'Miss Thrush had quite a decent voice, I hear, Some years ago (A score or so), But now her voice is giving way, I fear. 'She sang as badly as did Mrs. Lark, Who all agreed, Had every need Of lessons, to bring _her_ up to the mark. 'Miss Linnet had a really dreadful cough. As for the rest, They quite distressed The company. Well, good-by, dears. I'm off.' And, while the Spoonbill and the other bird Went on their way, I heard one say, 'That Mrs. Goose is really most absurd. 'She talks about the Peacock's gaudy dress: If she prefers That gray of hers, I don't admire her taste, I must confess. 'And as for legs and feet--well, I declare, The pair she's got Are really not The kind that I'd be seen with anywhere. 'While as for singing, that _she_ should complain Of other folk Is past a joke, I vow I'll not be friends with her again.' 'My dear,' the other said, 'remember this: A critic she Of high degree, For though she can't sing well, the goose can _hiss_.'" The Sage had scarcely finished when a sound of weeping and wailing was heard, and presently a whole troop of gnomes appeared in the onion field. They were crying bitterly, and to the children's great surprise several of them had grown enormously tall and others equally stout. They came straight up to the Sage's hut, and with tears streaming down their faces beseeched him to help them. They had foolishly been making use of the authority which the Little Panjandrum's Ambassador had given to the children; and although it acted one way, and made them the size that they wished to be, it would not turn them back again. [Illustration: "They were crying bitterly."] "And my wife and family refuse to have anything to do with me," said one ridiculously tall individual. "And I can't squeeze into my own house, anyhow," wept the stout one. "The only way," said the Sage, after a moment's thought, with his forehead wrinkled into deep furrows, "is to send the Ki-Wi to the Court of the Little Panjandrum for a fresh authority. It's no use your having this one back if it won't act properly, is it?" he inquired, turning to the children. "Certainly not," said Dick; "but who is the Ki-Wi, please?" "Oh, he's the Court Messenger," explained the Sage, "and is the only one here allowed to enter the Court of the Little Panjandrum without permission." "Go and fetch him," he continued. And the gnomes disappeared, returning presently with the Ki-Wi (who turned out to be a curious kind of bird), and the written authority, which had been taken from the children. "Let me look at it," said the Sage, holding out his hand for the paper. [Illustration: "Produced a large document and began to read."] "Why, no wonder it won't act for the gnomes," he exclaimed, when he had read it.