"You see," explained the dog, "the Cast-iron Man is now lying on his
face. If we could only roll him over on to his back, and then raise him
to his feet again, he would be turned around, and would march straight
back to where he came from, and do us no further harm."

"That is a capital idea," replied the King. "But how can we roll him
over, or make him stand up?"

That puzzled them all for a while, but by and by Prince Thinkabit, who
was a very clever young man, announced his readiness to undertake the
job.

"First, bring me a feather," commanded the Prince.

The royal chamberlain hunted around and soon found for him a long,
fluffy feather. Taking this in his hand the Prince approached the
Cast-iron Man and tickled him under the left arm with the end of the
feather.

"Ouch!" said the Cast-iron Man, giving a jump and rolling completely
over, so that he lay on his back.

"Hurrah!" cried the people, clapping their hands with joy at this
successful stratagem; "the Prince is a very wise Prince, indeed!"

Prince Thinkabit took off his hat and bowed politely to them in return
for the compliment. Then he said:

"Bring me a pin."