t was a habit he had acquired. Then he walked
to the bank of the river, which was near, and whistled three times.
Immediately a school of fishes swam up to him, and one of the biggest
cried out:

"Good afternoon, Prince Thinkabit; what can we do for you?"

"I wish to borrow a flying fish for a few minutes," replied the Prince.

Scarcely had he spoken when a fish flew out of the river and perched
upon his shoulder. Then he walked up to the tree and said to the fish:
"Get me the apple."

The flying fish at once flew into the tree and bit off the stem of the
apple, which fell down and hit the King on the nose, for,
unfortunately, he was standing exactly under it. Then the Prince
thanked the flying fish and sent it back to the river, and the King,
having first put a plaster over his nose, took the apple and started
for the Crystal Lake, followed by all his people.

But when the apple was fastened to the fish-line and let down through
the syrup to the royal chamberlain, Nuphsed refused to touch it.

"He doesn't like it," said the King, with a sigh; and he went again to
the Wise Donkey.

"Didn't he want the apple?" asked the donkey, as if surprised. But you
must know he was not surprised at all, as he had planned to get the
apple for himself.

"No, indeed," replied the King. "We had an awful job to find the apple,
too."

"Where is it?" inquired the donkey.

"Here," said the King, taking it out of his pocket.

The donkey took the apple, looked at it thoughtfully for a moment, and
then ate it up and smacked his lips, for he was especially fond of red
apples.

"What shall we do now?" asked the King.

"I believe the thing Nuphsed likes best is a kind word. Bait the line
with that, and you may catch him."

So the King went again to the lake, and having put a kind word on the
fish-line quickly succeeded in bringing the royal chamberlain to the
shore in safety. You can well imagine poor Nuphsed was glad enough to
be on dry land after his long immersion in the sugar-syrup.

And now that all had been rescued from the Crystal Lake, the King put a
rope around the broken crust and stuck up a sign that said "Danger!" so
that no one else would fall in.

After that the festivities began again, and as there were no further
accidents the King's birthday ended very happily.

_The Sixth Surprise_

KING SCOWLEYOW AND HIS CAST-IRON MAN

Across the mountains at the north of the Valley of Mo there reigned a
wicked Ki