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Things are not as they appear . '' |
Here , as he was arguing with himself , he was nearly run over by a splendid carriage and six , the driver of which never took the slightest notice of him . |
Annoyed at this , the prince leaped up behind , threw down the two footmen , who made no resistance , and so was carried to the door of a magnificent palace . |
He was determined to challenge the gentleman who was in the carriage ; but , noticing that he had a very beautiful young lady with him , whom he had never seen before , he followed them into the house , not wishing to alarm the girl , and meaning to speak to the gentleman when he found him alone . |
A great ball was going on ; but , as usual , nobody took any notice of the prince . |
He walked among the guests , being careful not to jostle them , and listening to their conversation . |
It was all about himself ! |
Everyone had heard of his disgrace , and almost everyone cried `` Serve him right ! '' |
They said that the airs he gave himself were quite unendurable -- that nothing was more rude than to be always in the right -- that cleverness might be carried far too far -- that it was better even to be born stupid -LRB- `` Like the rest of you , '' thought the prince -RRB- ; and , in fact , nobody had a good word for him . |
Yes , one had ! |
It was the pretty lady of the carriage . |
I never could tell you how pretty she was . |
She was tall , with cheeks like white roses blushing : she had dark hair , and very large dark-grey eyes , and her face was the kindest in the world ! |
The prince first thought how nice and good she looked , even before he thought how pretty she looked . |
She stood up for Prince Prigio when her partner would speak ill of him . |
She had never seen the prince , for she was but newly come to Pantouflia ; but she declared that it was his misfortune , not his fault , to be so clever . |
`` And , then , think how hard they made him work at school ! |
Besides , '' said this kind young lady , `` I hear he is extremely handsome , and very brave ; and he has a good heart , for he was kind , I have heard , to a poor boy , and did all his examination papers for him , so that the boy passed first in everything . |
And now he is Minister for Education , though he ca n't do a line of Greek prose ! '' |
The prince blushed at this , for he knew his conduct had not been honourable . |
But he at once fell over head and ears in love with the young lady , a thing he had never done in his life before , because -- he said -- `` women were so stupid ! '' |
You see he was so clever ! |
Now , at this very moment -- when the prince , all of a sudden , was as deep in love as if he had been the stupidest officer in the room -- an extraordinary thing happened ! |
Something seemed to give a whirr ! |
in his brain , and in one instant he knew all about it ! |
He believed in fairies and fairy gifts , and understood that his cap was the cap of darkness , and his shoes the seven-league boots , and his purse the purse of Fortunatus ! |
He had read about those things in historical books : but now he believed in them . |
CHAPTER VII . |
The Prince Falls in Love . |
He understood all this , and burst out laughing , which nearly frightened an old lady near him out of her wits . |
Ah ! |
how he wished he was only in evening dress , that he might dance with the charming young lady . |
But there he was , dressed just as if he were going out to hunt , if anyone could have seen him . |
So , even if he took off his cap of darkness , and became visible , he was no figure for a ball . |
Once he would not have cared , but now he cared very much indeed . |
But the prince was not clever for nothing . |
He thought for a moment , then went out of the room , and , in three steps of the seven-league boots , was at his empty , dark , cold palace again . |
He struck a light with a flint and steel , lit a torch , and ran upstairs to the garret . |
The flaring light of the torch fell on the pile of `` rubbish , '' as the queen would have called it , which he turned over with eager hands . |
Was there -- yes , there was another cap ! |
There it lay , a handsome green one with a red feather . |
The prince pulled off the cap of darkness , put on the other , and said : '' I wish I were dressed in my best suit of white and gold , with the royal Pantouflia diamonds ! '' |
In one moment there he was in white and gold , the greatest and most magnificent dandy in the whole world , and the handsomest man ! |
`` How about my boots , I wonder , '' said the prince ; for his seven-league boots were stout riding-boots , not good to dance in , whereas now he was in elegant shoes of silk and gold . |
He threw down the wishing cap , put on the other -- the cap of darkness -- and made three strides in the direction of Gluckstein . |
But he was only three steps nearer it than he had been , and the seven-league boots were standing beside him on the floor ! |
`` No , '' said the prince ; `` no man can be in two different pairs of boots at one and the same time ! |
That 's mathematics ! '' |
He then hunted about in the lumber-room again till he found a small , shabby , old Persian carpet , the size of a hearthrug . |
He went to his own room , took a portmanteau in his hand , sat down on the carpet , and said : `` I wish I were in Gluckstein . '' |
In a moment there he found himself ; for this was that famous carpet which Prince Hussein bought long ago , in the market at Bisnagar , and which the fairies had brought , with the other presents , to the christening of Prince Prigio . |
-LCB- The Prince on the carpet : p52.jpg -RCB- When he arrived at the house where the ball was going on , he put the magical carpet in the portmanteau , and left it in the cloak-room , receiving a numbered ticket in exchange . |
Then he marched in all his glory -LRB- and , of course , without the cap of darkness -RRB- into the room where they were dancing . |
Everybody made place for him , bowing down to the ground , and the loyal band struck up The Prince 's March ! |
Heaven bless our Prince Prigio ! |
What is there he does n't know ? |
Greek , Swiss , German -LRB- High and Low -RRB- , And the names of the mountains in Mexico , Heaven bless the prince ! |
He used to be very fond of this march , and the words -- some people even said he had made them himself . |
But now , somehow , he did n't much like it . |
He went straight to the Duke of Stumpfelbahn , the Hereditary Master of the Ceremonies , and asked to be introduced to the beautiful young lady . |
She was the daughter of the new English Ambassador , and her name was Lady Rosalind . |
But she nearly fainted when she heard who it was that wished to dance with her , for she was not at all particularly clever ; and the prince had such a bad character for snubbing girls , and asking them difficult questions . |
However , it was impossible to refuse , and so she danced with the prince , and he danced very well . |
Then they sat out in the conservatory , among the flowers , where nobody came near them ; and then they danced again , and then the Prince took her down to supper . |
And all the time he never once said , `` Have you read this ? '' |
or `` Have you read that ? '' |
or , `` What ! |
you never heard of Alexander the Great ? '' |
or Julius Caesar , or Michael Angelo , or whoever it might be -- horrid , difficult questions he used to ask . |
That was the way he used to go on : but now he only talked to the young lady about herself ; and she quite left off being shy or frightened , and asked him all about his own country , and about the Firedrake-shooting , and said how fond she was of hunting herself . |
And the prince said : `` Oh , if you wish it , you shall have the horns and tail of a Firedrake to hang up in your hall , to-morrow evening ! '' |
Then she asked if it was not very dangerous work , Firedrake hunting ; and he said it was nothing , when you knew the trick of it : and he asked her if she would but give him a rose out of her bouquet ; and , in short , he made himself so agreeable and unaffected , that she thought him very nice indeed . |
For , even a clever person can be nice when he likes -- above all , when he is not thinking about himself . |
And now the prince was thinking of nothing in the world but the daughter of the English ambassador , and how to please her . |
He got introduced to her father too , and quite won his heart ; and , at last , he was invited to dine next day at the Embassy . |
In Pantouflia , it is the custom that a ball must not end while one of the royal family goes on dancing . |
This ball lasted till the light came in , and the birds were singing out of doors , and all the mothers present were sound asleep . |
Then nothing would satisfy the prince , but that they all should go home singing through the streets ; in fact , there never had been so merry a dance in all Pantouflia . |
The prince had made a point of dancing with almost every girl there : and he had suddenly become the most beloved of the royal family . |
But everything must end at last ; and the prince , putting on the cap of darkness and sitting on the famous carpet , flew back to his lonely castle . |
-LCB- The mothers asleep : p56.jpg -RCB- CHAPTER VIII . |
The Prince is Puzzled . |
Prince Prigio did not go to bed . |
It was bright daylight , and he had promised to bring the horns and tail of a Firedrake as a present to a pretty lady . |
He had said it was easy to do this ; but now , as he sat and thought over it , he did not feel so victorious . |
`` First , '' he said , `` where is the Firedrake ? '' |
He reflected for a little , and then ran upstairs to the garret . |
`` It should be here ! '' |
he cried , tossing the fairies ' gifts about ; `` and , by George , here it is ! '' |
Indeed , he had found the spyglass of carved ivory which Prince Ali , in the Arabian Nights , bought in the bazaar in Schiraz . |
Now , this glass was made so that , by looking through it , you could see anybody or anything you wished , however far away . |
Prigio 's first idea was to look at his lady . |
`` But she does not expect to be looked at , '' he thought ; `` and I wo n't ! '' |
On the other hand , he determined to look at the Firedrake ; for , of course , he had no delicacy about spying on him , the brute . |
The prince clapped the glass to his eye , stared out of window , and there , sure enough , he saw the Firedrake . |
He was floating about in a sea of molten lava , on the top of a volcano . |
There he was , swimming and diving for pleasure , tossing up the flaming waves , and blowing fountains of fire out of his nostrils , like a whale spouting ! |
The prince did not like the looks of him . |
-LCB- The Prince looking through the telescope : p59.jpg -RCB- `` With all my cap of darkness , and my shoes of swiftness , and my sword of sharpness , I never could get near that beast , '' he said ; `` and if I did stalk him , I could not hurt him . |
Poor little Alphonso ! |
Subsets and Splits