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The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
page 62 of 160 (38%)
as well as his gold spectacles--what was the use of either when he had
no legs with which to walk or run?--up from below there rose a delicious
sound.

You have heard it hundreds of times, my children, and so have I. When I
was a child I thought there was nothing so sweet; and I think so still.
It was just the song of a skylark, mounting higher and higher from the
ground, till it came so close that Prince Dolor could distinguish his
quivering wings and tiny body, almost too tiny to contain such a gush of
music.

"Oh, you beautiful, beautiful bird!" cried he; "I should dearly like to
take you in and cuddle you. That is, if I could--if I dared."

But he hesitated. The little brown creature with its loud heavenly voice
almost made him afraid. Nevertheless, it also made him happy; and he
watched and listened--so absorbed that he forgot all regret and pain,
forgot everything in the world except the little lark.

It soared and soared, and he was just wondering if it would soar out
of sight, and what in the world he should do when it was gone, when it
suddenly closed its wings, as larks do when they mean to drop to the
ground. But, instead of dropping to the ground, it dropped right into
the little boy's breast.

What felicity! If it would only stay! A tiny, soft thing to fondle and
kiss, to sing to him all day long, and be his playfellow and companion,
tame and tender, while to the rest of the world it was a wild bird of
the air. What a pride, what a delight! To have something that nobody
else had--something all his own. As the traveling-cloak traveled on,
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