replied: "Then
may God reward you." The words sprang naturally and easily to his lips,
and yet they were the very ones that the beggars in the duchy of the
Greylocks always used.

He ran along by the side of the stream quite fast, in order to dry his
clothes, until it was noon, and many thoughts passed through his mind,
but so rapidly that he could hardly remember whether they were gay or
sad. When at last he sat down to rest under a flowering elder bush, he
thought of his mother, and of the great sorrow that he was causing her,
of his brother, and Norma, and old Pepe, and his heart failed him, and
he wept. He might never see them again, for how could he ever accomplish
anything that was good and great, and yet the fish had demanded it of
him! For three days he continued to be very dejected, and whenever he
passed boys at play, or boys and maidens dancing and singing under the
trees, he would say to himself: "You are happy, for you were not born
under an evil star as I was."

The first night he slept in a mill, the second in an inn, the third in
a smithy. Just as he was leaving in the early morning a horseman rode
rapidly past, and called out to the smith, who was standing in front
of the shop: "The battle is lost. The King is flying. The Greylocks are
marching on the capital."

George laughed aloud, and the messenger hearing him, made a cut at him
with his riding-whip, but missed him, and the boy ran away. George felt
as if some one had removed the burden that had been weighing him down
during his wanderings, and he reflected that, if he had remained a
prince, and had been at that moment comfortably at home, instead of
wandering until he was footsore along the highways, Moustache, the
Field-marshal, would have lost the battle.

It was still early when he reached the spot where the river turned to
the east. From this point he was to go northwards. He found a path that
led from the bank of the river, through the woods, across the mountain
chain. The dew still hung on the grass, and above in the oaks and
beeches, it seemed as if all the birds were holding high festival, there
was such a fluttering, and calling, and chirping, and trilling, and
singing, while the woodpecker beat time. The sunshine played among the
branches, and fell through onto the flowery earth, where it lay among
the shadows of the leaves like so many round pieces of gold. Although
George was climbing the mountain, his breath came freely, and all at