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eyes. However, when he was told all about the pores of the
skin, and how they could not be healthy if he was not
washed, he at once ceased to resist, for he was very reason-
able. He argued with his father that he did not see why there
should be kings who were rich while beggars were poor, and
why the King who was a little greedy should have poached
eggs and plumcake at afternoon tea while many other persons
went without dinner. The King was so surprised and hurt at
these remarks that he boxed the Prince's ears, saying: *TU
teach you to be too clever, my lad." Then he remembered the
awful curse of the oldest fairy, and was sorry for the rudeness
of the Queen. And when the Prince, after having his ears
boxed, said that "force was no argument," the King went
away in a rage.
Indeed, I cannot tell you how the Prince was hated by all!
He would go down into the kitchen and show the cook how to
make soup. He would visit the poor people's cottages and
teach them how to make the beds, and how to make plum-
pudding out of turnip-tops and venison cutlets out of rusty
bacon. He showed the fencing-master how to fence, and the
professional cricketer how to bowl, and instructed the rat-
catcher in breeding terriers. He sent sums to the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, and assured the Astronomer Royal that the
sun does not go round the earth which, for my part, I
believe it does. The young ladies of the Court disliked danc-
42 Andrew Lang
ing with him, in spite of his good looks, because he was
always asking: "Have you read this?" and "Have you read
that?" and when they said they hadn't, he sneered; and
when they said they had, he found them out.
He found out all his tutors and masters in the same horrid
way; correcting the accent of his French teacher, and trying to
get his German tutor not to eat peas with his knife. He also
endeavoured to teach the Queen-dowager, his grandmother, an
art with which she had long been perfectly familiar! In fact,
he knew everything better than anybody else; and the worst of
it was that he did: and he never was in the wrong, and he
always said; "Didn't I tell you so?" And, what was more, he
had\
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As time went on, Prince Prigio had two younger brothers,
whom everybody liked. They were not a bit clever, but jolly.
Prince Alphonso, the third son, was round, fat, good-humoured,
and as brave as a lion. Prince Enrico, the second, was tall,
thin, and a little sad, but never too clever- Both were in love
with two of (heir own cousins (with the approval of their dear
parents); and all the world said: "What nice, unaffected
princes they are!" But Prigio nearly got the country into
several wars by being too clever for the foreign ambassadors.
Now, as Pantouflia was a rich, lazy country, which hated
righting, this was very unpleasant, and did not make people
love Prince Prigio any better.
CHAPTER IU
About the Firedrake
Of all the people who did not like Prigio, his own dear papa,
King Grognio, disliked him most. For the King knew he was
not clever himself. When he was in the counting-house,
counting out his money, and when he happened to say:
PRINCE PRIGIO 43
"Sixteen shillings and fourteen and twopence are three pounds,
fifteen," it made him wild to hear Prigio whisper: "One
pound, ten, and twopence" which of course it is. And the
King was afraid that Prigio would conspire, and get made
king himself which was the last thing Prigio really wanted.
He much preferred to idle about, and know everything with-
out seeming to take any trouble.
Well, the King thought and thought. How was he to get
Prigio out of the way, and make Enrico or Alphonso his
successor? He read in books about it; and all the books
showed that, if a king sent his three sons to do anything, it
was always the youngest who did it and got the crown. And
he wished he had the chance. Well, it arrived at last.
There was a very hot summer! It began to be hot in March.
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