eter and Paul lay in bed and
made rude remarks, telling him that he would come back quicker than
he went, for if they had failed it could not be supposed that he would
succeed. Jesper made no reply, but put his pearls in the little basket
and walked off.

The King of the Ants and the King of the Beetles were again marshalling
their hosts, but the ants were greatly reduced in numbers, and had
little hope of holding out that day.

'Come and help us,' said their king to Jesper, 'or we shall be
completely defeated. I may help you some day in return.'

Now Jesper had always heard the ants spoken of as clever and industrious
little creatures, while he never heard anyone say a good word for the
beetles, so he agreed to give the wished-for help. At the first charge
he made, the ranks of the beetles broke and fled in dismay, and those
escaped best that were nearest a hole, and could get into it before
Jesper's boots came down upon them. In a few minutes the ants had the
field all to themselves; and their king made quite an eloquent speech to
Jesper, thanking him for the service he had done them, and promising to
assist him in any difficulty.

'Just call on me when you want me,' he said, 'where-ever you are. I'm
never far away from anywhere, and if I can possibly help you, I shall
not fail to do it.'

Jesper was inclined to laugh at this, but he kept a grave face, said
he would remember the offer, and walked on. At a turn of the road he
suddenly came upon the old woman. 'Good morning,' said she; 'what have
YOU got in your basket?'

'Pearls,' said Jesper; 'I'm going to the palace to win the princess with
them.' And in case she might not believe him, he lifted the cover and
let her see them.

'Beautiful,' said the old woman; 'very beautiful indeed; but they will
go a very little way towards winning the princess, unless you can also
perform the tasks that are set you. However,' she said, 'I see you have
brought something with you to eat. Won't you give that to me: you are
sure to get a good dinner at the palace.'

'Yes, of course,' said Jesper, 'I hadn't thought of that'; and he handed
over the whole of his lunch to the old woman.

He had already taken a few steps on the way again, when the old woman
called him back.

'Here,' she said; 'take this whistle in return for your lunch. It isn't
much to look at, but if you blow it, anything that you have lost or that
has been taken from you will find its way back to you in a m