the happiest couple in the world.

But the next morning the Demon appeared as he had appeared ever since
the Tailor had let him out of the bottle, only now he grinned till his
teeth shone and his face turned black. "What hast thou for me to do?"
said he, and at the words the Tailor's heart began to quake, for he
remembered what was to happen to him when he could find the Demon no
more work to do--that his neck was to be wrung--and now he began to see
that he had all that he could ask for in the world. Yes; what was there
to ask for now?

"I have nothing more for you to do," said he to the Demon; "you have
done all that man could ask--you may go now."

"Go!" cried the Demon, "I shall not go until I have done all that I have
to do. Give me work, or I shall wring your neck." And his fingers began
to twitch.

Then the Tailor began to see into what a net he had fallen. He began to
tremble like one in an ague. He turned his eyes up and down, for he
did not know where to look for aid. Suddenly, as he looked out of the
window, a thought struck him. "Maybe," thought he, "I can give the Demon
such a task that even he cannot do it. Yes, yes!" he cried, "I have
thought of something for you to do. Make me out yonder in front of my
palace a lake of water a mile long and a mile wide, and let it be
lined throughout with white marble, and filled with water as clear as
crystal."

"It shall be done," said the Demon. As he spoke he spat in the air,
and instantly a thick fog arose from the earth and hid everything from
sight. Then presently from the midst of the fog there came a great
noise of chipping and hammering, of digging and delving, of rushing and
gurgling. All day the noise and the fog continued, and then at sunset
the one ceased and the other cleared away. The poor Tailor looked out
the window, and when he saw what he saw his teeth chattered in his head,
for there was a lake a mile long and a mile broad, lined within with
white marble, and filled with water as clear as crystal, and he knew
that the Demon would come the next morning for another task to do.

That night he slept little or none, and when the seventh hour of the
morning came the castle began to rock and tremble, and there stood the
Demon, and his hair bristled and his eyes shone like sparks of fire.
"What hast thou for me to do?" said he, and the poor Tailor could do
nothing but look at him with a face as white as dough.

"What hast thou for me to do?" said the