h Ki, anxiously.

"We will make a call upon this Kwytoffle to-morrow," answered Prince
Marvel, "and see what the fellow is like."

"Alas! Alas!" wailed the good farmer, "you will all become
grasshoppers and June-bugs--every one of you!"

But none of the party seemed to fear that, and having passed the night
comfortably with the farmer they left his house and journeyed on into
the Kingdom of Auriel.

Before noon they came upon the edge of a forest, where a poor man was
chopping logs into firewood. Seeing Prince Marvel's party approach,
this man ran toward them waving his hands and shouting excitedly:

"Take the other path! Take the other path!"

"And why should we take the other path?" inquired the prince, reining
in his steed.

"Because this one leads to the castle of the great sorcerer,
Kwytoffle," answered the man.

"But there is where we wish to go," said Marvel.

"What! You wish to go there?" cried the man. "Then you will be robbed
and enslaved!"

"Not as long as we are able to fight," laughed the big Wul-Takim.

"If you resist the sorcerer, you will be turned into grasshoppers and
June-bugs," declared the man, staring at them in wonder.

"How do you know that?" asked Marvel.

"Kwytoffle says so. He promises to enchant every one who dares defy
his power."

"Has any one ever yet dared defy him?" asked Nerle.

"Certainly not!" said the man. "No one wishes to become a June-bug or
a grasshopper. No one dares defy him.".

"I am anxious to see this sorcerer," exclaimed King Terribus. "He
ought to prove an interesting person, for he is able to accomplish his
purposes by threats alone."

"Then let us ride on," said Marvel.

"Dear us! Dear us!" remonstrated the bald-headed Ki; "are we to become
grasshoppers, then?"

"We shall see," returned the prince, briefly.

"With your long legs," added the pretty pair of High Ki, laughingly,
"you ought to be able to jump farther than any other grasshopper in the
kingdom."

"Great Kika-koo!" cried the Ki, nervously, "what a fate! what a
terrible fate! And your Highnesses, I suppose, will become June-bugs,
and flutter your wings with noises like buzz-saws!"

21. The Wonderful Book of Magic

Whatever their fears might be, none of Prince Marvel's party hesitated
to follow him along the path through the forest in search of the
sorcerer, and by and by they came upon a large clearing. In the middle
of this open space was a big building in such ba