asked for,' said the parrot. And the eyes of
the giant glistened as he took the heap of blue stones in his hand. But
for all that he was not minded to give up the crown.

'They are hardly as blue as I expected,' he grumbled, though the parrot
knew as well as he did that he was not speaking the truth; 'so you must
bring me something else in exchange for the crown you covet so much. If
you fail it will cost you not only the crown but you life also.'

'What is it you want now?' asked the parrot; and the giant answered:

'If I give you my crown I must have another still more beautiful; and
this time you shall bring me a crown of stars.'

The parrot turned away, and as soon as she was outside she murmured:

'Toad, come to me!' And sure enough a toad she was, and off she set in
search of the starry crown.

She had not gone far before she came to a clear pool, in which the stars
were reflected so brightly that they looked quite real to touch and
handle. Stooping down she filled a bag she was carrying with the shining
water and, returning to the castle, wove a crown out of the reflected
stars. Then she cried as before:

'Parrot, come to me!' And in the shape of a parrot she entered the
presence of the giant.

'Here is the crown you asked for,' she said; and this time the giant
could not help crying out with admiration. He knew he was beaten, and
still holding the chaplet of stars, he turned to the girl.

'Your power is greater than mine: take the crown; you have won it
fairly!'

The parrot did not need to be told twice. Seizing the crown, she sprang
on to the window, crying: 'Monkey, come to me!' And to a monkey, the
climb down the tree into the courtyard did not take half a minute. When
she had reached the ground she said again: 'Ant, come to me!' And a
little ant at once began to crawl over the high wall. How glad the ant
was to be out of the giant's castle, holding fast the crown which had
shrunk into almost nothing, as she herself had done, but grew quite big
again when the ant exclaimed:

'Deer, come to me!'

Surely no deer ever ran so swiftly as that one! On and on she went,
bounding over rivers and crashing through tangles till she reached the
sea. Here she cried for the last time:

'Fish, come to me!' And, plunging in, she swam along the bottom as far
as the palace, where the queen and all the fishes gathered together
awaiting her.

The hours since she had left had gone very slowly--as they always do to