TWILIGHT LAND

“Very well,” said the king, “yonder are those sand
hills over there. You shall remove them and build your
palace there. When it is finished you shall marry the
princess.” For if he does that, thought the king to him-
self, it is something better than mere good luck.

“Tt shall,” said Jacob Stuck, ‘‘be done by to-morrow
morning.”

Well, all that day Jacob Stuck feasted and made merry
at the king’s palace, and the king wondered when he was
going to begin to build his palace. But Jacob Stuck said
nothing at all; he just feasted and drank and made merry.
When night had come, however, it was all different. Away
he went by himself, and blew his breath upon his piece of
blue glass, and rubbed it with his thumb. Instantly there
stood the Genie before him. “ What wouldst thou have ?”
said he.

“T would like,” said Jacob Stuck, ‘‘to have the sand
hills over yonder carried away, and a palace built there of
white marble and gold and silver, such as the world
never saw before. And let there be gardens planted there
with flowering plants and trees, and let there be fountains
and marble walks. And let there be servants and atten-
dants in the palace of all sorts and kinds—men and
women. And let there be a splendid feast spread for
to-morrow morning, for then I am going to marry the
princess.”

‘To hear is to obey,” said the Genie, and instantly he
was gone.

All night there was from the sand hills a ceaseless
sound as of thunder—a sound of banging and clapping
and hammering and sawing and calling and shouting.
All that night the sounds continued unceasingly, but at

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