ds _I_ was
born, and then it suddenly took effect, and I have always been afflicted
with the exceedingly uncomfortable misfortune of having to appear or
disappear whenever the old lady likes, and in whatever place she
chooses.

"It's terribly awkward at times, for one minute I may be in China taking
tea with a Mandarin of the Blue Button, and have to disappear suddenly,
turning up a minute later in a first-class carriage on the Underground
Railway, greatly to the surprise and indignation of the passengers,
especially if it happens to be over-crowded without me, as it very
often is.

"Not but what it has its advantages too," he added thoughtfully, "and
this very power of being able to disappear suddenly has just got me out
of a most serious dilemma."

"Won't you tell me about it?" I inquired with considerable curiosity,
for I was beginning to be very interested in this singular little
person's account of himself.

"With pleasure," said Shin Shira; and settling himself more comfortably
in "the Toad," resting his elbows on the arms of the chair, and placing
the tips of his fingers together, he told me the following story.

"The very last place in which I appeared before turning up here, was in
the grounds of the Palace belonging to the Grand Panjandrum--"

"Where is that situated, if you please?" I ventured to inquire.

Shin Shira gave me a quick glance.

"Do you mean to say that you actually don't even know where the land of
the Grand Panjandrum is?" he asked. "H'm! well," he continued as I shook
my head, "I remarked a short time ago that you didn't _look_ very
clever, but really, I couldn't have believed that you were so ignorant
as all that. You'd better look it up in your atlas when I am gone, I
can't bother to explain where it is now--but to resume my story. I
appeared there, as I said, and in the middle of the kitchen garden all
amongst the cabbages and beans.

"I could at first see nobody about, but at last I heard somebody
singing, and presently came upon a man carrying a basket in which were
some cabbages that he had evidently just gathered.

"Although he was singing so cheerfully, his head was bound up with a
handkerchief, and I could see that his face was badly swollen.

"When he had come a little nearer, I bowed politely and inquired of him
what place it was, for my surroundings were quite strange to me, it
being my first visit to the neighbourhood.

"He told me where I was, and explained that he