"I don't want to be a marble statue!" he protested.
"That doesn't matter; I want you to be one," said the old woman, looking at him severely.
"What use'll I be then?" asked Tip. "There won't be any one to work for you."
"I'll make the Pumpkinhead work for me," said Mombi.
Again Tip groaned.
"Why don't you change me into a goat, or a chicken?" he asked, anxiously. "You can't do anything with a marble statue."
"Oh, yes; I can," returned Mombi. "I'm going to plant a flower garden, next Spring, and I'll put you in the middle of it, for an ornament. I wonder I haven't thought of that before; you've been a bother to me for years."
At this terrible speech Tip felt the beads of perspiration starting all over his body; but he sat still and shivered and looked anxiously at the kettle.
"Perhaps it won't work," he muttered, in a voice that sounded weak and discouraged.
"Oh, I think it will," answered Mombi, cheerfully. "I seldom make a mistake."