Alan Alexander Milne

“ And now each man nudged his neighbor and muttered: “You see? She does not know him. It is not the king.”
The chancellor explained that Perivale was certainly an impostor, and that probably he was the wicked monster who had made away with His lamented Majesty.
“And yet he is not ill-looking,” murmured Lilia.
“Indeed no,” agreed Perivale. “There was a time when I was spoken of as the handsomest man in Wistaria.”
“Silence, fellow!” called those nearest to him, and hustled him out of her sight.
“Well,” said Lilia when all were silent again, “who is going through that door to find the king?” ”

“ It was said by those who should have been in a position to know that King Perivale was the handsomest, the wisest, the most manly and the most gallant young king that had ever sat upon the throne. It was reputed that there was no science within the knowledge of the most learned magicians of the country at which he could not better them, no form of manly exercise at which he did not surpass the most talented of his subjects. ”

“ An hour later the chancellor was summing up the matter to the satisfaction of all but the prisoner.
“It is clear,” he said, “what has occurred. His late lamented Majesty, in spite of all warnings, ventured through the green door. On the other side of that door lurked a fiend, a monster, capable of assuming the shape, and in some measure the appearance, of his victim. To rend His Majesty in pieces, to garb himself in His Majesty’s clothes, is the work of a moment; and, so garbed, with designs upon the throne itself, this monster presents himself at the palace gates. ”

“ Looking down at his clothes, torn and dirtied by the trees through which he had pushed his way, he smiled to think how she would regard him if she met him thus, and he made the more haste to reach the privacy of his room. ”

“ NE day when Prince Perivale was a little boy, he was walking with his father the king in the gardens of the palace. There was a high stone wall round the garden so that no venturer from outside could get in; nor was there any way by which those inside the garden could get out, supposing, as was less likely, that they wished to do so. But as the young prince was walking with his father, now leaving his hand and running this way and that, now coming back to it again, he espied suddenly, hidden in a tangle of trees, a little green door in the wall. ”

“ What shall we do with him?”
“Fool, I am the king!” thundered Perivale.
At this declaration there was a roar of laughter.
One of the soldiers came and looked at him more closely “Aye, you’re not unlike,” he said, “save that a king is a king, and a common man is a common man. Take my advice, friend, and get along home before trouble comes to you.”
AT THIS moment one of the women came running into the courtyard.
“The king!” she cried. “The king! He went through the green door! The green door! He will never come back!” ”