Page 324 - Child's own book

£; Madam,” said he, u since I have had the honour to serve you,
I know not any other happiness that I can wish for.”—■** I
should be sorry,*' replied she, “ not to be of service to y ou in
something ; consider, it is in my power to make you a groat
king* prolong your life, make you more amiable, give you
mines of diamonds, and houses full of gold ; I can make you an
excellent orator, poet, musician, and painter; 1 can make von
beloved by the ladies, and increase your wit ; I e:m make you a
spirit of the air, ihe water, or the earth." Here Leander
interrupted her : u Permit me, madam/' said he, “ to ask you
what benefit it would be to me to be invisible, or a spirit V'~—
im A thousand useful and delightful things might be dime by it,"
Teplicd the fairy; "you would be invisible when you pleased,
and might iu an instant traverse the whole earth ; you would
be able to fly without wings, and descend into the abysses of
the earth without dying, and walk at the bottom of the sea
without being drowned ; nor doors, nor windows, though fast
shut and locked, could binder you from entering any of the
most secret retirements: and whenever you had a mind, you
might resume your natural form.*'—
“ Oh, madam I" cried Leander, “ then
let me be a spirit; I am going to travel,
and prefer it above all those other ad­
vantages you have si3 generously offered
me/' Gentilta thereupon stroking his
visage three times, u Bo a spirit,” said
she ; and then embracing him, she gave
him a little red cap with a plume of
feathers: 11 When you put on this cap,
you shall be invisible; but when you
take it off, you shall again become visible,” Leander, overjoyed,
put his little red cap upon his head, and wished himself in the