72 ‘PRINCE FILDERKIN

well as the ears and eyes of any other child
in the King’s country, he had a tongue
which he could use as well as other people,
and he was a very intelligent child, able to
learn quickly and to remember what he
learned. More than this, he was so fortunate
as to enjoy remarkably good health ; he had
the measles very well, made nothing of an
attack of scarlatina which once frightened
his parents terribly, and ate an almost un-
limited quantity of cakes, jam, and toffy,
without ever being one bit the worse for it.

But, unhappily, with all these advantages,
there was one defect which was the cause of
deep grief to the Prince, and even more so
to his father, mother, and relations. He
had been born with a hump between his-
shoulders, which increased with his growth,
and entirely marred that personal appear-
ance which would otherwise have been con-
spicuous for its beauty. Of course there
were courtiers and flatterers who made light
of this deformity, calling it a trifling blemish,
and one which was of no real importance.
There were some, indeed, of the more servile
kind, who went so far as to declare that, in
their opinion, it was no blemish at all, but a