carriage of their manly forms that
obtains for them the smiles and favours of the fair. But, believe me,
this gratifying idea is not founded on fact; it is not the glossy
feather, or the manly form, my son, it is the wealth that you possess,
and even more than that, the social dignity and rank, which is already
yours, that has brought a circle of charming darlings around you.

"'It is certainly somewhat mortifying to feel that it is not ourselves
they care for, but merely the gratification of their own vanity. Of
course you must bury this profound secret in your own breast. But if you
ponder over what I have said you will soon see how you can use this
knowledge to your own advantage. And it will at least save you from the
folly of really falling in love, than which, my most dutiful son, there
is no disease so terrible, and so lasting in its effects, as witness
that drivelling fool who keeps this orchard for us, and surrounds our
palace as with an impregnable fortification. Believe me,
notwithstanding your now antique appearance--except at very close
quarters, and without close examination (I don't think you have quite as
many crow's-feet round your cyclopean eye as myself), it is not possible
to distinguish you from me--believe me, in spite of this, the circle of
charming darlings, reflecting that you are the heir to the greatest
crown in the universe, will discover that you are even more attractive
than before.'

"The prince in a day or two found that the old king was right, and
recovered much of his former spirit. As for the old king, having
provided for his dynasty, and feeling certain that his royal house would
now endure, he feasted and laughed, and cracked the oddest jokes you
ever heard. One afternoon, after spending the whole time in this way, he
recollected that he had not yet informed his heir of one important
secret, namely, the entrance to his treasure house.

"This was a chink, covered over with an excrescence of the bark, in the
aged apple-tree, at the juncture of a large bough (the very bough that
was lately cracked by the hurricane), and it was here that he had
accumulated the spoils of the many expeditions he had undertaken, the
loot of provinces and the valuable property he had appropriated nearer
home, including the diamond locket. So cunningly had he chosen his
treasure vault that not one of all his courtiers, not even his queens,
could ever discover it, though they were all filled with the most
i