One morning, Diamond’s mother did not think he was feeling very well and when he told her that he had a little headache, she was sure of it. Now there was an aunt of his living at Sandwich and his mother decided to send him there for a change. So giving him two pence for spending money, she packed him off to Sandwich for a visit.

He soon made great friends with an old woman who kept a toy-shop there, where he spent his two pence. One hot day when he had been walking about more than he ought and was tired, he went into the toy-shop to rest. The old woman had gone out but he thought it would be all right for him to sit down on a box and rest.

All at once, he heard a gentle whirring somewhere amongst the toys. Among them was a whistle that had a wind-mill at the end which turned when you blew the whistle. No one was blowing the whistle now and yet the wind-mill was turning and turning and turning.

“What can it mean?” said Diamond out loud after watching for a few moments.

“It means me ,” answered the tiniest voice he had ever heard.

“Who are you, please?” asked Diamond.

“Well, really, I begin to be ashamed of you!” cried the voice. “You are as bad as a baby that doesn’t know its mother in a new bonnet!”

“Not quite so bad as that, dear North Wind,” said Diamond. “And I am so glad to see you. Did you sink the ship?”

“Yes.”

“And drown everybody?”

“Not quite. One boat got away with six or seven men in it.”

“And you took the others to that queer place the gentleman spoke of,” said Diamond to himself. Aloud he said, “Please, North Wind, I want you to take me to the country at the back of the north wind.”

“That is not so easy,” said North Wind and was silent so long that he thought she must have gone away. But presently she spoke again.

“It is not so easy,” she said thoughtfully. “But we shall see. We shall see. You must go home, now, my dear, for you do not seem very well.”

So Diamond went home. That afternoon, his head began to ache very much and he had to go to bed. In the middle of the night, his aunt came in to feel his forehead and to give him a drink of lemonade. Then he went off to sleep, but was awake again soon, for a burst of wind blew open his lattice window. The same moment, he found himself in a cloud of North Wind’s hair, with her beautiful face, set in it like a moon, bending over him.

“Quick! Diamond!” she said. “I have found such a chance!”

“But I am not well,” said Diamond.

“I know. But you will be better for it.”

“Very well,” said Diamond; and getting out of bed, he jumped into North Wind’s arms. Sure enough, the moment he felt her arms fold about him, he began to feel better. It was a moonless night and very dark, with glimpses of stars when the clouds parted.