The Floating Prince and Other Fairy Tales. Frank Richard Stockton
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу The Floating Prince and Other Fairy Tales - Frank Richard Stockton страница 9
Название: The Floating Prince and Other Fairy Tales
Автор: Frank Richard Stockton
Издательство: Bookwire
Жанр: Документальная литература
isbn: 4064066067854
isbn:
When the papers were read by the Head-boy, it was found that nearly every one had selected a different calling; but three of the smaller boys happened to want to be letter-carriers, and so, as there was no business which had so many votes as this, it was determined that they should all be letter-carriers.
The three little boys shouted for joy at this.
"But where shall we get letters to carry?" asked some of the older fellows.
"Oh, we'll see about that in the morning," said the Smart-boy. "There'll be plenty of time before the library opens."
They slept that night on piles of parchments, and in the morning the building was searched to see if any letters could be found for them to carry. In the cellar they discovered a great many huge boxes, filled with manuscripts which had been collecting ever since the city was first wound up and started. These, they concluded, would do just as well as letters, and each boy filled his satchel with them, and started off to deliver them.
Each carrier was assigned by the Head-boy to a different street, and all went to work with a will. The people were glad to get the manuscripts, for many of them were very instructive and interesting, and they gave the boys a small piece of money for each one. This went on, day after day, and every morning each person in the whole city got a letter.
When the king was informed of the escape of his prisoners, he hurried, in great trouble, to see how they had got away. But
THE WATCH ON THE HIGH TOWER.
when he saw the board which they had left resting on the edge of the tank, he was delighted.
"Those wretched Bagists," he exclaimed, "in trying to escape, have all slid into the tank. Let it be walled over, and that will be the end of them. We are fortunate to get rid of them so easily."
But the watch on the high tower was still kept up, for no one knew when the ship might come back with more Bagists.
One day, as the Head-boy was delivering his letters, he met
THE SCHOOL-MASTER AND HEAD-BOY EMBRACE.
an old man, whom he instantly recognized as his master. At first, he felt like running away; but when the master told him that he was alone, and forgave everything, they embraced in tears. The old man had not been able to find his boys in the town, and had wandered into the surrounding country. In this way, he had never had a letter.
The Head-boy took him to the library that night, and he afterward spent most of his time reading the old manuscripts and sorting them out for the carriers. Nobody ever came into the cellar to disturb him.
The people of the city were very much benefited by the instructive papers which were brought to them every day, and many of them became quite learned. The aristocrats also learned a great deal by reading the papers to those persons who could not read themselves, and, every evening, the master gave them lessons in the library. So they gradually became better and better educated.
They often looked up to the high tower, because they had heard that a flag was to be hoisted there whenever a ship with a pink-and-blue sail was seen approaching the city.
Ten years passed, and they saw no flag, but one day they saw, posted up all over the city, a notice from the king, stating that, on the next day, the city would run down, and ordering all the people to retire into their houses, and to shut up their doors and windows. This struck the aristocrats with dismay, for how were they to get a living if they could not deliver their letters?
So they all boldly marched to the palace, and, asking for the king, proposed to him that they should be allowed to wind up his city.
The king gazed upon them in amazement. "What!" he cried. "Do you letter carriers venture to come to me with such a bold request! Do you think for a moment that you know anything about what you propose doing?"
"We can do it a great deal easier than we did it before," said one of the younger aristocrats, "for some of us were very small then, and didn't weigh much."
"Did it before?" exclaimed the bewildered king, staring at the sturdy group before him.
The Head-boy, who was by this time entirely grown up, now came forward, and, acknowledging that he and his companions were the boys who had been shut up in the luxurious apartment, told their whole story since their escape.
"And you have lived among us all this time, and have not tried to bag our heads?" said the king.
"Not a bit of it," replied the other.
"I am very glad, indeed, to hear this," said the king, "and now, if you please, I would like you to try if you really can wind us up, for I feel that I am running down very fast."
At this, the whole body of aristocrats ran to the great stair-way, and began quickly to mount the steps. Around and around went the revolving stair-way, twice as fast as it had ever gone before. Click! click! click! went the machinery, and before anybody could really imagine that the thing was true, the stair-way stopped with a bump, and the city was wound up for another ten years!
It would be useless to try to describe the joy and gratitude of the king and the people. The aristocrats were loaded with honors and presents; they and their old master were sumptuously lodged in the palace, and, in their honor, the public library was ordered to be kept open every evening, in order that the people who were busy in the day-time might go there and read the papers, which were no longer carried to them.
At the end of a year, a flag was raised on the top of the high tower, and the admiral's ship came in. The philosophers took off their bags, which were now very old and thin, and the aristocrats, with their master, were warmly welcomed on board.
Being all grown up, they were no longer feared. In a few days, the ship sailed for Nassimia, and, as the aristocrats were taking leave of the sorrowing citizens, the Smart-boy stepped up to the king, and said:
"I'll tell you what I should do, if I were you. About a week before the time you expect to run down again, I'd make a lot of men go to work and wind up the city. You can do it yourselves, just as well as to wait for other people to do it for you."
"That's exactly what I will do!" cried the king. "I never thought of it before!"
He did it, and, so far as is known, the city is running yet.
When the aristocrats reached the city of Nassimia, everybody was glad to see them, for they had become a fine, well-behaved, and well-educated body of nobility, and the admiral, standing high upon his stilts, looked down upon them with honest pride, as he presented them to the king and queen.
Lorilla shook each one of them by the hand. They did not recognize the little fairy in this handsome woman, but when she explained how the change had taken СКАЧАТЬ