perienced
traveller, and had not yet learned to enjoy a joke even if it were
against himself. At night he slept in the woods, and at first he lived
upon wild fruits; but the Fairy, who was keeping a benevolent eye upon
him, thought that it would never do to let him be half-starved in that
way, so she took to feeding him with all sorts of good things while he
was asleep, and the Prince wondered very much that when he was awake
he never felt hungry! True to her plan the Fairy sent him various
adventures to prove his courage, and he came successfully through them
all, only in his last fight with a furious monster rather like a tiger
he had the ill luck to lose his horse. However, nothing daunted, he
struggled on on foot, and at last reached a seaport. Here he found a
boat sailing for the coast which he desired to reach, and, having just
enough money to pay his passage, he went on board and they started. But
after some days a fearful storm came on, which completely wrecked the
little ship, and the Prince only saved his life by swimming a long, long
way to the only land that was in sight, and which proved to be a desert
island. Here he lived by fishing and hunting, always hoping that the
good Fairy would presently rescue him. One day, as he was looking sadly
out to sea, he became aware of a curious looking boat which was drifting
slowly towards the shore, and which presently ran into a little creek
and there stuck fast in the sand. Prince Mannikin rushed down eagerly
to examine it, and saw with amazement that the masts and spars were all
branched, and covered thickly with leaves until it looked like a little
wood. Thinking from the stillness that there could be no one on board,
the Prince pushed aside the branches and sprang over the side, and found
himself surrounded by the crew, who lay motionless as dead men and in a
most deplorable condition. They, too, had become almost like trees,
and were growing to the deck, or to the masts, or to the sides of
the vessel, or to whatever they had happened to be touching when the
enchantment fell upon them. Mannikin was struck with pity for their
miserable plight, and set to work with might and main to release them.
With the sharp point of one of his arrows he gently detached their hands
and feet from the wood which held them fast, and carried them on shore,
one after another, where he rubbed their rigid limbs, and bathed them
with infusions of various herbs with such success, that, afte