WHAT THE MAGIC WORDS MEANT.

A FAIRY STORY.

"It wasn't here last night? and how did it get here? and who nailed it up? and what does it mean?" said Lilla.

"I didn't nail it up," answered a Magpie, who hopped about from morning till night in Lilla's garden, and never left off chattering.

"Of course not," returned Lilla; "I did not suppose that you did. But I should like to understand the meaning of it."

And she gazed up at a great white board that had been fastened to the garden wall. There were several words upon the board, and Lilla softly repeated them.

"there were several words upon the board"

"Air, all, and, and, earth, go, if, know, me, of, sea, so, through, will, you, you."

"What nonsense! No sense in it at all," said Lilla; "yet they are arranged alphabetically, air, all, two and's, and two you's to finish with."

"Oh, don't begin to calculate the words, or do it quicker," said the Magpie impatiently. "Four fours sixteen. There are just sixteen of them: that is multiplication."

"But not four of each sort," replied Lilla; "only one of most of them. I wish I knew the exact meaning of it all. The only bit of sense I can make out is 'Through will you,' but then there are two you's."

"That is one you for you, and one you for me," answered the Magpie. "What you have got to do is to put all the words into a box, and shake them well up, and we'll go through together."

"Oh!—where?—why—?" exclaimed Lilla, as her foot struck against a silver box with the lid open; and on the ground lay a heap of cards with the words she had read printed upon them. She looked up at the board. There were no longer any words there, so of course they had fallen down.

"Pick them up, and put them in, And you will then the game begin,"

said the Magpie, who thought he was wonderfully clever as he said this to Lilla.

"Is it like making words from letters?" asked Lilla.

"Not at all. There you have to think and find out. Here you have nothing to do but to shake, and when you have shaken long enough, the result will come."

"How shall I know how many times to shake?"

"You won't know," returned the Magpie; "no one will know but the box itself, and the box can tell to a quarter of a shake the right time. Now—through!"

"Through what?"

"Through the board, of course," replied the Magpie. "What else is it meant for?"

"But the thick wall is behind the board, and then the houses! This is not country; it is the town."

"Pooh!" said the Magpie. "Have I learned human speech for nothing? Now——"

And he flew at the board, giving it a gentle peck; and as he did so the board split in two, and the crack widened, until it made an opening large enough for Lilla, with the Magpie on her shoulder, to pass through.

II.

Where?

Ah! that cannot be told until one has heard about the little boy who lived far away in a country that Lilla had never heard of, for she knew nothing about geography. She only knew about the town in which she lived, and that there was a long street in it, and a great cathedral, where she heard music issuing forth as she stood outside it; but she had never been inside, nor had she ever been in any of the grand toy-shops in the street. She had stood gazing in at the windows, and wishing for the dolls, and the dolls'-houses, and the boxes of lambs, and the work-baskets with silver thimbles in them; but there was no one to give her any of these fine things. She lived with an old woman, who was always scolding her, and who was especially angry if she tore her frock or soiled her paletot.

he had also a good old grandfather.

Now, with Rollo, the little boy, it was quite different; he had a mother who was very kind to him, and gave him as many playthings as he wanted. He had also a good old grandfather and a little sister who used to pull his long curls and kiss his rosy cheeks. And Rollo was very happy.

But one day these three died, and Rollo was left alone. Of course Rollo sat down and cried very bitterly: there was nothing else for him to do, as he was but a small boy then. He cried for a long time, and then the sun looked in upon him, and pitied him, and also dried the tears upon his cheeks. Then the sea rolled up on to the shore, and sang "Lullaby, lullaby," so sweetly, that Rollo fell fast asleep. And when he was asleep, the Wind came, and took him in his arms, and carried him away over the hills and valleys, and the great shining lakes and rivers, away, away.

And when Rollo awoke from his sleep, he found himself in a beautiful country, where fruit was ever to be found upon the trees, and the flowers were always in bloom. The sun, the wind, the earth, and the sea had said, "He shall be our child."

So Rollo was well taken care of, and nothing harmed him.

And it was in this very same beautiful country to which Rollo had been carried by the Wind that Lilla suddenly found herself when she stepped through the board with the Magpie on her shoulder.

III.

"It isn't the town, you see," said the Magpie; "there's not a house near, and there's nothing but country, country everywhere."

"Oh, it's lovely!" said Lilla, clasping her hands; and then suddenly remembering the silver box, she said—

"Shall I shake it?"

The Magpie nodded, and repeated these words—

"The box?" exclaimed Lilla.

"No, what's in it. It's a magic spell, and when you can spell it out the spell will be accomplished." As "accomplished" was a long word for the Magpie to say, he said it twice or thrice, whilst Lilla kept shaking the box, for she was very impatient to know what the end would be.

The Magpie fluttered his wings, and put his head on one side, muttering—

"Not yet, not yet."

IV.

There came a burst of low sweet music, as if the south wind were murmuring through the strings of many Æolian harps. And chiming in with the music came the far-off roar of the ocean. Then a flood of sunshine fell over the earth, and the roses burst into bloom, so did the eglantine, that had been hiding away till the sun gave the signal.

"Rollo passes by," said the Magpie.

"Rollo?"

"The child beloved by earth and sea and wind," said the Magpie. "Give the box a shake, and look up."

Lilla did as she was desired.

"I only see a purple cloud," she said. "Does Rollo come from the clouds?"

answered the Magpie, looking straight at Lilla.

"lilla ... perceived ... an extraordinary animal."

"Multi——" and here Lilla stopped. She had never heard the word before.

"The Multiphobus," said the Magpie; and he spelt it over for her.

"Yes, the Multiphobus. What is a Multiphobus?"

"A creature that can do many things. He can live on the earth or in the sea or in the air. He can run, swim, or fly, just as Rollo wishes. Rollo is riding on the Multiphobus now. If you look up into the air you will see him."

Lilla looked up, and perceived that what she had taken for a great purple cloud sailing through the sky was in reality an extraordinary animal, partly like a panther, partly like a hippopotamus, partly like a bat and an eagle, for it had wings, claws, and feathers. And seated on its breast, with one arm round its neck, and nestling close to it, was a boy with a deerskin bound round him, and a crown of gay feathers on his head.

Though the Multiphobus had an ugly face, yet he was evidently amiable, and he and Rollo appeared to be talking together.

The Magpie nodded approvingly, but Lilla felt a little alarmed at so enormous and nondescript an animal; and she trembled so much that the box shook, and the words rattled violently inside.

"They want to get out," she said; "shall I open the lid?"

"Certainly not," replied the Magpie; "they will come out of themselves when it is time. Stand still, and watch the Multiphobus descending."

It was easy to say "stand still," but not so easy for Lilla to do so; she shook and shivered, and could only keep herself steady by supporting herself against the trunk of a tall pine-tree.

Suddenly the Multiphobus ceased to work his wings, but he stretched them out to their full extent, and then dropped quietly to the ground. When he touched the earth, his wings fell off, and he looked like an ordinary quadruped.

"He has only to say 'Wings,' and they come to him at once," explained the Magpie.

But Lilla scarcely heard him; she was in a greater fright than ever. Not only did the Multiphobus look more huge, but at that moment a sharp-nosed Wolf appeared in sight, and Lilla's box rattled so loudly that she was afraid he would hear it, and look round at her.

"rollo ... advanced to meet him."

She could not keep it still.

said the Magpie.

"Will the Wolf hurt Rollo?" asked Lilla.

But the Magpie only whistled.

V.

And the Wolf, who walked slowly along, drew nearer and nearer to Rollo. And Rollo, having taken off his feather crown, advanced to meet him.

"What tidings, friend Wolf?" said Rollo; "what have you come to tell us?"

"There are strangers in the land," answered the Wolf, "and I come to warn you."

The Multiphobus sprang up with a growl, and Lilla almost shrieked, while the box rattled and rattled till it nearly jumped out of her hand.

"It will go, it will go!" said she.

"Hold it fast!" whispered the Magpie; "hold it fast!

"To the tree where Rollo and the Multiphobus are standing?" asked Lilla.

"Where else?" asked the Magpie.

Lilla became nervous, and spoke in disjointed sentences.

"Oh no, no, no! I cannot go. I quake, I shake; I will not take a single step. The box will break. Oh, how I quake!"

But the Magpie perched on her shoulder again, saying, "Do not be foolish. Rollo will not let them hurt us;" and he gave Lilla a gentle peck, which made her start forward, and when once she had made a move she found that she could not stop herself: her feet carried her along until she paused in front of Rollo.

And as she paused the lid of the box flew open, and the words jumped out, and arranged themselves on the ground in the following order.

"Why, it's quite easy to read!" exclaimed Lilla in surprise. "I wonder I never thought of it all this time."

"And it's just as I told you: four four's sixteen, four in each line and four lines. However you count it, you will find it all fours," said the Magpie.

"And it's about me," said Rollo, "for earth, air, and sea all know of me; and brought me here and gave me the Multiphobus. And it's about you also, for you have come through the board to come and see me. The Multiphobus was talking about it when we were flying through the air."

"Was he?" said Lilla; "and he wasn't angry?"

"Angry! No, he is very glad for me to have a playfellow, for I am rather lonely sometimes. And now we can play in the woods all day, and gather strawberries and cherries and plums; and there's a little stove in one of the caves, and I dare say you can make cakes?"

"Of course I can," answered Lilla, "and tea and coffee."

"Ah! that will be nice. And I will be king and you shall be queen, and we will have a merry time, and the Multiphobus will carry us wherever we want to go."

"I am afraid of him," returned Lilla.

"Oh, you need not be. I am quite sure you'll give a paw to Lilla; won't you, Multiphobus?"

"I will give two," said the Multiphobus, standing on his hind legs and stretching out his fore paws to Lilla.

She shook them, and felt at ease with him at once.

The Magpie fluttered about.

"I am not going home by myself," said he. "I shall stay here if Lilla does."

"That you shall," replied Rollo; "we will all live in this beautiful land together."

"the wind had lulled them to sleep."

Ah! what a beautiful land it was! The two children wandered through it hand in hand, and revelled in all its glories—now underneath the stately forest trees, or breaking through the tangled brushwood all radiant with green and gold, and crimson leaves and lovely flowers, or now sitting on the river-bank listening to the stories the river told them of the lands through which it had passed; whilst the Wind sang so many wonderful songs that Lilla begged to hear them over again.

And after the Wind had lulled them to sleep among the soft clover and wild thyme, the moon and stars peeped out and sent them beautiful dreams, whilst two nightingales sat among the roses and sang "Lullaby, lullaby" as sweetly as the southern wind.

So that whether waking or sleeping the children were happy.

Sometimes Lilla would say—

"Ah! if it had not been for the words on the board, I should still have been living with the cross old woman in the town with the long street and the cathedral. And she would have gone on scolding me for ever and ever; and whatever should I have done, I wonder."

"You may thank me," said the Magpie, "for having brought you away; that's very certain."

"You may thank me also," said the Multiphobus, "and I am sure you ought to do so, for it was I who nailed up the board with the magic words upon the garden wall."

And of course, as I need not tell you, Lilla did thank them.

Julia Goddard.