"But what _is_ it?"
"Oh, you only give me your soul--it's nothing at all."
"_My soul!_" the Queen said. "Certainly not."
"But I'll make you rich," the gentleman said.
"I'm quite rich enough already," the Queen answered.
"I'll make you powerful--make you a great queen."
"I'm one already, thanks," the Queen said.
"I'll give you a broom that you can fly on," the gentleman remarked.
"I can fly without a broom," the Queen said.
"I'll let you drink the elixir," he went on.
"I've had quite enough already," the Queen said.
The demon gnashed his teeth. "Then you won't trade?" he said.
"Certainly _not_," the Queen answered.
"And you won't marry me?"
"_Certainly_ not!" the Queen said.
There was blue flame, and a great pillar of sand shot up into the air.
The wind carried it slowly away--the gentleman in black had disappeared.
"Come, that's something!" the Queen said, with a sigh of relief, when
her eye fell suddenly on the crowd of people that were standing looking
at her. They were mostly standing on one leg. "Why, whoever are you?"
the said.
And a grey-haired man answered, "We are--that is, we were--the geese.
_I_ am the oldest of them, and, as such, let me remind you that a ripe
man is by far the best one to marry. Oh, maiden, marry _me_!"