Do tell us your OWN story. That's what we
really want to hear.'
'Well,' said the Phoenix, seeming on the whole rather flattered,
'to cut about seventy long stories short (though _I_ had to listen to
them all--but to be sure in the wilderness there is plenty of
time), this prince and princess were so fond of each other that
they did not want any one else, and the enchanter--don't be
alarmed, I won't go into his history--had given them a magic carpet
(you've heard of a magic carpet?), and they had just sat on it and
told it to take them right away from every one--and it had brought
them to the wilderness. And as they meant to stay there they had
no further use for the carpet, so they gave it to me. That was
indeed the chance of a lifetime!'
'I don't see what you wanted with a carpet,' said Jane, 'when
you've got those lovely wings.'
'They ARE nice wings, aren't they?' said the Phoenix, simpering and
spreading them out. 'Well, I got the prince to lay out the carpet,
and I laid my egg on it; then I said to the carpet, "Now, my
excellent carpet, prove your worth. Take that egg somewhere where
it can't be hatched for two thousand years, and where, when that
time's up, some one will light a fire of sweet wood and aromatic
gums, and put the egg in to hatch;" and you see it's all come out
exactly as I said.
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