carrying, sir?" asked he.

68"Those," said the Private Secretary, "are the Royal Wishing Wands which have been given to you by the King. He himself obtained them, some time ago from the Fairy Queen. You will find them very useful; for if there is anything in the world that you want, you can have it by simply rubbing this Wand three times and wishing clearly and distinctly. But you must remember that you have only three wishes in any one week; so I suggest that you exercise care."

68

As he spoke, the Private Secretary extended to each of the Twins one of the Royal Wishing Wands, and with great delight both began vigorously to rub the Wands and to say excitedly, "I wish! I wish!"

"Very well," said the Private Secretary, smiling. "What is it that you wish?"

"Please bring my mamma some gold and some diamonds, a whole bushel," said Lulu; and Zuzu said, "I wish the same, because I have often heard mamma express a wish for those very things."

"Very well," said the Private Secretary, "she shall have them just as soon as his Majesty can telephone to the Fairy Valley. His Majesty is very liberal in such matters as these."

"Telephone?" cried Zuzu. "Do you have telephones here?"

Zuzu and Lulu bowed very low Page 50

69 "Certainly we do. How could the King order such gold and diamonds as he may need, if he were not able to telephone for them to the Fairies? You see, we get these things only through the Fairies, who live far toward the interior of the Island, in a place which not even I myself have ever seen."

69

"Well, I would like to know how any one can telephone to a Fairy," said Zuzu, who had never heard of such a thing before.

"It is the simplest thing in the world," replied the Private Secretary. "The morning is the best time for the use of the Fairy Telephone. You will notice that then the dew lies heavy upon all the world. All the leaves and blades of grass are wet with it, and it shines in the early sunlight, to my mind far more beautifully than any diamond. Now, over this dewy world of leaves and grass and boughs and ferns, which touch each other quite across the Island, you will see many little fine lines, finer than hairs, woven in and out. 

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