The fairies caught Nick with maypole ribbons, which they swiftly fashioned into a harness. "Oh look!" squealed one. "We have a clever little monkey on a string!"
Jubiliantly, they led Nick to their queen, to show him off. "See what we've done, your majesty!" they cried as one. "We've turned this young thief into a monkey! We caught him in one of our circles!"
The Queen sniffed. "A nice transformation, certainly, but...is there any poetic justice to this? Any fairy irony?"
"He thought he was nimble as a monkey..." said one fairy lamely.
The Fairy Queen rolled her eyes. "Ladies, is this the best you can do? It's...embarrassing is what it is. Fairies reserve transformations for ironic punishments, or maybe for short term pranks, but this looks like a very tight magic."
"Should we kill him then?" asked one fairy and Nick squeaked in terror.
The Fairy Queen sighed. "Injury to insult, I'm afraid. No, get rid of him, but make certain that you put a spell on him so he remembers the transformation being done by someone else, a senile witch or something. Ladies, honestly, you can do better!"
One of the fairies tapped him with her wand and Nick immediately remembered that he'd been transformed by a senile witch and only later rescued by the kindly fairy maidens.
The Fairy Queen looked at him. "Well, young thief, I can't break the witches curse--we have an understanding with them--I can let you earn a human form again if you do a good deed and bring luck to someone who's been good to the fairies." She waved her wand, transforming herself into a gypsy woman and transporting them to an alley where an old blind man stood with a mechanical organ but no monkey. "Old Gaspar, I have something for you. I have found a monkey to replace your old one!"
"Oh?" said the blind organ grinder. "But I have nothing to pay you with, my dear, as much as I might want a monkey."
"You have already paid in advance, my good man, with the tunes you've played for the fairies." She put the ribbons in his hands. "Here's your new monkey. His name is Nick. He'll bring you good fortune."
She leaned down to the monkey then and whispered, "You'll always be a monkey until you get Gaspar here a thousand gold ducats. Once you do, you can take the form of a boy again whenever you wish."