Instead, he
replied:
"Be patient, Your Majesty. The secret is not my own,
so please do not ask me to divulge it. Is it not
enough, for the present, that the magic saved you from
death to-day?"
"Do not think me ungrateful," answered the King
earnestly. "A million spears fell on me from the wall,
and several stones as big as mountains, yet none of
them hurt me!"
"The stones were not as big as mountains, sire," said
the Prince with a smile. "They were, indeed, no larger
than your head."
"Are you sure about that?" asked Rinkitink.
"Quite sure, Your Majesty."
"How deceptive those things are!" sighed the King.
"This argument reminds me of the story of Tom Tick,
which my father used to tell."
"I have never heard that story," Inga answered.
"Well, as he told it, it ran like this:
"When Tom walked out, the sky to spy,
A naughty gnat flew in his eye;
But Tom knew not it was a gnat --
He thought, at first, it was a cat.
"And then, it felt so very big,
He thought it surely was a pig
Till, standing still to hear it grunt,
He cried: 'Why, it's an elephunt!'
"But -- when the gnat flew out again
And Tom was free from all his pain,
He said: 'There flew into my eye
A leetle, teenty-tiny fly.
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