enough for me to return to my little hut and to hear the woodpeckers in
the eaves; and to see the white owls fly when the stars glow above the
dark forest branches."

Now the Military Commander was the only person in the kingdom who was
not sharing the general joy. He was grumpy because he had lost all the
honor of winning a bloody battle. Even the sight of all his army alive
and well could not soothe the wound to his vanity; so when the Princess
and the Wizard were exchanging the last courtesies, he strode forward,
bowed, and said:

"Your Highness, this invisible wall is all very well, but how will our
people reach the seacoast through this perpetual barrier? Can this mighty
Wizard destroy what he has erected?"

Then all the court looked at the Wizard, who asked to be led at once to
the great concourse where the people were assembled. "This is a question
to be settled by the nation and not by the court," he averred.

So the knights and ladies moved like living flowers to the concourse
where the people were assembled--the pure grain of the kingdom. And the
Wizard called in a loud voice to them, "Men and women, is it your will
that your good deeds be destroyed or remain in everlasting remembrance?
For this wall will never keep any true soul from the sea, nor any honest
man; but he that is a rogue will beat in vain against it!"

Then the people shouted, "We will keep this wall which we have built with
our good deeds."

So the wall stood forever, but the Wizard journeyed home, and knew the