go PRINCE FILDERKIN

mountebanks had not happened to be pass-
ing that way, who instantly claimed it as his
own property. The hump-backed mounte-
banks are, as you may perhaps know, a pecu-
liar race of people, small in size, but grotesque
in shape and appearance, and every one of
them ornamented as you are with a hump.
Far from holding this to be a disfigurement,
they look upon it as an ornament and object
of pride, and look down upon humpless
mortals with mingled pity and contempt.
To lose a hump would be to them an awful
misfortune—to acquire one the greatest pitch
of felicity. It is therefore more than prob-
able that those people would only too
gladly rid you of your hump, but unless this
was properly and carefully effected, you
might very likely lose your life and hump
together, which would scarcely be to your
advantage.

Therefore I should not have recommended
you to look for aid in this quarter, had it
not been that there is something more than
I have yet told you. Humpty Dumpty’s
hump is kept in a crystal case in the
palace of the King of the hump-backed
mountebanks, The palace itself is situate