ep me amused for a long time."

"But suppose some of them happen to guess aright," persisted the
Steward; "then you would lose your old ornaments and these new ones,
too."

"There is no chance of their guessing aright," replied the monarch, with
a laugh. "How could they know that the Queen of Ev and her family are
all ornaments of a royal purple color?"

"But there are no other purple ornaments in the palace," said the
Steward.

"There are many other colors, however, and the purple ones are scattered
throughout the rooms, and are of many different shapes and sizes. Take
my word for it, Steward, they will never think of choosing the purple
ornaments."

Billina, squatting under the throne, had listened carefully to all this
talk, and now chuckled softly to herself as she heard the King disclose
his secret.

"Still, you are acting foolishly by running the chance," continued the
Steward, roughly; "and it is still more foolish of you to transform all
those people from Oz into green ornaments."

[Illustration: "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A FOOL?"]

"I did that because they came from the Emerald City," replied the
King; "and I had no green ornaments in my collection until now. I think
they will look quite pretty, mixed with the others. Don't you?"

The Steward gave an angry grunt.

"Have your own way, since you are the King," he growled. "But if you
come to grief through your carelessness, remember that I told you so. If
I wore the magic belt which enables you to work all your
transformations, and gives you so much other power, I am sure I would
make a much wiser and better King than you are."

"Oh, cease your tiresome chatter!" commanded the King, getting angry
again. "Because you are my Chief Steward you have an idea you can scold
me as much as you please. But the very next time you become impudent, I
will send you to work in the furnaces, and get another Nome to fill your
place. Now follow me to my chamber, for I am going to bed. And see that
I am wakened early tomorrow morning. I want to enjoy the fun of
transforming the rest of these people into ornaments."

"What color will you make the Kansas girl?" asked the Steward.

"Gray, I think," said his Majesty.

"And the Scarecrow and the machine man?"

"Oh, they shall be of solid gold, because they are so ugly in real
life."

Then the voices died away, and Billina knew that the King and his
Steward had left the room. She fixed up some of her tail feathers that