The monarch of Spor had never before been so foiled and scorned by any
living creature. Defeated and humbled before his own people, he bowed
his crimson head on his hands and sullenly regarded his foe with his
top eye. Then it was that the idea came to him that no ordinary
mortal could have thwarted him so easily, and he began to fear he was
dealing--perhaps unawares--with some great magician or sorcerer. That
a fairy should have assumed a mortal form he never once considered,
for such a thing was until then unheard of in the Enchanted Island of
Yew. But with the knowledge that he had met his master, whoever he
might prove to be, and that further attempts upon the stranger's life
might lead to his own undoing, King Terribus decided to adopt a new
line of conduct, hoping to accomplish by stratagem what he could not
do by force. To be sure, there remained his regiment of Giants, the
pride of his kingdom; but Terribus dreaded to meet with another
defeat; and he was not at all sure, after what had happened, that the
giants would succeed in conquering or destroying the strangers.
"After all," he thought, "my only object in killing them was to
prevent their carrying news of my monstrous appearance to the outside
world; so if I can but manage to keep them forever in my kingdom it
will answer my purpose equally well.
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