116 PRINCE FILDERKIN

Nobody care a bit for him,
Hissum ho, Hissum he!

Snake in de water must not stay,
Hissum ho, Hissum he !

‘Cos de Prince want to pass dat way,
Hissum ho, Hissum he !

Power he has de spell to break,
Hissum ho, Hissum he!
So out ob de way, you nasty old snake,
With your Hissum ho and your Hissum he!’

While the Prince was singing these verses,
a great movement occurred among the
reptiles who had made themselves so un-
pleasant upon his first arrival. Their hiss-
ing grew fainter and fainter, and presently
ceased altogether; their eyes no longer
gleamed and glared with their former fierce
and cruel expression, and they left off writh-
ing and twisting themselves about as they
had previously done. Still more strange,
however, was that which followed. Snakes
and scales disappeared, suddenly and en-
tirely, as the Prince finished his song, and
instead of these ugly and repulsive creatures,
a number of white swans appeared before the
astonished eyes of the Prince, who thought