“You can be clever and tactful, too,” said the Captain. “Take Rainbow for your model, and learn of him.
“And if you ask a question of the King, you must say: ‘Your Royal Highness, may I be permitted to ask——’ and so forth.
“But you must not say: ‘May I ask—your Royal Highness?’ ‘Your Royal Highness’ or ‘Your Majesty’ must always come before ‘I’ or ‘me’ when you are addressing the King.”
“Rainbow, as usual, I put you in charge of the whole affair. You must instruct the others in the proper etiquette for the occasion.”
“Shall I gather countless fireflies for the illumination?” asked Lightning.
“Not fireflies, but glowworms,” said the Captain. “They are rarer and will therefore do the King more honor.
“And we’ll send to the Dwarfs of Cavedale, and have them make a thousand silver filigree lanterns to hold the glowworms, and hang from the ceilings of Mount Fern, and from the branches of trees near our dwelling.
“And the floors shall be carpeted with the petals of roses; and the walls hung with star-flower and forget-me-not.
“And the sweetest and freshest of honeydew must be collected, with the ripest and most luscious of the fruits, and the most perfect of the nuts.
“And now I think this is all I need tell you, for, as I said before, the King will manage his own entertainment.