and smelled
of them, crushing them as she did so.

Having mauled them to her heart's content, she shook her head,
saying,--

"Bad stuff; rubbish; nothing I want; rubbish, rubbish,--eh?"

"You are an impudent old hag," said the cobbler's boy, Jamie; "you
have crushed our herbs, held them under your ugly nose, and now
condemn them."

"Aha, my son, you do not like my nose,--eh? You shall have one, too,
to pay for this,--eh?"

"If you want to buy anything, pray do so at once," said the
cobbler's wife; "you are keeping other customers away."

"I _will_ buy something," said the hag viciously; "I _will_ buy. I
will take these six cabbages. Six? That is more than I can carry,
as I have to lean upon my stick. You must let your boy take them
home for me."

This was but a reasonable request, and the cobbler's wife consented.

Jamie did as he was bid, and followed the hag to her home. It was a
long distance there. At last the beldam stopped in an out-of-the-way
part of the town, before a strange-looking house. She touched a
rusty key to the door, which flew open, and, as the two entered, a
most astonishing sight was revealed to Jamie's eyes.

The interior of the house was like a throne-room in a palace, the
ceilings were of marble and gold, and the furniture was jewelled
ebony.

The old woman took a silver whistle and blew it. Little
animals--guinea pigs and squirrels--answered the call. They were
dressed like children, and walked on two legs; they could talk and
understand what was said to them. Was the beldam an enchantress, and
were these little animals children, whom she had stolen and made
victims of her enchantments?

[Illustration: JAMIE AT THE STRANGE-LOOKING HOUSE.]

"Sit down, child," said the old woman, in a soft voice, "sit down;
you have had a heavy load to carry. Sit down, and I will make you a
delicious soup; one that you will remember as long as you live. It
will contain some of the herb for which I was looking in the market
and did not find. Sit down."

The beldam hurried hither and thither, and with the help of the
guinea pigs and squirrels quickly made the soup.

"There, my child, eat that. It contains the magic herb I could not
find in the market. Why did your mother not have it? Whoever eats
that will become a magic cook."

Jamie had never tasted such delicious soup. It seemed to intoxicate
him. It produ