waiting for their riders; and
everywhere were seen signs of opulence and gayety.

"I think," said the Bee-man to himself, "that I should like to stop
here for a time. If it should happen that I was originally like any
of these happy creatures it would please me much."

He untied his hive, and hid it behind some bushes, and taking off his
old doublet, laid that beside it. It would not do to have his bees
flying about him if he wished to go among the inhabitants of this
fair domain.

For two days the Bee-man wandered about the palace and its grounds,
avoiding notice as much as possible, but looking at every thing. He
saw handsome men and lovely ladies; the finest horses, dogs, and
cattle that were ever known; beautiful birds in cages, and fishes in
crystal globes, and it seemed to him that the best of all living
things were here collected.

At the close of the second day, the Bee-man said to himself: "There
is one being here toward whom I feel very much drawn, and that is the
Lord of the Domain. I cannot feel certain that I was once like him,
but it would be a very fine thing if it were so; and it seems
impossible for me to be drawn toward any other being in the domain
when I look upon him, so handsome, rich, and powerful. But I must
observe him more closely, and feel more sure of the matter, before
applying to the sorcerers to change me back into a lord of a fair
domain."

The next morning, the Bee-man saw the Lord of the Domain walking in
his gardens. He slipped along the shady paths, and followed him so as
to observe him closely, and find out if he were really drawn toward
this noble and handsome being. The Lord of the Domain walked on for
some time, not noticing that the Bee-man was behind him. But suddenly
turning, he saw the little old man.

"What are you doing here, you vile beggar?" he cried; and he gave him
a kick that sent him into some bushes that grew by the side of the
path.

The Bee-man scrambled to his feet, and ran as fast as he could to the
place where he had hidden his hive and his old doublet.

"If I am certain of any thing," he thought, "it is that I was never a
person who would kick a poor old man. I will leave this place. I was
transformed from nothing that I see here."

He now travelled for a day or two longer, and then he came to a great
black mountain, near the bottom of which was an opening like the
mouth of a cave.

This mountain he had heard was filled with caverns and under-groun