that they would not speak to or even see their son for the required time if the fairy godmother would only cure him of his selfishness . " We'll see about that , " said the god- mother , " Humph , expecting to be a King some day and not caring for anybody but himself a fine King he'll make ! " With that off she flew and the King and Queen saw nothing more of her for a day and a night and another day . Then back she came in a great hurry . " Give me the Prince , " said she ; " I have his house all ready for him . One month from to -day I'll bring him back to you . Perhaps he'll be cured and perhaps he won't . If he is not cured then we shall try two months next time . We'll see , we'll see . " Without any more ado she picked up the astonished young prince and flew away with him as lightly as if he were nothing but a feather or a straw . In vain the poor queen wept and begged for a last kiss .
Before she had wiped her eyes , the fairy god - mother and Prince Harweda were out of sight .
They flew a long distance until they reached a great forest . When they had come to the middle of it , down flew the fairy , and in a minute more the young prince was standing on the green grass beside a beautiful pink
marble palace that looked something like a good sized summer house .
" This is your home , " said the god - mother , " in it you will find everything you need and you can do just as you choose with your time . " Little Harweda was delighted at this for there was nothing in the world he liked better than to do as he pleased , so he tossed his cap up into the air and ran into the lovely little house without so much as saying " Thank you you " to his god- mother . " Humph , " said she as he disappeared , " you'll have enough of it before you are through with it , my fine prince . " With that off she flew .
Prince Harweda had no sooner set his foot inside the small rose- colored palace than the iron door shut with a bang and locked itself . For you must know by this time that it was an enchanted house , as of course , all houses are that are built by fairies .
Prince Harweda did not mind being locked in , as he cared very little for the great beautiful outside world , and the new home which was to be all his own was very fine , and he was eager and impatient to examine it . Then too he thought that when he was tired of it , all he would have to do would be to kick on the door and a servant from somewhere would come
PRINCE HARWEDA . 35
and open it , he had always had a servant ready to obey his slightest command .
His fairy god- mother had told him that it was his house , therefore he was interested in looking at everything in it .
The floor was made of a beautiful red copper that shone in the sunlight like burnished gold and seemed almost a dark red in the shadow . He had never seen anything half so fine before . The ceiling was of mother- of- pearl and showed a constant changing of tints of red and blue and yellow and green , all blending into the gleaming white , as only mother- of- pearl can . From the middle of this handsome ceiling hung a large gilded bird cage containing a beautiful bird , which just at this moment was singing a glad song of welcome to the Prince . Harweda , however , cared very little about birds , so he took no notice of the songster .
Around on every side were costly divans with richly embroidered coverings and on which were many sizes of soft down pillows . " Ah," thought the Prince , " here I can lounge at my ease with no one to call me to stupid lessons ! " Wonderfully carved jars and vases of wrought gold and silver stood about on the floor and each was filled with a different kind of perfume . " This is deli-
