'If the lads really show such bad taste,' said his Majesty, 'why I and
my lords must do double duty, and dance with a couple of you at once.'
Consoled and complimented, and crowned by a King, who could look sad?
The women forgot their anger in their increasing loyalty.

But the pupils of Popanilla had no sooner mastered the first principles
of science than they began to throw off their retired habits and
uncommunicative manners. Being not utterly ignorant of some of the
rudiments of knowledge, and consequently having completed their
education, it was now their duty, as members of society, to instruct and
not to study. They therefore courted, instead of shunned, their
fellow-creatures; and on all occasions seized all opportunities of
assisting the spread of knowledge. The voices of lecturing boys
resounded in every part of the island. Their tones were so shrill,
their manners so presuming, their knowledge so crude, and their general
demeanour so completely unamiable, that it was impossible to hear them
without delight, advantage, and admiration.

The women were not now the only sufferers and the only complainants.
Dinned to death, the men looked gloomy; and even the King, for the first
time in his life, looked grave. Could this Babel, he thought, be that
empire of bliss, that delightful Fantaisie, where to be ruler only
proved that you were the most skilful in making others happy! His brow
ached under his light flowery crown, as if it were bound by the
barbarous circle of a tyrant, heavy with gems and gold. In his despair
he had some thoughts of leaving his kingdom and betaking himself to the
mermaids.

The determination of the most precious portion of his subjects saved his
empire. As the disciples of the new school were daily demanding, 'What