dition to many
other triumphs, he married the good and beautiful Lady Rosalind. His
love for her taught him not to be conceited, though he did not cease to
be extremely clever and fond of reading.

When this new story begins the Prince has succeeded to the crown, on the
death of King Grognio, and is unhappy about his own son, Prince Ricardo,
who is not clever, and who hates books! The story tells of Ricardo's
adventures: how he tried to bring back Prince Charlie to England, how he
failed; how he dealt with the odious old Yellow Dwarf; how he was aided
by the fair magician, the Princess Jaqueline; how they both fell into a
dreadful trouble; how King Prigio saved them; and how Jaqueline's dear
and royal papa was discovered; with the end of all these adventures. The
moral of the story will easily be discovered by the youngest reader, or,
if not, it does not much matter.

CHAPTER I.
The Troubles of King Prigio.

{Prince Ricardo and lady tied up: p13.jpg}

"I'm sure I don't know what to do with that boy!" said King Prigio of
Pantouflia.

"If _you_ don't know, my dear," said Queen Rosalind, his illustrious
consort, "I can't see what is to be done. You are so clever."

The king and queen were sitting in the royal library, of which the
shelves were full of the most delightful fairy books in all languages,
all equally familiar to King Prigio. The queen could not read most of
them herself, but the king used to read them aloud to her. A good many
years had passed--seventeen, in fact--since Queen Rosalind was married,
but you would not think it to look at her. Her grey eyes were as kind
and soft and beautiful, her dark hair as dark, and her pretty colour as
like a white rose blushing, as on the day when she was a bride. And she
was as fond of the king as when he was only Prince Prigio, and he was as
fond of her as on the night when he first met her at the ball.

"No, I don't know what to do with Dick," said the king.

He meant his son, Prince Ricardo, but he called him Dick in private.

"I believe it's the fault of his education," his Majesty went on. "We
have not brought him up rightly. These fairy books are at the bottom of
his provoking behaviour," and he glanced round the shelves. "Now, when
_I_ was a boy, my dear mother tried to prevent me from reading fairy
books, because she did not believe in fairies."

"But she was wrong, you know," said the queen. "Why, if it had not been
for all these fair