ad of in the "Arabian
Nights," which consisted of very elegant but empty dishes, or that
supper of Sancho Panza in "Don Quixote," where, the minute the smoking
dishes came on the table, the physician waved his hand and they were all
taken away.

Thus almost all the ordinary delights of boy-life had been taken away
from, or rather never given to this poor little prince.

"I wonder," he would sometimes think--"I wonder what it feels like to
be on the back of a horse, galloping away, or holding the reins in a
carriage, and tearing across the country, or jumping a ditch, or running
a race, such as I read of or see in pictures. What a lot of things there
are that I should like to do! But first I should like to go and see the
world. I'll try."

Apparently it was his godmother's plan always to let him try, and try
hard, before he gained anything. This day the knots that tied up his
traveling-cloak were more than usually troublesome, and he was a
full half-hour before he got out into the open air, and found himself
floating merrily over the top of the tower.

Hitherto, in all his journeys, he had never let himself go out of sight
of home, for the dreary building, after all, was home--he remembered
no other; but now he felt sick of the very look of his tower, with its
round smooth walls and level battlements.

"Off we go!" cried he, when the cloak stirred itself with a slight, slow
motion, as if waiting his orders. "Anywhere anywhere, so that I am away
from here, and out into the world."

As he spoke, the cloak, as if seized suddenly with a new idea, bounded
forward and went skimming through the air, faster than the very fastest
railway train.

"Gee-up! gee-up!" cried Prince Dolor in great excitement. "This is as
good as riding a race."

And he patted the cloak as if it had been a horse--that is, in the way
he supposed horses ought to be patted--and tossed his head back to meet
the fresh breeze, and pulled his coat collar up and his hat down as he
felt the wind grow keener and colder--colder than anything he had ever
known.

"What does it matter, though?" said he. "I'm a boy, and boys ought not
to mind anything."

Still, for all his good-will, by and by, he began to shiver exceedingly;
also, he had come away without his dinner, and he grew frightfully
hungry. And to add to everything, the sunshiny day changed into rain,
and being high up, in the very midst of the clouds, he got soaked
through and through in a very