l do it too, or my name's not
Septimus Septimusson. But it may take years and years, and I can't be
away from the Princess all that time, because she won't eat unless I
feed her. You see the difficulty, Sire?'

The King saw it. And that very day Sep was married to the Princess in
her green gown with the red roses on it, and they set out together.

The wind went with them, and the wind, or something else, seemed to say
to Sep, 'Go home, take your wife home to your mother.'

So he did. He crossed the land and he crossed the sea, and he went up
the red-brick path to his father's cottage, and he peeped in at the door
and said:

'Father, mother, here's my wife.'

They were so pleased to see him--for they had thought him dead, that
they didn't notice the Princess at first, and when they did notice her
they wondered at her beautiful face and her beautiful gown--but it
wasn't till they had all settled down to supper--boiled rabbit it
was--and they noticed Sep feeding his wife as one feeds a baby that they
saw that she was blind.

And then all the story had to be told.

'Well, well,' said the fisherman, 'you and your wife bide here with us.
I daresay I'll catch that old sinner in my nets one of these fine days.'
But he never did. And Sep and his wife lived with the old people. And
they were happy after a fashion--but of an evening Sep used to wander
and wonder, and wonder and wander by the sea-shore, wondering as he
wandered whether he wouldn't ever have the luck to catch that fish.

And one evening as he wandered wondering he heard a little, sharp, thin
voice say:

'Sep. I've got it.'

'What?' asked Sep, forgetting his manners.

'I've got it,' said a big mussel on a rock close by him, 'the magic
stone that the Magician does his enchantments with. He dropped it out of
his mouth and I shut my shells on it--and now he's sweeping up and down
the sea like a mad fish, looking for it--for he knows he can never
change into anything else unless he gets it back. Here, take the nasty
thing, it's making me feel quite ill.'

It opened its shells wide, and Sep saw a pearl. He reached out his hand
and took it.

'That's better,' said the mussel, washing its shells out with salt
water.

'Can _I_ do magic with it?' Sep eagerly asked.

'No,' said the mussel sadly, 'it's of no use to any one but the owner.
Now, if I were you, I'd get into a boat, and if your friend the wind
will help us, I believe we really can do the trick.'