not have to go through
before the day is over. Don't think I am complaining though, for of
course it is part of my profession."

"What is your profession?" asked the Prince.

"Chief Spy in Particular to the Fairy Queen," answered the grasshopper.
"It's very hard work, I can tell you; some days I haven't a moment to
myself. Of course, I find out a great deal that nobody else knows,
which is always amusing. Yesterday, for instance, if I hadn't been a
cockchafer, a doll's teapot, a garden seat, a rose tree and a nursery
table, I shouldn't know as much as I do about you and the Lady
Emmelina."

"Then please tell me what I must do in order to find the Lady
Emmelina," begged the Prince.

"By all means," said the grasshopper, cheerfully. "Go straight on
without turning to the right or the left; and whenever some one greets
you, ask him politely to give you what he is thinking about, and then
you will be able to find the Lady Emmelina."

It seemed rather a roundabout way of finding anything; but, as the
grasshopper disappeared directly he had finished speaking, there was
nothing to do but to follow his advice. The first part was easy
enough, for just in front of him the Prince noticed a little door in
the green mossy wall, which he was quite sure had not been there
before; and through this he straightway walked. He immediately found
himself in a blaze of sunshine on the sea-shore, with green waves
stretching before him as far as he could see, and nothing on either
side of him except the flat stony beach. "It's all very well to tell
any one to go straight on, but how am I to get across the sea?" thought
the Prince. He had never been afraid of anything in his life, however,
so he ran down the beach and put one foot into the white foam at the
edge.

"Good-day to you!" said a voice. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"I am Prince Perfection, and I want what you are thinking about,"
answered the Prince, boldly, although he could not see who was speaking.

"That is a strange thing to want," said the voice; "for I was just
thinking about a little steamboat that would go by real steam; and how
you can possibly want such a thing as that is more than I can
understand."

At that moment there was a faint puffing sound in the distance, which
came nearer and nearer; and presently over the waves rode a most
perfect little steamboat, with real smoke coming out of the funnel. It
was just large enough for the Prince, an