Read Wizard at Work for Free Online Page B

and
you're
the one who gave me this miserable mirror." She lifted her chin and spoke in a most regal tone. "I am ready for you to take me home
now.
"
    It was, the wizard knew, the only way he'd
ever get rid of her. He said the magic word that transported both of them to the dragon's cave. However, he put too much energy into his spell, and not only were he and the princess transported, but also the hammock, the mirror, two nearby rosebushes, and his clothesline, on which he'd been airing out his winter underwear.
    One thing he did not bring was the pair of trees to which the hammock had been attached. The hammock dropped to the floor of the cave, carrying the wizard with it.
    "Thank you," said Princess Gilbertina.
    The green dragon, who had been sitting with his back to the cave entrance, whirled around at the sound of her voice and shrieked in surprise and dismay.
    "Yes," the princess said, "I'm back."
    The dragon closed his eyes, covered them with his claws, and backed away. "I'm not going to look at you!" he said. "You're not going to fool me again."
    The wizard picked himself up from the tangle
of his hammock. He looked from the dragon to the princess. "I have the feeling I've missed something here."
    "Do you see what she's trying to do?" the dragon demanded, peeking out at the wizard from between clawed fingers. "I knew it was a mistake, but her golden hair was too much for me to resist, and she knows it." He shrugged self-consciously. "Dragons are pushovers for gold, you know."
    "Come, come," the princess said to the dragon. "Won't you give me one little smile?" She scratched him behind the ears.
    The dragon shook his head. "'Rescue me,' you said. 'Save me from dying of boredom,' you said. 'Take me flying, and you'll be my lifelong friend.' Ha! More like your servant. Well, I got tired of waiting on you, and telling you over and over how beautiful you are, and my back and wings got sore from carrying you around all day. Then I saw that wizard and that prince, and I knew what was going on, and it seemed like the
perfect opportunity. I chased their fake dragon on purpose so they'd get you out of here."
    The princess pouted. "That's not very nice." She smiled. "But I forgive you." She tickled him under his chin. "Do you forgive me?"
    The huge dragon squirmed. "Yes. Now just get out of here."
    "Come on," she wheedled, "give me one little smile. One cute little dragon smile. Wizard, don't you think this is the cutest dragon you've ever seen?"
    The wizard didn't know how to answer, but luckily the mirror did. The mirror said, "Actually, he is. He's the number one, fairest-looking dragon in the land."
    The dragon's eyes popped open. "Really?"
    "I am never incorrect. And I certainly never lie."
    "What a charming mirror!" the dragon cried. "Isn't that a charming mirror? And gold, too. Whose is it?"
    "Mine," the princess purred.
    The dragon turned his large green eyes to her.
    She tipped her head demurely, so that all the dragon could see was her golden hair.
    The dragon smiled.
    The wizard picked up his hammock and whispered his magic word.
    Back in his own yard, he refastened the hammock ropes to the trees. Hopefully the princess would try to be easier to get along with, and the dragon would try to be more patient, and she and he and the mirror would be happy together.
    The wizard lay down with his face to the late-afternoon sun. And with luck the Prince of Talahandra wouldn't come looking for her but would marry the milkmaid on Farmer Seymour's farm.
    The wizard hummed to himself. If that happened, he had just the wedding present for them, something he had picked up on one of his journeys but for which he had never found a use: a single glass slipper....

A Wizard and Ghost
    The wizard was in his garden, tying pieces of string around fragments of junk metal and then nailing the flapping contraptions onto wooden stakes. Mostly he used bits of rusted armor that he'd once accepted in trade from a down-on-his-luck knight too