“I shall be very pleased to do so,” said the princess. So she walked up to
the learned man, who stood in the doorway, and spoke to him of the sun,
and the moon, of the green forests, and of people near home and far off; and
the learned man conversed with her pleasantly and sensibly.
“What a wonderful man he must be, to have such a clever shadow!”
thought she. “If I were to choose him it would be a real blessing to my
country and my subjects, and I will do it.” So the princess and the shadow
were soon engaged to each other, but no one was to be told a word about it,
till she returned to her kingdom.
“No one shall know,” said the shadow; “not even my own shadow;” and
he had very particular reasons for saying so.
After a time, the princess returned to the land over which she reigned,
and the shadow accompanied her.
“Listen my friend,” said the shadow to the learned man; “now that I am
as fortunate and as powerful as any man can be, I will do something
unusually good for you. You shall live in my palace, drive with me in the
royal carriage, and have a hundred thousand dollars a year; but you must
allow every one to call you a shadow, and never venture to say that you
have been a man. And once a year, when I sit in my balcony in the
sunshine, you must lie at my feet as becomes a shadow to do; for I must tell
you I am going to marry the princess, and our wedding will take place this
evening.”
“Now, really, this is too ridiculous,” said the learned man. “I cannot, and
will not, submit to such folly. It would be cheating the whole country, and
the princess also. I will disclose everything, and say that I am the man, and
that you are only a shadow dressed up in men’s clothes.”
“No one would beleive you,” said the shadow; “be reasonable, now, or I
will call the guards.”
“I will go straight to the princess,” said the learned man.
