then it took so long to be shaved. We would begin at, say, ten o'clock, they would n't hear of my getting up earlier!—and frequently when the last bit of lather was removed from my royal ear, it would be half-past one in the afternoon!
I give this only as a sample part of my day. It is vividly recalled because it was one of the earliest of the inconveniences attaching to my newly acquired royalty. Of course it is only a specimen brick—there were dozens of a similar clay.
It was only after I returned to the capital and took up my residence in the palace, that I felt sufficiently at home to make an objection.
One memorable day, a Thursday, I betook myself to my dressing-room and clapped my hands thrice. The linen-wrapper boy entered. I hated the sight of him already.
"Bring us a new turban," I said shortly.
"O Brother-in-Law of the Pleiades—" said the boy in a trembling tone.
"Speak up, copper-colored child," I answered a little impatiently. "What are you afraid of?"
"O your Imperial Highestness of the Solar System, your rays need clipping!" replied the boy violently making salaams.
"I was shaved yesterday," I said.
"But—" began the boy.
"By the royal Palanquin!" I broke out; "send in the Master of Ceremonies!" The boy vanished, and soon with a sound of bugles, shawms, and tubas (several out of tune, too), the Master of Ceremonies, and his retinue, came in. This took about half an hour. When they were all settled I said:
"O Master of Ceremonies and—and such things" (I forgot the proper titles for a moment), "we would hold converse with thee apart, as it were."
