"Now about this geography", said King Ferdinand one evening to
the Queen, "I am, my dear, indeed glad to see you take an
interest in such an important study and I have arranged", said
the King, "to have your tutoring in the future done by Father
Bernadino who has had fifty-two years' experience at the
University, and your lessons", said the King, "will commence
tomorrow."
Said the Queen, "How can I thank you enough, dear Ferdinand, for
your untiring interest in my welfare. For I have been struggling
along in my study of geography with a horribly dull clod whose
name", said the Queen, "I cannot remember."
"Was it, by any chance, Colombo?" asked the King.
"Perhaps", said the Queen. "But I am oh so glad to be rid of
him." And indeed so great was the happiness of Queen Isabel that
her pillow that night was wet with tears.
But King Ferdinand was an unusually efficient king, and he spared
no pains in his craving for normalcy. So it was that the next
day he called to him the man who had chanced to be Royal
Geographer before the coup d'oeuf of Colombo.
"Now tell me", said the King, "is there any chance that a man who
sails to the westward will ever return?"
"None, your Majesty", said the ex-Royal Geographer. "For many
have tried and horrible are the tales which they tell of demons
and monsters lying in wait for the ships of men.
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