"Is it like making words from letters?" asked Lilla.
"Not at all. There you have to think and find out. Here you have nothing to do but to shake, and when you have shaken long enough, the result will come."
"How shall I know how many times to shake?"
"You won't know," returned the Magpie; "no one will know but the box itself, and the box can tell to a quarter of a shake the right time. Now—through!"
"Through what?"
"Through the board, of course," replied the Magpie. "What else is it meant for?"
"But the thick wall is behind the board, and then the houses! This is not country; it is the town."
"Pooh!" said the Magpie. "Have I learned human speech for nothing? Now——"
And he flew at the board, giving it a gentle peck; and as he did so the board split in two, and the crack widened, until it made an opening large enough for Lilla, with the Magpie on her shoulder, to pass through.