Then the King leaned gracefully down from his saddle, and struck Patroclus with his jeweled sword and knighted him on the spot.

The whole family went to live at the royal palace.  The roses in the royal gardens were uprooted, and Giant’s heads (or pumpkins, as they came to be called) were sown in their stead; all the royal parks also were turned into pumpkin-fields.

Patroclus was in constant attendance on the King, and used to stand all day in his ante-chamber.  Daphne had a position of great responsibility, for she superintended the baking of the pumpkin pies, and AEneas finally married the Princess Ariadne Diana.

They were wedded in great state by fifty archbishops; and all the newspapers united in stating that they were the most charming and well matched young couple that had ever been united in the kingdom.

The stone entrance of the Pumpkin Giant’s Castle was securely fastened, and upon it was engraved an inscription composed by the first poet in the kingdom, for which the King made him laureate, and gave him the liberal pension of fifty pumpkin pies per year.

The following is the inscription in full: 

  “Here dwelt the Pumpkin Giant once,
  He’s dead the nation doth rejoice,
  For, while he was alive, he lived
  By e——­g dear, fat, little boys.”

The inscription is said to remain to this day; if you were to go there you would probably see it.

THE CHRISTMAS MASQUERADE.

On Christmas Eve the Mayor’s stately mansion presented a beautiful appearance.  There were rows of different-colored wax candles burning in every window, and beyond them one could see the chandeliers of gold and crystal blazing with light.  The fiddles were squeaking merrily, and lovely little forms flew past the windows in time to the music.

There were gorgeous carpets laid from the door to the street, and carriages were constantly arriving, and fresh guests tripping over them.  They were all children.  The Mayor was giving a Christmas Masquerade to-night, to all the children in the city, the poor as well as the rich.  The preparation for this ball had been making an immense sensation for the last three months.  Placards had been up in the most conspicuous points in the city, and all the daily newspapers had at least a column devoted to it, headed with THE MAYOR’S CHRISTMAS MASQUERADE in very large letters.

The Mayor had promised to defray the expenses of all the poor children whose parents were unable to do so, and the bills for their costumes were directed to be sent in to him.