under +his wing and fell fast asleep. He was awakened by the +return of the king, who threw himself on a sofa and +exclaimed:</p> +<p>“Oh, that Prime Minister! his dulness is as heavy as +lead; much heavier, in fact!”</p> +<p>Then his Majesty lit a cigar and took up a volume; he +certainly was a sad bookworm.</p> +<p>Dick now began to fly about the room, brushing the +king’s face and trying to attract his notice.</p> +<p>“Poor little thing!” said his Majesty.</p> +<p><!-- page 167--><a name="page167"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +167</span>And Dick alighted, and nestled in his breast.</p> +<p>On seeing this, Semiramis began to growl, as cats do when they +are angry, and slowly approached his Majesty.</p> +<p>“Get out, Semiramis!” said the king; and lifting +her by the neck, he put her out of the room and shut the door, at +which she remained scratching and mewing.</p> +<p>Dick now crept out of the royal waistcoat, flew to the +king’s ear, twittered, pointed out of the window with one +claw, and, lying down on his back, pretended to be dead. +Then he got up again, twittered afresh, pointed to the Wishing +Cap, and, finally, convinced the king that this was no common +fowl.</p> +<p>“An enchanted prince or princess,” said Prigio, +“such as I have often read of. Who can it be? +Not Jaqueline; she could change herself back in a moment. +By the way, where <i>is</i> Jaqueline?”</p> +<p><!-- page 168--><a name="page168"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +168</span>He rang the bell, and asked the servant to look for the +princess.</p> +<p>Semiramis tried to come in, but was caught and shut up +downstairs.</p> +<p>After doing this, the man replied that her Royal Highness had +not been in the palace all day.</p> +<p>The king rushed to the crystal ball, looked all the world +over; but no princess! He became very nervous, and at that +moment Dick lighted on the crystal ball, and put his claw on the +very hill where Jaqueline had disappeared. Then he cocked +his little eye at the king.</p> +<p>“Nay, she is somewhere in the unknown centre of South +America,” said his Majesty; “somewhere behind Mount +Roraima, where nobody has ever been. I must look into +this.”</p> +<p>Then he put on the Wishing Cap, and wished that the bird would +assume his natural shape if <!-- page 171--><a +name="page171"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 171</span>he was +under enchantment, as there seemed too good reason to +believe.</p> +<p>Instantly Dick stood before him.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p170b.jpg"> +<img alt="Instantly Dick stood before him" src="images/p170s.jpg" +/> +</a></p> +<p>“Ricardo!” cried the king in horror; “and in +this disguise! Where have you been? What have you +done with Jaqueline? Where are the Seven-league +Boots? Where is the Sword of Sharpness? Speak! +Get up!” for Dick was kneeling and weeping bitterly at the +royal feet.</p> +<p>“All lost!” said Dick. “Poor +Jaqueline! she was the best girl, and the prettiest, and the +kindest. And the Earthquaker’s got her, and the +Giant’s got the other things,” Dick ended, crying +bitterly.</p> +<p>“Calm yourself, Ricardo,” said his Majesty, very +pale, but calm and determined. “Here, take a glass of +port, and explain how all this happened.”</p> +<p>Dick drank the wine, and then he told his miserable story.</p> +<p><!-- page 172--><a name="page172"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +172</span>“You may well sob! Why didn’t you use +the Cap of Darkness? Mere conceit! But there is no +use in crying over spilt milk. The thing is, to rescue +Jaqueline. And what are we to say to your +mother?”</p> +<p>“That’s the worst of it all,” said +Dick. “Mother will break her heart.”</p> +<p>“I must see her at once,” said the king, +“and break it to her.”</p> +<p>This was a terrible task; but the queen had such just +confidence in her Prigio that she soon dried her tears, remarking +that Heaven would not desert Jaqueline, and that the king would +find a way out of the trouble.</p> +<p>His Majesty retired to his study, put his head in his hands, +and thought and thought.</p> +<p>“The thing is, of course,” he said, “to +destroy the Earthquaker before he wakens; but how? What can +kill such a monster? Prodding him with the sword would only +stir <!-- page 173--><a name="page173"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 173</span>him up and make him more +vicious. And I know of no other beast we can set against +him, as I did with the Fire-beast and the Ice-beast, when I was +young. Oh, for an idea!”</p> +<p>Then his mind, somehow, went back to the Council and the +ponderous stupidity of the Prime Minister.</p> +<p>“Heavier than lead,” said the king. +“By George! I have a plan. If I could get to +the place where they keep the Stupidity, I could carry away +enough of it to flatten out the Earthquaker.”</p> +<p>Then he remembered how, in an old Italian poem, he had read +about all the strange lumber-room of odd things which is kept in +the moon. That is the advantage of reading: <i>Knowledge is +Power</i>; and you mostly get knowledge that is really worth +having out of good old books which people do not usually +read.</p> +<p>“If the Stupidity is kept in stock, up in the <!-- page +174--><a name="page174"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +174</span>moon, and comes from there, falling naturally down on +the earth in small quantities, I might obtain enough for my +purpose,” thought King Prigio. “But—how +to get to the moon? There are difficulties about +that.”</p> +<p>But difficulties only sharpened the ingenuity of this +admirable king.</p> +<p>“The other fellow had a Flying Horse,” said +he.</p> +<p>By “the other fellow” King Prigio meant an Italian +knight, Astolfo, who, in old times, visited the moon, and there +found and brought back the common sense of his friend, Orlando, +as you may read in the poem of Ariosto.</p> +<p>“Now,” reasoned King Prigio, “if there is a +Flying Horse at all, he is in the stables of the King of +Delhi. I must look into this.”</p> +<p>Taking the magic spy-glass, the king surveyed the world from +China to Peru, and, sure enough, there was the famous Flying +Horse in the <!-- page 175--><a name="page175"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 175</span>king’s stable at Delhi. +Hastily the king thrust his feet into the Shoes of +Swiftness—so hastily, indeed, that, as the poet says, he +“madly crammed a left-hand foot into a right-hand +shoe.” But this, many people think, is a sign of good +luck; so he put the shoes on the proper feet, and in a few +minutes was in the presence of the Great Mogul.</p> +<p>The monarch received him with some surprise, but with stately +kindness, and listened to Prigio while he explained what he +wanted.</p> +<p>“I am only too happy to assist so adventurous a +prince,” remarked the Great Mogul. “This is +like old times! Every horse in my stable is at your +service, but, as you say, only the Flying Horse is of any use to +you in this expedition.”</p> +<p>He clapped his hands, the Grand Vizier appeared, and the king +gave orders to have the Flying Horse saddled at once. He +then presented <!-- page 176--><a name="page176"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 176</span>King Prigio with a large diamond, +and came down into the courtyard to see him mount.</p> +<p>“He’s very fresh,” said the groom who held +the bridle; “has not been out of the stable for three +hundred years!”</p> +<p>Prigio sprang into the saddle among the salaams of the dusky +multitude, and all the ladies of the seraglio waved their scented +handkerchiefs out of the windows.</p> +<p>The king, as he had been instructed, turned a knob of gold in +the saddle of the Flying Horse, then kissed his hand to the +ladies, and, giving the steed his head, cried, in excellent +Persian:</p> +<p>“To the moon!”</p> +<p>Up flew the horse with an easy action, and the king’s +head nearly swam with the swiftness of the flight. Soon the +earth below him was no bigger than a top, spinning on its own +axis <!-- page 179--><a name="page179"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 179</span>(see Geography books for this), and, +as night fell, earth was only a great red moon.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p178b.jpg"> +<img alt="King Prigio on the Flying Horse" src="images/p178s.jpg" +/> +</a></p> +<p>Through the dark rode King Prigio, into the silver dawn of the +moon. All now became clear and silvery; the coasts of the +moon came into sight, with white seas breaking on them; and at +last the king reached the silver walls, and the gate of +opal. Before the gate stood two beautiful ladies. One +was fair, with yellow locks, the colour of the harvest +moon. She had a crown of a golden snake and white +water-lilies, and her dress now shone white, now red, now golden; +and in her hand was the golden pitcher that sheds the dew, and a +golden wand. The other lady was as dark as night—dark +eyes, dark hair; her crown was of poppies. She held the +ebony Wand of Sleep. Her dress was of the deepest blue, +sown with stars. The king knew that they were the maidens +of the bright and the dark side of the <!-- page 180--><a +name="page180"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +180</span>moon—of the side you see, and of the side that no +one has ever seen, except King Prigio. He stopped the +Flying Horse by turning the other knob in the saddle, alighted, +and bowed very low to each of the ladies.</p> +<p>“Daring mortal! what make you here?” they +asked.</p> +<p>And then the king told them about Jaqueline and the +Earthquaker, and how he needed a great weight of Stupidity to +flatten him out with.</p> +<p>The ladies heard him in silence, and then they said:</p> +<p>“Follow us,” and they flew lightly beside the +Flying Horse till they had crossed all the bright side of the +moon, above the silver palaces and silver seas, and reached the +summit of the Mountains of the Moon which separate the bright +from the dark side.</p> +<p>“Here I may go no further,” said the bright <!-- +page 181--><a name="page181"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +181</span>lady; “and beyond, as you see, all is darkness +and heavy sleep.”</p> +<p>Then she touched Prigio with her golden wand with twisted +serpents, and he became luminous, light raying out from him; and +the dark lady, too, shone like silver in the night: and on they +flew, over black rocks and black rivers, till they reached a huge +mountain, like a mountain of coal, many thousand feet high, for +its head was lost in the blackness of darkness. The dark +Moon-Lady struck the rock with her ebony wand, and said, +“Open!” and the cliffs opened like a door, and they +were within the mountain.</p> +<p>“Here,” said the dark lady, “is the +storehouse of all the Stupidity; hence it descends in showers +like Stardust on the earth whenever this mountain, which is a +volcano, is in eruption. Only a little of the Stupidity +reaches the earth, and that only in invisible dust; yet <!-- page +182--><a name="page182"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +182</span>you know how weighty it is, even in that +form.”</p> +<p>“Indeed, madam,” said the king, “no one +knows it better than I do.”</p> +<p>“Then make your choice of the best sort of Stupidity for +your purpose,” said the dark lady.</p> +<p>And in the light which flowed from their bodies King Prigio +looked round at the various kinds of Solid Stupidity. There +it all lay in masses—the Stupidity of bad Sermons, of +ignorant reviewers, of bad poems, of bad speeches, of dreary +novels, of foolish statesmen, of ignorant mobs, of fine ladies, +of idle, naughty boys and girls; and the king examined them all, +and all were very, very heavy. But when he came to the +Stupidity of the Learned—of dull, blind writers on +Shakspeare, and Homer, and the Bible—then King Prigio saw +that he had found the sort he wanted, and that a very little of +it would go a long way. He <!-- page 183--><a +name="page183"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 183</span>never could +have got it on the saddle of the Flying Horse if the dark lady +had not touched it with her ebony wand, and made it light to +carry till it was wanted for his purpose. When he needed it +for use, he was to utter a certain spell, which she taught him, +and then the lump would recover its natural weight. So he +easily put a great block on his saddle-bow, and he and the dark +lady flew back till they reached the crest of the Mountains of +the Moon. There she touched him with her ebony wand, and +the silver light which the bright lady had shed on him died from +his face and his body, and he became like other men.</p> +<p>“You see your way?” said the dark lady, pointing +to the bright moon of earth, shining far off in the heavens.</p> +<p>Then he knelt down and thanked her, and she murmured strange +words of blessing which he did not understand; but her face was +<!-- page 184--><a name="page184"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +184</span>grave and kind, and he thought of Queen Rosalind, his +wife.</p> +<p>Then he jumped on the Flying Horse, galloped down and down, +till he reached his palace gate; called for Ricardo, set him +behind him on the saddle, and away they rode, above land and wide +seas, till they saw the crest of the hollow hill, where Jaqueline +was with the Earthquaker. Beyond it they marked the +glittering spires and towers of Manoa, the City of the Sun; and +“Thither,” said King Prigio, who had been explaining +how matters stood, to Ricardo, “we must ride, for I believe +they stand in great need of our assistance.”</p> +<p>“Had we not better go to Jaqueline first, sir?” +said Ricardo.</p> +<p>“No,” said the king; “I think mine is the +best plan. Manoa, whose golden spires and pinnacles are +shining below us, is the City of the Sun, which Sir Walter +Raleigh and the <!-- page 185--><a name="page185"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 185</span>Spaniards could never find, so that +men have doubted of its existence. We are needed there, to +judge by that angry crowd in the marketplace. How they +howl!”</p> +<h2><!-- page 186--><a name="page186"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 186</span>CHAPTER X.<br /> +The End.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p186b.jpg"> +<img alt="Man with rock" src="images/p186s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>It was on a strange sight that the king and Ricardo looked +down from the Flying Horse. Beneath them lay the City of +Manoa, filling with its golden battlements and temples a hollow +of the mountains. Here were palaces all carved over with +faces of men and beasts, and with twisted patterns of +serpents.</p> +<p>The city walls were built of huge square stones, and among the +groves towered pyramids, on which the <!-- page 187--><a +name="page187"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 187</span>people did +service to their gods. From every temple top came the roar +of beaten drums, great drums of serpentskin.</p> +<p>But, in the centre of the chief square of the town, was +gathered a wild crowd of men in shining copper armour and helmets +of gold and glittering dresses of feathers. Among them ran +about priests with hideous masks, crying them on to besiege and +break down the royal palace. From the battlements of the +palace the king’s guardsmen were firing arrows and throwing +spears. The mob shot arrows back, some of them tipped with +lighted straw, to burn the palace down.</p> +<p>But, in the very centre of the square, was a clear space of +ground, on which fell the shadow of a tall column of red stone, +all carved with serpents and faces of gods. Beside it stood +a figure horrible to see: a man <!-- page 188--><a +name="page188"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 188</span>clothed in +serpent skins, whose face was the grinning face of a skull; but +the skull was shining black and red in patches, and a long white +beard flowed from beneath it. This man, mounted on a kind +of altar of red stone, waved his hand and yelled, and seemed to +point to the shadow of the column which fell across the +square.</p> +<p>The people were so furious and so eager that they did not, at +first, notice King Prigio as he slowly descended. But at +last the eyes within the skull looked up and saw him, and then +the man gave a great cry, rent his glittering dress of +serpentskin, and held up his hands.</p> +<p>Then all the multitude looked up, and seeing the Flying Horse, +let their weapons fall; and the man of the skull tore it from his +face, and knelt before King Prigio, with his head in the +dust.</p> +<p><!-- page 189--><a name="page189"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +189</span>“Thou hast come, oh, Pachacamac, as is foretold +in the prophecy of the Cord of the Venerable Knots! Thou +hast come, but behold the shadow of the stone! Thou art too +late, oh Lord of the Earth and the Sea!”</p> +<p>Then he pointed to the shadow, which, naturally, was growing +shorter, as the sun drew near mid-day.</p> +<p>He spoke in the language of the ancient Incas of Peru, which +of course Prigio knew very well; and he also knew that Pachacamac +was the god of that people.</p> +<p>“I have come,” Prigio said, with presence of mind, +“as it has been prophesied of old.”</p> +<p>“Riding on a beast that flies,” said the old +priest, “even as the oracle declared. Glory to +Pachacamac, even though we die to-day!”</p> +<p>“In what can I help my people?” said Prigio.</p> +<p>“Thou knowest; why should we instruct <!-- page 190--><a +name="page190"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 190</span>thee? +Thou knowest that on midsummer-day, every year, before the shadow +shrinks back to the base of the <i>huaca</i> <a +name="citation190"></a><a href="#footnote190" +class="citation">[190]</a> of Manoa, we must offer a maiden to +lull the Earthquaker with a new song. Lo, now the shadow +shrinks to the foot of the <i>huaca</i>, and the maid is not +offered! For the lot fell on the daughter of thy servant +the Inca, and he refuses to give her up. One daughter of +his, he says, has been sacrificed to the sacred birds, the +<i>Cunturs</i>: the birds were found slain on the hill-top, no +man knows how; but the maiden vanished.”</p> +<p>“Why, it must have been Jaqueline. I killed the +birds,” said Ricardo, in Pantouflian.</p> +<p>“Silence, not a word!” said the king, sternly.</p> +<p>“And what makes you bear arms against the Inca?” +he asked the old man.</p> +<p>“We would slay him and her,” answered the priest; +“for, when the shadow shrinks to the <!-- page 191--><a +name="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 191</span>foot of the +stone, the sun will shine straight down into the hollow hill of +the Earthquaker, and he will waken and destroy Manoa and the +Temples of the Sun.”</p> +<p>“Then wherefore would you slay them, when you must all +perish?”</p> +<p>“The people, oh Pachacamac, would have revenge before +they die.”</p> +<p>“Oh, folly of men!” said the king, solemnly; then +he cried: “Lead me to the Inca; this day you shall not +perish. Is it not predicted in the Cord of the Venerable +Knots that I shall slay this monster?”</p> +<p>“Hasten, oh Pachacamac, for the shadow shortens!” +said the priest.</p> +<p>“Lead me to the Inca,” answered Prigio.</p> +<p>At this the people arose with a great shout, for they, too, +had been kneeling; and, sending a flag of truce before King +Prigio, the priest led him into the palace. The ground was +<!-- page 192--><a name="page192"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +192</span>strewn with bodies of the slain, and through them +Prigio rode slowly into the courtyard, where the Inca was sitting +in the dust, weeping and throwing ashes on his long hair and his +golden raiment. The king bade the priest remain without the +palace gates; then dismounted, and, advancing to the Inca, raised +him and embraced him.</p> +<p>“I come, a king to a king,” he said. +“My cousin, take courage; your sorrows are ended. If +I do not slay the Earthquaker, sacrifice me to your +gods.”</p> +<p>“The Prophecy is fulfilled,” said the Inca, and +wept for joy. “Yet thou must hasten, for it draws +near to noon.”</p> +<p>Then Prigio went up to the golden battlements, and saying no +word, waved his hand. In a moment the square was empty, for +the people rushed to give thanks in the temples.</p> +<p>“Wait my coming, my cousin,” said Prigio <!-- page +193--><a name="page193"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 193</span>to +the Inca; “I shall bring you back the daughter that was +lost, when I have slain your enemy.”</p> +<p>The Inca would have knelt at his feet; but the king raised +him, and bade him prepare such a feast as had never been seen in +Manoa.</p> +<p>“The lost are found to-day,” he said; “be +you ready to welcome them.”</p> +<p>Then, mounting the Flying Horse, with Dick beside him, he rose +towards the peak of the hill where the Earthquaker had his +home. Already the ground was beginning to tremble; the +Earthquaker was stirring in his sleep, for the maiden of the new +song had not been sent to him, and the year ended at noon, and +then he would rise and ruin Manoa.</p> +<p>The sun was approaching mid-day, and Prigio put spurs to the +Flying Horse. Ten minutes more, and the sun would look +straight down the crater of the hollow hill, and the Earthquaker +<!-- page 194--><a name="page194"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +194</span>would arouse himself when the light and the heat fell +on his body.</p> +<p>Already the light of the sun shone slanting half-way down the +hollow cone as the whirlpool of air caught the Flying Horse, and +drew him swiftly down and down to the shadowy halls. There +knelt and wept the nurses of the Earthquaker on the marble floor; +but Jaqueline stood a little apart, very pale, but not +weeping.</p> +<p>Ricardo had leaped off before the horse touched the ground, +and rushed to Jaqueline, and embraced her in his arms; and, oh! +how glad she was to see him, so that she quite forgot her danger +and laughed for joy.</p> +<p>“Oh! you have come, you have come; I knew you would +come!” she cried.</p> +<p>Then King Prigio advanced, the mighty weight in his hand, to +the verge of the dreadful gulf of the Earthquaker. The dim +walls grew radiant; a long slant arm of yellow light <!-- page +195--><a name="page195"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +195</span>touched the black body of the Earthquaker, and a thrill +went through him, and shook the world, so that, far away, the +bells rang in Pantouflia. A moment more, and he would waken +in his strength; and once awake, he would shatter the city walls +and ruin Manoa. Even now a great mass of rock fell from the +roof deep down in the secret caves, and broke into flying +fragments, and all the echoes roared and rang.</p> +<p>King Prigio stood with the mighty mass poised in his +hands.</p> +<p>“Die!” he cried; and he uttered the words of +power, the magic spell that the dark Moon Lady had taught +him.</p> +<p>Then all its invincible natural weight came into the mass +which the king held, and down it shot full on the body of the +Earthquaker; and where that had been was nothing but a vast +abyss, silent, empty, and blank, and bottomless.</p> +<p><!-- page 196--><a name="page196"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +196</span>Far, far below, thousands of miles below, in the very +centre of the earth, lay the dead Earthquaker, crushed flat as a +sheet of paper, and the sun of midsummer-day shone straight down +on the dreadful chasm, and could not waken him any more for +ever.</p> +<p>The king drew a long breath.</p> +<p>“Stupidity has saved the world,” he said; and, +with only strength to draw back one step from the abyss, he fell +down, hiding his face in his hands.</p> +<p>But Jaqueline’s arms were round his neck, and the +maidens brought him water from an ice-cold spring; and soon King +Prigio was himself again, and ready for anything. But +afterwards he used to say that the moment when the Earthquaker +stirred was the most dreadful in his life.</p> +<p>Now, in Manoa, where all the firm foundations of the city had +trembled once, when the sun just <!-- page 197--><a +name="page197"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 197</span>touched the +Earthquaker, the people, seeing that the shadow of the sacred +column had crept to its foot, and yet Manoa stood firm again, and +the Temple of the Sun was not overthrown, raised such a cry that +it echoed even through the halls within the hollow hill.</p> +<p>Who shall describe the joy of the maidens, and how often +Jaqueline and Ricardo kissed each other?</p> +<p>“You have saved me!” she cried to the king, +throwing her arms round him again. “You have saved +Manoa!”</p> +<p>“And <i>you</i> have saved the Hope of Pantouflia, not +once or twice,” said his Majesty, grandly.</p> +<p>And he told Dick how much he had owed to Jaqueline, in the +fight with the Yellow Dwarf, and the fight with the Giant, for he +did not think it necessary to mention the affair at Rome.</p> +<p><!-- page 198--><a name="page198"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +198</span>Then Dick kissed Jaqueline again, and all the maidens +kissed each other, and they quite cried for gladness.</p> +<p>“But we keep his Majesty the Inca waiting,” said +Prigio. “Punctuality is the courtesy of kings. +You ladies will excuse me, I am sure, if I remove first from the +dungeon her whom we call the Princess Jaqueline. The Inca, +her father, has a claim on us to this preference.”</p> +<p>Then placing Jaqueline on the saddle, and leaving Dick to +comfort the other young ladies, who were still rather nervous, +the king flew off to Manoa, for the wind, of course, died with +the death of the Earthquaker.</p> +<p>I cannot tell you the delight of all Manoa, and of the Inca, +when they saw the Flying Horse returning, and recognised their +long-lost princess, who rushed into the arms of her father. +They beat the serpent drums, for they <!-- page 199--><a +name="page199"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 199</span>had no +bells, on the tops of the temples. They went quite mad with +delight: enemies kissed in the streets; and all the parents, +without exception, allowed all the young people who happened to +be in love to be married that very day. Then Prigio brought +back all the maidens, one after the other, and Dick last; and he +fell at the Inca’s feet, and requested leave to marry +Jaqueline.</p> +<p>But, before that could be done, King Prigio, mounted on the +palace balcony, made a long but very lucid speech to the +assembled people. He began by explaining that he was not +their God, Pachacamac, but king of a powerful country of which +they had never heard before, as they lived very much withdrawn in +an unknown region of the world. Then he pointed out, in the +most considerate manner, that their religion was not all he could +wish, otherwise they would never sacrifice young ladies to wild +birds and <!-- page 200--><a name="page200"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 200</span>Earthquakers. He next sketched +out the merits of his own creed, that of the Lutheran Church; and +the Inca straightway observed that he proposed to establish it in +Manoa at once.</p> +<p>Some objection was raised by the old priest in the skull mask; +but when the Inca promised to make him an archbishop, and to +continue all his revenues, the priest admitted that he was +perfectly satisfied; and the general public cheered and waved +their hats with emotion. It was arranged that the Inca, +with his other daughters, should visit Pantouflia immediately, +both because he could not bear to leave Jaqueline, and also +because there were a few points on which he felt that he still +needed information. The Government was left in the hands of +the archbishop, who began at once by burning his skull mask (you +may see one like it in the British Museum, <!-- page 201--><a +name="page201"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 201</span>in the +Mexican room), and by letting loose all the birds and beasts +which the Manoans used to worship.</p> +<p>So all the young people were married in the Golden Temple of +the Sun, and all the Earthquaker’s nurses who were under +thirty were wedded to the young men who had been fond of them +before they were sent into the hollow hill. These young men +had never cared for any one else. Everybody wore bridal +favours, all the unengaged young ladies acted as bridesmaids, and +such a throwing of rice and old shoes has very seldom been +witnessed. As for the happy royal pair, with their fathers, +and the other princess (who did not happen to be engaged), back +they flew to Pantouflia.</p> +<p>And there was Queen Rosalind waiting at the palace gates, and +crying and laughing with pleasure when she heard that the wish of +her <!-- page 202--><a name="page202"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 202</span>heart was fulfilled, and Jaqueline +was to be her daughter.</p> +<p>“And, as for the Earthquaker,” said her Majesty, +“I never was really anxious in the least, for I knew no +beast in the world was a match for <i>you</i>, my +dear.”</p> +<p>So, just to make everything orderly and correct, Ricardo and +Jaqueline were married over again, in the Cathedral of +Pantouflia. The marriage presents came in afterwards, of +course, and among them, what do you think? Why, the +Seven-League Boots and the Sword of Sharpness, with a very polite +note of extraordinary size:</p> +<blockquote><p>“The Giant who does not Know when he has had +Enough presents his hearty congratulations to the royal pair, and +begs to lay at their feet the Seven-league Boots (they not +fitting me) and the Sword <!-- page 203--><a +name="page203"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 203</span>which +Prince Ricardo left in the Giant’s keeping recently. +The Giant hopes <i>no bad blood</i>; and I am,</p> +<p style="text-align: right">“Yours very faithfully,<br /> +“THE G., &c.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“P.S.—His little woman sends her +congratulations.”</p> +<p>So you see the Giant was not such a bad sort of fellow after +all, and Prince Ricardo always admitted that he never met a foe +more gallant and good-humoured.</p> +<p>With such a clever wife, Ricardo easily passed all his +examinations; and his little son, Prince Prigio (named after his +august grandfather), never had to cry, “Mamma, mamma, +father’s plucked again.”</p> +<p>So they lived happily in a happy country, occasionally +visiting Manoa; and as they possessed the magical Water o Life +from the <!-- page 204--><a name="page204"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 204</span>Fountain of Lions, I do not believe +that any of them ever died at all, but that Prigio is still King +of Pantouflia.</p> +<p>“No need such kings should ever die!”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p204b.jpg"> +<img alt="The coach" src="images/p204s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">printing office +of the publisher</span>.</p> +<h2>Footnotes:</h2> +<p><a name="footnote21"></a><a href="#citation21" +class="footnote">[21]</a> You can buy these glasses now +from the Psychical Society, at half-a-crown and upwards.</p> +<p><a name="footnote135"></a><a href="#citation135" +class="footnote">[135]</a> See the works of +D’Aulnoy.</p> +<p><a name="footnote146"></a><a href="#citation146" +class="footnote">[146]</a> This Giant is mentioned, and his +picture is drawn, in an old manuscript of about 1875.</p> +<p><a name="footnote190"></a><a href="#citation190" +class="footnote">[190]</a> <i>Huaca</i>, sacred stone.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRINCE RICARDO OF PANTOUFLIA***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 21994-h.htm or 21994-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/9/9/21994 + + + +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 Ricardo of Pantouflia + being the adventures of Prince Prigio's son + + +Author: Andrew Lang + + + +Release Date: July 4, 2007 [eBook #21994] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRINCE RICARDO OF PANTOUFLIA*** + + + + +Transcribed from the 1893 J. W. Arrowsmith edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + +{Book cover: p0.jpg} + + + + + +PRINCE RICARDO OF PANTOUFLIA + + +BEING THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE +PRIGIO'S SON, BY ANDREW LANG +AUTHOR OF PRINCE PRIGIO + +ILLUSTRATED BY +GORDON BROWNE + +PUBLISHED AT BRISTOL BY J. W. ARROWSMITH, +QUAY STREET, AND AT LONDON BY SIMPKIN, +MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & COMPANY LIMITED + + + + +DEDICATION. +To Guy Campbell. + + +_My dear Guy_, + +_You wanted to know more about Prince Prigio_, _who won the Lady +Rosalind_, _and killed the Firedrake and the Remora by aid of his Fairy +gifts_. _Here you have some of his later adventures_, _and you will +learn from this story the advantages of minding your book_. + +_Yours always_, +_A. Lang_. + +{Andrew Lang's signature: p0v.jpg} + + + + +Introductory. +Explaining Matters. + + +{Decorative letter T: p0ix.jpg} + +There may be children whose education has been so neglected that they +have not read _Prince Prigio_. As this new story is about Prince +Prigio's son, Ricardo, you are to learn that Prigio was the child and +heir of Grognio, King of Pantouflia. The fairies gave the little Prince +cleverness, beauty, courage; but one wicked fairy added, "You shall be +_too_ clever." His mother, the queen, hid away in a cupboard all the +fairy presents,--the Sword of Sharpness, the Seven-League Boots, the +Wishing Cap, and many other useful and delightful gifts, in which her +Majesty did not believe! But after Prince Prigio had become universally +disliked and deserted, because he was so very clever and conceited, he +happened to find all the fairy presents in the old turret chamber where +they had been thrown. By means of these he delivered his country from a +dreadful Red-Hot Beast, called the Firedrake, and, in addition to many +other triumphs, he married the good and beautiful Lady Rosalind. His +love for her taught him not to be conceited, though he did not cease to +be extremely clever and fond of reading. + +When this new story begins the Prince has succeeded to the crown, on the +death of King Grognio, and is unhappy about his own son, Prince Ricardo, +who is not clever, and who hates books! The story tells of Ricardo's +adventures: how he tried to bring back Prince Charlie to England, how he +failed; how he dealt with the odious old Yellow Dwarf; how he was aided +by the fair magician, the Princess Jaqueline; how they both fell into a +dreadful trouble; how King Prigio saved them; and how Jaqueline's dear +and royal papa was discovered; with the end of all these adventures. The +moral of the story will easily be discovered by the youngest reader, or, +if not, it does not much matter. + + + + +CHAPTER I. +The Troubles of King Prigio. + + +{Prince Ricardo and lady tied up: p13.jpg} + +"I'm sure I don't know what to do with that boy!" said King Prigio of +Pantouflia. + +"If _you_ don't know, my dear," said Queen Rosalind, his illustrious +consort, "I can't see what is to be done. You are so clever." + +The king and queen were sitting in the royal library, of which the +shelves were full of the most delightful fairy books in all languages, +all equally familiar to King Prigio. The queen could not read most of +them herself, but the king used to read them aloud to her. A good many +years had passed--seventeen, in fact--since Queen Rosalind was married, +but you would not think it to look at her. Her grey eyes were as kind +and soft and beautiful, her dark hair as dark, and her pretty colour as +like a white rose blushing, as on the day when she was a bride. And she +was as fond of the king as when he was only Prince Prigio, and he was as +fond of her as on the night when he first met her at the ball. + +"No, I don't know what to do with Dick," said the king. + +He meant his son, Prince Ricardo, but he called him Dick in private. + +"I believe it's the fault of his education," his Majesty went on. "We +have not brought him up rightly. These fairy books are at the bottom of +his provoking behaviour," and he glanced round the shelves. "Now, when +_I_ was a boy, my dear mother tried to prevent me from reading fairy +books, because she did not believe in fairies." + +"But she was wrong, you know," said the queen. "Why, if it had not been +for all these fairy presents, the Cap of Darkness and all the rest of +them, you never could have killed the Fire-beast and the Ice-beast, +and--you never could have married me," the queen added, in a happy +whisper, blushing beautifully, for that was a foolish habit of hers. + +"It is quite true," said the king, "and therefore I thought it best to +bring Dick up on fairy books, that he might know what is right, and have +no nonsense about him. But perhaps the thing has been overdone; at all +events, it is not a success. I wonder if fathers and sons will ever +understand each other, and get on well together? There was my poor +father, King Grognio, he wanted me to take to adventures, like other +princes, fighting Firedrakes, and so forth; and I did not care for it, +till _you_ set me on," and he looked very kindly at her Majesty. "And +now, here's Dick," the monarch continued, "I can't hold him back. He is +always after a giant, or a dragon, or a magician, as the case may be; he +will certainly be ploughed for his examination at College. Never opens a +book. What does he care, off after every adventure he can hear about? An +idle, restless youth! Ah, my poor country, when I am gone, what may not +be your misfortunes under Ricardo!" + +Here his Majesty sighed, and seemed plunged in thought. + +"But you are not going yet, my dear," said the queen. "Why you are not +forty! And young people will be young people. You were quite proud when +poor Dick came home with his first brace of gigantic fierce birds, killed +off his own sword, and with such a pretty princess he had rescued--dear +Jaqueline? I'm sure she is like a daughter to me. I cannot do without +her." + +"I wish she were a daughter-in-law; I wish Dick would take a fancy to +marry her," said the king. "A nicer girl I never saw." + +"And so accomplished," added Queen Rosalind. "That girl can turn herself +into anything--a mouse, a fly, a lion, a wheelbarrow, a church! I never +knew such talent for magic. Of course she had the _best_ of teachers, +the Fairy Paribanou herself; but very few girls, in our time, devote so +many hours to _practice_ as dear Jaqueline. Even now, when she is out of +the schoolroom, she still practises her scales. I saw her turning little +Dollie into a fish and back again in the bath-room last night. The child +was delighted." + +In these times, you must know, princesses learned magic, just as they +learn the piano nowadays; but they had their music lessons too, dancing, +calisthenics, and the use of the globes. + +"Yes, she's a dear, good girl," said the king; "yet she looks melancholy. +I believe, myself, that if Ricardo asked her to marry him, she would not +say 'No.' But that's just one of the things I object to most in Dick. +Round the world he goes, rescuing ladies from every kind of horror--from +dragons, giants, cannibals, magicians; and then, when a girl naturally +expects to be married to him, as is usual, off he rides! He has no more +heart than a flounder. Why, at his age I--" + +"At his age, my dear, you were so hard-hearted that you were quite a +proverb. Why, I have been told that you used to ask girls dreadful +puzzling questions, like 'Who was Caesar Borgia?' 'What do you know of +Edwin and Morcar?' and so on." + +"I had not seen _you_ then," said the king. + +"And Ricardo has not seen _her_, whoever she may be. Besides, he can't +possibly marry all of them. And I think a girl should consider herself +lucky if she is saved from a dragon or a giant, without expecting to be +married next day." + +"Perhaps; but it is usual," said the king, "and their families expect it, +and keep sending ambassadors to know what Dick's intentions are. I would +not mind it all so very much if he killed the monsters off his own sword, +as he did that first brace, in fair fight. But ever since he found his +way into that closet where the fairy presents lie, everything has been +made too easy for him. It is a royal road to glory, or giant-slaying +made easy. In his Cap of Darkness a poor brute of a dragon can't see +him. In his Shoes of Swiftness the giants can't catch him. His Sword of +Sharpness would cut any oak asunder at a blow!" + +"But you were very glad of them when you made the Ice-beast and the Fire- +beast fight and kill each other," said the queen. + +"Yes, my dear; but it wanted some wit, if I may say so, to do _that_, and +Dick just goes at it hammer and tongs: anybody could do it. It's +_intellect_ I miss in Ricardo. How am I to know whether he could make a +good fight for it without all these fairy things? I wonder what the +young rogue is about to-day? He'll be late for dinner, as usual, I +daresay. I can't stand want of punctuality at meals," remarked his +Majesty, which is a sign that he was growing old after all; for where is +the fun of being expected always to come home in time for dinner when, +perhaps, you are fishing, and the trout are rising splendidly? + +"Young people will be young people," said the queen. "If you are anxious +about him, why don't you look for him in the magic crystal?" + +Now the magic crystal was a fairy present, a great ball of glass in +which, if you looked, you saw the person you wanted to see, and what he +was doing, however far away he might be, if he was on the earth at all. +{21} + +"I'll just take a look at it," said the king; "it only wants +three-quarters of an hour to dinner-time." + +His Majesty rose, and walked to the crystal globe, which was in a stand, +like other globes. He stared into it, he turned it round and round, and +Queen Rosalind saw him grow quite pale as he gazed. + +"I don't see him anywhere," said the king, "and I have looked everywhere. +I do hope nothing has happened to the boy. He is so careless. If he +dropped his Cap of Darkness in a fight with a giant, why who knows what +might occur?" + +"Oh, 'Gio, how you frighten me!" said the queen. + +King Prigio was still turning the crystal globe. + +"Stop!" he cried; "I see a beautiful princess, fastened by iron chains to +a rock beside the sea, in a lonely place. They must have fixed her up as +a sacrifice to a sea-monster, like what's-her-name." + +This proves how anxious he was, or, being so clever and learned, he would +have remembered that her name was Andromeda. + +"I bet Dick is not far off, where there is an adventure on hand. But +where on earth can he be? . . . My word!" suddenly exclaimed the +monarch, in obvious excitement. + +"What is it, dear?" cried the queen, with all the anxiety of a mother. + +"Why, the sea where the girl is, has turned all red as blood!" exclaimed +the king. "Now it is all being churned up by the tail of a tremendous +monster. He is a whopper! He's coming on shore; the girl is fainting. +He's out on shore! He is extremely poorly, blood rushing from his open +jaws. He's dying! And, hooray! here's Dick coming out of his enormous +mouth, all in armour set with sharp spikes, and a sword in his hand. He's +covered with blood, but he's well and hearty. He must have been +swallowed by the brute, and cut him up inside. Now he's cutting the +beast's head off. Now he's gone to the princess; a very neat bow he has +made her. Dick's manners are positively improving! Now he's cutting her +iron chains off with the Sword of Sharpness. And now he's made her +another bow, and he's actually taking leave of her. Poor thing! How +disappointed she is looking. And she's so pretty, too. I say, Rosalind, +shall I shout to him through the magic horn, and tell him to bring her +home here, on the magic carpet?" + +"I think not, dear; the palace is quite full," said the queen. But the +real reason was that she wanted Ricardo to marry her favourite Princess +Jaqueline, and she did not wish the new princess to come in the way. + +"As you like," said the king, who knew what was in her mind very well. +"Besides, I see her own people coming for her. I'm sorry for her, but it +can't be helped, and Dick is half-way home by now on the Shoes of +Swiftness. I daresay he will not keep dinner waiting after all. But +what a fright the boy has given me!" + +At this moment a whirring in the air and a joyous shout were heard. It +was Prince Ricardo flying home on his Seven-league Boots. + +"Hi, Ross!" he shouted, "just weigh this beast's head. I've had a +splendid day with a sea-monster. Get the head stuffed, will you? We'll +have it set up in the billiard-room." + +"Yes, Master Dick--I mean your Royal Highness," said Ross, a Highland +keeper, who had not previously been employed by a Reigning Family. "It's +a fine head, whatever," he added, meditatively. + +{Ross weighing the beast's head: p28.jpg} + +Prince Ricardo now came beneath the library window, and gave his parents +a brief account of his adventure. + +"I picked the monster up early in the morning," he said, "through the +magic telescope, father." + +"What country was he in?" said the king. + +"The country people whom I met called it Ethiopia. They were niggers." + +"And in what part of the globe is Ethiopia, Ricardo?" + +"Oh! I don't know. Asia, perhaps," answered the prince. + +The king groaned. + +"That boy will _never_ understand our foreign relations. Ethiopia in +Asia!" he said to himself, but he did not choose to make any remark at +the moment. + +The prince ran upstairs to dress. On the stairs he met the Princess +Jaqueline. + +"Oh, Dick! are you hurt?" she said, turning very pale. + +"No, not I; but the monster is. I had a capital day, Jack; rescued a +princess, too." + +"Was she--was she very pretty, Dick?" + +"Oh! I don't know. Pretty enough, I daresay. Much like other girls. +Why, you look quite white! What's the matter? Now you look all right +again;" for, indeed, the Princess Jaqueline was blushing. + +"I must dress. I'm ever so late," he said, hurrying upstairs; and the +princess, with a little sigh, went down to the royal drawing-room. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +Princess Jaqueline Drinks the Moon. + + +{The King and the Prince: p30.jpg} + +When dinner was over and the ladies had left the room, the king tried to +speak _seriously_ to Prince Ricardo. This was a thing which he disliked +doing very much. + +"There's very little use in preaching," his Majesty used to say, "to a +man, or rather a boy, of another generation. My taste was for books; I +only took to adventures because I was obliged to do it. Dick's taste is +for adventures; I only wish some accident would make him take to books. +But everyone must get his experience for himself; and when he has got it, +he is lucky if it is not too late. I wish I could see him in love with +some nice girl, who would keep him at home." + +The king did not expect much from talking seriously to Dick. However, he +began by asking questions about the day's sport, which Ricardo answered +with modesty. Then his Majesty observed that, from all he had ever read +or heard, he believed Ethiopia, where the fight was, to be in Africa, not +in Asia. + +"I really wish, Ricardo, that you would attend to your geography a little +more. It is most necessary to a soldier that he should know where his +enemy is, and if he has to fight the Dutch, for instance, not to start +with his army for Central Asia." + +"I could always spot them through the magic glass, father," said Dick; +"it saves such a lot of trouble. I hate geography." + +"But the glass might be lost or broken, or the Fairies might take it +away, and then where are you?" + +"Oh, _you_ would know where to go, or Mr. Belsham." + +Now Mr. Belsham was his tutor, from Oxford. + +"But I shall not always be here, and when I die--" + +"Don't talk of dying, sire," said Dick. "Why, you are not so very old; +you may live for years yet. Besides, I can't stand the notion. You must +live for ever!" + +"That sentiment is unusual in a Crown Prince," thought the king; but he +was pleased for all that. + +"Well, to oblige you, I'll try to struggle against old age," he said; +"but there are always accidents. Now, Dick, like a good fellow, and to +please me, work hard all to-morrow till the afternoon. I'll come in and +help you. And there's always a splendid evening rise of trout in the +lake just now, so you can have your play after your work. You'll enjoy +it more, and I daresay you are tired after a long day with the big game. +It used to tire me, I remember." + +"I _am_ rather tired," said Dick; and indeed he looked a little pale, for +a day in the inside of a gigantic sea-monster is fatiguing, from the heat +and want of fresh air which are usually found in such places. "I think +I'll turn in; goodnight, my dear old governor," he said, in an +affectionate manner, though he was not usually given to many words. + +Then he went and kissed his mother and the Princess Jaqueline, whom he +engaged to row him on the lake next evening, while he fished. + +"And don't you go muffing them with the landing-net, Jack, as you +generally do," said his Royal Highness, as he lit his bedroom candle. + +"I wish he would not call me Jack," said the princess to the queen. + +"It's better than Lina, my dear," said her Majesty, who in late life had +become fond of her little joke; "that always sounds as if someone else +was fatter,--and I hope there is not someone else." + +The princess was silent, and fixed her eyes on her book. + +Presently the king came in, and played a game with Lina at picquet. When +they were all going to bed, he said: + +"Just come into the study, Lina. I want you to write a few letters for +me." + +The princess followed him and took her seat at the writing table. The +letters were very short. One was to Herr Schnipp, tailor to the king and +royal family; another was to the royal swordmaker, another to the +bootmaker, another to the optician, another to the tradesman who supplied +the august family with carpets and rugs, another to his Majesty's hatter. +They were all summoned to be at the palace early next morning. Then his +Majesty yawned, apologised, and went to bed. The princess also went to +her room, or bower as it was then called, but not to sleep. + +She was unhappy that Dick did not satisfy his father, and that he was so +careless, and also about other things. + +"And why does the king want all these tailors and hatters so suddenly, +telescope-makers and swordmakers and shoemakers, too?" she asked herself, +as she stood at the window watching the moon. + +"I _could_ find out. I could turn myself into a dog or a cat, and go +into the room where he is giving his orders. But that is awkward, for +when the servants see Rip" (that was the dog) "in two places at once, +they begin to think the palace is haunted, and it makes people talk. +Besides, I know it is wrong to listen to what one is not meant to hear. +It is often difficult to be a magician and a good girl. The temptations +are so strong, stronger than most people allow for." So she remained, +with the moon shining on her pretty yellow hair and her white dress, +wondering what the king intended to do, and whether it was something that +Dick would not like. + +"How stupid of me," she said at length, "after all the lessons I have +had. Why, I can _drink the moon_!" + +Now, this is a way of knowing what anyone else is thinking of and intends +to do, for the moon sees and knows everything. Whether it is _quite +fair_ is another matter; but, at all events, it is not _listening_. And +anyone may see that, if you are a magician, like the Princess Jaqueline, +a great many difficult questions as to what is right and wrong at once +occur which do not trouble other people. King Prigio's secret, why he +sent for the tailor and the other people, was his own secret. The +princess decided that she would not find it out by turning herself into +Rip or the cat (whose name was Semiramis), and, so far, she was quite +right. But she was very young, and it never occurred to her that it was +just as wrong to find out what the king meant by _drinking the moon_ as +by listening in disguise. As she grew older she learned to know better; +but this is just the danger of teaching young girls magic, and for that +very reason it has been given up in most countries. + +However, the princess did not think about right and wrong, unluckily. She +went to the bookcase and took down her _Cornelius Agrippa_, in one great +tall black volume, with silver clasps which nobody else could open; for, +as the princess said, there are books which it would never do to leave +lying about where the servants or anybody could read them. Nobody could +undo the clasps, however strong or clever he might be; but the princess +just breathed on them and made a sign, and the book flew open at the +right place--Book IV., chapter vi., about the middle of page 576. + +The magic spell was in Latin, of course; but the princess knew Latin very +well, and soon she had the magic song by heart. Then she closed the book +and put it back on the shelf. Then she threw open the window and drew +back the curtains, and put out all the lights except two scented candles +that burned with a white fire under a round mirror with a silver frame, +opposite the window. And into that mirror the moon shone white and full, +filling all the space of it, so that the room was steeped in a strange +silver light. Now the whole room seemed to sway gently, waving and +trembling; and as it trembled it sounded and rang with a low silver +music, as if it were filled with the waves of the sea. + +Then the princess took a great silver basin, covered with strange black +signs and figures raised in the silver. She poured water into the basin, +and as she poured it she sang the magic spell from the Latin book. It +was something like this, in English: + + "Oh Lady Moon, on the waters riding, + On shining waters, in silver sheen, + Show me the secret the heart is hiding, + Show me the truth of the thought, oh Queen! + + "Oh waters white, where the moon is riding, + That knows what shall be and what has been, + Tell me the secret the heart is hiding, + Wash me the truth of it, clear and clean!" + +As she sang the water in the silver basin foamed and bubbled, and then +fell still again; and the princess knelt in the middle of the room, and +the moon and the white light from the mirror of the moon fell in the +water. + +Then the princess raised the basin, and stooped her mouth to it and drank +the water, spilling a few drops, and so she _drank the moon_ and the +knowledge of the moon. Then the moon was darkened without a cloud, and +there was darkness in the sky for a time, and all the dogs in the world +began to howl. When the moon shone again, the princess rose and put out +the two white lights, and drew the curtains; and presently she went to +bed. + +{The Princess drinks the Moon: p41.jpg} + +"Now I know all about it," she said. "It is clever; everything the king +does is clever, and he is so kind that I daresay he does not mean any +harm. But it seems a cruel trick to play on poor Ricardo. However, +Jaqueline is on the watch, and I'll show them a girl can do more than +people think,"--as, indeed, she could. + +After meditating in this way, the princess fell sleep, and did not waken +till her maid came to call her. + +"Oh! your Royal Highness, what's this on the floor?" said the faithful +Rosina, as she was arranging the princess's things for her to get up. + +"Why, what is it?" asked the princess. + +"Ever so many--four, five, six, seven--little shining drops of silver +lying on the carpet, as if they had melted and fallen there!" + +"They have not hurt the carpet?" said the princess. "Oh dear! the queen +won't be pleased at all. It was a little chemical experiment I was +trying last night." + +But she knew very well that she must have dropped seven drops of the +enchanted water. + +"No, your Royal Highness, the carpet is not harmed," said Rosina; "only +your Royal Highness should do these things in the laboratory. Her +Majesty has often spoke about it." + +"You are quite right," said the princess; "but as there is no harm done, +we'll say nothing about it this time. And, Rosina, you may keep the +silver drops for yourself." + +"Your Royal Highness is always very kind," said Rosina, which was true; +but how much better and wiser it is not to _begin_ to deceive! We never +know how far we may be carried, and so Jaqueline found out. + +For when she went down to breakfast, there was the king in a great state +of excitement, for him. + +"It's _most_ extraordinary," said his Majesty. + +"What is?" asked the queen. + +"Why, didn't you notice it? No, you had gone to bed before it happened. +But I was taking a walk in the moonlight, on the balcony, and I observed +it carefully." + +"Observed what, my dear?" asked the queen, who was pouring out the tea. + +"Didn't you see it, Dick? Late as usual, you young dog!" the king +remarked as Ricardo entered the room. + +"See what, sir?" said Dick. + +"Oh, you were asleep hours before, now I think of it! But it was _the_ +most extraordinary thing, an unpredicted eclipse of the moon! You must +have noticed it, Jaqueline; you sat up later. How the dogs howled!" + +"No; I mean yes," murmured poor Jaqueline, who of course had caused the +whole affair by her magic arts, but who had forgotten, in the excitement +of the moment, that an eclipse of the moon, especially if entirely +unexpected, is likely to attract very general attention. Jaqueline could +not bear to tell a fib, especially to a king who had been so kind to her; +besides, fibbing would not alter the facts. + +"Yes, I did see it," she admitted, blushing. "Had it not been +predicted?" + +"Not a word about it whispered anywhere," said his Majesty. "I looked up +the almanack at once. It is the most extraordinary thing I ever saw, and +I've seen a good many." + +"The astronomers must be duffers," said Prince Ricardo. "I never thought +there was much in physical science of any sort; most dreary stuff. Why, +they say the earth goes round the sun, whereas any fool can see it is +just the other way on." + +King Prigio was struck aghast by these sentiments in the mouth of his son +and heir, the hope of Pantouflia. But what was the king to say in reply? +The astronomers of Pantouflia, who conceived that they knew a great deal, +had certainly been taken by surprise this time. Indeed, they have not +yet satisfactorily explained this eclipse of the moon, though they have +written volumes about it. + +"Why, it may be the sun next!" exclaimed his Majesty. "Anything may +happen. The very laws of gravitation themselves may go askew!" + +At this moment the butler, William, who had been in the queen's family +when she was a girl, entered, and announced: + +"Some of the royal tradesmen, by appointment, to see your Majesty." + +So the king, who had scarcely eaten any breakfast, much to the annoyance +of the queen, who was not agitated by eclipses, went out and joined the +tailors and the rest of them. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +The Adventure of the Shopkeepers. + + +{Man with sword: p48.jpg} + +Dick went on with his breakfast. He ate cold pastry, and poached eggs, +and ham, and rolls, and raspberry jam, and hot cakes; and he drank two +cups of coffee. Meanwhile the king had joined the tradesmen who attended +by his orders. They were all met in the royal study, where the king made +them a most splendid bow, and requested them to be seated. But they +declined to sit in his sacred presence, and the king observed that, in +that case he must stand up. + +"I have invited you here, gentlemen," he said, "on a matter of merely +private importance, but I must request that you will be entirely silent +as to the nature of your duties. It is difficult, I know, not to talk +about one's work, but in this instance I am sure you will oblige me." + +"Your Majesty has only to command," said Herr Schnipp. "There have been +monarchs, in neighbouring kingdoms, who would have cut off all our heads +after we had done a bit of secret business; but the merest word of your +Majesty is law to your loving subjects." + +The other merchants murmured assent, for King Prigio was really liked by +his people. He was always good-tempered and polite. He never went to +war with anybody. He spent most of the royal income on public objects, +and of course there were scarcely any taxes to speak of. Moreover, he +had abolished what is called compulsory education, or making everybody go +to school whether he likes it or not; a most mischievous and tyrannical +measure! "A fellow who can't teach himself to read," said the king, "is +not worth teaching." + +For all these reasons, and because they were so fond of the queen, his +subjects were ready to do anything in reason for King Prigio. + +Only one tradesman, bowing very deep and blushing very much, said: + +"Your Majesty, will you hear me for one moment?" + +"For an hour, with pleasure, Herr Schmidt," said the monarch. + +"It is an untradesman-like and an unusual thing to decline an order; and +if your Majesty asked for my heart's blood, I am ready to shed it, not to +speak of anything in the line of my business--namely, boot and shoe +making. But keep a secret from my wife, I fairly own to your Majesty +that I can _not_." + +Herr Schmidt went down on his knees and wept. + +{Herr Schmidt went down on his knees: p52.jpg} + +"Rise, Herr Schmidt," said the king, taking him by the hand. "A more +honourable and chivalrous confession of an amiable weakness, if it is to +be called a weakness, I never heard. Sir, you have been true to your +honour and your prince, in face of what few men can bear, the chance of +ridicule. There is no one here, I hope, but respects and will keep the +secret of Herr Schmidt's confession?" + +The assembled shopkeepers could scarcely refrain from tears. + +"Long live King Prigio the Good!" they exclaimed, and vowed that +everything should be kept dark. + +"Indeed, sire," said the swordmaker, "all the rest of us are bachelors." + +"That is none the worse for my purpose gentlemen," said his Majesty; "but +I trust that you will not long deprive me of sons and subjects worthy to +succeed to such fathers. And now, if Herr Schmidt will kindly find his +way to the buttery, where refreshments are ready, I shall have the +pleasure of conducting you to the scene of your labours." + +Thus speaking, the king, with another magnificent bow, led the way +upstairs to a little turret-room, in a deserted part of the palace. +Bidding the tradesmen enter, he showed them a large collection of +miscellaneous things: an old cap or two, a pair of boots of a sort long +out of fashion, an old broadsword, a shabby old Persian rug, an ivory spy- +glass, and other articles. These were, in fact, the fairy presents, +which had been given to the king at his christening, and by aid of which +(and his natural acuteness) he had, in his youth, succeeded in many +remarkable adventures. + +The caps were the Wishing Cap and the Cap of Darkness. The rug was the +famous carpet which carried its owner through the air wherever he wished +to go. The sword was the Sword of Sharpness. The ivory glass showed you +anyone you wanted to see, however far off. The boots were the +Seven-league Boots, which Hop-o'-my-Thumb stole from the Ogre about 1697. +There were other valuable objects, but these were the most useful and +celebrated. Of course the king did not tell the tradesmen what they +were. + +"Now, gentlemen," said his Majesty, "you see these old things. For +reasons which I must ask you to excuse me for keeping to myself, I wish +you to provide me with objects exactly and precisely similar to these, +with all the look of age." + +The tradesmen examined the objects, each choosing that in his own line of +business. + +"As to the sword, sire," said the cutler, "it is an Andrea Ferrara, a +fine old blade. By a lucky accident, I happen to have one at home in a +small collection of ancient weapons, exactly like it. This evening it +shall be at your Majesty's disposal." + +"Perhaps, Herr Schnitzler, you will kindly write an order for it, as I +wish no one of you to leave the palace, if you can conveniently stay, +till your business is finished." + +"With pleasure, your Majesty," says the cutler. + +"As to the old rug," said the upholsterer, "I have a Persian one quite +identical with it at home, at your Majesty's service." + +"Then you can do like Herr Schnitzler," who was the cutler. + +"And I," said the hatter, "have two old caps just like these, part of a +bankrupt theatrical stock." + +"We are most fortunate," said the king. + +"The boots, now I come to think of it, are unimportant, at least for the +present. Perhaps we can borrow a pair from the theatre." + +"As for the glass," said the optician, "if your Majesty will allow me to +take it home with me--" + +"I am afraid I cannot part with it," said the king; "but that, too, is +unimportant, or not very pressing." + +Then he called for a servant, to order luncheon for the shopkeepers, and +paper for them to write their orders on. But no one was within hearing, +and in that very old part of the palace there were no bells. + +"Just pardon me for an instant, while I run downstairs," said his +Majesty; "and, it seems a strange thing to ask, but may I advise you not +to sit down on that carpet? I have a reason for it." + +In fact, he was afraid that someone might sit down on it, and wish he was +somewhere else, and be carried away, as was the nature of the carpet. + +King Prigio was not absent a minute, for he met William on the stairs; +but when he came back, there was not one single person in the +turret-room! + +"Where on earth are they?" cried the king, rushing through all the rooms +in that part of the castle. He shouted for them, and looked everywhere; +but there was not a trace of tailor, hatter, optician, swordmaker, +upholsterer. + +The king hastened to a window over the gate, and saw the sentinels on +duty. + +"Hi!" he called. + +And the sentinels turned round, looked up, and saluted. + +"Have you seen anyone go out?" he cried. + +"No one, sire," answered the soldiers. + +The king, who began to guess what had happened, hurried back to the +turret-room. + +There were all the tradesmen with parcels under their arms. + +"What means this, gentlemen?" said his Majesty, severely. "For what +reason did you leave the room without my permission?" + +They all knelt down, humbly imploring his compassion. + +"Get up, you donkeys!" said the king, forgetting his politeness. "Get +up, and tell me where you have been hiding yourselves." + +The hatter came forward, and said: + +"Sire, you will not believe me; indeed, I can scarcely believe it +myself!" + +"Nor none of us can't," said the swordmaker. "We have been home, and +brought the articles. All orders executed with punctuality and +dispatch," he added, quoting his own advertisement without thinking of +it. + +On this the swordmaker took out and exhibited the Andrea Ferrara blade, +which was exactly like the Sword of Sharpness. + +The upholsterer undid his parcel, and there was a Persian rug, which no +one could tell from the magical carpet. + +The hatter was fumbling with the string of his parcel, when he suddenly +remembered, what the king in his astonishment had not noticed, that he +had a cap on himself. He pulled it off in a hurry, and the king at once +saw that it was his Wishing Cap, and understood all about the affair. The +hatter, in his absence, had tried on the Wishing Cap, and had wished that +he himself and his friends were all at home and back again with their +wares at the palace. And what he wished happened, of course, as was +natural. In a moment the king saw how much talk this business would +produce in the country, and he decided on the best way to stop it. + +Seizing the Wishing Cap, he put it on, wished all the tradesmen, +including the shoemaker, back in the town at their shops, and also wished +that none of them should remember anything about the whole affair. + +In a moment he was alone in the turret-room. As for the shopkeepers, +they had a kind of idea that they had dreamed something odd; but, as it +went no further, of course they did not talk about it, and nobody was any +the wiser. + +"Owl that I am!" said King Prigio to himself. "I might have better +wished for a complete set of sham fairy things which would not work. It +would have saved a great deal of trouble; but I am so much out of the +habit of using the cap, that I never thought of it. However, what I have +got will do very well." + +Then, putting on the Cap of Darkness, that nobody might see him, he +carried all the _real_ fairy articles away, except the Seven-league +Boots, to his own room, where he locked them up, leaving in their place +the sham Wishing Cap, the sham Cap of Darkness, the sham Sword of +Sharpness, and the carpet which was not a magic carpet at all. + +His idea was, of course, that Ricardo would start on an expedition +confiding in his fairy things, and he would find that they did not act. +Then he would be left to his own cleverness and courage to get him out of +the scrape. That would teach him, thought the king, to depend on +himself, and to set a proper value on cleverness and learning, and +minding his book. + +Of course he might have locked the things up, and forbidden Ricardo to +touch them, but that might have seemed harsh. And, as you may easily +imagine, with all the powers at his command, the king fancied he could +easily rescue Ricardo from any very serious danger at the hands of giants +or magicians or monsters. He only wanted to give him a fright or two, +and make him respect the judgment of older and wiser people than himself. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +Two Lectures. + + +{The Prince with the telescope: p64.jpg} + +For several days Prince Ricardo minded his books, and, according to his +tutors, made considerable progress in polite learning. Perhaps he ought +not to be praised too highly for this, because, in fact, he saw no means +of distinguishing himself by adventures just at that time. Every morning +he would climb the turret and sweep the horizon, and even _much_ beyond +the horizon, with the ivory spy-glass. But look as he would, he saw no +monsters preying on human-kind anywhere, nor princesses in distress. To +be sure he saw plenty of poor people in distress, and, being a +good-hearted, though careless, lad, Dick would occasionally fly off with +the Purse of Fortunatus in his pocket, and give them as much money as +they needed--it cost him nothing. But this was not the kind of adventure +which he enjoyed. Dragons for his money! + +One day the Princess Jaqueline took a curious plan of showing Ricardo how +little interest, after all, there is in performing the most wonderful +exploits without any real difficulty or danger. They were drifting +before a light breeze on a hill lake; Ricardo was fishing, and Jaqueline +was sculling a stroke now and then, just to keep the boat right with the +wind. Ricardo had very bad sport, when suddenly the trout began to rise +all over the lake. Dick got excited, and stumbled about the boat from +stern to bow, tripping over Jaqueline's feet, and nearly upsetting the +vessel in his hurry to throw his flies over every trout he saw feeding. + +{Drifting in a light breeze: p66.jpg} + +But, as too often occurs, they were taking one particular fly which was +on the water, and would look at nothing else. + +"Oh, bother them!" cried Ricardo. "I can't find a fly in my book in the +least like that little black one they are feeding on!" + +He tried half-a-dozen different fly-hooks, but all to no purpose; he lost +his temper, got his tackle entangled in Jaqueline's hair and then in the +landing-net; and, though such a big boy, he was nearly crying with +vexation. + +The Princess Jaqueline, with great pains and patience, disentangled the +casting line, first from her hair, which Ricardo was anxious to cut (the +great stupid oaf,--her pretty hair!) then from the landing-net; but Dick +had grown sulky. + +"It's no use," he said; "I have not a fly that will suit. Let's go +home," and he threw a tin can at a rising trout. + +"Now, Dick," said Jaqueline, "you know I can help you. I did not learn +magic for nothing. Just you look the other way for a minute or two, and +you will find the right fly at the end of your line." + +Dick turned his head away (it is not proper to look on at magical arts), +and then in a moment, saw the right hook on his cast; but Jaqueline was +not in the boat. She had turned herself into an artificial fly (a small +black gnat), and Dick might set to his sport again. + +"What a trump that girl is," he said aloud. "Clever, too!" and he began +casting. He got a trout every cast, great big ones, over a pound, and +soon he had a basketful. But he began to feel rather bored. + +"There's not much fun taking them," he said, "when they are so silly." + +At that very moment he noticed that the fly was off his cast, and +Jaqueline was sitting at the oars. + +"You see, Ricardo," she said, "I was right after all. There is not much +pleasure in sport that is easy and certain. Now, apply this moral to +dragon-killing with magic instruments. It may be useful when one is +obliged to defend oneself, but surely a prince ought not to give his +whole time to nothing else!" + +Dick had no answer ready, so he only grumbled: + +"You're always preaching at me, Jack; everybody always is. I seem to +have been born just to be preached at." + +Some people are; and it does grow rather tedious in the long run. But +perhaps what Jaqueline said may have made some impression on Ricardo, for +he stuck to his books for weeks, and was got into decimal fractions and +Euclid. + +All this, of course, pleased the king very much, and he began to +entertain hopes of Ricardo's becoming a wise and learned prince, and a +credit to his illustrious family. + +Things were not always to go smoothly, far from it; and it was poor +Jaqueline who fell into trouble next. She had been very ready to lecture +Dick, as we saw, and took a good deal of credit to herself for his +steadiness. But one day King Prigio happened to meet Jaqueline's maid, +Rosina, on the stairs; and as Rosina was a pretty girl, and the king was +always kind to his dependents, he stopped to have a chat with her. + +"Why, Rosina, what a pretty little silver cross you are wearing," he +said, and he lifted a curious ornament which hung from a chain on +Rosina's neck. It consisted of seven drops of silver, set like this: + +{The drops: p72.jpg} + + "May I look at it?" his Majesty asked, and Rosina, all in a flutter, +took it off and gave if to him. "H'm!" said the king. "Very curious and +pretty! May I ask you where you got this, Rosina?" + +{"H'm!" said the king. "Very curious and pretty!": p73.jpg} + +Now Rosina generally had her answer ready, and I am very sorry to say +that she did not always speak the truth when she could think of anything +better. On this occasion she was anxious to think of something better, +for fear of getting Jaqueline into a scrape about the chemical experiment +in her bedroom. But Rosina was fluttered, as we said, by the royal +kindness, and she could think of nothing but to curtsy, and say: + +"Please, your Majesty, the princess gave me the drops." + +"Very interesting," said the king. "There is a little white moon shining +in each of them! I wonder if they shine in the dark?" + +He opened the door of a cupboard which had no windows, where the +housemaid kept her mops and brooms, and shut himself in. Yes, there was +no mistake; the darkness was quite lighted up with the sheen of the seven +little moons in the silver. The king looked rather grave. + +"If you can trust me with this cross till to-morrow, Rosina, I should +like to have it examined and analysed. This is no common silver." + +Of course Rosina could only curtsy, but she was very much alarmed about +the consequences to her mistress. + +After luncheon, the king asked Jaqueline to come into his study, as he +often did, to help him with his letters. When they had sat down his +Majesty said: + +"My dear Jaqueline, I never interfere with your pursuits, but I almost +doubt whether _Cornelius Agrippa_ is a good book for a very young lady to +read. The Fairy Paribanou, I am sure, taught you nothing beyond the +ordinary magical accomplishments suited to your rank; but there are a +great many things in the _Cornelius_ which I think you should not study +till you are older and wiser." + +"What does your Majesty mean?" said poor Jaqueline, feeling very +uncomfortable; for the king had never lectured her before. + +"Why," said his Majesty, taking the silver cross out of his pocket, "did +you not give this to Rosina?" + +"Yes, sire, I did give her the drops. She had them made up herself." + +"Then give it back to her when you see her next. I am glad you are +frank, Jaqueline. And you know, of course, that the drops are not +ordinary silver? They are moon silver, and that can only be got in one +way, so far as I know, at least--when one spills the water when he, or +she, is drinking the moon. Now, there is only one book which tells how +that can be done, and there is only one reason for doing it; namely, to +find out what is some other person's secret. I shall not ask you _whose_ +secret you wanted to find out, but I must request you never to do such a +thing again without consulting me. You can have no reason for it, such +as a great king might have whose enemies are plotting against his +country." + +"Oh, sire, I will tell you everything!" cried Jaqueline. + +"No, don't; I don't want to know. I am sure you will make no use of your +information which you think I should not approve of. But there is +another thing--that eclipse of the moon! Oh, Jaqueline, was it +honourable, or fair to the astronomers and men of science, to say nothing +about it? Their European reputations are seriously injured." + +Poor Jaqueline could only cry. + +"Never mind," said his Majesty, comforting her. "There is no great harm +done yet, and perhaps they would not believe you if you did explain; but +just think, if some people ceased to believe in Science, what would they +have left to believe in? But you are young, of course, and cannot be +expected to think of everything." + +"I never thought about it at all," wept Jaqueline. + +"'Evil is wrought by want of thought,'" said the king, quoting the poet. +"Now run away, dry your tears, and I think you had better bring me that +book, and I'll put it back in one of the locked-up shelves. Later, when +you are older, we shall see about it." + +The princess flew to her room, and returned with her book. And the king +kissed her, and told her to go and see if her Majesty meant to take a +drive. + +"I'll never deceive him again, never . . . unless it is _quite_ +necessary," said the princess to herself. "Indeed, it is not so easy to +deceive the king. What a lot he has read!" + +In fact, King Prigio had been very studious when a young man, before he +came to the throne. + +"Poor child!" thought the king. "No doubt she was trying her fortune, +wondering if Ricardo cares for her a little. Of course I could not let +her tell me _that_, poor child!" + +In this guess, as we know, his Majesty was mistaken, which seldom +happened to him. + +"I wonder who she is?" the king went on speaking to himself. "That great +booby, Ricardo, saved her from wild birds, which were just going to eat +her. She was fastened to a mountain top, but _where_? that's the +question. Ricardo never has any notion of geography. It was across the +sea, he noticed _that_; but which sea,--Atlantic, Pacific, the Black Sea, +the Caspian, the Sea of Marmora, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, the +German Ocean, the Mediterranean? Her ornaments were very peculiar; there +was a broad gold sun on her breast. I must look at them again some day. +She said she was being sacrificed to wild birds (which her people +worshipped), because there was some famine, or war, or trouble in the +country. She said she was a Daughter of the Sun; but that, of course, is +absurd, unless--By Jove! I believe I have it," said the king, and he +went into the royal library and was looking for some old Spanish book, +when his secretary came and said that the Russian Ambassador was waiting +for an interview with his Majesty. + +"Dismal old Muscovite!" sighed the king. "A monarch has not a moment to +himself for his private studies. Ah, Prigio! why wert thou not born to a +private station? But Duty before everything," and wreathing his royal +countenance in smiles, his Majesty prepared to give Count Snoreonski an +audience. + +It was all about the attitude of Pantouflia in the event of a Polish +invasion of Russia. The king reassured Count Snoreonski, affirming that +Pantouflia, while deeply regretting the disturbed relations between two +States in whose welfare she was deeply interested, would ever preserve an +attitude of benevolent neutrality, unless her own interests were +threatened. + +"I may give your message to my august mistress, the Czarina?" said the +ambassador. + +"By all means, adding an expression of my tender interest in her +Majesty's health and welfare," said the king, presenting the count at the +same time with a magnificent diamond snuffbox containing his portrait. + +The old count was affected to tears, and withdrew, while King Prigio +said: + +"I have not lost a day; I have made an amiable but very stupid man +happy." + +Such are, or rather such were, the toils of monarchs! + + + + +CHAPTER V. +Prince Ricardo Crosses the Path of History. + + +{Hand reaching for a crown with wings: p83.jpg} + +"I say, Jack," said Prince Ricardo one morning, "here's a queer letter +for me!" + +King Prigio had gone to a distant part of his dominions, on business of +importance, and the young people were sitting in the royal study. The +letter, which Ricardo handed to Jaqueline, was written on a great broad +sheet of paper, folded up without any envelope, as was the custom then, +and was sealed with a huge seal in red wax. + +"I don't know the arms," Ricardo said. + +"Oh, Ricardo, how you _do_ neglect your Heraldry! Old Green Stocking is +in despair over your ignorance." + +Now Green Stocking was the chief herald of Pantouflia, just like Blue +Mantle in England. + +"Why, these are the Royal Arms of England, you great ignorant Dick!" + +"But Rome isn't in England, is it?--and the post-mark is 'Roma': that's +Rome in some lingo, I expect. It is in Latin, anyhow, I know. _Mortuus +est Romae_--'He died at Rome.' It's in the Latin Grammar. Let's see +what the fellow says, anyhow," added Ricardo, breaking the seal. + +"He begins, 'Prins and dear Cousin!' I say, Jaqueline, he spells it +'Prins;' now it is P-R-I-N-C-E. He _must_ be an ignorant fellow!" + +"People in glass houses should not throw stones, Dick," said Jaqueline. + +"He signs himself 'Charles, P. W.,'" said Ricardo, looking at the end. +"Who on earth can he be? Why does he not put 'P. W. Charles,' if these +are his initials? Look here, it's rather a long letter; you might read +it to us, Jack!" + +The princess took the epistle and began: + +"How nice it smells, all scented! The paper is gilt-edged, too." + +"Luxurious beggar, whoever he is," said Ricardo. + +"Well, he says: 'Prins and dear Cousin,--You and me' (oh, what grammar!) +'are much the same age, I being fifteen next birthday, and we should be +better _ackwainted_. All the wurld has herd of the fame of Prins +Ricardo, whose name is _feerd_, and his _sord_ dreded, wherever there are +Monsters and Tirants. Prins, you may be less well informed about my +situation. I have not killed any Dragguns, there being nun of them here; +but I have been _under fiar_, at Gaeta.' Where's Gaeta, Dick?" + +"Never heard of it," said Ricardo. + +"Well, it is in Italy, and it was besieged lately. He goes on: 'and I am +told that I did not misbehave myself, nor disgrace _the blud of Bruce_.'" + +"I've heard of Robert Bruce," said Dick; "he was the man who did not kill +the spider, but he cracked the head of Sir Harry Bohun with one whack of +his axe. I remember _him_ well enough." + +"Well, your correspondent seems to be a descendant of his." + +"That's getting more interesting," said Dick. "I wish my father would go +to war with somebody. With the Sword of Sharpness I'd make the enemy +whistle! Drive on, Jack." + +"'As a prins in distress, I apeal to your valler, so renouned in Europe. +I am kept out of my own; my royal father, King Gems,'--well, this is the +worst spelling I ever saw in my life! He means King _James_,--'my royal +father, King Gems, being druv into exile by a crewl Usurper, the Elector +of Hannover. King Gems is _old_, and likes a quiat life; but I am +determined to make an effort, if I go alone, and Europe shall here of +Prince Charles. Having heard--as who has not?--of your royal Highness's +courage and sordsmanship, I throw myself at your feet, and implore you to +asist a prins in distres. Let our sords be drawn together in the caus of +freedom and an outraged country, my own. + +"'I remain, +"'Prins and dear Cuzen, +"'CHARLES, P. W.' + +"P. W. means Prince of Wales," added Jaqueline. "He is turned out of +England you know, and lives at Rome with his father." + +"I like that chap," said Prince Ricardo. "He does not spell very well, +as you say, but I sometimes make mistakes myself; and I like his spirit. +I've been looking out for an adventure; but the big game is getting shy, +and my sword rusts in his scabbard. I'll tell you what, Jack--I've an +idea! I'll put him on the throne of his fathers; it's as easy as +shelling peas: and as for that other fellow, the Elector, I'll send him +back to Hanover, wherever that may be, and he can go on electing, and +polling his vote in peace and quietness, at home. Just wait till I spot +the places." + +The prince ran up to the turret, fetched the magic spy-glass, and looked +up London, Rome, and Hanover, as you would in a map. + +"Well, Dick, but how do you mean to do it?" + +"Do it?--nothing simpler! I just take my Seven-league Boots, run over to +Rome, pick up Prince Charles, put him on the magic carpet, fly to London, +clap the Cap of Darkness on him so that nobody can see him, set him down +on the throne of his fathers; pick up the Elector, carry him over to his +beloved Hanover, and the trick is done--what they call a bloodless +revolution in the history books." + +"But if the English don't like Prince Charles when they get him?" + +"Like him? they're sure to like him, a young fellow like that! Besides, +I'll take the sword with me in case of accidents." + +"But, Dick, it is your father's rule that you are never to meddle in the +affairs of other countries, and never to start on an expedition when he +is not at home." + +"Oh, he won't mind this time! There's no kind of danger; and I'm sure he +will approve of the _principle_ of the thing. Kings must stick up for +each other. Why, some electing characters might come here and kick _us_ +out!" + +"Your father is not the sort of king who is kicked out," said Jaqueline. + +But there was no use in talking to Dick. He made his simple +preparations, and announced that he would be back in time for luncheon. + +What was poor Jaqueline to do? She was extremely anxious. She knew, as +we saw, what King Prigio had intended about changing the fairy things for +others that would not work. She was certain Dick would get himself into +a scrape; how was she to help him? She made up her mind quickly, while +Dick was putting his things together. She told the queen (it was the +nearest to the truth she could think of) that she "was going for a turn +with Dick." Then she changed herself into a mosquito--a kind of gnat +that bites--and hid herself under a fold of Dick's coat. Of course he +knew nothing about her being there. Then he started off in his Seven- +league Boots, and before you could say "Jack Robinson" he was in Rome, in +the grounds of a splendid palace called the Villa Borghese. + +There he saw an elderly gentleman, in a great curled wig, sound asleep on +a seat beneath a tree. The old gentleman had a long, pale, melancholy +face, and across his breast was a broad blue ribbon with a star. Ah! how +changed was King James from the handsome Prince who had loved fair +Beatrix Esmond, thirty years ago! Near him were two boys, not quite so +old as Prince Ricardo. The younger was a pretty dark boy, with a funny +little roundabout white wig. He was splendidly dressed in a light-blue +silk coat; a delicate little lace scarf was tied round his neck; he had +lace ruffles falling about his little ringed hands; he had a pretty +sword, with a gold handle set with diamonds--in fact, he was the picture +of a little dandy. The other lad had a broad Scotch bonnet on, and no +wig; beautiful silky yellow locks fell about his shoulders. He had laid +his sword on the grass. He was dressed in tartan, which Ricardo had +never seen before; and he wore a kilt, which was also new to Ricardo, who +wondered at his bare legs--for he was wearing shoes with no stockings. In +his hand he held a curious club, with a long, slim handle, and a head +made heavy with lead, and defended with horn. With this he was aiming at +a little white ball; and suddenly he swung up the club and sent the ball +out of sight in the air, over several trees. + +Prince Ricardo stepped up to this boy, took off his cap, and said: + +"I think I have the honour of addressing the Prince of Wales?" + +Prince Charles started at the sight of a gentleman in long riding-boots, +girt with a broadsword, which was not then generally worn, and carrying a +Persian rug under his arm. + +"That is what I am called, sir," he said, "by those who give me the title +which is mine by right. May I inquire the reason which offers me the +pleasure of this unexpected interview?" + +"Oh, I'm Ricardo of Pantouflia!" says Dick. "I had a letter from you +this morning, and I believe you wanted to see me." + +"From Pantouflia, sir," said Prince Charles; "why, that is hundreds of +leagues away!" + +"It is a good distance," said Dick; "but a mere step when you wear Seven- +league Boots like mine." + +"My dear prince," said Charles, throwing himself into his arms with +rapture, and kissing him in the Italian fashion, which Dick did not half +like, "you are, indeed, worthy of your reputation; and these are the +celebrated Seven-league Boots? Harry," he cried to his brother, "come +here at once and let me present you to his Royal Highness, our +illustrious ally, Prince Ricardo of Pantouflia. The Duke of York--Prince +Ricardo of Pantouflia. Gentlemen, know each other!" + +The prince bowed in the most stately manner. + +"I say," said Dick, who was seldom at all up to the standard of royal +conversation, "what's that game you were playing? It's new to me. You +sent the ball a tremendous long shot." + +"The game is called golf, and is the favourite pastime of my loyal +Scottish subjects," said Prince Charles. "For that reason, that I may be +able to share the amusements of my people, whom I soon hope to lead to a +glorious victory, followed by a peaceful and prosperous reign, I am +acquiring a difficult art. I'm practising walking without stockings, +too, to harden my feet," he said, in a more familiar tone of voice. "I +fancy there are plenty of long marches before me, and I would not be a +spear's length behind the hardiest Highlander." + +"By Jove! I respect you," said Dick, with the greatest sincerity; "but I +don't think, with me on your side, you will need to make many marches. It +will all be plain sailing." + +"Pray explain your plan," said Prince Charles. "The task of conquering +back the throne of my fathers is not so simple as you seem to suppose." + +"I've done a good many difficult things," said Dick, modestly. + +"The conqueror of the magician, Gorgonzola, and the Giant Who never Knew +when he had Enough, need not tell me that," said Prince Charles, with a +courteous allusion to two of Ricardo's most prodigious adventures. + +"Oh! I've very little to be proud of, really," said Dick, blushing; +"anyone could do as much with my fairy things, of which, no doubt, you +have heard. With a Sword of Sharpness and a Cap of Darkness, and so +forth, you have a great pull over almost anything." + +"And you really possess those talismans?" said the prince. + +"Certainly I do. You see how short a time I took in coming to your call +from Pantouflia." + +"And has Holy Church," asked the Duke of York, with anxiety, "given her +sanction and her blessing to those instruments of an art, usually, in her +wisdom, forbidden?" + +"Oh, never mind Holy Church, Harry!" said Prince Charles. "This is +_business_. Besides, the English are Protestants." + +"I pray for their conversion daily," said the Duke of York. + +"The end justifies the means, you know," answered Prince Charles. "All's +fair in love and war." + +"I should think so," said Ricardo, "especially against those brutes of +Electors; they give trouble at home sometimes." + +"You, too, are plagued with an Elector?" asked Prince Charles. + +"_An_ Elector? thousands of them!" answered Dick, who never could +understand anything about politics. + +Prince Charles looked puzzled, but requested Dick to explain his great +plan. + +They sat down on the grass, and Ricardo showed them how he meant to +manage it, just as he had told Jaqueline. As he said, nothing could be +simpler. + +"Let's start at once," he said, and, inducing Prince Charles to sit down +on the magic carpet, he cried: + +"England! St. James's Palace!" + +But nothing happened! + +The carpet was not the right magic carpet, but the one which King Prigio +had put in its place. + +"Get on! England, I said!" cried Dick. + +But there they remained, under the chestnut tree, sitting on the carpet +above the flowery grass. + +{But there they remained: p99.jpg} + +Prince Charles leaped to his feet; his face like fire, his eyes glowing. + +"Enough of this fooling, sir!" he said. "It is easy, but cowardly, to +mock at an unfortunate prince. Take your carpet and be off with you, out +of the gardens, or your shoulders shall taste my club." + +"There has been some mistake," Ricardo said; "the wrong carpet has been +brought by accident, or the carpet has lost its power." + +"In this sacred city, blessed by the presence of his Holiness the Pope, +and the relics of so many martyrs and saints, magic may well cease to be +potent," said the Duke of York. + +"Nonsense! You are an impostor, sir! Leave my presence!" cried Prince +Charles, lifting his golf-club. + +Dick caught it out of his hand, and broke across his knee as fine a +driver as ever came from Robertson's shop at St. Andrew's. + +"The quarrels of princes are not settled with clubs, sir! Draw and +defend yourself!" he said, kicking off his boots and standing in his +socks on the grass. + +Think of the horror of poor Jaqueline, who witnessed this terrible scene +of passion from a fold in Prince Ricardo's dress! What could the girl do +to save the life of two princes, the hopes of one nation, and of a +respectable minority in another? + +In a moment Prince Charles's rapier was shining in the sunlight, and he +fell on guard in the most elegant attitude, his left hand gracefully +raised and curved. + +Dick drew his sword, but, as suddenly, threw it down again. + +"Hang it!" he exclaimed, "I can't hit you with _this_! This is the Sword +of Sharpness; it would cut through your steel and your neck at a touch." + +He paused, and thought. + +"Let me beseech your Royal Highness," he said to the Duke of York, who +was in a terrible taking, "to lend your blade to a hand not less royal +than your own." + +"Give him it, Hal!" said Prince Charles, who was standing with the point +of his sword on the ground, and the blade bent. "He seems to believe in +his own nonsense." + +The duke yielded his sword; Dick took it, made a nourish, and rushed at +Prince Charles. + +Now Ricardo had always neglected his fencing lessons. "Where's the good +of it," he used to ask, "all that stamping, and posture-making, and ha- +haing? The Sword of Sharpness is enough for _me_." + +But now he could not, in honour, use the Sword of Sharpness; so on he +came, waving the rapier like a claymore, and made a slice at Prince +Charles's head. + +The prince, very much surprised, parried in prime, riposted, and touched +Dick on the hand. + +At this moment the Princess Jaqueline did what she should have thought of +sooner. She flew out of Dick's coat, and stung old King James on his +royal nose. The king wakened, nearly crushed the princess (so dangerous +is the practice of magic to the artist), and then leaped up, and saw +Dick's blade flying through the air, glittering in the sun. The prince +had disarmed him. + +"Hullo! what's all this? _A moi_, _mes gardes_!" cried the old king, in +French and English; and then he ran up, just in time to hear Prince +Charles say: + +"Sir, take your life! I cannot strike an unarmed man. A prince you may +be, but you have not learned the exercises of gentlemen." + +"What is all this, Carluccio?" asked the old king. "Swords out! brawling +in my very presence! blood drawn!" for Dick's hand was bleeding a good +deal. + +Prince Charles, as briefly as possible, explained the unusual nature of +the circumstances. + +"A king must hear both sides," said King James. "What reply have you, +sir, to make to his Royal Highness's statements?" + +"The carpet would not work, sir," said Dick. "It never happened before. +Had I used my own sword," and he explained its properties, "the Prince of +Wales would not be alive to tell his story. I can say no more, beyond +offering my apology for a disappointment which I could not have foreseen. +A gentleman can only say that he is sorry. But wait!" he added; "I can +at least prove that my confidence in some of my resources is not +misplaced. Bid me bring you something--anything--from the ends of the +earth, and it shall be in your hands. I can't say fairer." + +King James reflected, while Prince Ricardo was pulling on the +Seven-league Boots, which he had kicked off to fight more freely, and +while the Duke of York bandaged Dick's hand with a kerchief. + +"Bring me," said his Majesty, "Lord Lovat's snuff-mull." + +"Where does he live?" said Dick. + +"At Gortuleg, in Scotland," answered King James. + +Dick was out of sight before the words were fairly spoken, and in ten +minutes was back, bearing a large ram's-horn snuff-box, with a big +cairngorm set in the top, and the Frazer arms. + +"Most astonishing!" said King James. + +"A miracle!" said the Duke of York. + +"You have entirely cleared your character," said the king. "Your honour +is without a stain, though it is a pity about the carpet. Your nobility +in not using your magical sword, under the greatest provocation, +reconciles me to this fresh blighting of my hopes. All my allies fail +me," said the poor king with a sigh; "you alone have failed with honour. +Carluccio, embrace the prince!" + +They fell into each other's arms. + +"Prince," said Dick, "you have taught me a lesson for which I shall not +be ungrateful. With any blade a gentleman should be able to hold his own +in fair fight. I shall no longer neglect my fencing lessons." + +"With any blade," said Prince Charles, "I shall be happy to find Prince +Ricardo by my side in a stricken field. We shall not part till I have +induced you to accept a sword which I can never hope to draw against +another adversary so noble. In war, my weapon is the claymore." + +Here the prince offered to Ricardo the ruby-studded hilt of his rapier, +which had a beautiful white shark-skin sheath. + +"You must accept it, sir," said King James; "the hilt holds the rubies of +John Sobieski." + +"Thank you, prince," said Ricardo, "for the weapon, which I shall learn +to wield; and I entreat you to honour me by receiving this fairy +gift--which _you_ do not need--a ring which makes all men faithful to the +wearer." + +The Prince of Wales bowed, and placed the talisman on his finger. + +Ricardo then, after a few words of courtesy on both parts, picked up his +useless carpet, took his farewell of the royal party, and, with Jaqueline +still hidden under his collar, returned at full speed, but with a heavy +heart, to Pantouflia, where the palace gong was just sounding for +luncheon. + +Ricardo never interfered in foreign affairs again, but his ring proved +very useful to Prince Charles, as you may have read in history. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +Ricardo's Repentance. + + +{Bottle of weapon salve: p109.jpg} + +The queen, as it happened fortunately, was lunching with one of the +ladies of her Court. Ricardo did not come down to luncheon, and +Jaqueline ate hers alone; and very mournful she felt. The prince had +certainly not come well out of the adventure. He had failed (as all +attempts to restore the Stuarts always did); he had been wounded, though +he had never received a scratch in any of his earlier exploits; and if +his honour was safe, and his good intentions fully understood, that was +chiefly due to Jaqueline, and to the generosity of King James and Prince +Charles. + +"I wonder what he's doing?" she said to herself, and at last she went up +and knocked at Ricardo's door. + +"Go away," he said; "I don't want to see anybody. Who is it?" + +"It's only me--Jaqueline." + +{"It's only me": p111.jpg} + +"Go away! I want nobody." + +"Do let me in, dear Dick; I have good news for you," said the princess. + +"What is it?" said Ricardo, unlocking the door. "Why do you bother a +fellow so?" + +He had been crying--his hand obviously hurt him badly; he looked, and +indeed he was, very sulky. + +"How did you get on in England, Dick?" asked the princess, taking no +notice of his bandaged hand. + +"Oh, don't ask me!" said Ricardo. "I've not been to England at all." + +"Why, what happened?" + +"Everything that is horrid happened," said Dick; and then, unable to keep +it any longer to himself, he said: "I've failed to keep my promise; I've +been insulted, I've been beaten by a fellow younger than myself; and, oh! +how my hand does hurt, and I've got such a headache! And what am I to +say to my mother when she asks why my arm is in a sling? and what will my +father say? I'm quite broken down and desperate. I think I'll run away +to sea;" and indeed he looked very wild and miserable. + +"Tell me how it all happened, Dick," said the princess; "I'm sure it's +not so bad as you make out. Perhaps I can help you." + +"How can a girl help a man?" cried Dick, angrily; and poor Jaqueline, +remembering how she _had_ helped him, at the risk of her own life, when +King James nearly crushed her in the shape of a mosquito, turned her head +away, and cried silently. + +"I'm a beast," said Dick. "I beg your pardon, Jack dear. You are always +a trump, I will say; but I don't see what you can do." + +Then he told her all the story (which, of course, she knew perfectly well +already), except the part played by the mosquito, of which he could not +be aware. + +"I was sure it was not so bad as you made it out, Dick," she said. "You +see, the old king, who is not very wise, but is a perfectly honourable +gentleman, gave you the highest praise." She thought of lecturing him a +little about disobeying his father, but it did not seem a good +opportunity. Besides, Jaqueline had been lectured herself lately, and +had not enjoyed it. + +"What am I to say to my mother?" Dick repeated. + +"We must think of something to say," said Jaqueline. + +"I can't tell my mother anything but the truth," Ricardo went on. "Here's +my hand, how it does sting! and she must find out." + +"I think I can cure it," said Jaqueline. "Didn't you say Prince Charles +gave you his own sword?" + +"Yes, there it is; but what has that to do with it?" + +"Everything in the world to do with it, my dear Dick. How lucky it is +that he gave it to you!" + +And she ran to her own room, and brought a beautiful golden casket, which +contained her medicines. + +Taking out a small phial, marked (in letters of emerald): + +"WEAPON SALVE," + +the princess drew the bright sword, extracted a little of the ointment +from the phial, and spread it on a soft silk handkerchief. + +"What are you going to do with the sword?" asked Ricardo. + +"Polish it a little," said Jaqueline, smiling, and she began gently to +rub, with the salve, the point of the rapier. + +As she did so, Ricardo's arm ceased to hurt, and the look of pain passed +from his mouth. + +"Why, I feel quite better!" he said. "I can use my hand as well as +ever." + +Then he took off the stained handkerchief, and, lo, there was not even a +mark where the wound had been! For this was the famous Weapon Salve +which you may read about in Sir Kenelm Digby, and which the Lady of +Branxholme used, in _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_. But the secret of +making it has long been lost, except in Pantouflia. + +"You are the best girl in the world, Jaqueline," said Ricardo. "You may +give me a kiss if you like; and I won't call you 'Jack,' or laugh at you +for reading books, any more. There's something in books after all." + +The princess did not take advantage of Dick's permission, but advised him +to lie down and try to sleep. + +"I say, though," he said, "what about my father?" + +"The king need never be told anything about it," said Jaqueline, "need +he?" + +"Oh, that won't do! I tell my father everything; but then, I never had +anything like this to tell him before. Don't you think, Jaqueline, you +might break it to him? He's very fond of you. Just tell him what I told +you; it's every word of it true, and he ought to know. He might see +something about it in the _Mercure de France_." + +This was the newspaper of the period. + +"I don't think it will get into the papers," said Jaqueline, smiling. +"Nobody could tell, except the king and the princes, and they have +reasons for keeping it to themselves." + +"I don't trust that younger one," said Dick, moodily; "I don't care for +that young man. Anyway, my father _must_ be told; and, if you won't, I +must." + +"Well, I'll tell him," said Jaqueline. "And now lie down till evening." + +After dinner, in the conservatory, Jaqueline told King Prigio all about +it. + +His Majesty was very much moved. + +"What extraordinary bad luck that family has!" he thought. "If I had not +changed the rug, the merest accident, Prince Charles would have dined at +St. James's to-night, and King George in Hanover. It was the very +nearest thing!" + +"This meddling with practical affairs will never do," he said aloud. + +"Dick has had a lesson, sire," said the princess. "He says he'll never +mix himself up with politics again, whatever happens. And he says he +means to study all about them, for he feels frightfully ignorant, and, +above all, he means to practise his fencing." + +These remarks were not part of the conversation between Ricardo and +Jaqueline, but she considered that Dick _meant_ all this, and, really, he +did. + +"That is well, as far as it goes," said the king. "But, Jaqueline, about +that mosquito?" for she had told him this part of the adventure. "That +was a very convenient mosquito, though I don't know how Dick was able to +observe it from any distance. I see _your_ hand in that, my dear, and I +am glad you can make such kind and wise use of the lessons of the good +Fairy Paribanou. Jaqueline," he added solemnly, laying his hand on her +head, "You have saved the honour of Pantouflia, which is dearer to me +than life. Without your help, I tremble to think what might have +occurred." + +The princess blushed very much, and felt very happy. + +"Now run away to the queen, my dear," said his Majesty, "I want to think +things over." + +He did think them over, and the more he thought the more he felt the +inconvenience attending the possession of fairy things. + +"An eclipse one day, as nearly as possible a revolution soon after!" he +said to himself. "But for Jaqueline, Ricardo's conduct would have been +blazed abroad, England would have been irritated. It is true she cannot +get at Pantouflia very easily; we have no sea-coast, and we are +surrounded by friendly countries. But it would have been a ticklish and +discreditable position. I must really speak to Dick," which he did next +morning after breakfast. + +"You have broken my rules, Ricardo," he said. "True, there is no great +harm done, and you have confessed frankly; but how am I to trust you any +longer?" + +"I'll give you my sacred word of honour, father, that I'll never meddle +with politics again, or start on an expedition, without telling you. I +have had enough of it. And I'll turn over a new leaf. I've learned to +be ashamed of my ignorance; and I've sent for Francalanza, and I'll fence +every day, and read like anything." + +"Very good," said the king. "I believe you mean what you say. Now go to +your fencing lesson." + +"But, I say, father," cried Ricardo, "was it not strange about the magic +carpet?" + +"I told you not to trust to these things," said the king. "Some +enchanter may have deprived it of its power, it may be worn out, someone +may have substituted a common Persian rug; anything may happen. You +_must_ learn to depend on yourself. Now, be off with you, I'm busy. And +remember, you don't stir without my permission." + +The prince ran off, and presently the sounds of stamping feet and "_un_, +_deux_; _doublez_, _degagez_, _vite_; _contre de carte_," and so forth, +might be heard over a great part of the royal establishment. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +Prince Ricardo and an Old Enemy. + + +{The Yellow Dwarf: p123.jpg} + +"There is one brute I wish I could get upsides with," said Ricardo, at +breakfast one morning, his mouth full of sardine. + +"Really, Ricardo, your language is most unprincely," said his august +father; "I am always noticing it. You mean, I suppose, that there is one +enemy of the human race whom you wish to abolish. What is the name of +the doomed foe?" + +"Well, he is the greatest villain in history," said Ricardo. "You must +have read about him, sir, the Yellow Dwarf." + +"Yes, I have certainly studied what is told us about him," said the king. +"He is no favourite of mine." + +"He is the only one, if you notice, sir, of all the scoundrels about whom +our ancestors inform us, who escaped the doom which he richly merited at +the sword of a good knight." + +You may here remark that, since Dick took to his studies, he could speak, +when he chose, like a printed book, which was by no means the case +before. + +"If you remember, sir, he polished off--I mean, he slew--the King of the +Golden Mines and the beautiful, though frivolous, Princess Frutilla. All +that the friendly Mermaid could do for them was to turn them into a pair +of beautiful trees which intertwine their branches. Not much use in +_that_, sir! And nothing was done to the scoundrel. He may be going on +still; and, with your leave, I'll go and try a sword-thrust with him. +Francalanza says I'm improving uncommon." + +"You'll take the usual Sword of Sharpness," said his Majesty. + +"What, sir, to a dwarf? Not I, indeed: a common small sword is good +enough to settle _him_." + +"They say he is very cunning of fence," said the king; "and besides, I +have heard something of a diamond sword that he stole from the King of +the Golden Mines." + +"Very likely he has lost it or sold it, the shabby little miscreant; +however, I'll risk it. And now I must make my preparations." + +The king did not ask what they were; as a rule, they were simple. But, +being in the shop of the optician that day, standing with his back to the +door, he heard Dick come in and order a pair of rose-coloured spectacles, +with which he was at once provided. The people of Pantouflia were +accustomed to wear them, saying that they improved the complexions of +ladies whom they met, and added cheerfulness to things in general. + +"Just plain rose-coloured glass, Herr Spex," said Dick, "I'm not short- +sighted." + +"The boy is beginning to show some sense," said the king to himself, +knowing the nature and the difficulties of the expedition. + +Ricardo did not disguise his intention of taking with him a Dandie +Dinmont terrier, named Pepper, and the king, who understood the motive of +this precaution, silently approved. + +"The lad has come to some purpose and forethought," the king said, and he +gladly advanced a considerable sum for the purchase of crocodiles' eggs, +which can rarely be got quite fresh. When Jaqueline had made the +crocodiles' eggs, with millet-seed and sugar-candy, into a cake for the +Dwarf's lions, Ricardo announced that his preparations were complete. + +Not to be the mere slave of custom, he made this expedition on horseback, +and the only magical thing he took with him was the Cap of Darkness (the +one which would not work, but he did not know that), and this he put in +his pocket for future use. With plenty of egg sandwiches and marmalade +sandwiches, and cold minced-collop sandwiches, he _pricked forth_ into +the wilderness, making for the country inhabited by the Yellow Dwarf. The +princess was glad he was riding, for she privately accompanied him in the +disguise of a wasp; and a wasp, of course, could not have kept up with +him in his Seven-league Boots. + +"Hang that wops!" said Prince Ricardo several times, buffeting it with +his pocket-handkerchief when it buzzed in his ear and round his horse's +head. + +{"Hang that wops!" said Prince Ricardo: p129.jpg} + +Meanwhile, King Prigio had taken his precautions, which were perfectly +simple. When he thought Ricardo was getting near the place, the king put +on his Wishing Cap, sat down before the magic crystal ball, and kept his +eye on the proceedings, being ready to wish the right thing to help +Ricardo at the right moment. He left the window wide open, smoked his +cigar, and seemed the pattern of a good and wise father watching the +conduct of a promising son. + +The prince rode and rode, sometimes taking up Pepper on his saddle; +passing through forests, sleeping at lonely inns, fording rivers, till +one day he saw that the air was becoming Yellow. He knew that this +showed the neighbourhood of Jaunia, or Daunia, the country of the Yellow +Dwarf. He therefore drew bridle, placed his rose-coloured spectacles on +his nose and put spurs to his horse, for the yellow light of Jaunia makes +people melancholy and cowardly. As he pricked on, his horse stumbled and +nearly came on its nose. The prince noticed that a steel chain had been +drawn across the road. + +"What caitiff has dared!" he exclaimed, when his hat was knocked off by a +well-aimed orange from a neighbouring orange-tree, and a vulgar voice +squeaked: + +"Hi, Blinkers!" + +There was the Yellow Dwarf, an odious little figure, sitting sucking an +orange in the tree, swinging his wooden shoes, and grinning all over his +wrinkled face. + +"Well, young Blinkers!" said the Dwarf, "what are you doing on my +grounds? You're a prince, by your look. Yah! down with kings! I'm a +man of the people!" + +"You're a dwarf of the worst description, that's what _you_ are," said +Ricardo; "and let me catch you, and I'll flog the life out of you with my +riding-whip!" + +The very face of the Dwarf, even seen through rose-coloured spectacles, +made him nearly ill. + +"Yes, when you can catch me," said the Dwarf; "but that's not to-day, nor +yet to-morrow. What are you doing here? Are you an ambassador, maybe +come to propose a match for me? I'm not proud, I'll hear you. They say +there's a rather well-looking wench in your parts, the Princess +Jaqueline--" + +"Mention that lady's name, you villain," cried Dick, "and I'll cut down +your orange-tree!" and he wished he had brought the Sword of Sharpness, +for you cannot prod down a tree with the point of a rapier. + +"Fancy her yourself?" said the Dwarf, showing his yellow teeth with a +detestable grin; while Ricardo turned quite white with anger, and not +knowing how to deal with this insufferable little monster. + +"I'm a widower, I am," said the Dwarf, "though I'm out of mourning," for +he wore a dirty clay-coloured Yellow jacket. "My illustrious consort, +the Princess Frutilla, did not behave very nice, and I had to avenge my +honour; in fact, I'm open to any offers, however humble. Going at an +alarming sacrifice! Come to my box" (and he pointed to a filthy clay +cottage, all surrounded by thistles, nettles, and black boggy water), +"and I'll talk over your proposals." + +"Hold your impudent tongue!" said Dick. "The Princess Frutilla was an +injured saint; and as for the lady whom I shall not name in your +polluting presence, I am her knight, and I defy you to deadly combat!" + +We may imagine how glad the princess was when (disguised as a wasp) she +heard Dick say he was her knight; not that, in fact, he had thought of it +before. + +"Oh! you're for a fight, are you?" sneered the Dwarf. "I might tell you +to hit one of your own weight, but I'm not afraid of six of you. Yah! +mammy's brat! Look here, young Blinkers, I don't want to hurt you. Just +turn old Dobbin's head, and trot back to your mammy, Queen Rosalind, at +Pantouflia. Does she know you're out?" + +"I'll be into _you_, pretty quick," said Ricardo. "But why do I bandy +words with a miserable peasant?" + +"And don't get much the best of them either," said the Dwarf, +provokingly. "But I'll fight, if you will have it." + +The prince leaped from his horse, leaving Pepper on the saddle-bow. + +No sooner had he touched the ground than the Dwarf shouted: + +"Hi! to him, Billy! to him, Daniel! at him, good lions, at him!" and, +with an awful roar, two lions rushed from a neighbouring potato-patch and +made for Ricardo. These were not ordinary lions, history avers, each +having two heads, each being eight feet high, with four rows of teeth; +their skins as hard as nails, and bright red, like morocco. {135} + +The prince did not lose his presence of mind; hastily he threw the cake +of crocodiles' eggs, millet-seed, and sugar-candy to the lions. This is +a dainty which lions can never resist, and running greedily at it, with +four tremendous snaps, they got hold of each other by their jaws, and +their eight rows of teeth were locked fast in a grim and deadly _struggle +for existence_! + +The Dwarf took in the affair at a glance. + +"Cursed be he who taught you this!" he cried, and then whistled in a +shrill and vulgar manner on his very dirty fingers. At his call rushed +up an enormous Spanish cat, ready saddled and bridled, and darting fire +from its eyes. To leap on its back, while Ricardo sprang on his own +steed, was to the active Dwarf the work of a moment. Then clapping spurs +to its sides (his spurs grew naturally on his bare heels, horrible to +relate, like a cock's spurs) and taking his cat by the head, the Dwarf +forced it to leap on to Ricardo's saddle. The diamond sword which slew +the king of the Golden Mines--that invincible sword which hews iron like +a reed--was up and flashing in the air! + +At this very moment King Prigio, seeing, in the magic globe, all that +passed, and despairing of Ricardo's life, was just about to wish the +dwarf at Jericho, when through the open window, with a tremendous whirr, +came a huge vulture, and knocked the king's wishing cap off! Wishing was +now of no use. + +This odious fowl was the Fairy of the Desert, the Dwarf's trusted ally in +every sort of mischief. The vulture flew instantly out of the window; +and ah! with what awful anxiety the king again turned his eyes on the +crystal ball only a parent's heart can know. Should he see Ricardo +bleeding at the feet of the abominable dwarf? The king scarcely dared to +look; never before had he known the nature of fear. However, look he +did, and saw the dwarf un-catted, and Pepper, the gallant Dandie Dinmont, +with his teeth in the throat of the monstrous Spanish cat. + +No sooner had he seen the cat leap on his master's saddle-bow than +Pepper, true to the instinct of his race, sprang at its neck, just behind +the head--the usual place,--and, with an awful and despairing mew, the +cat (Peter was its name) gave up its life. + +The dwarf was on his feet in a moment, waving the diamond sword, which +lighted up the whole scene, and yelling taunts. Pepper was flying at his +heels, and, with great agility, was keeping out of the way of the +invincible blade. + +"Ah!" screamed the Dwarf as Pepper got him by the ankle. "Call off your +dog, you coward, and come down off your horse, and fight fair!" + +At this moment, _bleeding yellow blood_, dusty, mad with pain, the dwarf +was a sight to strike terror into the boldest. + +Dick sprang from his saddle, but so terrific was the appearance of his +adversary, and so dazzling was the sheen of the diamond sword, that he +put his hand in his pocket, drew out, as he supposed, the sham Cap of +Darkness, and placed it on his head. + +"Yah! who's your hatter?" screamed the infuriated dwarf. "_I_ see you!" +and he disengaged, feinted in carte, and made a lunge in seconde at Dick +which no mortal blade could have parried. The prince (thanks to his +excellent training) just succeeded in stepping aside, but the dwarf +recovered with astonishing quickness. + +"Coward, _lache_, poltroon, runaway!" he hissed through his clenched +teeth, and was about to make a thrust in tierce which must infallibly +have been fatal, when the Princess Jaqueline, in her shape as a wasp, +stung him fiercely on the wrist. + +With an oath so awful that we dare not set it down, the dwarf dropped the +diamond sword, sucked his injured limb, and began hopping about with +pain. + +In a moment Prince Ricardo's foot was on the blade of the diamond sword, +which he passed thrice through the body of the Yellow Dwarf. Squirming +fearfully, the little monster expired, his last look a defiance, his +latest word an insult: + +"Yah! Gig-lamps!" + +Prince Ricardo wiped the diamond blade clean from its yellow stains. + +{The fight with the Yellow Dwarf: p141.jpg} + +"Princess Frutilla is avenged!" he cried. Then pensively looking at his +fallen foe, "Peace to his ashes," he said; "he died in harness!" + +Turning at the word, he observed that the two lions were stiff and dead, +locked in each other's gory jaws! + +At that moment King Prigio, looking in the crystal ball, gave a great +sigh of relief. + +"All's well that ends well," he said, lighting a fresh cigar, for he had +allowed the other to go out in his excitement, "but it was a fight! I am +not satisfied," his Majesty went on reflecting, "with this plan of +changing the magical articles. The first time was of no great +importance, and I could not know that the boy would start on an +expedition without giving me warning. But, in to-day's affair he owes +his safety entirely to himself and Pepper," for he had not seen the wasp. +"The Fairy of the Desert quite baffled me: it was terrible. I shall +restore the right fairy things to-night. As to the Fairy of the Desert," +he said, forgetting that his Wishing Cap was on, "I wish she were dead!" + +A hollow groan and the sound of a heavy body falling interrupted the +king. He looked all about the room, but saw nothing. He was alone! + +"She must have been in the room, invisible," said the king; and, of +course, she has died in that condition. "But I must find her body!" + +The king groped about everywhere, like a blind man, and at last +discovered the dead body of the wicked fairy lying on the sofa. He could +not see it, of course, but he felt it with his hands. + +"This is very awkward," he remarked. "I cannot ring for the servants and +make them take her away. There is only one plan." + +So he wished she were in her family pyramid, in the Egyptian desert, and +in a second the sofa was unoccupied. + +"A very dangerous and revengeful enemy is now removed from Ricardo's path +in life," said his Majesty, and went to dress for dinner. + +Meanwhile Ricardo was riding gaily home. The yellow light of Jaunia had +vanished, and pure blue sky broke overhead as soon as the dauntless Dwarf +had drawn his latest breath. The poor, trembling people of the country +came out of their huts and accompanied Dick, cheering, and throwing roses +which had been yellow roses, but blushed red as soon as the Dwarf +expired. They attended him to the frontiers of Pantouflia, singing his +praises, which Ricardo had the new and inestimable pleasure of knowing to +be deserved. + +"It was sharp work," he said to himself, "but much more exciting and +glorious than the usual business." + +On his return Dick did not fail to mention the wasp, and again the king +felt how great was his debt to Jaqueline. But they did not think it well +to trouble the good queen with the dangers Dick had encountered. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +The Giant who does not know when he has had Enough. {146} + + +{The enormous letter: p146.jpg} + +One morning the post brought a truly enormous letter for Dick. It was as +broad as a table-cloth, and the address was written in letters as long as +a hoop-stick. "I seem to know that hand," said Ricardo; "but I thought +the fingers which held the pen had long been cold in death." + +He opened, with his sword, the enormous letter, which was couched in the +following terms: + + "The Giant as does not know when he has had _enuf_, presents his + compliments to Prince Ricardo; and I, having recovered from the + effects of our little recent _rally_, will be happy to meet you in the + old place for a return-match. I not being handy with the pen, the + Giant hopes you will excuse mistakes and bad writing." + +Dick simply gazed with amazement. + +"If ever I thought an enemy was killed and done for, it was that Giant," +said he. "Why, I made mere mince-collops of him!" + +However, he could not refuse a challenge, not to speak of his duty to rid +the world of so greedy and odious a tyrant. Dick, therefore, took the +usual things (which the king had secretly restored), but first he tried +them--putting on the Cap of Darkness before the glass, in which he could +not see himself. On second thoughts, he considered it unfair to take the +cap. All the other articles were in working order. Jaqueline on this +occasion followed him in the disguise of a crow, flying overhead. + +On reaching the cavern--a huge tunnel in the rock--where the Giant lived, +Ricardo blew a blast on the horn which hung outside, and in obedience to +a written notice, knocked also with a mace provided by the Giant for that +purpose. Presently he heard heavy footsteps sounding along the cavern, +and the Giant came out. He was above the common height for giants, and +his whole face and body were seamed over with little red lines, crossing +each other like tartan. These were marks of encounters, in which he had +been cut to bits and come together again; for this was his peculiarity, +which made him so dangerous. If you cut off his head, he went on just as +before, only without it; and so about everything else. By dint of magic, +he could put his head on again, just as if it had been his hat, if you +gave him time enough. On the last occasion of their meeting, Ricardo had +left him in a painfully scattered condition, and thought he was done for. +But now, except that a bird had flown away with the little finger of his +left hand and one of his ears, the Giant was as comfortable as anyone +could be in his situation. + +"Mornin' sir," he said to Dick, touching his forehead with his hand. +"Glad to see you looking so well. No bad feeling, I hope, on either +side?" + +"None on mine, certainly," said Ricardo, holding out his hand, which the +Giant took and shook; "but Duty is Duty, and giants must go. The modern +world has no room for them." + +"That's hearty," said the Giant; "I like a fellow of your kind. Now, +shall we toss for corners?" + +"All right!" said Dick, calling "Heads" and winning. He took the corner +with the sun on his back and in the Giant's face. To it they went, the +Giant aiming a blow with his club that would have felled an elephant. + +Dick dodged, and cut off the Giant's feet at the ankles. + +"First blood for the prince!" said the Giant, coming up smiling. "Half- +minute time!" + +He occupied the half-minute in placing the feet neatly beside each other, +as if they had been a pair of boots. + +_Round II._--The Giant sparring for wind, Ricardo cuts him in two at the +waist. + +The Giant folded his legs up neatly, like a pair of trousers, and laid +them down on a rock. He had now some difficulty in getting rapidly over +the ground, and stood mainly on the defensive, and on his waist. + +_Round III._--Dick bisects the Giant. Both sides now attack him on +either hand, and the feet kick him severely. + +"No kicking!" said Dick. + +"Nonsense; all fair in war!" said the Giant. + +But do not let us pursue this sanguinary encounter in all its _horrible +details_. + +Let us also remember--otherwise the scene would be too painful for an +elegant mind to contemplate with entertainment--that the Giant was in +excellent training, and thought no more of a few wounds than you do of a +crack on the leg from a cricket-ball. He well deserved the title given +him by the Fancy, of "The Giant who does not Know when he has had +Enough." + +* * * * * + +The contest was over; Dick was resting on a rock. The lists were strewn +with interesting but imperfect fragments of the Giant, when a set of +double teeth of enormous size flew up out of the ground and caught +Ricardo by the throat! In vain he strove to separate the teeth, when the +crow, stooping from the heavens, became the Princess Jaqueline, and +changed Dick into a wren--a tiny bird, so small that he easily flew out +of the jaws of the Giant and winged his way to a tree, whence he watched +the scene. + +But the poor Princess Jaqueline! + +To perform the feat of changing Dick into a bird she had, of course, +according to all the laws of magic, to resume her own natural form! + +There she stood, a beautiful, trembling maiden, her hands crossed on her +bosom, entirely at the mercy of the Giant! + +No sooner had Dick escaped than the monster began to _collect himself_; +and before Jaqueline could muster strength to run away or summon to her +aid the lessons of the Fairy Paribanou, the Giant who never Knew when he +had Enough was himself again. A boy might have climbed up a tree (for +giants are no tree-climbers, any more than the grizzly bear), but +Jaqueline could not climb. She merely stood, pale and trembling. She +had saved Dick, but at an enormous sacrifice, for the sword and the Seven- +league Boots were lying on the trampled grass. He had not brought the +Cap of Darkness, and, in the shape of a wren, of course he could not +carry away the other articles. Dick was rescued, that was all, and the +Princess Jaqueline had sacrificed herself to her love for him. + +The Giant picked himself up and pulled himself together, as we said, and +then approached Jaqueline in a very civil way, for a person of his +breeding, head in hand. + +"Let me introduce myself," he said, and mentioned his name and titles. +"May I ask what _you_ are doing here, and how you came?" + +{"Let me introduce myself," he said: p154.jpg} + +Poor Jaqueline threw herself at his feet, and murmured a short and not +very intelligible account of herself. + +"I don't understand," said the Giant, replacing his head on his +shoulders. "What to do with you, I'm sure I don't know. '_Please don't +eat me_,' did you say? Why, what do you take me for? I'm not in that +line at all; low, _I_ call it!" + +Jaqueline was somewhat comforted at these words, dropped out of the +Giant's lips from a considerable height. + +"But they call you 'The Giant who does not Know when he has had Enough,'" +said Jaqueline. + +"And proud of the title: not enough of fighting. Of _punishment_ I am a +glutton, or so my friends are pleased to say. A brace of oxen, a drove +of sheep or two, are enough for me," the Giant went on complacently, but +forgetting to mention that the sheep and the oxen were the property of +other people. "Where am I to put you till your friends come and pay your +ransom?" the Giant asked again, and stared at Jaqueline in a perplexed +way. "I can't take you home with me, that is out of the question. I +have a little woman of my own, and she's not very fond of other ladies; +especially, she would like to poison them that have good looks." + +Now Jaqueline saw that the Giant, big as he was, courageous too, was +afraid of his wife! + +"I'll tell you what I'll do; I'll hand you over to a neighbour of mine, +who is a bachelor." + +"A bachelor giant; would that be quite proper?" said Jaqueline, trying to +humour him. + +"He's not a giant, bless you; he's a queer fellow, it is not easy to say +what he is. He's the Earthquaker, him as shakes the earth now and then, +and brings the houses about people's ears." + +Jaqueline fairly screamed at hearing this awful news. + +"Hush! be quiet, do!" said the Giant. "You'll bring out my little woman, +and she is not easy to satisfy with explanations when she finds me +conversing with a lady unbeknown to her. The Earthquaker won't do you +any harm; it's only for safe keeping I'll put you with him. Why, he +don't waken, not once in fifty years. He's quite the dormouse. Turns on +his bed now and then, and things upstairs get upset, more or less; but, +as a rule, a child could play with him. Come on!" + +Then, taking Jaqueline up on one hand, on which she sat as if on a chair, +he crossed a few ranges of mountains in as many strides. In front was +one tall blue hill, with a flattened peak, and as they drew near the +princess felt a curious kind of wind coming round her and round her. You +have heard of whirlpools in water; well, this was just like a whirlpool +of air. Even the Giant himself could hardly keep his legs against it; +then he tossed Jaqueline up, and the airy whirlpool seized her and +carried her, as if on a tide of water, always round and round in +narrowing circles, till she was sucked down into the hollow hill. Even +as she went, she seemed to remember the hill, as if she had dreamed about +it, and the shape and colour of the country. But presently she sank +softly on to a couch, in a beautifully-lighted rocky hall. All around +her the floor was of white and red marble, but on one side it seemed to +end in black nothing. + +Jaqueline, after a few moments, recovered her senses fully, and changing +herself into an eagle, tried to fly up and out. But as soon as she was +in the funnel, the whirlpool of air always sucking down and down, was too +strong for her wings. She was a prisoner in this great gleaming hall, +ending in black nothingness. So she resumed her usual form, and walking +to the edge of the darkness, found that it was not empty air, but +something black, soft, and strong--something living. It had no form or +shape, or none that she could make out; but it pulsed with a heart. +Jaqueline placed her foot on this curious thing, when a voice came, like +thunder heard through a feather-bed: + +"Not near time to get up yet!" and then there was a snore, and the great +hall rocked like a ship at sea. + +It was the Earthquaker! + +The habits of this monstrous animal are very little known, as, of course, +he never comes above ground, or at least very seldom, when he makes +tracks like a dry river-bed across country. We are certain that there +_are_ Earthquakers, otherwise how can we account for earthquakes? But +how to tackle an Earthquaker, how to get at him, and what to do with him +when you have got at him, are questions which might puzzle even King +Prigio. + +It was not easy to have the better of an enchantress like Jaqueline and a +prince like Ricardo. In no ordinary circumstances could they have been +baffled and defeated; but now it must be admitted that they were in a +very trying and alarming situation, especially the princess. The worst +of it was, that as Jaqueline sat and thought and thought, she began to +remember that she was back in her own country. The hills were those she +used to see from her father's palace windows when she was a child. And +she remembered with horror that once a year her people used to send a +beautiful girl to the Earthquaker, by way of keeping him quiet, as you +shall hear presently. And now she heard light footsteps and a sound of +weeping, and lo! a great troop of pretty girls passed, sweeping in and +out of the halls in a kind of procession, and looking unhappy and lost. + +Jaqueline ran to them. + +"Where am I? who are you?" she cried, in the language of her own country, +which came back to her on a sudden. + +"We are nurses of the Earthquaker," they said. "Our duty is to sing him +asleep, and every year he must have a new song; and every year a new +maiden must be sent down from earth, with a new sleepy song she has +learned from the priests of Manoa, the City of the Sun. Are you the new +singer?" + +"No, I'm _not_," said Jaqueline. "I don't know the priests of Manoa; I +don't know any new sleepy song. I only want to find the way out." + +"There is no way, or we should have found it," said one of the maidens; +"and, if you are the wrong girl, by the day after to-morrow they must +send the right one, otherwise the Earthquaker will waken, and shake the +world, and destroy Manoa, the City of the Sun." Then they all wept +softly in the stillness. "Can we get anything to eat here?" asked poor +Jaqueline, at last. + +She was beginning to be very hungry, and however alarmed she might be, +she felt that dinner would not be unwelcome. The tallest of the maidens +clapped her hands, and immediately a long table was spread by unseen +sprites with meringues and cold chicken, and several sorts of delicious +ices. + +We shall desert Jaqueline, who was rather less alarmed when she found +that she was not to be starved, at all events, and return to Prince +Ricardo, whom we left fluttering about as a little golden-crested wren. +He followed the Giant and Jaqueline into the whirlpool of air as far as +he dared, and when he saw her vanish down the cone of the hill, he flew +straight back to Pantouflia. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +Prigio has an Idea. + + +{Ricardo and Semiramis: p165.jpg} + +A weary and way-worn little bird was Prince Ricardo when he fluttered +into the royal study window, in the palace of Pantouflia. The king was +out at a council meeting; knowing that Ricardo had the right things, all +in good order, he was not in the least anxious about him. The king was +out, but Semiramis was in--Semiramis, the great grey cat, sitting on a +big book on the top of the library steps. Now Semiramis was very fond of +birds, and no sooner did Ricardo enter and flutter on to a table than +Semiramis gathered herself together and made one fell spring at him. She +just caught his tail feather. In all his adventures the prince had never +been in greater danger. He escaped, but no more, and went flying round +the ceiling, looking for a safe place. Finally he perched on a +chandelier that hung from the roof. Here he was safe; and so weary was +he, that he put his head under his wing and fell fast asleep. He was +awakened by the return of the king, who threw himself on a sofa and +exclaimed: + +"Oh, that Prime Minister! his dulness is as heavy as lead; much heavier, +in fact!" + +Then his Majesty lit a cigar and took up a volume; he certainly was a sad +bookworm. + +Dick now began to fly about the room, brushing the king's face and trying +to attract his notice. + +"Poor little thing!" said his Majesty. + +And Dick alighted, and nestled in his breast. + +On seeing this, Semiramis began to growl, as cats do when they are angry, +and slowly approached his Majesty. + +"Get out, Semiramis!" said the king; and lifting her by the neck, he put +her out of the room and shut the door, at which she remained scratching +and mewing. + +Dick now crept out of the royal waistcoat, flew to the king's ear, +twittered, pointed out of the window with one claw, and, lying down on +his back, pretended to be dead. Then he got up again, twittered afresh, +pointed to the Wishing Cap, and, finally, convinced the king that this +was no common fowl. + +"An enchanted prince or princess," said Prigio, "such as I have often +read of. Who can it be? Not Jaqueline; she could change herself back in +a moment. By the way, where _is_ Jaqueline?" + +He rang the bell, and asked the servant to look for the princess. + +Semiramis tried to come in, but was caught and shut up downstairs. + +After doing this, the man replied that her Royal Highness had not been in +the palace all day. + +The king rushed to the crystal ball, looked all the world over; but no +princess! He became very nervous, and at that moment Dick lighted on the +crystal ball, and put his claw on the very hill where Jaqueline had +disappeared. Then he cocked his little eye at the king. + +"Nay, she is somewhere in the unknown centre of South America," said his +Majesty; "somewhere behind Mount Roraima, where nobody has ever been. I +must look into this." + +Then he put on the Wishing Cap, and wished that the bird would assume his +natural shape if he was under enchantment, as there seemed too good +reason to believe. + +Instantly Dick stood before him. + +{Instantly Dick stood before him: p170.jpg} + +"Ricardo!" cried the king in horror; "and in this disguise! Where have +you been? What have you done with Jaqueline? Where are the Seven-league +Boots? Where is the Sword of Sharpness? Speak! Get up!" for Dick was +kneeling and weeping bitterly at the royal feet. + +"All lost!" said Dick. "Poor Jaqueline! she was the best girl, and the +prettiest, and the kindest. And the Earthquaker's got her, and the +Giant's got the other things," Dick ended, crying bitterly. + +"Calm yourself, Ricardo," said his Majesty, very pale, but calm and +determined. "Here, take a glass of port, and explain how all this +happened." + +Dick drank the wine, and then he told his miserable story. + +"You may well sob! Why didn't you use the Cap of Darkness? Mere +conceit! But there is no use in crying over spilt milk. The thing is, +to rescue Jaqueline. And what are we to say to your mother?" + +"That's the worst of it all," said Dick. "Mother will break her heart." + +"I must see her at once," said the king, "and break it to her." + +This was a terrible task; but the queen had such just confidence in her +Prigio that she soon dried her tears, remarking that Heaven would not +desert Jaqueline, and that the king would find a way out of the trouble. + +His Majesty retired to his study, put his head in his hands, and thought +and thought. + +"The thing is, of course," he said, "to destroy the Earthquaker before he +wakens; but how? What can kill such a monster? Prodding him with the +sword would only stir him up and make him more vicious. And I know of no +other beast we can set against him, as I did with the Fire-beast and the +Ice-beast, when I was young. Oh, for an idea!" + +Then his mind, somehow, went back to the Council and the ponderous +stupidity of the Prime Minister. + +"Heavier than lead," said the king. "By George! I have a plan. If I +could get to the place where they keep the Stupidity, I could carry away +enough of it to flatten out the Earthquaker." + +Then he remembered how, in an old Italian poem, he had read about all the +strange lumber-room of odd things which is kept in the moon. That is the +advantage of reading: _Knowledge is Power_; and you mostly get knowledge +that is really worth having out of good old books which people do not +usually read. + +"If the Stupidity is kept in stock, up in the moon, and comes from there, +falling naturally down on the earth in small quantities, I might obtain +enough for my purpose," thought King Prigio. "But--how to get to the +moon? There are difficulties about that." + +But difficulties only sharpened the ingenuity of this admirable king. + +"The other fellow had a Flying Horse," said he. + +By "the other fellow" King Prigio meant an Italian knight, Astolfo, who, +in old times, visited the moon, and there found and brought back the +common sense of his friend, Orlando, as you may read in the poem of +Ariosto. + +"Now," reasoned King Prigio, "if there is a Flying Horse at all, he is in +the stables of the King of Delhi. I must look into this." + +Taking the magic spy-glass, the king surveyed the world from China to +Peru, and, sure enough, there was the famous Flying Horse in the king's +stable at Delhi. Hastily the king thrust his feet into the Shoes of +Swiftness--so hastily, indeed, that, as the poet says, he "madly crammed +a left-hand foot into a right-hand shoe." But this, many people think, +is a sign of good luck; so he put the shoes on the proper feet, and in a +few minutes was in the presence of the Great Mogul. + +The monarch received him with some surprise, but with stately kindness, +and listened to Prigio while he explained what he wanted. + +"I am only too happy to assist so adventurous a prince," remarked the +Great Mogul. "This is like old times! Every horse in my stable is at +your service, but, as you say, only the Flying Horse is of any use to you +in this expedition." + +He clapped his hands, the Grand Vizier appeared, and the king gave orders +to have the Flying Horse saddled at once. He then presented King Prigio +with a large diamond, and came down into the courtyard to see him mount. + +"He's very fresh," said the groom who held the bridle; "has not been out +of the stable for three hundred years!" + +Prigio sprang into the saddle among the salaams of the dusky multitude, +and all the ladies of the seraglio waved their scented handkerchiefs out +of the windows. + +The king, as he had been instructed, turned a knob of gold in the saddle +of the Flying Horse, then kissed his hand to the ladies, and, giving the +steed his head, cried, in excellent Persian: + +"To the moon!" + +Up flew the horse with an easy action, and the king's head nearly swam +with the swiftness of the flight. Soon the earth below him was no bigger +than a top, spinning on its own axis (see Geography books for this), and, +as night fell, earth was only a great red moon. + +{King Prigio on the Flying Horse: p178.jpg} + +Through the dark rode King Prigio, into the silver dawn of the moon. All +now became clear and silvery; the coasts of the moon came into sight, +with white seas breaking on them; and at last the king reached the silver +walls, and the gate of opal. Before the gate stood two beautiful ladies. +One was fair, with yellow locks, the colour of the harvest moon. She had +a crown of a golden snake and white water-lilies, and her dress now shone +white, now red, now golden; and in her hand was the golden pitcher that +sheds the dew, and a golden wand. The other lady was as dark as +night--dark eyes, dark hair; her crown was of poppies. She held the +ebony Wand of Sleep. Her dress was of the deepest blue, sown with stars. +The king knew that they were the maidens of the bright and the dark side +of the moon--of the side you see, and of the side that no one has ever +seen, except King Prigio. He stopped the Flying Horse by turning the +other knob in the saddle, alighted, and bowed very low to each of the +ladies. + +"Daring mortal! what make you here?" they asked. + +And then the king told them about Jaqueline and the Earthquaker, and how +he needed a great weight of Stupidity to flatten him out with. + +The ladies heard him in silence, and then they said: + +"Follow us," and they flew lightly beside the Flying Horse till they had +crossed all the bright side of the moon, above the silver palaces and +silver seas, and reached the summit of the Mountains of the Moon which +separate the bright from the dark side. + +"Here I may go no further," said the bright lady; "and beyond, as you +see, all is darkness and heavy sleep." + +Then she touched Prigio with her golden wand with twisted serpents, and +he became luminous, light raying out from him; and the dark lady, too, +shone like silver in the night: and on they flew, over black rocks and +black rivers, till they reached a huge mountain, like a mountain of coal, +many thousand feet high, for its head was lost in the blackness of +darkness. The dark Moon-Lady struck the rock with her ebony wand, and +said, "Open!" and the cliffs opened like a door, and they were within the +mountain. + +"Here," said the dark lady, "is the storehouse of all the Stupidity; +hence it descends in showers like Stardust on the earth whenever this +mountain, which is a volcano, is in eruption. Only a little of the +Stupidity reaches the earth, and that only in invisible dust; yet you +know how weighty it is, even in that form." + +"Indeed, madam," said the king, "no one knows it better than I do." + +"Then make your choice of the best sort of Stupidity for your purpose," +said the dark lady. + +And in the light which flowed from their bodies King Prigio looked round +at the various kinds of Solid Stupidity. There it all lay in masses--the +Stupidity of bad Sermons, of ignorant reviewers, of bad poems, of bad +speeches, of dreary novels, of foolish statesmen, of ignorant mobs, of +fine ladies, of idle, naughty boys and girls; and the king examined them +all, and all were very, very heavy. But when he came to the Stupidity of +the Learned--of dull, blind writers on Shakspeare, and Homer, and the +Bible--then King Prigio saw that he had found the sort he wanted, and +that a very little of it would go a long way. He never could have got it +on the saddle of the Flying Horse if the dark lady had not touched it +with her ebony wand, and made it light to carry till it was wanted for +his purpose. When he needed it for use, he was to utter a certain spell, +which she taught him, and then the lump would recover its natural weight. +So he easily put a great block on his saddle-bow, and he and the dark +lady flew back till they reached the crest of the Mountains of the Moon. +There she touched him with her ebony wand, and the silver light which the +bright lady had shed on him died from his face and his body, and he +became like other men. + +"You see your way?" said the dark lady, pointing to the bright moon of +earth, shining far off in the heavens. + +Then he knelt down and thanked her, and she murmured strange words of +blessing which he did not understand; but her face was grave and kind, +and he thought of Queen Rosalind, his wife. + +Then he jumped on the Flying Horse, galloped down and down, till he +reached his palace gate; called for Ricardo, set him behind him on the +saddle, and away they rode, above land and wide seas, till they saw the +crest of the hollow hill, where Jaqueline was with the Earthquaker. +Beyond it they marked the glittering spires and towers of Manoa, the City +of the Sun; and "Thither," said King Prigio, who had been explaining how +matters stood, to Ricardo, "we must ride, for I believe they stand in +great need of our assistance." + +"Had we not better go to Jaqueline first, sir?" said Ricardo. + +"No," said the king; "I think mine is the best plan. Manoa, whose golden +spires and pinnacles are shining below us, is the City of the Sun, which +Sir Walter Raleigh and the Spaniards could never find, so that men have +doubted of its existence. We are needed there, to judge by that angry +crowd in the marketplace. How they howl!" + + + + +CHAPTER X. +The End. + + +{Man with rock: p186.jpg} + +It was on a strange sight that the king and Ricardo looked down from the +Flying Horse. Beneath them lay the City of Manoa, filling with its +golden battlements and temples a hollow of the mountains. Here were +palaces all carved over with faces of men and beasts, and with twisted +patterns of serpents. + +The city walls were built of huge square stones, and among the groves +towered pyramids, on which the people did service to their gods. From +every temple top came the roar of beaten drums, great drums of +serpentskin. + +But, in the centre of the chief square of the town, was gathered a wild +crowd of men in shining copper armour and helmets of gold and glittering +dresses of feathers. Among them ran about priests with hideous masks, +crying them on to besiege and break down the royal palace. From the +battlements of the palace the king's guardsmen were firing arrows and +throwing spears. The mob shot arrows back, some of them tipped with +lighted straw, to burn the palace down. + +But, in the very centre of the square, was a clear space of ground, on +which fell the shadow of a tall column of red stone, all carved with +serpents and faces of gods. Beside it stood a figure horrible to see: a +man clothed in serpent skins, whose face was the grinning face of a +skull; but the skull was shining black and red in patches, and a long +white beard flowed from beneath it. This man, mounted on a kind of altar +of red stone, waved his hand and yelled, and seemed to point to the +shadow of the column which fell across the square. + +The people were so furious and so eager that they did not, at first, +notice King Prigio as he slowly descended. But at last the eyes within +the skull looked up and saw him, and then the man gave a great cry, rent +his glittering dress of serpentskin, and held up his hands. + +Then all the multitude looked up, and seeing the Flying Horse, let their +weapons fall; and the man of the skull tore it from his face, and knelt +before King Prigio, with his head in the dust. + +"Thou hast come, oh, Pachacamac, as is foretold in the prophecy of the +Cord of the Venerable Knots! Thou hast come, but behold the shadow of +the stone! Thou art too late, oh Lord of the Earth and the Sea!" + +Then he pointed to the shadow, which, naturally, was growing shorter, as +the sun drew near mid-day. + +He spoke in the language of the ancient Incas of Peru, which of course +Prigio knew very well; and he also knew that Pachacamac was the god of +that people. + +"I have come," Prigio said, with presence of mind, "as it has been +prophesied of old." + +"Riding on a beast that flies," said the old priest, "even as the oracle +declared. Glory to Pachacamac, even though we die to-day!" + +"In what can I help my people?" said Prigio. + +"Thou knowest; why should we instruct thee? Thou knowest that on +midsummer-day, every year, before the shadow shrinks back to the base of +the _huaca_ {190} of Manoa, we must offer a maiden to lull the +Earthquaker with a new song. Lo, now the shadow shrinks to the foot of +the _huaca_, and the maid is not offered! For the lot fell on the +daughter of thy servant the Inca, and he refuses to give her up. One +daughter of his, he says, has been sacrificed to the sacred birds, the +_Cunturs_: the birds were found slain on the hill-top, no man knows how; +but the maiden vanished." + +"Why, it must have been Jaqueline. I killed the birds," said Ricardo, in +Pantouflian. + +"Silence, not a word!" said the king, sternly. + +"And what makes you bear arms against the Inca?" he asked the old man. + +"We would slay him and her," answered the priest; "for, when the shadow +shrinks to the foot of the stone, the sun will shine straight down into +the hollow hill of the Earthquaker, and he will waken and destroy Manoa +and the Temples of the Sun." + +"Then wherefore would you slay them, when you must all perish?" + +"The people, oh Pachacamac, would have revenge before they die." + +"Oh, folly of men!" said the king, solemnly; then he cried: "Lead me to +the Inca; this day you shall not perish. Is it not predicted in the Cord +of the Venerable Knots that I shall slay this monster?" + +"Hasten, oh Pachacamac, for the shadow shortens!" said the priest. + +"Lead me to the Inca," answered Prigio. + +At this the people arose with a great shout, for they, too, had been +kneeling; and, sending a flag of truce before King Prigio, the priest led +him into the palace. The ground was strewn with bodies of the slain, and +through them Prigio rode slowly into the courtyard, where the Inca was +sitting in the dust, weeping and throwing ashes on his long hair and his +golden raiment. The king bade the priest remain without the palace +gates; then dismounted, and, advancing to the Inca, raised him and +embraced him. + +"I come, a king to a king," he said. "My cousin, take courage; your +sorrows are ended. If I do not slay the Earthquaker, sacrifice me to +your gods." + +"The Prophecy is fulfilled," said the Inca, and wept for joy. "Yet thou +must hasten, for it draws near to noon." + +Then Prigio went up to the golden battlements, and saying no word, waved +his hand. In a moment the square was empty, for the people rushed to +give thanks in the temples. + +"Wait my coming, my cousin," said Prigio to the Inca; "I shall bring you +back the daughter that was lost, when I have slain your enemy." + +The Inca would have knelt at his feet; but the king raised him, and bade +him prepare such a feast as had never been seen in Manoa. + +"The lost are found to-day," he said; "be you ready to welcome them." + +Then, mounting the Flying Horse, with Dick beside him, he rose towards +the peak of the hill where the Earthquaker had his home. Already the +ground was beginning to tremble; the Earthquaker was stirring in his +sleep, for the maiden of the new song had not been sent to him, and the +year ended at noon, and then he would rise and ruin Manoa. + +The sun was approaching mid-day, and Prigio put spurs to the Flying +Horse. Ten minutes more, and the sun would look straight down the crater +of the hollow hill, and the Earthquaker would arouse himself when the +light and the heat fell on his body. + +Already the light of the sun shone slanting half-way down the hollow cone +as the whirlpool of air caught the Flying Horse, and drew him swiftly +down and down to the shadowy halls. There knelt and wept the nurses of +the Earthquaker on the marble floor; but Jaqueline stood a little apart, +very pale, but not weeping. + +Ricardo had leaped off before the horse touched the ground, and rushed to +Jaqueline, and embraced her in his arms; and, oh! how glad she was to see +him, so that she quite forgot her danger and laughed for joy. + +"Oh! you have come, you have come; I knew you would come!" she cried. + +Then King Prigio advanced, the mighty weight in his hand, to the verge of +the dreadful gulf of the Earthquaker. The dim walls grew radiant; a long +slant arm of yellow light touched the black body of the Earthquaker, and +a thrill went through him, and shook the world, so that, far away, the +bells rang in Pantouflia. A moment more, and he would waken in his +strength; and once awake, he would shatter the city walls and ruin Manoa. +Even now a great mass of rock fell from the roof deep down in the secret +caves, and broke into flying fragments, and all the echoes roared and +rang. + +King Prigio stood with the mighty mass poised in his hands. + +"Die!" he cried; and he uttered the words of power, the magic spell that +the dark Moon Lady had taught him. + +Then all its invincible natural weight came into the mass which the king +held, and down it shot full on the body of the Earthquaker; and where +that had been was nothing but a vast abyss, silent, empty, and blank, and +bottomless. + +Far, far below, thousands of miles below, in the very centre of the +earth, lay the dead Earthquaker, crushed flat as a sheet of paper, and +the sun of midsummer-day shone straight down on the dreadful chasm, and +could not waken him any more for ever. + +The king drew a long breath. + +"Stupidity has saved the world," he said; and, with only strength to draw +back one step from the abyss, he fell down, hiding his face in his hands. + +But Jaqueline's arms were round his neck, and the maidens brought him +water from an ice-cold spring; and soon King Prigio was himself again, +and ready for anything. But afterwards he used to say that the moment +when the Earthquaker stirred was the most dreadful in his life. + +Now, in Manoa, where all the firm foundations of the city had trembled +once, when the sun just touched the Earthquaker, the people, seeing that +the shadow of the sacred column had crept to its foot, and yet Manoa +stood firm again, and the Temple of the Sun was not overthrown, raised +such a cry that it echoed even through the halls within the hollow hill. + +Who shall describe the joy of the maidens, and how often Jaqueline and +Ricardo kissed each other? + +"You have saved me!" she cried to the king, throwing her arms round him +again. "You have saved Manoa!" + +"And _you_ have saved the Hope of Pantouflia, not once or twice," said +his Majesty, grandly. + +And he told Dick how much he had owed to Jaqueline, in the fight with the +Yellow Dwarf, and the fight with the Giant, for he did not think it +necessary to mention the affair at Rome. + +Then Dick kissed Jaqueline again, and all the maidens kissed each other, +and they quite cried for gladness. + +"But we keep his Majesty the Inca waiting," said Prigio. "Punctuality is +the courtesy of kings. You ladies will excuse me, I am sure, if I remove +first from the dungeon her whom we call the Princess Jaqueline. The +Inca, her father, has a claim on us to this preference." + +Then placing Jaqueline on the saddle, and leaving Dick to comfort the +other young ladies, who were still rather nervous, the king flew off to +Manoa, for the wind, of course, died with the death of the Earthquaker. + +I cannot tell you the delight of all Manoa, and of the Inca, when they +saw the Flying Horse returning, and recognised their long-lost princess, +who rushed into the arms of her father. They beat the serpent drums, for +they had no bells, on the tops of the temples. They went quite mad with +delight: enemies kissed in the streets; and all the parents, without +exception, allowed all the young people who happened to be in love to be +married that very day. Then Prigio brought back all the maidens, one +after the other, and Dick last; and he fell at the Inca's feet, and +requested leave to marry Jaqueline. + +But, before that could be done, King Prigio, mounted on the palace +balcony, made a long but very lucid speech to the assembled people. He +began by explaining that he was not their God, Pachacamac, but king of a +powerful country of which they had never heard before, as they lived very +much withdrawn in an unknown region of the world. Then he pointed out, +in the most considerate manner, that their religion was not all he could +wish, otherwise they would never sacrifice young ladies to wild birds and +Earthquakers. He next sketched out the merits of his own creed, that of +the Lutheran Church; and the Inca straightway observed that he proposed +to establish it in Manoa at once. + +Some objection was raised by the old priest in the skull mask; but when +the Inca promised to make him an archbishop, and to continue all his +revenues, the priest admitted that he was perfectly satisfied; and the +general public cheered and waved their hats with emotion. It was +arranged that the Inca, with his other daughters, should visit Pantouflia +immediately, both because he could not bear to leave Jaqueline, and also +because there were a few points on which he felt that he still needed +information. The Government was left in the hands of the archbishop, who +began at once by burning his skull mask (you may see one like it in the +British Museum, in the Mexican room), and by letting loose all the birds +and beasts which the Manoans used to worship. + +So all the young people were married in the Golden Temple of the Sun, and +all the Earthquaker's nurses who were under thirty were wedded to the +young men who had been fond of them before they were sent into the hollow +hill. These young men had never cared for any one else. Everybody wore +bridal favours, all the unengaged young ladies acted as bridesmaids, and +such a throwing of rice and old shoes has very seldom been witnessed. As +for the happy royal pair, with their fathers, and the other princess (who +did not happen to be engaged), back they flew to Pantouflia. + +And there was Queen Rosalind waiting at the palace gates, and crying and +laughing with pleasure when she heard that the wish of her heart was +fulfilled, and Jaqueline was to be her daughter. + +"And, as for the Earthquaker," said her Majesty, "I never was really +anxious in the least, for I knew no beast in the world was a match for +_you_, my dear." + +So, just to make everything orderly and correct, Ricardo and Jaqueline +were married over again, in the Cathedral of Pantouflia. The marriage +presents came in afterwards, of course, and among them, what do you +think? Why, the Seven-League Boots and the Sword of Sharpness, with a +very polite note of extraordinary size: + + "The Giant who does not Know when he has had Enough presents his + hearty congratulations to the royal pair, and begs to lay at their + feet the Seven-league Boots (they not fitting me) and the Sword which + Prince Ricardo left in the Giant's keeping recently. The Giant hopes + _no bad blood_; and I am, + + "Yours very faithfully, + "THE G., &c. + +"P.S.--His little woman sends her congratulations." + +So you see the Giant was not such a bad sort of fellow after all, and +Prince Ricardo always admitted that he never met a foe more gallant and +good-humoured. + +With such a clever wife, Ricardo easily passed all his examinations; and +his little son, Prince Prigio (named after his august grandfather), never +had to cry, "Mamma, mamma, father's plucked again." + +So they lived happily in a happy country, occasionally visiting Manoa; +and as they possessed the magical Water o Life from the Fountain of +Lions, I do not believe that any of them ever died at all, but that +Prigio is still King of Pantouflia. + +"No need such kings should ever die!" + +{The coach: p204.jpg} + +PRINTING OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER. + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{21} You can buy these glasses now from the Psychical Society, at half-a- +crown and upwards. + +{135} See the works of D'Aulnoy. + +{146} This Giant is mentioned, and his picture is drawn, in an old +manuscript of about 1875. + +{190} _Huaca_, sacred stone. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRINCE RICARDO OF PANTOUFLIA*** + + +******* This file should be named 21994.txt or 21994.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/9/9/21994 + + + +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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