en the box until the right time has come. If you do, the half-hour
will flyaway and disappear forever."

"Farewell, Bobo," said kind young Twelve O'Clock, who had been the
simpleton's good friend. "I, too, have a gift for thee. Drink this cup
of water to the last drop." And the youth handed the simpleton a silver
cup full to the brim of clear shining water.

Now this water was the water of wisdom, and when Bobo had drunk it, he
was no longer a simpleton. And being no longer a simpleton, he
remembered the man who had lost his reputation, the man who had lost his
temper, and the king whose daughter had been stolen by the fairies. So
Bobo made so bold as to ask Father Time about them, for Father Time
knows everything that has happened in the whole wide world.

"Tell the first," said Father Time, "that his reputation has been broken
into a thousand pieces which have been picked up by his neighbors and
carried home. If he can persuade his neighbors to give them up, he
should be able to piece together a pretty good reputation again. As for
the man who lost his temper, tell him that it is to be found in the
grass by the roadside close by the spot where you first met him. As for
the missing daughter, she is the kitchen-maid in Princess Zenza's
palace, who is known as Tilda."

So Bobo thanked Father Time, and at noon, Twelve O'Clock placed him
behind him on the white charger, and hurried away. So fast they flew
that Bobo, who was holding the ebony casket close against his heart, was
in great danger of falling off. When they got to the seashore, the white
horse hesitated not an instant, but set foot upon the water, which bore
him up as if it had been, not water, but earth itself. Once arrived at
the shore of Fairyland, Twelve O'Clock stopped, wished Bobo good-speed,
and, rising in the air, disappeared into the glare of the sun. Bobo,
with the precious ebony casket in his hand, continued on in the
direction of Princess Zenza's palace.

On the second morning of his journey, he happened to see far ahead of
him on the highway the unfortunate aged man who had lost his reputation.
To him, therefore, Bobo repeated the counsel of Father Time, and sent
him hurrying home to his neighbors' houses. Of the man who had lost his
temper, Bobo found no sign. In the grass by the roadside, however, he
did find the lost temper--a queer sort of affair like a melon of fiery
red glass all stuck over with uneven spines and brittle thorns. Bobo,
wit