temper at the moment) the fairy spell refuses to work, and then I am
left in the lurch.

"This time, however, it worked splendidly, for I had only to turn to the
word 'Toothache' to discover that the fairy remedy was to 'rub the
_other_ side of the face with a stinging nettle, and the pain and
swelling would instantly disappear.'

"Fortunately there were plenty of nettles to be found in a neglected
corner of the garden, and I quickly applied the remedy, which worked, as
the saying is, 'like magic,' for the Grand Panjandrum's Chief Cook's
face resumed its normal size at once, and the pain vanished immediately.

"It is needless to say that he was very grateful, and we were walking
back to the Palace, where he had just promised to regale me with some of
the choicest viands in his larder, when we met, coming towards us, a
most doleful-looking individual, clothed in black and wearing a most
woebegone visage.

"'It's the Court Physician,' said the Cook; 'I wonder why he is looking
so melancholy. May I venture to ask, sir,' he inquired respectfully,
'the occasion of your sorrow?'

"'I am to be executed to-morrow by the Grand Panjandrum's order,' said
the Court Physician dolefully, wiping a tear of self-pity from his eye.

"The Chief Cook shrugged his shoulders. 'H'm!' said he, 'if _that's_ the
case, and His Supreme Importance has ordered your execution, nobody can
possibly prevent it, and there is nothing left but to grin and bear it.'