marry you just now, because those strangers
may interfere. I suspect that the wooden-legged man possesses great
magical powers, or he would never have been able to carry himself and
those children across the deadly desert."

"I don't like him; he looks dangerous," answered Googly-Goo. "But
perhaps you are mistaken about his being a wizard. Why don't you test
his powers?"

"How?" asked the King.

"Send for the Wicked Witch. She will tell you in a moment whether that
wooden-legged person is a common man or a magician."

"Ha! that's a good idea," cried the King. "Why didn't I think of the
Wicked Witch before? But the woman demands rich rewards for her
services."

"Never mind; I will pay her," promised the wealthy Googly-Goo.

So a servant was dispatched to summon the Wicked Witch, who lived but a
few leagues from King Krewl's castle. While they awaited her, the
withered old courtier proposed that they pay a visit to Princess Gloria
and see if she was not now in a more complaisant mood. So the two
started away together and searched the castle over without finding
Gloria.

At last Googly-Goo suggested she might be in the rear garden, which was
a large park filled with bushes and trees and surrounded by a high
wall. And what was their anger, when they turned a corner of the path,
to find in a quiet nook the beautiful Princess, and kneeling before
her, Pon, the gardener's boy! With a roar of rage the King dashed
forward; but Pon had scaled the wall by means of a ladder, which still
stood in its place, and when he saw the King coming he ran up the
ladder and made good his escape. But this left Gloria confronted by her
angry guardian, the King, and by old Googly-Goo, who was trembling with
a fury he could not express in words.

Seizing the Princess by her arm the King dragged her back to the
castle. Pushing her into a room on the lower floor he locked the door
upon the unhappy girl. And at that moment the arrival of the Wicked
Witch was announced.

Hearing this, the King smiled, as a tiger smiles, showing his teeth.
And Googly-Goo smiled, as a serpent smiles, for he had no teeth except
a couple of fangs. And having frightened each other with these smiles
the two dreadful men went away to the Royal Council Chamber to meet the
Wicked Witch.

Chapter Twelve

The Wooden-Legged Grass-Hopper

Now it so happened that Trot, from the window of her room, had
witnessed the meeting of the lovers in the garden and ha