it, then after you have gone a little way, Nora must take up the
narrative, and so on down the line until the story is finished."

"Fine," said Hippy. "Here goes:"

"Once upon a time, in the heart of a deep forest, there lived a most
beautiful prince. He had all that heart could wish; still he was not
happy, for, alas, he was too fat."

At this statement there was a shout of laughter from his listeners, at
which Hippy, pretending anger, glared ferociously and vowed that he
would not continue. Nora thereupon took up the narrative and convulsed
her hearers with the remedies tried by the fat prince to reduce his
weight. Then the story was passed on to Anne. With each narrator it grew
funnier, until the party screamed with laughter over the misfortunes of
the ill-starred prince.

Hippy ended the tale by marrying the hero to a princess who was a golf
fiend and who forced the poor prince to be her caddy.

"From the day of his marriage he chased golf balls," concluded Hippy,
"and the habit became so firmly fixed with him that he even rose and
chased them in his sleep. He lost flesh at an alarming rate, and three
months after his wedding day they laid him to rest in the quiet
churchyard, with the touching epitaph over him, 'Things are not what
they seem.'"

Hippy buried his face in his handkerchief and sobbed audibly until David
and Reddy pounced upon him and he was obliged to forego his lamentations
and defend himself.