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have known better. You had better go back to Prince Fluvius, and tell him to give her a kiss;” and then the old man began to laugh again.

Jack stood by, sorely puzzled; yet he dared not ask again. Then the old man turned to him, and said,—

“And now what do you want to ask next? Let it be something for yourself this time, my little man. What shall it be? I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

A dozen questions flashed into Jack’s mind at once. How he longed to ask them! But he remembered the Princess’s warning, and held his tongue. He looked at the wind-fairy, who was still asleep, and wondered how he could wake him. The ice was so slippery that he dared not walk upon it. He was just trying to move off gently, when the old man caught him by his wrist with a long skinny hand, and held him firmly back.

“Come, now,” he said, coaxingly, while his eyes sparkled cunningly; “youll never go back after asking only one question, when you have come so far. That would be very foolish. Ask something else while you are here.”