Prince Ricardo of Pantouflia

Prince Ricardo of Pantouflia, by
Andrew Lang,

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Andrew Lang, Illustrated by Gordon Browne
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Title: Prince Ricardo of Pantouflia being the adventures of Prince
Prigio's son
Author: Andrew Lang

Release Date: July 4, 2007 [eBook #21994]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRINCE
RICARDO OF PANTOUFLIA***

Transcribed from the 1893 J. W. Arrowsmith edition by David Price,
email [email protected]

{Book cover: p0.jpg}

PRINCE RICARDO OF PANTOUFLIA
BEING THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE PRIGIO'S SON, BY
ANDREW LANG AUTHOR OF PRINCE PRIGIO
ILLUSTRATED BY GORDON BROWNE
PUBLISHED AT BRISTOL BY J. W. ARROWSMITH, QUAY
STREET, AND AT LONDON BY SIMPKIN, MARSHALL,
HAMILTON, KENT & COMPANY LIMITED

DEDICATION. To Guy Campbell.
My dear Guy,
You wanted to know more about Prince Prigio, who won the Lady
Rosalind, and killed the Firedrake and the Remora by aid of his Fairy
gifts. Here you have some of his later adventures, and you will learn
from this story the advantages of minding your book.
Yours always, A. Lang.
{Andrew Lang's signature: p0v.jpg}

Introductory. Explaining Matters.
{Decorative letter T: p0ix.jpg}
There may be children whose education has been so neglected that they
have not read Prince Prigio. As this new story is about Prince Prigio's
son, Ricardo, you are to learn that Prigio was the child and heir of
Grognio, King of Pantouflia. The fairies gave the little Prince

cleverness, beauty, courage; but one wicked fairy added, "You shall be
too clever." His mother, the queen, hid away in a cupboard all the fairy
presents,--the Sword of Sharpness, the Seven-League Boots, the
Wishing Cap, and many other useful and delightful gifts, in which her
Majesty did not believe! But after Prince Prigio had become universally
disliked and deserted, because he was so very clever and conceited, he
happened to find all the fairy presents in the old turret chamber where
they had been thrown. By means of these he delivered his country from
a dreadful Red-Hot Beast, called the Firedrake, and, in addition to
many other triumphs, he married the good and beautiful Lady Rosalind.
His love for her taught him not to be conceited, though he did not cease
to be extremely clever and fond of reading.
When this new story begins the Prince has succeeded to the crown, on
the death of King Grognio, and is unhappy about his own son, Prince
Ricardo, who is not clever, and who hates books! The story tells of
Ricardo's adventures: how he tried to bring back Prince Charlie to
England, how he failed; how he dealt with the odious old Yellow
Dwarf; how he was aided by the fair magician, the Princess Jaqueline;
how they both fell into a dreadful trouble; how King Prigio saved them;
and how Jaqueline's dear and royal papa was discovered; with the end
of all these adventures. The moral of the story will easily be discovered
by the youngest reader, or, if not, it does not much matter.
CHAPTER I.
The Troubles of King Prigio.
{Prince Ricardo and lady tied up: p13.jpg}
"I'm sure I don't know what to do with that boy!" said King Prigio of
Pantouflia.
"If you don't know, my dear," said Queen Rosalind, his illustrious
consort, "I can't see what is to be done. You are so clever."
The king and queen were sitting in the royal library, of which the
shelves were full of the most delightful fairy books in all languages, all

equally familiar to King Prigio. The queen could not read most of them
herself, but the king used to read them aloud to her. A good many years
had passed--seventeen, in fact--since Queen Rosalind was married, but
you would not think it to look at her. Her grey eyes were as kind and
soft and beautiful, her dark hair as dark, and her pretty colour as like a
white rose blushing, as on the day when she was a bride. And she was
as fond of the king as when he was only Prince Prigio, and he was as
fond of her as on the night when he first met her at the ball.
"No, I don't know what to do with Dick," said the king.
He meant his son, Prince Ricardo, but he called him Dick in private.
"I believe it's the fault of his education," his Majesty went on. "We
have not brought him up rightly. These fairy books are at the bottom of
his provoking behaviour," and he glanced