e princesses
screaming because they couldn't go to court, and the Mayor's daughter,
who had been given a double dose, cried louder and more sturdily: "I
want to go and tend my geese! I will go and tend my geese!"

So the Aldermen took the high-Soprano Singer, and they consulted the
Wise Woman again. She was taking a nap this time, and the Singer had
to sing up to B-flat before she could wake her. Then she was very
cross, and the Black Cat put up his back and spit at the Aldermen.

"Give 'em a spanking all 'round," she snapped out, "and if that don't
work put 'em to bed without their supper!"

Then the Aldermen marched back to try that; and all the children in
the city were spanked, and when that didn't do any good they were put
to bed without any supper. But the next morning when they woke up they
were worse than ever.

The Mayor and the Aldermen were very indignant, and considered that
they had been imposed upon and insulted. So they set out for the Wise
Woman's again, with the high-Soprano Singer.

She sang in G-sharp how the Aldermen and the Mayor considered her an
imposter, and did not think she was wise at all, and they wished her
to take her Black Cat and move beyond the limits of the city. She sang
it beautifully; it sounded like the very finest Italian opera-music.

"Deary me," piped the Wise Woman, when she had finished, "how very
grand these gentlemen are." Her Black Cat put up his back and spit.

"Five times one Black Cat are five Black Cats," said the Wise Woman.
And, directly, there were five Black Cats, spitting and miauling.

"Five times five Black Cats are twenty-five Black Cats." And then
there were twenty-five of the angry little beasts.

"Five times twenty-five Black Cats are one hundred and twenty-five
Black Cats," added the Wise Woman, with a chuckle.

[Illustration: SHE SANG IT BEAUTIFULLY.]

Then the Mayor and the Aldermen and the high-Soprano Singer fled
precipitately out the door and back to the city. One hundred and
twenty-five Black Cats had seemed to fill the Wise Woman's hut full,
and when they all spit and miauled together it was dreadful. The
visitors could not wait for her to multiply Black Cats any longer.

As winter wore on, and spring came, the condition of things grew more
intolerable. Physicians had been consulted, who advised that the
children should be allowed to follow their own bents, for fear of
injury to their constitutions. So the rich Aldermen's daughters were
a