Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 9, 1895 - Romances Volume II

IN WHICH THE PRINCE
' You have perhaps ridden far, sir ? ' he inquired.
' I have, as you say, ridden far,' replied Otto ;
' and, as you have seen, I was prepared to do justice
to your daughter's cookery.'
' Possibly, sir, from the direction of Brandenau ? '
continued Killian.
' Precisely : and I should have slept to-night, had
I not wandered, in Mittwalden,' answered the Prince,
weaving in a patch of truth, according to the habit
of all liars.
' Business leads you to Mittwalden ? ' was the next
question.
( Mere curiosity,' said Otto. ' I have never yet
visited the principality of Griinewald.'
' A pleasant state, sir,' piped the old man, nodding,
' a very pleasant state, and a fine race, both pines
and people. We reckon ourselves part Griine-
walders here, lying so near the borders ; and the
river there is all good Griinewald water, every drop
of it. Yes, sir, a fine state. A man of Griinewald
now will swing me an axe over his head that many
a man of Gerolstein could hardly lift ; and the pines,
why, deary me, there must be more pines in that
little state, sir, than people in this whole big world.
Tis twenty years now since I crossed the marshes,
for we grow home-keepers in old age ; but I mind it
as if it was yesterday. Up and down, the road keeps
right on from here to Mittwalden ; and nothing all
the way but the good green pine-trees, big and
little, and water-power ! water-power at every step,
sir. We once sold a bit of forest, up there beside
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