1.] THE LOST PRINCE. | 69

 

deep but trembling voice, ‘I will swear by the Great
Giant Oath—by all that giants hold sacred, by any-
thing else you please—to be your faithful vassal and
slave to the end of my days, if you will but spare my
life. Your brother is safe and sound, and had I not
loved him as my own son, and intended to make him
my heir, he might have gone home long ago. Say,
Prince, do I not speak the truth ?’

‘It is quite true,’ said Prince Merry, in a voice of
singular sweetness, ‘that I have no recollection of
anything but kindness since I have been here, although
now that memory has been awakened and I recognise
my beloved sisters, I feel a sense of the cruel wrong
which has been done me in depriving me for so long
a time of their sweet society. But I give my voice
for mercy, and hope that we may henceforth all be
friends. Meanwhile, what are the little men doing?’

At these words everybody looked round at the
two Dwarfs, who had been forgotten during the above
conversation. Rindelgrover was still standing upon
his prostrate enemy, and giving from time to time a
triumphant stamp upon him which must have been
the reverse of agreeable. As soon as attention was
called to them, Macklethorpe, with a deep groan,
besought the Princesses to call off his adversary, and
they accordingly begged their little friend to spare his
fallen foe. Thus requested, the worthy Rindelgrover
desisted from his amusement, and the crestfallen Mac-
klethorpe arose, bruised and vanquished, and with the
breath nearly stamped out of his body. The Wood
Dwarf was at first inclined to claim him for a slave
as the reward for all he had done, but on its being put