about,
tenderly cared for the humbled old monarch.

Before long, the elfin queen saw how patient the old king and Jim's
mother were, and how badly Nimble Jim was behaving now he was king,
for he was given up to all sorts of wickedness and tyranny, was fast
becoming hated by every one, and himself was beginning to see that he
was not nearly so happy as he had been while he was a cobbler.

Jim was really good at heart, only his unreasonable discontent with
his lot had got him into all this misery. At last, he began to repent,
and, one moonlight night when he was walking alone on the palace
terrace, he said:

"I wish I could see that little elfin queen, and I would ask her to
let me go back home again."

"Well, here I am!" said the silvery voice; and, sitting on a moonbeam
beside him, there she was. "Tired of being king, Jim?" she asked.

"Yes, your majesty, indeed I am," he replied.

"Want any more melons, Jim?" said she, laughing.

"No, no, no!" groaned Jim. "No more!"

"How is your mother, Jim?" asked her majesty.

"Alas! I don't know,"--and he hung his head in shame.

"Are you ready to go and see her, Jim?" she asked, gently. "And will
you be contented now?"

"Yes, yes!" was his eager reply.

Now, the old king had been mending shoes all day, and was at this
moment resting in the cottage porch, when, suddenly, he was whisked
away on a cloud and landed in his palace again. His crown was popped
on his head, and the scepter thrust in his hand, while his old
chamberlain tenderly tucked him up in bed.

At the same instant, another cloud brought back Nimble Jim to his
bench and his faithful mother, who at once made him some oat-meal
porridge without a murmur or word of reproach.

"There!" said the elfin queen to herself. "That boy is cured of his
silly notions."

"Mother, I think I don't care much for melons. I wont plant any more,"
said Jim next morning.

"I don't like 'em myself, lad," said the mother. "I'd a deal rather
you'd stick to the bench, like your auld father."

"I will, mother dear," answered Nimble Jim. And he is mending shoes
there to this day, as happy as happy can be.

* * * * *

[Illustration]

"Oh! I'm my mamma's lady-girl
And I must sit quite still;
It would not do to jump and whirl,
And get my hair all out of curl,
And rumple up my frill.
No, I'm my mamma's lady-girl,
So I must sit quite still."

* * *