But alas and alas! After a little time Jan became so conceited that he was quite unbearable. He gave himself the most extraordinary airs. He would hardly condescend to speak to the other boys. He even patronised his own father and mother. “No boy in the whole country is as clever as I,” he said. “The King ought to see what I can do. I must certainly go to the Court. How they will open their eyes!” And so one fine day he prepared to set off to the Court to show the King what he could do. Now the King of that country was a rather cantankerous old gentleman, and made short work of any one who displeased him. Jan’s mother didn’t very much like the idea of his going, but Jan would not be dissuaded. “You will see, mother,” he said, “I shall come home with a bagful of gold, and perhaps the King will want me to stay at his Court. When I am grown up I shall marry one of the Princesses, and you will be able to ride in a golden coach and to wear a mantle of blue velvet trimmed with ermine. All the neighbours will curtsey to you and call you Madam. Wouldn’t you like that?” His mother couldn’t imagine that she would like that very much, but she thought it was rather sweet of Jan to think so much of his mother, and she gave him a kiss and one of his father’s best linen shirts, and bade him be sure not to get his feet wet. So Jan set off to the palace, and when he got there he sent in a message by the beautiful footman who opened the door that Jan, the Arithmetical Wonder, had come to show the Royal Family what he could do. It was a dull rainy afternoon, and it so happened that the King, Queen, and the two Princesses were sitting at home in their State apartments feeling rather bored. The Lord Chamberlain, who generally amused them on wet days by asking them riddles, had gone to bed with a very bad cold in his head, and they had nothing to do. “Shall we have him in?” said the King to the Queen. “He sounds very dull,” said the younger Princess, who was busy making pale blue rosettes for her bedroom slippers. “Better than nothing,” said her sister, who had just finished reading all the love-letters that had come by the morning’s post, and was pasting the prettiest ones into an album which she kept for that purpose. So Jan was ushered into the royal apartments, and he told the King and Queen of his attainments--how he could do any sum, however difficult, as quickly as it could be written down, almost more quickly, indeed. He was a nice-looking lad and he had no end of assurance, and brought with him, moreover, letters from all manner of important personages who had tested his wonderful powers. An attendant was sent to fetch the great Court account tablets, which were made of ivory inlaid with silver, and the King offered Jan his own golden pencil with rubies and diamonds round the top. “Thank you very much,” said Jan, “I prefer a plain slate or a blackboard, and I always use my own pencil.”