ture to ask, sir,' he inquired respectfully,
'the occasion of your sorrow?'

"'I am to be executed to-morrow by the Grand Panjandrum's order,' said
the Court Physician dolefully, wiping a tear of self-pity from his eye.

"The Chief Cook shrugged his shoulders. 'H'm!' said he, 'if _that's_ the
case, and His Supreme Importance has ordered your execution, nobody can
possibly prevent it, and there is nothing left but to grin and bear it.'

"'No,' said the Court Physician indignantly. 'I may have to bear it, but
I shall _not_ grin. I absolutely refuse! They can't do more than kill
me, and I _won't_ grin, so there!'

"The Chief Cook looked horrified. 'It's one of the laws of the land,' he
said, 'that whenever one suffers anything at the hands of the Grand
Panjandrum, one must grin and bear it; it's a most terrible offence not
to do so.'

"'I don't care,' said the Court Physician recklessly, 'I shan't grin,
and there's an end of it.'

"'Why are you sentenced to death?' I asked.

"'His Supreme Importance, the Grand Panjandrum, has had the toothache
for three days, and I have been unable to subdue it without drawing the
tooth, which His Supreme Importance refuses to permit me to do, and in a
fit of temper yesterday he said that if he were not better to-day I
should be executed to-morrow--and it's worse.'

"The Chief Cook looked at me delightedly.

"'If _that's_ all,' he said, 'this gentleman, whose name I am
unfortunately unacquainted with, has a remedy which will soon get you
out of your trouble, and I shouldn't wonder if, after all, His Supreme
Importance's toothache were the means of raising us all to honour and
distinction;' and he proceeded to tell the Court Physician how I had
been successful in ridding _him_ of the toothache.

"The Court Physician was greatly interested, and after I had read to him
the directions in the book, he suggested that he should take me to the
Palace at once and into the presence of the Grand Panjandrum.

"'For no doubt the operation must be performed by yourself, since you
alone possess the fairy power,' said he. And so we made the best of our
way to the beautiful building which I could see in the distance.

"I wish I could describe to you the magnificence of that marvellous
place. The jewelled windows and golden staircase; the wonderful velvety
carpets and silken hangings; the hundreds of silent servants dressed in
the beautiful royal livery of the Grand Panjandrum, who flitted abou