ave the Flying Horse saddled at once. He then presented King Prigio
with a large diamond, and came down into the courtyard to see him mount.

"He's very fresh," said the groom who held the bridle; "has not been out
of the stable for three hundred years!"

Prigio sprang into the saddle among the salaams of the dusky multitude,
and all the ladies of the seraglio waved their scented handkerchiefs out
of the windows.

The king, as he had been instructed, turned a knob of gold in the saddle
of the Flying Horse, then kissed his hand to the ladies, and, giving the
steed his head, cried, in excellent Persian:

"To the moon!"

Up flew the horse with an easy action, and the king's head nearly swam
with the swiftness of the flight. Soon the earth below him was no bigger
than a top, spinning on its own axis (see Geography books for this), and,
as night fell, earth was only a great red moon.

{King Prigio on the Flying Horse: p178.jpg}

Through the dark rode King Prigio, into the silver dawn of the moon. All
now became clear and silvery; the coasts of the moon came into sight,
with white seas breaking on them; and at last the king reached the silver
walls, and the gate of opal. Before the gate stood two beautiful ladies.
One was fair, with yellow locks, the colour of the harvest moon. She had
a crown of a golden snake and white water-lilies, and her dress now shone
white, now red, now golden; and in her hand was the golden pitcher that
sheds the dew, and a golden wand. The other lady was as dark as
night--dark eyes, dark hair; her crown was of poppies. She held the
ebony Wand of Sleep. Her dress was of the deepest blue, sown with stars.
The king knew that they were the maidens of the bright and the dark side
of the moon--of the side you see, and of the side that no one has ever
seen, except King Prigio. He stopped the Flying Horse by turning the
other knob in the saddle, alighted, and bowed very low to each of the
ladies.

"Daring mortal! what make you here?" they asked.

And then the king told them about Jaqueline and the Earthquaker, and how
he needed a great weight of Stupidity to flatten him out with.

The ladies heard him in silence, and then they said:

"Follow us," and they flew lightly beside the Flying Horse till they had
crossed all the bright side of the moon, above the silver palaces and
silver seas, and reached the summit of the Mountains of the Moon which
separate the bright from the dark side.