“I observe that you have given me that designation very frequently,” observed the Prince, “what reason have you for supposing it belongs to me?”
“My Prince,” replied the Sprite; “had I never set eyes upon you till this moment, there is that in your form and figure which could not have failed to betray to the most unobservant that you could be sprung from none but the very highest. You bear that in your eye, and on your brow. But, my gracious Prince, though you see me now for the first time, you are no stranger to me. I am of a race who walk invisible, and, if I may be allowed to say such a thing without presumption, you have been the object of my tender regards since the very hour of your birth. In fact, I may say that I have never been parted from you during your whole existence.”
“You amaze me,” said Eigenwillig; “explain, I pray you, how such a thing can have happened without my being conscious of it.”
“I would gladly do so,” replied the Sprite; “but it is among the mysteries which we are forbidden to reveal to mortals.”
“But may you not tell me who you are? How call they you, and what is your name?”
“Selbst, at your service,” answered the tiny elf.
“And why have you sought me here?” asked the Prince.
“Because our interests are identical, and because the Lady Abracadabra, being well aware of my anxiety to befriend you, permitted me to offer myself as a companion to you on your travels.”
“You know this country then?”
“Intimately, my Prince; and I flatter myself that I am sufficiently conversant with your tastes to be able to make myself agreeable to you, which (I say it with all diffidence) is a great deal more than our friend in the gray habiliments undertook for himself. I can fly, while he can only creep. I am ready to join in any merry sport; but he seems fit for nothing but a hermitage in a desert. I can watch over you, and defend your interests; he, poor old gentleman, is fit for nothing but a scarecrow.”