rd. The king placed himself on an
elevated seat. The princess sat a little below, and looked with some
anxiety at the little husband that Heaven seemed to have sent her. He
was not the spouse she had dreamed of, certainly. Without troubling
himself the least in the world, Thumbling now drew the magic pickaxe
from his stout leather bag, calmly put it together, and then, laying it
carefully on the ground in the proper place, he cried:--

"Pick! Pick!! Pick!!!"

And lo and behold! the pick began to burst the granite to splinters, and
in less than a quarter of an hour had dug a well more than a hundred
feet deep, in the solid rock.

"Does your Majesty think," asked Thumbling, bowing profoundly, "that the
well is sufficiently deep?"

"Certainly," answered the king; "but where is the water to come from?"

"If your Majesty will grant me a moment longer," rejoined Thumbling,
"your just impatience shall be satisfied." So saying, he drew from his
stout leather bag the nut-shell, all covered as it was with moss, and
placed it on a magnificent fountain vase, where, not having any water,
they had put a bouquet of flowers.

"Gush! Gush!! Gush!!!" cried Thumbling.

And lo and behold! the water began to burst out among the flowers,
singing with a gentle murmur, and falling down in a charming cascade,
that was so cold that it made everybody present shiver; and so abundant,
that in a quarter of an hour the well was filled, and a deep trench had
to be dug to take away the surplus water; otherwise the whole palace
would have been overflowed.

"Sire!" now said Thumbling, bending gracefully on one knee before the
royal chair, "does your Majesty find that I have answered your
conditions?"

"Yes! my _Lord Marquis Thumbling_," answered the king; "I am ready to
give you the half of my kingdom, or to pay you the value of it, by
means of a tax my loyal subjects will only be too happy to pay. As to
giving you the princess, however, and calling you my son-in-law, that is
another question; for that doesn't depend upon me alone."

"And what must I do for that?" asked Thumbling proudly, ogling the
princess at the same time.

"You shall know to-morrow," replied the king; "and meanwhile you are my
guest, and the most magnificent apartment in the palace shall be
prepared for you."

After the departure of the king and princess, Thumbling ran to find his
two brothers, who, with their ears cut off, looked like cropped curs.
"Ah! my boys," sai