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"
Then I will see what I can do for you," promised the Rainbow's Daughter,
and flying to the ground she took a small twig in her bill and with it made
several mystic figures on each side of Tommy Kwikstep.
"Are you a witch, or fairy, or something of the sort?" he asked as he watched
her wonderingly.
The Canary made no answer, for she was busy, but the Scarecrow Bear
replied: "Yes; she's something of the sort, and a bird of a magician."
The twenty-legged boy's transformation happened so queerly that they were
all surprised at its method. First, Tommy Kwikstep's last two legs
disappeared; then the next two, and the next, and as each pair of legs
vanished his body shortened. All this while Polychrome was running around
him and chirping mystical words, and when all the young man's legs had
disappeared but two he noticed that the Canary was still busy and cried out
in alarm:
"
Stop--stop! Leave me two of my legs, or I shall be worse off than before."
I know," said the Canary. "I'm only removing with my magic the corns from
"
your last ten toes."
"
Thank you for being so thoughtful," he said gratefully, and now they
noticed that Tommy Kwikstep was quite a nice looking young fellow.
"What will you do now?" asked Woot the Monkey.
"First," he answered, "I must deliver a note which I've carried in my pocket
ever since the witch, or fairy, or whatever she was, granted my foolish wish.
And I am resolved never to speak again without taking time to think
carefully on what I am going to say, for I realize that speech without thought
is dangerous. And after I've delivered the note, I shall run errands again for
anyone who needs my services."
So he thanked Polychrome again and started away in a different direction
from their own, and that was the last they saw of Tommy Kwikstep.
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