f a programme. Yellow-cap
dismounted from his donkey, which remained on the stage in the care of
the driver, and walked towards the King. His Majesty was eyeing him
very closely. The great clock outside the building struck ten. The
King and Yellow-cap saluted each other, and Yellow-cap said--

'I hope I have not kept your Majesty waiting.'

'Not at all,' the monarch replied. 'But, stay! surely I cannot be
mistaken. Are not you the gallant prince whom I had the pleasure of
meeting yesterday, and who vanished so strangely just when we were
about to exchange hats?'

'Your Majesty's memory is not at fault,' Yellow-cap answered.

'Bless my soul! my dear fellow,' the King exclaimed with much
heartiness, 'allow me to give you a hug!'

At this there was a great outburst of applause from the audience,
which his Majesty acknowledged by bowing and smiling. After it was
over he continued--

'And now tell me, where on earth did you vanish to? I could have sworn
you were beside me--when, almost while I was looking at you, you were
gone; and in your place was a dirty, impertinent varlet who tried to
snatch my crown out of my very hands.'

'Indeed. An audacious fellow, truly!'

'Ah, but he got his deserts. Ha! I flatter myself he will never again
try _that_ game. No, by my faith!'

'What did you do to him?'

'I grappled with him, and, after a tremendous struggle, I managed to
get him by the throat and bowed him backwards to the earth. I say "to
the earth," because the villains who should have upheld my platform
had let it fall. Never mind--I had all their heads before
supper-time.'

'And the robber?'

'There was not much left of him,' replied his Majesty, with a hearty
laugh. 'After I had strangled him I flung his carcass to my retainers,
who made mincemeat of it in no time. But all this is by the way. You
have not told me what became of you.'

Now, Yellow-cap had a good imagination; and seeing that the King had
made up a clever story, he resolved to do his best to tell another as
good.

'Your Majesty must know,' he said, 'that among my other modest gifts I
include that of making myself invisible at pleasure and transporting
myself to distant places by the force of a wish. Just at the moment
when we were about to exchange hats I happened to remember that I had
important business elsewhere; and since I had a long way to go, and
very little time to go in, I was obliged to leave your Majesty without
ceremony. But, as y