_THE INVISIBLE PRINCE_

Once upon a time there lived a Fairy who had power over the earth, the
sea, fire, and the air; and this Fairy had four sons. The eldest, who
was quick and lively, with a vivid imagination, she made Lord of Fire,
which was in her opinion the noblest of all the elements. To the
second son, whose wisdom and prudence made amends for his being rather
dull, she gave the government of the earth. The third was wild and
savage, and of monstrous stature; and the Fairy, his mother, who was
ashamed of his defects, hoped to hide them by creating him King of the
Seas. The youngest, who was the slave of his passions and of a very
uncertain temper, became Prince of the Air.

Being the youngest, he was naturally his mother's favourite; but this
did not blind her to his weaknesses, and she foresaw that some day he
would suffer much pain through falling in love. So she thought the
best thing she could do was to bring him up with a horror of women;
and, to her great delight, she saw this dislike only increased as he
grew older. From his earliest childhood he heard nothing but stories
of princes who had fallen into all sorts of troubles through love; and
she drew such terrible pictures of poor little Cupid that the young
man had no difficulty in believing that he was the root of all evil.

All the time that this wise mother could spare from filling her son
with hatred for all womenkind she passed in giving him a love of the
pleasures of the chase, which henceforth became his chief joy. For his
amusement she had made a new forest, planted with the most splendid
trees, and turned loose in it every animal that could be found in any
of the four quarters of the globe. In the midst of this forest she
built a palace which had not its equal for beauty in the whole world,
and then she considered that she had done enough to make any prince
happy.

Now it is all very well to abuse the God of Love, but a man cannot
struggle against his fate. In his secret heart the Prince got tired of
his mother's constant talk on this subject; and when one day she
quitted the palace to attend to some business, begging him never to go
beyond the grounds, he at once jumped at the chance of disobeying her.

Left to himself the Prince soon forgot the wise counsels of his
mother, and feeling very much bored with his own company, he ordered
some of the spirits of the air to carry him to the court of a
neighbouring sovereign. This kingd