“If you please,” asked Tommy politely, “what does D. A. mean?”
“Director of Athletics, of course. It couldn’t mean anything else, could it? Really, you do ask more silly questions! Now then, now then, look alive!”
“Yes, sir, but—but how?” asked Tommy anxiously.
“Repeat the incan., of course.”
“The—the incan——?”
“Tation! Don’t tell me you don’t know it!” The fairy was almost tearful and Tommy naturally felt awfully ashamed of his ignorance. But he had to acknowledge that he didn’t, and, casting his eyes toward the ceiling in protest, the fairy rattled off the following so rapidly that it was all Tommy could do to follow him:
“I wish this once,
I wish this twice!
Grant me the wish
That I wish thrice!”