r nose."

"What has the old woman to do with my nose?" thought the prince. "If I
were not so very hungry I would soon show her what she is--a regular
old gossip and chatter-box. She to fancy she talks little, indeed! One
must be very foolish not to know one's own defects. This comes of
being born a princess. Flatterers have spoiled her, and persuaded her
that she talks little. Little, indeed! I never knew anybody chatter so
much."

While the prince thus meditated, the servants were laying the table,
the fairy asking them a hundred unnecessary questions, simply for the
pleasure of hearing herself talk. "Well," thought Wish, "I am
delighted that I came hither, if only to learn how wise I have been in
never listening to flatterers, who hide from us our faults, or make us
believe they are perfections. But they could never deceive me. I know
all my own weak points, I trust." As truly he believed he did.

So he went on eating contentedly, nor stopped till the old fairy began
to address him.

"Prince," said she, "will you be kind enough to turn a little? Your
nose casts such a shadow that I cannot see what is in my plate. And,
as I was saying, your father admired me and always made me welcome at
court. What is the court etiquette there now? Do the ladies still go
to assemblies, promenades, balls?--I beg your pardon for laughing, but
how _very_ long your nose is."

"I wish you would cease to speak of my nose," said the prince,
becoming annoyed. "It is what it is, and I do not desire it any
shorter."

"Oh! I see that I have vexed you," returned the fairy. "Nevertheless,
I am one of your best friends, and so I shall take the liberty of
always--" She would doubtless have gone on talking till midnight; but
the prince, unable to bear it any longer, here interrupted her,
thanked her for her hospitality, bade her a hasty adieu, and rode
away.

He travelled for a long time, half over the world, but he heard no
news of Princess Darling. However, in each place he went to, he heard
one remarkable fact--the great length of his own nose. The little boys
in the streets jeered at him, the peasants stared at him, and the more
polite ladies and gentlemen whom he met in society used to try in vain
to keep from laughing, and to get out of his way as soon as they
could. So the poor prince became gradually quite forlorn and solitary;
he thought all the world was mad, but still he never thought of there
being anything queer about his own n