PRINCE RICARDO. 183

 

this expedition on horseback, and the only
magical thing he took with him was the Cap of
Darkness (the one which would not work, but
he did not know that), and this he put in his
pocket for future use. With plenty of egg
sandwiches and marmalade sandwiches, and
cold minced-collop sandwiches, he pricked
forth into the wilderness, making for the
country inhabited by the Yellow Dwarf. The
princess was glad he was riding, for she
privately accompanied him in the disguise of
a wasp; and a wasp, of course, could not have
kept up with him in his Seven-league Boots.

“Hang that wops!” said Prince Ricardo
several times, buffeting it with his pocket-
handkerchief when it buzzed in his ear and
round his horse’s head.

Meanwhile, King Prigio had taken his pre-
cautions, which were perfectly simple. When he
thought Ricardo was getting near the place, the
king put on his Wishing Cap, sat down before the
magic crystal ball, and kept his eye on the pro-
ceedings, being ready to wish the right thing to
help Ricardo at the right moment. He left
the window wide open, smoked his cigar, and
seemed the pattern of a good and wise father
watching the conduct of a promising son.

The prince rode and rode, sometimes taking
up Pepper on his saddle; passing through
forests, sleeping at lonely inns, fording rivers,
till one day he saw that the air was becoming