sky, at which he
had looked so often and seen nothing.

Now he saw a long, black wavy line, moving on in the distance. Looking
at it through his spectacles, he discovered that it was a long string of
birds, flying one after the other, their wings moving steadily and their
heads pointed in one direction, as steadily as if each were a little
ship.

"They must be the passage-birds flying seaward!" cried the boy, who had
read a little about them. "Oh! how I should like to see them quite
close, and to know where they come from, and where they are going!"

The cloak gave a sudden bound forward, and he found himself high up in
the air, in the very midst of the birds.

"Oh I wish I were going with you, you lovely creatures!" cried the boy.
"I'm getting so tired of this dull plain, and the dreary and lonely
tower. I do so want to see the world! Pretty swallows, dear swallows,
tell me what it looks like--the beautiful, wonderful world!"

But the birds flew past and the boy looked after them with envy. Then he
settled himself down in the centre of the cloak, feeling quite sad and
lonely.

"I think I'll go home," said he, and repeated his "Abracadabra, tum tum,
ti!" with a rather heavy heart. The more he had, the more he wanted.

He did not like to vex his godmother by calling for her, and telling her
how unhappy he was, in spite of all her goodness; so he just kept his
trouble to himself, went back to his lonely tower, and spent three days
there without attempting another journey on his traveling-cloak.

CHAPTER VI.

The fourth day it happened that the deaf mute paid his accustomed visit,
after which Prince Dolor's spirits rose. They always did, when he got
the new books, which the King of Nomansland regularly sent to his
nephew. He paid no attention to the toys which were brought, as he
considered himself a big boy.

Prince Dolor leaned over and looked at the mute's horse which was
feeding at the foot of the tower and thought how grand it must be to get
upon its back and ride away.

"Suppose I was a knight," he said to himself; "then I should be obliged
to ride out and see the world."

But he kept all these thoughts to himself, and just sat still, devouring
his new books until he had come to end of them all.

"I wonder," he would sometimes think,--"I wonder what it feels like to
be on the back of a horse, galloping away, or holding the reins in a
carriage, and tearing across the country, or jumping a ditch