n once to give their advice; but all their
deliberations came to nothing, even though there were two complete
vermin-killers, and three professed rat-catchers, of the number.
Frequent addresses, as is usual on extraordinary occasions, were sent
from all parts of the empire; but, though these promised well, though in
them he received an assurance that his faithful subjects would assist in
his search with their lives and fortunes, yet, with all their loyalty,
they failed, when the time came that the mouse was to be caught.

The prince, therefore, was resolved to go himself in search, determined
never to lie two nights in one place, till he had found what he sought
for. Thus, quitting his palace without attendants, he set out upon his
journey, and travelled through many a desert, and crossed many a river,
high over hills, and down along vales, still restless, still inquiring
wherever he came, but no white mouse was to be found.

[Illustration: Page 10.
{Man kneeling before young witch}]

As one day, fatigued with his journey, he was shading himself from the
heat of the mid-day sun, under the arching branches of a Banana tree,
meditating on the object of his pursuit, he perceived an old woman
hideously deformed approaching him; by her stoop, and the wrinkles
of her visage, she seemed at least five hundred years old; and the
spotted toad was not more freckled than was her skin. "Ah! Prince
Bonbenin-bonbobbin-bonbobbinet," cried the creature, "what has led you
so many thousand miles from your own kingdom? What is it you look for,
and what induces you to travel into the kingdom of the Emmets?" The
prince, who was excessively complaisant, told her the whole story three
times over, for she was hard of hearing. "Well," says the old fairy,
for such she was, "I promise to put you in possession of the white mouse
with green eyes, and that immediately too, upon one condition." "One
condition," replied the prince in a rapture, "name a thousand; I shall
undergo them all with pleasure." "Nay," interrupted the old fairy,
"I ask but one, and that not very mortifying neither; it is only that
you instantly consent to marry me."

It is impossible to express the prince's confusion at this demand; he
loved the mouse, but he detested the bride; he hesitated; he desired
time to think upon the proposal. He would have been glad to consult his
friends on such an occasion. "Nay, nay," cried the odious fairy, "if you
demur, I retract my promi