is crest and looked very much offended.

"Because _I_ am real," he said with dignity. "I was the only real thing
in the castle. The Philosopher stole me at the same time that he stole
the Magic Stone."

"Stole it?" cried the Mermaids and the Mer-babies and the Sea-gulls.

"Yes," said the Parrot; "he stole it in a far-off land, and he stole me.
I was to be a present to the Princess; for he thought of marrying the
Princess even at that time, and the Philosopher knew there was not in
all the world another parrot like me."

He opened his wings and puffed up every feather. He certainly was a
magnificent creature. The grown-up Sea-gulls felt quite ashamed of their
homely dresses of black and white; but the young ones only gaped, and
crowded open-mouthed to the front to look.

The Parrot's snowy coat shaded different colors like opals when he
moved, and each feather was edged with gold. The crest upon his head
sparkled as if there were diamonds in it, and under his wings he was
rose-red.

"But I am free!" he cried, as the diamonds glittered and flashed,--"free
to go home where the palm-trees grow, and the sun shines as it never
shines in this chilly land! Look well at me while you can, for you will
never see me again."

With that he poised a moment above them, then sailed away to the South,
like a gorgeous monster butterfly. And they never did see him again.

When they had watched him out of sight, and turned again, there was
nothing remaining of the castle, and the Philosopher, too, had
disappeared. The sun was setting, and the Mermaids and the Mer-babies
went to their homes in the sea, while the Sea-gulls put their little
gulls to bed in the nests among the rocks high above the restless
waves.

* * *

Now all the talk was of the Philosopher's Magic Stone, and who should
find it. And at court every one was discussing how this unexpected turn
of events would affect the Princess's marriage. It was to have taken
place in a very short time. The King was very angry. He considered that
a slight had been cast upon the Princess and upon himself by the
carelessness of the Philosopher. He was not well pleased, either,
to know that the great wealth of the man who was to have been his
son-in-law was all due to magic influences. Neither did he like what
he heard of the Philosopher's appearance when last he was seen. He
announced that the Princess's wedding would take place at the time
fixed, and that she