taking wings to himself, he rose high up in the air. When high in the air he looked around everywhere, and at last he saw the fiery winged horse with the Princess on his back; but the horse and the Princess had nearly reached the outside of Number Nip's mountain kingdom; and as he knew that he could not overtake them before they were out of his kingdom, and that he could not follow them beyond the border of it, he seized two clouds that were floating past, rolled them up into a thunder-bolt, and hurled the thunderbolt after them. But even the thunder-bolt was too late, as they were now beyond the boundary of Number Nip's kingdom, and so had got into the Prince's own lands. The thunder-bolt did no harm, except that it tore into splinters a great old oak tree, which had stood firm against all the storms at the edge of the dark forest for more than a thousand years.

Number Nip then rose still higher and higher, and in wild rage and despair he told all the clouds and the winds of heaven how the Princess whom he had loved so much had cruelly fled from him. After his burst of rage was over, he returned to his palace;

but he felt very sad and lonely, and the only pleasure he had was in visiting every spot in the park and in the garden, where the Princess used to walk with him. At one place he saw her footprint in the sand, and he knelt down and kissed it, weeping bitterly as he did so. He now cared no longer for his grand palace, or his pretty garden, or his great park, all of which he had made so very beautiful, and which he had loved and admired so much, while the Princess was with him.

After kissing the footprint again and again, he rose from the ground, wiped away his tears, and with pride and anger in his face, he stamped three times with his foot. All at once a great dark chasm opened wide in the ground and swallowed up the palace. As soon as the palace had disappeared, Number Nip darted down into the chasm after it, and its yawning sides closed above him. The garden and park disappeared at the same time, and nothing was then seen but the bare hill-sides. Down and down went Number Nip, and he did not stop until he had reached the very centre of the earth. There he sat down on the throne of his dark kingdom, with a burning hatred in his

heart against all mankind; and he said to himself in great anger, "If ever I visit the upper world again, I shall have my revenge for being so badly treated there, both by man and woman."

While all this was going on with Number Nip, Prince Ratibon was riding joyfully away with his beloved Princess now restored to him. He took her to her father's palace, and the King and the Queen, and her brothers and sisters welcomed her back with great rejoicings. The Prince and the Princess were married soon after, and they lived long and very happily together.

In memory of the joyful recovery of his bride, the Prince built a new city as the capital of his Princedom, with a grand new palace in it, and he gave the city his own name; and it is called Ratisbon to this day.

I must now tell you that "Number Nip" was only a nickname for the Spirit of the Giant Mountains, and that he got that nickname because he was counting the turnips when the Princess escaped from him.

After Number Nip went away it was ages before he was seen again in the world.

III.

BENEDICK AND CATRINE.

TOLD you in the last story that Number Nip did not come back to the world for ages. Indeed, it was nearly a thousand years before he came to it again.

After being so very long in his dark kingdom, working hard in making laws and governing his dwarfs and fire spirits, without any change, he must have been very much in need of a holiday. So he began to feel the need of a holiday, but he could not think how he might get one. At last his favourite spirit, whose principal business was to amuse him, said to him one day, "Let us have a pleasure trip to the Giant Mountains.”

Now Number Nip did not at first like the notion of going back to the Giant Mountains, because he had not forgotten how badly he had been used by the farmers and the judge; and how the Princess, whom he had loved so much, had fled from him, and left him alone. But his Minister of Fun, and his other ministers too, all said again and again that the Giant Mountain land was the place for a holiday; and at last he agreed to go, although it was to please them rather than himself. They all got ready for the journey; and Number Nip had no sooner given the word to start than they were amongst the Giant Mountains, and at the very place where Number Nip's palace had been before. He made the palace, and the garden, and the park all over again, just as they had been when the Princess was with him. Yet nobody who happened to pass that way could see anything but the bare hillsides and the grassy valleys, with scattered bushes and trees here and there.

After Number Nip had made his palace, and garden, and great park over again, he wandered through and through them, think