‘Bless you,’ said the old nurse, ‘he won’t hurt me as nursed him when he was a babe, in a plaid frock with the dearest little fat legs ever you see.’
So she got to the tower, and the guards let her through. Taykin was almost pleased to [p266 see her—remember he had had no visitors for twenty years—and he was quite pleased to see the ham and the honey.
‘But where did I put them heggs?’ said the nurse, ‘and the apples—I must have left them at home after all.’
She had. But the Magician just waved his hand in the air, and there was a basket of
apples that hadn’t been there before. The eggs he took out of her bonnet, the folds of her shawl, and even from his own mouth, just like a conjurer does. Only of course he was a real Magician.
‘Lor!’ said she, ‘it’s like magic.’
‘It is magic,’ said he. ‘That’s my trade. It’s quite a pleasure to have an audience again. I’ve lived here alone for twenty years. It’s very lonely, especially of an evening.’
‘Can’t you get out?’ said the nurse.
‘No. King’s orders must be respected, but it’s a dog’s life.’ He sniffed, made himself a magic handkerchief out of empty air, and wiped his eyes.
‘Take an apprentice, my dear,’ said the nurse.