ctive mood, the man with the red
beard addressed the Prince in a slow, meditative manner: "How would
you like," he said, "to form a nucleus?"

"Can we get any thing to eat by it?" eagerly asked the Prince.

"Yes," replied the man, "you can."

"We'll do it!" immediately cried the whole sixteen, without waiting
for further information.

"Which will you do first," said the man, "listen to my explanations,
or eat?"

"Eat!" cried the entire sixteen in chorus.

The man now produced from his cart a quantity of bread, meat, wine,
and other provisions, which he distributed generously, but
judiciously, to the hungry Prince and his followers. Every one had
enough, but no one too much. And soon, revived and strengthened, they
felt like new beings.

"Now," said the Prince, "we are ready to form a nucleus, as we
promised. How is it done?"

"I will explain the matter to you in a few words," said the man with
the red beard. "For a long time I have been desirous to found a city.
In order to do this one must begin by forming a nucleus. Every great
city is started from a nucleus. A few persons settle down in some
particular spot, and live there. Then they are a nucleus. Then other
people come there, and gather around this nucleus, and then more
people come and more, until in course of time there is a great city.
I have loaded this cart with provisions, tools, and other things that
are necessary for my purpose, and have set out to find some people
who would be willing to form a nucleus. I am very glad to have found
you and that you are willing to enter into my plan; and this seems a
good spot for us to settle upon."

"What is the first thing to be done?" said the Prince.

"We must all go to work," said the man with the red beard, "to build
dwellings, and also a school-house for these young people. Then we
must till some ground in the suburbs, and lay the foundations, at
least, of a few public buildings."

"All this will take a good while, will it not?" said the Prince.

"Yes," said the man, "it will take a good while; and the sooner we
set about it, the better."

Thereupon tools were distributed among the party, and Prince,
courtiers, boys, girls, and all went to work to build houses and form
the nucleus of a city.

When the jailer looked into his cells in the morning, and found that
all but one of his prisoners had escaped, he was utterly astounded,
and his face, when the Jolly-cum-pop saw him, made that individual
roa