Just then a queer creature dropped from a tree into the ring and began moving slowly toward them. It was flat in shape, like a big turtle; only it hadn't a turtle's hard shell. Instead, its body was covered with sharp prickers, like rose thorns, and it had two small red eyes that looked cruel and wicked. The children could not see how many legs it had, but they must have been very short, because the creature moved so slowly over the ground. When it had drawn near to them it said, in a pleading tone that sounded soft and rather musical: "Little girl, pick me up in your arms, and pet me!" Twinkle shrank back. "My! I couldn't _think_ of doing such a thing," she answered. Then the creature said: "Little boy, please pick me up in your arms, and pet me!" "Go 'way!" shouted Chubbins. "I wouldn't touch you for anything." The creature turned its red eyes first upon one and then upon the other. "Listen, my dears," it continued; "I was once a beautiful maiden, but a cruel tuxix transformed me into this awful shape, and so must I remain until some child willingly takes me in its arms and pets me. Then, and not till then, will I be restored to my proper form." "Don't believe it! Don't believe it!" cried a high, clear voice, and both the boy and the girl looked quickly around to see who had spoken. But no one besides themselves was in sight, and they only noticed a thick branch of one of the trees slightly swaying its leaves. "What is a tuxix?" asked Twinkle, who was beginning to feel sorry for the poor creature. "It is a magician, a sorcerer, a wizard, and a witch all rolled into one," was the answer; "and you can imagine what a dreadful thing that would be." "Be careful!" cried the clear voice, again. "It is the tuxix herself who is talking to you. Don't believe a word you hear!" At this the red eyes of the creature flashed fire with anger, and it tried to turn its clumsy body around to find the speaker. Twinkle and Chubbins looked too, but only heard a flutter and a mocking laugh coming from the trees. "If I get my eye on that bird, it will never speak again," exclaimed the creature, in a voice of fury very different from the sweet tones it had at first used; and perhaps it was this fact that induced the children to believe the warning was from a friend, and they would do well to heed it. "Whether you are the tuxix or not," said Twinkle, "I never will touch you. You may be sure of that." "Nor I," declared Chubbins, stoutly, as he came closer to the girl and grasped her hand in his own. At this the horrid thing bristled all its sharp prickers in anger, and said: "Then, if I cannot conquer you in one way, I will in another. Go, both of you, and join the bird that warned you, and live in the air and the trees until you repent your stubbornness and promise to become my slaves. The tuxix has spoken, and her magical powers are at work. Go!"