al curiosity lured
me to this place.'

'What sort of a frog can you be that knows the language of mortals?'
asked the queen in her turn. 'But if you do, tell me, I pray, if I alone
am a captive, for hitherto I have beheld no one but the monsters of the
lake.'

'Once upon a time they were men and women like yourself,' answered
the frog, 'but having power in their hands, they used it for their own
pleasure. Therefore fate has sent them here for a while to bear the
punishment of their misdoings.'

'But you, friend frog, you are not one of these wicked people, I am
sure?' asked the queen.

'I am half a fairy,' replied the frog; 'but, although I have certain
magic gifts, I am not able to do all I wish. And if the Lion Fairy were
to know of my presence in her kingdom she would hasten to kill me.'

'But if you are a fairy, how was it that you were so nearly slain by the
crow?' said the queen, wrinkling her forehead.

'Because the secret of my power lies in my little cap that is made of
rose leaves; but I had laid it aside for the moment, when that horrible
crow pounced upon me. Once it is on my head I fear nothing. But let me
repeat; had it not been for you I could not have escaped death, and if I
can do anything to help you, or soften your hard fate, you have only to
tell me.'

'Alas,' sighed the queen, 'I have been commanded by the Lion Fairy
to make her a pasty out of the stings of bees, and, as far as I can
discover, there are none here; as how should there be, seeing there are
no flowers for them to feed on? And, even if there were, how could I
catch them?'

'Leave it to me,' said the frog, 'I will manage it for you.' And,
uttering a strange noise, she struck the ground thrice with her foot. In
an instant six thousand frogs appeared before her, one of them bearing a
little cap.

'Cover yourselves with honey, and hop round by the beehives,' commanded
the frog, putting on the cap which her friend was holding in her mouth.
And turning to the queen, he added:

'The Lion Fairy keeps a store of bees in a secret place near to the
bottom of the ten thousand steps leading into the upper world. Not that
she wants them for herself, but they are sometimes useful to her in
punishing her victims. However, this time we will get the better of
her.'

Just as she had finished speaking the six thousand frogs returned,
looking so strange with bees sticking to every part of them that, sad as
she felt, the poor queen could not