one day, after they had been out roller skating, lulu and alice and jimmie wibblewobble suddenly remembered that it was time they went back to the woods to meet the fairy prince, who was to tell them why he didn't turn that fisher-boy into a lion or an elephant. so they took off their skates and hurried to the place, and by and by, after awhile, not so very long, they got there. then they stopped and looked around.
"hu!" exclaimed jimmie. "he isn't here. i thought he was fooling us."
"hush!" begged alice. "he may be only hiding to test us, to see if we really believe in him. he may appear any moment in a big balloon or on the back of a great bird."
"somebody's coming now," said lulu, suddenly, for she heard a rustling in the bushes. they all turned around, and whom do you think they saw coming right out of the woods? why, uncle wiggily longears! the old gentleman rabbit was limping along, making his nose go up and down and sideways at the same time, the way you have seen all the bunnies do, you know.
"ha! ha!" he exclaimed. "what have we here? why, i do declare! if it isn't jimmie wibblewobble and his sisters! what are you doing here, little ones?"
"we came here to meet the fairy prince," replied jimmie. "he was going to tell us about why he didn't change a boy into an elephant. but he isn't here."
"who—the fairy prince, the boy or the elephant?" asked uncle wiggily, gently rubbing a horse chestnut on his left hind leg, that had the worst rheumatism in it.
"neither one," said alice, "but the fairy prince is sure to come."
"stuff and nonsense. nonsense and stuff, also snuff and red pepper!" cried uncle wiggily. "fairy prince indeed! there's no such thing!"
"oh, yes, there is!" said alice. "pray do not speak so loudly. he might hear you."
"thank you, my dear, for trusting in me!" exclaimed a voice suddenly, and honestly, you may not believe me, but if there wasn't that mud turtle! yes, sir, as true as i'm telling you, he appeared right from behind a bush!
"thank you, my dear, for believing me," said the fairy prince to alice again. "as for this—ahem!—this person!" and the mud turtle looked very severely at uncle wiggily, very severely indeed, "as for this person, i will soon show him! oh, my, yes! and a tortoiseshell comb in addition," he said; and then the turtle stuck out its long neck, straight at the old rabbit, until uncle wiggily thought it was a snake.
"fairy prince, we salute thee!" exclaimed alice, making a low bow.
"good, very good," remarked the mud turtle. "i believe i promised you i would tell you why i did not change the boy, who caught me, into something strange, say an elephant or a lion."
"yes," replied jimmie, "you did promise us. go ahead, please."
"that's not the way to talk to a fairy prince," objected alice. "you should speak more politely."
"never mind him, he doesn't know any better," went on the mud turtle. "i will now give you my reasons. in the first place i did not want to scare that boy after the way you frightened him. he had been punished enough, i thought. besides, if i had turned him into a lion or an elephant he would have run through the woods, scaring every one he met, and that would not have been right. and the reason i didn't change him into a bug or a mosquito was because he might fly away, and then, when the magic spell had passed off, and he was changed back into a boy again, the transformation might have happened in the air, and he would fall right down on somebody's head, and that would never do, never, never, not in a year and a half. so i concluded not to do anything to him."
"i don't believe you could have changed him into anything at all," said uncle wiggily, quite boldly. "i don't even believe you are a fairy prince."
"there it goes again!" cried the mud turtle, and he wept big tears that made a little puddle of water. "very few persons do believe in me. but i assure you i am a fairy prince," he added, "and, what's more, all i would have had to say to that boy was 'oskaluluhinniumhaddy,' and he would have been turned into anything i liked. but i see you still do not believe me—that is, all but alice. so i will just do a magic trick for you. return here in an hour, and in this very spot you shall find a round stone. take a rock and break open the stone and you will see what happens."
so the wibblewobble children and uncle wiggily went away, wondering what was going to happen. they came back in an hour, and, sure enough, right where the mud turtle had been standing was a large, round stone.
"wonderful!" cried alice.
"let's see what's inside," suggested jimmie.
so he and uncle wiggily took up a rock, and hit that stone once, and they hit it twice, and they hit it three times, and, at the third blow, if that stone didn't break open, and out stepped the mud turtle fairy prince! he was right inside that stone! now, wasn't that a magic trick? i think so, anyhow.
"oh, tell us how you did it!" begged lulu.
"it was very simple, very simple," said the turtle, as he flicked a bit of mud off his nose. "you see, i just rolled myself up in some soft clay, and then made it round like a stone. then i stayed in the sun until it was baked as hard as a rock, and then i rolled along here to wait for you. very simple, indeed. but, now, do you believe i am a fairy prince?" and they all declared they did, even uncle wiggily, and alice said three times: "we salute thee, fairy prince." oh, it was as good as a play!
well, now, let's see about to-morrow night. how about a story of the rat who took the eggs? do you think you would like that? very well, then, you shall hear it, providing my golden slipper doesn't fall off.
