Prince Prigio by Andrew Lang Read Free Book Online Page A

presently; this is nothing out of the way for a dream. Dr. Rumpfino ascribes it to imperfect nutrition."
    All this time, the Lady Rosalind, as pale as a marble statue, was leaning against the side of the open window. The prince thought he could do nothing wiser than go and comfort her, so he induced her to sit down on a chair in the balcony,--for he felt that he was not wanted in the drawing-room;--and soon they were talking happily about the stars, which had begun to appear in the summer night.
    Meanwhile, the ambassador had induced the king to take a seat; but there was no use in talking to the queen.
    "It would be a miracle," she said to herself, "and miracles do not happen; therefore this has not happened. Presently, I shall wake up in my own bed at Falkenstein."
    Now, Benson, William, and Thomas brought in the coffee, but the queen took no notice. When they went away, the rest of the company slipped off quietly, and the king was left alone with the ambassador; for the queen could hardly be said to count.
    "You want to know all about it, I suppose?" said his majesty in a sulky voice. "Well, you have a right to it, and I shall tell you. We were just sitting down to dinner at Falkenstein, rather late,--hours get later every year, I think--when I heard a row in the premises, and the captain of the guard, Colonel McDougal, came and told us that a man had arrived with the horns and tail of the Firedrake, and was claiming the reward. Her majesty and I rose and went into the outer court, where we found, sitting on that carpet with a glass of beer in his hand, a respectable-looking upper servant, whom I recognised as your butler. He informed us that he had just killed the beast, and showed us the horns and tail, sure enough; there they are! The tail is like the iron handle of a pump, but the horns are genuine. A pair were thrown up by a volcano, in my great-grandfather's time Giglio I.* Excellent coffee this, of yours!"
    * The History of this Prince may be read in a treatise called
The Rose and the Ring
, by M. A. Titmarsh. London, 1855.
    [Illustration: Page 72]
    The ambassador bowed.
    "Well, we asked him
where
he killed the Firedrake, and he said in a garden near Gluckstein. Then he began to speak about the reward, and the 'perkisits,' as he called them, which it seems he had read about in my proclamation. Rather a neat thing; drew it up myself," added his majesty.
    "Very much to the point," said the ambassador, wondering what the king was coming to.
    "Glad you like it," said the king, much pleased. "Well, where was I? Oh, yes; your man said he had killed the creature in a garden, quite near Gluckstein. I didn't much like the whole affair: he is an alien, you see; and then there was my niece, Molinda--poor girl,
she
was certain to give trouble. Her heart is buried, if I may say so, with poor Alphonso. But the queen is a very remarkable woman--very remarkable--"
    "Very!" said the ambassador, with perfect truth.
    "'Caitiff!' she cries to your butler," his majesty went on; "'perjured knave, thou liest in thy throat! Gluckstein is a hundred leagues from here, and how say est thou that thou slewest the molester, and earnest hither in a few hours' space?' This had not occurred to me,--I am a plain king, but I at once saw the force of her majesty's argument. Yes,' said I; 'how did you manage it?' But he--your man, I mean--was not a bit put out. 'Why, your majesty,' says he, 'I just sat down on that there bit of carpet, wished I was here, and here
I ham
. And I 'd be glad, having had the trouble,--and my time not being my own,--to see the colour of them perkisits, according to the proclamation.' On this her majesty grew more indignant, if possible. 'Nonsense!' she cried; 'a story out of the 'Arabian Nights' is not suited for a modern public, and fails to win æsthetic credence.' These were her very words."
    "Her majesty's expressions are ever choice and appropriate," said the ambassador.
    "'Sit down there, on the carpet, knave,' she went