26 THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE HEMPSEED.

“Certainly,” said the gover-
ness.

“ Doubtless,” added the tutor.
Confused, hurt in the most
tender point, and ashamed at
having received so severe a
rebuke from his father, whom
he loved and respected much,
poor little Prince Hempseed
= retired, carrying in his arms
the four birds which he had so
= strangely saved from death,
and which he now bathed with
his tears.

All he said, when he met in the doorway the wicked
Rol, who had caused all the mischief, was, “I shall be a
man some day.”

Prince Orfano-Orfana, wishing to prove to his son how
much he was vexed at his petulance towards Olympia, gave
him a mark of his sore displeasure a few days after the
adventure of the four birds. He was resolved that Prince
Hempseed should remember all his life the important truth,
that moderation should be seen even in actions the most just.

He was in the habit of inviting to a grand dinner, on a
certain day in autumn, the principal nobles of those parts,
in order to keep the birth-day of the princess, his wife.
Those dinners were always so splendid, and so many good
things were always spread upon the table, that the people
in the neighbourhood began to talk of the feast a long time,
every year, before it took place. It was quite an event.
In a word, Prince Orfano-Orfana spared nothing to render
the present banquet as famous as all the former ones. It
was a creat day!

And that day was now come.

On every part of the lake were seen elegant barges,
bending beneath their blue or rose-coloured sails, and speed-