d once at the King as he stood outside the gates of
apple-blossom, and then she turned aside without speaking a word and
passed out of sight among the flower-beds. Then the King knew that his
search was over; she was beautiful and silent enough to please him,
whether she were foolish or not; and he made up his mind on the spot
not to search any more for the disdainful Princess who had run away
from him.

"Who is she?" he asked the dragon, eagerly.

"The Lady Whimsical, to be sure," answered the dragon. "What a lot of
questions you ask!"

"Then go and tell the Lady Whimsical that if she pleases I would like
to speak with her," said King Grumbelo.

The dragon did not move.

"The Lady Whimsical never speaks," he observed. "It would really be
much wiser if you were to go away."

"I am not going away," shouted the King, growing angry. "Go and ask
her at once if she will receive me, or I will put you out of the way
for good and all!"

"Very well," said the dragon, sighing; "I suppose I must. What name?"

"King Grumbelo," answered the King, proudly.

He fully expected that the dragon would fall flat on the ground at the
mention of such an important name as his; but the dragon did nothing of
the kind.

"It is not a bit of use expecting to come in here with a name like
that," he complained. "The Lady Whimsical cannot bear anything ugly,
and she has a particular horror of ugly names. I have strict orders
never to mention an ugly name in her presence. You had really better
go away."

"I am not going away," shouted the King once more. "Go and tell the
Lady Whimsical that a great King, who has heard how charming and how
gracious she is, would like to make himself known to her."

The dragon consented unwillingly to take this message, and ambled
clumsily away among the flower-beds. When he came back, he found the
King pacing restlessly up and down.

"Can't you keep still?" growled the dragon. "Your ridiculous name is
enough to make any one giddy without--"

"What did the Lady Whimsical say?" interrupted King Grumbelo,
impatiently.

"The Lady Whimsical never says," answered the dragon drowsily, as he
curled himself up in the sun and closed his eyes; "but she will allow
you to look at her for five minutes every morning, at two hours after
sunrise."

Two hours after sunrise on the following morning, King Grumbelo was
accordingly admitted into the garden beyond the pink-and-white gates of
apple-blossom.