e castle, most likely, to give us assistance.'

Chapter VII

Upon these words, the Prince went on more cheerfully, especially when he
saw a man come running down from the gate of the castle as they
approached the drawbridge.

'Ay,' said his companion, stepping on without stopping a moment, 'there
comes my friend Courage to help us. He is a good, serviceable fellow.'

Just as he spoke, the two monsters sprang forward, and the one which was
nearest to Perseverance growled terribly at him; but he struck him a
blow with his pike-staff, which knocked him down and cowed him entirely;
and there he lay, with all his hundred heads prostrated in a manner
which the Prince could hardly have thought possible. The other brute
sprang right at the Prince himself, as if to destroy him, so that he was
inclined to draw back; but the man Courage, who had run down from the
castle, put his foot upon the creature's snaky neck, and crushed it into
the earth.

'Go on, go on, young man!' he cried. 'These are terrible monsters truly,
but you see our friend Perseverance has vanquished Difficulty, and I
have trampled upon Danger.'

As he spoke, the Prince passed on rapidly over the drawbridge; and when
he stood under the gate of the castle, Perseverance took him by the hand
with a smiling air, and led him in, saying: 'Now I will conduct you to
my lady, Success.'

[Illustration: _The Prince slays the monster with a hundred horrible
heads.--Page 86._]

At the very sound the poor Prince seemed quite refreshed, forgot all the
weary way he had travelled, the dark forest of Adversity, the grim frown
of Necessity, the faintness and the weariness, and hundred-headed
Difficulty and Danger. But he was more rejoiced still when, on entering
the building, he found himself suddenly, all at once, in the great hall
of his own palace of Prosperity, with a beautiful lady, all smiles,
standing ready to receive him with a crown in her hand.

'Come hither, Prince,' she said, 'and receive this crown, which I never
bestow on any but my greatest favourites. It is called the crown of
Contentment. I reserve it for those who, led on by Perseverance, come to
me by the Right Path, in spite of Difficulty and Danger. Those who
arrive at my presence by any of the many other roads that are open to
mankind I give over to the charge of some of my inferior attendants,
such as Pride, Vanity, or Ambition, who amuse themselves by making them
play all manner of strange trick