This decree produced a great sensation in the city.  The people crowded to the building, and did their very best to be interested; but, in the majority of cases, the attempt was an utter failure.  They could not feel any interest whatever.  The consequence was that hundreds and thousands of the people were sent to prison, and as there was not room enough for them in the ordinary jails, large temporary prisons were erected in various parts of the city.  Those persons who were actually needed for work or service which no one else could do were allowed to come out in the day-time on parole; but at night they had to return to their prisons.

It was during this deplorable state of affairs that a stranger entered the city one day.  He was surprised at seeing so many prisons, and approaching the window in one of them, behind the bars of which he saw a very respectable-looking citizen, he asked what all this meant.  The citizen informed him how matters stood, and then, with tears mounting to his eyes, he added: 

“Oh, sir, I have tried my best to be interested in that museum; but it is impossible; I cannot make myself care for it in the slightest degree!  And, what is more, I know I shall never be able to do so; and I shall languish here for the rest of my days.”

Passing on, the Stranger met a mother coming out of her house.  Her face was pale, and she was weeping bitterly.  Filled with pity, he stopped and asked her what was the matter.  “Oh, sir,” she said, “for a week I have been trying, for the sake of my dear children, to take an interest in that museum.  For a time I thought I might do it, but the hopes proved false.  It is impossible.  I must leave my little ones, and go to prison.”

The Stranger was deeply affected by these cases and many others of a similar character, which he soon met with.  “It is too bad! too bad!” he said to himself.  “I never saw a city in so much trouble.  There is scarcely a family, I am told, in which there is not some uninterested person—­I must see the Queen and talk to her about it,” and with this he wended his way to the palace.

He met the Queen just starting out on her morning visit to the museum.  When he made it known that he was a stranger, and desired a short audience, she stopped and spoke to him.

“Have you visited my museum yet?” she said.  “There is nothing in the city so well worth your attention as that.  You should go there before seeing any thing else.  You have a high forehead, and an intelligent expression, and I have no doubt that it will interest you greatly.  I am going there myself, and I shall be glad to see what effect that fine collection has upon a stranger.”

This did not suit the Stranger at all.  From what he had heard he felt quite sure that if he went to the museum, he would soon be in jail; and so he hurried to propose a plan which had occurred to him while on his way to the palace.

“I came to see your Majesty on the subject of the museum,” he said, “and to crave permission to contribute to the collection some objects which shall be interesting to every one.  I understand that it is highly desirable that every one should be interested.”