So saying, he kissed the dragon, which instantly became a most beautiful princess; for she had lain enchanted as a dragon, by a wicked magician, till somebody should be bold enough to kiss her. “My love! my hero! my lord! how long I have waited for thee; and now I am eternally thine own!” So murmured, in the most affectionate accents, the Lady Dragonissa, as she was now called. Though wedded to a bachelor life, the prince was much too well-bred to make any remonstrance. The Lady Dragonissa, a female of extraordinary spirit, energy, and ambition, took command of him and of his followers, conducted them up the Danube, seized a principality whose lord had gone crusading, set her husband on the throne, and became in course of time the mother of a little prince, who, again, was great, great, great, great-grandfather of our Prince Prigio. From this adventurous Lady Dragonissa, Prince Prigio derived his character for gallantry. But her husband, it is said, was often heard to remark, by a slight change of his family motto: “_Anything for a Quiet Wife!_” You now know as much as the Author does of the early history of Pantouflia. As to the story called _The Gold of Fairnilee_, such adventures were extremely common in Scotland long ago, as may be read in many of the works of Sir Walter Scott and of the learned in general. Indeed, Fairnilee is the very place where the fairy queen appointed to meet her lover, Thomas the Rhymer. With these explanations, the Author leaves to the judgment of young readers his _Own Fairy Book_. PRINCE PRIGIO By Andrew Lang Adorned by Gordon Browne, T. Scott, and E. A. Lemann. 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 _Nanaboulélé_, a difficult word-has been published in French (translated from the Basuto language) by M. Paul Sébillot, in the _Revue des Traditione Populaires_. For the _Rémora_, the Editor is indebted to the _Voyage à la Lune_ of M. Cyrano de Bergérac. [Illustration: Chapter One] CHAPTER I.--_How the Fairies were not Invited to Court_