he was almost bristling with jokes.

"Ah," sighed the Fairy Queen, looking sideways at the Wymp King, "it is
not at all easy to rule a country like mine."

"It is very fortunate for the country to be ruled by a Queen like you,"
said the Wymp King, who had not been so wide awake for a thousand years.

"Do you think so? Then Wympland shall have a Queen for a change, and
you shall stay here instead and take a holiday," said her Majesty,
promptly. The Wymp King saw that he was outwitted, but he would not
have been a wymp if he had lost his temper about it; so he chuckled
good-humouredly, and pretended not to see that he had really been
cheated of his kingdom and was nothing but a prisoner in Fairyland.
However, the Fairy Queen gave him very little time even to keep his
temper, for she turned him into a tortoise and sent him to sleep under
a flower-pot in the garden; and then she called for Capricious to come
and help her to choose a Queen for Wympland. Capricious put her round,
dimpled face on one side, and thought deeply for thirteen seconds and a
half.

"There is Molly, the shoemaker's daughter," said Capricious, when she
had finished thinking. "She is seven years old, and she is almost as
fond of sleeping as his Wympish Majesty. She would make an excellent
Queen for Wympland."

"I remember Molly," said the Fairy Queen, thoughtfully. "She has ruled
the shoemaker and the shoemaker's wife and the shoemaker's customers
for seven years and a half; doubtless, she will have no difficulty in
ruling Wympland. So let no time be lost, Capricious, and see that
Molly wakes up from her morning sleep and finds herself on the Wymp
King's throne. She will look after the wymps for a time, and I shall
have some peace. Besides," added the Fairy Queen with her wise smile,
"if the wymps can only be made to cry for once in their lives, we shall
probably have no more difficulty with them."

Capricious, who was just an ordinary little fairy and never thought
about anything much except singing and dancing, was quite unable to
understand the Queen's last remark.

"Shall I tell Molly what she is to do when she gets there, please your
Majesty?" she asked in rather a puzzled tone.

"Do?" said the Queen. "The rulers of Wympland never have to do
anything. If Molly will only keep her subjects amused, that is all
they will expect from her."

That was how it was settled, and that was how Molly woke up from her
morning sleep and foun