Of course the imps of Zixi could not get this golden thread, nor could they give any magical properties to the garment they had made at the witch’s command; but they managed to give the cloak all of the many brilliant colors of the original, and Zixi was quite satisfied.
The next day Adlena wore this cloak while she walked in the garden. Very soon Princess Fluff saw her and ran after the girl, crying indignantly: “See here! What do you mean by wearing my cloak? Take it off instantly!”
“‘WHICH IS MINE?’ SHE FINALLY ASKED, IN A STARTLED VOICE.”
“It isn’t your cloak. It is one of my own,” replied the girl, calmly.
“Nonsense! There can’t be two such cloaks in the world,” retorted Fluff.
“But there are,” persisted Adlena. “How could I get the one in your drawer when the key is around your own neck?”
“I’m not sure I don’t know,” admitted the princess, beginning to be puzzled. “But come with me into my rooms. If my fairy cloak is indeed in the drawer, then I will believe you.”
So they went to the drawer, and of course found the magic cloak, as the cunning Zixi had planned. Fluff pulled it out and held the two up together to compare them; and they seemed to be exactly alike.
“I think yours is a little the longer,” said Adlena, and threw it over the shoulders of the princess. “No, I think mine is the longer,” she continued; and removing the magic cloak, put her own upon Fluff. They seemed to be about the same length, but Adlena kept putting first one and then the other upon the princess, until they were completely mixed, and the child could not have told one from the other.