1. What! No Children? 2. Won't I, Just? 3. She Can't Be Ours. 4. Where Is She? 5. What Is to Be Done? 6. She Laughs Too Much. 7. Try Metaphysics. 8. Try a Drop of Water. 9. Put Me in Again. 10. Look at the Moon. 11. Hiss! 12. Where Is the Prince? 13. Here I Am. 14. This Is Very Kind of You. 15. Look at the Rain!
Once upon a time, so long ago that I have quite forgotten the date,there lived a king and queen who had no children.
And the king said to himself, "All the queens of my acquaintance havechildren, some three, some seven, and some as many as twelve; and myqueen has not one. I feel ill-used." So he made up his mind to becross with his wife about it. But she bore it all like a good patientqueen as she was. Then the king grew very cross indeed. But the queenpretended to take it all as a joke, and a very good one too.
"Why don't you have any daughters, at least?" said he. "I don't saysons; that might be too much to expect."
"I am sure, dear king, I am very sorry," said the queen.
"So you ought to be," retorted the king; "you are not going to make avirtue of that, surely."
But he was not an ill-tempered king, and in any matter of less momentwould have let the queen have her own way with all his heart. This,however, was an affair of state.
The queen smiled.
"You must have patience with a lady, you know, dear king," said she.
She was, indeed, a very nice queen, and heartily sorry that she couldnot oblige the king immediately.
The king tried to have patience, but he succeeded very badly. It wasmore than he deserved, therefore, when, at last, the queen gave him adaughter—as lovely a little princess as ever cried.
The day drew near when the infant must be christened. The king wroteall the invitations with his own hand. Of course somebody wasforgotten. Now it does not generally matter if somebody is forgotten,only you must mind who. Unfortunately, the king forgot withoutintending to forget; and so the chance fell upon the PrincessMakemnoit, which was awkward. For the princess was the king's ownsister; and he ought not to have forgotten her. But she had madeherself so disagreeable to the old king, their father, that he hadforgotten her in making his will; and so it was no wonder that herbrother forgot her in writing his invitations. But poor relationsdon't do anything to keep you in mind of them. Why don't they? Theking could not see into t