" she asked.

"We will wait until it is nearly noon, when the giant will put his pot
on the fire to boil his dinner. We can tell the right time by watching
the smoke come out of his chimney. Then you must march straight up to
the castle and into the kitchen where the giant is at work, and throw me
quickly into the boiling kettle. That is all that you will be required
to do."

"I never could do it!" declared Twinkle.

"Why not?"

"You'd be scalded to death, and then I'd be a murderer!"

"Nonsense!" said the turtle, peevishly. "I know what I'm doing, and if
you obey me I'll not be scalded but an instant; for then I'll resume my
own form. Remember that I'm a fairy, and fairies can't be killed so
easily as you seem to think."

"Won't it hurt you?" she inquired.

"Only for a moment; but the reward will be so great that I won't mind an
instant's pain. Will you do this favor for me?"

"I'll try," replied Twinkle, gravely.

"Then I will be very grateful," said Prince Turtle, "and agree to
afterward send you home safe and sound, and as quickly as you came."

Chapter VI
Twinkle Meets the Corrugated Giant

"AND now, while we are waiting," continued the fairy turtle, "I want to
find a certain flower that has wonderful powers to protect mortals from
any injury. Not that I fear I shall be unable to take care of you, but
it's just as well to be on the safe side."

"Better," said Twinkle, earnestly. "Where's the flower?"

"We'll hunt for it," replied the turtle.

So holding him in her hand in such a way that he could see all the
flowers that grew, the girl began wandering over the mountain side, and
everything was so beautiful around her that she would have been quite
contented and happy had not the gray castle been before her to remind
her constantly that she must face the terrible giant who lived within
it.

They found the flower at last--a pretty pink blossom that looked like a
double daisy, but must have been something else, because a daisy has no
magic power that I ever heard of. And when it was found, the turtle told
her to pick the flower and pin it fast to the front of her dress; which
she did.

By that time the smoke began to roll out of the giant's chimney in big
black clouds; so the fairy turtle said the giant must be getting dinner,
and the pot would surely be boiling by the time they got to the castle.

Twinkle couldn't help being a little afraid to approach the giant's
stronghold, but she tried