m back to Kungla; and thankful indeed was Tiidu
to accept the offer, and to show his gratitude by playing on his pipes
whenever he was asked to do so.

They had a quick voyage, and it was not long before Tiidu found himself
again in the streets of the capital of Kungla, playing as he went along.
The people had heard no music like his since he went away, and they
crowded round him, and in their joy gave him whatever money they had in
their pockets. His first care was to buy himself some new clothes, which
he sadly needed, taking care, however, that they should be made after a
foreign fashion. When they were ready, he set out one day with a small
basket of his famous apples, and went up to the palace. He did not have
to wait long before one of the royal servants passed by and bought all
the apples, begging as he did so that the merchant should return and
bring some more. This Tiidu promised, and hastened away as if he had a
mad bull behind him, so afraid was he that the man should begin to eat
an apple at once.

It is needless to say that for some days he took no more apples back to
the palace, but kept well away on the other side of the town, wearing
other clothes, and disguised by a long black beard, so that even his own
mother would not have known him.

The morning after his visit to the castle the whole city was in an
uproar about the dreadful misfortune that had happened to the Royal
Family, for not only the king but his wife and children, had eaten of
the stranger's apples, and all, so said the rumour, were very ill. The
most famous doctors and the greatest magicians were hastily summoned to
the palace, but they shook their heads and came away again; never had
they met with such a disease in all the course of their experience.
By-and-bye a story went round the town, started no one knew how, that
the malady was in some way connected with the nose; and men rubbed their
own anxiously, to be sure that nothing catching was in the air.

Matters had been in this state for more than a week when it reached the
ears of the king that a man was living in an inn on the other side
of the town who declared himself able to cure all manner of diseases.
Instantly the royal carriage was commanded to drive with all speed and
bring back this magician, offering him riches untold if he could restore
their noses to their former length. Tiidu had expected this summons,
and had sat up all night changing his appearance, and so well had he