Once more it was early morning on the castle walls.

The King sat at his breakfast table, a company of archers drawn up in front of him.

“Now you all understand,” he said. “When the King of Baro—when a certain—well, …

No doubt you have already guessed that it was the Countess Belvane who dictated the King of Euralia’s answer. Left to himself, Merriwig would have said, “Serve you jolly well right for stalking over my kingdom.” His repartee was never …

It is now time to introduce Wiggs to you, and I find myself in a difficulty at once. What was Wiggs’s position in the Palace?

This story is hard to tell, for I have to piece it together from the …

In a glade in the forest the Countess Belvane was sitting: her throne, a fallen log, her courtiers, that imaginary audience which was always with her. For once in her life she was nervous; she had an anxious morning in …

Meanwhile “the King of Euralia was prosecuting the war with utmost vigour.”

So says Roger in that famous chapter of his, and certainly Merriwig was very busy.

On the declaration of war the Euralian forces, in accordance with custom, had …

The Princess Hyacinth came in from her morning’s ride in a very bad temper. She went straight up to her favourite seat on the castle walls and sent for Wiggs.

“Wiggs,” she said, “what’s the matter with me?”

Wiggs looked …

Everybody likes to make a good impression on his first visit, but there were moments just before his arrival in Euralia when Prince Udo doubted whether the affair would go as well as he had hoped. You shall hear why.…

This is a painful chapter for me to write. Mercifully it is to be a short one. Later on I shall become used to the situation; inclined, even, to dwell upon its humorous side; but for the moment I cannot …

The Lady Belvane sits in her garden. She is very happy. An enormous quill-pen, taken from a former favourite goose and coloured red, is in her right hand. The hair of her dark head, held on one side, touches the …

Wiggs gave a parting pat to the tablecloth and stood looking at it with her head on one side.

“Now, then,” she said, “have we got everything?”

“What about sardines?” said Woggs in her common way. (I don’t know what …

“Now, my dear Princess,” said Udo, as soon as they were alone. “Let me know in what way I can help you.”

“Oh, Prince Udo,” said Hyacinth earnestly, “it is so good of you to have come. I feel that …

Udo awoke, slightly refreshed, and decided to take a firm line with the Countess at once. He had no difficulty about finding his way down to her. The Palace seemed to be full of servants, all apparently busy about something …

Hyacinth was with Udo in the library. Udo spent much of his time in the library nowadays; for surely in one of those many books was to be found some Advice to a Gentleman in Temporary Difficulties suitable to a …

So the next morning before breakfast Wiggs went up on to the castle walls and wished. She looked over the meadows, and across the peaceful stream that wandered through them, to the forest where she had met her fairy, and …

The entrance of an attendant into his room that morning to bring him his early bran-mash had awakened Udo. As soon as she was gone he jumped up, shook the straw from himself, and said in a very passion of …

King Merriwig sat in his tent, his head held well back, his eyes gazing upwards. His rubicund cheeks were for the moment a snowy white. A hind of the name of Carlo had him firmly by the nose. Yet King …

Do you remember the day when the Princess Hyacinth and Wiggs sat upon the castle walls and talked of Udo’s coming? The Princess thought he would be dark, and Wiggs thought he would be fair, and he was to have …

“And now,” said Coronel, “we’d better decide what to do.”

“But I don’t mind what we do now,” said Hyacinth happily. “She may have the throne and Father and Udo, and—and anything else she can get, and I shan’t mind …

I quote (with slight alterations) from an epic by Charlotte Patacake, a contemporary poet of the country:

King Merriwig the First rode back from war,
As many other Kings had done before;
Five hundred men behind him were in sight…

Belvane had now had twenty-four hours in which to think it over.

Whatever her faults, she had a sense of humour. She could not help smiling to herself as she thought of that scene in the garden. However much she …

King Merriwig of Eastern Euralia sat at breakfast on his castle walls. He lifted the gold cover from the gold dish in front of him, selected a trout, and conveyed it carefully to his gold plate. When you have an …