Harper's Round Table, September 22, 1896

WYMPS.

BY EVELYN SHARP.

Little Lady Daffany had just been betrothed to the Prince, and there were great rejoicings all over the town in consequence. The people were allowed to cheer as much as they liked, and every child in the country had a whole holiday and a penny bun, and nobody had an unhappy moment from sunrise to sunset. All the Fairies were invited to a magnificent banquet in the palace that lasted five hours and a half; and the betrothed couple sat at one end of the table, and talked to one another; and the King and Queen sat at the other end, and hoped that everything would go well. The Queen fanned herself, and murmured at intervals. "The wish of my heart"; and the King grumbled to himself because he could not get enough to eat. The King had a very healthy appetite, and he always gave a banquet whenever there was the least occasion for one.

"I really don't think we have left any one out this time," said the Queen, in a satisfied tone. One of the Fairies had been left out at the Prince's christening, and the usual misfortunes had followed in consequence.

"That is because I sent out all the invitations myself," replied the King, crushingly. "These things require only a little management."

The words were hardly out of his royal mouth when a sudden darkness fell upon the room, just as though a curtain had been drawn across the sun. One ray of sun continued to shine, however, and that was the one that shone over Lady Daffany's head; and down this one something came sliding at a terrific pace, and tumbled into a dish of peaches just in front of her. The conversation stopped with a jerk, and the people in the street ceased cheering at the same moment, though they could not have told any one why they did not go on.

"I am going to faint!" the Queen was heard to exclaim; but no one was sufficiently unoccupied to attend to her. The eyes of every one were fixed on the one ray of sunlight that shone over Lady Daffany's head into the dish of peaches on the table.

"Now that's a stupid place to keep peaches," said the cause of all this disturbance; and the funniest little man imaginable clambered out of the dish of peaches and looked inquisitively down the long table. He was very small and of a misty appearance, and he was dressed from head to foot in dull yellow fog, and his face was brimful of mischief. He looked as though he had done nothing all his life but make fun of people; for he had very small eyes that twinkled, and a very large mouth that smiled, and the rest of his face was one mass of laughter wrinkles.

"So you thought you were going to leave the Wymps out, did you?" he said, sitting down comfortably on the edge of a large salt-cellar, and swinging his legs backwards and forwards. "You will say you never heard of the Wymps next, I suppose!"

That was just what every one in the room was thinking, but no one had the courage to say so.

"To be sure! to be sure! How stupid of us not to recognize you at once!" said the Queen, who had not fainted, after all.

"Most absurd! Why, the children in the schools could have told us that, eh?" added the King, glancing at the Royal Professor of Geography, who sat on his right hand.

"No doubt; no doubt. Though it does not belong to my branch of learning," said the latter, looking cheerfully at the Royal Professor of History, who was trying, for his part, not to look at anybody at all.

"Then if you know such a lot about us, how was it you didn't ask us to the banquet, eh?" shouted the little Wymp in a most disagreeable manner.

"Dear me!" said the Queen. "Is it possible you never had the letter?"

"I have no doubt," added the King, "that it was never posted."

"Or perhaps it was not properly addressed," suggested Lady Daffany, politely.

The Wymp looked from one to the other and winked; then he stood on his head and burst into a fit of laughter.

"It is no use, dearest," said the Prince, gloomily. "We have never heard of the Wymps, and we had better own it at once. I suppose that means another bad gift, and I had quite enough of that at my christening. It is enough to set one against banquets altogether. There's always some one left out. First, it's Fairies, then it's Wymps. Now, then, Mr. Wymp, just tells us where you came from, and why you are here, and get it over, will you?"

"Now that's sensible. I think I'll shake hands with you," said the Wymp, coming down on his feet again, and standing on tiptoe to grasp the Prince's hand. The Prince felt it was like shaking hands with a very damp sponge.

"Now I'll tell you what it is," continued the Wymp, climbing up a decanter, and standing with one foot on the stopper and the other tucked up like a stork's; "the Wymps have been left out of this banquet altogether, and Wymps are not people to be trifled with. Why people make such a fuss about Fairies I never can make out. Now if you'd left some of them out, it wouldn't have made any difference. They just overcrowd everything, and it's not fair."

The Fairies fluttered their wings indignantly at this, but the Fairy Queen reminded them that it was not polite to make a quarrel in somebody else's house, and the Wymp went on undisturbed.

"So I have come down from the land of the Wymps, which is at the back of the sun, just to remind you that you mustn't leave us out again. However, I see I am spoiling the fun, so I will be off again. But I may as well mention"--here he looked straight at the Prince and burst out laughing again--"that in future you will always tell people what you think of them. Ha! ha! ha! that is the Wymps' gift to you. Good-by!"

And away he sped up the sunbeam again, and the curtain fell away from the sun, and the people in the street went on cheering just where they had left off, and the conversation broke out again at the very place it had been interrupted, and no one would have thought that anything had happened at all. But the Prince heard nothing but the Wymp's mocking laughter, and he sat silent for the rest of the day.

"Are you ill, dear Prince?" asked the Queen.

"Of course not! You are a tiresome old fidget," said the Prince, crossly. Now the Prince was noted for his excellent manners; he was even known to speak politely to his horse and his spaniel; so when the courtiers heard his reply to the Queen, they began to whisper among themselves, and the guests made ready to depart.

"It is the heat; you must really excuse him," said the King, getting up from the table with a sigh.

"What nonsense!" said the Prince. "It is not hot at all. It is your fault for having such a stupid long banquet."

"We have enjoyed ourselves so much," said the guests, as they filed past him.

"Oh no, you haven't," retorted the Prince; "you have been thoroughly bored the whole time, and so have I."

"It is the Wymps' gift," whispered the courtiers.

Two large unshed tears stood in Lady Daffany's eyes when she bade the Prince good-night.

"Do you think I have been bored the whole evening?" she asked him, softly.

"No, dearest," said the Prince, kissing her white fingers; "for you have been with me all the time."

And that, of course, was the truth, so she went away happy.

The days rolled on, and everybody began to wonder at the change in the Prince. He had always been considered the most charming Prince in the world, but now he had suddenly become one of the most unpleasant. He told people of their faults whenever they were introduced to him, and although he was generally right, they did not like it at all. He said the Royal Professor of Geography was a bore, and although no one in the kingdom could deny it, the Royal Professor of Geography naturally felt annoyed. At the state ball he told the King he could not dance a bit, and though the King's partners certainly thought so too, that did not make it any better. But when he told the Queen, in the presence of the Royal Professor of History, that her hair was turning gray under her crown, the Queen said it was quite time something was done.

"The dear fellow cannot be right in his head," she said; "he must have a doctor."

So the Royal Physician was sent for, and he came in his coach-and-four and looked at the Prince; and he coughed a good deal, and said he must certainly have a change of air.

"The Royal Physician always knows," said the Queen.

"But what is the matter with me?" asked the Prince.