PRINCE RICARDO. 139

 

The king, who began to guess what had
happened, hurried back to the turret-room.

There were all the tradesmen with parcels
under their arms.

‘“What means this, gentlemen?” said his
Majesty, severely. ‘‘ For what reason did you
leave the room without my permission ?”’

They all knelt down, humbly imploring his
compassion.

“Get up, you donkeys!” said the king, for-
getting his politeness. ‘‘Get up, and tell me
where you have been hiding yourselves.”

The hatter came forward, and said:

‘Sire, you will not believe me; indeed, I can
scarcely believe it myself!”

‘“Nor none of us can't,’ said the sword-
maker. “‘We have been home, and brought
the articles. All orders executed with punctu-
ality and dispatch,” he added, quoting his own
advertisement without thinking of it.

On this the swordmaker took out and ex-
hibited the Andrea Ferrara blade, which was
exactly like the Sword of Sharpness.

The upholsterer undid his parcel, and there
was a Persian rug, which no one could tell from
the magical carpet.

The hatter was fumbling with the string of
his parcel, when he suddenly remembered, what
the king in his astonishment had not noticed,
that he had a cap on himself. He pulled it off
in a hurry, and the king at once saw that it was

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