as now, when you have grown so kind."

John spoke gently. "You will change all this when you are king," he
said.

The Prince shook his head. "No, they will never love me as they do
you. I would fain be different, but I can never be like you, John.
You should be king, not I."

John laughed. "And what would become of the Animal Kingdom then?" he
said. "My father and I have been talking together. We must soon go
back to our woods and our little friends there."

"Oh, you must not go!" gasped the Prince, turning pale. "You must
never leave me! I can never again be alone with the King!"

He looked so terror-stricken that the Hermit and John were silent for
pity.

"I have been thinking," went on the Prince gravely, "that when I am
king, if that time ever comes,--and they say that it must, since there
is no other son of our house,--I shall need much help, for I am weak
and not wise. You, good father, I would have you for my counselor.
And you,"--he laid his arm affectionately on John's shoulder,--"you
shall be my brother and share the throne with me."

"Nay, thrones cannot be shared thus," said the Hermit, looking at both
boys with some agitation. "You are a king's son. But we are of the
woods, my Prince. I at least have other work to do. As John says,
there is the Animal Kingdom--what is to become of that?"

"Why, there will be no need for you to go to find it," answered the
Prince eagerly. "When I am king all shall be changed. This shall be
the Animal Kingdom. There shall be no more hunting or killing here.
There shall be pets,--more than in any other land. For I have seen how
unhappy are folk who live without them."

"Now God be praised!" cried the good Hermit, with tears in his eyes.

And John embraced the Prince heartily, while the little Princess
clapped her hands and cried with shining eyes, "Oh! we shall all live
together forever and ever, as happily as if this were the lovely forest
which is John's home."

"Nay," said the Hermit gravely, "I cannot live here. I must go back to
my woods. I have vowed never again to live away from my Forest
Kingdom. But you, John, have taken no vow. Will you stay here with
the Prince, or will you go back with me? Make now your choice."

John looked wistfully at the Prince and Princess, for he loved them
well. He looked at the animals who crowded around him and seemed to be
listening to his words. He knew how eager they were to be back in the
forest.