“I don’t see anything laughable in asking for food when one’s hungry!” observed the Prince rather sulkily.
“No, no;” answered the first speaker as soon as he recovered breath, “the oddity consisted in the notion that you could get it by asking for it, and without doing anything to earn it. Nothing for nothing, is the rule here.”
“Well, I’ll pay for it honestly,—I’ll give you money for it,” said the Hope of the Katzekopfs.
“Money! what is money?” inquired a very young Fairy.
The man in authority laughed louder than ever. “Little bits of the stones we build our houses of, my child,” said he. “No, Prince, you must offer us something more to our taste than money, before we can find you provisions. Money is of no use here: we often mend the roads with it.”
“Then what is it you require of me?” asked the Prince, in a perturbed and astonished tone.
“Why you must work, work, work, like a dutiful apprentice, and then, as often as it is proper, you shall have something to eat.”
“Who am I to work for? what work am I expected to do?” inquired the scion of royalty.
“Oh you’re to work for me!” answered a shrill voice.
“And for me.” “And me.” “And me,” added a hundred more.