164 PRINCE FILDERKIN

‘Sire,’ he said, ‘I have claimed as my
rightful prize the hump which is held so
sacred and prized so much by your majesty
and your people. But I would not for the
world do wrong to a national feeling. The
only thing which the Fates have decreed,
and which I am bound to see accomplished,
is this—that the hump upon my own back
should, by some means or other, repose
side by side with that of the illustrious hero
which you so justly prize. I had hoped to
have secured this result by fastening the
treasure which you possess to that which is
already mine. If, however, you can find
the means of removing my hump without
injury to it or me, and placing it in the
crystal case which contains that of Humpty
Dumpty, my end will equally have been
gained, and I shall with pleasure avoid
giving offence to a people whom I respect
and a monarch whom I reverence.’

As Prince Filderkin spoke, joy lighted up
the faces of the hump-backed mountebanks
and their monarch, and the latter im-
mediately turned three times head over
heels, and stood upright before the Prince.

‘You have spoken noble words,’ he cried,