whenever they met common people they sniffed gently. They were very
imposing.

The Wise Woman lived in a little hut on the outskirts of the city. She
kept a Black Cat, except for her, she was all alone. She was very old,
and had brought up a great many children, and she was considered
remarkably wise.

But when the Aldermen reached her hut and found her seated by the fire,
holding her Black Cat, a new difficulty presented itself. She had always
been quite deaf and people had been obliged to scream as loud as they
could in order to make her hear; but lately she had grown much deafer,
and when the Aldermen attempted to lay the case before her she could not
hear a word. In fact, she was so very deaf that she could not
distinguish a tone below G-sharp. The Aldermen screamed till they were
quite red in the faces, but all to no purpose: none of them could get up
to G-sharp of course.

So the Aldermen all went back, swinging their gold-headed canes, and
they had another meeting in the City Hall. Then they decided to send the
highest Soprano Singer in the church choir to the Wise Woman; she could
sing up to G-sharp just as easy as not. So the high Soprano Singer set
out for the Wise Woman's in the Mayor's coach, and the Aldermen marched
behind, swinging their gold-headed canes.

The High Soprano Singer put her head down close to the Wise Woman's ear,
and sung all about the Christmas Masquerade and the dreadful dilemma
everybody was in, in G-sharp--she even went higher, sometimes, and the
Wise Woman heard every word. She nodded three times, and every time she
nodded she looked wiser.

"Go home, and give 'em a spoonful of castor-oil, all 'round," she piped
up; then she took a pinch of snuff, and wouldn't say any more.

So the Aldermen went home, and every one took a district and marched
through it, with a servant carrying an immense bowl and spoon, and every
child had to take a dose of castor-oil.

But it didn't do a bit of good. The children cried and struggled when
they were forced to take the castor-oil; but, two minutes afterward, the
chimney-sweeps were crying for their brooms, and the princesses
screaming because they couldn't go to court, and the Mayor's daughter,
who had been given a double dose, cried louder and more sturdily: "I
want to go and tend my geese. I will go and tend my geese."

So the Aldermen took the high Soprano Singer, and they consulted the
Wise Woman again. She was taking a nap this time, and