few minutes.

"Shall I turn back?" meditated he. "Suppose I say 'Abracadabra?'"

Here he stopped, for already the cloak gave an obedient lurch, as if it
were expecting to be sent home immediately.

"No--I can't--I can't go back! I must go forward and see the world. But
oh! if I had but the shabbiest old rug to shelter me from the rain, or
the driest morsel of bread and cheese, just to keep me from starving!
Still, I don't much mind; I'm a prince, and ought to be able to stand
anything. Hold on, cloak, we'll make the best of it."

It was a most curious circumstance, but no sooner had he said this than
he felt stealing over his knees something warm and soft; in fact, a most
beautiful bearskin, which folded itself round him quite naturally, and
cuddled him up as closely as if he had been the cub of the kind old
mother-bear that once owned it. Then feeling in his pocket, which
suddenly stuck out in a marvelous way, he found, not exactly bread and
cheese, nor even sandwiches, but a packet of the most delicious food
he had ever tasted. It was not meat, nor pudding, but a combination of
both, and it served him excellently for both. He ate his dinner with the
greatest gusto imaginable, till he grew so thirsty he did not know what
to do.

"Couldn't I have just one drop of water, if it didn't trouble you too
much, kindest of godmothers?"

For he really thought this want was beyond her power to supply. All the
water which supplied Hopeless Tower was pumped up with difficulty from
a deep artesian well--there were such things known in Nomansland--which
had been made at the foot of it. But around, for miles upon miles, the
desolate plain was perfectly dry. And above it, high in the air, how
could he expect to find a well, or to get even a drop of water?

He forgot one thing--the rain. While he spoke, it came on in another
wild burst, as if the clouds had poured themselves out in a passion
of crying, wetting him certainly, but leaving behind, in a large glass
vessel which he had never noticed before, enough water to quench the
thirst of two or three boys at least. And it was so fresh, so pure--as
water from the clouds always is when it does not catch the soot from
city chimneys and other defilements--that he drank it, every drop, with
the greatest delight and content.

Also, as soon as it was empty the rain filled it again, so that he was
able to wash his face and hands and refresh himself exceedingly. Then
the sun came out a