, and it seems to take two of you to make one man--or one
maid."

The sweet faces of the twin High Ki grew thoughtful at this speech, and
they said:

"Indeed, it may be you are right. But it is our custom in Twi to do
everything double and to live double." Then, turning to the Ki, they
asked: "Why have you brought these strangers here?"

"To ask your Supreme Highnesses to permit them to return again to the
world from whence they came," answered the Ki, both of them regarding
their supreme rulers earnestly.

But here the Ki-Ki spoke up quickly in their mild voices, saying:

"That is not our idea, your Highnesses. We, the Ki-Ki of Twi, think it
best the strangers should be put to death. And we pray your Supreme
Highnesses to favor our wish."

The two little maids looked from the Ki to the Ki-Ki, and frowned and
pouted their rosy lips in evident perplexity.

But Nerle whispered to Prince Marvel:

"It's all up with us! I know very well why her royal doublets always
favors the Ki-Ki. It's because they are young and handsome, while the
Ki are old and ugly. Both of her will condemn us to death--you see if
she don't!"

This seemed somewhat mixed, but Nerle was in earnest, and Prince
Marvel, who had not forgotten his fairy lore, began to weave a silent
spell over the head of the nearest twin High Ki. But just as it was
completed, and before he had time to work the spell on the other twin,
the Ki-Ki grew impatient, and exclaimed:

"We beg your Highnesses not to keep us waiting. Let us have your
decision at once!"

And the twin maidens raised their fair heads and replied. But the
reply was of such a nature that both the old Ki and both the young
Ki-Ki staggered backward in amazement. For one of the twin High Ki
said:

"They shall die!"

And the other twin High Ki said at the same instant:

"They shall NOT die!"

Had twin thunderbolts fallen through the twin roofs of the twin palaces
and struck the twin Ki and the twin Ki-Ki upon their twin heads it
would have created no more stupendous a sensation than did this remark.
Never before had any two halves of a twin of the Land of Twi thought
differently or spoken differently. Indeed, it startled the two maidens
themselves as much as it did their hearers, for each one turned her
head toward the other and, for the first time in her life, looked into
the other's face!

This act was fully as strange as their speech, and a sudden horrible
thought came into