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Yes, he was the most beautiful Prince that ever was born. Of course, being a prince, people said this: but it was true besides. When he looked at the candle, his eyes had an expression of earnest inquiry quite startling in a new-born baby. His nose -- there was not much of it certainly, but what there was seemed an aquiline shape; his complexion was a charming, healthy purple; he was round and fat, straight-limbed and long -- in fact, a splendid baby, and everybody was exceedingly proud of him. Especially his father and mother, the King and Queen of Nomansland, who had waited for him during their happy reign of ten years -- now made happier than ever, to themselves and their subjects, by the appearance of a son and heir.
The only person who was not quite happy was the king's brother, the heir-presumptive, who would have been king one day, had the baby not been born. But as his Majesty was very kind to him, and even rather sorry for him -- insomuch that at the Queen's request he gave him a dukedom almost as big as a county, -- the Crown Prince, as he was called, tried to seem pleased also; and let us hope he succeeded.
The Prince's christening was to be a grand affair. According to the custom of the country, there were chosen for him four-and-twenty godfathers and godmothers, who each had to give him a name, and promise to do their utmost for him. When he came of age, he himself had to choose the name -- and the god-father or godmother -- that he liked best, for the rest of his days.
Meantime, all was rejoicing. Subscriptions were made among the rich to give pleasure to the poor: dinners in town-halls for the working men; tea-parties in the streets for their wives; and milk and bun feasts for the children in the schoolrooms. For Nomansland, though I cannot point it out in any map, or read of it in any history, was, I believe, much like our own or many another country.
As for the Palace -- which was no different from other palaces -- it was clean "turned out of the windows," as people say, with the preparations going on.
Illustrations
"Take care and don't let the baby fall"
The Little Lame Prince
"All the people in the palace were lovely"
"The poorlittle kitchen maid... "
"The procession had moved on"
"How old is his Royal Highness?"
"And in truth they were very fine children, the whole seven of them."
"They made a great show when they rode out together on seven beautiful horses."
"One large round tower which rose up in the center of the plain."
"He was rather frightened, and the face, black as it was, looked kindly at him."
"She laid those two tiny hands on his shoulders"
"Prince Dolor had never seen anything like it."
"Even when a little better, he was too weak to enjoy anything,"
"By-and-by a few stars came out, first two or three, and then quantities"
"She brought in the supper and lit the candles,"
"And they looked at him -- as if wondering to meet in mid-air such an extraordinary sort of a bird."
"After a few windings and vagaries, it settled into a respectable stream."
"It was made up of cornfields, pasturefields, lanes, hedges, brooks, and ponds."
"In it were what the Prince had desired to see, a quantity of living creatures,"
"The shepherd lad evidently took it for a large bird "
"You are a king."
"One half the people seemed so happy and busy... "
"while the other half were so wretched and miserable."
"It had terraces and gardens, battlements and towers."
"Its windows looked in all directions,"
"She pecked at the tiles with her beak -- "
There came pouring a stream of sun-rays
So Prince Dolor quitted his tower... quitted it as the great King of Nomansland.
"When he drove out through the city streets, shouts followed him wherever he went."
"But as she was so grand a personage now, any little faults she had did not show."
"All the people... assembled to see the young Prince installed solemnly in his new duties, and undertaking his new vows."
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