Without making any reply, the hippopotamouse plunged into meditation and the cheese at the same moment, and nibbled and meditated in silence for several hours; while the unhappy Prince stood first on one leg, and then on the other, endeavoring in vain to conceal his impatience. Finally, when he was quite exhausted with waiting, the hippopotamouse took his head out of the cheese.
“My young friend,” he said, “I see but one way.”
“My young friend,” he said, “I see but one way out of the difficulty, and that is for you to walk about on two of your legs until they are worn out. Then, you perceive, you will have, unless my calculations have misled me, exactly two left,—the proper number to enable you legally to marry the Flamingo Princess. You may find this fatiguing,” he continued, seeing the Prince’s look of dismay; “but really I can see nothing else for you to do; and when you reflect that everything is more or less fatiguing, and that I have worn out five complete sets of teeth on this very cheese, you may become reconciled to your lot. Good-by. I wish you well.” And without more ado, he plunged into the cheese once more.
The unhappy Prince uttered one wild howl, and turning away, fled into the savage wilds of the Pongolian forest.
Here Bruin paused, shook his head, and sighed deeply.
“Oh! go on, Bruin,” cried Toto eagerly. “How can you stop there? Go on immediately, and tell us the rest!”
Alas! there is little more to tell; for from that moment the Prince of the Poles has never been seen or heard of.