The Little Lame Prince

The baptism of the Prince was to be a lavish event. By six in the morning, the entire royal family was dressed to the nines. The tiny Prince was then dressed to the nines as well, in his exquisite christening gown, which his Royal Highness did not appreciate at all and reacted to by kicking and wailing like a typical infant. Though few people were aware of it, the Prince’s visit to the church had really resulted in a little catastrophe. The state nurse-maid, an elegant and fashionable young lady of rank who was in charge of carrying him to and from the chapel, instead of his regular nurse, had been so preoccupied with organizing her train while holding the baby with the other hand that she stumbled and let him fall, right at the foot of the marble staircase. Of course, she managed to pick him up again right away, and the mishap seemed scarcely worth mentioning given how little it was. As a result, no one mentioned it. No one a few steps behind could see anything was amiss since the infant had grown deadly pale but did not cry. Later, even if the baby had cried, the sound of the silver trumpets would have drowned everything out. It would have been unfortunate to let anything ruin such a happy day.