The Little Lame Prince and his Travelling Cloak (often published under its shorter title The Little Lame Prince) is a story for children written by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik and first published in 1875.

[1] In the story, the young Prince Dolor, whose legs are paralysed due to a childhood trauma, is exiled to a tower in a wasteland.

As he grows older, a fairy godmother provides a magical travelling cloak so he can see, but not touch, the world.

He uses this cloak to go on various adventures and develops great wisdom and empathy in the process.

[1] The author's style was to stimulate positive feelings in her young readers so that they would be motivated to adopt socially correct actions in whatever circumstances they encountered.

[1] She shows how imagination (mediated by the cloak) can lead to empathy and enlightened morality.

However, some critics have found a deeper theme in this story, relating to the restricted lives of respectable middle-class British Victorian women that enforced helplessness.

His well-to-do nurse was fiddling with her dress while holding the Prince and she dropped him, causing damage to his spine (probably).

The Regent family moves into the castle (with many kids) and the Prince's Uncle rules the kingdom.

And a deaf mute Black Knight brings them food and things.

He calls out for his fairy godmother to please, please remind him of the magic words to bring him home.

When Prince Dolor went to bed that night he couldn't wait to go out flying again tomorrow.

He saw all kinds of flowers and trees and grass, birds and small animals that scurried away from him.

That night when he went out, he brought with him some food and water and a coat and he flew for a long time.

His flying cloak dipped lower and brought him closer to see a boy running in the field with his horse.

Then a lark flew into his lap and he was happy again because this was such a strange and wonderful thing.

He decided after seeing the running boy that he didn't want to fly around any more because it made him sad.

She was afraid to speak in case a spy heard her break the rule about not telling him.

The nurse and the black night rode to the city to tell them about Prince Dolor.

Its publication followed Craik's popular novel John Halifax, Gentleman and this was stated on the cover.

"I do not wholly approve Miss Mulloch's famous story of the 'Little Lame Prince,'" wrote L. Frank Baum in his essay, "Modern Fairy Tales," "for although it is charmingly written it is too pitiful in sentiment.

Doubtless many crippled children have derived a degree of comfort from the adventures of the little lame prince and his magic cloak; but a normal child should not be harassed with pitiful subjects, and even the maimed ones prefer to idolize the well and strong.

"[4] The full title of the first edition is The Little Lame Prince and His Travelling Cloak – A Parable for Young and Old.