Presently he brought out from a closet a quaintly shaped box. "It is the legend of Wonderland that a little girl shall break the spell that hangs over us. For it is deemed well-nigh impossible that a mortal child would venture beneath the water to visit us. Therefore, little Mary Louise, if I call all my people together, will you open this box and deliver us from the spell of the Great Enchanter?"
"I will," she answered bravely, and at once the little old fish man called together all his subjects.
As little Mary Louise looked at the box she saw printed on the cover these words:
"If a little girl mortal
Shall uncover this prize,
The sea will sink
And the land will rise."
And, would you believe it, the first thing she knew after carefully opening the box, she was back in the boat with the old sailor, who was shading his eyes and looking towards a beautiful green island that had suddenly come out of the water.
The Enchanted Prince
"Would you like to land on the island?" asked the old sailor who seemed in no wise surprised that an island should suddenly come up out of the sea.
"Yes," gasped little Mary Louise, "it may be a wonderful place. I certainly saw strange things beneath the water."
"To be sure you did," replied the old sailor, taking it as a matter of course that a little girl should make a trip to Wonder Land under the Sea, and return safe and sound.