Page 11 - Jeremiah Lollipop

“It’s no good,” he was saying, “I can’t find a princess I like enough to

marry. I shall have waited to until the end of my days, or until I die,

whichever comes first.”

“Cheer up!” said Jeremiah, “Any day now one will come along!”

“Who’s that?” said the prince to one of his advisors.

“I don’t know sire, he seems to be from some foreign parts, judging by

his clothes.”

“This is my school uniform!” said Jeremiah.

“School uniform?” said the prince, “That’s odd. I’ve never heard of

uniforms for school children. Who exactly are you?”

“My name is Jeremiah Lollipop.”

The prince smiled and waved his arm, beckoning Jeremiah to come up

and meet him properly, which is exactly what Jeremiah did.

The prince was a very nice man. He showed Jeremiah round the castle

and gave him a room of his own, and Jeremiah spent a long time

answering questions and telling him about the modern world. But the

prince thought Jeremiah was making everything up when he talked of

carriages that went by themselves, and metal that shone brightly inside

glass bubbles, and wires that carried voices, and rockets that flew to the

moon.

The days went by, and the weather turned to winter. The royal palace

was caught in the grip of a ferocious blizzard. Snow beat against the

windows and drifted into every crack it could find. But Jeremiah was