It is impossible to describe the surprise pictured on the faces of the onlookers as Billy picks up the lead pencil and, carefully adjusting it between his teeth, bends over and writes those two significant letters. They go mad with delight, and clamor:
“The goat’s fortune! Tell the goat’s fortune!”
“The Magic Pen is able to do even that,” and the boasting fellow rolls up the paper with a great show of care.
Unscrewing the pen holder, he places the sheet inside the tube, securely fastens it, twirls it in the air, and while repeating this weird incantation:
“Magic Pen, reveal to me
All this creature is to be;
All he is to do, to see,
Oh, Magic Pen, reveal to me.”
he gives it a final toss high into the air, deftly catching it as it falls, and opening it, unfurls the paper.
He first passes it to two or three for close inspection, and then reads aloud: