dignity allowed him, hurried to his palace, which was close by.

"Well," said the porter, "what do you want?"

"Stand aside, fellow!" roared the king, pushing back the door with his foot.

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Seize him!" cried the porter. "On your lives!" cried the king. at me, fellow! Who am I?" "A madman and a fool. you are!" cried the porter. fast!

"Look

That's what

"Hold him

In came the guards, with an officer at their head, who had just been dressing his curls at a looking-glass. He had the glass in his hand.

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Captain Francavilla," said the king, "is the world run mad? or what is it? Your rebels pretend not even to know me! Go before me, sir, to my rooms!" And as he spoke, the king shook off the men, as a lion does curs, and moved onward.

Captain Francavilla put his finger gently before the king to stop him, and said in a very mincing tone, "Some madman."

King Robert tore the looking-glass from

the captain's hands, and looked himself in the face. It was not his own face.

"Here is witchcraft!" exclaimed King Robert. "I am changed." And, for the first time in his life, a feeling of fear came upon him, but nothing so great as the rage and fury that remained.

"Bring him in- bring him in!" now exclaimed other voices, the news having got to the royal apartments; "the king wants to see him."

King Robert was brought in; and there, amidst roars of laughter, he found himself face to face with another King Robert, seated on his throne, and as like his former self as he himself was unlike, but with more dignity.

"Hideous impostor!" exclaimed Robert, rushing forward to tear him down.

The court, at the word "hideous," roared with greater laughter than before, for the king, in spite of his pride, was at all times a handsome man; and there was a strong feeling, at present, that he had never in his life looked so well.

Robert, when halfway to the throne, felt

as if a palsy had smitten him. He stopped, and tried to vent his rage, but could not speak.

The figure on the throne looked him steadily in the face. Robert thought it was a wizard, but hated far more than he feared it, for he was of great courage.

It was an angel. But the angel was not going to make himself known yet, nor for a long time.

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Since thou art royal-mad," said the new sovereign, "and in truth a very king of fools, thou shalt have crown and scepter, and be my fool. Fetch the cap and bauble, and let the King of Fools have his coronation."

Robert felt that he must submit.

II

The proud King Robert of Sicily lived in this way for two years, always raging in his mind, always sullen in his manners, and, without the power to oppose, bearing every slight that his former favorites could heap on him.

All the notice the king took of him

consisted in his asking, now and then, in full court, when everything was silent,

Well, fool, art thou still a king?" Robert for some weeks loudly answered that he was; but, finding that the answer was but the signal for a roar of laughter, he turned his speech into a haughty silence, until, seeing that the laughter was greater at this dumb show, he acted in a way that showed neither defiance nor agreement, and the angel for some time let him alone.

Meantime, everybody but the unhappy Robert blessed the new, or, as they supposed him, the altered, king; for everything in the mode of government was changed. Taxes were light; the poor had plenty; work was not too heavy. Half the day was given to industry, and half to healthy enjoyment; and the inhabitants became at once the manliest and tenderest, the gayest and most studious people in the world. Wherever the king went, he was loaded with blessings; and the fool heard them, and wondered.

At the end of these two years, or nearly

so, the king announced that he was to pay a visit to his brother the Pope and his brother the Emperor, the latter coming to Rome for the purpose. He went accordingly with a great train, all clad in the most magnificent garments but the fool, who was dressed in foxtails, and put side by side with an ape dressed like himself.

The people poured out of their houses, and fields, and vineyards, all struggling to get a sight of the king's face and to bless it; the ladies strewing flowers, and the peasants' wives holding up their rosy children, which last sight seemed to delight the sovereign.

The fool came after the court pages, by the side of his ape, causing shouts of laughter; though some persons were a little astonished to think how a monarch, so kind to all the rest of the world, should be so hard upon a sorry fool. But it was told them that this fool was the most insolent of men toward the prince himself; and then although their wonder hardly ceased, it was full of wrath against