ound in
spots for my lord, the prime minister, to turn head over heels in."

"Hush! sauce-box," cried the Queen; while the prime minister gave him
a furious look. "Here, Trip (turning to a page), go bring me the
little brown spider; I must get at the bottom of this business."

The little brown spider came and made her obeisance, all in a fuzz of
fear, for she could not imagine why she was called into the presence
of the Queen. She shook so violently, that her Majesty said, kindly:

"Don't be afraid, Brownie; but tell me, with perfect truth, what did
Slyboots employ you about this evening?"

"Please your beautiful Majesty," began the spider, "Slyboots is my
friend, and I would not like to get him into trouble."

"That is neither here nor there," said the Queen; "I command you to
tell me what you did for him."

"Well," said the spider, almost crying, "Slyboots came to my house in
the grape-vine in the greatest hurry, and begged me to scrabble and
scratch with all my might and main to a certain part of the hollow,
and spin three ropes, knee high, just as quickly as possible across
it, as some of the court had taken a prodigious fancy to tight-rope
dancing, and meant to give an exhibition before the evening was over;
and he was to give me, for doing it, just the fattest little fly I
ever beheld, which he had fast by the legs; it made my mouth water
only to look at it; so, your Majesty may believe, I rushed down and
worked at the ropes for dear life, and finished them to Slyboots'
satisfaction, for he gave me the delicious fly, and I've just
finished eating it up; and that is all I know about it, please your
beautiful Majesty."

It was all as plain as moonlight; and after one moment passed in
vainly endeavoring to suppress their merriment, the whole court burst
into such a scream of laughter, that the very leaves rustled, as if
some musical wind had stirred them. Of course not a fairy had ever
heard that anybody had taken up the profession of tight-rope dancing,
and Slyboots was at once convicted of having told a dreadful fib, and
had the ropes erected for the express purpose of tripping up the prime
minister, to prevent his boring the Queen on the great gala night with
his sick bumble-bee memorial.

There the naughty sprite stood with a penitent look out of one eye,
and winking ridiculously with the other; and the fairies having
laughed till they were tired, now waited in breathless silence to hear
his sentence pr