the very dungeon where young Bulbo had been confined.

Padella (who was a very different person in the depth of his distress,
to Padella, the proud wearer of the Crim Tartar crown), now most
affectionately and earnestly asked to see his son--his dear eldest
boy--his darling Bulbo; and that good-natured young man never once
reproached his haughty parent for his unkind conduct the day before,
when he would have left Bulbo to be shot without any pity, but came to
see his father, and spoke to him through the grating of the door, beyond
which he was not allowed to go; and brought him some sandwiches from the
grand supper which his Majesty was giving above stairs, in honor of the
brilliant victory which had just been achieved.

"I cannot stay with you long, sir," says Bulbo, who was in his best ball
dress, as he handed his father in the prog. "I am engaged to dance the
next quadrille with her Majesty Queen Rosalba, and I hear the fiddles
playing at this very moment."

So Bulbo went back to the ball-room and the wretched Padella ate his
solitary supper in silence and tears.

All was now joy in King Giglio's circle. Dancing, feasting, fun,
illuminations, and jollifications of all sorts ensued. The people
through whose villages they passed were ordered to illuminate their
cottages at night, and scatter flowers on the roads during the day. They
were requested--and I promise you they did not like to refuse--to serve
the troops liberally with eatables and wine; besides, the army was
enriched by the immense quantity of plunder which was found in King
Padella's camp, and taken from his soldiers; who (after they had given
up everything) were allowed to fraternize with the conquerors; and the
united forces marched back by easy stages towards King Giglio's capital,
his royal banner and that of Queen Rosalba being carried in front of
the troops. Hedzoff was made a Duke and a Field Marshal. Smith and Jones
were promoted to be Earls; the Crim Tartar Order of the Pumpkin and the
Paflagonian decoration of the Cucumber were freely distributed by their
Majesties to the army. Queen Rosalba wore the Paflagonian Ribbon of
the Cucumber across her riding-habit, whilst King Giglio never appeared
without the grand Cordon of the Pumpkin. How the people cheered them as
they rode along side by side! They were pronounced to be the handsomest
couple ever seen: that was a matter of course; but they really WERE very
handsome, and, had they been otherwi