o. The songs were
entertaining and Ervic enjoyed listening to them. In an hour or so the
bird stopped singing, tucked its head under its wing and went to sleep.
Reera continued knitting but seemed thoughtful.

Now Ervic had marked this cupboard drawer well and had concluded that
Reera took something from it which enabled her to perform her
transformations. He thought that if he managed to remain in the
cottage, and Reera fell asleep, he could slyly open the cupboard, take
a portion of whatever was in the drawer, and by dropping it into the
copper kettle transform the three fishes into their natural shapes.
Indeed, he had firmly resolved to carry out this plan when the
Yookoohoo put down her knitting and walked toward the door.

"I'm going out for a few minutes," said she; "do you wish to go with
me, or will you remain here?"

Ervic did not answer but sat quietly on his bench. So Reera went out
and closed the cottage door.

As soon as she was gone, Ervic rose and tiptoed to the cupboard.

"Take care! Take care!" cried several voices, coming from the kittens
and chipmunks. "If you touch anything we'll tell the Yookoohoo!"

Ervic hesitated a moment but, remembering that he need not consider
Reera's anger if he succeeded in transforming the fishes, he was about
to open the cupboard when he was arrested by the voices of the fishes,
which stuck their heads above the water in the kettle and called out:

"Come here, Ervic!"

So he went back to the kettle and bent over it

"Let the cupboard alone," said the goldfish to him earnestly. "You
could not succeed by getting that magic powder, for only the Yookoohoo
knows how to use it. The best way is to allow her to transform us into
three girls, for then we will have our natural shapes and be able to
perform all the Arts of Magic we have learned and well understand. You
are acting wisely and in the most effective manner. We did not know you
were so intelligent, or that Reera could be so easily deceived by you.
Continue as you have begun and try to persuade her to transform us. But
insist that we be given the forms of girls."

The goldfish ducked its head down just as Reera re-entered the cottage.
She saw Ervic bent over the kettle, so she came and joined him.

"Can your fishes talk?" she asked.

"Sometimes," he replied, "for all fishes in the Land of Oz know how to
speak. Just now they were asking me for some bread. They are hungry."

"Well, they can have some bread,"