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PRINCE RICARDO OF PANTOUFLIA

BEING THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCEPRIGIO'S SON, BY ANDREW LANGAUTHOR OF PRINCE PRIGIO

ILLUSTRATED BYGORDON 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 LadyRosalind_, _and killed the Firedrake and the Remora by aid of his Fairygifts_. _Here you have some of his later adventures_, _and you willlearn from this story the advantages of minding your book_. 

_Yours always_, _A. Lang_. 

{Andrew Lang's signature: p0v. Jpg}

Introductory. Explaining Matters. 

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There may be children whose education has been so neglected that theyhave not read _Prince Prigio_. As this new story is about PrincePrigio's son, Ricardo, you are to learn that Prigio was the child andheir of Grognio, King of Pantouflia. The fairies gave the little Princecleverness, beauty, courage; but one wicked fairy added, "You shall be_too_ clever. " His mother, the queen, hid away in a cupboard all thefairy presents, --the Sword of Sharpness, the Seven-League Boots, theWishing Cap, and many other useful and delightful gifts, in which herMajesty did not believe! But after Prince Prigio had become universallydisliked and deserted, because he was so very clever and conceited, hehappened to find all the fairy presents in the old turret chamber wherethey had been thrown. By means of these he delivered his country from adreadful Red-Hot Beast, called the Firedrake, and, in addition to manyother triumphs, he married the good and beautiful Lady Rosalind. Hislove for her taught him not to be conceited, though he did not cease tobe extremely clever and fond of reading. 

When this new story begins the Prince has succeeded to the crown, on thedeath 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'sadventures: how he tried to bring back Prince Charlie to England, how hefailed; how he dealt with the odious old Yellow Dwarf; how he was aidedby the fair magician, the Princess Jaqueline; how they both fell into adreadful trouble; how King Prigio saved them; and how Jaqueline's dearand royal papa was discovered; with the end of all these adventures. Themoral 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 ofPantouflia. 

"If _you_ don't know, my dear, " said Queen Rosalind, his illustriousconsort, "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 theshelves were full of the most delightful fairy books in all languages, all equally familiar to King Prigio. The queen could not read most ofthem herself, but the king used to read them aloud to her. A good manyyears 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 kindand soft and beautiful, her dark hair as dark, and her pretty colour aslike a white rose blushing, as on the day when she was a bride. And shewas as fond of the king as when he was only Prince Prigio, and he was asfond 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. "Wehave not brought him up rightly. These fairy books are at the bottom ofhis provoking behaviour, " and he glanced round the shelves. "Now, when_I_ was a boy, my dear mother tried to prevent me from reading fairybooks, because she did not believe in fairies. "

"But she was wrong, you know, " said the queen. "Why, if it had not beenfor all these fairy presents, the Cap of Darkness and all the rest ofthem, you never could have killed the Fire-beast and the Ice-beast, and--you never could have married me, " the queen added, in a happywhisper, blushing beautifully, for that was a foolish habit of hers. 

"It is quite true, " said the king, "and therefore I thought it best tobring Dick up on fairy books, that he might know what is right, and haveno nonsense about him. But perhaps the thing has been overdone; at allevents, it is not a success. I wonder if fathers and sons will everunderstand each other, and get on well together? There was my poorfather, King Grognio, he wanted me to take to adventures, like otherprinces, 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. "Andnow, here's Dick, " the monarch continued, "I can't hold him back. He isalways after a giant, or a dragon, or a magician, as the case may be; hewill certainly be ploughed for his examination at College. Never opens abook. What does he care, off after every adventure he can hear about? Anidle, restless youth! Ah, my poor country, when I am gone, what may notbe 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 notforty! And young people will be young people. You were quite proud whenpoor Dick came home with his first brace of gigantic fierce birds, killedoff his own sword, and with such a pretty princess he had rescued--dearJaqueline? I'm sure she is like a daughter to me. I cannot do withouther. "

"I wish she were a daughter-in-law; I wish Dick would take a fancy tomarry her, " said the king. "A nicer girl I never saw. "

"And so accomplished, " added Queen Rosalind. "That girl can turn herselfinto anything--a mouse, a fly, a lion, a wheelbarrow, a church! I neverknew such talent for magic. Of course she had the _best_ of teachers, the Fairy Paribanou herself; but very few girls, in our time, devote somany hours to _practice_ as dear Jaqueline. Even now, when she is out ofthe schoolroom, she still practises her scales. I saw her turning littleDollie into a fish and back again in the bath-room last night. The childwas delighted. "

In these times, you must know, princesses learned magic, just as theylearn 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 notsay '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--fromdragons, giants, cannibals, magicians; and then, when a girl naturallyexpects to be married to him, as is usual, off he rides! He has no moreheart than a flounder. Why, at his age I--"

"At his age, my dear, you were so hard-hearted that you were quite aproverb. Why, I have been told that you used to ask girls dreadfulpuzzling questions, like 'Who was Caesar Borgia?' 'What do you know ofEdwin 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'tpossibly marry all of them. And I think a girl should consider herselflucky if she is saved from a dragon or a giant, without expecting to bemarried 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 wouldnot 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 hisway into that closet where the fairy presents lie, everything has beenmade too easy for him. It is a royal road to glory, or giant-slayingmade easy. In his Cap of Darkness a poor brute of a dragon can't seehim. In his Shoes of Swiftness the giants can't catch him. His Sword ofSharpness 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_, andDick 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 agood fight for it without all these fairy things? I wonder what theyoung rogue is about to-day? He'll be late for dinner, as usual, Idaresay. I can't stand want of punctuality at meals, " remarked hisMajesty, which is a sign that he was growing old after all; for where isthe 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 anxiousabout 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 inwhich, if you looked, you saw the person you wanted to see, and what hewas 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 wantsthree-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, andQueen 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 hedropped his Cap of Darkness in a fight with a giant, why who knows whatmight 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 toa rock beside the sea, in a lonely place. They must have fixed her up asa sacrifice to a sea-monster, like what's-her-name. "

This proves how anxious he was, or, being so clever and learned, he wouldhave remembered that her name was Andromeda. 

"I bet Dick is not far off, where there is an adventure on hand. Butwhere on earth can he be? . . . My word!" suddenly exclaimed themonarch, 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!" exclaimedthe king. "Now it is all being churned up by the tail of a tremendousmonster. 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 openjaws. He's dying! And, hooray! here's Dick coming out of his enormousmouth, all in armour set with sharp spikes, and a sword in his hand. He'scovered with blood, but he's well and hearty. He must have beenswallowed by the brute, and cut him up inside. Now he's cutting thebeast's head off. Now he's gone to the princess; a very neat bow he hasmade her. Dick's manners are positively improving! Now he's cutting heriron chains off with the Sword of Sharpness. And now he's made heranother bow, and he's actually taking leave of her. Poor thing! Howdisappointed 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 herhome here, on the magic carpet?"

"I think not, dear; the palace is quite full, " said the queen. But thereal reason was that she wanted Ricardo to marry her favourite PrincessJaqueline, 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 itcan't be helped, and Dick is half-way home by now on the Shoes ofSwiftness. I daresay he will not keep dinner waiting after all. Butwhat a fright the boy has given me!"

At this moment a whirring in the air and a joyous shout were heard. Itwas Prince Ricardo flying home on his Seven-league Boots. 

"Hi, Ross!" he shouted, "just weigh this beast's head. I've had asplendid day with a sea-monster. Get the head stuffed, will you? We'llhave it set up in the billiard-room. "

"Yes, Master Dick--I mean your Royal Highness, " said Ross, a Highlandkeeper, who had not previously been employed by a Reigning Family. "It'sa 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 parentsa brief account of his adventure. 

"I picked the monster up early in the morning, " he said, "through themagic 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 inAsia!" he said to himself, but he did not choose to make any remark atthe moment. 

The prince ran upstairs to dress. On the stairs he met the PrincessJaqueline. 

"Oh, Dick! are you hurt?" she said, turning very pale. 

"No, not I; but the monster is. I had a capital day, Jack; rescued aprincess, 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 rightagain;" for, indeed, the Princess Jaqueline was blushing. 

"I must dress. I'm ever so late, " he said, hurrying upstairs; and theprincess, 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 tospeak _seriously_ to Prince Ricardo. This was a thing which he dislikeddoing very much. 

"There's very little use in preaching, " his Majesty used to say, "to aman, or rather a boy, of another generation. My taste was for books; Ionly took to adventures because I was obliged to do it. Dick's taste isfor 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 withsome nice girl, who would keep him at home. "

The king did not expect much from talking seriously to Dick. However, hebegan by asking questions about the day's sport, which Ricardo answeredwith modesty. Then his Majesty observed that, from all he had ever reador heard, he believed Ethiopia, where the fight was, to be in Africa, notin Asia. 

"I really wish, Ricardo, that you would attend to your geography a littlemore. It is most necessary to a soldier that he should know where hisenemy is, and if he has to fight the Dutch, for instance, not to startwith 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 itaway, 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 mustlive for ever!"

"That sentiment is unusual in a Crown Prince, " thought the king; but hewas 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 toplease me, work hard all to-morrow till the afternoon. I'll come in andhelp you. And there's always a splendid evening rise of trout in thelake just now, so you can have your play after your work. You'll enjoyit 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, fora day in the inside of a gigantic sea-monster is fatiguing, from the heatand want of fresh air which are usually found in such places. "I thinkI'll turn in; goodnight, my dear old governor, " he said, in anaffectionate manner, though he was not usually given to many words. 

Then he went and kissed his mother and the Princess Jaqueline, whom heengaged to row him on the lake next evening, while he fished. 

"And don't you go muffing them with the landing-net, Jack, as yougenerally 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 hadbecome fond of her little joke; "that always sounds as if someone elsewas 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. Whenthey were all going to bed, he said:

"Just come into the study, Lina. I want you to write a few letters forme. "

The princess followed him and took her seat at the writing table. Theletters were very short. One was to Herr Schnipp, tailor to the king androyal family; another was to the royal swordmaker, another to thebootmaker, another to the optician, another to the tradesman who suppliedthe 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 hisMajesty yawned, apologised, and went to bed. The princess also went toher 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 socareless, 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 gointo the room where he is giving his orders. But that is awkward, forwhen 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 temptationsare 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 thatDick would not like. 

"How stupid of me, " she said at length, "after all the lessons I havehad. Why, I can _drink the moon_!"

Now, this is a way of knowing what anyone else is thinking of and intendsto do, for the moon sees and knows everything. Whether it is _quitefair_ is another matter; but, at all events, it is not _listening_. Andanyone 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 onceoccur which do not trouble other people. King Prigio's secret, why hesent for the tailor and the other people, was his own secret. Theprincess decided that she would not find it out by turning herself intoRip or the cat (whose name was Semiramis), and, so far, she was quiteright. But she was very young, and it never occurred to her that it wasjust as wrong to find out what the king meant by _drinking the moon_ asby 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 thatvery reason it has been given up in most countries. 

However, the princess did not think about right and wrong, unluckily. Shewent to the bookcase and took down her _Cornelius Agrippa_, in one greattall black volume, with silver clasps which nobody else could open; for, as the princess said, there are books which it would never do to leavelying about where the servants or anybody could read them. Nobody couldundo the clasps, however strong or clever he might be; but the princessjust breathed on them and made a sign, and the book flew open at theright place--Book IV. , chapter vi. , about the middle of page 576. 

The magic spell was in Latin, of course; but the princess knew Latin verywell, and soon she had the magic song by heart. Then she closed the bookand put it back on the shelf. Then she threw open the window and drewback the curtains, and put out all the lights except two scented candlesthat 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 strangesilver light. Now the whole room seemed to sway gently, waving andtrembling; and as it trembled it sounded and rang with a low silvermusic, as if it were filled with the waves of the sea. 

Then the princess took a great silver basin, covered with strange blacksigns 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. Itwas 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 thenfell still again; and the princess knelt in the middle of the room, andthe moon and the white light from the mirror of the moon fell in thewater. 

Then the princess raised the basin, and stooped her mouth to it and drankthe water, spilling a few drops, and so she _drank the moon_ and theknowledge of the moon. Then the moon was darkened without a cloud, andthere was darkness in the sky for a time, and all the dogs in the worldbegan to howl. When the moon shone again, the princess rose and put outthe two white lights, and drew the curtains; and presently she went tobed. 

{The Princess drinks the Moon: p41. Jpg}

"Now I know all about it, " she said. "It is clever; everything the kingdoes is clever, and he is so kind that I daresay he does not mean anyharm. 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 thanpeople think, "--as, indeed, she could. 

After meditating in this way, the princess fell sleep, and did not wakentill her maid came to call her. 

"Oh! your Royal Highness, what's this on the floor?" said the faithfulRosina, 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 silverlying on the carpet, as if they had melted and fallen there!"

"They have not hurt the carpet?" said the princess. "Oh dear! the queenwon't be pleased at all. It was a little chemical experiment I wastrying last night. "

But she knew very well that she must have dropped seven drops of theenchanted water. 

"No, your Royal Highness, the carpet is not harmed, " said Rosina; "onlyyour Royal Highness should do these things in the laboratory. HerMajesty 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 thesilver 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 neverknow 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 stateof 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 observedit 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 kingremarked 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 musthave noticed it, Jaqueline; you sat up later. How the dogs howled!"

"No; I mean yes, " murmured poor Jaqueline, who of course had caused thewhole affair by her magic arts, but who had forgotten, in the excitementof the moment, that an eclipse of the moon, especially if entirelyunexpected, is likely to attract very general attention. Jaqueline couldnot 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 beenpredicted?"

"Not a word about it whispered anywhere, " said his Majesty. "I looked upthe almanack at once. It is the most extraordinary thing I ever saw, andI've seen a good many. "

"The astronomers must be duffers, " said Prince Ricardo. "I never thoughtthere 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 isjust the other way on. "

King Prigio was struck aghast by these sentiments in the mouth of his sonand 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 notyet satisfactorily explained this eclipse of the moon, though they havewritten volumes about it. 

"Why, it may be the sun next!" exclaimed his Majesty. "Anything mayhappen. The very laws of gravitation themselves may go askew!"

At this moment the butler, William, who had been in the queen's familywhen 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 annoyanceof the queen, who was not agitated by eclipses, went out and joined thetailors 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 twocups of coffee. Meanwhile the king had joined the tradesmen who attendedby his orders. They were all met in the royal study, where the king madethem a most splendid bow, and requested them to be seated. But theydeclined to sit in his sacred presence, and the king observed that, inthat case he must stand up. 

"I have invited you here, gentlemen, " he said, "on a matter of merelyprivate importance, but I must request that you will be entirely silentas to the nature of your duties. It is difficult, I know, not to talkabout 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 beenmonarchs, in neighbouring kingdoms, who would have cut off all our headsafter we had done a bit of secret business; but the merest word of yourMajesty is law to your loving subjects. "

The other merchants murmured assent, for King Prigio was really liked byhis people. He was always good-tempered and polite. He never went towar with anybody. He spent most of the royal income on public objects, and of course there were scarcely any taxes to speak of. Moreover, hehad abolished what is called compulsory education, or making everybody goto school whether he likes it or not; a most mischievous and tyrannicalmeasure! "A fellow who can't teach himself to read, " said the king, "isnot worth teaching. "

For all these reasons, and because they were so fond of the queen, hissubjects 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; andif your Majesty asked for my heart's blood, I am ready to shed it, not tospeak of anything in the line of my business--namely, boot and shoemaking. But keep a secret from my wife, I fairly own to your Majestythat 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 morehonourable and chivalrous confession of an amiable weakness, if it is tobe called a weakness, I never heard. Sir, you have been true to yourhonour and your prince, in face of what few men can bear, the chance ofridicule. There is no one here, I hope, but respects and will keep thesecret of Herr Schmidt's confession?"

The assembled shopkeepers could scarcely refrain from tears. 

"Long live King Prigio the Good!" they exclaimed, and vowed thateverything 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; "butI trust that you will not long deprive me of sons and subjects worthy tosucceed to such fathers. And now, if Herr Schmidt will kindly find hisway to the buttery, where refreshments are ready, I shall have thepleasure of conducting you to the scene of your labours. "

Thus speaking, the king, with another magnificent bow, led the wayupstairs to a little turret-room, in a deserted part of the palace. Bidding the tradesmen enter, he showed them a large collection ofmiscellaneous things: an old cap or two, a pair of boots of a sort longout 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 manyremarkable adventures. 

The caps were the Wishing Cap and the Cap of Darkness. The rug was thefamous carpet which carried its owner through the air wherever he wishedto go. The sword was the Sword of Sharpness. The ivory glass showed youanyone you wanted to see, however far off. The boots were theSeven-league Boots, which Hop-o'-my-Thumb stole from the Ogre about 1697. There were other valuable objects, but these were the most useful andcelebrated. Of course the king did not tell the tradesmen what theywere. 

"Now, gentlemen, " said his Majesty, "you see these old things. Forreasons which I must ask you to excuse me for keeping to myself, I wishyou 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 ofbusiness. 

"As to the sword, sire, " said the cutler, "it is an Andrea Ferrara, afine old blade. By a lucky accident, I happen to have one at home in asmall collection of ancient weapons, exactly like it. This evening itshall be at your Majesty's disposal. "

"Perhaps, Herr Schnitzler, you will kindly write an order for it, as Iwish 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 quiteidentical 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 abankrupt theatrical stock. "

"We are most fortunate, " said the king. 

"The boots, now I come to think of it, are unimportant, at least for thepresent. Perhaps we can borrow a pair from the theatre. "

"As for the glass, " said the optician, "if your Majesty will allow me totake it home with me--"

"I am afraid I cannot part with it, " said the king; "but that, too, isunimportant, or not very pressing. "

Then he called for a servant, to order luncheon for the shopkeepers, andpaper 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 hisMajesty; "and, it seems a strange thing to ask, but may I advise you notto 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 wassomewhere 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 theturret-room!

"Where on earth are they?" cried the king, rushing through all the roomsin 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 onduty. 

"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 theturret-room. 

There were all the tradesmen with parcels under their arms. 

"What means this, gentlemen?" said his Majesty, severely. "For whatreason 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. "Getup, 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 itmyself!"

"Nor none of us can't, " said the swordmaker. "We have been home, andbrought the articles. All orders executed with punctuality anddispatch, " he added, quoting his own advertisement without thinking ofit. 

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 noone could tell from the magical carpet. 

The hatter was fumbling with the string of his parcel, when he suddenlyremembered, what the king in his astonishment had not noticed, that hehad a cap on himself. He pulled it off in a hurry, and the king at oncesaw that it was his Wishing Cap, and understood all about the affair. Thehatter, in his absence, had tried on the Wishing Cap, and had wished thathe himself and his friends were all at home and back again with theirwares at the palace. And what he wished happened, of course, as wasnatural. In a moment the king saw how much talk this business wouldproduce 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 wishedthat 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 itwent no further, of course they did not talk about it, and nobody was anythe wiser. 

"Owl that I am!" said King Prigio to himself. "I might have betterwished for a complete set of sham fairy things which would not work. Itwould have saved a great deal of trouble; but I am so much out of thehabit of using the cap, that I never thought of it. However, what I havegot will do very well. "

Then, putting on the Cap of Darkness, that nobody might see him, hecarried all the _real_ fairy articles away, except the Seven-leagueBoots, to his own room, where he locked them up, leaving in their placethe sham Wishing Cap, the sham Cap of Darkness, the sham Sword ofSharpness, and the carpet which was not a magic carpet at all. 

His idea was, of course, that Ricardo would start on an expeditionconfiding 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 ofthe scrape. That would teach him, thought the king, to depend onhimself, and to set a proper value on cleverness and learning, andminding his book. 

Of course he might have locked the things up, and forbidden Ricardo totouch them, but that might have seemed harsh. And, as you may easilyimagine, with all the powers at his command, the king fancied he couldeasily rescue Ricardo from any very serious danger at the hands of giantsor 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 histutors, made considerable progress in polite learning. Perhaps he oughtnot to be praised too highly for this, because, in fact, he saw no meansof distinguishing himself by adventures just at that time. Every morninghe would climb the turret and sweep the horizon, and even _much_ beyondthe horizon, with the ivory spy-glass. But look as he would, he saw nomonsters preying on human-kind anywhere, nor princesses in distress. Tobe sure he saw plenty of poor people in distress, and, being agood-hearted, though careless, lad, Dick would occasionally fly off withthe Purse of Fortunatus in his pocket, and give them as much money asthey needed--it cost him nothing. But this was not the kind of adventurewhich he enjoyed. Dragons for his money!

One day the Princess Jaqueline took a curious plan of showing Ricardo howlittle interest, after all, there is in performing the most wonderfulexploits without any real difficulty or danger. They were driftingbefore a light breeze on a hill lake; Ricardo was fishing, and Jaquelinewas sculling a stroke now and then, just to keep the boat right with thewind. Ricardo had very bad sport, when suddenly the trout began to riseall over the lake. Dick got excited, and stumbled about the boat fromstern to bow, tripping over Jaqueline's feet, and nearly upsetting thevessel 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 wason the water, and would look at nothing else. 

"Oh, bother them!" cried Ricardo. "I can't find a fly in my book in theleast like that little black one they are feeding on!"

He tried half-a-dozen different fly-hooks, but all to no purpose; he losthis temper, got his tackle entangled in Jaqueline's hair and then in thelanding-net; and, though such a big boy, he was nearly crying withvexation. 

The Princess Jaqueline, with great pains and patience, disentangled thecasting line, first from her hair, which Ricardo was anxious to cut (thegreat stupid oaf, --her pretty hair!) then from the landing-net; but Dickhad grown sulky. 

"It's no use, " he said; "I have not a fly that will suit. Let's gohome, " and he threw a tin can at a rising trout. 

"Now, Dick, " said Jaqueline, "you know I can help you. I did not learnmagic for nothing. Just you look the other way for a minute or two, andyou 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 wasnot in the boat. She had turned herself into an artificial fly (a smallblack gnat), and Dick might set to his sport again. 

"What a trump that girl is, " he said aloud. "Clever, too!" and he begancasting. He got a trout every cast, great big ones, over a pound, andsoon 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, andJaqueline was sitting at the oars. 

"You see, Ricardo, " she said, "I was right after all. There is not muchpleasure in sport that is easy and certain. Now, apply this moral todragon-killing with magic instruments. It may be useful when one isobliged to defend oneself, but surely a prince ought not to give hiswhole 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 tohave been born just to be preached at. "

Some people are; and it does grow rather tedious in the long run. Butperhaps what Jaqueline said may have made some impression on Ricardo, forhe stuck to his books for weeks, and was got into decimal fractions andEuclid. 

All this, of course, pleased the king very much, and he began toentertain hopes of Ricardo's becoming a wise and learned prince, and acredit to his illustrious family. 

Things were not always to go smoothly, far from it; and it was poorJaqueline who fell into trouble next. She had been very ready to lectureDick, as we saw, and took a good deal of credit to herself for hissteadiness. 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 wasalways kind to his dependents, he stopped to have a chat with her. 

"Why, Rosina, what a pretty little silver cross you are wearing, " hesaid, and he lifted a curious ornament which hung from a chain onRosina'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 andpretty! 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 saythat she did not always speak the truth when she could think of anythingbetter. On this occasion she was anxious to think of something better, for fear of getting Jaqueline into a scrape about the chemical experimentin her bedroom. But Rosina was fluttered, as we said, by the royalkindness, 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 shiningin each of them! I wonder if they shine in the dark?"

He opened the door of a cupboard which had no windows, where thehousemaid kept her mops and brooms, and shut himself in. Yes, there wasno mistake; the darkness was quite lighted up with the sheen of the sevenlittle moons in the silver. The king looked rather grave. 

"If you can trust me with this cross till to-morrow, Rosina, I shouldlike to have it examined and analysed. This is no common silver. "

Of course Rosina could only curtsy, but she was very much alarmed aboutthe consequences to her mistress. 

After luncheon, the king asked Jaqueline to come into his study, as heoften did, to help him with his letters. When they had sat down hisMajesty said:

"My dear Jaqueline, I never interfere with your pursuits, but I almostdoubt whether _Cornelius Agrippa_ is a good book for a very young lady toread. The Fairy Paribanou, I am sure, taught you nothing beyond theordinary magical accomplishments suited to your rank; but there are agreat many things in the _Cornelius_ which I think you should not studytill you are older and wiser. "

"What does your Majesty mean?" said poor Jaqueline, feeling veryuncomfortable; for the king had never lectured her before. 

"Why, " said his Majesty, taking the silver cross out of his pocket, "didyou 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 arefrank, Jaqueline. And you know, of course, that the drops are notordinary silver? They are moon silver, and that can only be got in oneway, so far as I know, at least--when one spills the water when he, orshe, is drinking the moon. Now, there is only one book which tells howthat can be done, and there is only one reason for doing it; namely, tofind 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 athing again without consulting me. You can have no reason for it, suchas a great king might have whose enemies are plotting against hiscountry. "

"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 yourinformation which you think I should not approve of. But there isanother thing--that eclipse of the moon! Oh, Jaqueline, was ithonourable, or fair to the astronomers and men of science, to say nothingabout it? Their European reputations are seriously injured. "

Poor Jaqueline could only cry. 

"Never mind, " said his Majesty, comforting her. "There is no great harmdone yet, and perhaps they would not believe you if you did explain; butjust think, if some people ceased to believe in Science, what would theyhave left to believe in? But you are young, of course, and cannot beexpected 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 thatbook, and I'll put it back in one of the locked-up shelves. Later, whenyou are older, we shall see about it. "

The princess flew to her room, and returned with her book. And the kingkissed her, and told her to go and see if her Majesty meant to take adrive. 

"I'll never deceive him again, never . . . Unless it is _quite_necessary, " said the princess to herself. "Indeed, it is not so easy todeceive the king. What a lot he has read!"

In fact, King Prigio had been very studious when a young man, before hecame 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 lether tell me _that_, poor child!"

In this guess, as we know, his Majesty was mistaken, which seldomhappened to him. 

"I wonder who she is?" the king went on speaking to himself. "That greatbooby, Ricardo, saved her from wild birds, which were just going to eather. She was fastened to a mountain top, but _where_? that's thequestion. Ricardo never has any notion of geography. It was across thesea, he noticed _that_; but which sea, --Atlantic, Pacific, the Black Sea, the Caspian, the Sea of Marmora, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, theGerman Ocean, the Mediterranean? Her ornaments were very peculiar; therewas 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 peopleworshipped), because there was some famine, or war, or trouble in thecountry. She said she was a Daughter of the Sun; but that, of course, isabsurd, unless--By Jove! I believe I have it, " said the king, and hewent into the royal library and was looking for some old Spanish book, when his secretary came and said that the Russian Ambassador was waitingfor an interview with his Majesty. 

"Dismal old Muscovite!" sighed the king. "A monarch has not a moment tohimself for his private studies. Ah, Prigio! why wert thou not born to aprivate station? But Duty before everything, " and wreathing his royalcountenance in smiles, his Majesty prepared to give Count Snoreonski anaudience. 

It was all about the attitude of Pantouflia in the event of a Polishinvasion of Russia. The king reassured Count Snoreonski, affirming thatPantouflia, while deeply regretting the disturbed relations between twoStates in whose welfare she was deeply interested, would ever preserve anattitude of benevolent neutrality, unless her own interests werethreatened. 

"I may give your message to my august mistress, the Czarina?" said theambassador. 

"By all means, adding an expression of my tender interest in herMajesty's health and welfare, " said the king, presenting the count at thesame time with a magnificent diamond snuffbox containing his portrait. 

The old count was affected to tears, and withdrew, while King Prigiosaid:

"I have not lost a day; I have made an amiable but very stupid manhappy. "

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 letterfor me!"

King Prigio had gone to a distant part of his dominions, on business ofimportance, and the young people were sitting in the royal study. Theletter, which Ricardo handed to Jaqueline, was written on a great broadsheet 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 isin despair over your ignorance. "

Now Green Stocking was the chief herald of Pantouflia, just like BlueMantle 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'sRome in some lingo, I expect. It is in Latin, anyhow, I know. _Mortuusest Romae_--'He died at Rome. ' It's in the Latin Grammar. Let's seewhat 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 theseare his initials? Look here, it's rather a long letter; you might readit 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 bebetter _ackwainted_. All the wurld has herd of the fame of PrinsRicardo, whose name is _feerd_, and his _sord_ dreded, wherever there areMonsters and Tirants. Prins, you may be less well informed about mysituation. 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 amtold 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 killthe spider, but he cracked the head of Sir Harry Bohun with one whack ofhis 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 goto war with somebody. With the Sword of Sharpness I'd make the enemywhistle! 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 theworst spelling I ever saw in my life! He means King _James_, --'my royalfather, King Gems, being druv into exile by a crewl Usurper, the Electorof Hannover. King Gems is _old_, and likes a quiat life; but I amdetermined to make an effort, if I go alone, and Europe shall here ofPrince Charles. Having heard--as who has not?--of your royal Highness'scourage and sordsmanship, I throw myself at your feet, and implore you toasist a prins in distres. Let our sords be drawn together in the caus offreedom 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 ofEngland 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 anidea! I'll put him on the throne of his fathers; it's as easy asshelling peas: and as for that other fellow, the Elector, I'll send himback to Hanover, wherever that may be, and he can go on electing, andpolling his vote in peace and quietness, at home. Just wait till I spotthe places. "

The prince ran up to the turret, fetched the magic spy-glass, and lookedup 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 toRome, 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 downon the throne of his fathers; pick up the Elector, carry him over to hisbeloved Hanover, and the trick is done--what they call a bloodlessrevolution 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 theaffairs of other countries, and never to start on an expedition when heis not at home. "

"Oh, he won't mind this time! There's no kind of danger; and I'm sure hewill approve of the _principle_ of the thing. Kings must stick up foreach 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 simplepreparations, and announced that he would be back in time for luncheon. 

What was poor Jaqueline to do? She was extremely anxious. She knew, aswe saw, what King Prigio had intended about changing the fairy things forothers that would not work. She was certain Dick would get himself intoa scrape; how was she to help him? She made up her mind quickly, whileDick was putting his things together. She told the queen (it was thenearest to the truth she could think of) that she "was going for a turnwith Dick. " Then she changed herself into a mosquito--a kind of gnatthat bites--and hid herself under a fold of Dick's coat. Of course heknew 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, inthe grounds of a splendid palace called the Villa Borghese. 

There he saw an elderly gentleman, in a great curled wig, sound asleep ona seat beneath a tree. The old gentleman had a long, pale, melancholyface, and across his breast was a broad blue ribbon with a star. Ah! howchanged was King James from the handsome Prince who had loved fairBeatrix Esmond, thirty years ago! Near him were two boys, not quite soold as Prince Ricardo. The younger was a pretty dark boy, with a funnylittle roundabout white wig. He was splendidly dressed in a light-bluesilk coat; a delicate little lace scarf was tied round his neck; he hadlace ruffles falling about his little ringed hands; he had a prettysword, with a gold handle set with diamonds--in fact, he was the pictureof a little dandy. The other lad had a broad Scotch bonnet on, and nowig; beautiful silky yellow locks fell about his shoulders. He had laidhis sword on the grass. He was dressed in tartan, which Ricardo hadnever seen before; and he wore a kilt, which was also new to Ricardo, whowondered at his bare legs--for he was wearing shoes with no stockings. Inhis hand he held a curious club, with a long, slim handle, and a headmade heavy with lead, and defended with horn. With this he was aiming ata little white ball; and suddenly he swung up the club and sent the ballout 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 aPersian rug under his arm. 

"That is what I am called, sir, " he said, "by those who give me the titlewhich is mine by right. May I inquire the reason which offers me thepleasure of this unexpected interview?"

"Oh, I'm Ricardo of Pantouflia!" says Dick. "I had a letter from youthis morning, and I believe you wanted to see me. "

"From Pantouflia, sir, " said Prince Charles; "why, that is hundreds ofleagues 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 withrapture, and kissing him in the Italian fashion, which Dick did not halflike, "you are, indeed, worthy of your reputation; and these are thecelebrated Seven-league Boots? Harry, " he cried to his brother, "comehere at once and let me present you to his Royal Highness, ourillustrious ally, Prince Ricardo of Pantouflia. The Duke of York--PrinceRicardo 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 royalconversation, "what's that game you were playing? It's new to me. Yousent the ball a tremendous long shot. "

"The game is called golf, and is the favourite pastime of my loyalScottish subjects, " said Prince Charles. "For that reason, that I may beable to share the amusements of my people, whom I soon hope to lead to aglorious victory, followed by a peaceful and prosperous reign, I amacquiring a difficult art. I'm practising walking without stockings, too, to harden my feet, " he said, in a more familiar tone of voice. "Ifancy there are plenty of long marches before me, and I would not be aspear's length behind the hardiest Highlander. "

"By Jove! I respect you, " said Dick, with the greatest sincerity; "but Idon't think, with me on your side, you will need to make many marches. Itwill all be plain sailing. "

"Pray explain your plan, " said Prince Charles. "The task of conqueringback 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 Knewwhen he had Enough, need not tell me that, " said Prince Charles, with acourteous 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, youhave heard. With a Sword of Sharpness and a Cap of Darkness, and soforth, 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 callfrom Pantouflia. "

"And has Holy Church, " asked the Duke of York, with anxiety, "given hersanction and her blessing to those instruments of an art, usually, in herwisdom, 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'sfair in love and war. "

"I should think so, " said Ricardo, "especially against those brutes ofElectors; 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 couldunderstand anything about politics. 

Prince Charles looked puzzled, but requested Dick to explain his greatplan. 

They sat down on the grass, and Ricardo showed them how he meant tomanage it, just as he had told Jaqueline. As he said, nothing could besimpler. 

"Let's start at once, " he said, and, inducing Prince Charles to sit downon 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 Prigiohad put in its place. 

"Get on! England, I said!" cried Dick. 

But there they remained, under the chestnut tree, sitting on the carpetabove 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, tomock at an unfortunate prince. Take your carpet and be off with you, outof the gardens, or your shoulders shall taste my club. "

"There has been some mistake, " Ricardo said; "the wrong carpet has beenbrought 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 bepotent, " said the Duke of York. 

"Nonsense! You are an impostor, sir! Leave my presence!" cried PrinceCharles, lifting his golf-club. 

Dick caught it out of his hand, and broke across his knee as fine adriver as ever came from Robertson's shop at St. Andrew's. 

"The quarrels of princes are not settled with clubs, sir! Draw anddefend yourself!" he said, kicking off his boots and standing in hissocks on the grass. 

Think of the horror of poor Jaqueline, who witnessed this terrible sceneof passion from a fold in Prince Ricardo's dress! What could the girl doto save the life of two princes, the hopes of one nation, and of arespectable minority in another?

In a moment Prince Charles's rapier was shining in the sunlight, and hefell on guard in the most elegant attitude, his left hand gracefullyraised 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 Swordof 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, whowas in a terrible taking, "to lend your blade to a hand not less royalthan your own. "

"Give him it, Hal!" said Prince Charles, who was standing with the pointof his sword on the ground, and the blade bent. "He seems to believe inhis own nonsense. "

The duke yielded his sword; Dick took it, made a nourish, and rushed atPrince Charles. 

Now Ricardo had always neglected his fencing lessons. "Where's the goodof 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 hecame, waving the rapier like a claymore, and made a slice at PrinceCharles's head. 

The prince, very much surprised, parried in prime, riposted, and touchedDick on the hand. 

At this moment the Princess Jaqueline did what she should have thought ofsooner. She flew out of Dick's coat, and stung old King James on hisroyal nose. The king wakened, nearly crushed the princess (so dangerousis the practice of magic to the artist), and then leaped up, and sawDick's blade flying through the air, glittering in the sun. The princehad disarmed him. 

"Hullo! what's all this? _A moi_, _mes gardes_!" cried the old king, inFrench and English; and then he ran up, just in time to hear PrinceCharles say:

"Sir, take your life! I cannot strike an unarmed man. A prince you maybe, but you have not learned the exercises of gentlemen. "

"What is all this, Carluccio?" asked the old king. "Swords out! brawlingin my very presence! blood drawn!" for Dick's hand was bleeding a gooddeal. 

Prince Charles, as briefly as possible, explained the unusual nature ofthe 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 ofWales would not be alive to tell his story. I can say no more, beyondoffering 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 canat least prove that my confidence in some of my resources is notmisplaced. Bid me bring you something--anything--from the ends of theearth, and it shall be in your hands. I can't say fairer. "

King James reflected, while Prince Ricardo was pulling on theSeven-league Boots, which he had kicked off to fight more freely, andwhile 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 tenminutes was back, bearing a large ram's-horn snuff-box, with a bigcairngorm 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 honouris without a stain, though it is a pity about the carpet. Your nobilityin not using your magical sword, under the greatest provocation, reconciles me to this fresh blighting of my hopes. All my allies failme, " 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 notbe ungrateful. With any blade a gentleman should be able to hold his ownin fair fight. I shall no longer neglect my fencing lessons. "

"With any blade, " said Prince Charles, "I shall be happy to find PrinceRicardo by my side in a stricken field. We shall not part till I haveinduced you to accept a sword which I can never hope to draw againstanother 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 ofJohn Sobieski. "

"Thank you, prince, " said Ricardo, "for the weapon, which I shall learnto wield; and I entreat you to honour me by receiving this fairygift--which _you_ do not need--a ring which makes all men faithful to thewearer. "

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 hisuseless carpet, took his farewell of the royal party, and, with Jaquelinestill hidden under his collar, returned at full speed, but with a heavyheart, to Pantouflia, where the palace gong was just sounding forluncheon. 

Ricardo never interfered in foreign affairs again, but his ring provedvery 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 theladies of her Court. Ricardo did not come down to luncheon, andJaqueline ate hers alone; and very mournful she felt. The prince hadcertainly not come well out of the adventure. He had failed (as allattempts to restore the Stuarts always did); he had been wounded, thoughhe had never received a scratch in any of his earlier exploits; and ifhis honour was safe, and his good intentions fully understood, that waschiefly due to Jaqueline, and to the generosity of King James and PrinceCharles. 

"I wonder what he's doing?" she said to herself, and at last she went upand 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 afellow so?"

He had been crying--his hand obviously hurt him badly; he looked, andindeed he was, very sulky. 

"How did you get on in England, Dick?" asked the princess, taking nonotice 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 keepit any longer to himself, he said: "I've failed to keep my promise; I'vebeen 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 tosay to my mother when she asks why my arm is in a sling? and what will myfather say? I'm quite broken down and desperate. I think I'll run awayto sea;" and indeed he looked very wild and miserable. 

"Tell me how it all happened, Dick, " said the princess; "I'm sure it'snot 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, whenKing James nearly crushed her in the shape of a mosquito, turned her headaway, and cried silently. 

"I'm a beast, " said Dick. "I beg your pardon, Jack dear. You are alwaysa 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 wellalready), except the part played by the mosquito, of which he could notbe aware. 

"I was sure it was not so bad as you made it out, Dick, " she said. "Yousee, the old king, who is not very wise, but is a perfectly honourablegentleman, gave you the highest praise. " She thought of lecturing him alittle about disobeying his father, but it did not seem a goodopportunity. Besides, Jaqueline had been lectured herself lately, andhad 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'smy hand, how it does sting! and she must find out. "

"I think I can cure it, " said Jaqueline. "Didn't you say Prince Charlesgave 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 isthat he gave it to you!"

And she ran to her own room, and brought a beautiful golden casket, whichcontained 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 ointmentfrom 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 torub, with the salve, the point of the rapier. 

As she did so, Ricardo's arm ceased to hurt, and the look of pain passedfrom his mouth. 

"Why, I feel quite better!" he said. "I can use my hand as well asever. "

Then he took off the stained handkerchief, and, lo, there was not even amark where the wound had been! For this was the famous Weapon Salvewhich you may read about in Sir Kenelm Digby, and which the Lady ofBranxholme used, in _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_. But the secret ofmaking it has long been lost, except in Pantouflia. 

"You are the best girl in the world, Jaqueline, " said Ricardo. "You maygive me a kiss if you like; and I won't call you 'Jack, ' or laugh at youfor reading books, any more. There's something in books after all. "

The princess did not take advantage of Dick's permission, but advised himto 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, "needhe?"

"Oh, that won't do! I tell my father everything; but then, I never hadanything like this to tell him before. Don't you think, Jaqueline, youmight break it to him? He's very fond of you. Just tell him what I toldyou; it's every word of it true, and he ought to know. He might seesomething 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 havereasons for keeping it to themselves. "

"I don't trust that younger one, " said Dick, moodily; "I don't care forthat young man. Anyway, my father _must_ be told; and, if you won't, Imust. "

"Well, I'll tell him, " said Jaqueline. "And now lie down till evening. "

After dinner, in the conservatory, Jaqueline told King Prigio all aboutit. 

His Majesty was very much moved. 

"What extraordinary bad luck that family has!" he thought. "If I had notchanged the rug, the merest accident, Prince Charles would have dined atSt. James's to-night, and King George in Hanover. It was the verynearest 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 nevermix himself up with politics again, whatever happens. And he says hemeans 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 andJaqueline, but she considered that Dick _meant_ all this, and, really, hedid. 

"That is well, as far as it goes, " said the king. "But, Jaqueline, aboutthat mosquito?" for she had told him this part of the adventure. "Thatwas a very convenient mosquito, though I don't know how Dick was able toobserve it from any distance. I see _your_ hand in that, my dear, and Iam glad you can make such kind and wise use of the lessons of the goodFairy Paribanou. Jaqueline, " he added solemnly, laying his hand on herhead, "You have saved the honour of Pantouflia, which is dearer to methan life. Without your help, I tremble to think what might haveoccurred. "

The princess blushed very much, and felt very happy. 

"Now run away to the queen, my dear, " said his Majesty, "I want to thinkthings over. "

He did think them over, and the more he thought the more he felt theinconvenience attending the possession of fairy things. 

"An eclipse one day, as nearly as possible a revolution soon after!" hesaid to himself. "But for Jaqueline, Ricardo's conduct would have beenblazed abroad, England would have been irritated. It is true she cannotget at Pantouflia very easily; we have no sea-coast, and we aresurrounded by friendly countries. But it would have been a ticklish anddiscreditable position. I must really speak to Dick, " which he did nextmorning after breakfast. 

"You have broken my rules, Ricardo, " he said. "True, there is no greatharm done, and you have confessed frankly; but how am I to trust you anylonger?"

"I'll give you my sacred word of honour, father, that I'll never meddlewith politics again, or start on an expedition, without telling you. Ihave had enough of it. And I'll turn over a new leaf. I've learned tobe ashamed of my ignorance; and I've sent for Francalanza, and I'll fenceevery day, and read like anything. "

"Very good, " said the king. "I believe you mean what you say. Now go toyour fencing lesson. "

"But, I say, father, " cried Ricardo, "was it not strange about the magiccarpet?"

"I told you not to trust to these things, " said the king. "Someenchanter may have deprived it of its power, it may be worn out, someonemay have substituted a common Persian rug; anything may happen. You_must_ learn to depend on yourself. Now, be off with you, I'm busy. Andremember, 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, atbreakfast one morning, his mouth full of sardine. 

"Really, Ricardo, your language is most unprincely, " said his augustfather; "I am always noticing it. You mean, I suppose, that there is oneenemy of the human race whom you wish to abolish. What is the name ofthe doomed foe?"

"Well, he is the greatest villain in history, " said Ricardo. "You musthave 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 whomour ancestors inform us, who escaped the doom which he richly merited atthe 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 casebefore. 

"If you remember, sir, he polished off--I mean, he slew--the King of theGolden Mines and the beautiful, though frivolous, Princess Frutilla. Allthat the friendly Mermaid could do for them was to turn them into a pairof beautiful trees which intertwine their branches. Not much use in_that_, sir! And nothing was done to the scoundrel. He may be going onstill; 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 goodenough to settle _him_. "

"They say he is very cunning of fence, " said the king; "and besides, Ihave heard something of a diamond sword that he stole from the King ofthe 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 thedoor, he heard Dick come in and order a pair of rose-coloured spectacles, with which he was at once provided. The people of Pantouflia wereaccustomed to wear them, saying that they improved the complexions ofladies 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 DandieDinmont terrier, named Pepper, and the king, who understood the motive ofthis precaution, silently approved. 

"The lad has come to some purpose and forethought, " the king said, and hegladly advanced a considerable sum for the purchase of crocodiles' eggs, which can rarely be got quite fresh. When Jaqueline had made thecrocodiles' eggs, with millet-seed and sugar-candy, into a cake for theDwarf'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 (theone which would not work, but he did not know that), and this he put inhis pocket for future use. With plenty of egg sandwiches and marmaladesandwiches, and cold minced-collop sandwiches, he _pricked forth_ intothe wilderness, making for the country inhabited by the Yellow Dwarf. Theprincess was glad he was riding, for she privately accompanied him in thedisguise of a wasp; and a wasp, of course, could not have kept up withhim in his Seven-league Boots. 

"Hang that wops!" said Prince Ricardo several times, buffeting it withhis pocket-handkerchief when it buzzed in his ear and round his horse'shead. 

{"Hang that wops!" said Prince Ricardo: p129. Jpg}

Meanwhile, King Prigio had taken his precautions, which were perfectlysimple. When he thought Ricardo was getting near the place, the king puton his Wishing Cap, sat down before the magic crystal ball, and kept hiseye on the proceedings, being ready to wish the right thing to helpRicardo at the right moment. He left the window wide open, smoked hiscigar, and seemed the pattern of a good and wise father watching theconduct 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, tillone day he saw that the air was becoming Yellow. He knew that thisshowed the neighbourhood of Jaunia, or Daunia, the country of the YellowDwarf. He therefore drew bridle, placed his rose-coloured spectacles onhis nose and put spurs to his horse, for the yellow light of Jaunia makespeople melancholy and cowardly. As he pricked on, his horse stumbled andnearly came on its nose. The prince noticed that a steel chain had beendrawn across the road. 

"What caitiff has dared!" he exclaimed, when his hat was knocked off by awell-aimed orange from a neighbouring orange-tree, and a vulgar voicesqueaked:

"Hi, Blinkers!"

There was the Yellow Dwarf, an odious little figure, sitting sucking anorange in the tree, swinging his wooden shoes, and grinning all over hiswrinkled face. 

"Well, young Blinkers!" said the Dwarf, "what are you doing on mygrounds? You're a prince, by your look. Yah! down with kings! I'm aman of the people!"

"You're a dwarf of the worst description, that's what _you_ are, " saidRicardo; "and let me catch you, and I'll flog the life out of you with myriding-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, noryet to-morrow. What are you doing here? Are you an ambassador, maybecome to propose a match for me? I'm not proud, I'll hear you. They saythere's a rather well-looking wench in your parts, the PrincessJaqueline--"

"Mention that lady's name, you villain, " cried Dick, "and I'll cut downyour 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 adetestable grin; while Ricardo turned quite white with anger, and notknowing how to deal with this insufferable little monster. 

"I'm a widower, I am, " said the Dwarf, "though I'm out of mourning, " forhe wore a dirty clay-coloured Yellow jacket. "My illustrious consort, the Princess Frutilla, did not behave very nice, and I had to avenge myhonour; in fact, I'm open to any offers, however humble. Going at analarming sacrifice! Come to my box" (and he pointed to a filthy claycottage, 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 aninjured saint; and as for the lady whom I shall not name in yourpolluting 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) sheheard Dick say he was her knight; not that, in fact, he had thought of itbefore. 

"Oh! you're for a fight, are you?" sneered the Dwarf. "I might tell youto 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. Justturn old Dobbin's head, and trot back to your mammy, Queen Rosalind, atPantouflia. Does she know you're out?"

"I'll be into _you_, pretty quick, " said Ricardo. "But why do I bandywords 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 andmade for Ricardo. These were not ordinary lions, history avers, eachhaving 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 cakeof crocodiles' eggs, millet-seed, and sugar-candy to the lions. This isa dainty which lions can never resist, and running greedily at it, withfour tremendous snaps, they got hold of each other by their jaws, andtheir eight rows of teeth were locked fast in a grim and deadly _strugglefor existence_!

The Dwarf took in the affair at a glance. 

"Cursed be he who taught you this!" he cried, and then whistled in ashrill and vulgar manner on his very dirty fingers. At his call rushedup an enormous Spanish cat, ready saddled and bridled, and darting firefrom its eyes. To leap on its back, while Ricardo sprang on his ownsteed, was to the active Dwarf the work of a moment. Then clapping spursto its sides (his spurs grew naturally on his bare heels, horrible torelate, like a cock's spurs) and taking his cat by the head, the Dwarfforced it to leap on to Ricardo's saddle. The diamond sword which slewthe king of the Golden Mines--that invincible sword which hews iron likea reed--was up and flashing in the air!

At this very moment King Prigio, seeing, in the magic globe, all thatpassed, and despairing of Ricardo's life, was just about to wish thedwarf at Jericho, when through the open window, with a tremendous whirr, came a huge vulture, and knocked the king's wishing cap off! Wishing wasnow of no use. 

This odious fowl was the Fairy of the Desert, the Dwarf's trusted ally inevery sort of mischief. The vulture flew instantly out of the window;and ah! with what awful anxiety the king again turned his eyes on thecrystal ball only a parent's heart can know. Should he see Ricardobleeding at the feet of the abominable dwarf? The king scarcely dared tolook; never before had he known the nature of fear. However, look hedid, 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 thanPepper, true to the instinct of his race, sprang at its neck, just behindthe head--the usual place, --and, with an awful and despairing mew, thecat (Peter was its name) gave up its life. 

The dwarf was on his feet in a moment, waving the diamond sword, whichlighted up the whole scene, and yelling taunts. Pepper was flying at hisheels, and, with great agility, was keeping out of the way of theinvincible blade. 

"Ah!" screamed the Dwarf as Pepper got him by the ankle. "Call off yourdog, you coward, and come down off your horse, and fight fair!"

At this moment, _bleeding yellow blood_, dusty, mad with pain, the dwarfwas a sight to strike terror into the boldest. 

Dick sprang from his saddle, but so terrific was the appearance of hisadversary, and so dazzling was the sheen of the diamond sword, that heput his hand in his pocket, drew out, as he supposed, the sham Cap ofDarkness, 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 Dickwhich no mortal blade could have parried. The prince (thanks to hisexcellent training) just succeeded in stepping aside, but the dwarfrecovered with astonishing quickness. 

"Coward, _lache_, poltroon, runaway!" he hissed through his clenchedteeth, and was about to make a thrust in tierce which must infalliblyhave 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 thediamond sword, sucked his injured limb, and began hopping about withpain. 

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. Squirmingfearfully, the little monster expired, his last look a defiance, hislatest 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 hisfallen 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 greatsigh of relief. 

"All's well that ends well, " he said, lighting a fresh cigar, for he hadallowed the other to go out in his excitement, "but it was a fight! I amnot satisfied, " his Majesty went on reflecting, "with this plan ofchanging the magical articles. The first time was of no greatimportance, and I could not know that the boy would start on anexpedition without giving me warning. But, in to-day's affair he oweshis 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 shallrestore 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 theking. He looked all about the room, but saw nothing. He was alone!

"She must have been in the room, invisible, " said the king; and, ofcourse, she has died in that condition. "But I must find her body!"

The king groped about everywhere, like a blind man, and at lastdiscovered the dead body of the wicked fairy lying on the sofa. He couldnot see it, of course, but he felt it with his hands. 

"This is very awkward, " he remarked. "I cannot ring for the servants andmake them take her away. There is only one plan. "

So he wished she were in her family pyramid, in the Egyptian desert, andin a second the sofa was unoccupied. 

"A very dangerous and revengeful enemy is now removed from Ricardo's pathin life, " said his Majesty, and went to dress for dinner. 

Meanwhile Ricardo was riding gaily home. The yellow light of Jaunia hadvanished, and pure blue sky broke overhead as soon as the dauntless Dwarfhad drawn his latest breath. The poor, trembling people of the countrycame out of their huts and accompanied Dick, cheering, and throwing roseswhich had been yellow roses, but blushed red as soon as the Dwarfexpired. They attended him to the frontiers of Pantouflia, singing hispraises, which Ricardo had the new and inestimable pleasure of knowing tobe deserved. 

"It was sharp work, " he said to himself, "but much more exciting andglorious than the usual business. "

On his return Dick did not fail to mention the wasp, and again the kingfelt how great was his debt to Jaqueline. But they did not think it wellto 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 asbroad as a table-cloth, and the address was written in letters as long asa hoop-stick. "I seem to know that hand, " said Ricardo; "but I thoughtthe fingers which held the pen had long been cold in death. "

He opened, with his sword, the enormous letter, which was couched in thefollowing 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 ridthe world of so greedy and odious a tyrant. Dick, therefore, took theusual things (which the king had secretly restored), but first he triedthem--putting on the Cap of Darkness before the glass, in which he couldnot see himself. On second thoughts, he considered it unfair to take thecap. All the other articles were in working order. Jaqueline on thisoccasion 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 toa written notice, knocked also with a mace provided by the Giant for thatpurpose. Presently he heard heavy footsteps sounding along the cavern, and the Giant came out. He was above the common height for giants, andhis whole face and body were seamed over with little red lines, crossingeach other like tartan. These were marks of encounters, in which he hadbeen 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 asbefore, 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 yougave him time enough. On the last occasion of their meeting, Ricardo hadleft 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 hisleft hand and one of his ears, the Giant was as comfortable as anyonecould 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 eitherside?"

"None on mine, certainly, " said Ricardo, holding out his hand, which theGiant took and shook; "but Duty is Duty, and giants must go. The modernworld 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 cornerwith the sun on his back and in the Giant's face. To it they went, theGiant 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 thewaist. 

The Giant folded his legs up neatly, like a pair of trousers, and laidthem down on a rock. He had now some difficulty in getting rapidly overthe ground, and stood mainly on the defensive, and on his waist. 

_Round III. _--Dick bisects the Giant. Both sides now attack him oneither 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 _horribledetails_. 

Let us also remember--otherwise the scene would be too painful for anelegant mind to contemplate with entertainment--that the Giant was inexcellent training, and thought no more of a few wounds than you do of acrack on the leg from a cricket-ball. He well deserved the title givenhim by the Fancy, of "The Giant who does not Know when he has hadEnough. "

* * * * *

The contest was over; Dick was resting on a rock. The lists were strewnwith interesting but imperfect fragments of the Giant, when a set ofdouble teeth of enormous size flew up out of the ground and caughtRicardo by the throat! In vain he strove to separate the teeth, when thecrow, stooping from the heavens, became the Princess Jaqueline, andchanged Dick into a wren--a tiny bird, so small that he easily flew outof the jaws of the Giant and winged his way to a tree, whence he watchedthe 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 herbosom, 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 heraid the lessons of the Fairy Paribanou, the Giant who never Knew when hehad Enough was himself again. A boy might have climbed up a tree (forgiants are no tree-climbers, any more than the grizzly bear), butJaqueline could not climb. She merely stood, pale and trembling. Shehad 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 theCap of Darkness, and, in the shape of a wren, of course he could notcarry away the other articles. Dick was rescued, that was all, and thePrincess Jaqueline had sacrificed herself to her love for him. 

The Giant picked himself up and pulled himself together, as we said, andthen approached Jaqueline in a very civil way, for a person of hisbreeding, 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 notvery intelligible account of herself. 

"I don't understand, " said the Giant, replacing his head on hisshoulders. "What to do with you, I'm sure I don't know. '_Please don'teat me_, ' did you say? Why, what do you take me for? I'm not in thatline at all; low, _I_ call it!"

Jaqueline was somewhat comforted at these words, dropped out of theGiant'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 aglutton, or so my friends are pleased to say. A brace of oxen, a droveof sheep or two, are enough for me, " the Giant went on complacently, butforgetting to mention that the sheep and the oxen were the property ofother people. "Where am I to put you till your friends come and pay yourransom?" the Giant asked again, and stared at Jaqueline in a perplexedway. "I can't take you home with me, that is out of the question. Ihave 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, wasafraid 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 tohumour him. 

"He's not a giant, bless you; he's a queer fellow, it is not easy to saywhat 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 meconversing with a lady unbeknown to her. The Earthquaker won't do youany harm; it's only for safe keeping I'll put you with him. Why, hedon't waken, not once in fifty years. He's quite the dormouse. Turns onhis 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 wasone tall blue hill, with a flattened peak, and as they drew near theprincess felt a curious kind of wind coming round her and round her. Youhave heard of whirlpools in water; well, this was just like a whirlpoolof air. Even the Giant himself could hardly keep his legs against it;then he tossed Jaqueline up, and the airy whirlpool seized her andcarried her, as if on a tide of water, always round and round innarrowing circles, till she was sucked down into the hollow hill. Evenas she went, she seemed to remember the hill, as if she had dreamed aboutit, and the shape and colour of the country. But presently she sanksoftly on to a couch, in a beautifully-lighted rocky hall. All aroundher the floor was of white and red marble, but on one side it seemed toend in black nothing. 

Jaqueline, after a few moments, recovered her senses fully, and changingherself into an eagle, tried to fly up and out. But as soon as she wasin the funnel, the whirlpool of air always sucking down and down, was toostrong for her wings. She was a prisoner in this great gleaming hall, ending in black nothingness. So she resumed her usual form, and walkingto the edge of the darkness, found that it was not empty air, butsomething black, soft, and strong--something living. It had no form orshape, 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, likethunder heard through a feather-bed:

"Not near time to get up yet!" and then there was a snore, and the greathall 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 makestracks like a dry river-bed across country. We are certain that there_are_ Earthquakers, otherwise how can we account for earthquakes? Buthow to tackle an Earthquaker, how to get at him, and what to do with himwhen you have got at him, are questions which might puzzle even KingPrigio. 

It was not easy to have the better of an enchantress like Jaqueline and aprince like Ricardo. In no ordinary circumstances could they have beenbaffled and defeated; but now it must be admitted that they were in avery trying and alarming situation, especially the princess. The worstof it was, that as Jaqueline sat and thought and thought, she began toremember that she was back in her own country. The hills were those sheused to see from her father's palace windows when she was a child. Andshe remembered with horror that once a year her people used to send abeautiful girl to the Earthquaker, by way of keeping him quiet, as youshall hear presently. And now she heard light footsteps and a sound ofweeping, and lo! a great troop of pretty girls passed, sweeping in andout 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 himasleep, and every year he must have a new song; and every year a newmaiden must be sent down from earth, with a new sleepy song she haslearned from the priests of Manoa, the City of the Sun. Are you the newsinger?"

"No, I'm _not_, " said Jaqueline. "I don't know the priests of Manoa; Idon'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 mustsend the right one, otherwise the Earthquaker will waken, and shake theworld, and destroy Manoa, the City of the Sun. " Then they all weptsoftly in the stillness. "Can we get anything to eat here?" asked poorJaqueline, 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 maidensclapped her hands, and immediately a long table was spread by unseensprites with meringues and cold chicken, and several sorts of deliciousices. 

We shall desert Jaqueline, who was rather less alarmed when she foundthat she was not to be starved, at all events, and return to PrinceRicardo, whom we left fluttering about as a little golden-crested wren. He followed the Giant and Jaqueline into the whirlpool of air as far ashe dared, and when he saw her vanish down the cone of the hill, he flewstraight 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 flutteredinto the royal study window, in the palace of Pantouflia. The king wasout at a council meeting; knowing that Ricardo had the right things, allin good order, he was not in the least anxious about him. The king wasout, but Semiramis was in--Semiramis, the great grey cat, sitting on abig book on the top of the library steps. Now Semiramis was very fond ofbirds, and no sooner did Ricardo enter and flutter on to a table thanSemiramis gathered herself together and made one fell spring at him. Shejust caught his tail feather. In all his adventures the prince had neverbeen in greater danger. He escaped, but no more, and went flying roundthe ceiling, looking for a safe place. Finally he perched on achandelier that hung from the roof. Here he was safe; and so weary washe, that he put his head under his wing and fell fast asleep. He wasawakened by the return of the king, who threw himself on a sofa andexclaimed:

"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 sadbookworm. 

Dick now began to fly about the room, brushing the king's face and tryingto 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 puther out of the room and shut the door, at which she remained scratchingand 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 onhis back, pretended to be dead. Then he got up again, twittered afresh, pointed to the Wishing Cap, and, finally, convinced the king that thiswas no common fowl. 

"An enchanted prince or princess, " said Prigio, "such as I have oftenread of. Who can it be? Not Jaqueline; she could change herself back ina 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 inthe palace all day. 

The king rushed to the crystal ball, looked all the world over; but noprincess! He became very nervous, and at that moment Dick lighted on thecrystal ball, and put his claw on the very hill where Jaqueline haddisappeared. Then he cocked his little eye at the king. 

"Nay, she is somewhere in the unknown centre of South America, " said hisMajesty; "somewhere behind Mount Roraima, where nobody has ever been. Imust look into this. "

Then he put on the Wishing Cap, and wished that the bird would assume hisnatural shape if he was under enchantment, as there seemed too goodreason 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 haveyou been? What have you done with Jaqueline? Where are the Seven-leagueBoots? Where is the Sword of Sharpness? Speak! Get up!" for Dick waskneeling and weeping bitterly at the royal feet. 

"All lost!" said Dick. "Poor Jaqueline! she was the best girl, and theprettiest, and the kindest. And the Earthquaker's got her, and theGiant's got the other things, " Dick ended, crying bitterly. 

"Calm yourself, Ricardo, " said his Majesty, very pale, but calm anddetermined. "Here, take a glass of port, and explain how all thishappened. "

Dick drank the wine, and then he told his miserable story. 

"You may well sob! Why didn't you use the Cap of Darkness? Mereconceit! 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 herPrigio that she soon dried her tears, remarking that Heaven would notdesert 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 thoughtand thought. 

"The thing is, of course, " he said, "to destroy the Earthquaker before hewakens; but how? What can kill such a monster? Prodding him with thesword would only stir him up and make him more vicious. And I know of noother beast we can set against him, as I did with the Fire-beast and theIce-beast, when I was young. Oh, for an idea!"

Then his mind, somehow, went back to the Council and the ponderousstupidity of the Prime Minister. 

"Heavier than lead, " said the king. "By George! I have a plan. If Icould get to the place where they keep the Stupidity, I could carry awayenough of it to flatten out the Earthquaker. "

Then he remembered how, in an old Italian poem, he had read about all thestrange lumber-room of odd things which is kept in the moon. That is theadvantage of reading: _Knowledge is Power_; and you mostly get knowledgethat is really worth having out of good old books which people do notusually 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 obtainenough for my purpose, " thought King Prigio. "But--how to get to themoon? 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 thecommon sense of his friend, Orlando, as you may read in the poem ofAriosto. 

"Now, " reasoned King Prigio, "if there is a Flying Horse at all, he is inthe stables of the King of Delhi. I must look into this. "

Taking the magic spy-glass, the king surveyed the world from China toPeru, and, sure enough, there was the famous Flying Horse in the king'sstable at Delhi. Hastily the king thrust his feet into the Shoes ofSwiftness--so hastily, indeed, that, as the poet says, he "madly crammeda 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 afew 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 theGreat Mogul. "This is like old times! Every horse in my stable is atyour service, but, as you say, only the Flying Horse is of any use to youin this expedition. "

He clapped his hands, the Grand Vizier appeared, and the king gave ordersto have the Flying Horse saddled at once. He then presented King Prigiowith 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 outof 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 outof the windows. 

The king, as he had been instructed, turned a knob of gold in the saddleof the Flying Horse, then kissed his hand to the ladies, and, giving thesteed his head, cried, in excellent Persian:

"To the moon!"

Up flew the horse with an easy action, and the king's head nearly swamwith the swiftness of the flight. Soon the earth below him was no biggerthan 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. Allnow 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 silverwalls, 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 hada crown of a golden snake and white water-lilies, and her dress now shonewhite, now red, now golden; and in her hand was the golden pitcher thatsheds the dew, and a golden wand. The other lady was as dark asnight--dark eyes, dark hair; her crown was of poppies. She held theebony 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 sideof the moon--of the side you see, and of the side that no one has everseen, except King Prigio. He stopped the Flying Horse by turning theother knob in the saddle, alighted, and bowed very low to each of theladies. 

"Daring mortal! what make you here?" they asked. 

And then the king told them about Jaqueline and the Earthquaker, and howhe 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 hadcrossed all the bright side of the moon, above the silver palaces andsilver seas, and reached the summit of the Mountains of the Moon whichseparate the bright from the dark side. 

"Here I may go no further, " said the bright lady; "and beyond, as yousee, all is darkness and heavy sleep. "

Then she touched Prigio with her golden wand with twisted serpents, andhe 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 andblack rivers, till they reached a huge mountain, like a mountain of coal, many thousand feet high, for its head was lost in the blackness ofdarkness. The dark Moon-Lady struck the rock with her ebony wand, andsaid, "Open!" and the cliffs opened like a door, and they were within themountain. 

"Here, " said the dark lady, "is the storehouse of all the Stupidity;hence it descends in showers like Stardust on the earth whenever thismountain, which is a volcano, is in eruption. Only a little of theStupidity reaches the earth, and that only in invisible dust; yet youknow 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 roundat the various kinds of Solid Stupidity. There it all lay in masses--theStupidity of bad Sermons, of ignorant reviewers, of bad poems, of badspeeches, of dreary novels, of foolish statesmen, of ignorant mobs, offine ladies, of idle, naughty boys and girls; and the king examined themall, and all were very, very heavy. But when he came to the Stupidity ofthe Learned--of dull, blind writers on Shakspeare, and Homer, and theBible--then King Prigio saw that he had found the sort he wanted, andthat a very little of it would go a long way. He never could have got iton the saddle of the Flying Horse if the dark lady had not touched itwith her ebony wand, and made it light to carry till it was wanted forhis 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 darklady 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 thebright lady had shed on him died from his face and his body, and hebecame like other men. 

"You see your way?" said the dark lady, pointing to the bright moon ofearth, shining far off in the heavens. 

Then he knelt down and thanked her, and she murmured strange words ofblessing 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 hereached his palace gate; called for Ricardo, set him behind him on thesaddle, and away they rode, above land and wide seas, till they saw thecrest of the hollow hill, where Jaqueline was with the Earthquaker. Beyond it they marked the glittering spires and towers of Manoa, the Cityof the Sun; and "Thither, " said King Prigio, who had been explaining howmatters stood, to Ricardo, "we must ride, for I believe they stand ingreat 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 goldenspires and pinnacles are shining below us, is the City of the Sun, whichSir Walter Raleigh and the Spaniards could never find, so that men havedoubted of its existence. We are needed there, to judge by that angrycrowd 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 theFlying Horse. Beneath them lay the City of Manoa, filling with itsgolden battlements and temples a hollow of the mountains. Here werepalaces all carved over with faces of men and beasts, and with twistedpatterns of serpents. 

The city walls were built of huge square stones, and among the grovestowered pyramids, on which the people did service to their gods. Fromevery temple top came the roar of beaten drums, great drums ofserpentskin. 

But, in the centre of the chief square of the town, was gathered a wildcrowd of men in shining copper armour and helmets of gold and glitteringdresses of feathers. Among them ran about priests with hideous masks, crying them on to besiege and break down the royal palace. From thebattlements of the palace the king's guardsmen were firing arrows andthrowing spears. The mob shot arrows back, some of them tipped withlighted straw, to burn the palace down. 

But, in the very centre of the square, was a clear space of ground, onwhich fell the shadow of a tall column of red stone, all carved withserpents and faces of gods. Beside it stood a figure horrible to see: aman clothed in serpent skins, whose face was the grinning face of askull; but the skull was shining black and red in patches, and a longwhite beard flowed from beneath it. This man, mounted on a kind of altarof red stone, waved his hand and yelled, and seemed to point to theshadow 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 withinthe skull looked up and saw him, and then the man gave a great cry, renthis glittering dress of serpentskin, and held up his hands. 

Then all the multitude looked up, and seeing the Flying Horse, let theirweapons fall; and the man of the skull tore it from his face, and kneltbefore King Prigio, with his head in the dust. 

"Thou hast come, oh, Pachacamac, as is foretold in the prophecy of theCord of the Venerable Knots! Thou hast come, but behold the shadow ofthe stone! Thou art too late, oh Lord of the Earth and the Sea!"

Then he pointed to the shadow, which, naturally, was growing shorter, asthe sun drew near mid-day. 

He spoke in the language of the ancient Incas of Peru, which of coursePrigio knew very well; and he also knew that Pachacamac was the god ofthat people. 

"I have come, " Prigio said, with presence of mind, "as it has beenprophesied of old. "

"Riding on a beast that flies, " said the old priest, "even as the oracledeclared. 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 onmidsummer-day, every year, before the shadow shrinks back to the base ofthe _huaca_ {190} of Manoa, we must offer a maiden to lull theEarthquaker with a new song. Lo, now the shadow shrinks to the foot ofthe _huaca_, and the maid is not offered! For the lot fell on thedaughter of thy servant the Inca, and he refuses to give her up. Onedaughter 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, inPantouflian. 

"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 shadowshrinks to the foot of the stone, the sun will shine straight down intothe hollow hill of the Earthquaker, and he will waken and destroy Manoaand 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 tothe Inca; this day you shall not perish. Is it not predicted in the Cordof 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 beenkneeling; and, sending a flag of truce before King Prigio, the priest ledhim into the palace. The ground was strewn with bodies of the slain, andthrough them Prigio rode slowly into the courtyard, where the Inca wassitting in the dust, weeping and throwing ashes on his long hair and hisgolden raiment. The king bade the priest remain without the palacegates; then dismounted, and, advancing to the Inca, raised him andembraced him. 

"I come, a king to a king, " he said. "My cousin, take courage; yoursorrows are ended. If I do not slay the Earthquaker, sacrifice me toyour gods. "

"The Prophecy is fulfilled, " said the Inca, and wept for joy. "Yet thoumust hasten, for it draws near to noon. "

Then Prigio went up to the golden battlements, and saying no word, wavedhis hand. In a moment the square was empty, for the people rushed togive thanks in the temples. 

"Wait my coming, my cousin, " said Prigio to the Inca; "I shall bring youback 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 badehim 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 towardsthe peak of the hill where the Earthquaker had his home. Already theground was beginning to tremble; the Earthquaker was stirring in hissleep, for the maiden of the new song had not been sent to him, and theyear ended at noon, and then he would rise and ruin Manoa. 

The sun was approaching mid-day, and Prigio put spurs to the FlyingHorse. Ten minutes more, and the sun would look straight down the craterof the hollow hill, and the Earthquaker would arouse himself when thelight and the heat fell on his body. 

Already the light of the sun shone slanting half-way down the hollow coneas the whirlpool of air caught the Flying Horse, and drew him swiftlydown and down to the shadowy halls. There knelt and wept the nurses ofthe 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 toJaqueline, and embraced her in his arms; and, oh! how glad she was to seehim, 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 ofthe dreadful gulf of the Earthquaker. The dim walls grew radiant; a longslant arm of yellow light touched the black body of the Earthquaker, anda thrill went through him, and shook the world, so that, far away, thebells rang in Pantouflia. A moment more, and he would waken in hisstrength; 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 secretcaves, and broke into flying fragments, and all the echoes roared andrang. 

King Prigio stood with the mighty mass poised in his hands. 

"Die!" he cried; and he uttered the words of power, the magic spell thatthe dark Moon Lady had taught him. 

Then all its invincible natural weight came into the mass which the kingheld, and down it shot full on the body of the Earthquaker; and wherethat had been was nothing but a vast abyss, silent, empty, and blank, andbottomless. 

Far, far below, thousands of miles below, in the very centre of theearth, lay the dead Earthquaker, crushed flat as a sheet of paper, andthe sun of midsummer-day shone straight down on the dreadful chasm, andcould 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 drawback 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 himwater from an ice-cold spring; and soon King Prigio was himself again, and ready for anything. But afterwards he used to say that the momentwhen the Earthquaker stirred was the most dreadful in his life. 

Now, in Manoa, where all the firm foundations of the city had trembledonce, when the sun just touched the Earthquaker, the people, seeing thatthe shadow of the sacred column had crept to its foot, and yet Manoastood firm again, and the Temple of the Sun was not overthrown, raisedsuch 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 andRicardo kissed each other?

"You have saved me!" she cried to the king, throwing her arms round himagain. "You have saved Manoa!"

"And _you_ have saved the Hope of Pantouflia, not once or twice, " saidhis Majesty, grandly. 

And he told Dick how much he had owed to Jaqueline, in the fight with theYellow Dwarf, and the fight with the Giant, for he did not think itnecessary 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 isthe courtesy of kings. You ladies will excuse me, I am sure, if I removefirst from the dungeon her whom we call the Princess Jaqueline. TheInca, her father, has a claim on us to this preference. "

Then placing Jaqueline on the saddle, and leaving Dick to comfort theother young ladies, who were still rather nervous, the king flew off toManoa, 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 theysaw the Flying Horse returning, and recognised their long-lost princess, who rushed into the arms of her father. They beat the serpent drums, forthey had no bells, on the tops of the temples. They went quite mad withdelight: enemies kissed in the streets; and all the parents, withoutexception, allowed all the young people who happened to be in love to bemarried that very day. Then Prigio brought back all the maidens, oneafter the other, and Dick last; and he fell at the Inca's feet, andrequested leave to marry Jaqueline. 

But, before that could be done, King Prigio, mounted on the palacebalcony, made a long but very lucid speech to the assembled people. Hebegan by explaining that he was not their God, Pachacamac, but king of apowerful country of which they had never heard before, as they lived verymuch withdrawn in an unknown region of the world. Then he pointed out, in the most considerate manner, that their religion was not all he couldwish, otherwise they would never sacrifice young ladies to wild birds andEarthquakers. He next sketched out the merits of his own creed, that ofthe Lutheran Church; and the Inca straightway observed that he proposedto establish it in Manoa at once. 

Some objection was raised by the old priest in the skull mask; but whenthe Inca promised to make him an archbishop, and to continue all hisrevenues, the priest admitted that he was perfectly satisfied; and thegeneral public cheered and waved their hats with emotion. It wasarranged that the Inca, with his other daughters, should visit Pantoufliaimmediately, both because he could not bear to leave Jaqueline, and alsobecause there were a few points on which he felt that he still neededinformation. The Government was left in the hands of the archbishop, whobegan at once by burning his skull mask (you may see one like it in theBritish Museum, in the Mexican room), and by letting loose all the birdsand beasts which the Manoans used to worship. 

So all the young people were married in the Golden Temple of the Sun, andall the Earthquaker's nurses who were under thirty were wedded to theyoung men who had been fond of them before they were sent into the hollowhill. These young men had never cared for any one else. Everybody worebridal favours, all the unengaged young ladies acted as bridesmaids, andsuch a throwing of rice and old shoes has very seldom been witnessed. Asfor the happy royal pair, with their fathers, and the other princess (whodid not happen to be engaged), back they flew to Pantouflia. 

And there was Queen Rosalind waiting at the palace gates, and crying andlaughing with pleasure when she heard that the wish of her heart wasfulfilled, and Jaqueline was to be her daughter. 

"And, as for the Earthquaker, " said her Majesty, "I never was reallyanxious 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 Jaquelinewere married over again, in the Cathedral of Pantouflia. The marriagepresents came in afterwards, of course, and among them, what do youthink? Why, the Seven-League Boots and the Sword of Sharpness, with avery 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, andPrince Ricardo always admitted that he never met a foe more gallant andgood-humoured. 

With such a clever wife, Ricardo easily passed all his examinations; andhis little son, Prince Prigio (named after his august grandfather), neverhad 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 ofLions, I do not believe that any of them ever died at all, but thatPrigio 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 oldmanuscript of about 1875. 

{190} _Huaca_, sacred stone.