When they awoke they perceived just within the frontier (which was indicated by boundary stones made of sugar-candy) the three gardens that had been prepared for the daughters of the Prisoner. "The Wigs keep their word anyway," said Smaly and Redy to each other, as they rubbed their eyes; then they looked at each other and saw that their beaks had disappeared. You may imagine how happy this made them! Never would they have dared to return to their own village with those enormous beaks stuck in the middle of their faces, even though they were invisible to all save the birds and each other. They stood up and held hands, and to attract the attention of the Wigs began to chant: We wish to have three girls, Fine, sweet, pink, and good---- But a sentinel who looked like a dragon-fly, and carried a lantern and a megaphone, shouted to them to be silent. The Confectioner, who was busy giving the final directions to the gardeners, struck an attitude and recited: "Here plays the grasshoppers' band, Here for days together shines the sun, Here the birds wear hats and spurs, And the worms spectacles and swords. Here we don't know bricks, Or wood, or stone, or steel, Here we eat plates and saucers, Here we----" "We know all about that," said Smaly and Redy together. "What do you know?" asked the Confectioner suspiciously. "How funny you all are," answered Smaly. "At least we are not made of grease and suet," retorted the Confectioner in a tone of mingled pride and disgust. * * * * * The gardens were arranged after the same principle as the windows in the house of the Historian. They were not really separated by walls; but since one speaks with one's mouth and sees with one's eyes, there was at about the height where the young girls' faces would be a plank of nougat separating the gardens, and since it was certain that sometimes the girls would sit down, there was another plank a little lower. There were altogether four planks, for as the three girls were of different ages and heights, the planks which would have prevented one girl from seeing her neighbour would not have prevented the next. How ingenious this was! It was as well thought out as the two openings for the Flying-Fish in the ceiling of the Historian's house, a big one for the big fish, and a smaller one for the smaller fish! In these gardens the lawns were made of angelica, and the flower-beds of jam tarts, and at the end of each garden there was a little house to sleep in at night, or in the heat of the afternoon. [Illustration: A SENTINEL WHO LOOKED LIKE A DRAGON-FLY] When all was ready the three daughters of the Prisoner were led in. The ceremony was extremely simple. Mistigris was the first to arrive, and touching his lips with his ring, he thus addressed the two little people perched upon their rock.