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Updated: June 22, 2025
The Wizard himself sat at his desk in one of the corners, and when the Princess entered he looked up and exclaimed: "What! Is it you? Really, I did not expect to see you. How did you manage to pass the guards I placed within the caves and passageways to prevent your coming here?" "Oh, that was not difficult," answered Truella, "for you must know I am protected by a power stronger than your own."
"What does the Princess Truella like best?" he asked the Queen. "I'm sure I do not know," replied the royal lady; "but you might try her with a kiss." So one of the nicest young men sent a kiss to the Princess, and the King tied it to the end of the line and put it in the lake.
So Truella ran through the cave and came to, a door, on which she knocked. Instantly it flew open, and before her she saw another cave, this time brightly lighted, but filled with knives and daggers, which were flying about in every direction. To enter this cave was impossible, for the Princess saw she would immediately be pierced by dozens of the sharp daggers.
"I'll find the toe in a few minutes. I must have mislaid it somewhere." But Truella suspected he was up to more mischief, and was on her guard. She saw him stealthily press a button, and in the same instant a deep gulf opened in the floor of the cave, half way between the Princess and the Wizard.
In the center there was one place where the crust was quite thin, and just as the merriment was at its height, crack! went the ice or candy, rather and down into the sugar-syrup sank the Princess Truella, and the Prince Jollikin, and the King's royal chamberlain, Nuphsed.
Then all the people shouted for joy and the Queen took the Princess Truella home to change her clothes, for they were very sticky. "What does the Prince Jollikin like best?" asked the King. "A laugh!" replied a dozen at once, for every one knew the Prince's failing. Then one of the girls laughed quite hard, and the King tied it to the end of the line and dropped it into the lake.
When Truella saw this she put up the umbrella and held it in front of the Stork; whereupon, being shielded from the wind, he flew easily to the mountain. The Princess now dismounted and, looking into the hole at the top of the mountain, discovered a flight of stairs leading downward.
"It is a dainty of which all ladies are very fond," replied Truella, taking the packet from her basket. "This is it." The old woman hesitated a moment, and then said: "Well, I'll try the chewing-gum and see what it is like; there will be plenty of time to scratch out your eyes afterwards."
Truella did not know what this meant, at first, unless it was to prevent her getting across the room to where her toe was; but soon she noticed that the gulf was moving toward her, slowly, but steadily; and, as it extended across the cave from wall to wall, it would in time be sure to reach the spot where she stood, when she would, of course, fall into it.
Truella stopped only long enough to put on her toe, and then she ran through the caves and up the stairways until she reached the top of the mountain again. There she found her Stork patiently awaiting her and, having seated herself on its back, she rode safely and triumphantly back to her father's palace.
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