before her, never raising her head, and playing with her pearl necklace. Hereupon the king, who had indeed anticipated this result, gave a sign to Love-Truth. He produced his flute, and drew a few exquisite notes from it. I wish you could have seen what a change was instantaneously produced in the princess. She arose from her seat, and looked around with perfect selfpossession; and at length she advanced a step nearer to her father. “Dear father!" said she in a firm voice, "I do not know what has come upon me, nor whether the music is the cause of my present sensations; but I feel that my whole nature is completely changed. Of all the princes whom I have seen until now, there is not one who made the slightest impression on me, and I was always rejoiced when, one after another, they took their departure. It is not so with Prince Fairhair: he is an elegant and accomplished man, and if you command me, I shall not refuse to marry him; but I implore you not to command me to do so, for there is another whom I love yet more dearly." "Ha!" thought the king. "And who can this be?" But it was in vain that he ransacked his brains to discover whom his daughter could possibly mean; for wise as he was, he was not clever enough to penetrate her secret. "Yes, my dear father!" she continued with the utmost composure-for Love-Truth was still playing on his flute-"what I have said is the truth, and the person whom I mean is not far from us at this moment." This was a fresh cause of amazement to the king; for in the entire court he knew no suitor of the princess but Prince Fairhair, nor could he guess where else she could have met any one. He therefore begged her to explain herself more distinctly, and to tell him explicitly of what prince she was speaking. "I know nothing of any prince," replied Princess Roseleaf. "The person whom I mean is no other than our own LoveTruth, who is playing so beautifully at this very moment! I love him dearly, and I should most willingly take him as my husband." At this point she suddenly stopped short; for Love-Truth, when he heard the princess's declaration, had dropped his flute in terror, and was creeping about on the floor in search of it! The king was excessively surprised at this announcement. What was to be done? He commanded his daughter, in a tone of great severity, never to utter such silly stuff again; ordered Love-Truth to "begone, both himself and his flute;" and then went out in a rage, to give free vent to his ill-humour. His first care, of course, was to dismiss Prince Fairhair with the best possible grace under the circumstances; for he felt that for him there was not the least shadow of a hope. It was an affair of great delicacy; the king was quite delighted when it was arranged; and in the joy of his heart, he presented a silver post-horn to the postmaster, who supplied the prince with horses for his home journey. Meanwhile Love-Truth had fled from the palace in the greatest affliction, and ran to the gardens, where he sought out the most private arbour, in order to meditate on what had just occurred. The words of the princess had filled him with excitement. What he never could have had courage to think of before, he now acknowledged to himself that the princess was a young lady of such extraordinary beauty and accomplishments, that the man who should be fortunate enough to obtain her hand could not fail to be the happiest of mortals. It was now that, to his deep mortification, the recollection of his humble birth forced itself upon him: a poor peasant boy as he was, he never could aspire to such an alliance. Above all, he was afflicted to think that he must leave the court immediately, for he was accustomed to unqualified obedience; and the king had ordered him to go away. Here, too, was a new anxiety! Where was he to go to? VIII. THE TEMPTER. On a sudden, while he was in this mood, the fool presented himself. Now I must inform my readers that this fool was not a fool in reality, but only adopted the disguise of one, in order to be admitted to the court; for fools are freely admitted for the sake of the amusement they afford. This fool, then, was no other than FALSEHOOD in disguise! She delighted in disseminating her stories everywhere, and produced endless mischief thereby for when have falsehoods done anything but mischief, to put out of view altogether the evil conscience which every liar carries about with him in his breast? Now, Falsehood had all along known very well that LoveTruth was in reality the son of her sister Truth, who had sent this youth into the world in the hope of restoring, if possible, her credit, which had been somewhat on the decline. And as the two sisters, Truth and Falsehood, had long been living in constant hostility, and mutually took advantage eagerly of every opportunity of injuring one another, Falsehood conceived that it would be a most excellent joke if she could seduce into her own service young Love-Truth, whose office it should have been to disseminate truth. "My poor lad!" said this crafty lady, completely dropping for the time the character of the fool, and putting on the semblance of the liveliest sympathy, "people tax us fools with insensibility, and say that our hearts are but hearts of straw; but I can assure before her, never raising her head, and playing with her pearl necklace. Hereupon the king, who had indeed anticipated this result, gave a sign to Love-Truth. He produced his flute, and drew a few exquisite notes from it. I wish you could have seen what a change was instantaneously produced in the princess. She arose from her seat, and looked around with perfect selfpossession; and at length she advanced a step nearer to her father. "Dear father!" said she in a firm voice, “I do not know what has come upon me, nor whether the music is the cause of my present sensations; but I feel that my whole nature is completely changed. Of all the princes whom I have seen until now, there is not one who made the slightest impression on me, and I was always rejoiced when, one after another, they took their departure. It is not so with Prince Fairhair: he is an elegant and accomplished man, and if you command me, I shall not refuse to marry him; but I implore you not to command me to do so, for there is another whom I love yet more dearly." "Ha!" thought the king. "And who can this be?" But it was in vain that he ransacked his brains to discover whom his daughter could possibly mean; for wise as he was, he was not clever enough to penetrate her secret. Yes, my dear father!" she continued with the utmost composure-for Love-Truth was still playing on his flute-" what I have said is the truth, and the person whom I mean is not far from us at this moment." This was a fresh cause of amazement to the king; for in the entire court he knew no suitor of the princess but Prince Fairhair, nor could he guess where else she could have met any one. He therefore begged her to explain herself more distinctly, and to tell him explicitly of what prince she was speaking. "I know nothing of any prince," replied Princess Roseleaf. "The person whom I mean is no other than our own LoveTruth, who is playing so beautifully at this very moment! I love him dearly, and I should most willingly take him as my husband." At this point she suddenly stopped short; for Love-Truth, when he heard the princess's declaration, had dropped his flute in terror, and was creeping about on the floor in search of it! The king was excessively surprised at this announcement. What was to be done? He commanded his daughter, in a tone of great severity, never to utter such silly stuff again; ordered Love-Truth to "begone, both himself and his flute;" and then went out in a rage, to give free vent to his ill-humour. His first care, of course, was to dismiss Prince Fairhair with the best possible grace under the circumstances; for he felt that for him there was not the least shadow of a hope. It was an affair of great delicacy; the king was quite delighted when it was arranged; and in the joy of his heart, he presented a silver post-horn to the postmaster, who supplied the prince with horses for his home journey. ment. Meanwhile Love-Truth had fled from the palace in the greatest affliction, and ran to the gardens, where he sought out the most private arbour, in order to meditate on what had just occurred. The words of the princess had filled him with exciteWhat he never could have had courage to think of before, he now acknowledged to himself-that the princess was a young lady of such extraordinary beauty and accomplishments, that the man who should be fortunate enough to obtain her hand could not fail to be the happiest of mortals. It was now that, to his deep mortification, the recollection of his humble birth forced itself upon him: a poor peasant boy as he was, he never could aspire to such an alliance. Above all, he was afflicted to think that he must leave the court immediately, for he was accustomed to unqualified obedience; and the king had ordered him to go away. Here, too, was a new anxiety! Where was he to go to? VIII. THE TEMPTER. On a sudden, while he was in this mood, the fool presented himself. Now I must inform my readers that this fool was not a fool in reality, but only adopted the disguise of one, in order to be admitted to the court; for fools are freely admitted for the sake of the amusement they afford. This fool, then, was no other than FALSEHOOD in disguise! She delighted in disseminating her stories everywhere, and produced endless mischief thereby for when have falsehoods done anything but mischief, to put out of view altogether the evil conscience which every liar carries about with him in his breast? Now, Falsehood had all along known very well that LoveTruth was in reality the son of her sister Truth, who had sent this youth into the world in the hope of restoring, if possible, her credit, which had been somewhat on the decline. And as the two sisters, Truth and Falsehood, had long been living in constant hostility, and mutually took advantage eagerly of every opportunity of injuring one another, Falsehood conceived that it would be a most excellent joke if she could seduce into her own service young Love-Truth, whose office it should have been to disseminate truth. 66 My poor lad!" said this crafty lady, completely dropping for the time the character of the fool, and putting on the semblance of the liveliest sympathy, "people tax us fools with insensibility, and say that our hearts are but hearts of straw; but I can assure you that I feel the most sincere interest for you, and that I would most gladly do all that lies in my power to serve you. But no physician can apply a remedy till he has been informed of his patient's ailment. Tell me, therefore, what is the matter with you?" Love-Truth could not find heart to tell about the princess; and -so dangerous is the very presence of Falsehood-he was on the point of assigning a different cause; luckily, however, he recol lected himself in time, and said nothing at all about it. He told, therefore, with great sorrow, that the king had ordered him off. "Ah, my poor young man!" cried Falsehood, bursting into a loud laugh; "you, Love-Truth, to be ordered away! That would be a sad affliction to your mother! Still, the king must be obeyed, at all times and in all circumstances. But where will you go?" "Alas! unfortunate that I am, I do not know," said LoveTruth, who was again affected almost to tears. "But I am lucky to have fallen in with you at this moment. Fools are always very cunning people, and I have no doubt you can tell me where I shall find a home." "Ha!" cried Falsehood with a knowing look, "do you think so? Well, I think I could recommend a comfortable place of residence, where people who follow my advice are always very acceptable: it is the habitation of a pleasant-spoken gentleman. But there are different modes of travelling to different places. You cannot climb up a mountain in a vessel under full sail; nor can you drive across the sea in a coach-and-four. In the same way you cannot visit the gentleman I speak of with the pipe of Truth in your hand. If, therefore, you set out on your journey, and I advise you to do so without delay, give me your flute to keep for you. It will be most secure in my hands, for whe would come to a fool to search for a thing so important and so valuable?" "And would you be so good as to keep it safe for me?" asked Love-Truth. "You may depend upon me," said Falsehood. "And will you promise not to make any bad use of it?" added Love-Truth. "I will not touch it even once," replied his companion hastily. "If so," replied the youth, "I may venture to intrust this rare and precious treasure to you. But I have not yet heard how I am to make my way to this great and hospitable personage!" "It is the easiest thing in the world," Falsehood assured him. "You have but to place yourself under my guidance; I shall put you upon the road, and then you need only act the part of s hypocrite." "What is that?" "It is only to disguise your real feelings, and seem to be what you are not. Many people are highly accomplished in |