"Perhaps," replied the Jester; "but first I have a plan to suggest.
"What is that?"
"You might take a small army and go after the page who started out to seek the Princess. By the time you have come up with him, he will perhaps have found her. Then you can sail in and take her away from him, and bring her home yourself. That's the way kings and princes often do."
"But that seems hardly fair," said the Prince, after a few moments' reflection.
"Of course it is n't fair," said the Jester; "but it's your only chance. I have no doubt he has found the Princess long ago."
"Do you think so?" asked the Prince.
"No doubt of it," said the Jester. "You see, he did n't wait for any advice, but started oft at once."
"Is n't advice a good thing?"
"Yes," said the Jester, "for lawyers and councilors. They make their living by it. Advice is good when it's good; but the best qualities are hard to find, and the time it takes to find them is sometimes worth more than the advice when found."
"Then you would n't advise me to take advice?" said the Prince, thoughtfully.
"My advice is," said the Jester, "don't take mine, or anybody's."
"Is n't that rather a difficult course to follow?" asked the Prince, after a moment's reflection.
"Very," the Jester agreed.
"I think," the Prince went on, "that I shall start now, and take my chances."
"I 'll go with you," replied his companion.
So they started toward the palace gate; but just as they reached it and had called for the gate-keeper, there came a summons from
