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He was in such a hurry to get back to the Lady Whimsical, however, that he did not stay to pick up his crown, but rode bareheaded all through the night and reached the hedge of sweet-briar and honeysuckle precisely at two hours after sunrise. "Dear, dear," complained the dragon; "do you mean to say you 've come back again?" "I have some good news for you," said King Grumbelo, jovially.
The hole opened into a long, dark passage which grew smaller and smaller as it wound deeper into the earth, so that King Grumbelo could scarcely drag himself along on his hands and knees. It came to an end at last, however, and he crawled into a cavern lighted dimly by glow-worms.
"Then why has she never spoken to me?" asked the King in astonishment. "You wished for the most silent woman in the world," said the Wise Woman of the Wood. "Now that you have found her, why do you complain?" For the first time in his life King Grumbelo felt distinctly foolish. "I made a mistake," he owned. "I don't want a silent Queen at all."
"The Lady Whimsical never says," answered the dragon drowsily, as he curled himself up in the sun and closed his eyes; "but she will allow you to look at her for five minutes every morning, at two hours after sunrise." Two hours after sunrise on the following morning, King Grumbelo was accordingly admitted into the garden beyond the pink-and-white gates of apple-blossom.
The Lady Whimsical had never laughed so heartily at anything as she did at these words of King Grumbelo; and even after she had banged the door in his face, he could still hear her laughter as it floated out from the windows of the dainty little house of rose leaves.
"Then go and tell the Lady Whimsical that if she pleases I would like to speak with her," said King Grumbelo. The dragon did not move. "The Lady Whimsical never speaks," he observed. "It would really be much wiser if you were to go away." "I am not going away," shouted the King, growing angry. "Go and ask her at once if she will receive me, or I will put you out of the way for good and all!"
"There is no spell over the Lady Whimsical after all!" "Of course there is n't," said the dragon, as he slowly unfastened the gates of apple-blossom. "Did n't I tell you she was n't a Princess?" King Grumbelo did not stay to argue the point with him, but walked quickly up the path and stopped in front of the dainty little house all made of rose leaves.
"Nobody told me that," answered King Grumbelo; "I guessed it for myself." "What will the Professor of Practical Jokes say, when you come home without the Princess you went out to find?" she asked mischievously.
The field mouse was just ahead of him, but before he could catch it he found that it was no longer there, and in its place stood a tall witch woman, with a voice like a blackbird's, and eyes like a squirrel's, and hair the colour of a field mouse. "Tell me," said King Grumbelo, eagerly, "are you the Wise Woman of the Wood?" "Of course I am," said the witch woman.
Now, all this was very amusing for the Lady Whimsical, who was quite happy as long as she had something to make her smile; but King Grumbelo was not so well satisfied. It was not amusing to carry on a conversation entirely alone, and he even began to wish secretly that the Lady Whimsical would not answer all his questions by laughing at them.
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