eager to do anything her monkey of a son desired, lost no time in seeking the king; and the prince, impatient to learn the result of the interview, stopped, and put his ear against the door, and lifted up his hair to hear more distinctly. Leander entered the grand hall of the palace with his little red cap on his head, and was of course invisible. As soon as he caught sight of Furibon listening, he took a nail and a hammer and nailed his ear to the door-post. Furibon, distracted, raved and thumped at the door like a madman, uttering piercing shrieks. The queen, at the sound of his voice, ran to open the door to him, and in so doing pulled off her son's ear. He bled as if his throat had been cut, and made a hideous grimace. The queen, inconsolable, sat him in her lap, took up his ear, kissed it, and stuck it on again.
Leander took a handful of twigs which were used for whipping the king's little dogs, and rapped the queen's knuckles and the prince's nose with them. The queen called out she was being murdered, massacred. The king stared, the attendants rushed in, no one was to be seen, and it was whispered about that her majesty was out of her wits, and that it must be from grief at seeing Furibon's ear torn off. The king believed the rumour, and avoided the queen when she approached him. The scene was altogether very amusing. The merry Sprite gave Furibon another good switching, and then, quitting the apartment, he went into the garden and became visible. There he boldly gathered the cherries, apricots, and strawberries, and the rarest flowers in the queen's parterre,—those she took special care of herself, and which it was death to touch. The gardener, thunderstruck, ran to tell their majesties that Prince Leander was stripping the fruit-trees and plundering the flower-garden. "What insolence!" exclaimed the queen. "My little Furibon, my dear poppet!—forget, for a moment, the pain of your ear, and run after that wretch; take with you our guards, our musqueteers, our police, our courtiers. Place yourself at their head, and cut the traitor into collops." Furibon, excited by his mother's words, and followed by a thousand men well armed, hurried into the garden, and saw Leander under a tree, who flung a stone at him, which broke his arm, and pelted his troops with oranges. They rushed upon Leander: but he instantly became invisible, and stepping behind Furibon, who was already in a sad plight, passed
