PRINCE PRIGIO. ‘o

had brought in the baby, all the fairies gave
him the most magnificent presents. One offered
a purse which could never be empty; and onea
pair of seven-leagued boots; and another a cap
of darkness, that nobody might see the prince
when he put it on; and another a wishing-cap;
and another a carpet, on which, when he sat,
he was carried wherever he wished to find
himself. Another made him beautiful for
ever; and another, brave; and another; lucky:
but the last fairy of all, a cross old thing,
crept up and said, “‘ My child, you shall be too
clever!”
This fairy’s gift would have pleased the queen,
if she had believed in it, more than anything
else, because she was so clever herself. But
she took no notice at all; and the fairies went
each to her own country, and none of them
stayed there at the palace, where nobody be-
lieved in them, except the king, a little. But
the queen tossed all their nice boots and caps,
carpets, purses, swords, and all, away into a
dark lumber-room; for, of course, she thought
that they were all nonsense, and merely old rub-
bish out of books, or pantomime “‘ properties.”