The little Prince had large blue eyes , the prettiest eyes in the world , and a sweet little mouth , but , alas ! his nose was so enormous that it covered half his face . The Queen was inconsolable when she saw this great nose , but her ladies assured her that it was not really as large as it looked ; that it was a Roman nose , and you had only to open any history to see that every hero has a large nose . The Queen , who was devoted to her baby , was pleased with what they told her , and when she looked at Hyacinth again , his nose certainly did not seem to her quite so large . The Prince was brought up with great care ; and , as soon as he could speak , they told him all sorts of dreadful stories about people who had short noses . No one was allowed to come near him whose nose did not more or less resemble his own , and the courtiers , to get into favor with the Queen , took to pulling their babies ' noses several times every day to make them grow long . But , do what they would , they were nothing by comparison with the Prince 's . When he grew sensible he learned history ; and whenever any great prince or beautiful princess was spoken of , his teachers took care to tell him that they had long noses . His room was hung with pictures , all of people with very large noses ; and the Prince grew up so convinced that a long nose was a great beauty , that he would not on any account have had his own a single inch shorter ! When his twentieth birthday was passed the Queen thought it was time that he should be married , so she commanded that the portraits of several princesses should be brought for him to see , and among the others was a picture of the Dear Little Princess ! Now , she was the daughter of a great king , and would some day possess several kingdoms herself ; but Prince Hyacinth had not a thought to spare for anything of that sort , he was so much struck with her beauty . The Princess , whom he thought quite charming , had , however , a little saucy nose , which , in her face , was the prettiest thing possible , but it was a cause of great embarrassment to the courtiers , who had got into such a habit of laughing at little noses that they sometimes found themselves laughing at hers before they had time to think ; but this did not do at all before the Prince , who quite failed to see the joke , and actually banished two of his courtiers who had dared to mention disrespectfully the Dear Little Princess 's tiny nose ! The others , taking warning from this , learned to think twice before they spoke , and one even went so far as to tell the Prince that , though it was quite true that no man could be worth anything unless he had a long nose , still , a woman 's beauty was a different thing ; and he knew a learned man who understood Greek and had read in some old manuscripts that the beautiful Cleopatra herself had a `` tip-tilted '' nose ! The Prince made him a splendid present as a reward for this good news , and at once sent ambassadors to ask the Dear Little Princess in marriage . The King , her father , gave his consent ; and Prince Hyacinth , who , in his anxiety to see the Princess , had gone three leagues to meet her was just advancing to kiss her hand when , to the horror of all who stood by , the enchanter appeared as suddenly as a flash of lightning , and , snatching up the Dear Little Princess , whirled her away out of their sight ! The Prince was left quite unconsolable , and declared that nothing should induce him to go back to his kingdom until he had found her again , and refusing to allow any of his courtiers to follow him , he mounted his horse and rode sadly away , letting the animal choose his own path . So it happened that he came presently to a great plain , across which he rode all day long without seeing a single house , and horse and rider were terribly hungry , when , as the night fell , the Prince caught sight of a light , which seemed to shine from a cavern . He rode up to it , and saw a little old woman , who appeared to be at least a hundred years old . She put on her spectacles to look at Prince Hyacinth , but it was quite a long time before she could fix them securely because her nose was so very short . The Prince and the Fairy -LRB- for that was who she was -RRB- had no sooner looked at one another than they went into fits of laughter , and cried at the same moment , `` Oh , what a funny nose ! ''
`` Not so funny as your own , '' said Prince Hyacinth to the Fairy ; `` but , madam , I beg you to leave the consideration of our noses -- such as they are -- and XXXXX be good enough to give me something to eat , for I am starving , and so is my poor horse . ''
across as for in into on so to until without