ONCE and it was upon a time, of course there lived a king who had one daughter and two sons. The King did not believe in the education of girls, but for the instruction of the princes he had one Professor-in-Chief, with a staff of one who was called a Tutor.

      The Professor-in-Chief took for his share of the pupils the bright Prince Quickly, who learned everything by reading it over once. The Tutor, however, was compelled to teach Prince Slowboy, who was too tired to study, and did not want to study, and saw no use in studying, and could not remember anyway, so there! Tho very much younger than the Professor-in-Chief the Tutor was the wiser of the two; and yet the wisest man in the world cannot teach a youngster who will not learn. I know, for I have tried it.

      Because Prince Slowboy would not learn, both the King and the Professor-in-Chief constantly found fault with the Tutor, as if he were to blame! The poor young man was in the palace garden one day moaning over his sad lot, when he bethought him of something his old nurse had taught him, of which he was to make use only when in great trouble.

      So the Tutor did as his old nurse had told him. He picked a leaf of tansy, and a black-and-yellow pansy, and he found a four-leaved clover underneath a maple-tree, and with these three in his right hand he knocked with all his might and main upon the hollow oak where dwelt the Busy Bee. The Busy Bee was a fairy, who came out immediately upon the application of this charm and sang:

"I come at the call of the symbols three,  What does the Tutor want with me?"

      Now, tho the Tutor was a very bright young man, he had never before this found any use for poetry, and not a rhyme came into his head. In plain and vigorous prose, therefore, he told his woes.

      "I am set to teach Prince Slowboy, who is always too tired to study, and does not want to study, and sees no good in studying, and cannot remember anyway, so there! I work hard, and I think I know as much as the Professor-in-Chief; but he teaches Prince Quickly, who learns everything by reading it over once. So he gets all the praise, and I get all the blame."

      The Busy Bee was very indignant and sang:

"Fie upon the lazy wight! Rub the books upon his head  Leaf by leaf, from left to right: Thus our fairy-books are read."

Then she flew back into the hollow oak.

      The Tutor considered this decidedly ridiculous advice; but that very afternoon Prince Slowboy was so provokingly stupid over his geography lesson that really nothing remained untried except the fairy charm. So the Tutor solemnly and carefully rubbed the three pages of that day's lesson over the prince's head from left to right, the boy meanwhile looking somewhat frightened and astonished, as was natural, to be sure. Then the Tutor began his questions again, and found to his delight that Prince Slowboy had a perfect lesson. He knew all the capitals and principal cities, and could bound everything and tell its products.

      Progress was easy and pleasant from that moment. Latin, history, arithmetic, grammar — it was all play to Prince Slowboy now. Four times the ordinary lessons were learned in a wonderfully short time. Newspapers were read, and a vast amount of general information was picked up from the magazines, all in this expeditious manner. Small wonder that when the King next came to examine his two sous he found Prince Slowboy as much in advance of his brother as he had before been behind him. The chagrin and astonishment of the Professor-in-Chief can hardly be imagined. He redoubled his efforts, and still the Tutor's marvelous pupil grew rapidly wiser than his own.

      At length he decided to be present, unseen, at one of Prince Slowboy's recitations, that he might gain some insight into the new methods which had been so strangely successful. Thus he learned the fairy charm, and hurried off in great glee to tell the King about it. "And now, your Majesty," said he, with a chuckle, "let us bring that young pedagog to confusion. Allow me to use his charm most vigorously upon Prince Quickly for a few hours, and then call the boys up for examination. When we have exposed the Tutor we may well dismiss him, as I shall then be able myself to care for the two."

      The King did not quite like it, but he agreed to the program of the Professor-in-Chief, and in a few hours sent for the boys and their teachers, as he often did, to test their progress. It was to be observed that the Professor-in-Chief was very warm and appeared fatigued, his arms hanging quite limp, while Prince Quickly's hair was in a shockingly confused state, and his books sadly crumpled. Both, however, seemed confident and pleased.

      Then the King began to ask questions. But what had happened? Prince Slowboy replied more readily than ever before, but Prince Quickly appeared to have forgotten everything! He could not decline mensa, he could not parse a common noun, he could not give the multiplication table of tens, he did not know where London is. He was in an alarming state of ignorance.

      "What have you done to him?" cried the King in a fury, and dismissed the Professor-in-Chief on the spot, while the Tutor was promoted to his place with double salary.

      "What did I do, to be sure?" muttered the old man, as he crept away. "And why did not the charm work as well in my hands as in his?" After long thought the truth suddenly flashed upon him. He had rubbed in the wrong direction. Rubbing from right to left had reversed the charm, and had drawn out of poor Prince Quickly's brain all the learning it had ever contained. Having come to this opinion, he did not despair, but watched his chance.

      The education of the princes, under the new Professor-in-Chief, went on charmingly, of course. Prince Slowboy had gained such a start, through the blundering application of the charm to his brother's head, that he always kept a little in advance of him, tho both were becoming veritable sages. The King was so well satisfied that for some weeks he had not examined the boys at all.

      Such was the condition of affairs when the princes, after a long ramble in the woods, one hot day, lay down and fell sound asleep. They were all alone. Not quite alone, however. Soon, from behind a large tree-trunk peeped a great pair of spectacles, and behind them the sparkling eyes of the old Professor-in-Chief. On his back he carried an enormous bundle of books. These unfastening, he sat down back of the two boys as they lay on the ground, and softly and noiselessly, with wonderful swiftness and patience, rubbed page after page and volume after volume over the heads of both princes, and in the wrong direction. This done, with a chuckle he gathered up his books and set off to the King's palace.

      "Your Majesty," said he to the King, when admitted after some difficulty, "I fear you are mistaken in regard to the ability of the young man who occupies at present the position of Professor-in-Chief. His methods are questionable; his results are therefore questionable. May I inquire how recently you have examined the princes?"

      And when the King confessed that it was now some weeks since he had inquired into their progress, the old man continued:

      "Then I advise you to investigate the matter at once. Call the young man and his pupils, and if everything is well, I will be off and never trouble you again."

      The King thought this a very easy and reasonable way of getting rid of the old gentleman, and so he sent for the new Professor-in-Chief and for the princes, who had just returned, and proceeded at once to ask questions.

      Well, the result may be conjectured. Every trace of knowledge seemed to have vanished from the boys' minds. Indeed, they could scarcely read. Startled more and more, the King plied them with every imaginable question. To their own grief as well as his, they found themselves absolutely ignorant.

      "Leave the palace!" shouted the King to their dismayed teacher. "And, my good sir, be pleased to resume your former position as Professor-in-Chief, and see what you can do for my poor sons, if their minds are not utterly ruined."

      "Your Majesty," said the old gentleman, "I will accept my former position on condition that this young man be retained in your employment, and be given equal honor with myself. We may both be called Professors, and there need be no Professor-in-Chief. I have learned to admire his ability, and regret my unfairness in forcing him to teach only the more stupid of your sons. We have both been using magic, and I propose that we lay it aside from this moment, and proceed on old-fashioned principles."

      "I agree, my dear sir," cordially assented the former Tutor, "for I fear that this magic learning is untrustworthy. To be sure, it comes very quickly, but it vanishes as easily, I perceive. We have now an opportunity to make a fresh and fair start with the princes, for their knowledge is equal, since now they both know nothing. I promise your Majesty that tho their future progress may be slower than the past, it will be more certain and satisfactory."

      With this the two Professors, the young one and the old, retired from the King's presence to consult, and form plans together for the education of the princes. Having the rare opportunity of beginning again at the start after so much experience with the same boys, they thought that something wonderful should be accomplished in the teacher's art. And so it was for the harmonious and wise plans of the two Professors, working slowly but surely for many years, gave the world two princes whose marvelous intelligence and wisdom were the wonder, not only of the kingdom over which they came to reign jointly, but of all men.

      One word to my lazy readers and I am done. Doubtless the fairy charm of which I have told you may appear so tempting on the occasion of your next hard lesson that you will wish to try it on yourself, undismayed by its sad results in the case of the princes. But do not venture. For everything depends on moving the book from left to right, but whether it is from left to right of the book, or from the left to the right of the scholar or of the teacher, I never could learn. Therefore, in ignorantly operating on yourselves, you might draw from your heads all you already know, and that would be a pity.

      YELLOW SPRINGS, O.