ace, as the heir to the throne. This little
prince was a quiet, unobtrusive boy, so that everybody wondered at the
King's choosing him when there were so many more; but as he grew into a
fine young fellow, good and brave, they agreed that the King judged more
wisely than they.

"Not a lame prince, either," his Majesty observed one day, watching
him affectionately; for he was the best runner, the highest leaper, the
keenest and most active sportsman in the country. "One cannot make one's
self, but one can sometimes help a little in the making of somebody
else. It is well."

This was said, not to any of his great lords and ladies, but to a good
old woman--his first homely nurse whom he had sought for far and wide,
and at last found in her cottage among the Beautiful Mountains. He sent
for her to visit him once a year, and treated her with great honor until
she died. He was equally kind, though somewhat less tender, to his other
nurse, who, after receiving her pardon, returned to her native town and
grew into a great lady, and I hope a good one. But as she was so grand a
personage now, any little faults she had did not show.

Thus King Dolor's reign passed year after year, long and prosperous.
Whether he were happy--"as happy as a king"--is a question no human
being can decide. But I think he was, because he had the power of making
everybody about him happy, and did it too; also because he was his
godmother's godson, and could shut himself up with her whenever he
liked, in that quiet little room in view of the Beautiful Mountains,
which nobody else ever saw or cared to see. They were too far off, and
the city lay so low. But there they were, all the time. No change ever
came to them; and I think, at any day throughout his long reign, the
King would sooner have lost his crown than have lost sight of the
Beautiful Mountains.

In course of time, when the little Prince, his cousin, was grown into a
tall young man, capable of all the duties of a man, his Majesty did one
of the most extraordinary acts ever known in a sovereign beloved by
his people and prosperous in his reign. He announced that he wished to
invest his heir with the royal purple--at any rate, for a time--while he
himself went away on a distant journey, whither he had long desired to
go.

Everybody marveled, but nobody opposed him. Who could oppose the good
King, who was not a young king now? And besides, the nation had a great
admiration for the young regen