He was not ill; he was merely lazy. No one knew where he came from nor who his parents were, nor did he.
The young Prince continued to fall and fall for ever so long until instead of descending with a bump at the bottom, he stepped gently onto dry land, and found himself in what the Macedonians call the Nether World.
Then, as Bebeck rounded the crag, he beheld a dark opening, within which he could hear a dreadful snarling and barking going on.