not mind it much; for she had no shyness in her composition; and
she knew, besides, that she could not help it. So she only laughed,
like a musical box. The poor page fared the worst. For the
princess, trying to correct the unfortunate tendency of the kiss,
put out her hands to keep her off the page; so that, along with the
kiss, he received, on the other cheek, a slap with the huge black
toad, which she poked right into his eye. He tried to laugh, too,
but the attempt resulted in such an odd contortion of countenance,
as showed that there was no danger of his pluming himself on the
kiss. As for the king, his dignity was greatly hurt, and he did not
speak to the page for a whole month.

I may here remark that it was very amusing to see her run, if her
mode of progression could properly be called running. For first she
would make a bound; then, having alighted, she would run a few
steps, and make another bound. Sometimes she would fancy she had
reached the ground before she actually had, and her feet would go
backwards and forwards, running upon nothing at all, like those of
a chicken on its back. Then she would laugh like the very spirit of
fun; only in her laugh there was something missing. What it was, I
find myself unable to describe. I think it was a certain tone,
depending upon the possibility of sorrow--MORBIDEZZA, perhaps. She
never smiled.



7. Try Metaphysics.


After a long avoidance of the painful subject, the king and queen