Andrew Lang

“ At that very moment he noticed that the fly was off his cast, and Jaqueline was sitting at the oars.
“You see, Ricardo,” she said, “I was right after all. There is not much pleasure in sport that is easy and certain. Now, apply this moral to dragon-killing with magic instruments. It may be useful when one is obliged to defend oneself, but surely a prince ought not to give his whole time to nothing else!”
Dick had no answer ready, so he only grumbled:
“You’re always preaching at me, Jack; everybody always is. I seem to have been born just to be preached at.” ”

“ But there is another thing—that eclipse of the moon! Oh, Jaqueline, was it honourable, or fair to the astronomers and men of science, to say nothing about it? Their European reputations are seriously injured.”
Poor Jaqueline could only cry.
“Never mind,” said his Majesty, comforting her. “There is no great harm done yet, and perhaps they would not believe you if you did explain; but just think, if some people ceased to believe in Science, what would they have left to believe in? But you are young, of course, and cannot be expected to think of everything.” ”

“ But now, except that a bird had flown away with the little finger of his left hand and one of his ears, the Giant was as comfortable as anyone could be in his situation.
“Mornin’ sir,” he said to Dick, touching his forehead with his hand. “Glad to see you looking so well. No bad feeling, I hope, on either side?”
“None on mine, certainly,” said Ricardo, holding out his hand, which the Giant took and shook; “but Duty is Duty, and giants must go. The modern world has no room for them.”
“That’s hearty,” said the Giant; “I like a fellow of your kind. Now, shall we toss for corners?” ”

“ And what are we to say to your mother?”
“That’s the worst of it all,” said Dick. “Mother will break her heart.”
“I must see her at once,” said the king, “and break it to her.”
This was a terrible task; but the queen had such just confidence in her Prigio that she soon dried her tears, remarking that Heaven would not desert Jaqueline, and that the king would find a way out of the trouble.
His Majesty retired to his study, put his head in his hands, and thought and thought.
“The thing is, of course,” he said, “to destroy the Earthquaker before he wakens; but how? What can kill such a monster? ”

“ Then he jumped on the Flying Horse, galloped down and down, till he reached his palace gate; called for Ricardo, set him behind him on the saddle, and away they rode, above land and wide seas, till they saw the crest of the hollow hill, where Jaqueline was with the Earthquaker. Beyond it they marked the glittering spires and towers of Manoa, the City of the Sun; and “Thither,” said King Prigio, who had been explaining how matters stood, to Ricardo, “we must ride, for I believe they stand in great need of our assistance.” ”

“ In fact, he was afraid that someone might sit down on it, and wish he was somewhere else, and be carried away, as was the nature of the carpet.
King Prigio was not absent a minute, for he met William on the stairs; but when he came back, there was not one single person in the turret-room!
“Where on earth are they?” cried the king, rushing through all the rooms in that part of the castle. He shouted for them, and looked everywhere; but there was not a trace of tailor, hatter, optician, swordmaker, upholsterer. ”

“ In his Cap of Darkness a poor brute of a dragon can’t see him. In his Shoes of Swiftness the giants can’t catch him. His Sword of Sharpness would cut any oak asunder at a blow!”
“But you were very glad of them when you made the Ice-beast and the Fire-beast fight and kill each other,” said the queen.
“Yes, my dear; but it wanted some wit, if I may say so, to do that, and Dick just goes at it hammer and tongs: anybody could do it. It’s intellect I miss in Ricardo. How am I to know whether he could make a good fight for it without all these fairy things? ”

“ The dwarf was on his feet in a moment, waving the diamond sword, which lighted up the whole scene, and yelling taunts. Pepper was flying at his heels, and, with great agility, was keeping out of the way of the invincible blade.
“Ah!” screamed the Dwarf as Pepper got him by the ankle. “Call off your dog, you coward, and come down off your horse, and fight fair!” ”

“ We may imagine how glad the princess was when (disguised as a wasp) she heard Dick say he was her knight; not that, in fact, he had thought of it before.
“Oh! you’re for a fight, are you?” sneered the Dwarf. “I might tell you to hit one of your own weight, but I’m not afraid of six of you. Yah! mammy’s brat! Look here, young Blinkers, I don’t want to hurt you. Just turn old Dobbin’s head, and trot back to your mammy, Queen Rosalind, at Pantouflia. Does she know you’re out?”
“I’ll be into you, pretty quick,” said Ricardo. “But why do I bandy words with a miserable peasant?” ”

“ There was my poor father, King Grognio, he wanted me to take to adventures, like other princes, fighting Firedrakes, and so forth; and I did not care for it, till you set me on,” and he looked very kindly at her Majesty. “And now, here’s Dick,” the monarch continued, “I can’t hold him back. He is always after a giant, or a dragon, or a magician, as the case may be; he will certainly be ploughed for his examination at College. Never opens a book. What does he care, off after every adventure he can hear about? An idle, restless youth! ”

“ The king did not expect much from talking seriously to Dick. However, he began by asking questions about the day’s sport, which Ricardo answered with modesty. Then his Majesty observed that, from all he had ever read or heard, he believed Ethiopia, where the fight was, to be in Africa, not in Asia.
“I really wish, Ricardo, that you would attend to your geography a little more. It is most necessary to a soldier that he should know where his enemy is, and if he has to fight the Dutch, for instance, not to start with his army for Central Asia.” ”

“ Then his mind, somehow, went back to the Council and the ponderous stupidity of the Prime Minister.
“Heavier than lead,” said the king. “By George! I have a plan. If I could get to the place where they keep the Stupidity, I could carry away enough of it to flatten out the Earthquaker.”
Then he remembered how, in an old Italian poem, he had read about all the strange lumber-room of odd things which is kept in the moon. That is the advantage of reading: Knowledge is Power; and you mostly get knowledge that is really worth having out of good old books which people do not usually read. ”

“ Now it is all being churned up by the tail of a tremendous monster. He is a whopper! He’s coming on shore; the girl is fainting. He’s out on shore! He is extremely poorly, blood rushing from his open jaws. He’s dying! And, hooray! here’s Dick coming out of his enormous mouth, all in armour set with sharp spikes, and a sword in his hand. He’s covered with blood, but he’s well and hearty. He must have been swallowed by the brute, and cut him up inside. Now he’s cutting the beast’s head off. Now he’s gone to the princess; a very neat bow he has made her. ”

“ A gentleman can only say that he is sorry. But wait!” he added; “I can at least prove that my confidence in some of my resources is not misplaced. Bid me bring you something—anything—from the ends of the earth, and it shall be in your hands. I can’t say fairer.”
King James reflected, while Prince Ricardo was pulling on the Seven-league Boots, which he had kicked off to fight more freely, and while the Duke of York bandaged Dick’s hand with a kerchief. ”

“ All my allies fail me,” said the poor king with a sigh; “you alone have failed with honour. Carluccio, embrace the prince!”
p. 107They fell into each other’s arms.
“Prince,” said Dick, “you have taught me a lesson for which I shall not be ungrateful. With any blade a gentleman should be able to hold his own in fair fight. I shall no longer neglect my fencing lessons.”
“With any blade,” said Prince Charles, “I shall be happy to find Prince Ricardo by my side in a stricken field. ”

“ There may be children whose education has been so neglected that they have not read Prince Prigio. As this new story is about Prince Prigio’s son, Ricardo, you are to learn that Prigio was the child and heir of Grognio, King of Pantouflia. The fairies gave the little Prince cleverness, beauty, courage; but one wicked fairy added, “You shall be too clever.” His mother, the queen, hid away in a cupboard all the fairy presents,—the p. xSword of Sharpness, the Seven-League Boots, the Wishing Cap, and many other useful and delightful gifts, in which her Majesty did not believe! ”

“ Kings must stick up for each other. Why, some electing characters might come here and kick us out!”
“Your father is not the sort of king who is kicked out,” said Jaqueline.
But there was no use in talking to Dick. He made his simple preparations, and announced that he would be back in time for luncheon.
What was poor Jaqueline to do? She was extremely anxious. She knew, as we saw, what King Prigio had intended about changing the fairy things for others that would not work. She was certain Dick would get himself into a scrape; how was she to help him? ”

“ Jaqueline fairly screamed at hearing this awful news.
“Hush! be quiet, do!” said the Giant. “You’ll bring out my little woman, and she is not easy to satisfy with explanations when she finds me conversing with a lady unbeknown to her. The Earthquaker won’t do you any harm; it’s only for safe keeping I’ll put you with him. Why, he don’t waken, not once in fifty years. He’s quite the dormouse. ”

“ Now go to your fencing lesson.”
“But, I say, father,” cried Ricardo, “was it not strange about the magic carpet?”
“I told you not to trust to these things,” said the king. “Some enchanter may have deprived it of its power, it may be worn out, someone may have substituted a common Persian rug; anything may happen. You must learn to depend on yourself. ”

“ No sooner had Dick escaped than the monster began to collect himself; and before Jaqueline could muster strength to run away or summon to her aid the lessons of the Fairy Paribanou, p. 155the Giant who never Knew when he had Enough was himself again. A boy might have climbed up a tree (for giants are no tree-climbers, any more than the grizzly bear) , but Jaqueline could not climb. She merely stood, pale and trembling. She had saved Dick, but at an enormous sacrifice, for the sword and the Seven-league Boots were lying on the trampled grass. ”

“ So he easily put a great block on his saddle-bow, and he and the dark lady flew back till they reached the crest of the Mountains of the Moon. There she touched him with her ebony wand, and the silver light which the bright lady had shed on him died from his face and his body, and he became like other men. ”

“ At this moment the Princess Jaqueline did what she should have thought of sooner. She flew out of Dick’s coat, and stung old King p. 104James on his royal nose. The king wakened, nearly crushed the princess (so dangerous is the practice of magic to the artist) , and then leaped up, and saw Dick’s blade flying through the air, glittering in the sun. The prince had disarmed him.
“Hullo! what’s all this? À moi, mes gardes!” cried the old king, in French and English; and then he ran up, just in time to hear Prince Charles say:
“Sir, take your life! I cannot strike an unarmed man. ”

“ The story tells of Ricardo’s p. xiadventures: how he tried to bring back Prince Charlie to England, how he failed; how he dealt with the odious old Yellow Dwarf; how he was aided by the fair magician, the Princess Jaqueline; how they both fell into a dreadful trouble; how King Prigio saved them; and how Jaqueline’s dear and royal papa was discovered; with the end of all these adventures. The moral of the story will easily be discovered by the youngest reader, or, if not, it does not much matter. ”

“ We shall not part till I have induced you to accept a sword which I can never hope to draw against another adversary so noble. In war, my weapon is the claymore.”
Here the prince offered to Ricardo the ruby-studded hilt of his rapier, which had a beautiful white shark-skin sheath.
“You must accept it, sir,” said King James; “the hilt holds the rubies of John Sobieski.”
“Thank you, prince,” said Ricardo, “for the weapon, which I shall learn to wield; and p. 108I entreat you to honour me by receiving this fairy gift—which you do not need—a ring which makes all men faithful to the wearer.” ”

“ And p. 17young people will be young people. You were quite proud when poor Dick came home with his first brace of gigantic fierce birds, killed off his own sword, and with such a pretty princess he had rescued—dear Jaqueline? I’m sure she is like a daughter to me. I cannot do without her.”
“I wish she were a daughter-in-law; I wish Dick would take a fancy to marry her,” said the king. “A nicer girl I never saw.”
“And so accomplished,” added Queen Rosalind. “That girl can turn herself into anything—a mouse, a fly, a lion, a wheelbarrow, a church! I never knew such talent for magic. ”

“ It is often difficult to be a magician and a good girl. The temptations are so strong, stronger than most people allow for.” So she remained, with the moon shining on her pretty yellow hair and her white dress, wondering what the king intended to do, and whether it was something that Dick would not like. ”

“ I killed the birds,” said Ricardo, in Pantouflian.
“Silence, not a word!” said the king, sternly.
“And what makes you bear arms against the Inca?” he asked the old man.
“We would slay him and her,” answered the priest; “for, when the shadow shrinks to the p. 191foot of the stone, the sun will shine straight down into the hollow hill of the Earthquaker, and he will waken and destroy Manoa and the Temples of the Sun.”
“Then wherefore would you slay them, when you must all perish?”
“The people, oh Pachacamac, would have revenge before they die.”
“Oh, folly of men!” said the king, solemnly ”

“ Princess Jaqueline Drinks the Moon.
When dinner was over and the ladies had left the room, the king tried to speak seriously to Prince Ricardo. This was a thing which he disliked doing very much.
“There’s very little use in preaching,” his Majesty used to say, “to a man, or rather a boy, of another generation. My taste was for books; I only took to adventures because I was obliged to do it. Dick’s taste is for adventures; I only p. 31wish some accident would make him take to books. But everyone must get his experience for himself; and when he has got it, he is lucky if it is not too late. ”

“ You mean, I suppose, that p. 124there is one enemy of the human race whom you wish to abolish. What is the name of the doomed foe?”
“Well, he is the greatest villain in history,” said Ricardo. “You must have read about him, sir, the Yellow Dwarf.”
“Yes, I have certainly studied what is told us about him,” said the king. “He is no favourite of mine.”
“He is the only one, if you notice, sir, of all the scoundrels about whom our ancestors inform us, who escaped the doom which he richly merited at the sword of a good knight.” ”

“ The dark Moon-Lady struck the rock with her ebony wand, and said, “Open!” and the cliffs opened like a door, and they were within the mountain.
“Here,” said the dark lady, “is the storehouse of all the Stupidity; hence it descends in showers like Stardust on the earth whenever this mountain, which is a volcano, is in eruption. Only a little of the Stupidity reaches the earth, and that only in invisible dust; yet p. 182you know how weighty it is, even in that form.”
“Indeed, madam,” said the king, “no one knows it better than I do.” ”

“ They must have fixed her up as a sacrifice to a sea-monster, like what’s-her-name.”
This proves how anxious he was, or, being so clever and learned, he would have remembered that her name was Andromeda.
“I bet Dick is not far off, where there is an adventure on hand. But where on earth can p. 23he be? . . . My word!” suddenly exclaimed the monarch, in obvious excitement.
“What is it, dear?” cried the queen, with all the anxiety of a mother.
“Why, the sea where the girl is, has turned all red as blood!” exclaimed the king. ”

“ I think I’ll run away to sea;” and indeed he looked very wild and miserable.
“Tell me how it all happened, Dick,” said the princess; “I’m sure it’s not so p. 114bad as you make out. Perhaps I can help you.”
“How can a girl help a man?” cried Dick, angrily; and poor Jaqueline, remembering how she had helped him, at the risk of her own life, when King James nearly crushed her in the shape of a mosquito, turned her head away, and cried silently.
“I’m a beast,” said Dick. “I beg your pardon, Jack dear. You are always a trump, I will say; but I don’t see what you can do.” ”