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_BOOK_TITLE_ : Andrew_Lang___Prince_Prigio.txt.out |
CHAPTER I. -LCB- Chapter heading picture : p1.jpg -RCB- How the Fairies were not Invited to Court . |
Once upon a time there reigned in Pantouflia a king and a queen . |
With almost everything else to make them happy , they wanted one thing : they had no children . |
This vexed the king even more than the queen , who was very clever and learned , and who had hated dolls when she was a child . |
However , she , too in spite of all the books she read and all the pictures she painted , would have been glad enough to be the mother of a little prince . |
The king was anxious to consult the fairies , but the queen would not hear of such a thing . |
She did not believe in fairies : she said that they had never existed ; and that she maintained , though The History of the Royal Family was full of chapters about nothing else . |
Well , at long and at last they had a little boy , who was generally regarded as the finest baby that had ever been seen . |
Even her majesty herself remarked that , though she could never believe all the courtiers told her , yet he certainly was a fine child -- a very fine child . |
Now , the time drew near for the christening party , and the king and queen were sitting at breakfast in their summer parlour talking over it . |
It was a splendid room , hung with portraits of the royal ancestors . |
There was Cinderella , the grandmother of the reigning monarch , with her little foot in her glass slipper thrust out before her . |
There was the Marquis de Carabas , who , as everyone knows , was raised to the throne as prince consort after his marriage with the daughter of the king of the period . |
On the arm of the throne was seated his celebrated cat , wearing boots . |
There , too , was a portrait of a beautiful lady , sound asleep : this was Madame La Belle au Bois-dormant , also an ancestress of the royal family . |
Many other pictures of celebrated persons were hanging on the walls . |
`` You have asked all the right people , my dear ? '' |
said the king . |
`` Everyone who should be asked , '' answered the queen . |
`` People are so touchy on these occasions , '' said his majesty . |
`` You have not forgotten any of our aunts ? '' |
`` No ; the old cats ! '' |
replied the queen ; for the king 's aunts were old-fashioned , and did not approve of her , and she knew it . |
`` They are very kind old ladies in their way , '' said the king ; `` and were nice to me when I was a boy . '' |
Then he waited a little , and remarked : `` The fairies , of course , you have invited ? |
It has always been usual , in our family , on an occasion like this ; and I think we have neglected them a little of late . '' |
`` How can you be so absurd ? '' |
cried the queen . |
`` How often must I tell you that there are no fairies ? |
And even if there were -- but , no matter ; pray let us drop the subject . '' |
`` They are very old friends of our family , my dear , that 's all , '' said the king timidly . |
`` Often and often they have been godmothers to us . |
One , in particular , was most kind and most serviceable to Cinderella I. , my own grandmother . '' |
`` Your grandmother ! '' |
interrupted her majesty . |
`` Fiddle-de-dee ! |
If anyone puts such nonsense into the head of my little Prigio -- '' But here the baby was brought in by the nurse , and the queen almost devoured it with kisses . |
And so the fairies were not invited ! |
It was an extraordinary thing , but none of the nobles could come to the christening party when they learned that the fairies had not been asked . |
Some were abroad ; several were ill ; a few were in prison among the Saracens ; others were captives in the dens of ogres . |
The end of it was that the king and queen had to sit down alone , one at each end of a very long table , arrayed with plates and glasses for a hundred guests -- for a hundred guests who never came ! |
`` Any soup , my dear ? '' |
shouted the king , through a speaking-trumpet ; when , suddenly , the air was filled with a sound like the rustling of the wings of birds . |
Flitter , flitter , flutter , went the noise ; and when the queen looked up , lo and behold ! |
on every seat was a lovely fairy , dressed in green , each with a most interesting-looking parcel in her hand . |
Do n't you like opening parcels ? |
The king did , and he was most friendly and polite to the fairies . |
But the queen , though she saw them distinctly , took no notice of them . |
You see , she did not believe in fairies , nor in her own eyes , when she saw them . |
So she talked across the fairies to the king , just as if they had not been there ; but the king behaved as politely as if they were real -- which , of course , they were . |
When dinner was over , and when the nurse had brought in the baby , all the fairies gave him the most magnificent presents . |
One offered a purse which could never be empty ; and one a pair of seven-leagued boots ; and another a cap of darkness , that nobody might see the prince when he put it on ; and another a wishing-cap ; and another a carpet , on which , when he sat , he was carried wherever he wished to find himself . |
Another made him beautiful for ever ; and another , brave ; and another , lucky : but the last fairy of all , a cross old thing , crept up and said , `` My child , you shall be too clever ! '' |
This fairy 's gift would have pleased the queen , if she had believed in it , more than anything else , because she was so clever herself . |
But she took no notice at all ; and the fairies went each to her own country , and none of them stayed there at the palace , where nobody believed in them , except the king , a little . |
But the queen tossed all their nice boots and caps , carpets , purses , swords , and all , away into a dark lumber-room ; for , of course , she thought that they were all nonsense , and merely old rubbish out of books , or pantomime `` properties . '' |
CHAPTER II . |
-LCB- Chapter heading picture : p9.jpg -RCB- Prince Prigio and his Family . |
Well , the little prince grew up . |
I think I 've told you that his name was Prigio -- did I not ? |
Well , that was his name . |
You can not think how clever he was . |
He argued with his nurse as soon as he could speak , which was very soon . |
He argued that he did not like to be washed , because the soap got into his eyes . |
However , when he was told all about the pores of the skin , and how they could not be healthy if he was not washed , he at once ceased to resist , for he was very reasonable . |
He argued with his father that he did not see why there should be kings who were rich , while beggars were poor ; and why the king -- who was a little greedy -- should have poached eggs and plum-cake at afternoon tea , while many other persons went without dinner . |
The king was so surprised and hurt at these remarks that he boxed the prince 's ears , saying , `` I 'll teach you to be too clever , my lad . '' |
Then he remembered the awful curse of the oldest fairy , and was sorry for the rudeness of the queen . |
And when the prince , after having his ears boxed , said that `` force was no argument , '' the king went away in a rage . |
-LCB- Prigio reading a book : p11.jpg -RCB- Indeed , I can not tell you how the prince was hated by all ! |
He would go down into the kitchen , and show the cook how to make soup . |
He would visit the poor people 's cottage , and teach them how to make the beds , and how to make plum-pudding out of turnip-tops , and venison cutlets out of rusty bacon . |
He showed the fencing-master how to fence , and the professional cricketer how to bowl , and instructed the rat-catcher in breeding terriers . |
He set sums to the Chancellor of the Exchequer , and assured the Astronomer Royal that the sun does not go round the earth -- which , for my part , I believe it does . |
The young ladies of the Court disliked dancing with him , in spite of his good looks , because he was always asking , `` Have you read this ? '' |
and `` Have you read that ? '' |
-- and when they said they had n't , he sneered ; and when they said they had , he found them out . |
He found out all his tutors and masters in the same horrid way ; correcting the accent of his French teacher , and trying to get his German tutor not to eat peas with his knife . |
He also endeavoured to teach the queen-dowager , his grandmother , an art with which she had long been perfectly familiar ! |
In fact , he knew everything better than anybody else ; and the worst of it was that he did : and he was never in the wrong , and he always said , `` Did n't I tell you so ? '' |
And , what was more , he had ! |
As time went on , Prince Prigio had two younger brothers , whom everybody liked . |
They were not a bit clever , but jolly . |
Prince Alphonso , the third son , was round , fat , good-humoured , and as brave as a lion . |
Prince Enrico , the second , was tall , thin , and a little sad , but never too clever . |
Both were in love with two of their own cousins -LRB- with the approval of their dear parents -RRB- ; and all the world said , `` What nice , unaffected princes they are ! '' |
But Prigio nearly got the country into several wars by being too clever for the foreign ambassadors . |
Now , as Pantouflia was a rich , lazy country , which hated fighting , this was very unpleasant , and did not make people love Prince Prigio any better . |
CHAPTER III . |
About the Firedrake . |
Of all the people who did not like Prigio , his own dear papa , King Grognio , disliked him most . |
For the king knew he was not clever , himself . |
When he was in the counting-house , counting out his money , and when he happened to say , `` Sixteen shillings and fourteen and twopence are three pounds , fifteen , '' it made him wild to hear Prigio whisper , `` One pound , ten and twopence '' -- which , of course , it is . |
And the king was afraid that Prigio would conspire , and get made king himself -- which was the last thing Prigio really wanted . |
He much preferred to idle about , and know everything without seeming to take any trouble . |
-LCB- The King at his desk : p15.jpg -RCB- Well , the king thought and thought . |
How was he to get Prigio out of the way , and make Enrico or Alphonso his successor ? |
He read in books about it ; and all the books showed that , if a king sent his three sons to do anything , it was always the youngest who did it , and got the crown . |
And he wished he had the chance . |
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