CHAPTER XIV
The three daughters of the Prisoner are installed in their gardens.
So Smaly and Redy found themselves on the frontier of the Wigs' country. They were so tired from having seen and done so many things during the day that hardly had they arrived than they fell sound asleep amid the myrtle-bushes which grew between the rocks.
When they awoke they perceived just within the frontier (which was indicated by boundary stones made of sugar-candy) the three gardens that had been prepared for the daughters of the Prisoner.
"The Wigs keep their word anyway," said Smaly and Redy to each other, as they rubbed their eyes; then they looked at each other and saw that their beaks had disappeared.
You may imagine how happy this made them! Never would they have dared to return to their own village with those enormous beaks stuck in the middle of their faces, even though they were invisible to all save the birds and each other.
They stood up and held hands, and to attract the attention of the Wigs began to chant:
We wish to have three girls,
Fine, sweet, pink, and good——
But a sentinel who looked like a dragon-fly, and carried a lantern and a megaphone, shouted to them to be silent.
The Confectioner, who was busy giving the final directions to the gardeners, struck an attitude and recited: