Prince Ricardo of Pantouflia | Page 8

most useful and celebrated. Of course the king did not tell the tradesmen what they were.
"Now, gentlemen," said his Majesty, "you see these old things. For reasons which I must ask you to excuse me for keeping to myself, I wish you to provide me with objects exactly and precisely similar to these, with all the look of age."
The tradesmen examined the objects, each choosing that in his own line of business.
"As to the sword, sire," said the cutler, "it is an Andrea Ferrara, a fine old blade. By a lucky accident, I happen to have one at home in a small collection of ancient weapons, exactly like it. This evening it shall be at your Majesty's disposal."
"Perhaps, Herr Schnitzler, you will kindly write an order for it, as I wish no one of you to leave the palace, if you can conveniently stay, till your business is finished."
"With pleasure, your Majesty," says the cutler.
"As to the old rug," said the upholsterer, "I have a Persian one quite identical with it at home, at your Majesty's service."
"Then you can do like Herr Schnitzler," who was the cutler.
"And I," said the hatter, "have two old caps just like these, part of a bankrupt theatrical stock."
"We are most fortunate," said the king.
"The boots, now I come to think of it, are unimportant, at least for the present. Perhaps we can borrow a pair from the theatre."
"As for the glass," said the optician, "if your Majesty will allow me to take it home with me--"
"I am afraid I cannot part with it," said the king; "but that, too, is unimportant, or not very pressing."
Then he called for a servant, to order luncheon for the shopkeepers, and paper for them to write their orders on. But no one was within hearing, and in that very old part of the palace there were no bells.
"Just pardon me for an instant, while I run downstairs," said his Majesty; "and, it seems a strange thing to ask, but may I advise you not to sit down on that carpet? I have a reason for it."
In fact, he was afraid that someone might sit down on it, and wish he was somewhere else, and be carried away, as was the nature of the carpet.
King Prigio was not absent a minute, for he met William on the stairs; but when he came back, there was not one single person in the turret-room!
"Where on earth are they?" cried the king, rushing through all the rooms in that part of the castle. He shouted for them, and looked everywhere; but there was not a trace of tailor, hatter, optician, swordmaker, upholsterer.
The king hastened to a window over the gate, and saw the sentinels on duty.
"Hi!" he called.
And the sentinels turned round, looked up, and saluted.
"Have you seen anyone go out?" he cried.
"No one, sire," answered the soldiers.
The king, who began to guess what had happened, hurried back to the turret-room.
There were all the tradesmen with parcels under their arms.
"What means this, gentlemen?" said his Majesty, severely. "For what reason did you leave the room without my permission?"
They all knelt down, humbly imploring his compassion.
"Get up, you donkeys!" said the king, forgetting his politeness. "Get up, and tell me where you have been hiding yourselves."
The hatter came forward, and said:
"Sire, you will not believe me; indeed, I can scarcely believe it myself!"
"Nor none of us can't," said the swordmaker. "We have been home, and brought the articles. All orders executed with punctuality and dispatch," he added, quoting his own advertisement without thinking of it.
On this the swordmaker took out and exhibited the Andrea Ferrara blade, which was exactly like the Sword of Sharpness.
The upholsterer undid his parcel, and there was a Persian rug, which no one could tell from the magical carpet.
The hatter was fumbling with the string of his parcel, when he suddenly remembered, what the king in his astonishment had not noticed, that he had a cap on himself. He pulled it off in a hurry, and the king at once saw that it was his Wishing Cap, and understood all about the affair. The hatter, in his absence, had tried on the Wishing Cap, and had wished that he himself and his friends were all at home and back again with their wares at the palace. And what he wished happened, of course, as was natural. In a moment the king saw how much talk this business would produce in the country, and he decided on the best way to stop it.
Seizing the Wishing Cap, he put it on, wished all the tradesmen, including the shoemaker, back in the town at their shops, and also wished that none of them should remember anything about the whole affair.
In a moment he was alone in the turret-room. As for the shopkeepers,