Prince Ricardo of Pantouflia Read Online Free PDF

Jaqueline, I never interfere with your pursuits, but I almost doubt whether
Cornelius Agrippa
is a good book for a very young lady to read. The Fairy Paribanou, I am sure, taught you nothing beyond the ordinary magical accomplishments suited to your rank; but there are a great many things in the
Cornelius
which I think you should not study till you are older and wiser."
    "What does your Majesty mean?" said poor Jaqueline, feeling very uncomfortable; for the king had never lectured her before.
    "Why," said his Majesty, taking the silver cross out of his pocket, "did you not give this to Rosina?"
    "Yes, sire, I did give her the drops. She had them made up herself."
    "Then give it back to her when you see her next. I am glad you are frank, Jaqueline. And you know, of course, that the drops are not ordinary silver? They are moon silver, and that can only be got in one way, so far as I know, at least--when one spills the water when he, or she, is drinking the moon. Now, there is only one book which tells how that can be done, and there is only one reason for doing it; namely, to find out what is some other person's secret. I shall not ask you
whose
secret you wanted to find out, but I must request you never to do such a thing again without consulting me. You can have no reason for it, such as a great king might have whose enemies are plotting against his country."
    "Oh, sire, I will tell you everything!" cried Jaqueline.
    "No, don't; I don't want to know. I am sure you will make no use of your information which you think I should not approve of. But there is another thing--that eclipse of the moon! Oh, Jaqueline, was it honourable, or fair to the astronomers and men of science, to say nothing about it? Their European reputations are seriously injured."
    Poor Jaqueline could only cry.
    "Never mind," said his Majesty, comforting her. "There is no great harm done yet, and perhaps they would not believe you if you did explain; but just think, if some people ceased to believe in Science, what would they have left to believe in? But you are young, of course, and cannot be expected to think of everything."
    "I never thought about it at all," wept Jaqueline.
    "'Evil is wrought by want of thought,'" said the king, quoting the poet. "Now run away, dry your tears, and I think you had better bring me that book, and I'll put it back in one of the locked-up shelves. Later, when you are older, we shall see about it."
    The princess flew to her room, and returned with her book. And the king kissed her, and told her to go and see if her Majesty meant to take a drive.
    "I'll never deceive him again, never . . . unless it is
quite
necessary," said the princess to herself. "Indeed, it is not so easy to deceive the king. What a lot he has read!"
    In fact, King Prigio had been very studious when a young man, before he came to the throne.
    "Poor child!" thought the king. "No doubt she was trying her fortune, wondering if Ricardo cares for her a little. Of course I could not let her tell me
that
, poor child!"
    In this guess, as we know, his Majesty was mistaken, which seldom happened to him.
    "I wonder who she is?" the king went on speaking to himself. "That great booby, Ricardo, saved her from wild birds, which were just going to eat her. She was fastened to a mountain top, but
where
? that's the question. Ricardo never has any notion of geography. It was across the sea, he noticed
that
; but which sea,--Atlantic, Pacific, the Black Sea, the Caspian, the Sea of Marmora, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, the German Ocean, the Mediterranean? Her ornaments were very peculiar; there was a broad gold sun on her breast. I must look at them again some day. She said she was being sacrificed to wild birds (which her people worshipped), because there was some famine, or war, or trouble in the country. She said she was a Daughter of the Sun; but that, of course, is absurd, unless--By Jove! I believe I have it," said the king, and he went into the royal library and was