"Sacrifice--sacrifice," I said to myself. "Ah! yes," said I, aloud; "your majesty does not wish that your daughter should leave her house and visit my country. Is it not so?" "That is part of the conditions, but not all," said her majesty. "And what else might your majesty be pleased to exact from me?" I asked. "Well," she said, with a smile and a second glance at my legs, "we should like you--we expect you to--to--to become in fact, like one of us--to conform----" "Oh, quite so," I said, without as yet catching her meaning thoroughly; "to conform--yes--certainly--to all the customs of the country I have adopted." "To _all_ of them, mind?" "Yes." "Then you consent to this trifling sacrifice. You have no objection to--to be operated upon?" "Operated upon!" I cried in astonishment. "What?--How?--I don't quite catch your majesty's meaning." "Well, Captain Toughyarn," said her majesty, "if I _must_ be more explicit, the fact is, that legs are out of fashion here, only tails are worn in this country. If you really wish to marry our daughter, you must submit to an operation." "W-h-e-w!" whistled I, the real nature of the sacrifice dawning upon me for the first time. "So that is your meaning!" "Precisely. Do you refuse?" Now, I always prided myself particularly on my legs. In my youth they were the admiration of the sex; even now they are far from contemptible, and to give them in exchange for a tail was of all things the furthest from my thoughts. I did not know what to answer. At length I asked, "And this operation--how is it performed, your majesty?" "Oh, it is simple enough," was the reply. "A surgeon is called, who amputates the lower extremities; a dolphin or other large fish is procured, which, after being killed, is cut in half, and the tail half of the fish is bound to that part of your body still suffering from the operation, until the parts unite, and the transformation is complete." "I am infinitely obliged to your majesty," said I, "but I hope you will pardon me if I refuse to comply with this last condition. Legs such as mine are extremely prized in my country; in fact, they are only to be found in those of the blood royal, and I really could not consent to part with such a very strong mark; indeed, perhaps, the only mark of royalty about my person." "Then you refuse?" "Absolutely," said I, bowing. "In that case," said the queen, "I must talk to his majesty, to see what can be done." The queen rose. I bowed, and left the apartment.