PRINCE PRIGIO. ‘27

 

destroyed. Never was such a spectacle of
wicked mischief. It was as if hay had been
made of everything he possessed. What was.
worse, he had not a penny in his pocket to buy
new things; and his father had stopped his.
allowance of fifty thousand pounds a month.

Can you imagine anything more cruel and
unjust than this conduct? for it was not the
prince’s fault that he was so clever. The cruel
fairy had made him so. But, even if the prince
had been born clever (as may have happened to
you), was he to be blamed for that? The other
people were just as much in fault for being born
so stupid ; but the world, my dear children, can
never be induced to remember this. If you
are clever, you will find it best not to let people
know it—if you want them to like you.

Well, here was the prince in a pretty plight.
Not a pound in his pocket, not a pair of boots
to wear, not even a cap to cover his head from
the rain; nothing but cold meat to eat, and
never a servant to answer the bell.