“Yes.we‘d get on better without him， in a way. Of course I could turn him into something else， or even put a spell on him which would make them not believe a word he said. But I don’t like to do that. It‘s better for them to admire him than to admire nobody.”
“Don’t they admire you？” asked Lucy.
“Oh， not me，” said the Magician. “They wouldn‘t admireme.”
“What was it you uglified them for.I mean， what theycall uglified？”
“Well， they wouldn’t do what they were told. Their work is to mind the garden and raise food.not for me， as they imagine， but for themselves. They wouldn‘t do it at all if I didn’t make them. And of course， for a garden you want water. There is a beautiful spring about half a mile away up the hill. And from that spring there flows a stream which comes right past the garden. All I asked them to do was to take their water from the stream instead of trudging up to the spring with their buckets two or three times a day and tiring themselves out besides spilling half of it on the way back. But they wouldn‘t see it. In the end they refused point blank.”
“Are they as stupid as all that？” asked Lucy.