"Subjunctive mood- He was a great grammarian!
Chapter IV
How Prince Prigio Was Deserted by
Evesybody Meanwhile Prince Prigio had to suffer many unpleasant things.
Though he was the crown prince (and though his arguments were unanswerable) everybody shunned him for a coward.
The Queen, who did not believe in Firedrakes, alone took his side. He was not only avoided by all, but he had most disagreeable scenes with his own cousins. Lady Molinda and Lady Kathleena. In the garden Lady Molinda met him walking alone, and did not bow to him.
"Dear Molly," said the Prince, who liked her, "how have I been so unfortunate as to offend you?"
"My name. sir, is Lady Molinda." she said very proudly;
"and you have sent your own brother to his grave!"
"Oh, excuse me." said the Prince, "1 am certain he has merely gone off on his travels. He'll come back when he is tired: there are no Firedrakes; a French writer says they are purement fabuleux. purely fabulous, you know."
"Prince Alphonso has gone on his travels, and will come back when he is tired! And was he then-tired-of me?" cried poor Molinda, bursting into tears, and forgetting her dignity.
"Oh! I beg your pardon, I never noticed; I'm sure I'm very sorry," cried the Prince, who, never having been in love himself, never thought of other people. And he tried to take Molinda's hand. but she snatched it from him and ran away through me garden to the palace, leaving Prince Prigio to feel foolish for once, and ashamed.
As for Lady Kathleena, she swept past him like a queen, without a word- So the Prince, for all his cleverness, was not happy. After several days had gone by the King returned from the solitary place where he had been speaking his mind. He now felt calmer and better, and so at last he came back to the palace. But on seeing Prince Prigio, who was lolling in a hammock, translating Egyptian hieroglyphs into French poetry for his mother, the King broke out afresh, and made use of the most cruel and impolite expressions.
At last he gave orders that all the Court should pack up and move to a distant city; and that Prince Prigio should be left alone in the palace by himself. For he was quite unendurable, the King said, and he could not trust his own temper when he thought of him. And he grew so fierce that even the Queen was afraid of him now.
The poor Queen cried a good deal; Prigio being her favourite son, on account of his acknowledged ability and talent.
But the rest of the courtiers were delighted at leaving Prince Prigio behind. For his part, he, very good-naturedly, showed them the best and shortest road to Falkenstein, the city where they were going; and easily proved that neither the Chief Secretary for Geography nor the General of the Army knew anything about the matter-which, indeed, they did not.
The ungrateful courtiers left Prigio with hoots and yells, for they disliked him so much that they forgot he would be king one day. He therefore reminded them of this little fact in future history, which made them feel uncomfortable enough, and then lay down in his hammock and went asleep.
When he wakened the air was cold and the day was beginning to grow dark. Prince Prigio thought he would go down and dine at a tavern in the town, for no servants had been left with him. But what was his annoyance when he found that his boots, his sword, his cap, his cloak-all his clothes, in fact, except those he wore-had been taken away by the courtiers, merely to spite him! His wardrobe had been ransacked, and everything that had not been carried off had been cut up, burned, and destroyed. Never was there such a spectacle of wicked mischief. It was as if hay had been made of everything he possessed. What was worse, he had not a penny in his pocket to buy new things; and his father had stopped his allowance of Ј50,000 a month.
Can you imagine anything more cruel and unjust than this conduct? For it was not the Prince's fault that he was so clever. The cruel fairy had made him so. But even if the Prince had been bom clever (as may have happened to you), was he to be blamed for that? The other people were just as much at fault for being bom so stupid; but the world, my dear children, can never be induced to remember this. If you are clever, you will find it best not to let people know it-if you want them to like you.
Welt. here was the Prince in a pretty plight. Not a pound in his pocket, not a pair of boots to wear, not even a cap to cover his head from the rain; nothing but cold meat to eat, and never a servant to answer the bell.
Chapter V
What Prince Prigio Found in the Garret The Prince walked from room to room of the palace, but, unless he wrapped himself up in a curtain, there was nothing for him to wear when he went out in the rain. At last he climbed up a turret stair in the very oldest part of the castle, where he had never been before; and at the very top was a Ittle round room, a kind of garret. The Prince pushed in the door with some difficulty-not that it was locked, but the handle was rusty, and the wood had swollen with the damp.
The room was very dark; only the last grey light of the rainy evening came through a slit of a window, one of those narrow windows that they used to fire arrows out of in old times.
But in the dusk the Prince saw a heap of all sons of things lying on the floor and on the table. There were two caps; he put one on-an old, grey, ugly cap it was, made of felt.
There was a pair of boots; and he kicked off his slippers, and got into them. They were a good deal worn, but fitted as if they had been made for him. On the table was a purse with just three gold coins-old ones too-in it; and this, as you may fancy, the Prince was very well pleased to put in his pocket. A sword, with a sword-belt, he buckled about his waist; and the rest of the articles, a regular collection of odds and ends, he left just where they were lying. Then he ran downstairs and walked out of the hall door.
Chapter VI
What Happened to Prince Prigio in Town By this time the Prince was very hungry. The town was just three miles off; but he had such a royal appetite that he did not like to waste it on bad cookery, and the people of the royal town were bad cooks.
"I wish I were in the Bear, at Gluckstein," said he to himself; for he remembered that mere was a very good cook there. But then the town was twenty-one leagues away-sixtythree long miles!
No sooner had the Prince said this, and taken just three steps, than he found himself at the door of the Bear Inn at Gluckstein!
"This is the most extraordinary dream," said he to himself; for he was far too clever of course to believe in sevenleague boots. Yet he had a pair on at that very moment, and it was they which had carried him in three strides from the palace to Gluckstein!
The truth is that the Prince, in looking about the palace for clothes, had found his way into the very old lumber room where the magical gifts of the fairies had been thrown by his PRINCE PRiGfO 51 clever mother, who did not believe in them. But this of course the Prince did not know.
Now you should be told that seven-league boots only take those prodigious steps when you say you wont to go a long distance. Otherwise they would be very inconvenient-when you only want to cross the room, for example. Perhaps this has not been explained to you by someone?
Well, the Prince walked into the Bear, and it seemed odd to him that nobody took any notice of him. And yet his face was as well known as that of any man in Pantouflia; for everybody had seen it, at least in pictures. He was so puzzled by not being attended to as usual that he quite forgot to take off his cap. He sat down at a table, however, and shouted "Kellner!" at which all the waiters jumped, and looked round in every direction, but nobody came to him. At first he thought they were too busy, but presently another explanation occurred to him.