Next morning when Prince Dolor awoke he perceived that his room was empty.
Very uncomfortable he felt, of course; and just a little frightened. Especially when he began to call again and again, but nobody answered.
"Nurse—dear nurse—please come back!" he called out. "Come back, and I will be the best boy in all the land."
And when she did not come back, and nothing but silence answered his lamentable call, he very nearly began to cry.
"This won't do," he said at last, dashing the tears from his eyes. "It's just like a baby, and I'm a big boy—shall be a man some day. What has happened, I wonder? I'll go and see."
He sprang out of bed and crawled from room to room on his knees.
"What in the world am I to do?" thought he, and sat down in the middle of the floor, half inclined to believe that it would be better to give up entirely, lay himself down and die.
This feeling, however, did not last long. He jumped up and looked out of the window. No help there. At first he only saw the broad bleak sunshiny plain. But, by-and-by, in the mud around the base of the tower he saw clearly the marks of horses' feet, and just in the spot where the deaf mute always tied his great black charger, there lay the remains of a bundle of hay.
"Yes, that's it. He has come and gone, taking nurse with him. Poor nurse! how glad she must have been to go!"
That was Prince Dolor's first thought. His second was one of indignation at her cruelty.