What can kill such a monster ? Prodding him with the sword would only stir him up and make him more vicious . And I know of no other beast we can set against him , as I did with the Fire-beast and the Ice-beast , when I was young . Oh , for an idea ! '' Then his mind , somehow , went back to the Council and the ponderous stupidity of the Prime Minister . `` Heavier than lead , '' said the king . `` By George ! I have a plan . If I could get to the place where they keep the Stupidity , I could carry away enough of it to flatten out the Earthquaker . '' Then he remembered how , in an old Italian poem , he had read about all the strange lumber-room of odd things which is kept in the moon . That is the advantage of reading : Knowledge is Power ; and you mostly get knowledge that is really worth having out of good old books which people do not usually read . `` If the Stupidity is kept in stock , up in the moon , and comes from there , falling naturally down on the earth in small quantities , I might obtain enough for my purpose , '' thought King Prigio . `` But -- how to get to the moon ? There are difficulties about that . '' But difficulties only sharpened the ingenuity of this admirable king . `` The other fellow had a Flying Horse , '' said he . By `` the other fellow '' King Prigio meant an Italian knight , Astolfo , who , in old times , visited the moon , and there found and brought back the common sense of his friend , Orlando , as you may read in the poem of Ariosto . `` Now , '' reasoned King Prigio , `` if there is a Flying Horse at all , he is in the stables of the King of Delhi . I must look into this . '' Taking the magic spy-glass , the king surveyed the world from China to Peru , and , sure enough , there was the famous Flying Horse in the king 's stable at Delhi .
Hastily the king thrust his feet into the Shoes of Swiftness -- so hastily , indeed , that , XXXXX the poet says , he `` madly crammed a left-hand foot into a right-hand shoe . ''
By about against as for if in of than to