"So I have come down from the land of the Wymps, which is at the back of the sun, just to remind you that you mustn't leave us out again. However, I see I am spoiling the fun, so I will be off again. But I may as well mention"--here he looked straight at the Prince and burst out laughing again--"that in future you will always tell people what you think of them. Ha! ha! ha! that is the Wymps' gift to you. Good-by!" And away he sped up the sunbeam again, and the curtain fell away from the sun, and the people in the street went on cheering just where they had left off, and the conversation broke out again at the very place it had been interrupted, and no one would have thought that anything had happened at all. But the Prince heard nothing but the Wymp's mocking laughter, and he sat silent for the rest of the day. "Are you ill, dear Prince?" asked the Queen. "Of course not! You are a tiresome old fidget," said the Prince, crossly. Now the Prince was noted for his excellent manners; he was even known to speak politely to his horse and his spaniel; so when the courtiers heard his reply to the Queen, they began to whisper among themselves, and the guests made ready to depart. "It is the heat; you must really excuse him," said the King, getting up from the table with a sigh. "What nonsense!" said the Prince. "It is not hot at all. It is your fault for having such a stupid long banquet." "We have enjoyed ourselves _so_ much," said the guests, as they filed past him. "Oh no, you haven't," retorted the Prince; "you have been thoroughly bored the whole time, and so have I." "It is the Wymps' gift," whispered the courtiers. Two large unshed tears stood in Lady Daffany's eyes when she bade the Prince good-night. "Do you think _I_ have been bored the whole evening?" she asked him, softly. "No, dearest," said the Prince, kissing her white fingers; "for you have been with me all the time." And that, of course, was the truth, so she went away happy. The days rolled on, and everybody began to wonder at the change in the Prince. He had always been considered the most charming Prince in the world, but now he had suddenly become one of the most unpleasant. He told people of their faults whenever they were introduced to him, and although he was generally right, they did not like it at all. He said the Royal Professor of Geography was a bore, and although no one in the kingdom could deny it, the Royal Professor of Geography naturally felt annoyed. At the state ball he told the King he could not dance a bit, and though the King's partners certainly thought so too, that did not make it any better. But when he told the Queen, in the presence of the Royal Professor of History, that her hair was turning gray under her crown, the Queen said it was quite time something was done. "The dear fellow cannot be right in his head," she said; "he must have a doctor."