Now it so happened that on the morning of that same daywhen the Prince of Pingaree suffered the loss of hispriceless shoes, there chanced to pass along the roadthat wound beside the royal palace a poor charcoal-burner named Nikobob, who was about to return to hishome in the forest.

Nikobob carried an ax and a bundle of torches overhis shoulder and he walked with his eyes to the ground,being deep in thought as to the strange manner in whichthe powerful King Gos and his city had been conqueredby a boy Prince who had come from Pingaree.

Suddenly the charcoal-burner espied a shoe lying uponthe ground, just beyond the high wall of the palace anddirectly in his path. He picked it up and, seeing itwas a pretty shoe, although much too small for his ownfoot, he put it in his pocket.

Soon after, on turning a corner of the wall, Nikobobcame to a dust-heap where, lying amidst a mass ofrubbish, was another shoe -- the mate to the one he hadbefore found. This also he placed in his pocket, sayingto himself:

"I have now a fine pair of shoes for my daughterZella, who will be much pleased to find I have broughther a present from the city."

And while the charcoal-burner turned into the forestand trudged along the path toward his home, Inga andRinkitink were still searching for the missing shoes.Of course, they could not know that Nikobob had foundthem, nor did the honest man think he had takenanything more than a pair of cast-off shoes whichnobody wanted.

Nikobob had several miles to travel through theforest before he could reach the little log cabin wherehis wife, as well as his little daughter Zella, awaitedhis return, but he was used to long walks and trampedalong the path whistling cheerfully to beguile thetime.

Few people, as I said before, ever passed through thedark and tangled forests of Regos, except to go to themines in the mountain beyond, for many dangerouscreatures lurked in the wild jungles, and King Gosnever knew, when he sent a messenger to the mines,whether he would reach there safely or not.

The charcoal-burner, however, knew the wild forestwell, and especially this part of it lying between thecity and his home. It was the favorite haunt of theferocious beast Choggenmugger, dreaded by every dwellerin the Island of Regos. Choggenmugger was so old thateveryone thought it must have been there since theworld was made, and each year of its life the hugescales that covered its body grew thicker and harderand its jaws grew wider and its teeth grew sharper andits appetite grew more keen than ever.

In former ages there had been many dragons in Regos,but Choggenmugger was so fond of dragons that he hadeaten all of them long ago. There had also been greatserpents and crocodiles in the forest marshes, but allhad gone to feed the hunger of Choggenmugger. Thepeople of Regos knew well there was no use opposing theGreat Beast, so when one unfortunately met with it hegave himself up for lost.

All this Nikobob knew well, but fortune had alwaysfavored him in his journey through the forest, andalthough he had at times met many savage beasts andfought them with his sharp ax, he had never to this dayencountered the terrible Choggenmugger. Indeed, he wasnot thinking of the Great Beast at all as he walkedalong, but suddenly he heard a crashing of broken treesand felt a trembling of the earth and saw the immensejaws of Choggenmugger opening before him. Then Nikobobgave himself up for lost and his heart almost ceased tobeat.

He believed there was no way of escape. No one everdared oppose Choggenmugger. But Nikobob hated to diewithout showing the monster, in some way, that he waseaten only under protest. So he raised his ax andbrought it down upon the red, protruding tongue of themonster -- and cut it clean off!

For a moment the charcoal-burner scarcely believedwhat his eyes saw, for he knew nothing of the pearls hecarried in his pocket or the magic power they lent hisarm. His success, however, encouraged him to strikeagain, and this time the huge scaly jaw ofChoggenmugger was severed in twain and the beast howledin terrified rage.

Nikobob took off his coat, to give himself morefreedom of action, and then he earnestly renewed theattack. But now the ax seemed blunted by the hardscales and made no impression upon them whatever. Thecreature advanced with glaring, wicked eyes, andNikobob seized his coat under his arm and turned toflee.

That was foolish, for Choggenmugger could run likethe wind. In a moment it overtook the charcoal-burnerand snapped its four rows of sharp teeth together. Butthey did not touch Nikobob, because he still held thecoat in his grasp, close to his body, and in the coatpocket were Inga's shoes, and in the points of theshoes were the magic pearls. Finding himself uninjured,Nikobob put on his coat, again seized his ax, and in ashort time had chopped Choggenmugger into many smallpieces -- a task that proved not only easy but veryagreeable.

"I must be the strongest man in all the world!"thought the charcoal-burner, as he proudly resumed hisway, "for Choggenmugger has been the terror of Regossince the world began, and I alone have been able todestroy the beast. Yet it is singular' that neverbefore did I discover how powerful a man I am."

He met no further adventure and at midday reached alittle clearing in the forest where stood his humblecabin.

"Great news! I have great news for you," he shouted,as his wife and little daughter came to greet him."King Gos has been conquered by a boy Prince from thefar island of Pingaree, and I have this day -- unaided-- destroyed Choggenmugger by the might of my strongarm.

This was, indeed, great news. They brought Nikobobinto the house and set him in an easy chair and madehim tell everything he knew about the Prince ofPingaree and the fat King of Gilgad, as well as thedetails of his wonderful fight with mightyChoggenmugger.

"And now, my daughter," said the charcoalburner, whenall his news had been related for at least the thirdtime, "here is a pretty present I have brought youfrom the city."

With this he drew the shoes from the pocket of hiscoat and handed them to Zella, who gave him a dozenkisses in payment and was much pleased with her gift.The little girl had never worn shoes before, for herparents were too poor to buy her such luxuries, so nowthe possession of these, which were not much worn,filled the child's heart with joy. She admired the redleather and the graceful curl of the pointed toes. Whenshe tried them on her feet, they fitted as well as ifmade for her.

All the afternoon, as she helped her mother with thehousework, Zella thought of her pretty shoes. Theyseemed more important to her than the coming to Regosof the conquering Prince of Pingaree, or even the deathof Choggenmugger.

When Zella and her mother were not working in thecabin, cooking or sewing, they often searched theneighboring forest for honey which the wild beescleverly hid in hollow trees. The day after Nikobob'sreturn, as they were starting out after honey, Zelladecided to put on her new shoes, as they would keep thetwigs that covered the ground from hurting her feet.She was used to the twigs, of course, but what is theuse of having nice, comfortable shoes, if you do notwear them?

So she danced along, very happily, followed by hermother, and presently they came to a tree in which wasa deep hollow. Zella thrust her hand and arm into thespace and found that the tree was full of honey, so shebegan to dig it out with a wooden paddle. Her mother,who held the pail, suddenly cried in warning:

"Look out, Zella; the bees are coming!" and then thegood woman ran fast toward the house to escape.

Zella, however, had no more than time to turn herhead when a thick swarm of bees surrounded her, angrybecause they had caught her stealing their honey andintent on stinging the girl as a punishment. She knewher danger and expected to be badly injured by themultitude of stinging bees, but to her surprise thelittle creatures were unable to fly close enough to herto stick their dart-like stingers into her flesh. Theyswarmed about her in a dark cloud, and their angrybuzzing was terrible to hear, yet the little girlremained unharmed.

When she realized this, Zella was no longer afraidbut continued to ladle out the honey until she hadsecured all that was in the tree. Then she returned tothe cabin, where her mother was weeping and bemoaningthe fate of her darling child, and the good woman wasgreatly astonished to find Zella had escaped injury.

Again they went to the woods to search for honey, andalthough the mother always ran away whenever the beescame near them, Zella paid no attention to thecreatures but kept at her work, so that before suppertime came the pails were again filled to overflowingwith delicious honey.

"With such good fortune as we have had this day,"said her mother, "we shall soon gather enough honey foryou to carry to Queen Cor." For it seems the wickedQueen was very fond of honey and it had been Zella'scustom to go, once every year, to the City of Coregos,to carry the Queen a supply of sweet honey for hertable. Usually she had but one pail.

"But now," said Zella, "I shall be able to carry twopailsful to the Queen, who will, I am sure, give me agood price for it."

"True," answered her mother, "and, as the boy Princemay take it into his head to conquer Coregos, as wellas Regos, I think it best for you to start on yourjourney to Queen Cor tomorrow morning. Do you not agreewith me, Nikobob?" she added, turning to her husband,the charcoal-burner, who was eating his supper.

"I agree with you," he replied. "If Zella must go tothe City of Coregos, she may as well start to-morrowmorning."