I have not seen it, and therefore cannot describe it, so we will just
take it upon trust, and suppose it to be, like every other fine city,
the finest city that ever was built. Mag said so--and of course she
knew.

Nevertheless, there were a few things in it which surprised Prince
Dolor--and, as he had said, he could not understand them at all. One
half the people seemed so happy and busy--hurrying up and down the full
streets, or driving lazily along the parks in their grand carriages,
while the other half were so wretched and miserable.

"Can't the world be made a little more level? I would try to do it if I
were a king."

"But you're not the king: only a little goose of a boy," returned the
magpie loftily. "And I'm here not to explain things, only to show them.
Shall I show you the royal palace?"

It was a very magnificent palace. It had terraces and gardens,
battlements and towers. It extended over acres of ground, and had in
it rooms enough to accommodate half the city. Its windows looked in all
directions, but none of them had any particular view--except a small
one, high up toward the roof, which looked out on the Beautiful
Mountains. But since the queen died there it had been closed, boarded
up, indeed, the magpie said. It was so little and inconvenient that
nobody cared to live in it. Besides, the lower apartments, which had no
view, were magnificent--worthy of being inhabited by the king.

"I should like to see the king," said Prince Dolor.