nions, but met with no better success than before, for a long and
tedious ride only brought them back to their starting-place in the
evening.

This time Prince Marvel was really angry, and striding into the king's
presence he reproached him bitterly, saying:

"Why do you prevent us from leaving your kingdom? We have not injured
you in any way."

"You have seen ME," returned Terribus, calmly, "and I do not intend you
shall go back to the world and tell people how ugly I am."

The prince looked at him, and could not repress a smile. The two eyes
of the king, having been twice removed from their first position, were
now both in his forehead, instead of below it, and one was much higher
than the other. And the nose, although small when compared to what it
had been, still resembled an elephant's trunk. Other changes had been
made for the better, but Terribus was still exceedingly repulsive to
look upon.

Seeing the prince look at him and smile, the king flew into a fury of
anger and declared that the strangers should never, while they lived,
be permitted to leave his castle again. Prince Marvel became
thoughtful at this, reflecting that the king's enmity all arose from
his sensitiveness about his ugly appearance, and this filled the
youthful knight with pity rather than resentment.

When they had all assembled at the evening banquet the prince, for a
third time, made a mystic pass at the king and whispered a magic word.
And behold! this time the charm was complete. For the two front eyes
of Terribus fell into their proper places, his nose became straight and
well formed, and his skin took on a natural, healthy color. Moreover,
he now had a fine head of soft brown hair, with eyebrows and eyelashes
to match, and his head was shapely and in proportion to his body. As
for the eye that had formerly been in the back of his head, it had
disappeared completely.

So amazed were the subjects of the transformed king--who was now quite
handsome to look upon--that they began to murmur together excitedly,
and something in the new sensations he experienced gave to the king's
face likewise an expression of surprise. Knowing from their pleased
looks that he must have improved in appearance, he found courage to
raise his hand to his nose, and found it well formed. Then he touched
his eyes, and realized they were looking straight out from his face,
like those of other people.

For some moments after making these discoveries