The Floating Prince and Other Fairy Tales. Frank Richard Stockton

      It would be useless to try to describe the joy and gratitude of the king and the people. The aristocrats were loaded with honors and presents; they and their old master were sumptuously lodged in the palace, and, in their honor, the public library was ordered to be kept open every evening, in order that the people who were busy in the day-time might go there and read the papers, which were no longer carried to them.

      At the end of a year, a flag was raised on the top of the high tower, and the admiral's ship came in. The philosophers took off their bags, which were now very old and thin, and the aristocrats, with their master, were warmly welcomed on board.

      Being all grown up, they were no longer feared. In a few days, the ship sailed for Nassimia, and, as the aristocrats were taking leave of the sorrowing citizens, the Smart-boy stepped up to the king, and said:

      ​"I'll tell you what I should do, if I were you. About a week before the time you expect to run down again, I'd make a lot of men go to work and wind up the city. You can do it yourselves, just as well as to wait for other people to do it for you."

      "That's exactly what I will do!" cried the king. "I never thought of it before!"

      He did it, and, so far as is known, the city is running yet.

      When the aristocrats reached the city of Nassimia, everybody was glad to see them, for they had become a fine, well-behaved, and well-educated body of nobility, and the admiral, standing high upon his stilts, looked down upon them with honest pride, as he presented them to the king and queen.

      Lorilla shook each one of them by the hand. They did not recognize the little fairy in this handsome woman, but when she explained how the change had taken place, they were delighted.

      "To think of it!" cried one of the younger aristocrats. "We never missed that bottle-washer!"

      "No," said Lorilla; "nobody ever missed her. That is one reason why she was such a good one to be made a fairy. And now you must tell us your whole story."

      And so the king and the queen, the giant and his army, the chancellor of the exchequer, and as many of the populace as could get near enough, crowded around to hear the story of the adventures of the aristocrats, which the Head-boy told very well.

      "I should like very much to go to that curious city," said Lorilla, "especially at a time when it had run down, and everything had stopped."

      "Oh, I don't believe it will ever stop any more," cried the Tail-boy. "We told them how to keep themselves a-going all the time."