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3. The Three Gifts

Familiarity with any great thing removes our awe of it. The great general

is only terrible to the enemy; the great poet is frequently scolded by his

wife; the children of the great statesman clamber about his knees with

perfect trust and impunity; the great actor who is called before the

curtain by admiring audiences is often waylaid at the stage door by his

creditors.

So Rob, having conversed for a time with the glorious Demon of

Electricity, began to regard him with more composure and less awe, as

his eyes grew more and more accustomed to the splendor that at first

had well-nigh blinded them.

When the Demon announced himself ready to do the boy's bidding, he

frankly replied:

I am no skilled electrician, as you very well know. My calling you here

was an accident. So I don't know how to command you, nor what to ask

you to do."

But I must not take advantage of your ignorance," answered the Demon.

Also, I am quite anxious to utilize this opportunity to show the world

what a powerful element electricity really is. So permit me to inform you

that, having struck the Master Key, you are at liberty to demand from me

three gifts each week for three successive weeks. These gifts, provided

they are within the scope of electricity, I will grant."

Rob shook his head regretfully.

If I were a great electrician I should know what to ask," he said. "But I

am too ignorant to take advantage of your kind offer."

Then," replied the Demon, "I will myself suggest the gifts, and they will

be of such a character that the Earth people will learn the possibilities

that lie before them and be encouraged to work more intelligently and to

persevere in mastering those natural and simple laws which control

electricity. For one of the greatest errors they now labor under is that

electricity is complicated and hard to understand. It is really the

simplest Earth element, lying within easy reach of any one who stretches

out his hand to grasp and control its powers."

The Master Key