ask. That was the way he _used_ to go on:
but now he only talked to the young lady about _herself_; and she
quite left off being shy or frightened, and asked him all about his own
country, and about the Firedrake shooting, and said how fond she was of
hunting herself. And the prince said:

"Oh, if _you_ wish it, you shall have the horns and tail of a Firedrake
to hang up in your hall, to-morrow evening!"

Then she asked if it was not very dangerous work, Firedrake hunting; and
he said it was nothing, when you knew the trick of it: and he asked her
if she would but give him a rose out of her bouquet; and, in short, he
made himself so agreeable and _unaffected_, that she thought him very
nice indeed.

For, even a clever person can be nice when he likes--above all, when
he is not thinking about himself. And now the prince was thinking of
nothing in the world but the daughter of the English Ambassador, and
how to please her-He got introduced to her father too, and quite won his
heart; and, at last, he was invited to dine next day at the Embassy.

In Pantouflia, it is the custom that a ball must not end while one of
the royal family goes on dancing. _This_ ball lasted till the light came
in, and the birds were singing out of doors, and all the mothers present
were sound asleep.

[Illustration: Page 42]

Then nothing would satisfy the prince, but that they all should go home
singing through the streets; in fact, there never had been so merry a
dance in all Pantouflia. The prince had made a point of dancing with
almost every girl there: and he had suddenly become the most beloved
of the royal family. But everything must end at last; and the prince,
putting on the cap of darkness and sitting on the famous carpet, flew
back to his lonely castle.

[Illustration: Chapter Eight]

CHAPTER VIII.--_The Prince is Puzzled_

PRINCE PRIGIO did not go to bed. It was bright daylight, and he had
promised to bring the horns and tail of a Firedrake as a present to a
pretty lady. He had said it was easy to do this; but now, as he sat and
thought over it, he did not feel so victorious.

"First," he said, "where is the Firedrake?"

He reflected for a little, and then ran upstairs to the garret.

"It _should_ be here!" he cried, tossing the fairies' gifts about; "and,
by George, here it is!"

Indeed, he had found the spyglass of carved ivory which Prince Ali, in
the _Arabian Nights_, bought in the bazaar in Schiraz. Now, this