to sit on his
knee."

"Yes," said Jack; "I took them out, and laid them in a row, to see
that they were safe, and this one I kissed, because she looked such a
little dear."

"Was she not like the others, then?" asked the slave.

"Yes," said Jack; "but I liked her the best; she was my favorite."

Now, the instant these three fairies sprang out of Jack's pockets,
they got very much larger; in fact, they became fully grown,--that is
to say, they measured exactly one foot one inch in height, which, as
most people know, is exactly the proper height for fairies of that
tribe. The two who had sprung out first were very beautifully dressed.
One had a green velvet coat, and a sword, the hilt of which was
incrusted with diamonds. The second had a white spangled robe, and the
loveliest rubies and emeralds round her neck and in her hair; but the
third, the one who sat on Jack's knee, had a white frock and a blue
sash on. She had soft, fat arms, and a face just like that of a sweet
little child.

When Jack's slave saw this, she took the little creature on her
knee, and said to her, "How comes it that you are not like your
companions?"

And she answered, in a pretty lisping voice, "It's because Jack kissed
me."

"Even so it must be," answered the slave; "the love of a mortal works
changes indeed. It is not often that we win anything so precious.
Here, master, let her sit on your knee sometimes, and take care of
her, for she cannot now take the same care of herself that others of
her race are capable of."

So Jack let little Mopsa sit on his knee; and when he was tired of
admiring his slave, and wondering at the respect with which the other
two fairies treated her, and at their cleverness in getting
water-lilies for her, and fanning her with feathers, he curled himself
up in the bottom of the boat with his own little favorite, and taught
her how to play at cat's-cradle.

When they had been playing some time, and Mopsa was getting quite
clever at the game, the lovely slave said, "Master, it is a long time
since you spoke to me."

"And yet," said Jack, "there is something that I particularly want to
ask you about."

"Ask it then," she replied.

"I don't like to have a slave," answered Jack; "and as you are so
clever, don't you think you can find out how to be free again?"

"I am very glad you asked me about that," said the fairy woman. "Yes,
master, I wish very much to be free; and as you were so kind as to
give the