Now when the Magician returned in the morning and saw this he was as
angry as angry. And he knew it was his daughter's magic, so he said:
"Double shame on the wit that helped you! Yet it betters you not, for I
will give you a yet harder task than the last. If you do that, you may
have my daughter. See you, yonder is a tree, seven miles high, and no
branch to it till the top, and there on the fork is a nest with some
eggs in it. Bring those eggs down without breaking one or, sure as fate,
I'll eat you for my supper."
Then the Magician's daughter was very sad; for with all her magic she
could think of no way of helping her lover to fetch the eggs and bring
them down unbroken. So she sate with Nix Naught Nothing underneath the
tree, and thought, and thought, and thought; until an idea came to her,
and she clapped her hands and cried:
"Fingers of mine, for love of me,
Help my true lover to climb the tree."
Then her fingers dropped off her hands one by one and ranged themselves
like the steps of a ladder up the tree; but they were not quite enough
of them to reach the top, so she cried again:
"Oh! toes of mine, for love o' me,
Help my true lover to climb the tree."
Then her toes began to drop off one by one and range themselves like the
rungs of a ladder; but when the toes of one foot had gone to their
places the ladder was tall enough. So Nix Naught Nothing climbed up it,
reached the nest, and got the seven eggs. Now, as he was coming down
with the last, he was so overjoyed at having finished his task, that he
turned to see if the Magician's daughter was overjoyed too: and lo! the
seventh egg slipped from his hand and fell
Crash!
"Quick! Quick!" cried the Magician's daughter, who, as you will observe,
always had her wits about her. "There is nothing for it now but to fly
at once. But first I must have my magic flask, or I shall be unable to
help. It is in my room and the door is locked. Put your fingers, since I
have none, in my pocket, take the key, unlock the door, get the flask,
and follow me fast. I shall go slower than you, for I have no toes on
one foot!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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