A FAIRY STORY.
"It wasn't here last night? and how did it get here? and who nailed it up? and what does it mean?" said Lilla.
"I didn't nail it up," answered a Magpie, who hopped about from morning till night in Lilla's garden, and never left off chattering.
"Of course not," returned Lilla; "I did not suppose that you did. But I should like to understand the meaning of it."
And she gazed up at a great white board that had been fastened to the garden wall. There were several words upon the board, and Lilla softly repeated them.
"there were several words upon the board"
"Air, all, and, and, earth, go, if, know, me, of, sea, so, through, will, you, you."
"What nonsense! No sense in it at all," said Lilla; "yet they are arranged alphabetically, air, all, two and's, and two you's to finish with."
"Oh, don't begin to calculate the words, or do it quicker," said the Magpie impatiently. "Four fours sixteen. There are just sixteen of them: that is multiplication."
"But not four of each sort," replied Lilla; "only one of most of them. I wish I knew the exact meaning of it all. The only bit of sense I can make out is 'Through will you,' but then there are two you's."
"That is one you for you, and one you for me," answered the Magpie. "What you have got to do is to put all the words into a box, and shake them well up, and we'll go through together."
"Oh!—where?—why—?" exclaimed Lilla, as her foot struck against a silver box with the lid open; and on the ground lay a heap of cards with the words she had read printed upon them. She looked up at the board. There were no longer any words there, so of course they had fallen down.
"Pick them up, and put them in,
And you will then the game begin,"
said the Magpie, who thought he was wonderfully clever as he said this to Lilla.
"Is it like making words from letters?" asked Lilla.
"Not at all. There you have to think and find out. Here you have nothing to do but to shake, and when you have shaken long enough, the result will come."
"How shall I know how many times to shake?"
"You won't know," returned the Magpie; "no one will know but the box itself, and the box can tell to a quarter of a shake the right time. Now—through!"
"Through what?"
"Through the board, of course," replied the Magpie. "What else is it meant for?"
"But the thick wall is behind the board, and then the houses! This is not country; it is the town."
"Pooh!" said the Magpie. "Have I learned human speech for nothing? Now——"
And he flew at the board, giving it a gentle peck; and as he did so the board split in two, and the crack widened, until it made an opening large enough for Lilla, with the Magpie on her shoulder, to pass through.