“No, dearest Cousin,” he replied emphatically. “That is just what we are going to avoid. That is what the rest of the world resembles. Europe,—the Department of Fine Arts. Asia, the Goldsmiths’ and Jewellery Department. Africa, the Department for Promoting the Achievement of Virtue by Trial. America, Commissariat Department. Australia, Educational Department for the transformation of Bad Boys into Muckle Men and prominent Politicians. Your country shall be above all that.
“In designing it I will bear in mind the words of a famous mortal to the effect that the elimination of the unnecessary is the perfection of art. I will remember that the rules which govern the creation of worlds for ordinary sovereigns are not applicable in your case. I will strive for universal utility combined with universal beauty, while taking care that there shall never be too much of a good thing, and entirely leaving out all the bad. And though every tree and shrub shall have its use there shall be no venomous reptiles, no poisonous insects, no marauding beasts, and no destructive birds.”
“It will be a new Eden!” rapturously sighed the Queen.
“Scarcely, alas!” returned the Prince. “For where men are the gates of Paradise must be kept locked, lest thy scatter the newspaper wrappers and empty tins of their vices where they will offend the eyes of the Peri. But nevertheless there shall be Paradise in your territory, Cousin, and though the angels with the flaming swords must be stationed without, you can award them frequent holiday. Only,—give no notice to your people as to the absence of the guardians of the garden. Let it be by their own unpremeditated goodness that they stumble upon the fragrant path that leads to the vale of joy and the mountains of peace, for thus alone can you ensure the abstention of the unworthy. And in the beginning the country shall be as virginal and as beautiful as an earthly Eden may be, so that, perhaps, it may retain an odour of Paradise to the end.”
“I will do all in my power to keep it perfect!” murmured the Queen, almost in tears, so overcome was she with gratitude.
“Unhappily you cannot keep men out!” observed the Prince regretfully. “But perhaps I shall be able to help you even there, by the exhibition of certain subterraneous effects which will serve to remind them that their tenure is uncertain. One thing, however, I cannot perfect. I cannot close the entrances that my engineers must make in order to pass to and fro during the process of construction, but they shall be as little obtrusive as possible. Will you pardon this drawback, dear Cousin?”
“On condition that you sometimes use them, dear Cousin, to visit me!” graciously replied the Queen.
And just then they noticed that the sun was setting and the time had come to say farewell.
