“I am an angel, and thou art the king!”

Then Robert of Sicily was alone.  His royal robes were upon him once more; he wore his crown and his royal ring.  He was king.  And when the courtiers came back they found their king kneeling by his throne, absorbed in silent prayer.

THE JEALOUS COURTIERS[1]

[1] Adapted from the facts given in the German of H. A. Guerber’s Marchen und Erzahlungen (D.  C. Heath & Co.).

I wonder if you have ever heard the anecdote about the artist of Dusseldorf and the jealous courtiers.  This is it.  It seems there was once a very famous artist who lived in the little town of Dusseldorf.  He did such fine work that the Elector, Prince Johann Wilhelm, ordered a portrait statue of himself, on horseback, to be done in bronze.  The artist was overjoyed at the commission, and worked early and late at the statue.

At last the work was done, and the artist had the great statue set up in the public square of Dusseldorf, ready for the opening view.  The Elector came on the appointed day, and with him came his favorite courtiers from the castle.  Then the statue was unveiled.  It was very beautiful,—­ so beautiful that the prince exclaimed in surprise.  He could not look enough, and presently he turned to the artist and shook hands with him, like an old friend.  “Herr Grupello,” he said, “you are a great artist, and this statue will make your fame even greater than it is; the portrait of me is perfect!”

When the courtiers heard this, and saw the friendly hand-grasp, their jealousy of the artist was beyond bounds.  Their one thought was, how could they safely do something to humiliate him.  They dared not pick flaws in the portrait statue, for the prince had declared it perfect.  But at last one of them said, with an air of great frankness, “Indeed, Herr Grupello, the portrait of his Royal Highness is perfect; but permit me to say that the statue of the horse is not quite so successful:  the head is too large; it is out of proportion.”

“No,” said another, “the horse is really not so successful; the turn of the neck, there, is awkward.”

“If you would change the right hind-foot, Herr Grupello,” said a third, “it would be an improvement.”

Still another found fault with the horse’s tail.

The artist listened, quietly.  When they had all finished, he turned to the prince and said, “Your courtiers, Prince, find a good many flaws in the statue of the horse; will you permit me to keep it a few days more, to do what I can with it?”

The Elector assented, and the artist ordered a temporary screen built around the statue, so that his assistants could work undisturbed.  For several days the sound of hammering came steadily from behind the enclosure.  The courtiers, who took care to pass that way, often, were delighted.  Each one said to himself, “I must have been right, really; the artist himself sees that something was wrong; now I shall have credit for saving the prince’s portrait by my artistic taste!”