am to see you,' and she gave him her hand to kiss. King Giglio

slapped him most kindly on the back, and said, 'Bulbo, my boy,
I am delighted, for your sake, that Her Majesty has arrived.'

'So am I,' said Bulbo; 'and YOU KNOW WHY.' Captain Hedzoff
here came up. 'Sire, it is half-past eight: shall we proceed

with the execution? '
'Execution! what for?' asked Bulbo.

'An officer only knows his orders,' replied Captain Hedzoff,
showing his warrant, on which His Majesty King Giglio smilingly

said, 'Prince Bulbo was reprieved this time,' and most
graciously invited him to breakfast.

XVII. HOW A TREMENDOUS BATTLE TOOK PLACE, AND WHO WON IT
As soon as King Padella heard, what we know already, that his

victim, the lovely Rosalba, had escaped him, His Majesty's fury
knew no bounds, and he pitched the Lord Chancellor, Lord

Chamberlain, and every officer of the Crown whom he could set
eyes on, into the cauldron of boiling oil prepared for the

Princess. Then he ordered out his whole army, horse, foot, and
artillery; and set forth at the head of an innumerable host,

and I should think twenty thousand drummers, trumpeters, and
fifers.

King Giglio's advance guard, you may be sure, kept that monarch
acquainted with the enemy's dealings, and he was in nowise

disconcerted. He was much too polite to alarm the Princess,
his lovely guest, with any unnecessary rumours of battles

impending; on the contrary, he did everything to amuse and
divert her; gave her a most elegant breakfast, dinner, lunch,

and got up a ball for her that evening, when he danced with her
every single dance.

Poor Bulbo was taken into favour again, and allowed to go quite
free now. He had new clothes given him, was called 'My good

cousin' by His Majesty, and was treated with the greatest
distinction by everybody. But it was easy to see he was very

melancholy. The fact is, the sight of Betsinda, who looked
perfectly lovely in an elegant new dress, set poor Bulbo

frantic in love with her again. And he never thought about
Angelica, now Princess Bulbo, whom he had left at home, and

who, as we know, did not care much about him.
The King, dancing the twenty-fifth polka with Rosalba, remarked

with wonder the ring she wore; and then Rosalba told him how
she had got it from Gruffanuff, who no doubt had picked it up

when Angelica flung it away.
'Yes,' says the Fairy Blackstick, who had come to see the young

people, and who had very likely certain plans regarding them.
'That ring I gave the Queen, Giglio's mother, who was not,

saving your presence, a very wise woman; it is enchanted, and
whoever wears it looks beautiful in the eyes of the world, I

made poor Prince Bulbo, when he was christened, the present of
a rose which made him look handsome while he had it; but he

gave it to Angelica, who instantly looked beautiful again,
whilst Bulbo relapsed into his natural plainness.'

'Rosalba needs no ring, I am sure,' says Giglio, with a low
bow. 'She is beautiful enough, in my eyes, without any

enchanted aid.'
'Oh, sir!' said Rosalba.

'Take off the ring and try,' said the King, and resolutely drew
the ring off her finger. In HIS eyes she looked just as

handsome as before!
The King was thinking of throwing the ring away, as it was so

dangerous and made all the people so mad about Rosalba; but
being a Prince of great humour, and good humour too, he cast

eyes upon a poor youth who happened to be looking on very
disconsolately, and said--

'Bulbo, my poor lad! come and try on this ring. The Princess
Rosalba makes it a present to you.'

The magic properties of this ring were uncommonly strong, for
no sooner had Bulbo put it on, but lo and behold, he appeared a

personable, agreeable young Prince enough--with a fine
complexion, fair hair, rather stout, and with bandy legs; but

these were encased in such a beautiful pair of yellow morocco
boots that nobody remarked them. And Bulbo's spirits rose up

almost immediately after he had looked in the glass, and he
talked to their Majesties in the most lively, agreeable manner,

and danced opposite the Queen with one of the prettiest maids
of honour, and after looking at Her Majesty, could not help

saying--
'How very odd! she is very pretty, but not so EXTRAORDINARILY

handsome.'
'Oh no, by no means!' says the Maid of Honour.

'But what care I, dear sir,' says the Queen, who overheard
them, 'if YOU think I am good-looking enough?'

His Majesty's glance in reply to this affectionate speech was
such that no painter could draw it. And the Fairy Blackstick

said, 'Bless you, my darling children! Now you are united and
happy; and now you see what I said from the first, that a

little misfortune has done you both good. YOU, Giglio, had you
been bred in prosperity, would scarcely have learned to read or

write--you would have been idle and extravagant, and could not
have been a good King as now you will be. You, Rosalba, would

have been so flattered, that your little head might have been
turned like Angelica's, who thought herself too good for

Giglio.'
'As if anybody could be good enough for HIM,' cried Rosalba.

'Oh, you, you darling!' says Giglio. And so she was; and he
was just holding out his arms in order to give her a hug before

the whole company, when a messenger came rushing in, and said,
'My Lord, the enemy!'

'To arms!' cries Giglio.
'Oh, mercy!' says Rosalba, and fainted of course.

He snatched one kiss from her lips, and rushed FORTH TO THE
FIELD of battle!

The Fairy had provided King Giglio with a suit of armour, which
was not only embroidered all over with jewels, and blinding to

your eyes to look at, but was water-proof, gun-proof, and
sword-proof; so that in the midst of the very hottest battles

His Majesty rode about as calmly as if he had been a British
Grenadier at Alma. Were I engaged in fighting for my country,

_I_ should like such a suit of armour as Prince Giglio wore;
but, you know, he was a Prince of a fairy tale, and they always

have these wonderful things.
Besides the fairy armour, the Prince had a fairy horse, which

would gallop at any pace you pleased; and a fairy sword, which
would lengthen and run through a whole regiment of enemies at

once. With such a weapon at command, I wonder, for my part, he
thought of ordering his army out; but forth they all came, in

magnificent new uniforms, Hedzoff and the Prince's two college
friends each commanding a division, and His Majesty prancing in

person at the head of them all.
Ah! if I had the pen of a Sir Archibald Alison, my dear

friends, would I not now entertain you with the account of a
most tremendous shindy? Should not fine blows be struck?

dreadful wounds be delivered? arrows darken the air? cannon
balls crash through the battalions? cavalrycharge infantry?

infantry pitch into cavalry? bugles blow; drums beat; horses
neigh; fifes sing; soldiers roar, swear, hurray; officers shout