lvet
cradle, and when all the nice qualities in the world had been given to
the Princess he suddenly said, 'Little Aura may be all that, but _I_ say
she shall be the ugliest princess in all the world.'

And instantly she was. It was terrible. And she had been such a
beautiful baby too. Every one had been saying that she was the most
beautiful baby they had ever seen. This sort of thing is often said at
christenings.

Having uglified the unfortunate little Princess the Magician did the
spell (in his mind, just as you do your spelling) to make himself
vanish, but to his horror there was no red smoke and no smell of
fireworks, and there he was, still, where he now very much wished not to
be. Because one of the fairies there had seen, just one second too late
to save the Princess, what he was up to, and had made a strong little
charm in a great hurry to prevent his vanishing. This Fairy was a White
Witch, and of course you know that White Magic is much stronger than
Black Magic, as well as more suited for drawing-room performances. So
there the Magician stood, 'looking like a thunder-struck pig,' as some
one unkindly said, and the dear White Witch bent down and kissed the
baby princess.

'There!' she said, 'you can keep that kiss till you want it. When the
time comes you'll know what to do with it. The Magician can't vanish,
Sire. You'd better arrest him.'

'Arrest that person,' said the King, pointing to Taykin. 'I suppose your
charms are of a permanent nature, madam.'

'Quite,' said the Fairy, 'at least they never go till there's no longer
any use for them.'

So the Magician was shut up in an enormously high tower, and allowed to
play with magic; but none of his spells could act outside the tower so
he was never able to pass the extra double guard that watched outside
night and day. The King would have liked to have the Magician executed
but the White Witch warned him that this would never do.

'Don't you see,' she said, 'he's the only person who can make the
Princess beautiful again. And he'll do it some day. But don't you go
_asking_ him to do it. He'll never do anything to oblige you. He's that
sort of man.'

So the years rolled on. The Magician stayed in the tower and did magic
and was very bored,--for it is dull to take white rabbits out of your
hat, and your hat out of nothing when there's no one to see you.

Prince Fortunatus was such a stupid little boy that he got lost quite
early in the story, and we