Opening, part 10 · page 21 2101I was never good at them."102"Then I must," said Nigel. "103I can, but it's slow work, and it makes me very unhappy.104It'll take me days and days."105"Don't begin yet," said the Princess. "106You'll have plenty of time to be unhappy when I'm not with you.107Tell me all about yourself."108So he did.109And then she told him all about herself.110"I know I've been here a long time," she said, "but I don't know what Time is.111And I am very busy sewing silk flowers on a golden gown for my wedding day.112And the griffin does the housework--his wings are so convenient and feathery for sweeping and dusting.113And the dragon does the cooking--he's hot inside, so, of course, it's no trouble to him; and though I don't know what Time is I'm sure it's time for my wedding day, because my golden gown only wants one more white daisy on the sleeve, and a lily on the bosom of it, and then it will be ready."114Just then they heard a dry, rustling clatter on the rocks above them and a snorting sound. "115It's the dragon," said the Princess hurriedly. "116Good-bye.117Be a good boy, and get your sum done."118And she ran away and left him to his arithmetic.119Now, the sum was this: "If the whirlpools stop and the tide goes down once in every twenty-four hours, and they do it five minutes earlier every twenty-four hours, and if the dragon sleeps every day, and he does it three minutes later every day, in how many days and at what time in the day will the tide go down three minutes before the dragon falls asleep?"120It is quite a simple sum, as you see: You could do it in a minute because you have been to a good school and have taken pains with your lessons; but it was quite otherwise with poor Nigel.121He sat down to work out his sum with a piece of chalk on a smooth stone.122He tried it by practice and the unitary method, by multiplication, and by rule-of-three-and-three-quarters.123He tried it by decimals and by compound interest.124He tried it by square root and by cube root.125He tried it by addition, simple and otherwise, and he tried it by mixed examples in vulgar fractions.126But it was all of no use.127Then he tried to do the sum by algebra, by simple and by quadratic equations, by trigonometry, by logarithms, and by conic sections.128But it would not do.129He got an answer every time, it is true, but it was always a different one, and he could not feel sure which answer was right.130And just as he was feeling how much more important than anything else it is to be able to do your sums, the Princess came back.131And now it was getting dark.132"Why, you've been seven hours over that sum," she said, "and you haven't done it yet.133Look here, this is what is written on the tablet of the statue by the lower gate.134It has figures in it.135Perhaps it is the answer to the sum."136She held out to him a big white magnolia leaf.137And she had scratched on it with the pin of her pearl brooch, and it had turned brown where she had scratched it, as magnolia leaves will do.138Nigel read:139AFTER NINE DAYS T ii.140 141D ii.14227 Ans.143P.S.--And the griffin is artificial.144R.1 2← previousOpening, part 9next →Opening, part 11↑ back to The Book of DragonsThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/10/page/2/