journey through the Forest, set to work. Weary work it was too, and the
worst of it was, that, if one of the Princes grumbled ever so little, the
insect upon which he was working fell to pieces, and the parts had to be
patiently searched for, and put together again.
At last, however, every insect was complete, and just as the Princes gave
a sigh of relief as they looked at their finished task, there stood the
Queen of the Fairies before them. No anger was in her face now, but a
sweet loving smile. She gently waved her wand over the dead insects, and,
lo, a buzzing and humming immediately began as they stirred, flew round
the room, and out of the window into the fresh air.
The Queen looked sadly at the Princes. “If you had been cruel only, your
work would now be done, your education finished, but, alas! there are two
more rooms through which you must go. The work will be hard, but if you
will remember that grumbling undoes the work you grumble about, your task
will be much easier than this sad one has been to you.”
She vanished as suddenly as she had appeared, and the faithful old Stick
came hoppity, hoppity, hop into the room, and, following it, they were
led into a big room full of broken crockery. They gave a start of dismay
as they saw how much there was. Could it be possible they had destroyed
so many things? “Look,” said Prince Thomas, pointing to six big tables,
“there are the bedroom sets we smashed up the day the Fairies took us
away. I do wish we had been wiser, then we would not have had to work so
hard now.” His brothers agreed, and although this was rather a selfish
motive for wishing to be good, still it was a big step in the right
direction, and the first real step they had taken towards going back to
their father’s Palace.
They set to work with a will, patiently putting the big pieces in order,
and then searching for the small bits to fit in. A long, long time it
took, and knowing that the least grumble might mean the whole of the
crockery falling to pieces, and the pieces all having to be put together
again, they tried so hard to be patient that not a single grumble escaped
one of them.
What joy when the whole of the things were mended! This time the Fairy
did not appear, but they were led by the Stick into another room full of
queer rolls of paper. What could they be? Looking closely at them, they
soon discovered. Alas! all the bad or disobedient or rude words they had
ever spoken were plainly to be seen. “Oh dear!” said Prince Richard, “can
it be possible that we were such bad, disobedient, rude boys? we should
have had more niceness than that.”
“Yes, indeed,” replied his brothers.
Ah, if they had but known it, that speech showed they were a good
distance on the road to “home.” As they spoke the Fairy appeared and told
them they must rub out the awful words, and then bury the rolls in the
garden. It was not very difficult work, only tedious, and the more they
rubbed, the sorrier they became for having said such words. When three
rolls were cleaned, they each shouldered one, and bore them through the
open French window, and down a long winding path, which led to a flower
garden quite out of sight of the room in which they had worked at the
rubbing. There were many mounds in this garden, and on each grew pretty
flowers.
The Princes set to work to dig a hole for each bundle. This was quite a
fresh kind of labour for them, and at first they thought it great fun
to use a pick and shovel, but, before long, each Prince felt his back
aching rather badly. The pain grew greater and greater until at last the
grumbling began. It did not go on very long, however, for the sight of
the three rolls, tumbling along the garden path, making straight for the
house, made them remember the Fairy’s caution about grumbling. At once
they ran after the rolls meaning to bring them back, but no matter how
fast they ran, the rolls kept some distance in front of them, and reached
the house first.
“Positively no more grumbling for me,” remarked Prince Richard.
“Nor for me.”
“Nor for me,” echoed his brothers.
When they had carried the rolls back once more, and had dug until their
backs ached, they wisely lay down on the ground and rested, then set to
work again, and soon finished the digging and buried the rolls.
When they brought the second lot of rolls to be buried, they were
delighted to see pretty roses growing out of the mounds where they had
buried their first burdens.
At last, after many weeks of patient work, the room was cleared of rolls,
and the Princes waited for the Fairy to appear, or for the Stick to come
and lead them to another room. Neither of these things happening, and
seeing the door of the room open (it had been closed while they worked at
the rubbing) they went out into the great hall. Every door on either side
of the hall was open, and boys of all sizes were hurrying along, either
coming out of the rooms, running along the hall, or going out of the big
door at the end, while an old man, bent nearly double, rang a big bell
and called loudly:
“Examination day is here, hurry to the Examination room, the Fairies are
waiting there.”
He kept on repeating this, as he walked up and down, and the Princes
quite meant to go to the Examination, but their attention was attracted
by a queer-looking boy whose arms flapped about as if he thought they
were wings, whose head was rather like a big bluebottlefly’s, and who
seemed to be trying to climb up the wall, at the same time making a
buzzing noise with his mouth.
“What are you doing?” asked one of the Princes.
“I’m (buzz) going to the (buzz, buzz) examination (buzz, buzz, buzz).”
“But why are you doing that sort of thing; do you think you are a fly?”
“(Buzz) I’m only (buzz, buzz, buzz) going to the door (buzz, buzz).”
He looked at his questioners in a surprised way. Prince Thomas began
to answer, but he never finished that answer, for the door closed with
a resounding bang. They ran to it and tried to open it, but it was too
firmly closed against them. It had opened for those ready for examination
to go through, and they had missed their chance. However, the old man
who had been calling every one to go to the Examination, did not mean to
miss his chance. It was the rule that those unfit for examination, who
remained in the hall after the big door closed, should be taken by the
old man, and given to the gnomes for slaves.
Imagine the Princes’ surprise when they found themselves picked up and
thrust into a great leather bag in company with the buzzing boy, and a
few other queer looking creatures who bore some resemblance to boys. The
old man carried them to the foot of a great mountain, rolled away a stone
which concealed a hole in the mountain, and calling out, “Only eight
this time, here they come,” emptied the bag into the opening. Down fell
the victims, and when they reached the bottom, the gnomes danced around
them in glee. The new-comers were quickly set to work, and kept at it
too, and it was a good thing the Princes had learned patience in the
Palace of Truth, or they would have grumbled and received the horrible
punishments they saw inflicted on the buzzing boy and the others who had
failed to learn patience during their trial time in Fairyland.
Of course the gnomes knew there must be some mistake as soon as they saw
the Princes. _They_ were not failures, but they kept them as slaves,
put chains on them, and made them work as hard as the others had to,
making gold for the earth. How much time the Princes spent in gnomeland
they never knew, but they always kept a sharp look out for any chance to
escape, and at last it came.
The gnomes were holding a great festival, as they always do once every
thousand years, and the right time for it came while the Princes were
with them. The slaves were set to work alone, but most of them went to
sleep when there were no gnomes’ goads to make them keep awake.
First the gnomes had great jumping trials, when they jumped over the
great fires, seeing, not who could jump highest, but who could bear to
jump nearest the fire. Then they drank quantities of a very fiery liquid
that made them first fight with each other, and then fall into a heavy
sleep. The Princes knew this sleep would last for many hours, so now was
the chance they had longed for, and must at once use. Quickly they filed
through the heavy chains which bound them, and ran off in what they hoped
was the right direction. On and on they ran, although soon tired with
their unaccustomed exercise; but success meant freedom from slavery, so,
though very tired, they persevered in their running.
At length they saw a point of light, and when they reached it, lo! it led
them out into a beautiful meadow filled with green grass and flowers.
They threw themselves at full length on the sweet smelling grass, so
delightful to touch and see and smell after their long imprisonment in
the gold-mine.
Presently Prince Thomas said, “There is a great thing like an umbrella
here, if you will help me, I shall climb to the top, see what there is
to be seen, and tell you, for we must soon decide in which direction to
journey on.”
The great thing was a big toadstool.
With his brothers’ help the Prince climbed to the top, but almost at
once he took a flying leap to the ground again, crying, “Hide, get under
this shelter, for there is a great monster coming this way.”
They crept under the toadstool, but to their horror, the monster stopped
quite close to them, and began to think aloud.
“Enemies encompass me on every side, my nephew has secretly been working
against me, telling lies, and stirring the people to rebellion.” Here he
sighed deeply. “If only my three sons were with me! but alas, the fairies
took them away many years ago, and they have never been heard of since.”
The Princes who had listened to all the old man (who seemed a monster
to them because of their tiny size) said, began to understand. This was
their father, the King. They peeped out at him. Yes, their dear father,
though now an old, old man with white hair. So their cousin, Prince
Claude, was a traitor.
A great longing filled the breast of each Prince. Oh, to be big enough
to fight for and take care of their dear father. No thought of self now.
Ah, that was just what their lessons in Fairyland had taught them. This
unselfish desire to help another was the one thing needed to restore
them to their proper size, and to their astonishment each saw, not only
himself, but the other two, grow and grow and grow until they were quite
as big as their father.
The King had flung himself on the ground, and lay still with his eyes
closed. Hearing a noise, he looked up and saw three strong-looking young
men standing before him.
“Treachery,” he cried, springing to his feet and drawing his sword,
“Prince Claude has sent you to follow and kill me.”
He would have struck at them, but they stood quite still, and, as they
uttered the one word “Father” his sword dropped from his hand.
It did not take long for them to tell him what had happened since their
disappearance with the Fairies, neither did it take long for him to
tell of the sad state of affairs in his Kingdom, brought about by their
cousin, who was trying to make the people rebel against their lawful King.
Great was the rejoicing in the City that night. A great supper was made,
bonfires were lighted, the bells were rung, and the King presented his
sons to the chief Ministers of State. Prince Thomas being the eldest
had, of course, to remain at home, and help the King to govern the
land. Prince Richard led the Army, and quickly put down all rebellion
in the Kingdom. Prince Henry took command of the Navy, and gained great
victories at sea.
The Kingdom, governed and guarded so wisely by the Fairy-taught Princes,
was known throughout the whole world as the Happy Kingdom.
[Illustration: Finis]