Part 10 (1/2)

But Princess Prunella showed no signs of being in a hurry. She just glanced over the sea of faces that were turned towards her, and then looked speechlessly at her mother. The smiles had all gone from her face, and the big blue eyes were filled with tears.

”Why, they are all exactly alike!” she said piteously. ”I cannot tell one from another.” And to the astonishment of every one in the room, she dropped down on the steps of the throne and began to cry.

”Dear, dear! What is to be done?” exclaimed the Queen, in much alarm.

”It will look so very bad if all the children have to be sent home again!”

”It will certainly lead to a war,” was all the King said; and then they both looked helplessly at their sobbing little daughter. As for all the children, they were so surprised at hearing how much alike they were that they said nothing at all; and it is difficult to tell what would have been the end of the matter, if the Princess had not suddenly jumped to her feet again and pointed towards the door.

”There is the Prince I should like to play with,” she exclaimed. ”_He_ is not like the others, for he has a wonderful look on his face.”

Everybody looked round at the doorway; and, sure enough, there stood a boy whom no one had noticed before. ”Come here, Prince,” commanded the Princess, raising her voice haughtily; ”you may kiss my hand if you like.”

But the boy drew back with a bewildered air and shook his head. Princess Prunella stamped her foot angrily.

”How dare you hesitate when I tell you to come here?” she cried. At this, however, the strange boy turned and hastened out of the room altogether; and a loud murmur of astonishment rose from the children.

The King's daughter had never been disobeyed in her life before, and for a moment she was too astonished to speak.

”Who is he? What is his name?” she demanded at last.

There was a pause, broken presently by the shrill voice of one of the pages. ”Please, your Highness, it is only deaf Robert, the minstrel's son,” he said.

”Deaf!” repeated the Princess. ”What is that?”

”It means that he cannot hear anything, little daughter,” explained the Queen; ”so, you see, he would not do for a playfellow at all. Besides, he is not even a Prince. Can you not choose one of these others instead?”

The Princess, however, could do nothing of the kind. ”All these are alike,” she said again; ”but the minstrel's son has a wonderful look on his face, and I will have no one else for a playfellow!”

So all the children went sadly back to their homes, and wondered why they were so much alike; and the whole court was made uncomfortable once more by the sulkiness of Princess Prunella.

”Your Highness's best wax doll has not been out for two whole days,”

suggested the head nurse.

The Princess s.n.a.t.c.hed the doll from her hands and threw it on the floor.

”If you will not let me play with a boy who is deaf, how can you expect me to play with a _doll_?” she asked; and although, no doubt, there was much in what she said, it was hardly the way in which to speak to the head nurse. Indeed, there would have been a serious disturbance in the royal nursery the very next minute, if the Princess's cream-coloured pony had not suddenly trotted round from the stable of its own accord, and put it into her head to go for a ride.

Now, the Princess's pony was of course a fairy pony; so when he ran away with her in the forest, that day, it was not to be supposed that he would run away with her for nothing. He took her, in fact, for a real fairy ride, all through a fairy forest, that began by being quite a baby forest and then grew and grew, the deeper she went into it, until it ended in being quite a grown-up forest. And the pony never stopped running away until he reached a dear little grey house, that was set in the brightest of flower gardens, right in the middle of the forest.

The Princess slipped off his back and pushed open the little gate and walked into the flower garden. Any one else might have been surprised to find deaf Robert sitting there, in the middle of the trim green lawn, but after a fairy ride one is never surprised at anything; so the Princess's heart just gave one big jump for joy, and she ran straight up to him and took his hand.

”Poor deaf boy! poor deaf boy!” she said softly. Certainly she was not behaving like a King's daughter, for she ought to have been extremely angry with him for disobeying her in the morning, instead of which she spoke as gently to him as any ordinary little girl might have done. But then, as he could not hear what she said to him, what was the use of speaking like a princess?

”Poor deaf boy!” she repeated, bending over him; ”no wonder you look so dull and unhappy!”

It was the first time in her life that she had forgotten she was a princess, and she was quite surprised at the gentleness of her own voice. She was still more surprised when the deaf boy rose to his feet and bowed very low and answered her.

”I was only unhappy, Princess, because I could not hear what you said to me this morning,” he explained.

”Oh!” cried the Princess. ”You _can_ hear me now!”