Here I should like to remark, for the sake of princes and
princesses in general, that it is a low and contemptible thing to
refuse to confess a fault, or even an error. If a true princess
has done wrong, she is always uneasy until she has had an
opportunity of throwing the wrongness away from her by saying: 'I
did it; and I wish I had not; and I am sorry for having done it.'
So you see there is some ground for supposing that Curdie was not
a miner only, but a prince as well. Many such instances have been
known in the world's history.
At length, however, he began to see signs of a change in the
proceedings of the goblin excavators: they were going no deeper,
but had commenced running on a level; and he watched them,
therefore, more closely than ever. All at once, one night, coming
to a slope of very hard rock, they began to ascend along the
inclined plane of its surface. Having reached its top, they went
again on a level for a night or two, after which they began to
ascend once more, and kept on at a pretty steep angle. At length
Curdie judged it time to transfer his observation to another
quarter, and the next night he did not go to the mine at all; but,
leaving his pickaxe and clue at home, and taking only his usual
lumps of bread and pease pudding, went down the mountain to the
king's house.
Pages:
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216