“That would be a pity,” he said calmly. “Then the pearl would never be found, and no woman would have the glory of being the most beautiful woman in the world.” The old woman screwed up her wrinkled face and tapped her foot impatiently on the stone floor. Then she said with a cunning leer: “If that pearl were mine--so great is the power of beauty--I would rule the land in place of my step-son the King. Then would you be my chief counsellor and next to me in authority, which surely would be better than spending all your years in a dark dungeon where no one will ever hear of your wisdom. You could live in my palace and have many servants to wait upon you, and if I were the most beautiful woman, you could become the richest man in the kingdom. It would be a sad thing for the pearl to crumble away and never be worn by a woman, and also for the great Cave Man to die a wretched death--perhaps of hunger--in this dirty hole.” “If I were only free I could bring you the pearl,” the wizard answered. “No one save me can ever get it, for it is watched by a dragon with eyes that are always open and teeth that are sharp and cruel.” The Queen looked at the door she had just unlocked. “I have the key,” she said thoughtfully, “but there is not only the jailer without, but many guards that you must pass.” “You have much gold,” he suggested, “and yet that pearl is worth more to a woman than all the gold and jewels of the earth. It will bring her everything her heart desires.” She shook her head. “I cannot buy all the guards,” she told him. “Some of them are old and faithful servants of the King. You must find some other way.” “You speak of ways as if they were easy to find,” he grumbled, and his heart again felt heavy in his breast. “They should be--for a wise man,” she tauntingly replied. “Surely you must have left your wits in the cave too. But I must be off. The King gives a banquet to-night in honor of his bride, who is called the Fairest Creature of the Flowery Kingdom. And she likes that better than the name of Queen.” “Stay,” cried the wizard quickly. “The way is found. Know you the weed with the purple flower that has crimson dots on its petals--a weed with glossy, pointed leaves that grows by every wayside and sends out a strange perfume after the sun goes down?” The Queen nodded. “Well, squeeze the juice from the stem of this weed. A few drops of that in the wine to-night and all the castle will fall into sleep so deep that though I rode away on a prancing steed no one would hear me. See that my keepers drink of that wine. Then open my door, unloose my chains and leave the rest to me.” The old woman cackled in her thin, shrill voice. Suddenly she stopped and looked at him suspiciously.