"Dear me," said Eyebright, "you're no better off than a little boy in an ordinary nursery!"
The little King drew himself up on tiptoe with great dignity. "Some of your remarks are most foolish," he said. "You forget that I have a kingdom of my own as well as a nursery. To be sure," he added sadly, "it is not much to boast of, for it is a very stupid kingdom, and nothing nice ever happens in it."
"What do you mean?" exclaimed Eyebright. "Your kingdom is the nicest kingdom in the whole world!"
King Wistful had managed to keep his temper so far, but this was more than he could bear. "Rubbish!" he cried, completely forgetting his royal manners. "You come up the hill with me, and I'll show you what a stupid kingdom it is."
So they raced up to the top of the hill and looked down at the five round islands in a row. "There!" said King Wistful. "Did you ever see anything so dull?"
The little girl shook her head. "I think it is all as pretty as it can be," she said. "Look how the sun glints on the cornfields, and see the great red and blue patches of flowers—"
"But they're always the same flowers," complained his Majesty, yawning.
"They're supposed to be the same flowers, but they never are," answered Eyebright. "If you were to pick them—"
"Kings never pick flowers," he replied haughtily.
"Perhaps that is why you know so little about them," retorted Eyebright; and his Majesty began to feel he was not getting the best of it.