would never wear out, and many other things that added
to their happiness and content.

"Coo-ee-oh was our Queen then, as now, but she knew
no magic and so had nothing to be proud of. But the
three Adepts were very kind to Coo-ee-oh. They built
for us this wonderful dome of glass and our houses of
marble and taught us to make beautiful clothing and
many other things. Coo-ee-oh pretended to be very
grateful for these favors, but it seems that all the
time she was jealous of the three Adepts and secretly
tried to discover their arts of magic. In this she was
more clever than anyone suspected. She invited the
three Adepts to a banquet one day, and while they were
feasting Coo-ee-oh stole their charms and magical
instruments and transformed them into three fishes -- a
gold fish, a silver fish and a bronze fish. While the
poor fishes were gasping and flopping helplessly on the
floor of the banquet room one of them said
reproachfully: 'You will be punished for this, Coo-ee-
oh, for if one of us dies or is destroyed, you will
become shrivelled and helpless, and all your stolen
magic will depart from you.' Frightened by this threat,
Coo-ee-oh at once caught up the three fish and ran with
them to the shore of the lake, where she cast them into
the water. This revived the three Adepts and they swam
away and disappeared.

"I, myself, witnessed this shocking scene," continued
Lady Aurex, "and so did many other Skeezers. The news