The Little Lame Prince

that there is. But I have hidden it so carefully that the smaller people, and many larger folk, will never find it out, and meantime the boo

y untying his wonderful cloak, which was done up in a very tight and perplexing parcel, using skillfully his deft little hands, and knitting his brows with

em bravely bearing their sufferings and making the best of their misfortunes, it is quite a

down on the carpet, as flat as if it had been ironed; the split joined with a little sharp crick-crack, and the rim turned up all round till it wa

boys, would doubtless have grown up daring and adventurous-a soldier, a sailor, or the like. As it was, he could only show his courage morally, not physically, by being afraid of

As if my dear godmother would ever have

squatted down, wrapping his arms tight round his knees, for they shook a little and his

nd to feel rather disappointed, when he recollected the wo

l the while, they seemed such

lieved a good many sillier things. And as seeing's believing, and I never saw it, I cannot be expected

ill it nearly touched the skylight. Prince Dolor's head actually bumped against the glass, or would

d his godmother's express

bolt-the cloak meanwhile remaining perfectly still, balanced in the air. But the minute the window was o

or in pairs, soaring their way across the calm evening sky till they vanish like black dots in the misty gray, how pleasant it must feel to be up there, quite

n he got out of Hopeless Tower, and found himself for the first tim

eautiful; and then there was the glorious arch of the sky, with a little young moon sitting in the west like a baby queen. And the evening breeze was so sweet and fresh-it kissed h

d; and as he had, as he said, no outdoor clothes, poor Prince Dolor was

better go hom

a little different from the first, but in that slight difference all the importance lay. As he repeated his "Abracadabra," t

keep on thus traveling, perhaps to the world's end, carrying with it a poor, tired, hungry b

ly, "do help me! Tell me just this

ak began to turn slowly. He repeated the charm again, more distinctly and firmly, when it gave a gentle di

he had got out. He had scarcely reached the floor, and was still sitting in the middle of his traveling-cloak

dly here at the window till it is quite dark, and leave the skylight open, to

ding her crossness; for his only anxiet

the tiniest possible parcel, tied all its own knots, and rolled itself of its own accord into the farthest and darkest corner o

olor hardly saw it; he only saw, hid in the corner where nobody else would see it, his wonderful traveling-cloak. And though his supper was not partic

n and look at her with those quiet, happy eyes, so like hi

he called his "sky-garden," all planted with stars, like flowers, his chief thought was-"I must be up very early

life; now, I am afraid, he found them also a little dull. But he tried to be good,-I don't say Prince Dolor always was good, but he generally

my godmother would be of me

dle, his fingers trembling with eagerness, climbed on the chair, and thence to the table, so as to unbar the skylight,-he for

n the next room, perceived no difference. And besides, she might have gone in and out a doz

mage, which she set on the window-sill reading, or by the table drawing, where it looked so like Prince Dolor that any common observ

air on his magic cloak, and seeing all sorts of wonderful things-or

ound-thistles, purple and bright, with many others the names of which I do not know. No more did Prince Dolor, though he tried to find them out by recalling any pictures he had seen of them. But he was too far of

ir of glasses like those my nurse reads with, and takes such car

ttiest gold spectacles ever seen; and looking downward, he found that, though ever so high above the ground, h

mother, who he felt sure had given him this new present. He amused himself with it for ever so long, with his ch

p to the sky-the blue, bright, empty sky, whi

seen it before-he almost thought he had; but then he could not tell what it was. Looking at it through his spectacles, he discovered that it really was alive; being a long string of

talent for putting two and two together and finding out all he could. "Oh, how I should like to see them quite c

grow older, the more we know the more we find out there is to know. And

imself high in the air, in the very middle of that band of aerial travelers, who had mo magic cloak t

they looked at him-those pretty swallows, with their changing necks and brigh

s dull plain, and the dreary and lonely tower. I do so want to see the world! Pretty

as if inside each little head had been a mariner's compass, to guide t

faint, wavy black line as it floated away, sometimes changing its curves a little,

in the center of the cloak,

more he had, the more he wanted; and it is not always one can have everything one wants-at least, at the e

l her goodness; so he just kept his trouble to himself, went back to his lonely tower, and spent