man whom he had once reverenced and still loved, he invited him to
sit down with him on the bank.

The old man, thus encouraged, began to lament the change which had
been lately observed in the Prince, and to inquire why he so often
retired from the pleasures of the palace to loneliness and silence.
"I fly from pleasure," said the Prince, "because pleasure has
ceased to please: I am lonely because I am miserable, and am
unwilling to cloud with my presence the happiness of others."
"You, sir," said the sage, "are the first who has complained of
misery in the Happy Valley. I hope to convince you that your
complaints have no real cause. You are here in full possession of
all the Emperor of Abyssinia can bestow; here is neither labour to
be endured nor danger to be dreaded, yet here is all that labour or
danger can procure or purchase. Look round and tell me which of
your wants is without supply: if you want nothing, how are you
unhappy?"

"That I want nothing," said the Prince, "or that I know not what I
want, is the cause of my complaint: if I had any known want, I
should have a certain wish; that wish would excite endeavour, and I
should not then repine to see the sun move so slowly towards the
western mountains, or to lament when the day breaks, and sleep will
no longer hide me from myself. When I see the kids and the lambs
chasing one another, I fancy that I should be happy if I had
something to pursue. But, possessing all that I can want, I find
one day and one hour exactly like another, except that the latter
is still more tedious than the former. Let your experience inform
me how the day may now seem as short as in my childhood, while
nature was yet fresh, and every moment showed me what I never had