“‘Suppose we weave a magic cloak.’”
another thinking-cap, lest it meet a like fate.
Cannot you suggest something else?”“I have heard,” said another, “of certain fairies who created a pair of enchanted boots, which would always carry their mortal wearer away from danger—and never into it.”
“What a great boon to these blundering mortals!” cried the queen, “And whatever became of the boots?”
“They came at last into the possession of a great general who did not know their powers. So he wore them into battle one day, aud immediately ran away, followed by all his men, and the fight was won by the enemy.”
“But did not the general escape danger?”
“Yes—at the expense of his reputation. So he retired to a farm and wore out the boots tramping up and down a country road and trying to decide why he had suddenly become such a coward.”
“The boots were worn by the wrong man, surely,” said the queen; “and that is why they proved a curse rather than a blessing. But we want no enchanted boots. Think of something else.”
“Suppose we weave a magic cloak,” proposed Espa, a sweet little fairy who had not before spoken.
“A cloak? Indeed, we might easily weave that,” returned the queen. “But what sort of magic powers must it possess?”
“Let its wearer have any wish instantly ful-filled,” said Espa, brightly.
But at this there arose quite a murmur of protest on all sides, which the queen immediately silenced with a wave of her royal hand.
