160 Pages

——————————————————————————

Long, long ago, there lived a very rich nobleman who had a wonderful baby boy. The night before his son was born, the father had a dream. He dreamt that the only way his son would reach adulthood would be if the child’s feet never touched the earth until he was twelve years old.

Great care was taken that this should be avoided, and only trustworthy nurses were hired to look after the child. As the years passed, he was always diligently guarded. Sometimes he was carried in his nurses’ arms, sometimes the servants carried him in a chair, but the boy’s feet never touched the ground. So it passed until the child was nearly twelve years old.