thing if he acted entirely
from himself. I soon convinced myself of the perfect correctness of my
colleague's observations; and, like him, firmly believed that it was
possible to snatch the princess from her sleep, and give her again her
original form. The sublime spirit, dwelling within us, soon let us find
the proper method; but as you, friend Pepusch, know very little,--in
fact nothing at all,--of our art, it would be quite superfluous to
describe to you the different operations which we went through to
attain our object. It is sufficient if I tell you that by the dexterous
use of various glasses--for the most part prepared by myself--we
succeeded not only in drawing the princess uninjured from the flower,
but in forwarding her growth, so that she soon attained her natural
dimensions. Now, indeed, life was wanting; and this depended on the
last and most difficult operations. We reflected her image by means of
one of the best solar microscopes, and loosened it dexterously from the
white wall, without the least injury. As soon as the shadow floated
freely, it shot like lightning into the glass, which broke into a
thousand shivers. The princess stood before us full of life and
freshness. We shouted for joy; but so much the greater was our horror,
on perceiving that the circulation of the blood stopped precisely there
where the Leech-Prince had fastened himself. She was just on the point
of swooning, when we perceived on the very spot behind the left ear a
little black dot, that quickly appeared and as quickly disappeared.
Immediately the stagnation of the blood ceased, the princess revived,
and our work had succeeded.

"Each of us,--that is, I and my colleague,--knew full well how
invaluable was the possession of the princess, and each struggled for
it, imagining that he had more right to it than the other. My colleague
affirmed that the tulip, in which he had found the princess, was his
property; and that he had made the first discovery, which he had
imparted to me; and that I could only be deemed an assistant, who had
no right to demand, as a reward of his labour, the work itself at which
he had assisted. I, on the other hand, brought forward my invention of
the last and most difficult process, which had restored the princess to
life, and in the execution of which my colleague had only helped;
so that, if he had any claims of propriety upon the embryo in the
flower-petal, yet the living person belonged to me. On this