{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_53808/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_53808","id":"gutenberg_53808","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53808","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairies -- Juvenile fiction","Fairy tales","Princes -- Juvenile fiction","Romance fiction","Selfishness -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"THE JUVENILE\n\n                         Englishman\u2019s Library.\n\n                                  II.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n        \u201cNot so Master Marmozet, sweet little boy,\n        Mrs. Danglecub\u2019s hope, her delight, and her joy.\n\n               *       *       *       *       *\n\n        His jacket\u2019s well laced, and the ladies protest\n        Master Marmozet dances as well as the best;\n        Yet some think the boy would be better at school.\u201d\n\n                                                      _Anstey._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                                  THE\n                                  HOPE\n                                 OF THE\n                              KATZEKOPFS;\n                                OR, THE\n                                SORROWS\n                                   OF\n                              SELFISHNESS.\n                             A Fairy Tale.\n\n\n                            SECOND EDITION.\n\n                                LONDON:\n                            JOSEPH MASTERS.\n                              JAMES BURNS.\n                                 1846.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                               \u00b7 LONDON \u00b7\n                       PRINTED BY JOSEPH MASTERS,\n                           ALDERSGATE STREET.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                                PREFACE.\n\n\nThe former edition of this little tale was put forth with an\nIntroduction (which was intended to be in keeping with it) from the pen\nof an imaginary author,\u2014that William Churne, of whom Bishop Corbet\nwrites, and who, two centuries since, seems to have been the great\nauthority on all matters connected with Fairy-land.\n\nIn this introduction, the object with which the \u201cHope of the Katzekopfs\u201d\nwas written was stated. It was an attempt, under the guise of a\nFairy-tale, to lead young minds to a more wholesome train of thought\nthan is commonly found at the present day in popular juvenile\nliterature. The Author\u2019s aim was to excite the sympathies of the young\nin behalf of _others_, and to set before them in its true colours the\nhideous sin of _selfishness_. And the book was put forth as an\nexperiment, to ascertain whether the youth of the present generation had\npatience to glean the lessons which lurk beneath the surface of\nlegendary tales, and the chronicles of the wild and supernatural;\nwhether their hearts could be moved to noble and chivalrous feelings,\nand to shake off the hard, cold, calculating, worldly, selfish temper of\nthe times, by being brought into more immediate contact with the ideal,\nthe imaginary, and the romantic, than has been the fashion of late\nyears,\u2014whether, in short, a race that has been glutted with Peter\nParley, and Penny Magazines, and such like stories of (so called) useful\nknowledge, would condescend to read a Fable and its Moral, and learn\nwisdom from a tale of enchantment.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe early call for a Second Edition seems to show that the experiment\nwas not made in vain, and at the request of the Publisher, the Author\nappends his name.\n\n                                                       FRANCIS E. PAGET.\n\n ELFORD RECTORY,\n\n     SEPTEMBER, MDCCCXLVI.\n\n\n\n\n                               CONTENTS.\n\n\n                                               Page.\n\n                    INTRODUCTION                 xi.\n\n                               CHAPTER I.\n                    The Heir and many Friends      1\n\n                              CHAPTER II.\n                    The Hunting of the Heir       23\n\n                              CHAPTER III.\n                    Another Heir started          55\n\n                              CHAPTER IV.\n                    A Hashed Heir                 79\n\n                               CHAPTER V.\n                    The Heirs on their Travels   121\n\n                              CHAPTER VI.\n                    Experiments on the Heir      163\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                             Introduction.\n\n\n\u201c\u2018A Fairy tale, by William Churne of Staffordshire!\u2019 And who may he be?\nI am sure I never heard of _him_ before.\u201d\n\n\u201cSay you so, gentle Reader? Well, perhaps, after all, there is nothing\nvery extraordinary in the fact that a man who was born some two hundred\nand fifty years ago should be forgotten. Well I wot that William Churne\nis not the only one who is in that predicament. And yet my name has had\na better chance of being remembered than that of many of my\ncotemporaries, who, in their day, were more illustrious than ever I was;\nfor it has been wedded, look you, to immortal verse. Doctor Corbet,\nBishop of Norwich,\u2014\u2018the wittie Bishop,\u2019 as King James the First was wont\nto call him\u2014conferred on me the title of Registrar-General to the\nFairies. Have you never read his \u2018Fairies\u2019 Farewell\u2019? They say, indeed,\nthat his poems, like many better things, are little read now-a-days; but\nyou will find it among the ballads collected by a congenial spirit (a\nprelate likewise), Bishop Percy of Dromore. His \u2018Reliques of Ancient\nPoetry,\u2019 you are surely conversant withal? But stay, I see you have\nforgotten the passage, which my vanity, perhaps, has preserved in my\nmemory for so many years. Thus, then, Richard Corbet speaks of me in\nconnection with those merry elves, whom he supposes to have taken their\nfinal farewell of that land, which, since their presence was withdrawn,\nhas deserved the name of merry England no longer:\u2014\n\n                \u2018Now, they have left our quarters;\n                  A registrar they have,\n                Who can preserve their charters;\n                  A man both wise and grave.\n                An hundred of their merry pranks\n                  By one that I could name,\n                Are kept in store; con twenty thanks\n                  To William for the same.\n\n                \u2018_To William Churne, of Staffordshire_,\n                  Give laud and praises due,\n                Who, every meale, can mend your cheare\n                  With tales both old and true;\n                To William all give audience,\n                  And pray ye for his noddle,\n                For all the Fairies\u2019 evidence\n                  Were lost if it were addle.\u2019\n\nThere, gentle reader, that was the way in which the Bishop-Poet spake of\nme. I warrant you, my cheeks tingle still as I repeat the lines.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed? cheeks that blushed for the first time two centuries and a half\nago, must, I should think, have nearly blushed their last by this time.\nI cannot read your riddle. You would not have us believe, would you,\nthat a man who was born in the sixteenth century, was story-telling in\nthe nineteenth? I fear you must be story-telling in more senses than\none, or else that the event so much deprecated by the Bishop of Norwich,\nhath befallen you, and that the \u2018noddle\u2019 is \u2018_addle_.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, gentle reader, is it even so? Can you think of no other solution of\nthe difficulty? I fear me that you have a larger share of the unbelief\nof this dull, plodding, unimaginative, money-getting, money-loving\nnineteenth century, than of the humour, and simplicity, and romance of\nthe seventeenth.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome then, I _will_ hazard a solution. What if the fairies, whose\nofficial you have admitted yourself to be, carried you off some\nmoonlight night, two hundred years ago, and hid you for that space in\ntheir secret chambers, amid the recesses of the grassy hills?\u201d\n\n\u201cHush! hush! kind reader; speak not so loudly. You know not who may be\nlistening. However, I do not say but that it may be even as you suppose.\nPerhaps, while time and change have worked their will on others, I have\nbeen exempted from their influence.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow? What? Can such things be? Dear Sir, how much I should like to make\nyour acquaintance. Two hundred and fifty years old! Why, your face must\nbe a wilderness of wrinkles! And your dress, how strange and antiquated\nmust be its cut! Are you not greatly incommoded, as you walk the\nstreets, by the curiosity of the populace?\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, my friend, if that which I have hinted be the case, it is more\nthan probable that I have the secret of fern-seed, and walk invisible.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat changes you must find among us! What advances have been made since\nyou went to Fairy-land!\u201d\n\n\u201cChanges, indeed! and advances, too, for that matter! but whether on the\nright road is another question. However, of this I can assure you,\ngentle reader, that I would I were back again in Fairy-land. I see\nnothing here to tempt me to linger among you.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen why do you linger?\u201d\n\n\u201cI only wait to see if it be a hopeless task to speak to the youth of\nthe rising generation, as I spake to their forefathers. I would fain\nlearn whether it be possible to excite their sympathies in behalf of\nanything but _themselves_; whether they have yet patience to glean the\nlessons of wisdom, which lurk beneath the surface of legendary tales,\nand the chronicles of the wild and supernatural; whether their hearts\ncan be moved to noble and chivalrous feelings, and to shake off the\nhard, cold, calculating, worldly, selfish temper of the times, by being\nbrought into more immediate contact with the ideal, the imaginary, and\nthe romantic, than has been the fashion of late years.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn plain English, then, good Master Churne, you desire to ascertain\nwhether a race that has been glutted with Peter Parley and Penny\nMagazines, and such like stores of (so called) useful knowledge, will\ncondescend to read a Fable and its moral, or to interest themselves with\nthe grotesque nonsense, the palpable, fantastic absurdities, the utter\nimpossibilities of a Tale of Enchantment?\u201d\n\n\u201cSuch is my object.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, we have lived to see a tunnel under the Thames, and they are\ntalking of a canal across the isthmus of Darien. But your scheme is a\nwild one.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not think so.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd suppose you can find readers, is it your object to retail those\n\u2018hundred merry pranks\u2019 of Fairy-land, of which Bishop Corbet tells us\nthat you are the depositary?\u201d\n\n\u201cI shall be better able to answer your question, gentle reader, when I\nknow how far your patience has carried you through the ensuing pages.\nTill then farewell.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER I.\n                       The Heir and many Friends.\n\n\n          \u201cThis little one shall make it holy day.\u201d\n\n                                                _Shakespeare._\n\n           \u201cUnheard and unespied,\n           Through keyholes we do glide;\n           Over tables, stools, and shelves;\n           We trip with our fairy elves.\u201d\n\n                                _Poole\u2019s English Parnassus._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER I.\n\n\nNever were such rejoicings heard of before as those which took place\nat the Court of King Katzekopf when it was announced that Queen\nNinnilinda had got a little boy. It was what everybody had been\nwishing for, hoping for, expecting, year after year, but no little boy\ncame; and so, at length, folks began to despair, and to settle it in\ntheir own minds that, whenever King Katzekopf died, the crown would go\nto his second cousin nine times removed, one of the Katzekopfs of\nKatzenellenbogen-Katzevervankotsdarsprakenluftschlosser, whom nobody\nknew or cared about.\n\nSo when Queen Ninnilinda had an heir, the nation almost went beside\nitself with joy. The church bells rang till they cracked; the guns of\nthe citadel were fired till they grew so hot that they went off of\nthemselves; oxen were roasted whole in the great square (my dear reader,\nnever attempt to roast an ox _whole_, either on your own birthday, or on\nthat of anybody else; the thing is an impossibility, half the meat is\nsure to be raw, and the other half burnt, and so good beef is spoiled);\nthe two chief conduits of the city no longer poured forth water, but one\nspouted out cowslip-wine, and the other raspberry-vinegar; the lake in\nfront of the palace was filled with small beer (this, however, was a\nfailure, as it killed the fish, and folks said that the beer tasted\nmuddy); an air-balloon hovered over the principal streets, and showered\ndown carraway comfits and burnt almonds; Punch was exhibited all day for\nnothing; the prisons were all thrown open, and everybody paid the debts\nof everybody else.\n\nSuch being the state of things out of doors, you will readily believe\nthat within the palace, the joy was of the most exuberant kind.\nEverything was in confusion; people ran up-stairs and down-stairs,\njostling against one another, and always forgetting whither they were\ngoing, and for what they had been sent. Some were laughing, and some\nwere crying, but the greater part were all talking at once, each making\nhis own remarks, and nobody listening to his neighbour. The lords of the\nbed-chamber were laying wagers upon the likelihood of a new creation of\npeers; the maids of honour were discussing the probable colour of the\ninfant prince\u2019s eyes; the pages were speculating upon an increase of\nsalary; nay, the very scullions were counting on a brevet for the\nkitchen.\n\nBut if all his court were thus in such a frenzy of pleasurable emotion,\nwhat must have been the condition of King Katzekopf himself? It must be\nconfessed, that, in the main, his Majesty was one of those easy,\nindolent, careless sort of folks, who are content to let things take\ntheir own course, and who can very seldom be roused to make an exertion\nof any kind. But the birth of an heir had thrown even him into a state\nof excitement. Happily, he was a king, and so he had it in his power to\ngive vent to his emotions in the manner which was most agreeable to him,\nfor if such unwonted exhilaration had been pent up too long, there is no\nsaying what the consequences might not have been. Fortunately, however,\nthere was a safety-valve, through which he was enabled to let off the\nsteaming overflow of his spirits.\n\nSo first he sent for the Yeoman of the Mouth, and bespoke a roast goose,\nwith plenty of sage and onions, for his dinner; then he summoned the\nMaster of the Robes, and ordered himself four new suits of clothes; then\nthe head Confectioner was commanded to prepare materials for the\nmanufacture of the largest christening-cake that the world had ever\nseen; and, lastly, he called together his Privy Council, and having\ncreated the new born infant Commander in Chief, and Lord High Admiral,\nInspector General of everything and everybody, and settled on him the\nCrown revenues accruing from the sale of shrimps and periwinkles, his\nMajesty in a fervour of patriotism and paternal pride, rang the bell,\nand desired that the nurse, Mrs. Yellowlily, should bring the heir\napparent into the Council-chamber.\n\nAccordingly, in a few moments, the folding doors were thrown open, and\nnurse Yellowlily appeared with her precious charge swathed in a mantle\nof sky-blue taffety and silver, supported by two of the royal rockers.\n\n\u201cNo indeed!\u201d said the Lord Chancellor, dropping his mace and the great\nseal, and clasping his hands, as he fixed his eyes on the ceiling,\n\u201cnever was such a lovely infant seen!\u201d\n\n\u201cWait a moment, my Lord,\u201d said nurse Yellowlily, \u201cand you shall have a\npeep at his Royal Highness:\u201d\u2014for as yet the Chancellor had not beheld\nhim.\n\nWith that she gently turned back the mantle, and the Privy Councillors\ncrowded round her. \u201cThere, my Lord,\u201d she exclaimed, \u201cyou can now see his\nblessed little nose.\u201d\n\nEverybody was delighted: it was the most exquisite nose ever beheld. The\nKing was so gratified, that he instantly created the nurse a Baroness in\nher own right; upon which she curtsied three times, walked backwards\ntill she trod upon the Lord Chamberlain\u2019s gouty foot, and then retired\nwith the rockers, who, as they proceeded down the corridor, chanted the\nsoftest of lullabies.\n\nThe Privy Councillors listened till the last faint echoes of the melody\nhad died away, when King Katzekopf thus addressed them.\n\n\u201cMy Lords,\u201d said he, \u201cI have called you together on the present\nauspicious occasion, for the purpose of making you acquainted with\ncertain measures which I am about to take with reference to the Prince,\nmy son. And first, my Lord Chamberlain, I have to announce to you my\nintention of giving a most magnificent f\u00eate on the occasion of his Royal\nHighness\u2019s christening. You will be pleased to send out cards of\ninvitation according to this list, which I believe contains the name of\nevery person of reputation in the kingdom.\u201d\n\nHere his Majesty handed a book to the Lord Chamberlain, which that\nfunctionary received with reverence, and proceeded to inspect with great\nattention. Having turned over five or six pages, the Chamberlain\nsuddenly nodded his head as if a thought had struck him. This was so\nuncommon an event that the Lord Steward of the Household immediately\ninquired in a whisper what it was that had attracted his attention. The\nChamberlain pointed to the list of names, and said in an under tone,\n\u201cLook through the A\u2019s, my Lord, and see if there is not a very important\nname omitted.\u201d\n\nAt this moment King Katzekopf\u2019s attention was attracted by the\nwhispering, and he graciously exclaimed, \u201cWell, my Lords, what\u2019s the\nmatter?\u201d\n\n\u201cI apprehend,\u201d said the Chamberlain with becoming diffidence, \u201cthat your\nMajesty has caused these names to be written in alphabetical order.\u201d\n\n\u201cCertainly, my Lord,\u201d replied the King.\n\n\u201cI speak with all possible deference,\u201d rejoined the Chamberlain, \u201cbut I\npresume that your Majesty did not intend that the Lady Abracadabra\nshould be excluded from the invitations.\u201d\n\n\u201cHumph,\u201d said the King, \u201cI never thought about her.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut she is your Majesty\u2019s consort\u2019s great aunt,\u201d observed the\nChamberlain.\n\n\u201cAnd a very powerful Fairy,\u201d suggested the Steward of the Household.\n\n\u201cAnd, if I may say it without offence, rather capricious in her temper\nat times; at least she turned an acquaintance of mine into a tadpole,\u201d\nremarked the Groom of the Stole.\n\n\u201cAnd your Majesty,\u201d said the Keeper of the Records, interposing, \u201ccannot\nhave forgotten the very untoward event which took place in your\nMajesty\u2019s family, some centuries ago, when all the misfortunes that\noccurred to your Majesty\u2019s ancestress, the Sleeping Beauty, arose from\nher Fairy relative not being invited to the christening.\u201d\n\nKing Katzekopf would have rather preferred the Lady Abracadabra\u2019s room\nto her company, for he was very much afraid of the Fairies, but then, on\nthe other hand, the bare thought of having the Hope of his House turned\ninto a tadpole, or put to sleep in a castle in a wood for a hundred and\nfifty years, was most alarming. His Majesty grew red and pale\nalternately, shifted from one side of his throne to the other, and was\nevidently in a state of great anxiety.\n\n\u201cBut how is the Lady Abracadabra to be found?\u201d said he at length. \u201cWho\ncan tell where to look for her? One moment she may be a thousand miles\noff, and the next she may bob up through a crack in the floor, as if she\nhad passed the night in the cellar.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe! he! he!\u201d cried a shrill tiny voice in the distance, as though the\nowner of the said voice was greatly amused at something it had just\nheard.\n\n\u201cHow the mice are squeaking behind the arras to-day!\u201d exclaimed the\nKing. \u201cMy Lord Chamberlain, you must send for a cat, and when she has\ncaught the mice, we will set her to catch the Lady Abracadabra. Ha! ha!\nha!\u201d continued his Majesty, laughing at his own wit.\n\nBut the Keeper of the Records, who, from his study of the archives of\nthe kingdom, knew better than most people what a dangerous thing it is\nto speak disrespectfully of the Fairies, and who was supposed to have\nacquired a smattering of the black art himself, immediately endeavoured\nto repress King Katzekopf\u2019s laughter, by saying,\u2014\u201cSo please you, my\nLiege, I apprehend that there would be little difficulty in sending an\ninvitation to the Lady Abracadabra. If one of the Government messengers\nwill bury it under a fairy-hill, next Wednesday morning, any time before\nnoon, turning his face to the East, and calling her by her name three\ntimes....\u201d\n\nAt this point the Keeper of the Records stopped short, for all of a\nsudden, a very strange sound was heard at the keyhole of the\nCouncil-chamber door, a scratching, rustling, noise, followed by a\nviolent blast, such as might issue from the nozzle of a blacksmith\u2019s\nbellows.\n\nThe President of the Council looked up to see what was the matter, but\nwas immediately struck on the nose by a pellet of closely squeezed\npaper, which was immediately followed by another, and another, as the\nblowing at the keyhole was repeated. At length, when another blast had\nproduced a shrill whistle, which showed that the aperture was clear, a\nlittle object, about the size of a hornet, darted through it, and\nincreasing instantaneously in dimensions, presented the appearance of an\nold woman, some three feet high, by the time it had reached the floor.\n\nWhether the Lady Abracadabra (for of course it was she) had been a\nbeauty in the days of her youth, some eight or nine hundred years\nbefore, there is, at present, no means of ascertaining; but certainly,\nwhen she stood upon the floor of the Council-chamber, her appearance was\nanything but prepossessing. Perhaps, gentle reader, you have been in the\nhabit of supposing that all the Fairies are dainty, little, airy beings,\nwith butterfly wings, and vests of green and gold, who hide themselves\nin a blue-bell, and lose themselves among the petals of a peony. And\nsuch, no doubt, are the elves that live among the green hills, and who\nlove to dance by moonlight, in the glades of the forest, or beside the\npleasant water-courses. But there are others who mingle more with the\nhuman race, and adopt their habits, and hence, it may be, they become\nmore subject to the changes which affect mortals. Perhaps this was the\ncause why the Lady Abracadabra\u2019s face had become so brown, and shrunken,\nand covered with deep-set wrinkles; or perhaps it was the having had her\nown way so much; or those long journeys in which she travelled at the\nrate of a thousand miles a minute, might have spoiled her complexion; or\nperhaps, having arrived at (what even among the Fairies is allowed to\nbe) _a certain age_, she could not help looking like an old woman. But\nbe this as it may, she did look very old, and the effect of her short\nblack velvet jacket, and yellow satin petticoat, did not mend matters.\nShe wore on her head a tall, steeple-crowned hat, of the same material\nas her jacket; had high-heeled shoes with diamond buckles, and bore in\nher hand a pliant rod of ebony, with a small star of living light at\neach end of it.\n\nIt was evident that she was very angry, for she scowled at the Privy\nCouncillors, stamped vehemently on the floor, and every muscle of her\nface quivered with passion, as she addressed the King.\n\n\u201cSo, nephew! you are determined to keep _me_ out of your palace at any\nrate, I see. Let who will come to court, I am to be excluded. There is\nalways greater difficulty in getting into your house than anybody\u2019s\nelse.\u201d\n\nKing Katzekopf stammered forth an apology, assured his kinswoman that he\nwas delighted to see her, that he had just been speaking of sending her\nan invitation, and that he had given general orders that she should be\nadmitted at all times.\n\n\u201cNo such thing!\u201d cried the little lady angrily. \u201cYou use me abominably.\nYou know I always make it a rule to come through the keyhole, and there\nit is that you always try to stop me. Either I find a plate of metal\nover the opening, or else the key is left in the lock, and so my ruff\ngets crumpled to pieces. But the insult you have exposed me to to-day is\nintolerable: blocking up the passage with scraps of dirty paper,\nsqueezed together by fingers of some greasy yeoman of the guard.\u2014Oh it\u2019s\natrocious!\u201d And the Lady Abracadabra shook her quilted petticoat as if\nshe never should be clean again.\n\nThe King looked at his Ministers, and the Ministers looked at the King;\nbut neither seemed to know how to excuse themselves. At length, the\nPresident of the Council, trembling exceedingly (for he expected to be\nchanged into a tadpole, or some such reptile), ventured to assure the\nLady, that he was the person in fault; for that, finding that the\ndoor-keeper had got into the habit of applying his ear to the keyhole of\nthe Council-chamber, and fearing lest state-secrets should thus get wind\nprematurely, he had himself obstructed the passage in the manner already\ndescribed.\n\n\u201cThe varlet! the knave!\u201d exclaimed the Fairy, as she heard of the\ndoor-keeper\u2019s delinquency, \u201cI\u2019ve a great mind to hang him up by his ears\nto the vane of the church steeple. Go look for him, my Lord, and tell\nhim from me, that if ever he puts his ear to a keyhole again, I\u2019ll blow\nmushroom spawn into his brains, and cause his ears to vegetate, instead\nof to listen.\u201d\n\nFairies, as all the world knows, are hasty and capricious; but it is\nonly a very few who are spiteful and malignant. And to this class the\nLady Abracadabra had never belonged. If she was angry one moment, she\nwas pacified the next, and she much more frequently used her\nsupernatural powers in acts of kindness, than to gratify her freaks of\nmischief.\n\nIt was so on the present occasion. After the little ebullition just\nrecorded, she speedily recovered her equanimity. Her eyes no longer\nsparkled with passion, and so agreeable an expression came over her\ncountenance, that nobody thought about her wrinkles, or the\nunbecomingness of her yellow petticoat.\n\n\u201cI was taking an airing on Mount Caucasus a quarter of an hour ago,\u201d\nsaid she, \u201cwhen one of our people told me of your good fortune; so here\nI came wind-speed to congratulate you, and to see if I could not find\nsome lucky gifts for my great-great-nephew.\u201d\n\nKing Katzekopf thanked her for her condescension, and immediately\nproposed to escort her to the royal nursery.\n\n\u201cHa! ha! ha!\u201d cried the Lady Abracadabra, almost choking with laughter\nat the absurdity of the suggestion. \u201cYou don\u2019t suppose I came to talk to\nyou before I had seen the baby, do you? Why, I\u2019ve been sitting by his\ncradle these ten minutes!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have?\u201d exclaimed the King in astonishment.\n\n\u201cAye, marry,\u201d said the lady, \u201cand have pulled the chair from under the\nBaroness Yellowlily, and, he! he! he! have given her such a bump. She\nwas going to feed the child with pap that would have scalded it; but it\nwill be cool enough, I warrant me, now, before she has done rubbing her\nbruised elbows. Well, nephew, and so you\u2019re going to have a grand\nchristening, are you? Who are to be sponsors besides myself?\u201d\n\nIt had never entered into King Katzekopf\u2019s imagination to ask the Lady\nAbracadabra to be godmother to the young prince. And now she had taken\nit as a matter of course, and it would never do to affront her! Was\nthere ever such a distress? And what would Queen Ninnilinda say, and\nwhat would the Arch-duchess of Klopsteinhesseschloffengrozen say, when,\nafter a direct invitation, she found an old Fairy was to be substituted\nin her place?\n\nThe King was so nervous and frightened that he did not know what to\nanswer. He could only stammer out something about final arrangements\nbeing as yet undetermined.\n\n\u201cWell, but, at any rate, I suppose you have settled the child\u2019s name,\u201d\ncontinued the Lady Abracadabra, approaching the Council-table. \u201cHoity\ntoity! what is this?\u201d she added, snatching up one of his Majesty\u2019s\nmemoranda: \u201cConrad-Adalbert-Willibald-Lewis-Hildebrand-Victor-\nSigismund-Belvidere-Narcissus-Adonis Katzekopf? I never heard such a\nstring of silly, conceited names in my life. I shan\u2019t allow it, I can\ntell you that,\u201d and she stamped on the floor till her diamond buckles\nglanced like lightning. \u201cIf _I_ am to have anything to do with the\nchild, I shall give him what name I think proper. Stay; I\u2019ve watched him\nfor ten minutes, and can read his whole character, and a more wilful\nlittle brat I never saw. You shall call him Eigenwillig. There! that\u2019s\nto be his name; Eigenwillig, and nothing else!\u201d[1]\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n  It is mentioned in the Chronicle of Carivaldus of Cologne, from which\n  this veracious tale has been extracted, that the word \u201cEigenwillig,\u201d\n  in the ancient Teutonic tongue, bears the meaning of Self-willed; a\n  statement which is the more credible, since it has a corresponding\n  signification in the modern language of Germany.\n\nAnd then, not waiting for a reply, the Lady Abracadabra gathered her\nyellow satin habiliments round her, threw out her arms, brought them\ntogether above her head, sprung from the floor, shrunk up to nothing in\na moment, and darted through the keyhole of the Council-chamber door.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER II.\n                        The Hunting of the Heir.\n\n\n              \u201cYou parents all that children have,\n                And you that have got none,\n              If you would keep them safe abroad,\n                Pray keep them safe at home.\u201d\n\n                                          _Nursery Rhyme._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER II\n\n\nAnd Eigenwillig he was called. There was no help for it. Even Queen\nNinnilinda soon saw that. She flew into a violent passion, indeed, and\ncalled her husband an old goose, and told him that if he had as much\nsense in his whole body as a mite has in the tip of its tail, he would\nhave contrived to have got rid of the Lady Abracadabra without\naffronting her.\n\n\u201cShall I send her an excuse, my dear?\u201d asked King Katzekopf meekly.\n\n\u201cSend her a fiddlestick!\u201d cried the Queen indignantly, at the same time\nkicking over her footstool, and upsetting a basin of caudle, scalding\nhot, into her husband\u2019s lap.\u2014\u201cHow can you make such a ridiculous\nproposition? What but mischief can come of offending her? Will she not\nvent her spite on me, or the Arch-duchess? Or may not she make the poor\ndear baby a victim? May she not dart through the keyhole, and carry him\noff to Fairy-land, and substitute in his place some frightful, wide\nmouthed, squinting, red haired changeling, as much like your Majesty,\nand as little like me, as possible? Oh it is too vexatious, and\nridiculous, and shocking, and foolish!\u201d\n\nAnd then Ninnilinda burst out a crying. But her Majesty\u2019s tears and\nrages were so frequent that they had lost their effect. Nobody thought\nmuch about them; and besides, King Katzekopf was trying to take out the\nstains of the caudle, which had sadly damaged the appearance of the\npea-green brocade that covered his knees.\n\nSo when her Majesty was tired of crying, she ceased: and, in the course\nof the afternoon, wrote a note to her \u201cdearest Lady Abracadabra,\u201d\nexpressing the intensity of her satisfaction at the fact that her sweet\nbaby had secured the protection of such an amiable and powerful\npatroness.\n\nThen she sent for the Baroness Yellowlily, and told her that, as she had\nreason to fear that a malicious old Fairy was disposed to do the child a\nmischief, and, perhaps, carry him off altogether, she must immediately\nanoint him all over with an unguent, made of three black spiders, the\ngall of a brindled cat, the fat of a white hen, and the blood of a\nscreech owl; and that his cradle must be watched night and day until\nafter the christening. It was lucky for Queen Ninnilinda that the Lady\nAbracadabra wished nothing but well to the little prince, and knew\nnothing of these proceedings.\n\nIt is not necessary to fatigue the reader with the details of the f\u00eate,\nwhich was given a few weeks after the events which have just been\nrecorded. There were firing of cannon, and ringing of bells, and beating\nof drums, and blowing of trumpets. And there were long processions of\nhigh officers of state, and nobles, and foreign ambassadors, dressed in\ngorgeous robes, and glittering with gold and jewels. And there was the\narrival of the Fairy sponsor, in a coach made of a single pearl, and\ndrawn by a matchless pair of white cockatrices from the mountains of\nSamarcand; and there was the flight of birds of Paradise that\naccompanied her, each bearing round its neck a chain of gold and\ndiamonds, from which depended a casket, containing some costly offering\nfor the Hope of the House of Katzekopf. And there was the Lady\nAbracadabra herself, no longer stamping the floor with anger, and\nwearing that frightful, unbecoming, ill-tempered dress of yellow and\nblack, but arrayed in the most delicate fabrics of the fairy-loom, and\nbearing upon her shoulders a mantle of gossamer, spangled all over with\ndew-drops, sparkling with the colours of a hundred rainbows. No look of\nage or ill-nature had she. The refulgence of her veil had obliterated\nher wrinkles, and as she passed along the gallery of the palace, side by\nside with the Arch-duchess of Klopsteinhesseschloffengrozen, even Queen\nNinnilinda herself was forced to confess that she looked very amiable,\nthat her manners were exceedingly good, and that, on the whole, she was\na captivating person,\u2014when she chose it.\n\nWhen the child was to be named, the Queen gave a supplicatory glance at\nher kinswoman, and gently whispered in an appealing tone, \u201cHave you\n_really_ any objection to the charming name originally proposed?\nConrad-Adalbert-Willibald....\u201d\n\nBut the Lady Abracadabra cut the catalogue short, with saying the word\n\u201cEigenwillig\u201d in so decided a tone, that the prince was named\nEigenwillig directly, and there was an end of the matter.\n\nAnd then followed the royal banquet, and then a ball, and then the town\nwas illuminated, and at midnight the f\u00eate terminated with a most\nmagnificent display of fireworks.\n\nJust, however, before the amusements of the evening were concluded, the\nold Fairy called her niece and the King into the royal closet, and thus\naddressed them: \u201cKinsmen mine,\u201d said she, \u201cI have shown you this day\nthat I bear a most hearty good-will both to you and yours; and therefore\nif ye be wise,\u2014which I think ye are not\u2014you will listen to what I now\nsay to you. You have got a fair son: for that you must thank Providence;\nand your son has got the fairest gifts that were to be found in all\nFairy-land: for them you must thank me. But if, in spite of these gifts,\nyour son turns out a wilful, disagreeable, selfish monkey, for that you\nwill have to thank yourselves. Queen Ninnilinda, if ever I saw a mother\nthat was likely to spoil a child, you are that person. King Katzekopf,\nif ever I saw a father who was likely to let his son lead him by the\nnose, you are that man. But attend to what I say,\u201d continued the Fairy,\nwith a look of great severity, \u201cI don\u2019t intend to have my godchild a\nselfish little brat, who shall be a bad man, and a bad king, and a bad\nson, whom everybody shall dislike, and whose faults shall be all\nattributed to his having a Fairy godmother. No: I have named the child\naccording to his natural temper. I have called him Eigenwillig, because\nhis disposition is to be self-willed. And of this it is fit that you\nshould be reminded continually, even by his name, in order that you may\ndiscipline his mind, and make him the reverse of what he is now called.\nPoor child! he has everything around him to make him selfish. Let it be\nthe object of your life, to make him unselfish. This is my injunction,\nand remember I have both the will and the power to enforce it. I am his\ngodmother, and I am a Fairy besides, so I have a right to insist. And\nmark my words, I shall do _my_ duty by the prince, let who will neglect\ntheirs. I shall watch over him night and day, and shall be among you\nwhen least you expect me. If you manage him properly, you may expect my\nhelp; if you show yourselves unfit for the charge, I shall take the\nreins of discipline into my own hands; and if you then resist me ... but\nI will not allow myself to imagine that such infatuation and insanity\nwere possible. Sweet niece, I must take my leave. May I trouble your\nMajesty to open the window. Kiss my godchild for me. Good night.\u201d\n\nAs the Lady Abracadabra took her leave, there was a rustling of wings in\nthe air, the chariot of pearl, with its attendant cockatrices, appeared\non a level with the window: the Fairy sprung into her seat, and,\npreceded by a cloud of lantern flies, each insect sparkling with a\ndifferent coloured flame, blue, or crimson, or violet, or green, and\nfollowed by myriads of elves, each crowned with asteroids of lambent\nlight, she wended on her way to Fairy-land, her track through the sky\nbeing marked by a long train of sparks, whose dazzling brilliancy waxed\nfainter and fainter as she receded from earth, till it mingled with, and\nbecame lost in the pallid hues of the Milky Way.\n\nIt is needless to say that Queen Ninnilinda did not relish the parting\nadmonitions of her Fairy kinswoman. First, she (being a Queen) did not\nlike to submit to dictation; next, she persuaded herself that she had a\nfull right to do as she pleased, and to spoil her own child as much as\nshe liked; lastly, being rather timid, she felt very uncomfortable at\nthe notion of being watched by a Fairy, and still more so at the\npossibility of incurring that Fairy\u2019s vengeance. So, as usual, she\nvented all her anger on her husband, and then went to bed and sobbed\nherself to sleep. King Katzekopf was not easily disturbed; and the\nchronicles of the kingdom assure us that he slept as well as usual on\nthe night after the f\u00eate; but upon awaking next morning he felt the\nnecessity of something being done, and therefore called together once\nmore his trusty councillors, who, after much grave discussion,\ndetermined that the best method of securing the further favour of the\nLady Abracadabra would be, by immediately appointing proper instructors\nfor the royal infant.\n\nAccordingly, a commission was issued to inquire who would be the proper\npersons to undertake so responsible an office, and after a year and a\nhalf of diligent investigation, it was decided that the three cleverest\nwomen in the kingdom should be charged with the prince\u2019s education until\nsuch time as he should exchange his petticoats for jacket and trousers.\nSo the Lady Brigida was appointed to teach him how to feed himself, and\nto instruct him in _Belles Lettres_, and the \u2014ologies: the Lady Rigida\nwas to make him an adept in prudence and etiquette: while the Lady\nFrigida was directed to enlighten his mind on the science of political\neconomy, and to teach him the art of governing the country.\n\nBut alas! nobody thought of appointing a preceptress, who should\ninstruct him in the art of governing _himself_.\n\nMeanwhile, Queen Ninnilinda, finding that her husband had become highly\npopular in consequence of the pains he was taking to have his heir\nproperly educated, determined that she would do something which should\nset her own character in a favourable light as a wise and discreet\nmother. She, therefore, after much careful consideration, drew up the\nfollowing rules for the nursery, which were immediately printed in an\nExtraordinary Gazette, and which were received with so much applause,\nthat almost all the ladies in the kingdom adopted them immediately in\ntheir own families, and have, in fact, been guided by them ever since,\neven though they have not followed Queen Ninnilinda\u2019s plan of having\nthem framed and glazed.\n\n\n                         RULES FOR THE NURSERY.\n\n    1. The Prince Eigenwillig is never to be contradicted; for\n    contradiction is depressing to the spirits.\n\n    2. His Royal Highness is to have everything he cries for; else he\n    will grow peevish and discontented.\n\n    3. He is to be allowed to eat and drink when, what, and as much he\n    pleases; hunger being a call of nature, and whatever nature\n    dictates is natural.\n\n    4. His Royal Highness is to be dissuaded from speaking to any one\n    below the rank of Baron; as it is highly desirable that he should\n    acquire a proper pride.\n\n    5. It is to be impressed upon the Prince\u2019s mind continually that\n    he is an object of the first consequence, and that his first duty\n    is to take good care of himself.\n\nSuch being the plan laid down for Prince Eigenwillig\u2019s education, it is\nnot to be wondered at that, by the time he was two years old, he had a\nvery fair notion of the drift of his mother\u2019s rules, and that they found\ngreat favour in his eyes; insomuch that at three, when the Ladies\nBrigida, Frigida, and Rigida commenced the task of tuition, he contrived\nto inspire them with the notion that their office, for the present, at\nleast, was likely to be a sinecure. He even resisted the efforts which\nthe Lady Brigida made to induce him to feed himself with a fork and a\nspoon, and adhered upon principle to the use of his fingers, lest, by\nyielding the point, he should seem to allow himself to be contradicted.\n\nAt four years old the precocity of his talents had greatly developed\nthemselves. He had mingled mustard with the Lady Frigida\u2019s chocolate; he\nhad pulled the chair from under his father, just as the King was about\nto sit down, whereby his Majesty got a tumble, and the Prince got his\nears boxed; he had killed nurse Yellowlily\u2019s cockatoo by endeavouring to\nascertain whether it was as fond of stewed mushrooms as he was himself,\nand he had even gone the length of singing in her presence, and of\ncourse in allusion to her bereavement,\n\n             \u201cDame what made your ducks to die?\n             Ducks to die? ducks to die? ducks to die?\n               Eating o\u2019 polly-wigs! Eating o\u2019 polly-wigs.\u201d\n\nBut if the truth must be told, the prince had acquired by this time many\nworse habits than that of mischief. And these had their origin in his\nbeing permitted to have his own way in everything. For, indeed, it might\nbe said, that this spoilt child was the person who ruled the entire\nkingdom. The prince ruled his nurse, and his three instructresses; they\nruled the Queen; the Queen ruled the King; the King ruled his Ministers;\nand the Ministers ruled the country.\n\nO Lady Abracadabra, Lady Abracadabra, how could you allow things to come\nto such a pass? You must have known right well that Queen Ninnilinda was\nvery silly; and that King Katzekopf was one of those folks who are too\nindolent to exert themselves about anything which is likely to be\ntroublesome or unpleasant; and you must have been quite sure that the\nnurses and governesses were all going the wrong way to work; you must\nhave foreseen that at the end of four years of mismanagement the poor\nchild would be a torment to himself and to everybody else. Why did you\nnot interfere?\n\nThis is a hard question to answer; but perhaps the Lady Abracadabra\u2019s\nobject was to convince both parties of this fact by actual experience,\nas being aware that in such experience lay the best hope of a remedy.\n\nA torment, however, the child was; there could be no mistake about that.\nThough he had everything he asked for, nothing seemed to satisfy him; if\nhe was pleased one moment, he was peevish the next: he grew daily more\nand more fractious, and ill-humoured, and proud, and greedy, and\nself-willed, and obstinate. It is very shocking to think of so young a\nchild having even the seeds of such evil tempers; but how could it be\notherwise, when he was taught to think only of himself, and when he was\nallowed to have his own way in all things? Unhappy child! yet happy in\nthis, that he was likely to find out for himself that, in spite of\nhaving all he wished for, he was unhappy! Unhappy parents! yet happy in\nthis, that, if so disposed, they might learn wisdom, from the obvious\nfailure of their foolish system of weak indulgence!\n\nPrince Eigenwillig had nearly completed his fifth year, when, one day\nthat the Lady Rigida was endeavouring to explain to his Royal Highness\nher cleverest theory on the subject of the Hyscos, or Shepherd Kings\n(he, meanwhile, being intently absorbed in a game of bilboquet), a Lord\nof the Bedchamber entered the apartment, and announced that the Queen\ndesired the Prince\u2019s presence in her boudoir.\n\n\u201cHa!\u201d exclaimed the little boy, with a start of pleasure and surprise,\nas he entered the apartment, \u201cwhat a beautiful creature you\u2019ve got in\nthat cage. Whose is it? I should like to have it.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, my sweet pet,\u201d replied his mother, \u201cso you shall, if you wish for\nit.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course I do,\u201d said the Prince; \u201cwhat a sleek gray coat! what\nstrange, orange-coloured eyes! what curious rings of black and white fur\non its tail! What is it?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is a ring-tailed macauco, love,\u201d answered the Queen, \u201cyour papa has\njust made me a present of it. I don\u2019t know how much money he gave for\nit.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, mamma, it\u2019s mine now; that\u2019s one comfort,\u201d observed the Prince.\n\u201cLet it out,\u201d continued he, addressing the Lord of the Bedchamber.\n\n\u201cI am afraid, sir,\u201d replied Baron Puffendorf, \u201cthat it might do\nmischief. I believe it isn\u2019t tamed yet.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, we\u2019ll tame it, then,\u201d replied the Prince; \u201ccall Lady Rigida; she\u2019ll\ntame it directly, I\u2019m sure. Lady Rigida, here\u2019s a monkey wants taming;\ntalk to it about the shepherd kings, will you?\u201d\n\nThe Lady Rigida drew up with offended dignity.\n\n\u201cHa! ha! my good Rigida,\u201d said the Queen, laughing, \u201cyou mustn\u2019t be\nangry with these sallies of wit. What a clever child it is!\u201d\n\n\u201cIs nobody going to open the door of the cage?\u201d asked the boy\nimpatiently. \u201cI want to see the creature loose.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, my sweet child, leave it where it is. You\u2019ll frighten me to death,\nif you let it out,\u201d cried the Queen in alarm.\n\nThe Prince immediately threw himself down on the floor, and began to\nroar.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t cry, there\u2019s a love,\u201d said his wise mother, soothingly, \u201cand the\nBaron shall see if he can\u2019t hold it while you look at it. Wrap your\nhandkerchief round your hand, Baron; it won\u2019t bite, I\u2019m sure.\u201d\n\nThe Baron did as he was bid, and, in considerable trepidation, opened\nthe door of the cage, and made an effort to seize the macauco. The\nanimal immediately darted at his hand, bit it with all its strength, and\ndashed out of the cage in an instant. \u201cSess! sess! sess!\u201d cried Prince\nEigenwillig, springing up from the floor, and clapping his hands. \u201cNow\nfor a chase! Sess! macauco! Hie at them! Good monkey! Bite Rigida! Bite\nPuffendorf!\u201d\n\nAway ran the instructress, away ran the Lord of the Bedchamber, and\nafter them pursued the macauco round and round the room, now biting at\nthe Baron\u2019s heels, and now at the Lady Rigida\u2019s; while the Queen ran\nscreaming out of the apartment, and the author of all the mischief stood\nin the midst, laughing with all his might. In another moment, the agile\nmonkey had scrambled up the Lady Rigida\u2019s back, and, having half\nstrangled her in its attempts to tear off her head-dress, took a flying\nleap to the top of a cabinet, whence, having dashed down a most precious\nvase of rose-coloured chrystal, it proceeded to tear the cap to tatters.\n\nBut Prince Eigenwillig was too highly delighted with the more active\nfreaks of the animal, and too much pleased at the opportunity of\nterrifying and tormenting the Lady Rigida, to allow it to remain long at\nthe top of the cabinet. So snatching up a book which lay on a table\nbeside him, he threw it at the macauco for the purpose of dislodging it.\n\nAnd therein he succeeded, but at a cost which by no means entered into\nhis calculations, for the animal, irritated by the blow, now turned on\nthe naughty boy, and springing on his shoulders, laid hold of one of his\nears with his teeth.\n\nIt was now the Prince\u2019s turn to scream, and the more he screamed and\nstruggled, the more the macauco bit him, and the child would soon have\nfainted with fright and pain; but, just at the critical moment, when he\nhad fallen to the ground, the sound of many voices was heard outside the\ndoor, which was immediately flung open, and, together with a number of\nmembers of the household, in rushed a great black mastiff, which\nimmediately flew at the monkey, who, thereupon, quitted its hold of the\nPrince\u2019s ear, and retreated to its cage.\n\nThe whole palace was by this time in confusion; messengers were rushing\nin all directions for surgeons and physicians; and even King Katzekopf,\nwho had now grown so fat, that he never left his arm-chair when he could\nhelp it, ran up-stairs, three steps at a time, to know what was the\nmatter.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d exclaimed the Lord Chamberlain, as soon as he had recovered\nsufficient presence of mind to shake his head. \u201cAh,\u201d quoth he.\n\n\u201cYea, forsooth!\u201d replied the Chancellor, with the air of one who _could_\nsay a great deal if he chose.\n\nThe Arch-Treasurer of the Empire, who never spoke at all, if he could\nhelp it, and who never allowed his countenance to indulge itself in any\nparticular expression, shrugged his shoulders slightly, but with what\nparticular intention no one ventured to imagine.\n\nThe old ladies of the household (including his grace the Keeper of the\nRecords) were, however, by no means so prudent or taciturn.\n\n\u201cI knew how it would be!\u201d cried one.\n\n\u201cI always guessed as much,\u201d rejoined another.\n\n\u201cI anticipated it from the first,\u201d ejaculated the third.\n\n\u201cThis comes of Fairy-godmothers,\u201d groaned forth he of the Records.\n\n\u201cNo doubt, it is some malicious prank of hers!\u201d said Nurse Yellowlily,\nwith a shudder.\n\n\u201cI shouldn\u2019t be surprised if henceforth the poor child were possessed,\u201d\nadded the first speaker.\n\n\u201cOr squinting and blear-eyed,\u201d continued the second.\n\n\u201cOr if his ears mortified, and turned into pigs\u2019 feet!\u201d sobbed out the\nthird.\n\n\u201cOh, too true! too true!\u201d exclaimed the Queen. \u201cI see it all. Unhappy\nmother that I am! All the poor child\u2019s misfortunes, past, present, and\nto come, are owing to my peevish, spiteful, malicious, capricious, old,\nugly witch of an aunt, Lady Abracadabra! Oh, that I had been turned into\na tadpole, and the Grand Duchess of Klopsteinhesseschloffengrozen had\nbeen the only sponsor!\u201d\n\nIt was a long while before anything like tranquillity was restored; but\nwhen the King and the Queen had been assured by the medical attendants\nthat the Prince\u2019s wound was by no means serious, and the child himself\nhad ceased screaming, and the macauco had been hanged, the black mastiff\nbegan to attract attention.\n\n\u201cWhose dog is it?\u201d asked one.\n\n\u201cWhere did it come from?\u201d said another.\n\nBut nobody could answer the question. At this moment the King called the\nhound to him, for the purpose of patting it. The mastiff approached, and\nlaid its heavy fore-paws on the royal knee, and looked very wisely at\nthe King; and then his Majesty looked as wisely as ever he could (how\ncould he do less?) at the dog. But what was the King\u2019s amazement, when,\nall of a sudden, he perceived the tan portion of the glossy hide\nchanging into a yellow satin petticoat, and the black part into a black\nvelvet jacket; the canine features resolving themselves into a human\ncountenance; the fore-paws becoming hands, and hind-paws a woman\u2019s feet,\nenveloped in high-heeled shoes fastened with diamond buckles?\n\nIt was even so. The Lady Abracadabra stood before him, not, however, as\nwhen he last beheld her, all smiles and affability, but stern, grave,\nand angry. Her eyes gleamed like coals of fire, her wrinkles were deeper\nthan ever, and gave her face a most harsh and severe expression,\u2014nay,\nher black jacket had acquired a most ominous sort of intensity, and the\nyellow petticoat seemed shot with a lurid flame-colour.\n\n\u201cSo!\u201d said she, \u201cyou have not only disobeyed all my injunctions,\nneglected my advice, and thwarted all my benevolent intentions, but now,\nwhen you are reaping the fruit of your misconduct, you have audacity\nenough to charge me with being the cause of it!\u201d\n\nKing Katzekopf declared that he had never suspected her ladyship of\nanything but good will towards the prince; and had never attributed to\nher agency the mishaps of a spoilt boy.\n\n\u201cSpoilt boy!\u201d she exclaimed with indignation, \u201cand how comes he to be\nspoilt? Yes,\u201d she continued with increasing vehemence, \u201cwho has spoilt\nhim? What is it that makes everybody dislike him? What makes him a\nplague and a torment to himself and everybody else? Why is he impatient,\nand greedy, and wilful, and ill-tempered, and selfish? Is it not because\nQueen Ninnilinda encourages him in all these vices, and because King\nKatzekopf, though he knows that everything is going wrong, is too lazy\nand indolent to interfere and set them right? You are neither of you fit\nto be trusted with your own child. You are doing all you can to make him\nwicked and miserable, a bad man, and a bad king.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019s not a child in the kingdom that has such pains taken\nwith him,\u201d replied the Queen angrily. \u201cHe has instructors in all the\ndifferent branches of useful knowledge, and if he is a little\nmischievous, or self-willed at times, are not all children so?\u201d\n\n\u201cNiece, niece,\u201d replied the Fairy, \u201cyou speak like a fool. What good is\nthere in knowledge, unless a right use be made of it? And how is he\nlikely to make a right use of it, if he be mischievous and self-willed?\nAnd how can you expect him to be otherwise than mischievous and\nself-willed, if you encourage, instead of checking, his propensities\nthat way?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sure I cannot check his propensities,\u201d retorted Ninnilinda in a\nhuff.\n\n\u201cI never thought you could,\u201d said Lady Abracadabra quietly, \u201cfor you\nhave not yet learned to control your own temper.\u201d\n\nThe Queen coloured and bit her lip.\n\n\u201cI wish, kinswoman,\u201d said the King in a conciliating tone, \u201csince you\nthought the Prince was being so ill brought up, that you would have told\nus so a little sooner?\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd where would have been the good of that? You know very well that you\nwould not have listened to me. Nay, I don\u2019t believe that you will listen\nto me now. No, no, when I promised to befriend your child, I ought to\nhave taken the matter into my own hands at once, and carried him off to\nFairy-land, and superintended his education there.\u201d\n\nWhen the Queen heard these words, she trembled from head to foot, and\nthrew herself on her knees before her aunt, exclaiming\u2014\u201cNay, Lady\nAbracadabra, anything but that! anything but that! I know your power,\nbut oh! as you are powerful, be merciful likewise, and do not take my\nchild from me!\u201d\n\nThe Fairy saw that Queen Ninnilinda was now in a disposition to submit\nto any conditions which might be imposed upon her, and therefore she\nanswered her kindly:\n\n\u201cI do not want to separate you from your child, if only you will do your\nduty by him.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will do anything you desire, aunt!\u201d\n\n\u201cTeach him not to be selfish, then!\u201d replied the Lady Abracadabra. \u201cIf\nyou really are in earnest, I will give you one more trial; _but remember\nit is the last_.\u201d\n\nThe Queen grew more frightened than ever, for she felt as if she were a\nfly in a spider\u2019s web; that the Lady Abracadabra was spreading toils for\nher, and that the little Eigenwillig was already as good as lost to her.\n\n\u201cBut how can I teach him not to be selfish?\u201d she asked at length.\n\n\u201cBy making him consider others as much as himself; by teaching him to\nbear contradiction, and to yield up his own wishes and inclinations; and\nby letting him associate with his equals.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou forget he is a prince, Lady,\u201d replied the Queen proudly.\n\n\u201cNo, I do not,\u201d answered the Fairy. \u201cA prince may have his equals in\nage, I suppose, if not in rank.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh! Lady Abracadabra!\u201d cried King Katzekopf. \u201cI believe you have hit\nthe right nail on the head. I\u2019ve often wished the boy could have had\nsomebody to play with,\u2014somebody who would set him a good example, and\nwould not flatter him, as these courtiers do.\u201d\n\n\u201cSuppose I could find such a companion for him,\u201d said the Fairy, \u201cwould\nyou befriend him, and treat him as you do your own child?\u201d\n\n\u201cGladly will I,\u201d answered the King. The Queen could not bring herself to\nsay that she would do it gladly, but she submitted with as good a grace\nas she could.\n\n\u201cWell then,\u201d said the Lady Abracadabra, \u201cupon those terms I will give\nyou a fresh trial. I know a fair, gentle boy, whose temper and\ndisposition the Prince will do well to imitate. His father, foolish man!\nis anxious to get him a place at court,\u2014little knowing what he desires\nfor him. Methinks it would be well that he should see the experiment\ntried. It may be of benefit to both parties. So I shall set about it at\nonce.\u201d\n\nAnd thereupon the Lady Abracadabra gradually faded away, or at any rate\nseemed to do so, till she wholly disappeared.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER III.\n                         Another Heir Started.\n\n\n          \u201cMore swift than lightning can I flye\n            About this aery welkin soone,\n          And in a minute\u2019s space descrye\n            Each thing that\u2019s done below the moone.\u201d\n\n                                                _Ben Jonson._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER III.\n\n\nMany and many a mile from King Katzekopf\u2019s Court,\u2014in a valley among\nthose Giant Mountains, which separated his territories from the\nneighbouring kingdoms, stood the Castle of Taubennest, in which, at the\ndate of our tale, dwelt Count Rudolf and his family.\n\nAnd a happy family they were, all except the Count, who was a\ndiscontented man. He had spent his youth in cities, and so the country\nhad no charms for him. He was ambitious, and a time-server. He was never\nso happy as among great people, and he longed to meddle with the\nintrigues of state, and to be talked of as among the eminent men of the\nkingdom.\n\nHe was a very poor man when the Castle and its broad lands were\nbequeathed him by a distant relation, and so he was glad enough to take\npossession of them, even though he found the bequest coupled with the\ncondition that he should live on his domains continually.\n\nNow if, on acquiring this property, the Count had set himself in earnest\nto the discharge of the duties for which the possession of that property\nrendered him responsible,\u2014if he had turned his talents to bettering the\ncondition of his vassals, improving his estates, and benefiting his\nneighbourhood generally, he would not only have spent his days happily,\nbut would, in all probability, have arrived at the object of his\ndesires, and acquired an illustrious name. But instead of this, he spent\nhis years in murmurs and repinings; now railing at the blindness of\nFortune, who had condemned one of his genius for rising in the world to\na sphere of inactivity, now complaining that he was imprisoned for life\namid the mountains. What a sad thing it is, when people neglect their\npresent duties, for no wiser reason than because they choose to imagine\nthat if their duties were of some different kind, they could discharge\nthem better! Our trial in life consists in our being required to do our\nbest in _whatever_ circumstances we are placed. If we were to choose\nthose circumstances for ourselves, there would be an end of the trial,\nand the main object for which life is given us would be lost.\n\nHappily for her children and dependents, the character of the Countess\nErmengarde was a complete contrast to that of her husband. She was one\nof those people who seem only to find happiness in doing good to those\naround them. Had her destiny placed her in the midst of a court, she\nwould have added to its dignity and honour by the lustre of her example.\nBut that example was not lost because her days were spent in comparative\nseclusion. The Castle of Taubennest was at a great distance from the\nmetropolis, but it did not rear its head in a solitary desert. And the\nCountess, as she stood on the stone platform, which opened out of her\nwithdrawing room, and led to the garden below, and gazed at the wide and\nfertile valley which lay stretched before her, could count hamlet after\nhamlet, the inhabitants of which were tenants to her husband, and over\nwhom, therefore, she felt that it was in her power to exercise an\ninfluence for good. But the Countess Ermengarde had yet dearer ties, to\nwhom she well knew that all her care and tenderness were due. There were\nher two little girls, Ediltrudis and Veronica, and her son, a boy of\nseven years old, the gentle, yet noble-spirited Witikind. In educating\nthese her treasures, disciplining their youthful minds, and training\nthem for the duties and trials of active life, the greater part of her\ntime was spent, and so fully absorbed was she in this labour of love,\nthat never an hour hung heavy on her hands, and not days only, but\nmonths and years seemed to glide on without her having a wish or a\nthought beyond her children, and the vassals of her husband\u2019s house.\n\n\u201cWhat a happy family should we be!\u201d exclaimed the Count, as, in spite of\nhimself, he stood enjoying the evening breeze, and watching his lovely\nchildren in their play, \u201cWhat a happy family we should be, my\nErmengarde, if we were not condemned to wear out our existence in this\ndull wilderness!\u201d\n\n\u201cI would you were in any place that could bring you a greater measure of\nenjoyment than you find here, my dearest Rudolf,\u201d replied the Countess,\nsoothingly, \u201cand yet, methinks, our lot might have been cast in a less\nfair scene than this. What if the setting sun, instead of throwing its\nrosy lustre on yonder mountain peaks, and illumining with its declining\nrays those verdant meadows, through which our glassy river flows, and\nthe fields yellow with the ripening corn, and the purple vineyards, and\nthe deep umbrageous forest, were to light up for us no more joyous scene\nthan a desert of interminable sand? What if, instead of looking forth,\nand seeing nothing so far as eye can reach which does not call you\nmaster, we were landless, houseless wanderers, without bread to eat, or\na roof to cover us, should we not have less to be thankful for, than is\nthe case now?\u201d\n\n\u201cDoubtless,\u201d answered the Count; but he made the reply impatiently, and\nas if his wife were putting the matter before him in an unfair point of\nview. Without being the least aware of it, he was unthankful for all the\nblessings which he actually possessed, because a single ingredient which\nhe supposed necessary to fill up his cup of happiness was wanting. So\nlong as he had not _that_, all else went for nothing. \u201cDoubtless,\u201d said\nthe Count; \u201cbut, say what you will, this place will never be any better\nthan a wilderness in my eyes. Is it possible to conceive a more\nmonotonous life than I pass? nothing to interest one, not a soul within\ntwenty miles that one cares to speak to!\u201d\n\nThe Countess smiled. \u201cNay, nay, Rudolf,\u201d she cried gaily, \u201cyou shall not\npersuade me that the children and I do not make very agreeable society!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe children! there again! what a distressing subject is that! Poor\nthings, they will not have common justice done them! They have not a\nchance of getting on in the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor my part,\u201d replied the Countess, \u201cI don\u2019t see what is the necessity\nfor their \u2018getting on in the world.\u2019 They will do very well as they\nare.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow can you talk such nonsense as that, Ermengarde?\u201d exclaimed the\nCount in a tone of pique. \u201cWhy, what is to become of the girls, when\nthey grow up to womanhood?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d answered the Countess, \u201cwe need scarcely make that a cause of\nanxiety at present. Years must elapse before they will be women, and\nwhen they are grown up, I don\u2019t know why they may not become the wives\nof honest men, or why they may not find happiness in a single life, if\nthey prefer it.\u201d\n\n\u201cReally, Ermengarde, you sometimes provoke one past all patience. \u2018Wives\nof honest men,\u2019 forsooth! I believe you would be satisfied if you could\nsee them making cheese on the next farm, or wedded to the huntsman, or\nthe woodreve. You forget,\u201d added he proudly, \u201cthat their birth entitles\nthem to some splendid connexion, and less than a splendid connexion\nshall never satisfy me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, what is it that you covet for them?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat they should see something of courts and cities, instead of being\nimmured in this mountain-dungeon; that they should take that place in\nthe world to which their rank entitles them, and that they should be\nfollowed by a host of admirers, and that their cotemporaries should have\ncause to envy their good fortune. Yes,\u201d continued he, warming with his\nsubject, and falling unconsciously into one of those day-dreams in which\nhe was continually indulging, \u201cI should like to waken and find myself at\nthe court, with Ediltrudis at my side, the admired of all beholders,\nprinces and peers struggling to obtain the honour of her hand, while I,\nwith watchful eyes, would be ascertaining which of her many suitors it\nwould be most prudent to encourage, and which to reject. Can you\nconceive anything more interesting, more delightful to a parent\u2019s\nfeelings?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, indeed, my Lord,\u201d replied the Lady Ermengarde, \u201cto me it would\nafford more satisfaction, if I were permitted to see my child growing up\nto maturity, unspotted by the world, and saved from exposure to its\npoisonous breath, and from the temptation to yield to its evil\ninfluences. I would rather see her innocent and happy here, than the\nstar and favourite of a court.\u201d\n\nHad Count Rudolf listened to this speech it would have probably made him\nvery angry, but he was too much occupied with his castles in the air to\nattend to it.\n\n\u201cAnd then my pretty little Veronica,\u201d he continued, \u201cyour career shall\nbe no less brilliant than your sister\u2019s. Come hither,\u201d said he, calling\nthe child, \u201cand tell us what destiny you would choose. Would you not\nlike to be a Maid of Honour to the Queen, and to be glittering with\nsilks and jewels, and to live in a royal palace, and to spend your time\nin all manner of pleasures?\u201d\n\nThe little girl seemed puzzled, and did not answer immediately. After a\npause she said, \u201cMust I leave Taubennest, if I were to be Maid of Honour\nto the Queen?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my child, that must you, for where the King lives is many a mile\nfrom Taubennest.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, then, dear father, I would rather be where I am. I should like to\nsee the royal palace, and all the things you mention, but I should\nprefer to _live_ here. Ah! we never could be so happy as we are here,\ncould we, Witikind? We never could find such pretty walks as we have\nhere among the hills, nor play such merry games in a palace, as now we\ndo in the meadows by the river side. And besides, I dare say I should\nnot be allowed to take my kid with me, nor my birds, nor perhaps,\u201d added\nthe child in a tone of dismay,\u2014her eyes brimming with tears as the\nthought occurred to her\u2014\u201cperhaps you, and Ediltrudis, and nurse, and\npapa, and mamma might not be with me. Oh, no, no; I would rather stay\nwhere I am; would not you, Witikind?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, what folly!\u201d exclaimed Count Rudolf, interposing. \u201cEven you,\nVeronica, must be old enough to know that a boy cannot pass through life\nbeside his nurse\u2019s apron-string. Witikind must see the world, and learn\nto be bold and manly.\u201d\n\n\u201cCan I not be bold and manly, father, unless I see the world?\u201d asked the\nboy rather timidly.\n\n\u201cNo, to be sure not!\u201d answered the Count.\n\n\u201cWell then of course I must go,\u201d replied Witikind with a sigh. \u201cBut I\nnever can be so happy elsewhere as I am here.\u201d\n\n\u201cPooh! you are but a child;\u201d rejoined his father, \u201cyou don\u2019t know what\nreal happiness is.\u201d\n\n\u201cDid you find real happiness, father, in living among courts and\ncities?\u201d\n\n\u201cCertainly, I did,\u201d said the Count; and then, after some hesitation he\nadded, \u201cAt least I should have found it, if I had not been a poor man,\nas I was in those days. Ah! what would I have given for such advantages\nas you have, my boy?\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it possible that there can be so much pleasure to be found away from\nhome and friends?\u201d asked Witikind, still somewhat doubtfully, and\nlooking up with anxiety at the expression of sadness which seemed to\nspread itself over his mother\u2019s face.\n\n\u201cPossible, Witikind? I would I had the opportunity of enabling you to\nmake the experiment this very moment! How I should like to see you a\nPage of Honour to the King, It would make a man of you at once.\u201d\n\nWitikind thought it would be a very fine thing to be made a man of at\nonce, and his heart was more inclined to a change than it had yet been.\n\u201cAnd I suppose then, father, I should ride a horse instead of a pony,\nand wear a sword, and be treated by every body as if I were a man.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course, you would,\u201d replied the Count,\u2014\u201cat least, in a very short\ntime.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, father, I do think that I should like to go and live at\ncourt.\u201d\u2014The Count kissed the boy and withdrew.\n\nIt is a very well known, but at the same time a most remarkable\ncircumstance in the natural history of Fairies, that they are not only\nsure to be found in the most unexpected places, but they are certain to\narrive in the very nick of time, for the purpose of overhearing some\nconversation which was never intended for their ears, but which they\nnever fail to turn to account in some manner for which the speakers are\nwholly unprepared. It was so on the present occasion.\n\nOur friend, the Lady Abracadabra, who had been paying a visit to some\nold acquaintances among the Gnomes who inhabited the silver mines in the\nmountains, in the immediate vicinity of Count Rudolf\u2019s castle, had heard\nfrom her subterranean hosts such an interesting account of the goodness\nand benevolence of Countess Ermengarde, that she had resolved to\nintroduce herself to her. And as she had been led to believe that to be\npoor, or afflicted, was a ready passport to that lady\u2019s presence, she\nassumed the garb and appearance of a lame beggar-woman, and in this\ndisguise entered the domain of Taubennest, and approached the castle. No\ngate was closed against her, no insolent, pampered menial thrust her\nfrom the door. The Countess had long since forbidden her servants to\nturn away one who sought relief at her hands. \u201cWe have enough for all,\u201d\nshe was wont to say, \u201cand, therefore, if we give not according to our\nability, we may expect that the ability to give, will be taken away from\nus. If we do not make a good use of our money; our money is like to make\nitself wings, and fly elsewhere.\u201d\n\nOf course where so much was given, there must have been some unworthy\nrecipients of her bounty. And when this was urged upon her by some of\nher less liberal friends, she made no attempt to deny the probability of\nthe assertion; \u201cbut,\u201d said she, \u201cI would rather bestow my alms on a\nhundred unworthy recipients, than miss an opportunity of aiding one poor\ncreature who needed my bounty.\u201d\n\nAnd so the weary traveller, and the needy applicant, were under no fears\nof being repulsed when they approached the portals of Taubennest, and\nthus it happened that the Lady Abracadabra wandered forward unobserved,\nor, if observed, unchecked, until she came close to the platform on\nwhich the conversation which has been recorded, took place.\n\n\u201cAnd so you would like to see the court, would you, my pretty master?\u201d\nsaid she, as soon as little Witikind had expressed his wish on the\nsubject.\n\nThe boy started at the sudden inquiry, \u201cWhat is it you want, good\nmother?\u201d he asked after a little hesitation.\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d replied the Fairy, \u201cI have expressed no want. I desire to learn\nwhat it is that _you_ want?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! I want some good Fairy to carry me over hill and dale to the court\nof King Katzekopf.\u201d\n\n\u201cAre you quite sure of that?\u201d asked the lame woman.\n\n\u201cAye marry, am I,\u201d replied the boy, laughing. \u201cWill you show me the way\nto Fairy-land?\u201d\n\n\u201cMay be I will, and may be I won\u2019t,\u201d answered the Fairy. \u201cI must first\nsee what metal you are made of. Will you go with me to court?\u201d\n\n\u201cI shouldn\u2019t like your pace, mother,\u201d said Witikind. \u201cI should never get\nthere, if I kept by the side of your crutches.\u201d\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t be too sure of that,\u201d rejoined the beggar. \u201cThere\u2019s many a worse\nhobbyhorse than my crutch. Can you ride, sir boy?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo be sure I can,\u201d replied Witikind, \u201cI were fit for little, if I could\nnot.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen let me see how you can sit this nag of mine,\u201d said the Fairy; and\nseating herself sideways on one crutch, she waved the other; when, in an\ninstant, that on which she was seated became a living cockatrice, which\nmounted up into the air with its burden, and, after three or four\ncircumvolutions, descended on the platform, to which allusion has been\nmade, and then stood still; while the Lady Abracadabra, no longer\ndisguised as a beggar-woman, but wearing her usual Fairy garb,\ndismounted and approached the astonished Countess and her terrified\nchildren.\n\n\u201cI ought to apologize for this intrusion,\u201d said she, \u201cbut a Fairy, who\ncomes with purposes of kindness, can scarcely conceive herself to be\nunwelcome. You do not know me, Countess, for I quarrelled with your\nfather before you were born; but your mother Frideswida and I were well\nknown to one another. I doubt not you have heard her speak of\nAbracadabra of Hexenberg.\u201d\n\nThe Countess intimated her assent.\n\n\u201cI recognize in you, Lady,\u201d said the Fairy, \u201ca transcript of her beauty\nof feature, and if fame do not greatly misrepresent you, the beauty of\nher mind has descended to you. I hear you spoken of as the blessing of\nthese valleys, and that your days are spent in feeding the hungry,\nclothing the naked, and visiting the sick.\u201d\n\n\u201cI live among my own people,\u201d replied Ermengarde, \u201cand they are a simple\nrace, who are satisfied with little, and whom small kindnesses gratify\nlargely.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are modest,\u201d rejoined the Lady Abracadabra, \u201cbut if, as I believe,\nyou have the means of doing good, and find pleasure in doing it, why\nshould you be dissatisfied with your abode?\u201d\n\n\u201cI dissatisfied, Lady?\u201d exclaimed the Countess, \u201cI would gladly live and\ndie here.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, what was the meaning of what I heard no long time since?\nMethought as I listened to your converse, your boy seemed to say that he\nshould like to go and live at court. You would hardly send him to face\nsuch perils alone? That were as unnatural as wicked.\u201d\n\nThe Countess knew not what to answer. The thought of separation from\nWitikind had already filled her with sorrow and dismay, but she was\nunwilling to excuse herself at the cost of inculpating her husband. She\ntherefore remained silent, but the tears gushed from her eyes in spite\nof her.\n\n\u201cAnd how comes it that you, sir boy,\u201d asked the Fairy, addressing\nWitikind, \u201care so eager to leave your home? Can you not be happy here?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, Lady, I am happy as the day is long; but my father assures us\noften and often, that our best happiness here is grief and dulness,\ncompared with what we should find, if we went to the great City, and\nlived in King Katzekopf\u2019s court?\u201d\n\n\u201cIs this true, Lady?\u201d said the Fairy to Ermengarde. \u201cBut,\u201d continued\nshe, \u201cI see it is, and will spare you the pain of answering.\u201d She paused\nawhile, and then added, \u201cCountess, I see a black spot on that child\u2019s\nfair brow, that, unless we find a remedy, will spread and spread till it\ninfects his whole nature. What his natural disposition may be I know\nnot, but I see his father has inoculated him with one of the most\ndangerous of all maladies, a love of _self_. He is willing to seek for\npleasure, even though it cost him separation from you. He already thinks\nof himself more than of you.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe is but a child, Lady,\u201d said the mother apologetically.\n\n\u201cAye, Countess Ermengarde, but the child is father to the man. Such as\nyou make him now, such will he be hereafter.\u201d\n\n\u201cPerhaps, Lady, if you spoke to Rudolf, he might be induced to see the\nmatter as you do,\u201d observed the wife.\n\n\u201cNay, nay!\u201d replied the Fairy, with an increase of sternness in her\nmanner, \u201cI am not one to be trifled with. You _know_ even while you make\nit, that your suggestion is a hopeless one. To reason with your precious\nhusband (of whom I know more than you think) is only to render him more\nobstinate. I must devise some other plan. Ah!\u201d she continued, after a\nmomentary pause, \u201cI see my way clearly. The evil shall be made to work\nits own remedy. Go, tell the Count, that an ancient Fairy, a friend of\nyour mother\u2019s house, and who, on that account, desires to befriend you,\nhas become acquainted with his wishes as respects his son: tell him that\nI have influence at Court, that King Katzekopf and the Queen are not\nlikely to turn a deaf ear to any request I make them, and that he may\nhold himself in readiness to expect, ere long, a summons from his\nMajesty. Countess Ermengarde, tell him this; but I charge you at your\nperil, tell him no more than this. Meanwhile, keep up good heart, and\ntrust me to befriend your boy. I will teach him one lesson, that shall\nbe of more use to him than all his father\u2019s.\u201d\n\nSo saying, she smiled graciously on little Witikind, patted him on the\nhead, and springing on her cockatrice was soon out of sight.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER IV.\n                             A hashed Heir.\n\n\n             \u201cOver hill, over dale,\n               Thorough bush, thorough briar,\n             Over park, over pale,\n               Thorough flood, thorough fire.\u201d\n\n                                             _Shakespeare._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER IV.\n\n\nThe events recorded in the last chapter took place, as the judicious\nreader will have anticipated, a short time previously to that visit of\nthe Lady Abracadabra to the Court of King Katzekopf, in which she\nasserted her authority, and proposed the companionship of a boy of his\nown age as likely to form a salutary check on the growing wilfulness and\nselfishness of Prince Eigenwillig.\n\nAccordingly, many days did not elapse before little Witikind was\ntransported from the Castle of Taubennest to the royal nursery.\n\nIt was a sad business, that leaving his home. Of the trials that lay\nbefore him, he, poor child, could, of course, know nothing. He had never\nlived anywhere but at home, and he could not as yet imagine that any\nplace could be very different from home; and he had good hope, from all\nhis father told him, that he would be happy as the day was long at the\ncourt of King Katzekopf. But when it really came to bidding farewell:\nwhen he saw his mother trying to smile and encourage him, yet was sure,\nby her appearance, that she had been weeping all night long; when\nEdiltrudis and Veronica, quite unable to bear up against this, their\nfirst deep sorrow, clung to him, and sobbed as if their hearts were\nbreaking. Oh, how bitterly did Witikind lament the rash words he had\nspoken! Oh, what would he have given to recall them, and to be allowed\nto live on, as heretofore, with those who so dearly loved him, and whom\nhe so dearly loved! But it was now too late.\n\nAnd so it is ever with us all. The blessings which we do not appreciate\nare sooner or later withdrawn from us, and when, on their removal, we\nfeel their value, and would flee after them and secure them, we find\nthey are gone irrecoverably, and that we can never be again as we were\nwhen we possessed them. For Witikind, we trust that many happy days may\nbe in store, that he will return to Taubennest better and wiser every\nway than when he left it; that his mother will fold him in her arms once\nmore, and that his sisters will shed more tears of pleasure over him\nthan now of sorrow; but never, never will he be again as when first he\nquitted home: a change will have taken place; he will be different\nhimself; those around him will be different; fresh hopes, and feelings,\nand wishes will have come over them; their confidences will not be the\nsame confidences, their love will not be the same love that it was\nbefore they knew the sorrows of separation.\n\nOh, reader, reader! if _you_ have a happy home, and loving parents, and\naffectionate brothers and sisters, try and show yourself worthy of the\nblessing while yet it is yours. You know not how soon you may be taken\nfrom them, or they from you: strive, then, so to live with them, that,\nwhen separation comes, you may have no cause to mourn for your behaviour\nto them now!\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nTaubennest was a fine old castle in its way, but certainly not at all\ncomparable to King Katzekopf\u2019s palace; and as for the city, it was a\nthing altogether beyond Witikind\u2019s conceptions. Such a labyrinth of\nstreets and houses! such crowds of people passing and repassing! such\nstrange, unaccustomed sights and sounds! the boy was in a state of utter\nbewilderment!\n\nAnd before he had recovered himself, he found he was passing through\nmarble halls, and corridors hung with silks and satins, and glittering\nwith gilding; and then he was brought into an apartment where King\nKatzekopf was sitting on his throne, with a velvet nightcap on his head,\nand his crown over his nightcap (for his Majesty was now growing so fat\nand infirm, that when he was not eating or governing the country, he was\nusually asleep); and then, when he had been patted on the head by a\nreal, live king, and had been told to be a good boy by Queen Ninnilinda,\nwho came into the room on purpose to look at him, he was committed to\nthe care of Lady Brigida, and immediately became an inmate of the royal\nnursery.\n\nThe Prince was quite charmed to have such a companion: he dismounted\nfrom his rocking-horse in a moment, and running up to Witikind asked\nwhether he was the little boy (Witikind was the biggest of the two) who\nwas to come and live with him.\n\nAnd when Lady Brigida answered in the affirmative, he immediately threw\nhis arms round Witikind\u2019s neck and kissed him.\n\n\u201cI shall love you so much, and we shall be so happy together,\u201d said he.\n\u201cI know we shall, for you look so good-natured.\u201d\n\nWitikind could say but little in reply, for he was quite unused to being\nwith strangers, especially royal ones, and his thoughts were already\nreverting to his mother, and Ediltrudis, and Veronica, and the happy\nhome at Taubennest; but he was grateful to the Prince for his kindness,\nand anxious by all the means in his power to show that he was so. He was\na very gentle, amiable, good humoured boy, ever ready to oblige, and not\neasily put out of temper, and though in some respects his being an only\nson had been to his disadvantage, he was not spoilt like the little\nPrince, and had even made some progress in habits of self-control.\n\nFor several days, therefore, the two boys lived very happily together,\nand the nurses and governesses began to congratulate themselves on the\nimprovements which had taken place in their prospects; and that,\nwhereas, they scarce knew what it was to have five minutes in the course\nof the day free from vexation of some kind connected with their royal\ncharge, the little Eigenwillig seemed all at once transformed into an\namiable child.\n\nAnd so he was, as long as he continued without any temptation to be\noverbearing and disagreeable. His attendants, whom heretofore he had\ntormented so diligently, were now left in peace, because, for the time,\nhe found more immediate amusement in Witikind than in the art of\ntormenting. His companion was, as it were, a new toy: so long as\nWitikind was new to him, things were pretty sure to go smoothly. The\ntrial only began when the novelty ceased.\n\nAnd there was a good deal in Witikind\u2019s gentle temper, and in the\nfeelings natural to his position, which tended to avert, for some time,\nthe explosion which, sooner or later, was inevitable.\n\nAt first, the Prince treated him as if he were his equal in rank,\noffered him his toys to play with, and even went so far as to say that\nhe would allow Witikind to ride on his pony,\u2014_when he had done with it\nhimself_. By-and-bye, however, when he saw that his attendants paid more\nrespect to him than to the son of Count Rudolf, he thought it would be\nbetter to assume a patronizing air, which he did very much to his own\nsatisfaction. A few more days elapsed, and then, instead of patronizing,\nhe was domineering.\n\nAll this, however, Witikind submitted to as a matter of course. He had\nbeen already taught to give up his own wishes and inclinations\ncheerfully; and his father had inculcated upon him twenty times that he\nnever was to allow himself to think of anything save how he could best\nplease the heir-apparent. He felt it was his business to yield his own\ninclinations to the Prince\u2019s, and he invariably did yield them amiably,\nand as, consequently, the little Eigenwillig continued to have his own\nway, there could be no open rupture. It is impossible to have a quarrel,\nwhen there is nobody to quarrel with.\n\nHowever, it cannot be said that at the end of a week Witikind thought\nhis royal companion so full of good nature as he had expected, and at\nthe end of a fortnight Witikind had begun to compare the ways of\nEdiltrudis and Veronica, with those of the Prince, and certainly the\nresult of the comparison was not in his royal highness\u2019s favour. On the\nother hand, the Prince had made the discovery that with his nurse and\ninstructresses, the gentle-tempered son of Countess Ermengarde was\nrapidly becoming a much greater favourite than he was himself.\n\nThis made him very jealous; and his jealousy became insupportable when\nWitikind was held out as a model for his imitation. \u201cWhat a sweet little\nboy is Count Rudolf\u2019s son;\u201d nurse Yellowlily would exclaim. \u201cHe always\ndoes what he is bid the moment he is spoken to: _so unlike some\npeople_!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes;\u201d the lady Brigida would add, \u201cand so quick at his lessons; never\nstupid, never idle, never impatient. Such a contrast, you know!\u201d\n\n\u201cEvery body loves little Witikind,\u201d rejoined the nurse again, \u201che is so\ncivil-spoken, and gives so little trouble, and isn\u2019t proud, nor\nquarrelsome, nor selfish, nor finds pleasure in teasing and plaguing\npeople.\u201d\n\nThus these silly women took the surest means to prevent the prince from\nbenefiting by the example of his companion.\n\nUnder such circumstances Witikind grew more and more unhappy every day.\nLet him do what he would, the Prince was always disposed to quarrel with\nhim: and the more he gave up his own will to the Prince\u2019s, the more he\nstrove to oblige him, the more the Prince seemed to dislike him for it,\nfor a contrast was sure to be drawn by the attendants between Witikind\u2019s\ngood nature, and the unamiable disposition of his companion.\n\nAt length Witikind gave up the attempt to please, and would go and hide\nhimself in some corner where nobody was likely to find him, or would sit\nmoping on a bench in the palace gardens, thinking of Ediltrudis and\nVeronica, and contrasting their affection with the Prince\u2019s ill nature.\n\nNow it so happened, that the seat to which Witikind was so fond of\nbetaking himself was one which King Katzekopf could see out of his\nwindow as he sat in his arm chair. Witikind did not know this, or he\nwould never have chosen it. He was thinking of watching the gold fish in\nthe fountain, not of King Katzekopf, when he first made it his favourite\nhaunt.\n\n\u201cI wonder why that boy sits on yonder bench all day,\u201d observed the King,\none fine afternoon. \u201cI wonder why I never see him playing with\nEigenwillig.\u201d But nobody made any answer in reply to his Majesty\u2019s\nobservation, and so the matter passed from his thoughts. But when\nanother day, and another, and another, and another, had elapsed, and\nWitikind was still seen on his favourite bench, the King\u2019s curiosity was\nquite roused, and he sent for the boy. Witikind was very much frightened\nwhen he heard that the King wanted him; but he could not help hoping\nthat, since the Prince disliked him so much, he was going to be sent\nhome again.\n\n\u201cWhy are you not at play with Eigenwillig?\u201d asked the King, so soon as\nWitikind was ushered into the room.\n\n\u201cThe Prince, Sire, prefers playing alone,\u201d replied Witikind.\n\n\u201cBut don\u2019t you know that you came here on purpose to be his playfellow?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, Sire.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy won\u2019t the Prince play with you?\u201d\n\n\u201cI suppose it is, Sire, because he does not like me,\u201d answered the boy.\n\n\u201cHave you quarrelled with him?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, Sire.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am afraid, Witikind, you are not happy here,\u201d said the King kindly.\n\u201cIt is my wish that you should be so. I gave orders that you should be\nas kindly treated as if you were at home.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour Majesty is very good to me,\u201d replied Witikind, and he meant to\nhave gone on to thank the King for all the favours that had been shown\nhim; but his heart was very full, and that one word \u201c_home_,\u201d which the\nKing had used, made it overflow. Taubennest and all its dear ones, rose\nbefore his eyes, and he began to sob violently. The King saw there was\nsomething at which he had not yet arrived; but he thought it more\nprudent to seek an explanation elsewhere; so, with a few kind words, he\ndismissed the boy, telling him that he would speak to him again in a day\nor two.\n\nBy-and-bye, Witikind fell in with the Prince. \u201cSo!\u201d exclaimed the\nlatter, as soon as he saw him, \u201cyou have been complaining of me to the\nKing, have you? You little, mean, spiteful creature!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, Prince, I haven\u2019t. The King asked me why you would not play with\nme, and I told him I supposed the reason was because you did not like\nme.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, I don\u2019t like you. I hated you before, and I hate you now worse\nthan ever.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy should you hate me, Prince?\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause I do,\u201d answered the heir of the Katzekopfs.\n\n\u201cBut why will you hate me? I am sure I don\u2019t hate you, Prince; I would\nbe very glad to love you, if you would only let me.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I won\u2019t, won\u2019t, _won\u2019t_\u201d shouted the Prince, clenching his fist,\nand striking the table with it. \u201cI won\u2019t let you love me. I won\u2019t have\nanything to say to such a mean, sneaking creature.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy do you call me mean and sneaking?\u201d asked Witikind, the colour\nmounting in his cheeks.\n\n\u201cBecause you are so,\u201d replied the other. \u201cAre you not always trying to\nshow off before Nurse Yellowlily, and the governesses, in order that\nthey may praise you, and blame me?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, Prince; I would much rather they should never praise me. I would\nmuch rather they would never say a word, unless they could praise us\nboth. Oh, Prince, you would be so much happier, if you would try and not\nbe so\u2014so\u2014so self-willed. Indeed, indeed, you would!\u201d\n\n\u201cHow dare you call me self-willed? And what business is it of yours if I\nam ever so self-willed? I wish I had never seen your face. You have done\nnothing but make mischief ever since you came here.\u201d\n\n\u201cI never made mischief,\u201d replied Witikind indignantly, \u201cand it is very\nunjust of you to say such a thing. You would not have dared to say it to\none who was your equal. But it is no use talking with you. If I am what\nyou charge me with being, I am no fit companion for you; if I am not,\nyou are no fit companion for me. So at no rate will I stay here any\nlonger.\u201d And he immediately proceeded towards the door.\n\n\u201cOh, you won\u2019t, won\u2019t you?\u201d cried his enraged companion; \u201cthen take this\nwith you!\u201d And, suiting his actions to his words, the Prince seized a\nheavy silver inkstand, which stood upon the table, and threw it at\nWitikind. Had it reached him, it might have hurt him very seriously; but\nEigenwillig was in too great a passion to take a deliberate aim, and the\nconsequence was, that the missile, instead of hitting Witikind, struck\nthe centre of a large looking-glass, which it broke to shivers.\n\nThe crash of the falling fragments was heard by Queen Ninnilinda, and\nshe immediately entered the apartment, to see what was the matter. The\nfirst object which met her eyes was Witikind, who ran against her in his\nhurry to escape from the Prince.\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d said she, laying hold of him, \u201cyou need not attempt to run away. I\nknew I should find you out sooner or later, and now I have caught you.\nHow dared you to break that looking-glass, and spill the ink all over\nthe carpet, you little, good-for-nothing varlet?\u201d\n\n\u201cPlease your Majesty, I did not break it.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot break it!\u201d exclaimed the Queen, who was much too angry to observe\nthat her own son was likewise in the room. \u201cNot break it? Are you not\nashamed to utter such falsehoods?\u201d And with that the Queen struck the\nlittle boy two or three sharp blows.\n\n\u201cOh, Mamma, Mamma,\u201d cried Prince Eigenwillig, rushing forward, and\nseizing her uplifted arm, \u201cit was not his doing; it was mine. I don\u2019t\nlike him, and I wish he had never come here; but he didn\u2019t break the\nlooking-glass. I broke it; do not beat him; he doesn\u2019t deserve it. I did\nthe mischief. He put me in such a rage with what he said, that I took up\nthe inkstand and threw it at him; but it struck the glass instead of\nhim.\u201d\n\nThe Prince was a spoilt child, and full of faults; but here was an\nevidence that there were redeeming points in his character. Nothing\ncould have been better than the manner in which he came forward to take\nthe blame on his own shoulders. There was still something to work upon;\nand had his mother been anything but what she was, the incident might\nhave been turned as much to his advantage as to her own. But her\nweakness and vanity were excessive. She saw she had been too hasty; but\nwas unwilling to confess herself in the wrong; so she availed herself of\nan expression of her son, and continued to pour out her wrath on the\nunfortunate Witikind.\n\n\u201cHow dared you offend the Prince?\u201d she cried. \u201cHow could you presume to\nmisbehave yourself in such a manner, as to put him in a rage, as he says\nyou did? And what is the meaning of all these malicious tales you have\nbeen carrying to the King?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have carried no tales to the King, Madam,\u201d replied Witikind.\n\n\u201cYes, you have,\u201d retorted the Queen, \u201cyou have been making him believe\nthat the Prince is cruel to you. And like a little artful, hypocritical\nwretch, you have been even setting his own attendants against him.\u201d\n\nWitikind was so bewildered with all these charges that he was quite\nsilent.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d continued the Queen, \u201cno wonder you are struck dumb; now you are\nfound out, you have not a word to say for yourself.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill you hear me, Madam, or believe me, when I do speak?\u201d replied\nWitikind, recovering his self-possession.\n\n\u201cBelieve _you_? you little deceitful creature! No, that will I not.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, since your Majesty says that, when you know I have never deceived\nyou, I had rather say nothing, except that I hope you will confront me\nwith the King, and the Prince\u2019s attendants.\u201d\n\n\u201cLeave the room,\u201d said Queen Ninnilinda, in still greater anger, \u201cI am\nnot going to be argued with by you, I promise you.\u201d\n\n\u201cMamma,\u201d said Prince Eigenwillig, as soon as Witikind had left the room,\n\u201cI don\u2019t like him, but I don\u2019t think he ever tells lies; and I don\u2019t\nthink he ever tried to set Nurse Yellowlily against me, though she often\npraised him, in order to plague me.\u201d\n\nHere again, the boy was getting upon a right path; but his foolish\nmother, as soon as she perceived it, lost no time in turning him into a\nwrong one.\n\n\u201cAh, my sweetest boy,\u201d said she, \u201cit was no more than I expected from\nyour noble, generous nature, that you should try and find excuses for\nthis odious little brat. You don\u2019t know the world as well as I do: if\nyou did, you would find it prudent to consider others less, and yourself\nmore. But I have my own opinion about this Witikind. Everything went on\nwell enough in the palace till he came, and now every thing goes wrong,\nand I can trace his finger at the bottom of all the mischief. I always\nmisdoubted the intentions of that cross-grained old toad, my Fairy-aunt,\never since she insisted on giving you your horrid name. I was sure her\nprofessions of kindliness were a blind, and that she was meaning\nmischief all the time. And I am quite satisfied now that this creature\nwhich she brought here, is not Count Rudolf\u2019s son. Count Rudolf is a\nvery respectable man and would not deceive us, but parents are\nproverbially blind;\u201d (Yes, indeed, Queen Ninnilinda!) \u201cand I don\u2019t doubt\nthat this Witikind is a changeling, some imp from Fairy-land, hundreds\nof years old, perhaps, sly, and mischievous, and malicious, who is sent\nto bring some terrible misfortune on us all.\u201d\n\nPoor Witikind! he little suspected the nature of this fresh accusation\nagainst him; and while he was weeping in his chamber over the injustice\nwhich he was suffering, and writhing under the indignity of being\ncharged with saying what was not true, he was being subjected to an\nimputation, at once the most cruel, and (in his case) the most difficult\nto disprove.\n\nThe idea once started, every body had something to say in confirmation\nof it. All the courtiers discovered that, though they had never\nmentioned it, they had, from the first, observed something very elvish\nin his countenance. The Keeper of the Records had been struck with his\nalways being dressed in green and gold,\u2014the fashionable colours in\nFairy-land. The Ladies Frigida, Rigida, and Brigida, detected something\nsupernatural in the precocious aptness with which he received their\nlessons. The Baroness Yellowlily had occasionally found great\nentanglement in the poor child\u2019s sunny ringlets, when she combed them\nafter he had been at play: this was a strong presumption they were\nelflocks. He was wont to talk with rapture of the happy home he had\nleft; this, in the opinion of the Lord Chamberlain, was proof positive\nthat he had come from Fairy-land, for what but Fairy-land could be\npreferable to a palace? Finally, even good-natured King Katzekopf, when\nhe heard all these allegations, was fain to shake his head, and confess\nthat there was something suspicious in the case, and that the\ncircumstance which he had himself observed, namely, Witikind\u2019s habit of\nsitting moping for hours together, by the side of the fountain, was\ncertainly very unlike the habits of other boys.\n\nWhat was to be done? If they sent him back to his reputed parents,\nwithout the Lady Abracadabra\u2019s permission, they might bring all kinds of\ntrouble upon themselves. If they kept him longer in the palace, there\nwas no calculating the amount of mischief which might be effected by\nhim. However, it was resolved, that of the two evils, this was the\nleast: and so it was determined, that things should go on as usual, and\nthat Witikind should be kept in ignorance of the nature of the\nsuspicions against him.\n\nWhether all those who contributed to blacken this unlucky boy\u2019s\ncharacter, were sincere in their belief of his elvish origin, may be\ndoubted. To seem so was to follow the fashion, and a ready method of\ngetting into Queen Ninnilinda\u2019s good graces; and that was enough for\ncourtiers.\n\nBut, though Witikind knew not of what he was accused, he was not long\nkept in ignorance of the fact, that he was out of favour with every\nbody. It seemed as if nobody, from the King on his throne, to the\nscullion in the kitchen, could say a word of kindness to him. Some were\nruder than others, in proportion as they desired to pay court to her\nMajesty; but all made it evident that they wished to have nothing to say\nto him. A thousand petty mortifications were heaped upon him. He was\nkept at his lessons for many more hours than heretofore, and his tasks\nwere made doubly difficult. He was allowed, as formerly, to take his\nmeals with the Prince, but those in attendance contrived to give him\nwhatever was likely to be most unpalatable. He was required to be with\nthe Prince during his play hours, but was not allowed to play with him,\nbut only to wait on him; to run after his ball, or to fetch his hoop out\nof a ditch, or pick up his arrows which had fallen wide of the mark.\n\nAnd yet nothing was said or done in such a manner that Witikind could\nlay hold of it. He felt that every body was against him, though it was\ntheir general manner, rather than any particular act, that gave him the\nimpression. It seemed to him, as if his feet had become entangled in a\nnet, and that some unseen hand was preventing his escape. And all this\nwhile, Prince Eigenwillig was growing more and more unkind, sometimes\nnot speaking to him at all, and other times loading him with abuse and\nreproaches. For weeks and weeks, this state of things continued, and\nWitikind was nearly broken in spirit, and would have been quite so, had\nhe not been able to cheer himself, by the thought that sooner or later,\nhe would be sent home, and that the Fairy had promised to befriend him.\n\nYet still as time passed on, and he heard nothing from Taubennest, and\nhis father never came to Court to inquire after him, and the Lady\nAbracadabra failed to appear, he grew more and more downcast. Sometimes\nhe thought of running away; but whither should he run, and how could he\nfind his way home? Sometimes he resolved to entreat the King to dismiss\nhim; but then he remembered the Fairy\u2019s commands, that let what would\nhappen, he must not leave the Court, without her permission.\n\nHowever, when things are at the worst, they usually begin to mend; and\njust as Witikind began to despair, the crisis came which he feared would\nnever come.\n\nIn obedience to his mother,\u2014for sometimes, when he had no temptation the\nother way, even Eigenwillig could be obedient,\u2014the Prince had carefully\nabstained from letting fall any expression which should convey to\nWitikind the knowledge that he was suspected of being an elf in\ndisguise; but at length it happened, as might have been expected, that\nthe boy forgot his secret.\n\nIt fell out, upon a summer\u2019s evening, that the Prince and Witikind were\nalone together in one of the apartments of the palace, which opened out\nof the Queen\u2019s sitting-room, and which had a door of communication with\nthe gardens.\u2014The Prince was amusing himself with a game of battledore,\nand Witikind stood near to pick up the shuttlecock for him as it\noccasionally fell. But the Prince was expert with his battledore, and\nwould keep the shuttlecock bounding in the air for a long time together.\nConsequently the services of Witikind were not often needed.\n\nNo wonder, therefore, that he crept towards the window to look at the\ngay flower beds, and to watch the waters of his favourite fountain as\nthey rose sparkling in the air to a vast height, and then fell into\nvarious fantastic basins, from which they issued into the grand\nreservoir below; and no wonder, as he listened to the soothing plash of\nthe waters, and watched the clouds, painted with all the gorgeous hues\nwhich the setting sun threw over them, that his thoughts reverted to\nTaubennest, and that fatal evening when he had expressed a wish to quit\nit. Surely the error had brought its recompense of punishment! If he had\ndone wrong, he had suffered for it, and had learned a lesson which would\nlast him his life. Oh bitter and sincere was his repentance! What would\nhe not now give to turn his back for ever on the hateful palace! What\nwould he not give to see the towers of Taubennest, and look from its\nramparts on the mountains, barren as they were; and the valley, and the\nwinding river! What would he not give, were it but for a few brief\nminutes, to hear the sweet voices of his sisters, and to be clasped in\nhis mother\u2019s arms!\n\nThe shuttlecock had fallen, but he heard it not, and remained\ninattentive to his duties. How could it be otherwise! he was hundreds of\nmiles away.\n\n\u201cWhy don\u2019t you pick up the shuttlecock?\u201d cried the Prince, in a sharp,\nimpatient tone.\u2014Witikind started, and ran forward in a random way; but\nhe could not see it: tears were blinding his eyes.\n\n\u201cNot there, blockhead!\u201d shouted the Prince \u201clook behind the statue.\u201d\nThere were two statues; Witikind went towards the wrong one.\n\n\u201cWhat a stupid _elf\u2019s-brat_ you are!\u201d cried the Hope of the Katzekopfs\nto the child of Countess Ermengarde, when he brought back the\nshuttlecock.\n\n\u201cWhat did you call me, Prince?\u201d said Witikind with a look of surprise\nand anger.\n\n\u201cI called you what you are,\u2014what all the world knows you to be\u2014an\nelf\u2019s-brat: the good-for-nothing, impish son of some malevolent old\nFairy, or some old hag of a witch!\u201d\n\n\u201cHow dare you call my mother evil names?\u201d exclaimed Witikind, his eyes\nsparkling with anger, and his whole frame quivering with emotion. His\npatient endurance and gentleness seemed to have fled from him for ever;\nhis entire character appeared altered on the instant. Anything personal\nhe had long since proved that he could submit to, but the insult to his\nmother called forth in a moment the long-sleeping energies of his\ncharacter. \u201cHow DARE you to abuse my mother?\u201d he cried in a still louder\ntone. \u201cHow dare you utter such a base, cowardly lie?\u201d\n\nThe Prince, wholly unprepared for such an outbreak, was too much\nterrified to answer. He saw that in Witikind\u2019s gleaming eye which told\nhim, boy as he was, that Countess Ermengarde\u2019s son was not to be trifled\nwith. The Hope of the Katzekopfs turned pale, quailed, and continued\nretreating towards the corner of the room nearest to his mother\u2019s\napartments.\n\n\u201cUnsay what you have said,\u201d cried Witikind, following close upon him as\nhe retreated step by step. \u201cUnsay what you have said, and beg my pardon\non your knees for this insult to my mother!\u201d\n\nDown sank the Prince on his knees in the corner of the room, while over\nhim stood Witikind, pale with anger, his arm outstretched, and his fist\nclenched, repeating in tones hoarse from excitement, but waxing louder,\nand louder every moment, \u201cUnsay what you have said, unsay what you have\nsaid!\u201d\n\nSuch was the sight which presented itself to Queen Ninnilinda\u2019s\nwondering eyes, when she issued from her boudoir to ascertain the cause\nof the noise which had alarmed her.\n\n\u201cTake him away! take him away!\u201d cried the Prince, as soon as he saw his\nmother. \u201cTake him away, or he will kill me!\u201d\n\n\u201cHelp! help!\u201d shrieked the Queen, \u201cor the Prince will be bewitched by\nthis spiteful elf\u2014this Fairy\u2019s changeling.\u201d\n\nHer screams brought one of the yeomen of the guard into the room, who\ninstantly seized Witikind.\n\n\u201cHold him fast!\u201d exclaimed her Majesty. \u201cGet ropes and tie him hand and\nfoot, and then flog him till he faints. He has been trying to bewitch my\nson!\u201d\n\nBut the Queen\u2019s commands were not destined to be obeyed. Even when the\nhubbub was at its height, a pause ensued, for the well-known whistle of\nthe Fairy at the keyhole, loud and shrill above all other sounds, was\nheard. Forth from the aperture the Lady Abracadabra sprung, and with a\nsingle bound darted into the midst of the group. Her expression was that\nof the deepest indignation, and her robe seemed glowing with living\nfire. Throwing her wand down upon the nearest table, she caught hold of\nWitikind with one hand, and with the other sent the burly yeoman of the\nguard reeling to the extremity of the apartment, from whence he rushed\nforth in an agony of terror.\n\n\u201cAnd this is the way you keep your promises, is it, Queen Ninnilinda?\nThis is the way you treat the poor child whom you engaged to bring up\nwith the same kindness which you exhibit to yonder unhappy boy? Think\nnot that I am not cognizant of all your proceedings! Think not that I\nhave not witnessed the indignities and unkindnesses you have heaped upon\nhim! Think not that I have not overheard your shameless words of\ningratitude towards myself. Think not, above all, that I, his friend and\nprotector, have kept Witikind an hour longer than was necessary for his\nfuture happiness, in this abode of folly and weakness: think not, that\nI, your own child\u2019s sponsor, will allow him to be longer exposed to your\nmismanagement, and evil influence. I gave you a fair warning; and you\nmust now take the consequences of having neglected it. You have had your\ntrial. It is over. Now comes your punishment.\u201d\n\nThe Queen threw herself on her knees.\n\n\u201cNo:\u201d replied the Lady Abracadabra; \u201cit is too late now. The sooner you\ntake leave of your son the better. But first, Prince Eigenwillig, come\nhere to me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t!\u201d cried the Prince doggedly.\n\n\u201cIt will be the worse for you if you don\u2019t,\u201d said the Fairy.\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t, I tell you!\u201d repeated the Prince.\n\n\u201cOh Eigenwillig,\u201d cried his mother, \u201cfor mercy\u2019s sake, do as you are\nbid; you know not what the consequences of disobedience may be!\u201d\n\n\u201cCome, when I call you!\u201d said Lady Abracadabra calmly, but fixing her\neye upon him, \u201ccome here and beg Witikind\u2019s pardon for all your\nabominable conduct towards him.\u201d\n\nEigenwillig approached Witikind, who had already a smile of\nreconciliation on his face, expecting that the Prince would now gladly\nmake up for his error. But the Hope of the Katzekopfs had no such\nintention. He advanced indeed close to Witikind, and stretched out one\nhand towards him, but with the other he snatched the Fairy\u2019s wand off\nthe table, and before she could prevent him, he struck Witikind over the\nhead, and exclaimed, \u201cDetestable creature! be thou turned into a timid\nhare! Mays\u2019t thou be hunted to death by dogs and men!\u201d\n\nIn another instant he was gazing in amazement at what he had done; for\nsuch was the portentous power of Abracadabra\u2019s wand that, even in his\nhands, it failed not to work the required transformation. Witikind was\ncrouching before them, a terrified trembling hare!\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d cried the Fairy, \u201cbe it so. You have but anticipated my purpose,\nevil-minded child that you are!\u201d She opened a door that led into the\ngarden, and said,\n\n               \u201cHare! Hare! hurry away!\n                   Neither halt nor rest,\n                   And at Taubennest\n               You shall safely be, by the break of day.\n                   No huntsman harm thee!\n                   No hound alarm thee!\n                   From evil I charm thee!\n               Bound forth! away! away!\u201d\n\nShe paused a moment to see the little creature safe on its route, and\nthen closed the door.\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d said she to the author of the mischief, \u201cI come to settle my\naccount with thee. But first surrender my wand.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll turn you into a toad first,\u201d shouted the Prince, striking at her;\nbut with indecision in his voice and manner; for, in spite of his recent\ntriumph, he was utterly terrified at what he had done, and at what he\nwas doing. He already had a misgiving that Fairies are not to be trifled\nwith.\n\nThe Lady Abracadabra was, as may be supposed, in no humour to be turned\ninto a toad. She, therefore, merely stretched out her hand, and caught\nhold of the extremity of the wand as the Hope of the Katzekopfs struck\nher with it.\n\n\u201cGive me the wand!\u201d said she.\n\n\u201cI shan\u2019t!\u201d cried Eigenwillig.\n\n\u201cGive it me directly!\u201d\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t, won\u2019t, WON\u2019T!\u201d screamed the naughty boy, clinging fast to one\nend of the wand, while the Fairy held the other.\n\n\u201cI shall make you glad enough to loose it before I have done with you.\u201d\n\n\u201cLeave it alone, Eigenwillig,\u201d cried his mother, clasping her hands.\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t,\u201d exclaimed the boy, \u201cI won\u2019t do anything you tell me. If you\nhad not spoilt me, I shouldn\u2019t be in all this trouble now! I _won\u2019t_\ngive it up, I say!\u201d\n\n\u201cThen take the consequences!\u201d said the Lady Abracadabra. As she said\nthese words, she darted up into the air, still keeping hold of the wand,\nand lessening in size, as she rose, made her way towards the keyhole. By\nthe time she had reached it, dragging the Prince after her, she had\nshrunk to the size which enabled her to go through it. But she paused\nfor a moment before she disappeared, and, standing on the handle of the\ndoor, she cried out in a shrill, thin voice, such as might be expected\nto issue from one of her diminutive size:\u2014\n\n                             \u201cFollow wand,\n                             Follow hand.\u201d\n\nThen she sprung through the keyhole, and in another instant her wand was\nseen following her.\n\n\u201cDrop it now, my darling!\u201d exclaimed the Queen. \u201cLet her take her wand,\nif she\u2019ll only take herself off, too!\u201d\n\nAll this time the wand was passing through the keyhole. Less and less of\nit was left in sight. Now not more than an inch; now not half an inch;\nnow the tips of the Prince\u2019s fingers seemed sucked up towards the\nkeyhole.\n\n\u201cDrop it,\u201d cried the Queen, \u201cwhy don\u2019t you drop it?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, mother, mother!\u201d screamed the struggling, breathless boy, in an\nagony of terror, \u201cI can\u2019t, I CAN\u2019T; it has grown to my fingers; it\nsticks to them! Oh dear! dear! what shall I do? my fingers are being\ndragged through the keyhole! they are being stretched into strings! Oh\nhelp me! help me!\u201d\n\nThe Queen rushed to the door, before which her son was kicking and\nwrithing. But his efforts to escape were fruitless. To her horror, the\nQueen beheld each joint tapering and elongating itself, till it could\npass through the narrow aperture; now, the wrists had disappeared; now,\nin a twinkling, the elbows were out of sight; now the upper portion of\nthe arm was gone.\n\n\u201cSurely,\u201d thought Ninnilinda, \u201cshe will never attempt to drag his head\nthrough.\u201d But she was wrong; the boy\u2019s hair was rapidly sucked through\nthe keyhole, and the head began to lengthen itself out for the purpose\nof following.\n\nThis was too much for endurance. The Queen strove with all her power to\nopen the door; but it was as fast as if it formed part of the original\nwall. Then, in her dismay, she seized hold of the body of the Prince,\nfor the purpose of dragging him back; but a miserable, elongated drawl\nfrom the other side of the door conveyed the boy\u2019s entreaty that she\nwould not hurt him.\n\n\u201cNever mind what he says, niece,\u201d cried the voice of the Fairy. \u201cHold\nhis legs tight, and in half a minute I shall have finished my work, and\nwound him up!\u201d\n\nThe Queen was so transfixed with dismay, that she stood motionless,\nwatching the receding body of the Prince, till the soles of his feet\ncaught her despairing eyes.\n\n\u201cThere! \u2018tis done now,\u201d cried the Lady Abracadabra. \u201cHe makes a very\ncompact ball, and will travel well!\u201d\n\nThe Queen, in her despair, now rushed to the door leading into the\nflower-garden; but she was too late.\n\nThe Fairy had reached the extremity of the terrace, kicking before her\nsomething that seemed like a ball of rope; but which ball was, in fact,\nthe convoluted form of Prince Eigenwillig.\n\nIn another moment, the lady Abracadabra and the Hope of the Katzekopfs\nhad bounded over the parapet, and were lost to view; and Queen\nNinnilinda fell, for the first time in her life, into a real swoon.\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER V.\n                      The Heirs on their Travels.\n\n\n           \u201cO see ye not yon narrow road,\n             So thick beset with thorns and briers?\n           That is the path of righteousness,\n             Though after it but few inquires.\n\n           \u201cAnd see ye not that braid, braid road,\n             That lies across that lily leven?\n           That is the path of wickedness,\n             Though some call it the road to heaven.\n\n           \u201cAnd see ye not that bonny road,\n             That winds about the fernie brae?\n           That is the road to fair Elf-land,\n             Where thou and I this night maun gae.\u201d\n\n                                         _Thomas the Rhymer._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER V.\n\n\nHow is it that the faithful hound succeeds in finding his way back to\nhis master\u2019s house, from a distance of many miles, and through a country\nwhich he has never been permitted to see? How is it that the\ncarrier-pigeon, when loosed from the bag in which it has been confined,\nmounts up into the air, makes one brief circuit, and then pursues his\nway, through an unknown region, in a straight line homeward? Mysteries\nthese, which the more we attempt to investigate them, the more do they\nbewilder us, and, in the attempt to elucidate which, the learned and the\nignorant are alike at fault.\n\nHowever, our daily experience of the fact that such things are, at once\nremoves any antecedent improbability which might otherwise suggest\nitself to the sceptical, when it is mentioned that Witikind, though\ntransformed into a hare, found little difficulty in discovering his\nroute to Taubennest. Had he been even a hare only, his instinct would\nprobably have guided him in the right direction; but being a\nsharp-witted boy, as well as a hare, there seems little cause for wonder\nin the matter. The circumstance most worthy of remark is, that he should\nhave performed his journey of many hundred miles in the course of a\nsingle night. The spells of the Lady Abracadabra had secured him from\nthe perils of huntsmen and hounds; but how had she bestowed upon him\nsuch marvellous speed of foot? The sun was setting, as we know, when the\nson of Count Rudolf received his unexpected dismissal from the Court of\nKing Katzekopf: ere the moon had risen, the towers and cupolas of the\ncity scarce broke the line of the distant horizon: by midnight, a\ndistance which, to the ordinary traveller, would have been equivalent to\na six-days\u2019 journey, had been mastered, and when the chilliness of the\nfirst grey dawn refreshed the heated frame of the breathless quadruped,\nthe giant forms of his own loved mountains were looming dim and\nindistinct in the shadowy distance. What was it that gave to Witikind\nthe speed of the winged wind? Was it solely the boon of his patroness?\nor was it not the magic of deep affection,\u2014of filial and fraternal love,\nand the spells of _home_\u2014which infused into his tender frame a vigour\nwith which even the supernatural gifts of Fairy-land would have been\nunable to inspire him?\n\n                   \u201cOver the mountains,\n                     And over the waves,\n                   Under the fountains,\n                     And under the graves;\n                   Over floods that are deepest,\n                     Which Neptune obey;\n                   Over rocks that are steepest,\n                     Love will find out the way.\n\n                   \u201cWhere there is no place\n                     For the glow-worm to lie;\n                   Where there is no space\n                     For receipt of a fly;\n                   Where the midge dares not venture,\n                     Lest herself fast she lay;\n                   If Love come, he will enter,\n                     And soon find out his way.\u201d\n\nAnd thus it was that Love urged Witikind on his way, and inspired him to\ntask to the uttermost the extraordinary powers with which he had been\nendowed. No loiterer, nor lingerer was he; \u201che stay\u2019d not for brake, and\nhe stopp\u2019d not for stone,\u201d till the turrets of his happy home at\nTaubennest caught his eyes, glittering in the brightness of the morning\nsun.\n\nBut Taubennest, whatever it might be in his imagination, had scarce\ndeserved the name of _happy_ Taubennest, since the day he quitted it. It\nwas not that his sisters had not had many a pleasant walk, and played at\nmany a merry game together, during his absence. It was not that no\nsmiles had ever lightened his mother\u2019s brow of care. Things had gone on\nmuch in their usual course; a year (for it was no more) of separation\nhad not wrought many obvious changes, save that Count Rudolf\u2019s health\nwas declining; disappointed hopes, and ungratified ambition are worse\ndiseases than fever or consumption, and they were wearing his life away.\nCountess Ermengarde had spent many days in calm content, and in active\nusefulness, and these things bring their reward of peace with them. The\nlittle girls had not lost the gaiety of disposition which is natural to\ntheir years, and their minds were in a process of training, which is\nsure to produce a happy temper. So Taubennest seemed to the friends of\nthe family the same bright joyous scene as ever.\n\nAnd yet they who watched closely, would see a tear falling at times,\nfrom the mother\u2019s eye, or mark that now and then an involuntary sigh\nwould escape from her. And they who looked for it might observe, that\never and anon some game was laid aside by the children, because _two_\nfelt that they could find no pleasure in it, when the _third_, who had\nbeen used to join in it, was absent. And walks were chosen, because they\nhad been favourites with some one who was no longer of the party. And\nevery thing that awakened an association of this description was most\ndearly prized. Surely they did not err who deemed that at such seasons\nWitikind was foremost in his mother\u2019s and his sisters\u2019 thoughts.\n\n\u201cI wonder,\u201d said Veronica to Ediltrudis, \u201cwhether we shall find the\nrosebud blown this morning. Mamma said she thought it would not be out\nfor three days. What a pity he planted such a late-flowering rose in his\ngarden. It would have been such a nice present for Mamma on his\nbirthday.\u201d\n\n\u201cDear Witikind!\u201d exclaimed Ediltrudis, \u201chow few besides himself would\never have thought of such a delicate attention to Mamma, as his choice\nof that tree involved! \u2018What kind of rose shall we plant against the\ntrellis which surrounds your garden?\u2019 asked the gardener. \u2018Shall it be\nthe blush-moss from Candahar? it is the choicest rose grown; but I have\na promise of one for you, if you wish it.\u2019 \u2018No, Florian, that will not\nsuit me, unless it be the latest, as well as the choicest rose that\ngrows. I do not care for a rose that I can gather when roses are in\nplenty; you must find one for me that will be in flower when all others\nare gone. You know how the Countess loves flowers. I want to be able to\nprovide her with a nosegay, when nobody else can do so.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d replied Veronica, \u201cthat was just like Witikind. A more\naffectionate heart than his never beat. How I hope we shall find one of\nhis buds in flower! It is quite too soon to expect it; but that was a\nchance cluster which we observed yesterday, and, perhaps, one of the\nbuds may be far enough advanced by this time. If it be open ever so\nlittle, I would gather it for Mamma.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow I wish some good Fairy would touch the buds with her wand, and\nprovide us each with a full-blown rose; one for Mamma; one for you; and\none for me.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d said Veronica, \u201cI shall be satisfied if only a few petals of that\nsingle bud be open. I shall hail it as a good omen that we shall have\nWitikind himself among us before the year is over.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat a fanciful notion!\u201d answered Ediltrudis, laughing. \u201cThere is no\nend to your romantic imaginations. Now, I confess that, for my part, I\nshall be quite surprised if I find that\u2014\u2014why look here!\u201d she suddenly\nexclaimed, as, being a little in advance of her sister, she caught the\nfirst glimpse of the rose-tree. \u201cLook here, Veronica; make haste, make\nhaste, a Fairy must have been here.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow very extraordinary!\u201d cried the child, running up. \u201cFour full-blown\nroses on this cluster! And yet, when we were here yesterday, there was\nbut one bud at all advanced, and the others were tiny, tiny things,\nwhich I thought would not be in bloom for months to come! You may say\nwhat you will, Ediltrudis, but this _must_ be a good omen. There is not\nonly a rose for Mamma, and for each of us, but one for Papa likewise.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou forget that Papa does not care for flowers.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, poor Papa, the smell is too strong for his head now; but, perhaps,\nhe would not dislike a rose if he knew it was gathered from Witikind\u2019s\ntree.\u201d\n\nEdiltrudis shook her head.\n\n\u201cBut what if it should be for Witikind himself?\u201d cried Veronica with\neagerness, as so pleasant a thought struck her. \u201cDepend upon it, this is\na token that Witikind will be here before long, to gather his own\nroses!\u201d\n\n\u201cI hope you don\u2019t mean to leave these ungathered till he comes. Why, if\nyou don\u2019t cut them now, they will shed their leaves with the noon-day\nheat. You are not hesitating about gathering them, surely, Veronica?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy I don\u2019t know what to think,\u201d replied Veronica doubtfully. \u201cSuppose\nwe wait till we come in from our walk.\u201d\n\n\u201cNonsense!\u201d said Ediltrudis; \u201clend me your knife, and let us carry them\nin to Mamma at once.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d answered Veronica; \u201conly let me tie up this\nclove-gilliflower first. How sadly,\u201d she continued, \u201cits leaves have\nbeen eaten. I wish we could keep those tiresome hares out.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt won\u2019t be easy to do that while they are as bold as they are at\npresent. See there! there is one coming now to the bed, though we are\nstanding here. I wonder what people mean by talking of timid hares. I am\nsure here they are as bold as lions. Sh! sh! get away with you!\u201d cried\nEdiltrudis, clapping her hands, and making a noise which was likely to\nhave put any ordinary hare to flight.\n\nBut the little animal made no attempt to retrace his steps.\n\n\u201cSh! sh!\u201d cried Ediltrudis once more; and taking up a pebble, made as\nthough she was about to throw it.\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d said Veronica, \u201cdo not hurt it. See how weary the poor creature\nlooks; how faint and breathless; and how soiled is its fur! It has been\nhunted, and has fled here for succour. Come here, poor thing. I will\nprotect you!\u201d\n\nThe animal approached Veronica, and crouched at her feet. \u201cGet some\nwater, Ediltrudis! it is going to die; I am sure it is; its eyes look so\ndim and glassy.\u201d\n\nEdiltrudis ran to a fountain close at hand, and brought some water in a\nshell which lay at its side. Veronica stooped down to place the water\nwithin reach of the exhausted animal, and, as she did so, she was about\nto pat it gently; but no sooner did her hand light upon its head, than a\nshock like that from an electric battery, ran through her frame, and\nmade her start violently. Before she could recover herself, the hare had\ndisappeared, and Witikind was in his sisters\u2019 arms.\n\nFor a time, the children were too much overwhelmed with terror and\namazement, to be able to speak. Veronica would have fainted, but for the\ntimely supply of water which was close at hand; and even when she came\nto herself, she could not persuade herself that she was not dreaming.\nBut there was something too hearty in the embraces of Witikind, and his\nkisses were altogether too vehement to have come from Dreamland.\nBriefly, but clearly, he made them acquainted with the events which had\nbefallen him, and when, by degrees, they began to comprehend the reality\nof what they saw, he sent them into the castle, to prepare the Countess\nfor his arrival.\n\nPoor children! it was an arduous task. The excess of their joy made them\nas timid and afraid to speak, as excess of sorrow might have done.\nHowever, the roses helped them, and, as it were, prepared the mother\u2019s\nmind for some unexpected intelligence of her boy; for, in those days,\npeople thought more about the unseen world, and the interference of\nspiritual beings in men\u2019s affairs, than they do now. And so, at length,\nthe Countess Ermengarde, and the other inhabitants of Taubennest, were\nbrought to understand that Witikind was once more among them.\n\nOh! how vain it were to attempt to describe the scene which then\nensued!\u2014\n\n        \u201cEager steps the threshold pressing;\n        Open\u2019d arms in haste advancing;\n        Joyful looks through blind tears glancing;\n        The gladsome bounding of his aged hound,\n        Say he in truth is here! our long, long lost is found.\u201d\n\nThe reader\u2019s imagination must delineate to him the ecstatic joy of that\nmeeting; how embrace followed embrace, and a thousand questions were put\nto him, ere Witikind had time to answer ten: how Count Rudolf, having\nfirst forgotten his ambitious schemes, in the joy of seeing his son,\nsoon began to express his belief that the Lady Abracadabra had\nmismanaged things shockingly; that she was a Fairy without either talent\nor discrimination; that she ought not to have allowed the boy to quit\nthe palace till she had secured a handsome pension for him; and that it\nwas quite inexcusable of her to allow a child of Witikind\u2019s high rank to\nreturn home in the form of a hare, and to be liable to be barked at by\nevery village cur; how Witikind poured forth his regrets that he had\never been selfish enough to desire to leave his home; how ardently he\nhoped that all he had gone through had cured him of some of his worst\nfaults; how useful a lesson he had been taught; how truly he appreciated\nthe blessing of a home; and how earnestly he trusted that his future\nlife would be spent in doing good to his neighbours and dependants at\nTaubennest.\n\n\u201cI have seen enough,\u201d said he, \u201cyoung as I am, to cure me of ambition. I\nwould rather pass my days in retirement here, striving to benefit those\namong whom I dwell, and to repay, so far as I can, my dear parents\u2019 care\nof me, than have the highest place and the highest honours, in the\ngreatest kingdom in the universe.\u201d\n\n\u201cWait a few years, and we shall see!\u201d said Count Rudolf.\n\n\u201cMay Heaven strengthen you to keep to such a determination, my dearest\nWitikind,\u201d exclaimed the Countess Ermengarde. \u201cThe Fairy has proved\nherself a true friend to us, by giving you an opportunity of learning,\nby your own experience, to estimate, at their proper value, those things\nwhich are so commonly looked on as advantages, and which the world so\nearnestly covets. How I long to express my thanks to our kind patroness!\nHow earnestly I hope she will continue to help you with her counsels and\nadvice!\u201d\n\n\u201cMother,\u201d replied the boy, \u201cI am as grateful to her as you could wish me\nto be; but so long as I can be guided by _you_, I will seek no other\ncounsellor!\u201d\n\nAs he said this, he threw himself into his mother\u2019s arms, and mingled\nhis kisses with her tears of affection and joy.\n\nAnd thus engaged we must leave them for the present.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nBump, bump, bump! never was ball so elastic and springy. Caoutchouc was\nas lazy and lumpish as lead itself when compared with it! Bump, bump,\nbump! and a bound of twenty feet between each bump. Down to the ground\nas light as a feather, and then up in the air again, ever so high,\nalmost before you could say it had touched the earth. A single kick from\nthe Lady Abracadabra, and away it went, down the broad gravel terrace,\nas if it took pleasure in its feats!\n\nPoor Prince Eigenwillig: it was lucky for you that that same process of\ndrawing you through the keyhole, which, so to speak, had elongated you\ninto a coil of living catgut, had also transformed your bones into\ngristle. Had there been any brittle material left in your fabric, it\nmust have been fractured; but you were more mercifully dealt with than,\nconsidering your conduct to little Witikind, you deserved. The Fairy had\nno malevolent intentions towards you, though she did not choose that\nyour audacious misbehaviour should go unpunished. She made a foot-ball\nof you, and kicked you before her, which was very much the kind of\ntreatment you had bestowed upon all your attendants; but she had no wish\nto do you a mischief in life or limb; she only desired to administer\nsome wholesome discipline.\n\nDown the broad terrace bounded the involuntary traveller, and over the\nparapet in which it terminated. Fifty feet and more did the contorted\nHope of the Katzekopfs traverse in the air before a bed of nettles\nreceived him. Over and over did he turn, to escape the stinging torment,\nbut in vain: even the most elastic of balls cannot raise itself out of\nthe bottom of a ditch.\n\nAnother kick from the Fairy was necessary; and as she kicked him, she\nexclaimed, \u201cThis is your punishment for having endeavoured to turn me\ninto a toad: you may thank your lucky stars, and my good-nature, that\nthis ditch is filled with nothing worse than nettles: it would have\nserved you right had it been full of vipers.\u201d\n\nThe Prince was smarting all over, so, perhaps, he did not feel as\ngrateful as the Lady Abracadabra seemed to expect. But however that\nmight be, there was no time for talking. Up the bank he flew, and\npursued his painful way, \u201cthrough bush, and through briar,\u201d now over a\nwide expanse of gorse, now over thistly wastes, till there was not a\nquarter of an inch on the whole surface of the ball which had not\nreceived its share of castigation.\n\n\u201cStop!\u201d cried the Lady Abracadabra at length; and the Prince was but too\nglad to obey. \u201cCome hither!\u201d she continued. The Prince rolled towards\nher. As soon as he was within reach, she slipped off her girdle, and\npassing it through two or three of the living coils, lifted the ball\nfrom the ground, and threw it over her shoulder with a jerk, much in the\nsame manner that a porter raises a sack on his back. Then she whistled\nthree times; her cockatrice appeared at the sound; she sprung on her\nembroidered saddle,\u2014her burden still suspended from her shoulder:\u2014she\ngave the word; the monster spread forth his wings, and rose in the air;\nand in a few seconds the Hope of the Katzekopfs was far away from the\nscene of his errors, and from the influence of those whose weak\nindulgence had contributed to confirm him in them.\n\nDarkness was now coming on apace, and the Prince was too much entangled\nin his own circumvolutions to be able to see very accurately whither he\nwas wending, even had he known the country; but he was conscious that he\nwas mounting higher and higher, and that he was being borne along with\nsuch increasing rapidity, that he thought within himself that they would\ncertainly reach the world\u2019s end by sunrise. On, and on, and on. The moon\nrose and set. The night air grew colder and colder: the clouds among\nwhich they travelled seemed denser and denser. Shivering at once and\nsmarting; exhausted and hungry; terrified and indignant, the unhappy son\nof Queen Ninnilinda at length sunk into a state of apathy or\nunconsciousness.\n\nHow far, therefore, or in what direction he had been conveyed he knew\nnot, but when he came to himself, morning had dawned, and he was aware\nthat the Fairy was hovering at no great distance above the summit of a\ngrassy hill, in the midst of a wooded country.\n\n\u201cStop!\u201d cried the Lady Abracadabra to her steed. The cockatrice poised\nin mid air. \u201cNow, Eigenwillig,\u201d said she, \u201cyou are going into\nFairy-land. Take care how you behave there, for my countrymen are not to\nbe trifled with.\u201d\n\nAs she spoke she slipped one end of her girdle, and at the same moment\nthe Prince became conscious that he was falling as rapidly as he had\nrisen. But this was not all, for still, as he fell, he was conscious\nthat he was no longer a compact ball, but that he was unrolling\u2014yard\nafter yard\u2014with the greatest velocity; and not only so, but that his\nelongated form was shrinking back again to its original dimensions.\n\nNo sooner was he aware of this than a fresh terror seized him. \u201cI am\nbeing restored to my natural shape,\u201d thought he, \u201conly to be dashed to\npieces when I reach the summit of the hill beneath me.\u201d\n\nIn a few moments he touched the earth; but instead of receiving a\nconcussion which shattered him to atoms, he fell as lightly on the\nsummit of the grassy knoll, as if a featherbed had been placed there to\nreceive him; and, stranger still, the green turf immediately parting\nasunder beneath him, he continued to fall through a chasm which opened\nbelow him, and closed above him, till suddenly he found himself once\nmore emerging into daylight, and entering into a country altogether new\nto him, in the bowels of the earth.\n\nA single glance sufficed to show that he was in Fairy-land; for where\nelse grow trees with fruits that gleam like precious stones? where else\nis the whole surface of the country covered with flowers of the most\ndazzling hues, and most delicious fragrance? where else is every\ndwelling a palace, and every palace built of gold and silver, and\nmother-o\u2019-pearl? and of what but Fairies could those troops of delicate,\nethereal forms consist, some of which were chasing each other in mid\nair, and some, with robes as green as the grass upon which they scarce\ndeigned to tread, were hurrying hither and thither to discharge the\nvarious tasks assigned them by their sovereign?\n\nPrince Eigenwillig had scarcely reached the ground before he was\nsurrounded by a crowd of them, while, in a moment, scores more were\nswarming over him in the air.\n\n\u201cHo! ho! who are you? How came you here?\u201d cried a little sprite, who, by\nhis crabbed face, and the bullrush which he carried in his hand like a\nmace, was probably the holder of some such office among the elves, as,\nwith us mortals, is occupied by the parish beadle. \u201cHo! ho!\u201d said he,\npoking the Prince with his staff of office. \u201cWho are you? How came you\nhere?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Lady Abracadabra, whom perhaps you know, dropped me just now from\nthe clouds,\u201d replied the Prince.\n\n\u201cHa! ha! ha!\u201d shouted the whole troop laughing immoderately, \u201cwhat a\ncomical lady she is! Why, how come you with such fine clothes? Who are\nyou?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am the Prince Eigenwillig, eldest son of King Katzekopf,\u201d replied the\nboy, throwing as much dignity into his manner as possible, for he was\naltogether unaccustomed to such interrogations, and had no idea of not\nbeing treated with profound respect.\n\n\u201cHa! ha! ha!\u201d laughed the elves louder than ever. \u201cWhat a _very_ comical\nfancy! Why this is the spoilt boy, that gave himself such airs, and was\nso selfish that nobody could endure him! What a strange choice to fix on\n_him_ of all people! To think of sending us a prince for our new\napprentice! Well, Prince, what can you do?\u201d asked he of the bullrush.\n\n\u201c_Do!_\u201d said the Prince. \u201cI don\u2019t know what you mean. But I wish,\ngentlemen, you would let me have something to eat, for I am very\nhungry.\u201d\n\n\u201cHa! ha! ha! how very ridiculous, the apprentice wants something to eat!\nI tell you what, my young friend, you must take care what you are about,\nor you\u2019ll make some of us laugh till we go into fits!\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t see anything laughable in asking for food when one\u2019s hungry!\u201d\nobserved the Prince rather sulkily.\n\n\u201cNo, no;\u201d answered the first speaker as soon as he recovered breath,\n\u201cthe oddity consisted in the notion that you could get it by asking for\nit, and without doing anything to earn it. Nothing for nothing, is the\nrule here.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, I\u2019ll pay for it honestly,\u2014I\u2019ll give you money for it,\u201d said the\nHope of the Katzekopfs.\n\n\u201cMoney! what is money?\u201d inquired a very young Fairy.\n\nThe man in authority laughed louder than ever. \u201cLittle bits of the\nstones we build our houses of, my child,\u201d said he. \u201cNo, Prince, you must\noffer us something more to our taste than money, before we can find you\nprovisions. Money is of no use here: we often mend the roads with it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen what is it you require of me?\u201d asked the Prince, in a perturbed\nand astonished tone.\n\n\u201cWhy you must work, work, work, like a dutiful apprentice, and then, as\noften as it is proper, you shall have something to eat.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho am I to work for? what work am I expected to do?\u201d inquired the\nscion of royalty.\n\n\u201cOh you\u2019re to work for me!\u201d answered a shrill voice.\n\n\u201cAnd for me.\u201d \u201cAnd me.\u201d \u201cAnd me,\u201d added a hundred more.\n\n\u201cWhy, of course, you are to work for all of us,\u201d observed the bearer of\nthe bullrush gravely, \u201chow could you be our apprentice else?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy chimneys want sweeping,\u201d cried one.\n\n\u201cMy garden wants digging,\u201d said another.\n\n\u201cMy house wants scouring,\u201d observed a third.\n\n\u201cMy ditches want cleaning,\u201d remarked a fourth.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sure I shan\u2019t clean ditches, or sweep chimneys for anybody,\u201d said\nthe Prince, in a most resolute tone.\n\n\u201cHa! ha! ha! nobody asked you!\u201d shouted the sprites, and away they all\nswept like a flight of starlings, making the air ring with their shrill\nlaughter, while some of them sang,\u2014\n\n               \u201cOur apprentice has got an obstinate fit;\n               Hunger and thirst shall cure him of it.\n                     He shall not eat\n                     A morsel of meat,\n                     He need not think\n                     A drop to drink,\n               Till he works and earns it every bit!\u201d\n\nThe Prince was now left alone. Not a Fairy remained in sight. So long as\nthere was a single spectator, the boy\u2019s pride enabled him to seem bold\nand unyielding; but when he was sure that no eye was upon him, overcome\nwith weariness and vexation, he threw himself down upon the ground and\nsobbed as though his heart would break.\n\nPoor child, he was to be pitied! There he was, without a friend\u2014so far\nas he knew\u2014near him; unable any longer to command attention on the score\nof his exalted rank; conscious within himself that all his misfortunes\nwere the consequences of his own errors; and yet, at present, so rooted\nin his bad habits, that he was rather disposed to punish himself to any\namount, than do anything which seemed to imply a disposition to yield\nand submit.\n\nLong and sore he wept; but, in the end, hunger and thirst prevailed, and\ninduced him to dry his tears, and to endeavour to obtain for himself\nthat sustenance which the inhospitable Fairies would not provide him\nwithal.\n\nAnd he did not long hesitate as to the quarter whence he would seek\nrefreshment. Those trees, laden with glittering fruits, had caught his\neye the moment he entered Fairy-land, and he now resolved to help\nhimself. To be sure the trees were high, and he was unused to climbing,\nbut he did not feel much apprehension of not being able to get as much\nfruit as he needed; but he soon found greater difficulties than he\nexpected. The first tree which he attempted to ascend had such an\nunctuous, slippery bark, that he only mounted a few yards, before he\ninvoluntarily slid to the ground. And this happened again and again. The\nnext tree he approached had the most luscious-looking pears imaginable,\nhanging quite within his reach; but when he had advanced within a few\nyards of it, he beheld a tiger, glaring at him with blood-shot eyes,\nfrom within the tangled thicket. A third tree offered him its fruits,\nbut the rind was so hard that his teeth could not penetrate it: in a\nfourth, the products, though beautiful to the eye, seemed to the taste\nlike liquid fire;\u2014his lips scarce touched them before they were\nblistered.\n\nSo he soon gave up the fruit trees in despair, and hastened towards a\nlake, which seemed at an inconsiderable distance, in order to satisfy\nhis thirst with its sparkling waters. But soon he discovered that, as he\nadvanced, the lake retreated, and that a shadowy vapour was mocking his\naching sight.\n\nFaint and weary he threw himself upon the ground once more and wept. But\nhis tears this time were not those of offended pride, but of real\nsuffering and distress.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d thought he to himself, \u201chow much I wish that I had considered\nmore about the sufferings of those beneath me,\u2014the poor, and sick, and\nhungry, and thirsty in my father\u2019s kingdom! If I die here of hunger and\nthirst, nobody will miss me; nobody will mourn for me! Even Nurse\nYellowlily, and the governesses, will be glad to find that they are not\nto see me any more; and no wonder! for I used to plague them\nshamefully.\u201d\n\nThus did self-reproach mingle with the bodily discomforts of Prince\nEigenwillig. Ah! if those whom he had most wearied and irritated with\nhis naughty tricks, could have seen him now, they would have pitied and\nsoothed him! And what a lesson would it have been for silly Queen\nNinnilinda, could she have witnessed the end of her foolish indulgences!\n\nIt was a happy thing for the Hope of the Katzekopfs, that he _had_ no\none to pity and soothe him. The bitterer his pains now, the more hope\nthat he would escape them hereafter. The more searching and nauseous the\nmedicine, the more hope that he would be careful not to render it\nnecessary again, the more prospect that it would work an entire reform\nin his constitution. The experience of the last twelve hours was doing\nmore for Prince Eigenwillig, than could have been acquired in as many\nyears at his father\u2019s court. The course of self-examination upon which\nthe usage he had received in Fairy-land had caused him to enter was of\nmore real value to him than all the jewels in his future crown. The\nsharp and trying process by which he was now in progress of being taught\nthe defects of his character, was a more certain evidence of the\ngood-will of his Fairy-godmother towards him, than all the precious\ngifts which she had heaped upon him, on the day when she named him\nEigenwillig.\n\nThere is no night in Fairy-land; for elves have no need of that rest and\nsleep which are indispensable to more gross and corporeal forms; so the\nPrince knew not, save by the increase of his hunger and thirst, that\nanother day (as we mortals count time,) was drawing to its close. Hour\nafter hour he had lain upon the grass, alternately weeping and\nmeditating, and still uncertain what to do. Once or twice he felt\ndisposed to remain in his obstinacy. \u201cI\u2019m not going to be a slave,\u201d\nthought he, \u201cand nobody shall compel me to work for them.\u201d But then,\nafter a while, he reflected that there was no compulsion in the case.\nSo, when he got very hungry indeed, he determined he would apply to the\nfirst Fairy he saw, for some job of work which should be worth a good\nmeal to him. No sooner had he made this resolution, than he felt rather\nmore comfortable in his mind, than when he was struggling with his\nself-will; but his appetite was by no means relieved. \u201cI shall see a\nFairy, no doubt, very soon,\u201d said he. But he waited a long time, and not\none appeared in sight. \u201cI wish I could see a Fairy!\u201d he cried, after a\nwhile. \u201cWhat a terrible scrape I shall be in, if they have left this\npart of the country! Perhaps I had better get up and walk onward!\u201d\n\nUp he got: but he was so faint and exhausted, he was obliged to rest at\nthe end of half-a-mile. \u201cAlas! alas! how rash was I to offend them: how\nwrong to give way to my pride and bad temper! But what a terrible\npunishment they are inflicting! They have certainly left me to starve!\u201d\nAnd the Prince buried his face in his knees, and wept once more. He had\nnot sat long, when he heard a rustling in the air above him, and,\nlooking up, he beheld, within a few yards of him, two Fairies, bearing\nbetween them a basket laden with most delicious-looking grapes.\n\n\u201cGentlemen,\u201d said the Prince, \u201ccan you set me to work? I should be very\nglad to earn a meal.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d asked the first.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d replied the second, \u201che\u2019s our new apprentice; the self-willed\nPrince, who expected to live among us in idleness.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, my little master,\u201d said the first, addressing himself to the\nPrince, \u201cI\u2019ve no work for you. You should have asked me when I was going\nto the vineyard, not when I was coming from it. Let me find you here\ntwelve hours hence, and I dare say we can find you something to do.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I shall be dead in twelve hours; I am so faint for want of food\nnow, I can hardly walk.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am sorry for that,\u201d observed the second Fairy. \u201cWhat a pity you\ndidn\u2019t sweep the chimneys, and clean the ditches, when you had the\noffer. But it can\u2019t be helped. Nothing for nothing is the rule here.\nFarewell, Prince Wilful. Come, Tomalin, forward with our burden.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, nay,\u201d replied Tomalin, who was the more amiable-looking of the\ntwo; \u201cif it be as he says, and if he be willing to work, we may as well\ndo somewhat for him. Maybe he is inclining to mend his ways.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are the ruin of our apprentices with your good-nature,\u201d replied\nClaribel, \u201cbut I suppose it must be as you wish. Suppose we give him the\ngrapes to carry. Come Prince-Apprentice, here\u2019s work for you, if you\nwant it. Carry our load for us over the hill yonder, and you shall have\nsome of the fruit for your pains.\u201d\n\nThe Hope of the Katzekopfs came forward with alacrity: at least, with\nall the alacrity in his power.\n\n\u201cTake care you don\u2019t drop any!\u201d said Tomalin, helping him to throw the\nbasket over his shoulder. \u201cNow, then, away with you!\u201d\n\nThe Prince bent under his burden with hearty good-will. The elves had\nseemed to bear it through the air without the slightest difficulty, and\nhe anticipated that, after all, he had got an easy task. But he was\nwofully disappointed. The grapes might have been bullets, to judge from\ntheir weight. The basket, instead of resting easily on his shoulder,\nnearly dragged him backwards. He was tempted to relinquish his task\nalmost at the outset. Fortunately, however, his natural resoluteness of\ncharacter, which so often had assumed the shape of obstinacy, now\ndisplayed itself in a more praiseworthy form; he determined to prove his\nsincerity, by doing his best.\n\nAnd he was rewarded. For, after reeling and staggering a few steps, the\nburden at his back seemed somewhat lighter. At first the relief was\nalmost imperceptible, but the further he advanced, the more his load was\nlessened, so that, at the end of two or three hundred yards, he found he\nwas getting on with tolerable ease.\n\nHe ventured to remark the change to his companions. They only smiled,\nand said, \u201cIt is ever so when folks are in earnest.\u201d It was a long tug\nup the hill, and the Prince was a good deal out of breath; but he did\nnot lose heart, and, before long, had arrived at a mansion built of\nmother-o\u2019-pearl, and adorned with cupolas and domes of silver, according\nto the usual form of Fairy architecture. Here, still bearing his burden\non his back, he passed through a tennis-court of ivory, thence through a\nhall of blue sapphire, down a long corridor of agate, into a kitchen of\ncrystal, with doors of nutmeg, and pillars of green ginger. Here he was\nbidden to set down his load, and was allowed to refresh himself with the\ngrapes.\n\n\u201cYou have worked hard and shown hearty good-will,\u201d said Claribel, \u201cso\nyou may eat as many grapes as you like, while we take our own repast.\u201d\nAnd a strange repast it seemed. If the Prince had not been too much\noccupied with the grapes, he might have ventured to ask its nature, and\nperhaps would have received some such reply as the following:\u2014\n\n              \u201cA roasted ant that\u2019s nicely done,\n              By one small atom of the sun;\n              These are flies\u2019 eggs, in moonshine poach\u2019d;\n              This a flea\u2019s thigh, in collops scotched\u2014\n              \u2018Twas hunted yesterday i\u2019 the park,\n              And like t\u2019have \u2018scaped us in the dark.\n              This is a dish entirely new\u2014\n              Butterflies\u2019 brains, dissolved in dew;\n              These lovers\u2019 vows, these courtiers\u2019 hopes,\n              Things to be eat by microscopes;\n              These sucking-mites, a glow-worm\u2019s heart,\n              This a delicious rainbow tart.\u201d[2]\n\nFootnote 2:\n\n  King\u2019s Works, Edit. 1776, vol. III., p. 112.\n\n\u201cI begin to have hopes of our apprentice,\u201d observed Tomalin, when he had\nfinished his supper. \u201cThere\u2019s plenty of work for him in the meadow\nyonder. I want to have all the worm-casts stopped. You had better go and\nset about it, my little master.\u201d\n\nPrince Eigenwillig coloured, and, for a moment, he had a struggle with\nhimself not to say that as he had now got a meal, he did not intend to\ndo any more work; but experience had taught him wisdom; so he expressed\nhis willingness to do what he was bidden, only hinting that he should be\nbetter up to his work, if he could be allowed a few hours\u2019 sleep.\n\n\u201cOh, true,\u201d said Claribel, \u201cI forgot that;\u201d Then he showed the Hope of\nthe Katzekopfs a soft bed of moss, and bade the weary child rest\nhimself.\n\nPrince Eigenwillig\u2014king\u2019s son as he was\u2014had never eaten so delicious a\nmeal as those few bunches of grapes, earned with the sweat of his brow,\nand never had he slept so sound between sheets of the finest cambric, as\nnow on that mossy couch.\n\nAnd better still, when he woke, he woke with a light heart\u2014light, though\nhe was far from home, and forced to work for his bread, as the Fairy\u2019s\napprentice. From the moment in which he made up his mind to take his\ntrial cheerfully, and do what he was bidden, the whole prospect seemed\nto brighten before him.\n\nAnd the Fairies, who, at first, appeared cross, and spiteful, and\ncapricious towards him, by degrees softened in their manner. The feeling\nthat he was at every body\u2019s call, and that he had more masters to please\nthan he could count, was certainly very disheartening at the outset; but\nin a few days he got reconciled to it. And then, moreover, he had the\nsatisfaction of finding that the kind of labour to which he was put was\nchanged. At first, and while the Fairies thought him disposed to be\nobstinate and self-willed, and inclined to rebel, they set him to all\nthe dirtiest and hardest tasks they could think of; but, as they\nobserved him growing more willing and good-humoured, they made more of a\ncompanion of him than a servant, and at length he became such a\nfavourite, that he was allowed to join in their sports.\n\nHitherto he had seen nothing of the Lady Abracadabra; but when the\nPrince had thus gained the regard of her countrymen, she suddenly\nappeared among them, and inquired how their apprentice had conducted\nhimself.\n\nAll were open mouthed in his praise. Even the beadle with the bullrush,\nhad a word to say in his favour, and Claribel declared that he thought\nthe Lady Abracadabra\u2019s object was accomplished, and her godchild might\nbe allowed to revisit his family.\n\nBut the Lady Abracadabra, though smiling kindly on him, shook her head.\n\u201cAlas,\u201d said she, \u201cyou know not how much he has to unlearn every way,\nand how great are the trials to which he would still be exposed at home.\nBut so far, so good. He has learned to obey orders. We must now see\nwhether he has learned to govern _himself_.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER VI.\n                        Experiments on the Heir.\n\n\n       _Portia._\u2014\u2014\u201cNow make your choice.\n\n       _Morocco._ \u201cThe first of gold, who this inscription bears:\n       \u2018Who chuseth me, shall gain what many men desire.\u2019\n       The second silver, which this promise carries:\n       \u2018Who chuseth me, shall get as much as he deserves.\u2019\n       This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt:\n       \u2018Who chuseth me, must give and hazard all he hath.\u2019\n       How shall I know if I do chuse the right?\u201d\n\n                                               _Shakespeare._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER VI.\n\n\nThe Hope of the Katzekopfs was alone once more: the Lady Abracadabra had\nbrought her countrymen another apprentice, in his place, and Prince\nEigenwillig\u2019s term of servitude was ended. But, as has been already\nintimated, this measure was only the prelude to a further trial; for his\nFairy-sponsor had no intention of allowing him to quit Fairy-land, till\nhis mind had been so far disciplined as to give every reasonable hope\nthat in spite of the temptations to which he was likely to be exposed at\nhome, he would turn out a good man and a good king.\n\nThe Prince was once more alone; for the Lady Abracadabra had suddenly\ntransported him to a district in Fairy-land, which he had not hitherto\nseen; but instead of being, as on a former occasion, an ill-tempered,\nunhappy, weary, hungry boy, he was there with a light heart, expecting\ncompanions whom his godmother promised should meet him, and anticipating\nno small pleasure, from being allowed to roam at will through the realm\nof the Fairies.\n\nThe part of the country in which he found himself was even more\nbeautiful than that with which he had been made acquainted at first. The\nflowers were of a more dazzling brilliancy, and more perfect fragrance.\nThe fruits upon the trees were even more tempting in their appearance.\nThe waters sparkled like diamonds, and the mingled forms of hill and\nvalley arranged themselves into the most exquisite landscape imaginable.\n\nWhile the Prince stood gazing on the scene, listening to the enchanting\nsongs of the birds, and watching the flight of butterflies, each more\ndelicate in form and colouring than the other, he observed a figure\napproaching him out of a neighbouring thicket. The form was that of an\naged man, with white hair, and white beard, and a long grey robe\nreaching down to his feet. He was very pale, and very thin, and his\nshoulders were rather bent. He was not different in height and size,\nfrom the generality of the inhabitants of Fairy-land; and so the Prince\nsupposed, at first sight, that, in spite of the stranger\u2019s unusual\ndress, he was one of the ordinary inhabitants of that country. And so,\nperhaps, he might have been. But there was a gravity in his manner, and\ncalm severity in his eye, which was unlike other Fairies, whose\ncountenances have generally a merry, sly, or mischievous expression.\n\nThe Prince continued to gaze on him, and as he gazed, their eyes met.\nImmediately, and without being able to account for the feeling, the boy\nfelt himself fascinated. The old man\u2019s expression was stern and even\nrepulsive. Under ordinary circumstances, the Prince would have said to\nhimself, \u201cWhat an odd, disagreeable face is that!\u201d would have turned\naway from it, and never thought of it again. But now the face rivetted\nhim, and as he looked on it, its severity seemed to relax, and the mouth\nhad something of inexpressible sweetness in it.\n\n\u201cGood-morrow to you, my Prince,\u201d said the old man, \u201cI have been long\nlooking for you, and am glad to have found you at last.\u201d\n\nThere was nothing peculiarly attractive in his voice, which, indeed, to\nEigenwillig\u2019s ears, sounded rather harsh and grating; but the old man\u2019s\nmanner was very kind and winning, though his words surprised the Prince\nnot a little.\n\n\u201cI thank you, good father,\u201d said he; \u201cbut how is it possible that you\nshould have been long looking for me? Are you a friend of King\nKatzekopf, or of Queen Ninnilinda?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, my son. I knew them once for a short time; but they have long since\nforgotten my very existence.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen who are you, aged man?\u201d\n\n\u201cNever mind who I am. I am not wont to tell my name at first. I have\nfound that it raises a prejudice against me. But you may be satisfied of\nmy good-will towards you, since it was by the Lady Abracadabra\u2019s\ndirection that I came to seek you here. I am ready to be your companion,\nif you are willing to accept my services.\u201d\n\n\u201cI fear I should weary you out in a few hours,\u201d replied the Prince, \u201cyou\nforget that I have the active limbs of youth, and that you, my father,\nguide your steps with a staff.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d answered the old man, \u201cthe fear is on the other side. I am more\nlike to weary you, than you to weary me.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you ever travelled with any as young as I am?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have set out upon pilgrimage with multitudes such as you are,\u201d\nanswered the stranger with a sigh, \u201cand some,\u201d he added, \u201chave I\naccompanied to their journey\u2019s end. And dearly have they loved me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think I should love you, too, and like you for a companion,\u201d said the\nPrince, \u201cfor though you look severe, and speak gravely, your manner\nbespeaks kind intentions.\u201d\n\n\u201cStay,\u201d said the old man, \u201cperhaps you choose me because no more\nacceptable guide appears at hand. The Lady Abracadabra did not mean to\nrestrict you in your choice. If I mistake not, we have another companion\nhard at hand. Lo you there!\u201d\n\nThe Prince following the direction of the old man\u2019s eyes, turned himself\na little to the left, and there, close by his side, he perceived a tiny\nsprite, scarce a span high, who was eyeing the old man with a most\nmalevolent and insulting expression of countenance.\n\nThe Prince gazed at him in wonder; he had never seen a creature so\nsmall, wearing the human form. \u201cSurely!\u201d he remarked to his aged\ncompanion, \u201cthis must be the most diminutive of elves.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll persons think him so,\u201d replied the old man, \u201cwhen first they see\nhim; indeed, many declare that, except in a strong light, and after a\ngood deal of exertion, they are unable to see him at all. And what is\nvery remarkable, he never appears alike to two persons at the same time.\nFor instance, I will be bold to say that he looks quite different in\nyour eyes and mine at this very moment. I think him a very hideous\nlittle ape.\u201d\n\n\u201cAn ape!\u201d exclaimed the Prince, \u201chow you surprise me! To me he seems to\nhave the features of a good-looking boy.\u201d\n\nThe old man gave a glance of peculiar meaning at the Prince, and\nsmiling, said, \u201cDid you ever see any boy like him?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d answered the Hope of the Katzekopfs.\n\n\u201cThere is nothing remarkable in that,\u201d replied the grey-robed stranger,\nwith the same smile, and quiet tone, \u201csome persons are more quick at\nfinding resemblances than others. What think you of his dress?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cI see nothing to find fault with in that; it is\njust like _my own_.\u201d\n\nThe old man smiled once more.\n\nMeanwhile the little Sprite was fidgetting about uneasily, endeavouring\nto attract attention, as it should seem, and provoked at not finding his\nefforts more successful.\n\n\u201cGood day to you, my fair and gracious Prince,\u201d it said at length, in\ntones which, to the Prince\u2019s ear, sounded the softest and most agreeable\nhe had ever heard; \u201cmay I venture to address your royal highness?\u201d\n\n\u201cWait a moment longer,\u201d said the old man, waving his hand. The Sprite\nmade a movement of impatience, which the Prince, involuntarily and\nunconsciously as it were, repeated. The old man saw it. \u201cBear with me,\nSir, for a single instant. I was only going to say this to you. I am\naware that the merry gentleman yonder is more likely to find favour in\nyour eyes than I am. I can only engage that I will be a safe and\nfaithful friend to you, and that I ever keep the promises which I make.\nIf _he_ makes large professions to you, perhaps you will do well to\nconsider his probable ability to fulfil them. I will now leave you to\nmake your decision. I will not interrupt your colloquy, nor attempt to\nbias your judgment. You have heard me without interruption. You will now\nhave an opportunity of hearing him. It may be that I already anticipate\nyour decision; but of that I say nothing at present. If, hereafter, you\nfind yourself in trouble or difficulty, and have need of me, I shall not\nbe so far off as not to be within call. Clap your hands thrice, and I\nwill speedily be at your side.\u201d\n\nThere were some things in this speech which the Prince did not like, and\nothers which he did not understand. But he felt that, at any rate, the\nold man\u2019s intentions towards him were kind, and, therefore, he was about\nto express his thanks; but, as he turned to do so, the aged stranger had\nvanished.\n\n\u201cEhem!\u201d said the little Sprite, resolved to gain the Prince\u2019s attention\nat last; \u201cdid your royal highness speak? Perhaps you wished that that\nvenerable gentleman should be called back; shall I run after him, and\nendeavour to find him?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, no,\u201d replied the Prince, with a little hesitation, \u201cit is\nunnecessary; but perhaps you can do me the favour of informing me who he\nis?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe was an entire stranger to your royal highness, was he?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d answered the Hope of the Katzekopfs, \u201cI am pretty sure I never\nsaw him before.\u201d\n\n\u201cJust what I apprehended,\u201d observed the Sprite; \u201che is an old fellow of\nthe most insufferable presumption; one who is continually endeavouring\nto obtrude himself into the best society; and if by any chance accident\nhe gets admission therein, he is sure to meddle with matters that don\u2019t\nconcern him, to volunteer advice when nobody wishes for it, and to throw\na restraint and gloom over any company into which he is allowed to\nenter.\u201d\n\n\u201cHis name?\u201d inquired the Prince.\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d responded his companion, \u201cit has escaped me; but I shall recall it\npresently. Meanwhile, allow me to tender my own allegiance, and to\nassure you that if you should so far condescend as to choose me for the\ncompanion of your leisure, your royal highness\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cI observe that you have given me that designation very frequently,\u201d\nobserved the Prince, \u201cwhat reason have you for supposing it belongs to\nme?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy Prince,\u201d replied the Sprite; \u201chad I never set eyes upon you till\nthis moment, there is that in your form and figure which could not have\nfailed to betray to the most unobservant that you could be sprung from\nnone but the very highest. You bear that in your eye, and on your brow.\nBut, my gracious Prince, though you see me now for the first time, you\nare no stranger to me. I am of a race who walk invisible, and, if I may\nbe allowed to say such a thing without presumption, you have been the\nobject of my tender regards since the very hour of your birth. In fact,\nI may say that I have never been parted from you during your whole\nexistence.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou amaze me,\u201d said Eigenwillig; \u201cexplain, I pray you, how such a thing\ncan have happened without my being conscious of it.\u201d\n\n\u201cI would gladly do so,\u201d replied the Sprite; \u201cbut it is among the\nmysteries which we are forbidden to reveal to mortals.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut may you not tell me who you are? How call they you, and what is\nyour name?\u201d\n\n\u201cSelbst, at your service,\u201d answered the tiny elf.\n\n\u201cAnd why have you sought me here?\u201d asked the Prince.\n\n\u201cBecause our interests are identical, and because the Lady Abracadabra,\nbeing well aware of my anxiety to befriend you, permitted me to offer\nmyself as a companion to you on your travels.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou know this country then?\u201d\n\n\u201cIntimately, my Prince; and I flatter myself that I am sufficiently\nconversant with your tastes to be able to make myself agreeable to you,\nwhich (I say it with all diffidence) is a great deal more than our\nfriend in the gray habiliments undertook for himself. I can fly, while\nhe can only creep. I am ready to join in any merry sport; but he seems\nfit for nothing but a hermitage in a desert. I can watch over you, and\ndefend your interests; he, poor old gentleman, is fit for nothing but a\nscarecrow.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy certainly,\u201d answered the Prince, with a smile, \u201cthere is no denying\nthat externals are in your favour. He looks so austere, and his dress\nand appearance are so unlike those of the rest of the world, that if I\nwas to ask him to accompany me, every body would think I was travelling\nwith an old schoolmaster.\u201d\n\nThe sprite laughed contemptuously at the notion of the Hope of the\nKatzekopfs being so attended. And that laugh settled the matter, for the\nPrince was not accustomed to be laughed at, and the thought of appearing\nridiculous to anybody was what his pride would not brook for a moment.\nSo he said, \u201cWell, Selbst, I fix my choice on you. Will you be my\ncompanion?\u201d\n\n\u201cWith the greatest pleasure imaginable, my gracious Prince, if you will\ngrant me one condition.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what will that be?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, it is by no means an onerous one,\u201d replied Selbst. \u201cMy limbs,\nthough active, are so slight, that I am a bad walker, and soon wearied.\nHave you any objection to taking me on your back. I am as light as a\nfeather.\u201d\n\n\u201cNone in the world,\u201d answered Eigenwillig, \u201cI can stow you away in my\npocket if you like it. Come, jump up.\u201d\n\nThe sprite waited for no second bidding.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re heavier than I expected,\u201d exclaimed the Hope of the Katzekopfs\nin some surprise.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ll soon get used to it,\u201d returned Master Selbst, in the most\nnonchalant tone imaginable. \u201cThank you, I\u2019m quite comfortable now,\u201d he\ncontinued, clasping his arms round the Prince\u2019s neck.\n\n\u201cWhy, Sprite, Sprite, how have you contrived to make your hands reach in\nfront of my neck? A moment ago, and your arms scarce seemed two inches\nlong?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, I\u2019m obliged to stretch them to the utmost; but I\u2019m comfortable\nnow,\u201d replied the Sprite with an air of great self-satisfaction.\n\n\u201cYes, but you are throttling me,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cunclasp your\nfingers.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I can\u2019t do that, my Prince: you\u2019ll soon get used to the pressure;\nand I am sure you would not wish me to be uncomfortable.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet go your hold, I say,\u201d cried the Prince angrily, \u201cyou are\nsuffocating me;\u201d and he endeavoured to unloose the tiny fingers which\nclutched round his throat. The sprite only increased his pressure.\n\n\u201cI shall be strangled,\u201d cried the Prince, gasping for breath.\n\n\u201cOh no, you won\u2019t,\u201d replied Selbst; \u201cdo not struggle, and you will be as\ncomfortable as I am directly. Why should not we both be comfortable? It\nis useless to writhe about in that way, my Prince. See, it forces me to\ndrive my knees into your side.\u201d\n\nAnd suiting the action to the word, the sprite contrived to shoot down\nthose knees which, but a minute before, were so tiny as to be scarce\nperceptible, and to give them a very firm hold on the Prince\u2019s ribs.\n\nNow, if Prince Eigenwillig had only possessed the courage and resolution\nto have continued the struggle, and had remembered to have called the\nold man to his aid, he would have been able to master Selbst, to shake\nhim off, and prevent him from gaining the upper hand. To be sure it was\na grievous oversight to have allowed such a mischievous-looking elf to\nget upon his back at all; but for this there was now no help; the only\nquestion was, how to get rid of him. If the Prince had given himself\ntime for consideration, it might have occurred to him as probable that\nsuch a boastful little creature, as Selbst had already shown himself to\nbe, was not likely to have much resolution about him when fairly\nencountered. Selbst, in fact, was little better than a cowardly bully,\nfull of presumption and bravado, who was in the habit of endeavouring to\ncarry matters with a high hand, by using great swelling words, and who,\nwhen persons yielded to him, tyrannized over them more and more, the\nmore they yielded. But though there was a good deal of obstinacy and\nimportunity in his character, he was very mean and pitiful when he met\nwith a determined opponent.\n\nUnhappily for himself, Prince Eigenwillig was soon cowed. When he found\nthat he could not shake off the sprite at once, his heart failed him,\nand he thought within himself that, having given Selbst such an\nadvantage over him, there was no help for it, and he must e\u2019en make the\nbest bargain he could for himself.\n\n\u201cThere!\u201d cried the Sprite, as, breathless and exhausted, Prince\nEigenwillig desisted from further efforts to free himself, \u201cThere! now I\nhope you will be satisfied. It is no use struggling with me. I am sure\nto carry the day. So, that point being settled, we shall be good friends\ndirectly, and I will see if I cannot make my weight less of an\nincumbrance to you.\u201d\n\nThis was said so pleasantly that the Prince felt disposed to be\nappeased; and being immediately followed up by an effort on Selbst\u2019s\npart to sit more lightly, and by an apparent relaxation of his hold, the\nroyal traveller became much better reconciled to his companion, and\nproceeded cheerfully on his way, Selbst directing him as to the route\nwhich would prove most agreeable, and beguiling the path with narrative\nand song.\n\nThey had not gone far together before the Prince became so well used to\nhis burden, that he would have disliked the thought of being released\nfrom it. He ceased to find it troublesome, and grew so intimate with\nSelbst, that he felt as if he must needs consult him, and take his\nopinion upon every thing, and that there would be no getting on without\nhim.\n\nThis was precisely the object at which the sprite was aiming: he desired\nto make the Prince wholly subservient to him, but he did not choose that\nhis victim should become aware of the extent to which he was enslaved,\nand therefore he contrived to appear to submit, when, in fact, he was\ndictating.\n\nThe Hope of the Katzekopfs was travelling with the object of seeing all\nthat was most remarkable in Fairy-land, and he had been particularly\nanxious to witness the process by which dew-drops were crystallized into\ndiamonds, and also to learn the method by which sunbeams can be\nextracted from cucumbers. Remembering how much his mother was apt to\nsuffer from cold in the winter season, he felt desirous to be able to\ncarry home a recipe which might materially increase her comforts, and\nalso, being aware of her strong penchant for diamonds, he affectionately\nproposed to himself to acquire the secret by which diamonds could be\nmade as plentiful as blackberries.\n\nThe sprite made no sort of opposition to the Prince\u2019s proposal that they\nshould visit these manufactories; but, while secretly resolving that he\nshould see neither, this sly elf affected to give his cordial consent to\nthe scheme. However, what with enlarging on the length of the journey,\nand the difficulties to be encountered, he contrived so effectually,\nthough so skilfully, to work on the Prince, that his royal highness gave\nup the scheme in the full belief that the change of plan originated in\nhimself, and that it was owing to himself only, that the evening found\nthem in the self-same spot from which they had started in the morning.\n\nThroughout the course of his long day\u2019s walk, the Prince had been\ncarrying Selbst on his back, and very much surprised he felt that the\nsprite had never offered to get down, and allow the Prince to rest\nhimself. But no: no such thought ever seemed to enter his mind; he\npointed out the road, complained, now and then, of the roughness of the\nways, and expressed his own great satisfaction at finding himself in\nsuch a comfortable position; but he evidently thought of nobody but\nhimself. If the wallet of provisions was opened, Selbst, while appearing\nanxious that the Prince should take refreshment, contrived to lay his\nown hands on the delicacies which were choicest: if the flask of wine\nwas produced, Selbst drained it all but a few drops. And what was\nstranger still, even the little which the Prince secured seemed of no\nservice to him, it appeared to refresh the sprite, and not himself; he\ncontinued as hungry and thirsty as if neither victuals nor drink had\nentered his mouth. And yet, all the while, Selbst talked so pleasantly,\nand was so amusing, and there was so little appearance of intentional\ngreediness or ill-breeding in his manner, that the Prince did not feel\nthat he had any cause of complaint.\n\nBut as he continued plodding on his way, wondering why it was that his\nfood did him so little good, a circumstance occurred which afforded him\na probable, though certainly a very strange explanation of his\ndifficulty. Happening, while the sun was shining brightly, to catch a\nglimpse of his own shadow on an opposite rock, he perceived that Selbst\nhad increased in bulk to such a degree that, instead of being any longer\na span high, he was now larger than the Prince himself. By some\nmysterious process he was not only absorbing all the nourishment in the\nPrince\u2019s body, but was intercepting, as it were, the supplies on which\nexistence depended.\n\nNo wonder the Hope of the Katzekopfs felt low and sinking.\n\n\u201cWhy, Selbst,\u201d exclaimed he, \u201chow enormously you are increased in size,\nsince you mounted on my shoulders! I shall never be able to carry you.\u201d\n\n\u201cGo on, go on,\u201d answered the sprite. \u201cI am quite comfortable. I dare say\nyou will do very well.\u201d\n\nThe Prince was very much alarmed when he perceived that Selbst was\ngrowing so rapidly, and that all the sustenance which he himself took\nwas turning to his companion\u2019s nutriment. But the excitement and alarm\npassed off almost immediately; somehow or other he got reconciled to the\nstate of things, and grew quite apathetical about it. If he felt any\nincrease of weight on his shoulders, he speedily became indifferent to\nit, and he even ceased to wonder that his food seemed to do him no good.\n\nThus they went on roaming about, with no particular object in view;\nSelbst directing the Prince to go in this direction or that, as the\nfancy happened to take him, and the Prince obeying implicitly, in a sort\nof listless, unresisting manner.\n\n\u201cGo to yonder fountain,\u201d said the sprite, after they had journeyed some\nhours longer. \u201cYour body is so warm it quite heats and fatigues me. Why\ndon\u2019t you keep yourself cool?\u201d\n\n\u201cHow can I,\u201d asked the Prince, \u201cunder such a broiling sun, and with you\non my back? I wish you would get down for a little while.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo indeed,\u201d answered the sprite, \u201cI shall do nothing of the kind. I am\nquite comfortable, all except the heat, and I shall be cooler when you\nhave stood a little while in the fountain.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, Selbst, surely you forget how hot _I_ am: to stand in a fountain\nwould kill me.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what does that matter to me, so long as I can keep myself\ncomfortable? I am master now, and intend to remain so.\u201d\n\n\u201cMaster!\u201d exclaimed Prince Eigenwillig, his natural disposition breaking\nout for a moment, \u201cTyrant, you mean.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, tyrant, if you like,\u201d said the sprite. \u201cCall me what you please,\nI care not; only do what I tell you. Go into the fountain.\u201d\n\nThe Prince groaned, but obeyed mechanically, for resistance seemed to be\nuseless; but when he approached the water\u2019s edge, he saw a sight\nreflected on its glassy surface which made him start back. Selbst had\nbecome double the size which he was when the Prince had seen his shadow\non the rock.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter? why don\u2019t you go in?\u201d cried the sprite impatiently.\n\nFear, and the strong impulse of self-preservation now aided the unhappy\nvictim, and he replied, \u201cLook at your own reflection in the water. How\ncan you expect me who am but half your size, to carry you in there? Your\nweight is enough to drown me.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo as you are bid, slave!\u201d cried the sprite angrily, giving the boy a\nviolent kick in the side. Hitherto he had contrived to keep his limbs\nout of the Prince\u2019s sight, but Eigenwillig had now the opportunity of\nobserving that his tormentor\u2019s foot was the size of that of a full-grown\nman.\n\n\u201cYou may drag me into the water if you will: you are stronger than I am,\nand I can\u2019t help myself, but go, of my own free will, I won\u2019t.\u201d\n\nThe Prince spoke these words in a tone of resolute determination, and\nthe sprite seemed to hesitate for a moment what he would do; but his\nmind was soon made up, for he gave the boy another kick, and much more\nsevere than the first. It quite took the Prince\u2019s breath away, and he\nwas very near falling.\n\n\u201cIf you kick me in that manner,\u201d said he, \u201cyou will break my ribs, and\nthen I shall be unable to carry you at all.\u201d\n\n\u201cGo into the water, slave, or it will be the worse for you!\u201d rejoined\nSelbst, and tried to force him forward. The Prince threw his arms round\na young tree, and clung to it with all his strength.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re as obstinate as a pig,\u201d exclaimed the sprite, \u201cand I have a\ngreat mind to throw you into the water, and hold you there till you are\ndrowned,\u2014only I don\u2019t choose to make myself hotter than I am already.\u201d\n\nThus he yielded the point, and proved himself a mere blustering bully.\n\nAs for the Prince, he was so amazed and confounded at so unexpected a\nchange, that he was unable to avail himself of his own victory. Had he\nbeen sufficiently self-possessed, he would have reflected that now was\nthe time to follow up his advantage, and never to rest till he had\nshaken off his troublesome companion. But the boy had been so cowed and\nalarmed at the sight of the prodigious size of his adversary, that he\nfelt it would be hopeless to prolong the struggle,\u2014that he must be\nworsted,\u2014and so he hesitated and lost heart, at the very moment when\nSelbst was beginning to fear that his tyranny was at an end.\n\nHe, the crafty elf! had no lack of self-possession; and so, though\nfoiled in his object, he contrived to make it seem as if his yielding\nwas rather the result of good-nature than necessity, whereby he hoped\nthat, before long, he should reduce the unfortunate Prince to his former\ncondition of listless docility.\n\nBut if young Eigenwillig had not yet acquired sufficient resolution to\nenter on a further struggle with his oppressor, he was no longer\ninclined to look on him in the light of an agreeable companion. He had\nnow learned the falseness and hollowness of his professions; he began to\nsee through his artifices; he was no longer unconscious of his unwieldy\nsize; he had contrived to catch a glimpse of his features, and to see\nthat they were hideous and ape-like, and to perceive that his very\nbreath was loathsome and pestilential.\n\nAnd this was a great point gained, though much more remained behind to\nbe accomplished. It set the Prince upon reflecting on the Lady\nAbracadabra\u2019s last words to him, and on the ill-considered haste of his\nrecent decision.\n\nBut why did he not summon to his aid the venerable stranger who had\nfirst appeared to him, and who had promised to be close at hand to help\nhim?\n\nIt is not difficult to find an answer to this inquiry. Greatly as Prince\nEigenwillig had been improved by his recent trials, he had a good deal\nof false pride still hanging about him, which disinclined him to own\nhimself in the wrong; and then, though the old man had been so kind to\nhim, it is sometimes difficult to get over first impressions, and the\nstern, austere countenance, and grave manners of that venerable person,\nrendered him unattractive. The Prince was afraid of him, and he felt as\nif he could not make a friend of any one of whom he stood in awe. Still\nhe had grateful feelings towards the grey-robed stranger, and desired to\nhave an opportunity of seeing more of him.\n\nMoreover, he had a secret conviction that the old man was the only\nperson who could protect him against the tyranny of Selbst, and he\ndetermined upon any fresh act of tyranny, to call the old man to his\naid.\n\nIt was not long before his resolution was put to the test.\n\nThough Selbst, like a cowardly bully, had given way when he found he was\nmanfully resisted, and though, like a cunning knave, he had endeavoured\nto make his defeat appear like a voluntary concession, still he was too\nfond of having his own way, and of domineering upon all occasions, to go\non for long without further exasperating his victim against him.\n\nWhen he yielded the point upon the fountain, he commanded the Prince to\ncarry him to the top of a hill at some distance; the air, he said, would\nbe less hot and oppressive there than in the valley. This was his\nnominal reason; his real object was to punish the Prince, by wearing him\nout with fatigue and exhaustion.\n\nThe Prince, bending under his burden, accordingly set forth towards the\nhill; but he had now been on foot many hours, and every step he took,\nSelbst seemed to grow heavier and heavier; however, he contrived, though\nvery weary and breathless, to reach the bottom of the hill; but there he\nstopped.\n\n\u201cPrithee, Selbst,\u201d said he, \u201clet us rest awhile.\u201d\n\n\u201cRest forsooth!\u201d cried the sprite in a tone of surprise, \u201cwhat should we\nrest for? I am quite comfortable. I am not at all tired.\u201d\n\n\u201cLikely enough!\u201d replied the Prince, \u201cfor you have not walked a step all\nday. But I, who have had to carry you, am quite tired out; so rest I\nmust.\u201d\n\n\u201cGet to the top of the hill first, then,\u201d answered Selbst. The Prince,\ndispirited and unwilling to begin a fresh contest, made an effort to\nascend the precipitous bank; but he had not gone many yards before he\nstumbled and fell. Nor was it a simple fall; for he continued rolling\nover the sharp stones, Selbst and all, till he reached the bottom of the\nhill.\n\nHe was not much hurt himself; but Selbst was a good deal scratched and\nbruised. This misfortune, however, as might be expected, threw the\nsprite into a great rage. He abused the Prince, called him all manner of\nevil names, declared that he had fallen on purpose, and ended by\nbestowing on him a shower of blows.\n\n\u201cGet up again, you idle hound,\u201d cried he, \u201cand mount the hill directly.\nI\u2019ll soon teach you who is master.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed I would get up if I could,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cbut you know,\nSelbst, how weary I am.\u201d\n\n\u201cGet up, or I\u2019ll strangle you,\u201d screamed the malicious sprite,\ntightening his hold round the Prince\u2019s neck.\n\nThe poor boy made an effort to get up, but fell backwards. Harder and\nharder, tighter and tighter, grew the grasp upon his throat. His\neyeballs seemed ready to start from his head; his ears were tingling and\nhis veins swelling through the impeded circulation of the blood. He\nstruggled, but his struggles were powerless; he endeavoured to shriek\nfor help; but a gasping, gurgling sound was all that proceeded from his\nlips. In another minute he would have been strangled. Hitherto his hands\nhad been employed in vain endeavours to wrest the sprite\u2019s fingers from\nhis throat; on a sudden, however, he looses them, and leaving his\nadversary to do his worst, claps his hands once\u2014twice.\n\nSelbst sees his object, and looses his hold round the boy\u2019s neck, in\norder to secure his hands, and prevent his making the signal a third\ntime.\n\nThe relaxing of the monster\u2019s grasp enables Prince Eigenwillig to draw\nhis breath, and with his returning breath, returns, in some measure at\nleast, his strength. It is a struggle for life or death; long it\ncontinues. Longer far than could have been expected from the exhausted\npowers of the boy. But in his struggles lay the secret of his strength.\nThe more he struggled, the stronger he became, and the weaker waxed his\nadversary, and not only weaker, but smaller. He shrank and shrank at\neach fresh effort of the Prince to master him, till from the size of a\nfull-grown man, he became no bigger than a dwarf.\n\nWho could fail to be encouraged to persevere in such a contest? Each\neffort of the Prince became more vigorous and effectual, till, at\nlength, after a violent exertion, he contrived to liberate both hands,\nand, for the third time, made the required signal. The sprite no sooner\nheard the sound, than he howled like a maniac, and gnashed his teeth\nwith disappointed rage.\n\nThe Prince had scarcely clapped his hands for the third time, when there\nseemed a change in the appearance of the air before him, as when a\nshadow is cast: and then the shadow assumed the form and consistency, as\nit were, of a thin vapour; and the vapour thickened and thickened till\nit became a dense grey cloud; and the outline of the cloud grew sharper\nand more defined, till the form of the old man with his white hairs and\nflowing beard, and long sombre robes, were developed, and Prince\nEigenwillig saw before him the companion he had rejected, and whose aid\nhad now come so opportunely.\n\n\u201cWell, my son,\u201d said the old man, \u201cyou are now able to judge who was\nyour truest friend; he who made few promises, and kept them; or he, who\nafter multiplied professions of regard, has made you first his slave,\nand who then nearly destroyed you.\u201d\n\nNo sooner had the old man begun to speak, than Selbst shuddered from\nhead to foot, and ceased to struggle with the Prince, who now, breathing\nfreely once more, looked up timidly at the old man, expecting to see\nnothing but severity depicted on his countenance. How was he surprised!\nGravity, indeed, there was in the old man\u2019s face and manner; but all\nsternness had passed from his eyes, and a smile of the utmost gentleness\nand benignity lit up his features.\n\n\u201cOh, my kind friend and protector!\u201d exclaimed the Prince, \u201chow little\nhave I deserved such a timely interference from you,\u2014_you_ whom I\ntreated so unthankfully and ungraciously!\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you _be_ grateful, as you intimate you are,\u201d replied the old man,\n\u201cgive me now the proof of it by following my advice.\u201d\n\n\u201cAdvise me, father,\u201d said the boy, \u201cand you shall judge whether or no I\nbe grateful.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy son, you know not yet to what you may be pledging yourself. My terms\nare hard,\u2014my conditions difficult to be fulfilled.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will not shrink from the hardest,\u201d exclaimed the Prince with fervour,\n\u201cif you will but free me from this clinging reptile. Command him to\nloose his hold.\u201d\n\n\u201cHa! ha!\u201d cried the sprite in a mocking, gibing tone, \u201cthere go two\nwords to that bargain. Old greybeard may command if he pleases, and as\nlong as he pleases, but he cannot force me to obey.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is even so, my son,\u201d observed the old man, \u201cI cannot compel him;\nnay, I can be of no service at all, without your hearty cooperation.\nAnd, even then, the most I can do for you will be to show you how to\ntreat him; so that, for his own sake, he will be glad to quit you.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, good Father, prithee teach me how to gain the mastery over him!\u201d\n\n\u201cSTARVE him, and CONTRADICT him continually,\u201d said the old man; \u201ckeep\nhim from every kind of food\u2014from all that can, in any way, nourish him.\nAnd so soon as ever you ascertain what his wishes are\u2014be the subject\nwhat it may\u2014make it your rule to do the reverse. Follow this plan, and\nhe will soon be your slave; you will be no longer his. My long\nexperience enables me to pledge myself to this.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen others, father, besides myself, have been exposed to his malignant\ninfluence; and you have befriended others as well as me!\u201d\n\n\u201cMy son, none ever mastered that odious sprite, but he received\nassistance from me. It is only by the aid of DISCIPLINE that any one can\nhope to conquer SELF!\u201d\n\nThen the Prince knew the old man\u2019s name, and he ceased to wonder why he\nhad been so unwilling, on a former occasion, to make it known; for it\nhas a stern, repulsive sound in it, which is sure to disgust the\nthoughtless and the pleasure-seeking.\n\n\u201cFather,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cif thy name be Discipline, then will I be\nthy Disciple. Had I known thee sooner, from what faults and errors\nshould I have been saved! If thou hadst but taken a part in the\neducation of my earliest years, how different should I now be from what,\nalas! I am.\u201d\n\n\u201cPrince,\u201d replied his venerable friend, \u201cheretofore you have been\ngreatly to be pitied, for you have deserved, as well as possessed, the\nname of Self-willed. But sharp trials have brought you to your senses,\nand I trust that you have already laid the foundations of a character in\nwhich shall be united all the best qualities of your race. But you have\nstill an arduous task before you, and your first and most pressing duty\nis, to effect the entire subjugation of that hateful sprite whom I still\nsee clinging to you.\u201d\n\n\u201cFather,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cwill you now be my companion, and will you\nadvise and help me to master Selbst!\u201d\n\n\u201cThat will I gladly, my child,\u201d answered Discipline, and forthwith they\nwended on their way.\n\nSteep, and rugged, and narrow was the route: now among tangled thickets\nof thorns and briers, now over parched and arid sands, now in a waste\nand howling wilderness. Often, when the Prince was most hungry and\nthirsty, did Discipline enjoin him to go without food or drink, or, just\nas he was about to partake of them, to give them to some wayfarer on the\nroad. Often, when most weary, was he advised to pass the night in\nwatching. Often, when he desired to go one way, was he recommended to\npursue another.\n\nNow all this was done in order to master Selbst, and make him glad to\nrelax his hold, and quit a companion who would give him nothing to eat,\nand who led him through thorns and briers for the purpose of wounding\nand hurting him.\n\nAnd all this Prince Eigenwillig continued to do day after day, and still\nhe found the wisdom of those oft repeated sayings of his aged companion:\n\u201c=Learn to live hardly=; =Deny yourself in things lawful=; =Love not\ncomforts=; =Think of others first=, =and of yourself last=.\u201d And thus,\nwhen they drew near to their journey\u2019s end, and the palace of the Lady\nAbracadabra was in sight, the sprite Selbst, who had exercised such\ntyranny over the little boy, was no longer to be seen. For some\ntime,\u2014much longer than the sanguine Prince had expected,\u2014for it was when\nDiscipline had been for some time his companion, he continued to feel\ninconvenience from the presence of the malicious elf. But in due time,\n_starving_ and _contradiction_ did their promised work. The evil\ncreature dwindled, and withered, and shrank, till at length, from sheer\nweakness and exhaustion, he relaxed his hold round the Prince\u2019s throat,\nand fell to the ground.\n\nThe Prince himself was not aware of the precise moment when this event\ntook place, and Discipline did not think good to make him acquainted\nwith it immediately. And even when he made the circumstance known, he\naccompanied it with a word of caution.\n\n\u201cPrince,\u201d said he, \u201cyou are released from the grasp of your adversary.\nHe has fallen to the ground, mastered by your perseverance and\nresolution. But I entreat you bear this in mind, that, though invisible,\nhe still runs at your side; and if ever you give him opportunity or\nencouragement, he will yet again be your master!\u201d\n\nThey had now reached the palace of the Lady Abracadabra, and as they\nstood before its portals, the Fairy godmother came out to receive them.\nOnce more she was radiant with smiles; the flame-coloured petticoat had\nfaded into the palest primrose, and instead of seeming haggard and\nwrinkled, her complexion had that dazzling lustre which is peculiar to\nFairy-land. She threw her arms round her godson and embraced him with\ntenderness.\n\n\u201cI have been a secret witness,\u201d she said, \u201cof all your trials and\nstruggles. I have watched your endeavours to rid yourself of your\nselfish, and self-willed habits, and being satisfied of the pains you\nhave taken, and are taking with yourself, I am not afraid to restore you\nto your family. The Court of King Katzekopf is not a wholesome\natmosphere for you; but every place has its trials, and I am satisfied\nthat you will profit by your past experience.\u201d\n\n\u201cLady,\u201d replied the Prince, \u201cthe time has been that I have feared you,\nand even hated you; but I now know how much I owe to you. You have\ntaught me that the secret of happiness is in myself, and that I am most\nhappy when I am showing most consideration to others. I hope, dear Lady,\nthat now you are about to send me home, you will not cease to befriend\nme, and that this venerable man may accompany me to the upper world.\u201d\n\n\u201cFollow the rules he has given you here, and you will not need his\nbodily presence. They that dwell in kings\u2019 houses, and the rich, and the\nindolent, and the lovers of comforts, bear a deadly hatred to him, and\ntherefore he is not wont to expose himself to their insults. You,\nhowever, he has adopted as one of his children, and so long as you do\nnot forget him, he will not forget you. For myself, you may count on my\nprotection. If I loved you because I saw the elements of good in you,\nwhen I brought you into this country seven years ago, how much more do I\nlove you now, when I have witnessed your endeavours to become master of\nyourself.\u201d\n\n\u201c_Seven years ago!_\u201d These were almost the only words in the sentence\nwhich the Prince heard. Why, the time he had spent in Fairy-land seemed\nhardly as many days. But so it was; and when he came to reflect, he\nremembered to have heard, over and over again, that nobody who enters\nFairy-land is allowed to return under seven years.\n\nSo it was; and when he arrived at his father\u2019s court (where he found\nhimself already expected; for, little as Queen Ninnilinda deserved it,\nthe Lady Abracadabra had never kept her in ignorance about her son\u2019s\nplace of abode, and general well-doing,)\u2014when he arrived at his father\u2019s\ncourt, he saw changes which soon satisfied him that a long period had\nelapsed since he had quitted it. King Katzekopf had become quite\nchildish, and Queen Ninnilinda was so occupied with her lap-dogs and\nparrots, that, though very glad to see her son, she was not likely to\nspoil him again. The Baroness Yellowlily was dead, and the Ladies\nRigida, Frigida, and Brigida had quitted the court for scenes more\ncongenial to their taste.\n\nBut the greatest surprise of all to Prince Eigenwillig, was to hear\nhimself spoken to as if he were almost a young man. It seemed but the\nother day, since he was a little naughty child, and now grave\ncounsellors were discussing the propriety of appointing him Regent of\nthe kingdom, and easing poor old King Katzekopf\u2019s shoulders from the\nburden and cares of state.\n\nPrince Eigenwillig had, however, too much distrust of himself, and felt\nthe responsibilities of the position too deeply to desire such a charge;\nbut when he saw that the welfare of the nation in a great measure\ndepended on it, and found that the Lady Abracadabra heartily approved of\nit, he consented to become Regent.\n\nAnd his first act, when he assumed the office, was to write an\naffectionate letter to Witikind, intreating him to forgive him his past\nmisconduct, and come and give him his assistance in ruling the country.\n\nCount Rudolf had been dead some years, and Witikind was in possession of\nhis father\u2019s estates, and he found such abundant scope for the best\nenergies of his mind in contributing to the welfare of his neighbours\nand vassals, that he could not (especially after his past experience,)\nmake up his mind to quit his beloved Taubennest for a court. So he\ndeclined the Prince\u2019s offer of place and power; but was, through life,\nhis sound adviser and faithful friend.\n\nAs for the Prince, though he could not shake off the _name_ of\nEigenwillig, he entirely ceased to be the _thing_: in a few years he\nbecame king in his father\u2019s place; reigned long and happily; ruled his\nsubjects well; his family better still; and himself best of all: so that\nhis name was cherished in his native land long after his bones were\nmouldering in the grave; and it is mentioned in the Chronicles of\nCarivaldus of Cologne, that he whose real name was Eigenwillig, and who\nfor some years of his life was called the Hope of the Katzekopfs, is now\nonly remembered by that name which the universal consent of his\ncountrymen assigned him while still living, and that his designation in\nthe annals of Christendom is that of King Katzekopf _the GOOD_.\n\n                        _And so my Story ends._\n\n[Illustration: L\u2019Envoy.]\n\n                  \u201cIf we shadows have offended,\n                  Think but this, (and all is mended,)\n                  Think you have but slumber\u2019d here,\n                  While these visions did appear.\n                  And this weak and idle theme,\n                  No more yielding but a dream;\n                  Gentles, do not reprehend,\n                  If you pardon, we will mend.\u201d\n\n\n                J. MASTERS, PRINTER, ALDERSGATE STREET.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                         _By the same Author._\n\n  _In square 16mo., with bordered pages, and Frontispiece from\n    Overbeck._\n\n  THE CHRISTIAN\u2019S DAY, Price 3s. 6d.\n\n                                CONTENTS.\n\n CHAPTER I. On the Necessity of a Prescribed Rule of Daily Life.\n\n        II. Of Walking in the Fear of God all the Day long.\n\n       III. The Christian\u2019s Daily Rule.\n\n        IV. The Christian\u2019s Daily Rule continued.\n\n         V. The Christian\u2019s Rule with respect to the Vigils and Fasts of\n              the Church.\n\n        VI. The Christian\u2019s Rule with respect to the Festivals of the\n              Church.\n\n       VII. The Christian Learning to Number his Days.\n\n  THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. Practical Sermons on the Burial Service,\n    12mo. cloth, 6s. 6d.\n\n  SERMONS ON DUTIES OF DAILY LIFE. 12mo. 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It will be\n    the aim of the present Editor to put forth such Works only as\n    shall tend to develope with simplicity and integrity the youthful\n    English Churchman\u2019s character; and he is happy in being able to\n    state that he has succeeded in retaining the valuable assistance\n    of several of the former Contributors (Including the late\n    respected Editor), and also in securing the aid of others in all\n    respects qualified for such an undertaking.\n\n  I. TALES of the VILLAGE CHILDREN. By the Rev. F. E. PAGET. First\n    Series, Including \u201cThe Singers,\u201d \u201cThe Wake,\u201d \u201cThe Bonfire,\u201d\n    \u201cBeating the Bounds,\u201d \u201cHallowmas Eve,\u201d and \u201cA Sunday Walk and a\n    Sunday Talk.\u201d 2nd Edition. 18mo., with numerous cuts, neatly bound\n    in cloth, 2s. 6d.\n\n  \u2042 For School Rewards, &c., the Tales may be had in a packet, sorted,\n    price 2s., or 4d. each.\n\n  II. THE HOPE of the KATZEKOPFS. A Fairy Tale. Illustrated by Scott.\n    Cloth, 2s. 6d. Second Edition. With a Preface by the Author, the\n    Rev. F. E. PAGET.\n\n  III. HENRI de CLERMONT; or, the Royalists of La Vend\u00e9e. A Tale of\n    the French Revolution. By the Rev. WILLIAM GRESLEY. With cuts,\n    cloth, 2s.\n\n  IV. POPULAR TALES from the German, including Spindler\u2019s S.\n    SYLVESTER\u2019S NIGHT; HAUFF\u2019S COLD HEART, &c. With cuts, from\n    Franklin. Cloth, 1s. 6d.\n\n  V. TALES of the VILLAGE CHILDREN. By the Rev. F. E. PAGET. Second\n    Series. New Edition. With cuts, cloth, 2s. 6d.\n\n  VI. THE TRIUMPHS of the CROSS. Tales and Sketches of Christian\n    Heroism. By the Rev. J. M. NEALE. 2nd. Edition. Cloth, price 2s.\n\n  VII. EARLY FRIENDSHIP; or, the Two Catechumens. Cloth, price 1s. 6d.\n\n  VIII. THE SWEDISH BROTHERS. Cuts, price 1s. 6d. cloth.\n\n  IX. THE CHARCOAL BURNERS. Cloth, price 1s. 6d.\n\n  X. LUKE SHARP. A Tale illustrative of the effect of Knowledge\n    without Religion. By the Rev. F. E. PAGET. Price 2s. 6d.\n\n  XI. A HISTORY OF ENGLAND, from the Invasion of the Romans, to the\n    Accession of Queen Victoria. _A New Edition, Revised_. Price 2s.\n    6d.\n\n    \u201cWe can conscientiously recommend this nice little book, and we\n    trust that it is the first step towards the banishment from\n    nursery and school-room of those odious compilations that at\n    present disgrace the name of \u2018Histories for the Young,\u2019 and which\n    are fraught with eminent danger to the moral rectitude of those\n    who read them.\u201d\u2014_Ecclesiastic_, Feb. 1846.\n\n  XII. LAYS OF FAITH AND LOYALTY. By the Ven. Archdeacon CHURTON,\n    M.A., Rector of Crayke. Price 2s.\n\n  XIII. TRIUMPHS OF THE CROSS. Part II. CHRISTIAN ENDURANCE. By the\n    Rev. J. M. NEALE, M.A., price 2s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cMr. Neale has favoured us with a second part of CHRISTIAN\n    HEROISM, and a charming little volume it is.... We do think that\n    the service done to the cause of truth by a careful and judicious\n    selection and publication of such stories as the latter ones,\n    especially, of this series is very considerable.\u201d\u2014_Ecclesiastic_,\n    June, 1846.\n\n  XIV. A SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY. Carefully compiled; including the Latest\n    Discoveries, and a Chapter on Ecclesiastical Geography. By the\n    Rev. H. HOPWOOD, M.A. With a Map coloured to show the Christian,\n    Heathen, and Mahometan Countries, English Possessions, &c. Price\n    2s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cWe are indebted to Mr. Hopwood for an \u2018Introduction to the study\n    of Modern Geography,\u2019 which appears to us far superior to any\n    manual of the kind yet in existence.\u201d\u2014Ecclesiastic, Sept. 1846.\n\n  XV. COLTON GREEN. A Tale of the Black Country. By the Rev. WILLIAM\n    GRESLEY. Price 2s. 6d.\n\n  XVI. A HISTORY OF PORTUGAL from its erection into a separate kingdom\n    to the year 1836. Price 2s. 6d.\n\n  XVII. POYNINGS. A Tale of the Revolution.\n\n          The following are in preparation, and nearly ready:\n\n  A LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. By the Editor.\n  A HISTORY OF SPAIN. By the Rev. BENNETT G. JOHNS, S. Mark\u2019s College,\n    Chelsea.\n  A HISTORY OF FRANCE. By the Rev. JOSEPH HASKOLL, B.A.\n  A HISTORY OF GERMANY. By the Rev. A. J. HOWELL, M.A.\n  A HISTORY OF HOLLAND. By the E. H. LANDON, M.A.\n  A HISTORY OF GREECE. By the Rev. J. M. NEALE, M.A.\n  A HISTORY OF ROME. By the Rev. SAMUEL FOX, M.A., F.S.A.\n  STORIES FROM HEATHEN MYTHOLOGY, for the Use of Christian Children.\n  THE MANGER OF THE HOLY NIGHT, with other Tales. From the German of\n    Guido Gorres. By C. E. H., Morwenstow.\n\n                     LONDON: J. MASTERS. J. BURNS.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                          TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES\n\n\n 1. Changed all instances of 'Shakspere' to 'Shakespeare'. There was\n      originally one 'Shakespeare' in the book.\n 2. Silently corrected typographical errors.\n 3. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.\n 4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.\n 5. Enclosed bold font in =equals=.","title":"The Hope of the Katzekopfs; or, The Sorrows of Selfishness. A Fairy Tale.","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":35395}