Page:The Princess of Cozytown.pdf/48

 the shoe and told the Prince to come with him. The Prince followed the little fellow to the end of the hall where a very ancient dwarf with a silvery beard at least a yard long sat upon a throne cut from a blazing ruby. Sambrun dropped to one knee and remained thus until the King of the dwarfs bade him rise. "Well," demanded the King in a faraway voice. "What is your wish? Here are stored the treasures of the world. Here are buried the secrets of all times, Past, Present and Future."

The Prince, now accustomed to the dim light, looked curiously about the giant hall. Heaps and heaps of silver and gold rose to the ceiling. Stacks of glittering emeralds and diamonds and all manner of precious stones glittered and sparkled from the shadowy corners; blue-veined marble, gold-shot bronze, magic-hued jade surrounded the walls of the mysterious cave. For a moment the Prince forgot the simply gorgeous Princess, forgot his weeping mother, and forgot his bald-headed, bad-tempered father. On the tip of his tongue trembled the wish to possess this great treasure, and then ashamed and mortified the next minute, he bit his tongue sharply and could say nothing at all. But the friendly little dwarf told his story for him, and as he finished said, "Give him, O wise King, the secret that will save his life, the secret sought since the beginning of time, the secret of growing hair."

The King looked at Sambrun gravely and asked, "Is this your wish?" "Yes," gasped the Prince, dropping to his knee and covering his eyes so that he could not see the hateful treasure. "You have wished well, O Prince," said the King.

 

ND straightway he sent a score of little brown men scurrying this way and that. They built a huge fire and brewed in a golden kettle the strongest mixture that you can imagine. What was in it I can never tell you; indeed, I wish that I could. This only I 