I tell you that you shall marry her , ' cried King Grumpy angrily . And the Prince , seeing that it was of no use to remonstrate , bowed and retired . As King Grumpy was not used to being contradicted in anything , he was very much displeased with his son , and ordered that he should be imprisoned in the tower that was kept on purpose for rebellious Princes , but had not been used for about two hundred years , because there had not been any . The Prince thought all the rooms looked strangely old-fashioned , with their antique furniture , but as there was a good library he was pleased , for he was very fond of reading , and he soon got permission to have as many books as he liked . But when he looked at them he found that they were written in a forgotten language , and he could not understand a single word , though he amused himself with trying . King Grumpy was so convinced that Prince Curlicue would soon get tired of being in prison , and so consent to marry the Princess Cabbage-Stalk , that he sent ambassadors to her father proposing that she should come and be married to his son , who would make her perfectly happy . The King was delighted to receive so good an offer for his unlucky daughter , though , to tell the truth , he found it impossible to admire the Prince 's portrait which had been sent to him . However , he had it placed in as favourable a light as possible , and sent for the Princess , but the moment she caught sight of it she looked the other way and began to cry . The King , who was very much annoyed to see how greatly she disliked it , took a mirror , and holding it up before the unhappy Princess , said : ' I see you do not think the Prince handsome , but look at yourself , and see if you have any right to complain about that . ' ` Sire , ' she answered , ' I do not wish to complain , only I beg of you do not make me marry at all . I had rather be the unhappy Princess Cabbage-Stalk all my life than inflict the sight of my ugliness on anyone else . ' But the King would not listen to her , and sent her away with the ambassadors . In the meantime the Prince was kept safely locked up in his tower , and , that he might be as dull as possible , King Grumpy ordered that no one should speak to him , and that they should give him next to nothing to eat . But all the Princess guards were so fond of him that they did everything they dared , in spite of the King , to make the time pass pleasantly . One day , as the Prince was walking up and down the great gallery , thinking how miserable it was to be so ugly , and to be forced to marry an equally frightful Princess , he looked up suddenly and noticed that the painted windows were particularly bright and beautiful , and for the sake of doing something that would change his sad thoughts he began to examine them attentively . He found that the pictures seemed to be scenes from the life of a man who appeared in every window , and the Prince , fancying that he saw in this man some resemblance to himself , began to be deeply interested . In the first window there was a picture of him in one of the turrets of the tower , farther on he was seeking something in a chink in the wall , in the next picture he was opening an old cabinet with a golden key , and so it went on through numbers of scenes , and presently the Prince noticed that another figure occupied the most important place in each scene , and this time it was a tall handsome young man : poor Prince Curlicue found it a pleasure to look at him , he was so straight and strong . By this time it had grown dark , and the Prince had to go back to his own room , and to amuse himself he took up a quaint old book and began to look at the pictures . But his surprise was great to find that they represented the same scenes as the windows of the gallery , and what was more , that they seemed to be alive . In looking at pictures of musicians he saw their hands move and heard sweet sounds ; there was a picture of a ball , and the Prince could watch the little dancing people come and go .
He turned a page , and there was an excellent smell of a savoury dinner , and one of the figures who sat XXXXX the feast looked at him and said : ` We drink your health , Curlicue .
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