yourself.”
So he did. And then she told him all about herself.
“I know I’ve been here a long time,” she said, “but I don’t know what Time is. And I am very busy sewing silk flowers in a golden gown for my wedding-day. And the griffin does thehousework—his wings are so convenient and feathery for sweeping and dusting; and the dragon does the cooking: he’s hot inside, so, of course, it’s no trouble to him; and though I don’t know what Time is I’m sure it’s time for my wedding-day, because my golden gown only wants one more white daisy on the sleeve, and a lily on the bosom of it, and then it will be ready.”
Just then they heard a dry, rustling clatter on the rocks above them and a snorting sound.
“It’s the dragon,” said the Princess, hurriedly. “Good-bye. Be a good boy, and get your sum done.” And she ran away and left him to his arithmetic.
Now the sum was this: “If the whirlpools stop and the tide goes down once in every twenty-four hours, and do it five minutes earlier every twenty-four hours, and if the dragon sleeps every day, and does it three minutes later every day, in how many days and at what time in the day will the tide go down three minutes before the dragon falls asleep?”
It is quite a simple sum, as you see:
you
could do it in a minute because you have been to a good school, and have taken pains with your lessons; but it was quite otherwise with poor Nigel. He sat down to work out his sum with a piece of chalk on a smooth stone. He tried it by practice and the unitary method, by multiplication, and by rule-of-three-and-three-quarters. He tried it by decimals and by compoundinterest. He tried it by square-root and by cube-root. He tried it by addition, simple and otherwise, and he tried it by mixed examples in vulgar fractions. But it was all of no use. Then he tried to do the sum by algebra, by simple and by quadratic equations, by trigonometry, by logarithms, and by conic sections. But it would not do. He got an answer every time, it is true, but it was always a different one, and he could not feel sure which answer was right.
And just as he was feeling how much more important than anything else it is to be able to do your sums, the Princess came back. And now it was getting dark.
“Why, you’ve been seven hours over that sum,” she said, “and you haven’t done it yet. Look here, this is what is written on the tablet of the statue by the lower gate. It has figures in it. Perhaps it is the answer to the sum.”
She held out to him a big white magnolia leaf. And she had scratched on it with the pin of her pearl brooch, and it had turned brown where she had scratched it, as magnolia leaves will do. Nigel read:
AFTER NINE DAYS
T 11. 24.
D 11. 27 Ans.
P.S.—And the griffin is artificial. R.
He clapped his hands softly.
“Dear Princess,” he said, “I know that’s the right answer. It says R, too, you see. But I’ll just prove it.” So he hastily worked the sum backwards in decimals and equations and conic sections, and all the rules he could think of. And it came right every time.
“So now we must wait,” said he. And they waited.
And every day the Princess came to see Nigel and brought him food cooked by the dragon, and he lived in his cave, and talked to her when she was there, and thought about her when she was not, and they were both as happy as the longest day in summer. Then at last came The Day. Nigel and the Princess laid their plans.
“You’re sure he won’t hurt
you
, my only treasure?” said Nigel.
“Quite,” said the Princess. “I only wish I were half as sure that he wouldn’t
hurt you.”
“My Princess,” he said, tenderly, “two great powers are on our side: the power of Love and the power of Arithmetic. Those two are stronger than anything else in the world.”
So when the tide began to go down Nigel and the Princess ran out on to the sands, and there, full in sight of the terrace where the dragon kept watch, Nigel took
So he did. And then she told him all about herself.
“I know I’ve been here a long time,” she said, “but I don’t know what Time is. And I am very busy sewing silk flowers in a golden gown for my wedding-day. And the griffin does thehousework—his wings are so convenient and feathery for sweeping and dusting; and the dragon does the cooking: he’s hot inside, so, of course, it’s no trouble to him; and though I don’t know what Time is I’m sure it’s time for my wedding-day, because my golden gown only wants one more white daisy on the sleeve, and a lily on the bosom of it, and then it will be ready.”
Just then they heard a dry, rustling clatter on the rocks above them and a snorting sound.
“It’s the dragon,” said the Princess, hurriedly. “Good-bye. Be a good boy, and get your sum done.” And she ran away and left him to his arithmetic.
Now the sum was this: “If the whirlpools stop and the tide goes down once in every twenty-four hours, and do it five minutes earlier every twenty-four hours, and if the dragon sleeps every day, and does it three minutes later every day, in how many days and at what time in the day will the tide go down three minutes before the dragon falls asleep?”
It is quite a simple sum, as you see:
you
could do it in a minute because you have been to a good school, and have taken pains with your lessons; but it was quite otherwise with poor Nigel. He sat down to work out his sum with a piece of chalk on a smooth stone. He tried it by practice and the unitary method, by multiplication, and by rule-of-three-and-three-quarters. He tried it by decimals and by compoundinterest. He tried it by square-root and by cube-root. He tried it by addition, simple and otherwise, and he tried it by mixed examples in vulgar fractions. But it was all of no use. Then he tried to do the sum by algebra, by simple and by quadratic equations, by trigonometry, by logarithms, and by conic sections. But it would not do. He got an answer every time, it is true, but it was always a different one, and he could not feel sure which answer was right.
And just as he was feeling how much more important than anything else it is to be able to do your sums, the Princess came back. And now it was getting dark.
“Why, you’ve been seven hours over that sum,” she said, “and you haven’t done it yet. Look here, this is what is written on the tablet of the statue by the lower gate. It has figures in it. Perhaps it is the answer to the sum.”
She held out to him a big white magnolia leaf. And she had scratched on it with the pin of her pearl brooch, and it had turned brown where she had scratched it, as magnolia leaves will do. Nigel read:
AFTER NINE DAYS
T 11. 24.
D 11. 27 Ans.
P.S.—And the griffin is artificial. R.
He clapped his hands softly.
“Dear Princess,” he said, “I know that’s the right answer. It says R, too, you see. But I’ll just prove it.” So he hastily worked the sum backwards in decimals and equations and conic sections, and all the rules he could think of. And it came right every time.
“So now we must wait,” said he. And they waited.
And every day the Princess came to see Nigel and brought him food cooked by the dragon, and he lived in his cave, and talked to her when she was there, and thought about her when she was not, and they were both as happy as the longest day in summer. Then at last came The Day. Nigel and the Princess laid their plans.
“You’re sure he won’t hurt
you
, my only treasure?” said Nigel.
“Quite,” said the Princess. “I only wish I were half as sure that he wouldn’t
hurt you.”
“My Princess,” he said, tenderly, “two great powers are on our side: the power of Love and the power of Arithmetic. Those two are stronger than anything else in the world.”
So when the tide began to go down Nigel and the Princess ran out on to the sands, and there, full in sight of the terrace where the dragon kept watch, Nigel took
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