CHAPTER VII.
TRY METAPHYSICS.
After a long avoidance of the painful subject, the king and queen resolved to hold a counsel of three upon it; and so they sent for the princess. In she came, sliding and flitting and gliding from one piece of furniture to another, and put herself at last in an arm chair, in a sitting posture. Whether she could be said to sit, seeing she received no support from the seat of the chair, I do not pretend to determine.
"'My dear child,' said the king, you must be aware that you are not exactly like other people.'
"'O you dear funny papa! I have got a nose and two eyes and all the rest. So have you. So has mamma.'
"'Now be serious, my dear, for once,' said the queen.
"'No, thank you, mamma; I had rather not.'
"'Would you not like to be able to walk like other people?' said the king.
"'No indeed, I should think not. You only crawl. You are such slow coaches!
"'How do you feel, my child?' he resumed, after a pause of discomfiture.