ere upon him once
more; he wore his crown and his royal ring. He was king. And when the
courtiers came back they found their king kneeling by his throne,
absorbed in silent prayer.

FOOTNOTES:

[28] Adapted from Longfellow's poem.

THE JEALOUS COURTIERS[29]

I wonder if you have ever heard the anecdote about the artist of
Duesseldorf and the jealous courtiers. This is it. It seems there was
once a very famous artist who lived in the little town of Duesseldorf. He
did such fine work that the Elector, Prince Johann Wilhelm, ordered a
portrait statue of himself, on horseback, to be done in bronze. The
artist was overjoyed at the commission, and worked early and late at the
statue.

At last the work was done, and the artist had the great statue set up in
the public square of Duesseldorf, ready for the opening view. The Elector
came on the appointed day, and with him came his favourite courtiers
from the castle. Then the statue was unveiled. It was very
beautiful,--so beautiful that the prince exclaimed in surprise. He could
not look enough, and presently he turned to the artist and shook hands
with him, like an old friend. "Herr Grupello," he said, "you are a great
artist, and this statue will make your fame even greater than it is; the
portrait of me is perfect!"

When the courtiers heard this, and saw the friendly hand-shake, their
jealousy of the artist was beyond bounds. Their one thought was, how
could they safely do something to humiliate him. They dared not pick
flaws in the portrait statue, for the prince had declared it perfect.
But at last one of them said, with an air of great frankness, "Indeed,
Herr Grupello, the portrait of his Royal Highness is perfect; but permit
me to say that the statue of the horse is not quite so successful: the
head is too large; it is out of proportion."

"No," said another, "the horse is really not so successful; the turn of
the neck, there, is awkward."

"If you would change the right hind-foot, Herr Grupello," said a third,
"it would be an improvement."

Still another found fault with the horse's tail.

The artist listened, quietly. When they had all finished, he turned to
the prince and said, "Your courtiers, prince, find a good many flaws in
the statue of the horse; will you permit me to keep it a few days more,
to do what I can with it?"

The Elector assented, and the artist ordered a temporary screen to be
built around the statue, so that his assistants co