NOW all the Kingdom next Fairy Land was miserable, and All the people were murmuring, and the King and Queen were nearly melted in tears. They thought of all ways to recover their dear daughter, and at last the Queen hit on a plan.

“My dear,” she said to the King, “let us offer to give our daughter for a wife, to any Prince who will only find her and bring her home.”

“Who will want to marry a girl he can’t see?” said the King. “If they have not married pretty girls they can see, they won’t care for poor Niente.”

“Never mind; we can only try,” said the Queen. So she sent out messengers into all the world, and sent the picture of the Princess everywhere, and proclaimed that the beautiful Princess Niente, and no less than three-quarters of the Kingdom would be given to the Prince that could find the Princess and bring her home. And there was to be a great tournament, or sham fight, at the Palace, to amuse all the Princes before they went on the search. So many Princes gathered together, all full of hope; and they rode against each other with spears and swords, and knocked each other about, and afterwards dined, and danced, and made merry. Some Fairy Knights, too, came over the border, and they fought with spears, riding Beetles and Grasshoppers, instead of horses. Here is a picture of a “joust,” or tournament, between two sets of Fairy Knights. By all these warlike exercises, they increased their courage till they felt brave enough to fight all the Ghosts, and all the Giants, if only they could save the beautiful Princess.

Well, the tournaments were over, and off all the Princes went into Fairy Land. What funny sights they saw in Fairy Land! They saw a great Snail race, the Snails running so fast, that some of the Fairy jockeys fell off on the grass. They saw a Fairy boy dancing with a Squirrel, and they found all the birds, and all the beasts, quite friendly and kind, and able to talk like other people. This was the way in old times, but now no beasts talk, and no birds, except Parrots only.

Now among all this gallant army of Princes, one was ugly, and he looked old, and odd, and the rest laughed at him, and called him the Prince Comical. But he had a kind heart. One day, when he was out walking alone, and thinking what he could do to find the Princess, he saw three bad little boys teasing a big Daddy Long Legs. They had got hold of one of his legs, and were pulling at it with all their might. When the Prince Comical saw this, he ran up and drove the bad boys away, and rubbed the limb of the Daddy Long Legs, till he gave up groaning and crying. Then the Daddy Long Legs sat up, and said in a weak voice, “You have been very kind to me; what can I do for you?”

“Oh, help me,” said the Prince, “to find the Princess Niente! You fly everywhere; don’t you know where she is?”

“I don’t know,” said the Daddy Long Legs, mournfully. “I have never flown so far. But I know that you are all in a very dangerous part of Fairy Land. And I will take you to an aged Black Beetle, who can give you the best advice.”

So saying, the Daddy Long Legs walked off with the Prince till they came to the Black Beetle.

“Can you tell this Prince,” said the Daddy Long Legs, “where the Princess Niente is hidden?”

“I know it is in Mushroom Land,” said the Beetle; “but he will want a guide.”

“Will you be my guide?” asked the Prince.

“Yes,” said the Beetle; “but what about your friends, the other Princes?”

“Oh, they must come too; it would not be fair to leave them behind,” said the Prince Comical.

He was the soul of honour; and though the others laughed at him, he would not take advantage of his luck, and run away from them.

“Well, you are a true Knight,” said the Black Beetle; “but before we go into the depths of Mushroom Land, just you come here with me.”

Then the Black Beetle pointed out to the Prince a great smooth round red thing, a long way off.

“That is the first Mushroom in Mushroom Land,” said the Beetle. “Now come with me, and you shall see, what you shall see.”

So the Prince followed the Beetle, till they came to the Mushroom.

“Climb up and look over,” said the Beetle.

So the Prince climbed up, and looked over. There he saw a crowned King, sound asleep.

Here is the Prince Comical (you see he is not very handsome!); and here is the King so sound asleep.

“Try to waken him,” said the Beetle; “just try.”

So the Prince tried to waken the King, but it was of no use.

“Now, take warning by that,” said the Black Beetle, “and never go to sleep under a Mushroom in Mushroom country. You will never wake, if you do, till the Princess Niente is found again.”

Well, the Prince Comical said he would remember that, and he and the Beetle went off and found the other Princes. They were disposed to laugh at being led by a Black Beetle; but one of them, who was very learned, reminded them that armies had been led before by Woodpeckers, and Wolves, and Humming Birds.

So they all moved on, and at night they were very tired.

Now there were no houses, and not many trees, in Mushroom Land, and when night came all the Princes wanted to lie down under a very big Mushroom.

It was in vain that the Black Beetle and Prince Comical warned them to beware.

As they marched through Mushroom Land the twilight came upon them, and the Elves began to come out for their dance, for Elves only dance at dusk, and they could not help joining them, which was very imprudent, as they had plenty to do the next day, and it would have been wiser if they had gone to sleep.

The Elves went on with their play till midnight, and exactly at midnight the Elves stopped their play, and undressed, and got up into the boughs of a big tree and went to sleep. You may wonder how the Elves know when it is midnight, as there are no clocks in Mushroom Land, of course. But they cannot really help knowing, as it is exactly at twelve that the Mushrooms begin to grow, and the little Mushrooms come up.

Now the Elves covered every branch of the tree, as you see in the picture, and the Fairies did not know where to lie down. At last they decided to lie down under a very big Mushroom.

“Nonsense,” they said. “You may sleep out in the open air, if you like; we mean to make ourselves comfortable here.”

So they all lay down under the shelter of the Mushroom, and Prince Comical slept in the open air. In the morning he wakened, feeling very well and hungry, and off he set to call his friends. But he might as well have called the Mushroom itself. There they all lay under its shade; and though some of them had their eyes open, not one of them could move. The Prince shook them, dragged them, shouted at them, and pulled their hair. But the more he shouted and dragged, the louder they snored; and the worst of it was, that he could not pull them out of the shadow of the Magic Mushroom. So there he had to leave them, sound asleep.

The Prince thought the Elves could help him perhaps, so he went and asked them how to waken his friends. They were all awake, and the Fairies were dressing the baby-Elves. But they only said, “Oh! its their fault for sleeping under a Mushroom. Anybody would know that is a stupid thing to do. Besides, we have no time to attend to them, as the sun will be up soon, and we must get these Babies dressed and be off before then.”

“Why, where are you going to?” said the Prince.

“Ah! nobody knows where we go to in the day time,” said the Elves.

And nobody does.

“Well, what am I to do now?” said the Prince to the Black Beetle.

“I don’t know where the Princess is,” said the Beetle; “but the Blue Bird is very wise, and he may know. Now your best plan will be to steal two of the Blue Bird’s eggs, and not give them back till he tells you all he can.”

So off they set for the Blue Bird’s nest; and, to make a long story short, the Prince stole two of the eggs, and would not give them back, till the Bird promised to tell him all it knew. And the end of it was, that the Bird carried him to the Court of the Queen of Mushroom Land. She was sitting, in her Crown, on a Mushroom, and she looked very funny and mischievous.

Here you see the Prince, with his hat off, kissing the Queen’s hair, and asking for the Princess.

“Oh, she’s quite safe,” said the Queen of Mushroom Land; “but what a funny boy you are. You are not half handsome enough for the Princess Niente.”

The poor Prince blushed. “They call me Prince Comical,” said he; “I know I’m not half good enough!”

“You are good enough for anything,” said the Queen of Mushroom Land; “but you might be prettier.”

Then she touched him with her wand, and he became as handsome a Prince as ever was seen, in a beautiful red silk doublet, slashed with white, and a long gold-coloured robe.

“Now you will do for my Princess Niente,” said the Queen of Mushroom Land. “Blue Bird” (and she whispered in the Bird’s ear), “take him away to the Princess Niente.”

So they flew, and they flew, all day and all night, and next day they came to a green bower, all full of Fairies, and Butterflies, and funny little people. And there, with all her long yellow hair round her, there sat the Princess Niente. And the Prince Charming laid his Crown at her feet, and knelt on one knee, and asked the Princess to be his love and his lady. And she did not refuse him, so they were married in the Church of the Elves, and the Glowworm sent his torches, and all the bells of all the flowers made a merry peal. And soon they were to travel home, to the King and the Queen.