sent; and straightway they came. In a long speech he communicated
to them what they knew very well already--as who did not?--namely,
the peculiar condition of his daughter in relation to the globe on
which she dwelt; and requested them to consult together as to what
might be the cause and probable cure of her INFIRMITY. The king
laid stress upon the word, but failed to discover his own pun. The
queen laughed; but Hum-Drum and Kopy-Keck heard with humility and
retired in silence.

The consultation consisted chiefly in propounding and supporting,
for the thousandth time, each his favourite theories. For the
condition of the princess afforded delightful scope for the
discussion of every question arising from the division of
thought-in fact, of all the Metaphysics of the Chinese Empire. But
it is only justice to say that they did not altogether neglect the
discussion of the practical question, what was to be done.

Hum-Drum was a Materialist, and Kopy-Keck was a Spiritualist. The
former was slow and sententious; the latter was quick and flighty:
the latter had generally the first word; the former the last.

"I reassert my former assertion," began Kopy-Keck, with a plunge.
"There is not a fault in the princess, body or soul; only they are
wrong put together. Listen to me now, Hum-Drum, and I will tell you
in brief what I think. Don't speak. Don't answer me. I won't hear
you till I have done.-- At that decisive moment, when souls seek
their appointed habitations, two eager souls met, struck,
rebounded, lost their way, and arrived each at the wrong place. The
soul of the princess was one of those, and she went far astray. She
does not belong by rights to this world at all, but to some other