tantly the table appeared before
her, spread with snowy linen and laden with golden dishes. But there was
no food upon the table, nor anything else except a pitcher of water, a
bundle of weeds and a handful of pebbles. But the Giantess poured some
water into her coffee-pot, patted it once or twice with her hand, and
then poured out a cupful of steaming hot coffee.

"Would you like some?" she asked Woot.

He was suspicious of magic coffee, but it smelled so good that he could
not resist it; so he answered: "If you please, Madam."

The Giantess poured out another cup and set it on the floor for Woot. It
was as big as a tub, and the golden spoon in the saucer beside the cup
was so heavy the boy could scarcely lift it. But Woot managed to get a
sip of the coffee and found it delicious.

Mrs. Yoop next transformed the weeds into a dish of oatmeal, which she
ate with good appetite.

"Now, then," said she, picking up the pebbles, "I'm wondering whether I
shall have fish-balls or lamb-chops to complete my meal. Which would you
prefer, Woot the Wanderer?"

"If you please, I'll eat the food in my knapsack," answered the boy.
"Your magic food might taste good, but I'm afraid of it."

The woman laughed at his fears and transformed the pebbles into
fish-balls.

[Illustration]

"I suppose you think that after you had eaten this food it would turn to
stones again and make you sick," she remarked; "but that would be
impossible. _Nothing I transform ever gets back to its former shape
again_, so these fish-balls can never more be pebbles. That is why I
have to be careful of my transformations," she added, busily eating
while she talked, "for while I can change forms at will I can never
change them back again--which proves that even the powers of a clever
Yookoohoo are limited. When I have transformed you three people, you
must always wear the shapes that I have given you."

"Then please don't transform us," begged Woot, "for we are quite
satisfied to remain as we are."

"I am not expecting to satisfy you, but intend to please myself," she
declared, "and my pleasure is to give you new shapes. For, if by chance
your friends came in search of you, not one of them would be able to
recognize you."

Her tone was so positive that they knew it would be useless to protest.
The woman was not unpleasant to look at; her face was not cruel; her
voice was big but gracious in tone; but her words showed that she
possessed a merciless hea