Life — December 31, 1891 — page 38: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

‘LIFE: LIFE’S FAIRY TALES. THE LUCKLESS PRINCE. ONG, long ago, a year, perhaps, there dwelt in a castle an unhappy prince. This castle \ beautiful, with far reaching grounds and a comprehensive mort- gage. fond of the castle and would willingly The prince was very make any however great, to keep it from passing into the hands of his credit- ors, providing, of course, the sacrifice interfered with none of his personal pleas- For, being a prince, he realized, naturally, that he was not like other men. One night as he sat gloomily by his ancestral hearth, brooding over the lusty mortgage, the doors of the apartment were swung open by unseen hands and a tiny phaeton came rolling toward him. It was drawn by four bob-tailed squir- rels, driven by a radiant fairy scarcely garments were of As she drew up jauntily and ures, a foot high, but whose the latest Parisian style. before the prince she nodde said, “My off leader is a balker or I here sooner. What's the matter now ? Need a whole raft of shekels this time, should have been —the old trouble? eh?” Yes,” said the prince, “and more than I can possibly ‘ou must marry ‘em.” “ But none of the rich girls will do it. They all know me.” “Marry an American. They'll swallow anything with a title. Say the word, old boy, and I'll see you through.” he best idea yet!" exclaimed the prince. I'll do it.” “Good boy!" said the fairy. Next time you want me, play on this,” and tossing him a golden jewsharp, she touched the bob-tailed squirrels and whirled out of the castle. Six months afterwards the prince, as he sat by himself in the diminutive solitude of his bedroom, at an American Sum- mer hotel, took the golden jewsharp from his trowsers pocket and tried to play upon it. The noise caused the machine- made door to open as if by magic, and again the little fairy drove swiftly into the room. This time she was in a golden dog-cart, drawn by two exquisite black and tans, less than six inches high. She drove tandem. “Thave tried my best,” said the prince, “but I can't do it, When I meet a girl [am willing to marry, the parents object ; and when the parents are willing, the girl is a terror. The fairy laughed. “Then, as a rule you don’t fancy American girls?” “ Not for matrimony,” said the prince. But they are good fun for a Summer flirtation.” “Don’t you like their gentle voices,” said the fairy, with a mischievous look; “their retiring manners, useful educa- tions and inexpensive tastes?” The prince shuddered. “1 hear their voices now,” he said, “like knives in my ear.” But the fairy became serious, and argued with him long and earnestly, finally impressing upon him the necessity of The result was that the prince promised to try again, and soon after married an enormously rich in her own right, whose parents were both dead. She was a little older than was really necessary, but her clothes were above criticism. She hac only been en- gaged three or four times before meeting the prince, which considering her nationality, was rather unusual. But in spite of all this the prince had a secret contempt for her, and when it was necessary for him to make love he would remember the glorious old castle her money was to save. Now the prince, although possessed of no unusual sense of humor, was playing an excellent joke upon himself. He had neglected, perhaps forgotten, in describing the ancestrial resi- dence, to tell her of his financial condition. One day soon after their wedding she came to him with a document in her hand and said with an anxious face, “If I should lose my fortune, Princey dear, would you still love me just as much?" — Now the prince knew this was an old device, so he drew her passionately to him and said with a tear in his voice: * If your love, darling, is as great as mine, there could be no place in your heart for suspicion.” “You make me very happy,” she said, “and lift a great weight from my heart. It is very lucky for us, dearest, that you are rich yourself. 1 ought to have told you earlier, per- haps, that papa left a clause in his will saying that if 1 married a foreigner, my share of the estate should go to my brother.” And as she spoke she showed him the document, and so it was written. The Prince pushed her away and was about to give vent to his rage, when the door opened and the stylish fairy came prancing in upon a chestnut rabbit. “ Hush!" she said, raising her tiny riding whip in the air, “No abuse!" You have each deceived the other in a loathsome fashion and you shall both be punished. So saying, she waved her whip toward the prince, and he was immediately transformed into a yellow Skye. Then she turned to the princess and changed her into a Persian cat, saying : preserving the ancestral castle. heire: comicbooks.com