the present was nothing less than a pair of seven-league boots. The
King being a busy man, it was a week or more before he had an
opportunity of trying those boots. Meanwhile he used to talk about
them at meals, and he would polish them up every night before he went
to bed. When the great day came for the first trial of them to be
made, he took a patronising farewell of his wife and family, ignored
the many eager noses pressed against the upper windows of the Palace,
and sailed off. The motion, as perhaps you know, is a little
disquieting at first, but one soon gets used to it. After that it is
fascinating. He had gone some two thousand miles before he realised
that there might be a difficulty about finding his way back. The
difficulty proved at least as great as he had anticipated. For the
rest of that day he toured backwards and forwards across the country;
and it was by the merest accident that a very angry King shot in
through an open pantry window in the early hours of the morning. He
removed his boots and went softly to bed. . . .
It was, of course, a lesson to him. He decided that in the future he
must proceed by a recognised route, sailing lightly from landmark to
landmark. Such a route his Geographers prepared for him--an early
morning constitutional, of three hundred miles or so, to be taken ten
times before breakfast. He gave himself a week in which to recover
his nerve and then started out on the first of them.
Now the Kingdom of Euralia adjoined that of Barodia, but whereas
Barodia was a flat country, Euralia was a land of hills. It was
natural then that the Court Geographers, in search of landmarks,
should have looked towards Euralia; and over Euralia accordingly,
about the time when cottage and castle alike were breakfasting, the
King of Barodia soared and dipped and soared and dipped again.
"A mother's tender hand," said the King of Euralia, "is--er--never—good gracious! What's that?"
There was a sudden rush of air; something came for a moment between
his Majesty and the sun; and then all was quiet again.
"What was it?" asked Hyacinth, slightly alarmed.
"Most extraordinary," said the King. "It left in my mind an
impression of ginger whiskers and large boots. Do we know anybody
like that?"
"The King of Barodia," said Hyacinth, "has red whiskers, but I don't
know about his boots."
"But what could he have been doing up there? Unless----"
There was another rush of wind in the opposite direction; once more
the sun was obscured, and this time, plain for a moment for all to

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