wed to undo one half of the mischief I have
wrought. I could restore you your youth,' she said to Cornichon, 'or
your beauty,' turning to Toupette. 'I will do both; and I will do
neither.'

A murmur of curiosity arose from the crowd, while Cornichon and Toupette
trembled with astonishment.

'No,' went on Dindonette, 'never should I have the cruelty to leave one
of you to decay, while the other enjoys the glory of youth. And as I
cannot restore you both at once to what you were, one half of each of
your bodies shall become young again, while the other half goes on its
way to decay. I will leave it to you to choose which half it shall
be--if I shall draw a line round the waist, or a line straight down the
middle of the body.'

She looked about her proudly, expecting applause for her clever idea.
But Cornichon and Toupette were shaking with rage and disappointment,
and everyone else broke into shouts of laughter. In pity for the unhappy
lovers, Selnozoura came forward.

'Do you not think,' she said, 'that instead of what you propose, it
would be better to let them take it in turns to enjoy their former youth
and beauty for a fixed time? I am sure you could easily manage that.'

'What an excellent notion!' cried Dindonette. 'Oh, yes, of course that
is best! Which of you shall I touch first?'

'Touch her,' replied Cornichon, who was always ready to give way to
Toupette. 'I know her heart too well to fear any change.'

So the fairy bent forward and touched her with her magic ring, and in
one instant the old woman was a girl again. The whole court wept with
joy at the sight, and Toupette ran up to Cornichon, who had fallen down
in his surprise, promising to pay him long visits, and tell him of all
her balls and water parties.

The two fairies went to their own apartments, where the genius followed
them to take his leave.

'Oh, dear!' suddenly cried Dindonette, breaking in to the farewell
speech of the genius. 'I quite forgot to fix the time when Cornichon
should in his turn grow young. How stupid of me! And now I fear it is
too late, for I ought to have declared it before I touched Toupette with
the ring. Oh, dear! oh, dear! why did nobody warn me?'

'You were so quick,' replied Selnozoura, who had long been aware of the
mischief the fairy had again done, 'and we can only wait now till
Cornichon shall have reached the utmost limits of his decay, when he
will drink of the water, and become a baby once more, so that