"And I have not room for another morsel,
said his next neighbor, heaving a sigh. "What
a pity! My appetite is as sharp as ever."

In short, they all left off eating, and leaned
back on their thrones, with such a stupid and
helpless aspect as made them ridiculous to be-
hold. When their hostess saw this, she laughed
aloud; so did her four damsels; so did the two and
twenty serving men that bore the dishes, and their
two and twenty fellows that poured out the wine.
And the louder they all laughed, the more stupid
and helpless did the two and twenty gormandizers
look. Then the beautiful woman took her stand
in the middle of the saloon, and stretching out a
slender rod, (it had been all the while in her hand,
although they never noticed it till this moment,)
she turned it from one guest to another, until
each had felt it pointed at himself. Beautiful
as her face was, and though there was a smile
on it, it looked just as wicked and mischievous
as the ugliest serpent that ever was seen; and
fat-witted as the voyagers had made themselves,
they began to suspect that they had fallen into
the power of an evil-minded enchantress.

"Wretches," cried she, "you ha rr e abused a

[[190]]

p189 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p190w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p190a

v?