Transcribed from the 1889 J. W. Arrowsmith edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org {Book cover: cover.jpg} PRINCE PRIGIO BY ANDREW LANG AUTHOR OF "THE MARK OF CAIN, "THE GOLD OF FAIRNILEE" ETC. Twenty-seven Illustrations by Gordon Browne 1889 BRISTOL J. W. ARROWSMITH, QUAY STREET LONDON SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO., 4 STATIONERS' HALL COURT _All rights reserved_ {"So the two went into the gardens together, and talked about a number of things.": p0.jpg} PRINCE PRIGIO IS Dedicated TO ALMA THYRA EDITH ROSALIND NORNA CECILY AND VIOLET PREFACE. In compiling the following History from the Archives of Pantouflia, the Editor has incurred several obligations to the Learned. The Return of Benson (chapter xii.) is the fruit of the research of the late Mr. ALLEN QUATERMAIN, while the final _wish_ of Prince Prigio was suggested by the invention or erudition of a Lady. A study of the _Firedrake_ in South Africa--where he is called the _Nanaboulele_, a difficult word--has been published in French (translated from the Basuto language) by M. PAUL SEBILLOT, in the _Revue des Traditione Populaires_. For the _Remora_, the Editor is indebted to the _Voyage a la Lune_ of M. CYRANO DE BERGERAC. CHAPTER I. {Chapter heading picture: p1.jpg} _How the Fairies were not Invited to Court_. Once upon a time there reigned in Pantouflia a king and a queen. With almost everything else to make them happy, they wanted one thing: they had no children. This vexed the king even more than the queen, who was very clever and learned, and who had hated dolls when she was a child. However, she, too in spite of all the books she read and all the pictures she painted, would have been glad enough to be the mother of a little prince. The king was anxious to consult the fairies, but the queen would not hear of such a thing. She did not believe in fairies: she said that they had never existed; and that she maintained, though _The History of the Royal Family_ was full of chapters about nothing else. Well, at long and at last they had a little boy, who was generally regarded as the finest baby that had ever been seen. Even her majesty herself remarked that, though she could never believe all the courtiers told her, yet he certainly was a fine child--a very fine child.