ed from here to the sea--I tell you that
_this_ Kapchack, the real old original one, died forty years ago.

"But before he died, being so extremely cunning, he made provision for
the continuation of himself in this way. He reflected that he was very
old, and that a good deal of the dignity he enjoyed was due to that
fact. The owner of the orchard and warden of his fortress regarded him
with so much affection, because in his youth he had capered before the
young lady whom he loved. It was not possible for the old gentleman to
transfer this affection to a young and giddy magpie, who had not seen
any of these former things. Nor, looking outside the orchard wall, was
it probable that the extensive kingdom he himself enjoyed would pass
under the sway of a youthful prince in its entirety.

"Some of the nobles would be nearly certain to revolt: the empire he had
formed with so much labour, ingenuity, and risk, would fall to pieces,
the life of one ruler not being sufficiently long to consolidate it. The
old king, therefore, as he felt the years pressing heavy upon him, cast
about in his mind for some means of securing his dynasty.

"After long cogitation one day he called to him his son and heir, a very
handsome young fellow, much like the Tchack-tchack whom we know, and
motioning him to come close, as if about to whisper in his ear, suddenly
pecked out his left eye. The vain young prince suffered not only from
the physical pain, but the intense mortification of knowing that his
beauty was destroyed for ever. If he wanted even to look at himself in
the pond, before he could see his own reflection, he had to turn his
head upon one side. He bitterly upbraided his unnatural father for this
cruel deed: the queen joined in the reproaches, and the palace resounded
with rage and lamentation.

"Old King Kapchack the First bore all this disturbance with equanimity,
sustained by the conviction that he had acted for the welfare of the
royal house he had founded. After a time, when the young one-eyed prince
ceased to complain, and was only sullen, he seized an opportunity when
they were alone in the apple-tree, and explained to him the reason why
he had done it.

"'I,' said he, 'I have founded this house, and through me you are
regarded everywhere as of royal dignity; but if I were gone, the wicked
and traitorous world which surrounds the throne would certainly begin to
conspire against you on account of your youth; nor would the ward