, master wasp!' she exclaimed, giving a
final jump with all her might.

Strange to say, this time the wasp seemed almost to drop into her
claws; she clutched him with such a tight grasp, that he had no
possibility of escape; but in an instant, with a direful scream,
Wishie unclosed her paw; and the wasp dropped on the floor. Wishie's
paw was terribly stung. Her first trial of the Fairy's gift had not
proved pleasant by any means. So, limping and mewing, Wishie went back
to her mother, who scolded her well for her folly in jumping at the
wasp, when she ought to have been minding her duty and catching the
mice; and after licking the wounded paw, the old cat sent her to bed
for the rest of the day. But Wishie had no intention whatever of
spending her day in such a manner as that. Lie in bed, indeed! not
she. So she licked her paw till the pain was somewhat abated, and then
she crawled slily upstairs into the great gallery. There was nobody
there, except the knights and ladies in the picture-frames, the
baron's ancestors, and a grim looking set they were; and as none of
them showed any desire to come down from the walls to play with her,
Wishie very soon got tired of looking at them. So, seeing a door open
at the end of the corridor, she stole quietly in, and found herself in
one of the state apartments of the castle. It was a grand room, hung
with beautiful tapestry, and full of a great many curious things, the
use of which Wishie could not imagine. Among other things, there was a
magnificent cabinet, and, on one of the shelves, a pretty round ball
of carved ivory, that looked just as if it was made on purpose to roll
along upon the floor, and be run after. And such a large room, too, it
was; the ball would roll about so splendidly.

'Oh!' exclaimed Wishie, 'you pretty ball, I do wish I had you to play
with!'

Bounce came the ball upon the floor, and in another moment, it had
rolled quite to the other end of the room, with Wishie after it, but
it would not suffer her to touch it; just as she came up to it, up it
jumped, dashed high up in the air, over the chairs and tables, and
then descending again on the floor, was here and there and everywhere,
all in a minute; Wishie scampering after it, and absolutely screaming
with delight. Up flew the ball--up to the very ceiling; then down it
came with a rattle against some fine old china on the top of the
cabinet, and in an instant, bowls, jars, and tea-pots, were all lying
on