have saved a great deal of trouble; but I am so much out of the
habit of using the cap, that I never thought of it. However, what I have
got will do very well."

Then, putting on the Cap of Darkness, that nobody might see him, he
carried all the _real_ fairy articles away, except the Seven-league
Boots, to his own room, where he locked them up, leaving in their place
the sham Wishing Cap, the sham Cap of Darkness, the sham Sword of
Sharpness, and the carpet which was not a magic carpet at all.

His idea was, of course, that Ricardo would start on an expedition
confiding in his fairy things, and he would find that they did not act.
Then he would be left to his own cleverness and courage to get him out of
the scrape. That would teach him, thought the king, to depend on
himself, and to set a proper value on cleverness and learning, and
minding his book.

Of course he might have locked the things up, and forbidden Ricardo to
touch them, but that might have seemed harsh. And, as you may easily
imagine, with all the powers at his command, the king fancied he could
easily rescue Ricardo from any very serious danger at the hands of giants
or magicians or monsters. He only wanted to give him a fright or two,
and make him respect the judgment of older and wiser people than himself.

CHAPTER IV.
Two Lectures.

{The Prince with the telescope: p64.jpg}

For several days Prince Ricardo minded his books, and, according to his
tutors, made considerable progress in polite learning. Perhaps he ought
not to be praised too highly for this, because, in fact, he saw no means
of distinguishing himself by adventures just at that time. Every morning
he would climb the turret and sweep the horizon, and even _much_ beyond
the horizon, with the ivory spy-glass. But look as he would, he saw no
monsters preying on human-kind anywhere, nor princesses in distress. To
be sure he saw plenty of poor people in distress, and, being a
good-hearted, though careless, lad, Dick would occasionally fly off with
the Purse of Fortunatus in his pocket, and give them as much money as
they needed--it cost him nothing. But this was not the kind of adventure
which he enjoyed. Dragons for his money!

One day the Princess Jaqueline took a curious plan of showing Ricardo how
little interest, after all, there is in performing the most wonderful
exploits without any real difficulty or danger. They were drifting
before a light breeze on a hill lak