uch an anklet to
wear on the other leg, or she would die of shame. So the king sent for
Ameer Ali and told him that he must get a second anklet exactly like
the first within a month, or he should be hanged, for the princess
would certainly die of disappointment.

Poor Ameer Ali was greatly troubled at the king's command, but he
thought to himself that he had, at any rate, a month in which to lay
his plans. He left the palace at once, and inquired of everyone where
the finest jewels were to be got; but though he sought night and day
he never found one to compare with the anklet. At last only a week
remained, and he was in sore difficulty, when he remembered the Fairy
of the forest, and determined to go without loss of time and seek her.
Therefore away he went, and after a day's travelling he reached the
cottage in the forest, and, standing where he had stood when the old
woman called to him, he cried:

'Fairy of the forest! Fairy of the forest! Help me! help me!'

Then there appeared in the doorway the beautiful girl he had seen
before, whom in all his wanderings he had never forgotten.

'What is the matter?' she asked, in a voice so soft that he listened
like one struck dumb, and she had to repeat the question before he
could answer. Then he told her his story, and she went within the
cottage and came back with two wands, and a pot of boiling water. The
two wands she planted in the ground about six feet apart, and then,
turning to him, she said:

'I am going to lie down between these two wands. You must then draw
your sword and cut off my foot, and, as soon as you have done that,
you must seize it and hold it over the cauldron, and every drop of
blood that falls from it into the water will become a jewel. Next you
must change the wands so that the one that stood at my head is at my
feet, and the one at my feet stands at my head, and place the severed
foot against the wound and it will heal, and I shall become quite well
again as before.'

At first Ameer Ali declared that he would sooner be hanged twenty
times over than treat her so roughly; but at length she persuaded him
to do her bidding. He nearly fainted himself with horror when he found
that, after the cruel blow which lopped her foot off, she lay as one
lifeless; but he held the severed foot over the cauldron, and, as
drops of blood fell from it, and he saw each turn in the water into
shining gems, his heart took courage. Very soon there were plenty of
jew