cob
Stuck to do all this by himself. I tell you, it is all a piece of good
luck, and not a bit of merit in it."

He whispered and whispered, until at last the king up and spoke. "Tell
me, Jacob Stuck," he said, "where do you get all these fine things?"

"It all comes of a piece of good luck," said Jacob Stuck.

"That is what I told you," said the prime-minister.

"A piece of good luck!" said the king. "Where did you come across such a
piece of good luck?"

"I found it," said Jacob Stuck.

"Found it!" said the king; "and have you got it with you now?"

"Yes, I have," said Jacob Stuck; "I always carry it about with me;" and
he thrust his hand into his pocket and brought out his piece of blue
crystal.

"That!" said the king. "Why, that is nothing but a piece of blue glass!"

"That," said Jacob Stuck, "is just what I thought till I found out
better. It is no common piece of glass, I can tell you. You just breathe
upon it so, and rub your thumb upon it thus, and instantly a Genie
dressed in red comes to do all that he is bidden. That is how it is."

"I should like to see it," said the king.

"So you shall," said Jacob Stuck; "here it is," said he; and he reached
it across the table to the prime-minister to give it to the king.

Yes, that was what he did; he gave it to the prime-minister to give it
to the king. The prime-minister had been listening to all that had been
said, and he knew what he was about. He took what Jacob Stuck gave him,
and he had never had such a piece of luck come to him before.

And did the prime-minister give it to the king, as Jacob Stuck had
intended? Not a bit of it. No sooner had he got it safe in his hand,
than he blew his breath upon it and rubbed it with his thumb.

Crack! dong! boom! crash!

There stood the Genie, like a flash and as red as fire. The princess
screamed out and nearly fainted at the sight, and the poor king sat
trembling like a rabbit.

"Whosoever possesses that piece of blue crystal," said the Genie, in a
terrible voice, "him must I obey. What are thy commands?"

"Take this king," cried the prime-minister, "and take Jacob Stuck, and
carry them both away into the farthest part of the desert whence the
fellow came."

"To hear is to obey," said the Genie; and instantly he seized the
king in one hand and Jacob Stuck in the other, and flew away with them
swifter than the wind. On and on he flew, and the earth seemed to slide
away beneath them like a cloud. On an