She never lets them take a look, or choose, or haggle.

At once she says: “Are you going to buy it or not? All right, go to the Jew instead.* Go somewhere else – don’t buy anything here.”

True, sometimes the boys are annoying too.

Kaytek comes by with a pal. He looks and sees the woman is dozing.

Make her do a cartwheel, he thinks

And in an instant, she does!

She grabs at her big basket of apples to stop herself, but she and the basket end up on the ground.

The rascals are laughing.

“The old girl’s drunk!”

She isn’t even bruised, but she is embarrassed.

“That’s the first time that has ever happened to me. Like some drunk! People are laughing. It’s so embarrassing! Twenty years I’ve been trading. Year in, year out, spring, summer, fall, and winter. That’s the first time – such a disgrace!”

She very nearly bursts into tears.

Kaytek feels sorry. He pities the old woman.

He tells his pal to keep watch and make sure no one touches any of the spilled apples while he picks them up for her.

“Thank you, boy, thank you, my dear. Here, take a nice big apple for your kindness.”

And she thrusts an apple into his hand, but it’s a wormy one.

His pal makes a joke of it, but Kaytek is upset.

“Did I really have to start it up with the old woman?” he thinks.

Until one day he managed a spell that was permanent. Every evening it kept repeating. Once again, it wasn’t of any great use, but it was important proof that Kaytek really did have magic powers.

It started late one night.

At home.

In silence.

Kaytek is lying in bed and he can’t get to sleep.

He can hear his parents and Grandma breathing in their sleep.

He’s not afraid, but it’s unpleasant being the only one who’s not asleep. A person feels all alone in the darkness.

Suddenly the floor creaks, as if someone were walking around. There’s a knocking sound in the wardrobe, or behind it, as if someone were prowling about.

Until finally he feels like having a bite to eat.

If only there was something under my pillow, a bar of chocolate or something else.

That’s all he thinks. If he added any other words, he must have forgotten them.

And at once he hears a rustling noise, as if a mouse were scratching under his pillow.

He reaches under the pillow – and there it is!

A little bag. He doesn’t open it at once. Why be in a hurry? He just feels it with his fingers and tries to guess what’s inside.

Until he boldly opens the bag.

He tips the contents onto his hand – nine chocolate candies with fillings, nine big raisins, and nine almonds.

He counts them. Should he eat them or not?

He tries one.

It’s sweet and tasty. They’re just the same as the regular ones they sell in the stores.

“Why nine?”

He eats up eight of each kind, and keeps the rest to examine in the morning. The paper that the bag is made from seems stiff.

He wants to store them in his pocket because the chocolate will melt under his pillow. So he sits up and reaches for his pants. And makes the chair rattle.

“Is that you, Antek?” says Grandma, who has woken up.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Why aren’t you asleep?”

“I was.”

But in the morning, his pocket is empty.

And after that it’s the same every evening: chocolate candies, raisins and almonds.

He has tried them out and knows they’re not poison. He wants to offer them around. He leaves three, and says: Let them remain. Don’t let them disappear.

And next morning they’re still there. They haven’t gone. So he offers them around.

“Where did you get them?” asks Mom.

“My pal gave them to me.”

“Eat them yourself.”

“I’ve had some. I have a toothache.”

He doesn’t like fibbing, but what could he do?

Another spell kind of worked, and kind of didn’t.

He really wants to have a watch.

He’s often thought it would be good to have something useful instead of the little bag. But he’s afraid to spoil things by being in a hurry.

Until one day he managed it.

Once again, everyone else is asleep.

He says some phrases in Egyptian or Arabic. He says the spell and . . .

Instead of candy let there be . . . .

At once there’s the familiar rustle under his pillow, and the low ticking of a watch.

He hears it, reaches under the pillow, and starts laughing.

“Oh, how generous.”

There’s a watch, and also the little bag.

“Antek, is that you laughing?” says Grandma.

“Yes. I had such a funny dream.”

Grandma’s pleased he’s not moaning in his sleep or gnashing his teeth. She doesn’t ask any more questions.

But in the morning the watch was gone.

He tried this way and that way for several evenings in a row, but only the candy appeared.

Maybe it was better like that.

Because now he could see that it wouldn’t work, so he calmed down and could get to sleep quicker.

And he was very, very tired by now.

At home they have noticed that Kaytek has grown sad and is looking haggard.

He’s lost his appetite.