FOOD

THE PRINCE WHO WASN'T HUNGRY

Once upon a time there was a little Prince who had very little to do,
and so he thought a great deal about eating. All the grown-up people
in the castle were most anxious to have the little Prince grow up to
be a fine, strong King. So they, too, thought a great deal about what
the Prince should eat. The Queen made out long lists of good things
for his meals. The Court Chancellor bought food, himself, in town so
as to be sure that it would be fresh. The Court Cook was busy boiling,
and broiling, and simmering, and tasting for the little Prince almost
all day long. While the Court Ladies in Waiting served the little
Prince's meals in the most dainty ways: sometimes on rosebud china,
and sometimes in gold bowls, and always with silver spoons.

Such delicious foods as they were! No child, but a Prince, had ever
tasted them.

There were wheat cakes made from only golden wheat, and served with
honey from the wild bees' combs. There were eggs that a tiny bantam
hen had laid, made into an omelette with very rare herbs from the
castle kitchen garden. There were tarts filled with wild strawberries
or black cherries, which every one knows are the nicest strawberries
and cherries of all. There were such strange, sweet dishes as violet
jelly, and rose-leaf jam, and clover preserve, very good indeed for
supper, spread on sugar wafers.

At first the little Prince had an excellent appetite for all these
good things. He looked forward so to his meals that he thought very
little about running and playing with the castle pages. Instead, he
spent ever so much time watching the clock, and he made up a new
timetable for himself.

"Half past breakfast, it is now!" the little Prince would say, or, "A
quarter before dinner," or, "Ten minutes of supper." And the Prince
grew so fat that he looked like a little stuffed pig.

But after a while, the Prince lost his appetite. None of the rare
foods that they gave him tasted as delicious as they had before. He
began asking for things to eat that no one could give him; a blue
apple, or a mug of dew, or a pat of butter made of buttercups.

"What shall we do about it?" all the people in the castle said, and
the Queen cried, and the Court Cook wrung his hands. The little
Prince would eat nothing else, and they were afraid that he would
starve.

Then the little Prince asked them for the best food in the world, and
would have no other. He had eaten what eve