After a long avoidance of the painful subject, the king and queen resolved to hold a council of three upon it; and so they sent for the princess. In she came, sliding and flitting and gliding from one piece of furniture to another, and put herself at last in an armchair, in a sitting posture. Whether she could be said to sit, seeing she received no support from the seat of the chair, I do not pretend to determine.
"My dear child," said the king, "you must be aware by this time that you are not exactly like other people.""Oh, you dear funny papa! I have got a nose, and two eyes, and all the rest. So have you. So has mamma.""Now be serious, my dear, for once," said the queen.
"No, thank you, mamma; I had rather not."
"Would you not like to be able to walk like other people?" said the king.
"No indeed, I should think not. You only crawl. You are such slow coaches!""How do you feel, my child?" he resumed, after a pause of discomfiture.
"Quite well, thank you."
"I mean, what do you feel like?"
"Like nothing at all, that I know of."
"You must feel like something."
"I feel like a princess with such a funny papa, and such a dear pet of a queen-mamma!""Now really!" began the queen; but the princess interrupted her.
"Oh Yes," she added, "I remember. I have a curious feeling sometimes, as if I were the only person that had any sense in the whole world."She had been trying to behave herself with dignity; but now she burst into a violent fit of laughter, threw herself backwards over the chair, and went rolling about the floor in an ecstasy of enjoyment. The king picked her up easier than one does a down quilt, and replaced her in her former relation to the chair. The exact preposition expressing this relation I do not happen to know.
"Is there nothing you wish for?" resumed the king, who had learned by this time that it was useless to be angry with her.
"Oh, you dear papa!--yes," answered she.
"What is it, my darling?"
"I have been longing for it--oh, such a time!--ever since last night.""Tell me what it is."
"Will you promise to let me have it?"
The king was on the point of saying Yes, but the wiser queen checked him with a single motion of her head. "Tell me what it is first," said he.
"No no. Promise first."
"I dare not. What is it?"
"Mind, I hold you to your promise.--It is--to be tied to the end of a string--a very long string indeed, and be flown like a kite. Oh, such fun! I would rain rose-water, and hail sugar-plums, and snow whipped-cream, and--and--and--"A fit of laughing checked her; and she would have been off again over the floor, had not the king started up and caught her just in time. Seeing nothing but talk could be got out of her, he rang the bell, and sent her away with two of her ladies-in-waiting.
"Now, queen," he said, turning to her Majesty, "what IS to be done?""There is but one thing left," answered she. "Let us consult the college of Metaphysicians.""Bravo!" cried the king; "we will."
Now at the head of this college were two very wise Chinese philosophers-by name Hum-Drum, and Kopy-Keck. For them the king sent; and straightway they came. In a long speech he communicated to them what they knew very well already--as who did not?--namely, the peculiar condition of his daughter in relation to the globe on which she dwelt; and requested them to consult together as to what might be the cause and probable cure of her INFIRMITY. The king laid stress upon the word, but failed to discover his own pun. The queen laughed; but Hum-Drum and Kopy-Keck heard with humility and retired in silence.
