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me. Hair was growing all over me. My arms became fore-legs like those of a tiger. I felt that a tail was beginning to sprout out behind.

“And now,” cried the tortoise-queen, her eyes sparkling with spiteful pleasure, “you may be very thankful if you remain in your present condition; but if you only eat one mouthful of flesh, you will become a real tigress, and then you can never regain your proper form. As it is, the only way by which you can ever recover your own shape is by being beaten till you bleed, by a man with the rods that grow beneath the Hair Tree.”

I could not speak: I tried, but my voice was choked with tears. I clasped my hands, but found that they would not close on account of the claws which were growing at the ends. I threw myself on the ground at the Queen’s feet to beg for mercy, but I was not allowed to remain long, for, taking me by the nape of my neck, she carried me quickly through the air, and did not stop till we reached this island, where she flung me on the ground with a spiteful laugh, and vanished. For some time I lay in silent misery, till roused by the voice of the sea-gull calling me by name, and raising myself, I saw it hovering near me.