"Your rocks are getting loose, Kaliko, and you'd better have them glued in place before they hurt someone." Then he began to chuckle: "Hoo, hoo, hoo-hee, hee-heek, keek, eek!" and Kaliko sat and frowned because he realized that the little fat King was poking fun at him.
"I asked Your Majesty to come here," said the Nome King, "to show you a curious skein of golden thread which my workmen have made.

If it pleases you, I will make you a present of it." With this he held out a small skein of glittering gold twine, which was really pretty and curious.

Rinkitink took it in his hand and at once the golden thread began to unwind--so swiftly that the eye could not follow its motion.

And, as it unwound, it coiled itself around Rinkitink's body, at the same time weaving itself into a net, until it had enveloped the little King from head to foot and placed him in a prison of gold.
"Aha!" cried Kaliko; "this magic worked all right, it seems.
"Oh, did it ?" replied Rinkitink, and stepping forward he walked right through the golden net, which fell to the floor in a tangled mass.
Kaliko rubbed his chin thoughtfully and stared hard at Rinkitink.
"I understand a good bit of magic," said he, "but Your Majesty has a sort of magic that greatly puzzles me, because it is unlike anything of the sort that I ever met with before." "Now, see here, Kaliko," said Rinkitink; "if you are trying to harm me or my companions, give it up, for you will never succeed.

We're harm-proof, so to speak, and you are merely wasting your time trying to injure us.
"You may be right, and I hope I am not so impolite as to argue with a guest," returned the Nome King.