help laughing. The bees were all so
stupefied with what they had eaten that it was possible to draw their
stings without hunting them. So, with the help of her friend, the queen
soon made ready her pasty and carried it to the Lion Fairy.

'Not enough pepper,' said the giantess, gulping down large morsels, in
order the hide the surprise she felt. 'Well, you have escaped this time,
and I am glad to find I have got a companion a little more intelligent
than the others I have tried. Now, you had better go and build yourself
a house.'

So the queen wandered away, and picking up a small axe which lay near
the door she began with the help of her friend the frog to cut down
some cypress trees for the purpose. And not content with that the six
thousand froggy servants were told to help also, and it was not long
before they had built the prettiest little cabin in the world, and made
a bed in one corner of dried ferns which they fetched from the top of
the ten thousand steps. It looked soft and comfortable, and the queen
was very glad to lie down upon it, so tired was she with all that had
happened since the morning. Scarcely, however, had she fallen asleep
when the lake monsters began to make the most horrible noises just
outside, while a small dragon crept in and terrified her so that she ran
away, which was just what the dragon wanted!

The poor queen crouched under a rock for the rest of the night, and the
next morning, when she woke from her troubled dreams, she was cheered at
seeing the frog watching by her.

'I hear we shall have to build you another palace,' said she. 'Well,
this time we won't go so near the lake.' And she smiled with her funny
wide mouth, till the queen took heart, and they went together to find
wood for the new cabin.

The tiny palace was soon ready, and a fresh bed made of wild thyme,
which smelt delicious. Neither the queen nor the frog said anything
about it, but somehow, as always happens, the story came to the ears of
the Lion Fairy, and she sent a raven to fetch the culprit.

'What gods or men are protecting you?' she asked, with a frown. 'This
earth, dried up by a constant rain of sulphur and fire, produces
nothing, yet I hear that YOUR bed is made of sweet smelling herbs.
However, as you can get flowers for yourself, of course you can get them
for me, and in an hour's time I must have in my room a nosegay of the
rarest flowers. If not--! Now you can go.'

The poor queen returned to her ho