an awfully nice size."

Again the little old man smiled with pleasure. "You are the pleasantest
boy I know," he said; "and you will find out before long that it is
worth while to make friends with old Thumbhi, Lord High Wizard of the
Sea, and Court Jester to the King of the Waves."

"Are you all that?" said Jimmieboy, pleased to discover that his
new-found friend was a person of so great importance.

"Yes indeed," answered Thumbhi. "I am all that, and half a dozen things
more. In fact, I am so much that if we had a million dream years
together I couldn't even begin to tell you all that I am. But come. Are
you ready to be made smaller?"

"Yes," said Jimmieboy, a little nervously. "What do I do first?"

"You must put on a coat I give you," replied the wizard. "It will be a
little small for you, perhaps, but you can get it on."

The wizard opened one of the bureau drawers, and took therefrom a coat,
in which Jimmieboy hastened to array himself. It was, as the old man had
said, a little small for him, but he managed to get into it, and after
wearing it a minute or two he found it quite comfortable.

"Now take it off," said the wizard, taking a second coat out of the
drawer, "and put this one on."

Jimmieboy took off the coat. "Is this larger than the other?" he asked,
as he began to put the second coat on.

"No; it is a trifle smaller," replied the wizard. "That's my scheme. You
keep putting on coats that are smaller than the one you have just taken
off. You stay in them until they fit you comfortably, and finally when
you get the last one on you will be small enough to get into the
drawer."

"That's a fine plan," said Jimmieboy.

Then he went through the process of changing coats, each new coat being
a little smaller than the other, until he had tried on at least fifty of
them, when for the first time since he began he caught sight of himself
in the glass.

"My!" he cried, in pleased astonishment. "I'm hardly any bigger than you
are."

"That's so," replied the little old man. "One more coat, and we can get
you into the drawer."

[Illustration: JIMMIEBOY PUTS ON THE LAST COAT.]

Jimmieboy put on the last coat. A little bit of a thing it was, hardly
larger than a doll's overcoat, and, if the truth be told, awfully tight;
but, as with all the others, it soon became as comfortable as any coat
he had ever worn, and then, looking at himself in the glass once more,
Jimmieboy observed that he was actually no lar