THE RAT PRINCESS.

THE GRAY RAT.

Gray Rat: Oh, King Rat, I have come to ask a great gift of you.

King Rat: What do you wish, Gray Rat.

Gray Rat: Oh, King, pray give me your daughter, the Rat Princess, to be my wife.

King Rat: Give you my daughter, indeed! Do you not know you are a common gray rat and she is the most beautiful Rat Princess in the world?

Gray Rat: Indeed, I do, my King.

King Rat: Then how dare you think of marrying her?

Gray Rat: Because I love her, Oh, King, and she loves me.

King Rat: What has that to do with it! My daughter is so beautiful that she must marry the most powerful person in the world. Marry a rat! Gray Rat: And who is the most powerful person in the world?

King Rat: Why, the Sun, of course. I am going at once to see him and tell him the good

news.

Gray Rat: Farewell, Oh, King. When you return to your home you may be wiser.

AT THE HOUSE OF THE SUN.

King Rat: Here I am at the Sun's house at last. And how tired I am! First I climbed the highest mountain I could find, then I ran up the rainbow.

Oh, Sun, I have traveled far to see you.

Sun: What do you want, little brother? King Rat: I have come to tell you that you may marry my daughter, the beautiful Rat

Princess, because you are the most powerful person in the world, and no one else is good enough for her.

Sun: How very kind

you are, little brother! But I am not the most powerful person in the world. King Rat: Then tell me who is.

Sun: That I do not know. But the cloud is more powerful than I. When he passes over me, I cannot shine.

King Rat: Then you cannot marry the beautiful Rat Princess. I shall travel on to the Cloud's house.

AT THE HOUSE OF THE CLOUD.

King Rat: Oh, Cloud, I have traveled far to see you.

Cloud: What do you want, little brother?

King Rat: I have come to tell you that you may marry my daughter, the beautiful Rat Princess, because you are the most powerful person in the world, and no one else is good enough for her.

Cloud: You are most kind, little brother. But I am not the most powerful person in the world.

King Rat: Then can you tell me who is? Cloud: That I do not know. But I do know that the Wind is more powerful than I. When he blows, I have to go wherever he sends me.

King Rat: Then you cannot marry my daughter. I shall go at once to the home of the Wind.

AT THE HOUSE OF THE WIND.

King Rat: Oh, Wind, I have traveled far to see you.

Wind: What do you want, little brother?

King Rat: I have come to tell you that you may marry my daughter, the beautiful Rat Princess, because you are the most powerful person in the world, and no one else is good enough for her. Wind: Ah, no, little brother, I am not the most powerful person in the world.

King Rat: Then do tell me who is.

Wind: That I do not know. But the Stone Wall is more powerful than I, for with all my blowing, I cannot make him move.

King Rat: Then you cannot marry my daughter, the Rat Princess. I will travel down to see the Stone Wall. It is near my home.

THE STONE WALL.

King Rat: Oh, Stone Wall, I have good news for you.

Stone Wall: What do you want, little brother?

King Rat: I have come to tell you that you may marry my daughter, the beautiful Rat Princess, because you are the most powerful person in the world, and no one else is good enough for her.

Stone Wall: You are very kind, little brother. But I am not the most powerful person in the world. The Gray Rat is more powerful than I. He gnaws and gnaws under me till I fall. Go to Gray Rat, little brother.

King Rat: Can it be that Gray Rat is the most powerful person in the world? I must go to see him at once.

THE HOUSE OF THE GRAY RAT.

King Rat: Gray Rat, are you at home? I have come to see you.

Gray Rat: What do you want, my King?

King Rat: I have come to tell you that you may marry my daughter, because you are the most powerful person in the world.