But the prince was not clever for nothing. He thought for a moment, then
went out of the room, and, in three steps of the seven-league boots, was
at his empty, dark, cold palace again. He struck a light with a flint
and steel, lit a torch, and ran upstairs to the garret. The flaring
light of the torch fell on the pile of "rubbish," as the queen would have
called it, which he turned over with eager hands. Was there--yes, there
_was_ another cap! There it lay, a handsome green one with a red
feather. The prince pulled off the cap of darkness, put on the other,
and said:

"_I wish I were dressed in my best suit of white and gold_, _with the
royal Pantouflia diamonds_!"

In one moment there he was in white and gold, the greatest and most
magnificent dandy in the whole world, and the handsomest man!

"How about my boots, I wonder," said the prince; for his seven-league
boots were stout riding-boots, not good to dance in, whereas _now_ he was
in elegant shoes of silk and gold.

He threw down the wishing cap, put on the other--the cap of darkness--and
made three strides in the direction of Gluckstein. But he was only three
steps nearer it than he had been, and the seven-league boots were
standing beside him on the floor!

"No," said the prince; "no man can be in two different pairs of boots at
one and the same time! That's mathematics!"

He then hunted about in the lumber-room again till he found a small,
shabby, old Persian carpet, the size of a hearthrug. He went to his own
room, took a portmanteau in his hand, sat down on the carpet, and said:

"I wish I were in Gluckstein."

In a moment there he found himself; for this was that famous carpet which
Prince Hussein bought long ago, in the market at Bisnagar, and which the
fairies had brought, with the other presents, to the christening of
Prince Prigio.

{The Prince on the carpet: p52.jpg}

When he arrived at the house where the ball was going on, he put the
magical carpet in the portmanteau, and left it in the cloak-room,
receiving a numbered ticket in exchange. Then he marched in all his
glory (and, of course, without the cap of darkness) into the room where
they were dancing. Everybody made place for him, bowing down to the
ground, and the loyal band struck up _The Prince's March_!

_Heaven bless our Prince Prigio_!
_What is there he doesn't know_?
_Greek_, _Swiss_, _German_ (_High and Low_),
_And the names of the mountains in Mexic