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diff --git a/old/67087-0.txt b/old/67087-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index f2ff6c9..0000000 --- a/old/67087-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5596 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mopsa the Fairy, by Jean Ingelow - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Mopsa the Fairy - -Author: Jean Ingelow - -Illustrator: Dora Curtis - -Release Date: January 3, 2022 [eBook #67087] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Juliet Sutherland, Shaun Mudd and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOPSA THE FAIRY *** - - - -EVERYMAN’S LIBRARY -EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS - -FOR YOUNG PEOPLE - -MOPSA THE FAIRY -BY JEAN INGELOW - - - THIS IS NO. =619= OF =_EVERYMAN’S - LIBRARY_=. THE PUBLISHERS WILL - BE PLEASED TO SEND FREELY TO ALL - APPLICANTS A LIST OF THE PUBLISHED - AND PROJECTED VOLUMES, ARRANGED - UNDER THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS: - - - TRAVEL ❦ SCIENCE ❦ FICTION - THEOLOGY & PHILOSOPHY - HISTORY ❦ CLASSICAL - FOR YOUNG PEOPLE - ESSAYS ❦ ORATORY - POETRY & DRAMA - BIOGRAPHY - REFERENCE - ROMANCE - - [Illustration] - - - IN FOUR STYLES OF BINDING: CLOTH, - FLAT BACK, COLOURED TOP; LEATHER, - ROUND CORNERS, GILT TOP; LIBRARY - BINDING IN CLOTH, & QUARTER PIGSKIN - - LONDON: J. M. DENT & SONS, LTD. - NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. - - -[Illustration: - - THIS IS FAIRY GOLD, BOY; AND ’TWILL PROVE SO - SHAKESPEARE] - - -[Illustration: - - MOPSA _The_ FAIRY BY JEAN INGELOW - - EVERY MAN I WILL GO WITH THEE & BE THY GVIDE - - IN THY MOST NEED TO GO BY THY SIDE - - LONDON & TORONTO - PUBLISHED BY J·M·DENT - & SONS LTD & IN NEW YORK - BY E·P·DUTTON & CO] - - - FIRST ISSUE OF THIS EDITION 1912 - REPRINTED 1919 - - THE - TEMPLE PRESS LETCHWORTH - ENGLAND - - - - -INTRODUCTION - - -Jean Ingelow may be said to have begun her study of the art of -writing child-rhymes and the tales that are akin to them under Jane -and Ann Taylor. A friendship had sprung up between the families at -Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex, where the Ingelow youngsters used to -stay; and “Greedy Dick” and “Mrs. Duck, the notorious glutton,” were -among their favourite characters. In her first book, however, Jean -Ingelow showed that she had a note and a child-fantasy of her own. -They are seen in her fairy-ballad of Mimie and of the forest where the -child-fairy lived: - - “When the clouded sun goes in-- - Waiting for the thunder, - We can hear their revel din - The moss’d greensward under. - - “And I tell you, all the birds - On the branches singing - Utter to us human words - Like a silver ringing.” - -Her earliest impressions are reflected in some lines found in _Mopsa_, -which tell of a ship coming up the river with a jolly gang of towing -men. She was born at Boston, Lincolnshire, on the 17th of March 1820; -the daughter of a banker who had married a Scottish wife, Jean Kilgour. -Her grandfather owned some of the ships that came up the Boston water; -and the scenery of that fen country entered into her inner mind. Her -fine ballad, “High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire,” was one outcome -of those early days. In middle life she came to live in London, and she -wrote of the city and its shifting and unending throng; but her best -pages are those, whether verse or prose, that reflect the things of the -seashore and waterside, the “empty sky,” the “world of heather,” which -she knew as a child in Lincolnshire and Essex. Ipswich, Filey Brig -in Yorkshire, and other places are to be counted in her own history; -and some of the memories that are a picture of her early days may be -found in her long story _Off the Skelligs_, where she sketches her -birthplace, and the house by the wharves, with a room in the rooftree -overlooking the ships and a long reach of the river. - -Jean Ingelow died in Kensington in 1897; and a memorial brass is to be -seen bearing her name in the church of St. Barnabas there. - -Her works include the following stories and volumes of poems:-- - - WORKS: A Rhyming Chronicle of Incidents and Feelings, 1850; Allerton - and Dreux, 1851; Tales of Orris, 1860; Poems, with 4th edition in same - year, 1863; illustrated by Pinwell, Poynter, and others, 1866; Studies - for Stories, 1864; 5th edition, 1868; Stories Told to a Child, 1865; - another edition, 1892; Home Thoughts and Home Scenes, 1865; Little Rie - and the Rosebuds, 1867; The Suspicious Jackdaw, and the Life of John - Smith, 1867; The Grandmother’s Shoe, 1867; The Golden Opportunity, - 1867; Deborah’s Book, and The Lonely Rock, 1867; A Story of Doom, - and other Poems, 1867; The Moorish Gold and The One-Eyed Servant, - 1867; The Minnows with Silver Tails, and Two Ways of Telling a Story, - 1867; The Wild-Duck Shooter, and I Have a Right, 1867; A Sister’s - Bye-Hours, 1868; Mopsa the Fairy, 1869; another edition, 1871; The - Little Wonder-Horn, 1872; another edition, 1877; Off the Skelligs, - 1872; 2nd edition, 1879; Fated to be Free, 1873; 2nd edition, 1875; - other editions, 1876, 1879; Poems, 2nd series, 1876; Poems, new - edition in 2 vols., Vol. I. from 23rd edition, Vol. II. from 6th - edition, 1879; Sarah de Berenger, 1879; other editions, 1880, 1886; - Don John: a story, 1881; another edition, 1881; High-Tide on the Coast - of Lincolnshire 1571, 1883; Poems of the Old Days and the New, 1885; - John Jerome, 1886; Lyrical and other Poems selected from the Writings - of J. I., 1886; The Little Wonder-Box, 1887; Very Young, and Quite - Another Story, 1890; Selections, edited by Mackenzie Bell (Poets and - Poetry of the Century), 1892; The Old Man’s Prayer, 1895; Poetical - Works of J. I., 1898; Laura Richmond, 1901; The Black Polyanthus, - and Widow Maclean, 1903; Poems (Muses’ Library), 1906; Poems, with - an Introduction by Alice Meynell (Red Letter Library), 1908; Poems, - selected and arranged by Andrew Lang (Longman’s Pocket Library), 1908. - - LIFE: Short biography in Poets and Poetry of the Century edition of - Poems, by Mackenzie Bell, 1892; some Recollections of Jean Ingelow and - her Early Friends, 1901. - - - - - Dedicated - TO - MY DEAR LITTLE COUSIN - JANET HOLLWAY - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAP. PAGE - - I. ABOVE THE CLOUDS 1 - - II. CAPTAIN JACK 13 - - III. WINDING-UP TIME 22 - - IV. BEES AND OTHER FELLOW-CREATURES 37 - - V. THE PARROT IN HIS SHAWL 53 - - VI. THE TOWN WITH NOBODY IN IT 68 - - VII. HALF-A-CROWN 77 - - VIII. A STORY 93 - - IX. AFTER THE PARTY 105 - - X. MOPSA LEARNS HER LETTERS 115 - - XI. GOOD MORNING, SISTER 126 - - XII. THEY RUN AWAY FROM OLD MOTHER FATE 137 - - XIII. MELON SEEDS 149 - - XIV. REEDS AND RUSHES 161 - - XV. THE QUEEN’S WAND 171 - - XVI. FAILURE 187 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - - Headpiece 1 - - Thereupon a lantern became visible. 9 - - He saw the sun come rolling up among them. 12 - - Headpiece 13 - - “Those five grand ones with high prows ... were part of - the Spanish Armada and those open boats with the blue - sails belonged to the Romans.” 15 - - Tailpiece 21 - - “I’m willing to gee and I’m agreeable to wo.” 22 - - They would certainly have caught him if he had not been - very quick. 36 - - Headpiece 37 - - “What’ll you buy?--what’ll you buy, sir?” 43 - - Tailpiece 52 - - Headpiece 53 - - A great fight was still going on. 67 - - Headpiece 68 - - “Master, I will do my best,” answered the hound. 76 - - Clink-of-the-Hole. 77 - - The little brown man fell on his knees and said, “Oh, - a shilling and a penny.” 79 - - “Master, do you know what you have done?” 86 - - Tailpiece 92 - - Headpiece 93 - - “I should like vastly well to be her nurse,” - said the apple-woman. 104 - - Headpiece 105 - - And now her bright little head ... came as high as the - second button of his waistcoat. 114 - - The Craken 115 - - “The awful river-horses rose up and, with shrill screams, - fell upon them.” 120 - - “While crowds of the one-foot-one fairies looked on, - hanging from the boughs.” 125 - - Headpiece 126 - - “Well, you must know,” answered the apple-woman, “that - fairies cannot abide cold weather.” 133 - - “So she began to sing.” 136 - - Headpiece 137 - - “Yes, sir,” said the woman, “but where is it now?” 148 - - Headpiece 149 - - They spread out long filmy wings. 157 - - Tailpiece 160 - - Headpiece 161 - - He gave the plate a push with his elbow. 170 - - Headpiece 171 - - But still Mopsa walked on blindfold. 186 - - Headpiece 187 - - So she stooped forward as she stood on the step. 199 - - Tailpiece 208 - - -[Illustration] - - -MOPSA THE FAIRY - - - - -CHAPTER I - -ABOVE THE CLOUDS - - - “‘And can this be my own world? - ’Tis all gold and snow, - Save where scarlet waves are hurled - Down yon gulf below.’ - ’Tis thy world, ’tis my world, - City, mead, and shore, - For he that hath his own world - Hath many worlds more.’” - -A boy, whom I knew very well, was once going through a meadow, which -was full of buttercups. The nurse and his baby sister were with him; -and when they got to an old hawthorn, which grew in the hedge and was -covered with blossom, they all sat down in its shade, and the nurse -took out three slices of plum-cake, gave one to each of the children, -and kept one for herself. - -While the boy was eating, he observed that this hedge was very high -and thick, and that there was a great hollow in the trunk of the old -thorn-tree, and he heard a twittering, as if there was a nest somewhere -inside; so he thrust his head in, twisted himself round, and looked up. - -It was a very great thorn-tree, and the hollow was so large that two -or three boys could have stood upright in it; and when he got used to -the dim light in that brown, still place, he saw that a good way above -his head there was a nest--rather a curious one too, for it was as -large as a pair of blackbirds would have built--and yet it was made -of fine white wool and delicate bits of moss; in short, it was like a -goldfinch’s nest magnified three times. - -Just then he thought he heard some little voices cry, “Jack! Jack!” His -baby sister was asleep, and the nurse was reading a story book, so it -could not have been either of them who called. “I must get in here,” -said the boy. “I wish this hole was larger.” So he began to wriggle -and twist himself through, and just as he pulled in his last foot, he -looked up, and three heads which had been peeping over the edge of the -nest suddenly popped down again. - -“Those heads had no beaks, I am sure,” said Jack, and he stood on -tiptoe and poked in one of his fingers. “And the things have no -feathers,” he continued; so, the hollow being rather rugged, he managed -to climb up and look in. - -His eyes were not used yet to the dim light; but he was sure those -things were not birds--no. He poked them, and they took no notice; but -when he snatched one of them out of the nest, it gave a loud squeak, -and said, “O don’t, Jack!” as plainly as possible, upon which he was -so frightened that he lost his footing, dropped the thing, and slipped -down himself. Luckily, he was not hurt, nor the thing either; he could -see it quite plainly now: it was creeping about like rather an old -baby, and had on a little frock and pinafore. - -“It’s a fairy!” exclaimed Jack to himself. “How curious! and this must -be a fairy’s nest. Oh, how angry the old mother will be if this little -thing creeps away and gets out of the hole!” So he looked down. “Oh, -the hole is on the other side,” he said; and he turned round, but the -hole was not on the other side; it was not on any side; it must have -closed up all on a sudden, while he was looking into the nest, for, -look whichever way he would, there was no hole at all, excepting -a very little one high up over the nest, which let in a very small -sunbeam. - -Jack was very much astonished, but he went on eating his cake, and was -so delighted to see the young fairy climb up the side of the hollow and -scramble again into her nest, that he laughed heartily; upon which all -the nestlings popped up their heads, and, showing their pretty white -teeth, pointed at the slice of cake. - -“Well,” said Jack, “I may have to stay inside here for a long time, -and I have nothing to eat but this cake; however, your mouths are very -small, so you shall have a piece;” and he broke off a small piece, and -put it into the nest, climbing up to see them eat it. - -These young fairies were a long time dividing and munching the cake, -and before they had finished, it began to be rather dark, for a black -cloud came over and covered the little sunbeam. At the same time the -wind rose, and rocked the boughs, and made the old tree creak and -tremble. Then there was thunder and rain, and the little fairies were -so frightened that they got out of the nest and crept into Jack’s -pockets. One got into each waistcoat pocket, and the other two were -very comfortable, for he took out his handkerchief and made room for -them in the pocket of his jacket. - -It got darker and darker, till at last Jack could only just see the -hole, and it seemed to be a very long way off. Every time he looked at -it, it was farther off, and at last he saw a thin crescent moon shining -through it. - -“I am sure it cannot be night yet,” he said; and he took out one of the -fattest of the young fairies, and held it up towards the hole. - -“Look at that,” said he; “what is to be done now? the hole is so far -off that it’s night up there, and down here I haven’t done eating my -lunch.” - -“Well,” answered the young fairy, “then why don’t you whistle?” - -Jack was surprised to hear her speak in this sensible manner, and in -the light of the moon he looked at her very attentively. - -“When first I saw you in the nest,” said he, “you had a pinafore on, -and now you have a smart little apron, with lace round it.” - -“That is because I am much older now,” said the fairy; “we never take -such a long time to grow up as you do.” - -“But your pinafore?” said Jack. - -“Turned into an apron, of course,” replied the fairy, “just as your -velvet jacket will turn into a tail-coat when you are old enough.” - -“It won’t,” said Jack. - -“Yes, it will,” answered the fairy, with an air of superior wisdom. -“Don’t argue with me; I am older now than you are--nearly grown up in -fact. Put me into your pocket again, and whistle as loudly as you can.” - -Jack laughed, put her in, and pulled out another. “Worse and worse,” -he said; “why, this was a boy fairy, and now he has a moustache and a -sword, and looks as fierce as possible!” - -“I think I heard my sister tell you to whistle?” said this fairy, very -sternly. - -“Yes, she did,” said Jack. “Well, I suppose I had better do it.” So he -whistled very loudly indeed. - -“Why did you leave off so soon?” said another of them, peeping out. - -“Why, if you wish to know,” answered Jack, “it was because I thought -something took hold of my legs.” - -“Ridiculous child!” cried the last of the four, “how do you think you -are ever to get out, if she doesn’t take hold of your legs?” - -Jack thought he would rather have done a long-division sum than have -been obliged to whistle; but he could not help doing it when they told -him, and he felt something take hold of his legs again, and then give -him a jerk, which hoisted him on to its back, where he sat astride, and -wondered whether the thing was a pony; but it was not, for he presently -observed that it had a very slender neck, and then that it was covered -with feathers. It was a large bird, and he presently found that they -were rising towards the hole, which had become so very far off, and in -a few minutes she dashed through the hole, with Jack on her back and -all the fairies in his pockets. - -It was so dark that he could see nothing, and he twined his arms round -the bird’s neck, to hold on, upon which this agreeable fowl told him -not to be afraid, and said she hoped he was comfortable. - -“I should be more comfortable,” replied Jack, “if I knew how I could -get home again. I don’t wish to go home just yet, for I want to see -where we are flying to, but papa and mamma will be frightened if I -never do.” - -“Oh no,” replied the albatross (for she was an albatross), “you need -not be at all afraid about that. When boys go to Fairyland, their -parents never are uneasy about them.” - -“Really?” exclaimed Jack. - -“Quite true,” replied the albatross. - -“And so we are going to Fairyland?” exclaimed Jack; “how delightful!” - -“Yes,” said the albatross; “the back way, mind; we are only going the -back way. You could go in two minutes by the usual route; but these -young fairies want to go before they are summoned, and therefore you -and I are taking them.” And she continued to fly on in the dark sky for -a very long time. - -“They seem to be all fast asleep,” said Jack. - -“Perhaps they will sleep till we come to the wonderful river,” replied -the albatross; and just then she flew with a great bump against -something that met her in the air. - -“What craft is this that hangs out no light?” said a gruff voice. - -“I might ask the same question of you,” answered the albatross sullenly. - -“I’m only a poor Will-o’-the-wisp,” replied the voice, “and you know -very well that I have but a lantern to show.” Thereupon a lantern -became visible, and Jack saw by the light of it a man, who looked old -and tired, and he was so transparent that you could see through him, -lantern and all. - -“I hope I have not hurt you, William,” said the albatross; “I will -light up immediately. Good night.” - -“Good night,” answered the Will-o’-the-wisp. “I am going down as fast -as I can; the storm blew me up, and I am never easy excepting in my -native swamps.” - -Jack might have taken more notice of Will, if the albatross had not -begun to light up. She did it in this way. First, one of her eyes began -to gleam with a beautiful green light, which cast its rays far and -near, and then, when it was as bright as a lamp, the other eye began to -shine, and the light of that eye was red. In short, she was lighted up -just like a vessel at sea. - -[Illustration: THEREUPON A LANTERN BECAME VISIBLE.] - -Jack was so happy that he hardly knew which to look at first, there -really were so many remarkable things. - -“They snore,” said the albatross, “they are very fast asleep, and -before they wake I should like to talk to you a little.” - -She meant that the fairies snored, and so they did, in Jack’s pockets. - -“My name,” continued the albatross, “is Jenny. Do you think you shall -remember that? because when you are in Fairyland and want some one to -take you home again, and call ‘Jenny,’ I shall be able to come to you; -and I shall come with pleasure, for I like boys better than fairies.” - -“Thank you,” said Jack. “Oh yes, I shall remember your name, it is such -a very easy one.” - -“If it is in the night that you want me, just look up,” continued the -albatross, “and you will see a green and a red spark moving in the air; -you will then call Jenny, and I will come; but remember that I cannot -come unless you do call me.” - -“Very well,” said Jack; but he was not attending, because there was so -much to be seen. - -In the first place, all the stars excepting a few large ones were -gone, and they looked frightened; and as it got lighter, one after the -other seemed to give a little start in the blue sky and go out. And -then Jack looked down and saw, as he thought, a great country covered -with very jagged snow mountains with astonishingly sharp peaks. Here -and there he saw a very deep lake--at least he thought it was a lake; -but while he was admiring the mountains, there came an enormous crack -between two of the largest, and he saw the sun come rolling up among -them, and it seemed to be almost smothered. - -“Why, those are clouds!” exclaimed Jack; “and O how rosy they have all -turned! I thought they were mountains.” - -“Yes, they are clouds,” said the albatross; and then they turned gold -colour; and next they began to plunge and tumble, and every one of the -peaks put on a glittering crown; and next they broke themselves to -pieces, and began to drift away. In fact, Jack had been out all night, -and now it was morning. - -[Illustration: He saw the sun come rolling up among them.] - - - - -CHAPTER II - -Captain Jack - - -[Illustration] - - “It has been our lot to sail with many captains, not one of whom is - fit to be a patch on your back.”--_Letter of the Ship’s Company of - H.M.S.S. Royalist to Captain W. T. Bate._ - -All this time the albatross kept dropping down and down like a stone -till Jack was quite out of breath, and they fell or flew, whichever you -like to call it, straight through one of the great chasms which he had -thought were lakes, and he looked down as he sat on the bird’s back to -see what the world is like when you hang a good way above it at sunrise. - -It was a very beautiful sight; the sheep and lambs were still fast -asleep on the green hills, and the sea birds were asleep in long rows -upon the ledges of the cliffs, with their heads under their wings. - -“Are those young fairies awake yet?” asked the albatross. - -“As sound asleep as ever,” answered Jack; “but, Albatross, is not that -the sea which lies under us? You are a sea bird, I know, but I am not a -sea boy, and I cannot live in the water.” - -“Yes, that is the sea,” answered the albatross. “Don’t you observe that -it is covered with ships?” - -“I see boats and vessels,” answered Jack, “and all their sails are set, -but they cannot sail because there is no wind.” - -“The wind never does blow in this great bay,” said the bird; “and those -ships would all lie there becalmed till they dropped to pieces if one -of them was not wanted now and then to go up the wonderful river.” - -“But how did they come there?” asked Jack. - -[Illustration: “THOSE FIVE GRAND ONES WITH HIGH PROWS ... WERE PART OF -THE SPANISH ARMADA AND THOSE OPEN BOATS WITH THE BLUE SAILS BELONGED TO -THE ROMANS.”] - -“Some of them had captains who ill-used their cabin-boys, some -were pirate ships, and others were going out on evil errands. The -consequence was, that when they chanced to sail within this great bay -they got becalmed; the fairies came and picked all the sailors out and -threw them into the water; they then took away the flags and pennons -to make their best coats of, threw the ship-biscuits and other -provisions to the fishes, and set all the sails. Many ships which are -supposed by men to have foundered lie becalmed in this quiet sea. -Look at those five grand ones with high prows, they are moored close -together, they were part of the Spanish Armada; and those open boats -with blue sails belonged to the Romans, they sailed with Cæsar when he -invaded Britain.” - -By this time the albatross was hovering about among the vessels, making -choice of one to take Jack and the fairies up the wonderful river. - -“It must not be a large one,” she said, “for the river in some places -is very shallow.” - -Jack would have liked very much to have a fine three-master, all to -himself; but then he considered that he did not know anything about -sails and rigging, he thought it would be just as well to be contented -with whatever the albatross might choose, so he let her set him down -in a beautiful little open boat, with a great carved figure-head to -it. There he seated himself in great state, and the albatross perched -herself on the next bench, and faced him. - -“You remember my name?” asked the albatross. - -“Oh yes,” said Jack; but he was not attending--he was thinking what a -fine thing it was to have such a curious boat all to himself. - -“That’s well,” answered the bird; “then, in the next place, are those -fairies awake yet?” - -“No, they are not,” said Jack; and he took them out of his pockets, and -laid them down in a row before the albatross. - -“They are certainly asleep,” said the bird. “Put them away again, and -take care of them. Mind you don’t lose any of them, for I really don’t -know what will happen if you do. Now I have one thing more to say to -you, and that is, are you hungry?” - -“Rather,” said Jack. - -“Then,” replied the albatross, “as soon as you feel _very_ hungry, lie -down in the bottom of the boat and go to sleep. You will dream that you -see before you a roasted fowl, some new potatoes, and an apple-pie. -Mind you don’t eat too much in your dream, or you will be sorry for it -when you wake. That is all. Good-bye! I must go.” - -Jack put his arms round the neck of the bird, and hugged her; then she -spread her magnificent wings and sailed slowly away. At first he felt -very lonely, but in a few minutes he forgot that, because the little -boat began to swim so fast. - -She was not sailing, for she had no sail, and he was not rowing, for -he had no oars; so I am obliged to call her motion swimming, because -I don’t know of a better word. In less than a quarter of an hour they -passed close under the bows of a splendid three-decker, a seventy-gun -ship. The gannets who live in those parts had taken possession of her, -and she was so covered with nests that you could not have walked one -step on her deck without treading on them. The father birds were aloft -in the rigging, or swimming in the warm green sea, and they made such a -clamour when they saw Jack that they nearly woke the fairies--nearly, -but not quite, for the little things turned round in Jack’s pockets, -and sneezed, and began to snore again. - -Then the boat swam past a fine brig. Some sea fairies had just flung -her cargo overboard, and were playing at leap-frog on deck. These were -not at all like Jack’s own fairies; they were about the same height and -size as himself, and they had brown faces, and red flannel shirts and -red caps on. A large fleet of the pearly nautilus was collected close -under the vessel’s lee. The little creatures were feasting on what the -sea fairies had thrown overboard, and Jack’s boat, in its eagerness -to get on, went plunging through them so roughly that several were -capsized. Upon this the brown sea fairies looked over, and called out -angrily, “Boat ahoy!” and the boat stopped. - -“Tell that boat of yours to mind what she is about,” said the fairy -sea-captain to Jack. - -Jack touched his cap, and said, “Yes, sir,” and then called out to his -boat, “You ought to be ashamed of yourself, running down these little -live fishing-vessels so carelessly. Go at a more gentle pace.” - -So it swam more slowly; and Jack, being by this time hungry, curled -himself up in the bottom of the boat, and fell asleep. - -He dreamt directly about a fowl and some potatoes, and he ate a wing, -and then he ate a merrythought, and then somebody said to him that -he had better not eat any more, but he did, he ate another wing; and -presently an apple-pie came, and he ate some of that, and then he ate -some more, and then he immediately woke. - -“Now that bird told me not to eat too much,” said Jack, “and yet I have -done it. I never felt so full in my life,” and for more than half an -hour he scarcely noticed anything. - -At last he lifted up his head, and saw straight before him two great -brown cliffs, and between them flowed in the wonderful river. Other -rivers flow out, but this river flowed in, and took with it far into -the land dolphins, sword-fish, mullet, sunfish, and many other strange -creatures; and that is one reason why it was called the magic river, or -the wonderful river. - -At first it was rather wide, and Jack was alarmed to see what -multitudes of soldiers stood on either side to guard the banks, and -prevent any person from landing. - -He wondered how he should get the fairies on shore. However, in about -an hour the river became much narrower, and then Jack saw that the -guards were not real soldiers, but rose-coloured flamingos. There they -stood, in long regiments, among the reeds, and never stirred. They are -the only foot-soldiers the fairies have in their pay; they are very -fierce, and never allow anything but a fairy ship to come up the river. - -They guarded the banks for miles and miles, many thousands of them, -standing a little way into the water among the flags and rushes; but -at last there were no more reeds and no soldier guards, for the stream -became narrower, and flowed between such steep rocks that no one could -possibly have climbed them. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -WINDING-UP TIME - -[Illustration: “I’M WILLING TO GEE AND I’M AGREEABLE TO WO.”] - - - “‘Wake, baillie, wake! the crafts are out; - Wake!’ said the knight, ‘be quick! - For high street, bye street, over the town - They fight with poker and stick.’ - Said the squire, ‘A fight so fell was ne’er - In all thy bailliewick.’ - What said the old clock in the tower? - ‘Tick, tick, tick!’ - - “‘Wake, daughter, wake! the hour draws on; - Wake!’ quoth the dame, ‘be quick! - The meats are set, the guests are coming, - The fiddler waxing his stick.’ - She said, ‘The bridegroom waiting and waiting - To see thy face is sick.’ - What said the new clock in her bower? - ‘Tick, tick, tick!’” - -Jack looked at these hot brown rocks, first on the left bank and then -on the right, till he was quite tired; but at last the shore on the -right bank became flat, and he saw a beautiful little bay, where the -water was still, and where grass grew down to the brink. - -He was so much pleased at this change, that he cried out hastily, “Oh -how I wish my boat would swim into that bay and let me land!” He had no -sooner spoken than the boat altered her course, as if somebody had been -steering her, and began to make for the bay as fast as she could go. - -“How odd!” thought Jack. “I wonder whether I ought to have spoken; for -the boat certainly did not intend to come into this bay. However, I -think I will let her alone now, for I certainly do wish very much to -land here.” - -As they drew towards the strand the water got so shallow that you could -see crabs and lobsters walking about at the bottom. At last the boat’s -keel grated on the pebbles; and just as Jack began to think of jumping -on shore, he saw two little old women approaching and gently driving a -white horse before them. - -The horse had panniers, one on each side; and when his feet were in the -water he stood still; and Jack said to one of the old women, “Will you -be so kind as to tell me whether this is Fairyland?” - -“What does he say?” asked one old woman of the other. - -“I asked if this was Fairyland,” repeated Jack, for he thought the -first old woman might have been deaf. She was very handsomely dressed -in a red satin gown, and did not look in the least like a washerwoman, -though it afterwards appeared that she was one. - -“He says ‘Is this Fairyland?’” she replied; and the other, who had a -blue satin cloak, answered, “Oh, does he?” and then they began to empty -the panniers of many small blue, and pink, and scarlet shirts, and -coats, and stockings; and when they had made them into two little heaps -they knelt down and began to wash them in the river, taking no notice -of him whatever. - -Jack stared at them. They were not much taller than himself, and they -were not taking the slightest care of their handsome clothes; then he -looked at the old white horse, who was hanging his head over the lovely -clear water with a very discontented air. - -At last the blue washerwoman said, “I shall leave off now; I’ve got a -pain in my works.” - -“Do,” said the other. “We’ll go home and have a cup of tea.” Then she -glanced at Jack, who was still sitting in the boat, and said, “Can you -strike?” - -“I can if I choose,” replied Jack, a little astonished at this speech. -And the red and blue washerwomen wrung out the clothes, put them again -into the panniers, and, taking the old horse by the bridle, began -gently to lead him away. - -“I have a great mind to land,” thought Jack. “I should not wonder at -all if this is Fairyland. So as the boat came here to please me, I -shall ask it to stay where it is, in case I should want it again.” - -So he sprang ashore, and said to the boat, “Stay just where you are, -will you?” and he ran after the old women, calling to them: - -“Is there any law to prevent my coming into your country?” - -“Wo!” cried the red-coated old woman, and the horse stopped, while the -blue-coated woman repeated, “Any law? No, not that I know of; but if -you are a stranger here you had better look out.” - -“Why?” asked Jack. - -“You don’t suppose, do you,” she answered, “that our Queen will wind up -strangers?” - -While Jack was wondering what she meant, the other said: - -“I shouldn’t wonder if he goes eight days. Gee!” and the horse went on. - -“No, wo!” said the other. - -“No, no. Gee! I tell you,” cried the first. - -Upon this, to Jack’s intense astonishment, the old horse stopped, and -said, speaking through his nose: - -“Now, then, which is it to be? I’m willing to gee, and I’m agreeable to -wo; but what’s a fellow to do when you say them both together?” - -“Why, he talks!” exclaimed Jack. - -“It’s because he’s got a cold in his head,” observed one of the -washerwomen; “he always talks when he’s got a cold, and there’s no -pleasing him; whatever you say, he’s not satisfied. Gee, Boney, do!” - -“Gee it is, then,” said the horse, and began to jog on. - -“He spoke again!” said Jack, upon which the horse laughed, and Jack was -quite alarmed. - -“It appears that your horses don’t talk?” observed the blue-coated -woman. - -“Never,” answered Jack; “they can’t.” - -“You mean they won’t,” observed the old horse; and though he spoke the -words of mankind, it was not in a voice like theirs. Still Jack felt -that his was just the natural tone for a horse, and that it did not -arise only from the length of his nose. “You’ll find out some day, -perhaps,” he continued, “whether horses can talk or not.” - -“Shall I?” said Jack, very earnestly. - -“They’ll TELL,” proceeded the white horse. “I wouldn’t be you when they -tell how you’ve used them.” - -“Have you been ill used?” said Jack, in an anxious tone. - -“Yes, yes, of course he has,” one of the women broke in; “but he has -come here to get all right again. This is a very wholesome country for -horses; isn’t it, Boney?” - -“Yes,” said the horse. - -“Well, then, jog on, there’s a dear,” continued the old woman. “Why, -you will be young again soon, you know--young, and gamesome, and -handsome; you’ll be quite a colt by and by, and then we shall set you -free to join your companions in the happy meadows.” - -The old horse was so comforted by this kind speech, that he pricked up -his ears and quickened his pace considerably. - -“He was shamefully used,” observed one washerwoman. “Look at him, how -lean he is! You can see all his ribs.” - -“Yes,” said the other, as if apologising for the poor old horse. “He -gets low-spirited when he thinks of all he has gone through; but he is -a vast deal better already than he was. He used to live in London; his -master always carried a long whip to beat him with, and never spoke -civilly to him.” - -“London!” exclaimed Jack; “why that is in my country. How did the horse -get here?” - -“That’s no business of yours,” answered one of the women. “But I can -tell you he came because he was wanted, which is more than you are.” - -“You let him alone,” said the horse in a querulous tone. “I don’t bear -any malice.” - -“No; he has a good disposition has Boney,” observed the red old woman. -“Pray, are you a boy?” - -“Yes,” said Jack. - -“A real boy, that wants no winding up?” inquired the old woman. - -“I don’t know what you mean,” answered Jack; “but I am a real boy, -certainly.” - -“Ah!” she replied. “Well, I thought you were, by the way Boney spoke -to you. How frightened you must be! I wonder what will be done to all -your people for driving, and working, and beating so many beautiful -creatures to death every year that comes? They’ll have to pay for it -some day, you may depend.” - -Jack was a little alarmed, and answered that he had never been unkind -himself to horses, and he was glad that Boney bore no malice. - -“They worked him, and often drove him about all night in the miserable -streets, and never let him have so much as a canter in a green field,” -said one of the women; “but he’ll be all right now, only he has to -begin at the wrong end.” - -“What do you mean?” said Jack. - -“Why, in this country,” answered the old woman, “they begin by being -terribly old and stiff, and they seem miserable and jaded at first, -but by degrees they get young again, as you heard me reminding him.” - -“Indeed,” said Jack; “and do you like that?” - -“It has nothing to do with me,” she answered. “We are only here to take -care of all the creatures that men have ill used. While they are sick -and old, which they are when first they come to us--after they are -dead, you know--we take care of them, and gradually bring them up to be -young and happy again.” - -“This must be a very nice country to live in then,” said Jack. - -“For horses it is,” said the old lady, significantly. - -“Well,” said Jack, “it does seem very full of haystacks certainly, and -all the air smells of fresh grass.” - -At this moment they came to a beautiful meadow, and the old horse -stopped, and, turning to the blue-coated woman, said, “Faxa, I think I -could fancy a handful of clover.” Upon this Faxa snatched Jack’s cap -off his head, and in a very active manner jumped over a little ditch, -and gathering some clover, presently brought it back full, handing it -to the old horse with great civility. - -“You shouldn’t be in such a hurry,” observed the old horse; “your -weights will be running down some day, if you don’t mind.” - -“It’s all zeal,” observed the red-coated woman. - -Just then a little man, dressed like a groom, came running up, out of -breath. “Oh, here you are, Dow!” he exclaimed to the red-coated woman. -“Come along, will you? Lady Betty wants you; it’s such a hot day, and -nobody, she says, can fan her so well as you can.” - -The red-coated woman, without a word, went off with the groom, and Jack -thought he would go with them, for this Lady Betty could surely tell -him whether the country was called Fairyland, or whether he must get -into his boat and go farther. He did not like either to hear the way in -which Faxa and Dow talked about their works and their weights; so he -asked Faxa to give him his cap, which she did, and he heard a curious -sort of little ticking noise as he came close to her, which startled -him. - -“Oh, this must be Fairyland, I am sure,” thought Jack, “for in my -country our pulses beat quite differently from that.” - -“Well,” said Faxa, rather sharply, “do you find any fault with the way -I go?” - -“No,” said Jack, a little ashamed of having listened. “I think you walk -beautifully; your steps are so regular.” - -“She’s machine-made,” observed the old horse, in a melancholy voice, -and with a deep sigh. “In the largest magnifying-glass you’ll hardly -find the least fault with her chain. She’s not like the goods they turn -out in Clerkenwell.” - -Jack was more and more startled, and so glad to get his cap and run -after the groom and Dow to find Lady Betty, that he might be with -ordinary human beings again; but when he got up to them, he found that -Lady Betty was a beautiful brown mare! She was lying in a languid and -rather affected attitude, with a load of fresh hay before her, and two -attendants, one of whom stood holding a parasol over her head, and the -other was fanning her. - -“I’m so glad you are come, my good Dow,” said the brown mare. “Don’t -you think I am strong enough to-day to set off for the happy meadows?” - -“Well,” said Dow, “I’m afraid not yet; you must remember that it is of -no use your leaving us till you have quite got over the effects of the -fall.” - -Just then Lady Betty observed Jack, and said, “Take that boy away; he -reminds me of a jockey.” - -The attentive groom instantly started forward, but Jack was too nimble -for him; he ran and ran with all his might, and only wished he had -never left the boat. But still he heard the groom behind him; and in -fact the groom caught him at last, and held him so fast that struggling -was of no use at all. - -“You young rascal!” he exclaimed, as he recovered breath. “How you do -run! It’s enough to break your mainspring.” - -“What harm did I do?” asked Jack. “I was only looking at the mare.” - -“Harm!” exclaimed the groom; “harm, indeed! Why, you reminded her of -a jockey. It’s enough to hold her back, poor thing!--and we trying so -hard, too, to make her forget what a cruel end she came to in the old -world.” - -“You need not hold me so tightly,” said Jack. “I shall not run away -again; but,” he added, “if this is Fairyland, it is not half such a -nice country as I expected.” - -“Fairyland!” exclaimed the groom, stepping back with surprise. “Why, -what made you think of such a thing? This is only one of the border -countries, where things are set right again that people have caused to -go wrong in the world. The world, you know, is what men and women call -their own home.” - -“I know,” said Jack; “and that’s where I came from.” Then, as the groom -seemed no longer to be angry, he went on: “And I wish you would tell me -about Lady Betty.” - -“She was a beautiful fleet creature, of the racehorse breed,” said the -groom; “and she won silver cups for her master, and then they made her -run a steeplechase, which frightened her, but still she won it; and -then they made her run another, and she cleared some terribly high -hurdles, and many gates and ditches, till she came to an awful one, -and at first she would not take it, but her rider spurred and beat her -till she tried. It was beyond her powers, and she fell and broke her -forelegs. Then they shot her. After she had died that miserable death, -we had her here, to make her all right again.” - -“Is this the only country where you set things right?” asked Jack. - -“Certainly not,” answered the groom; “they lie about in all directions. -Why, you might wander for years, and never come to the end of this one.” - -“I am afraid I shall not find the one I am looking for,” said Jack, “if -your countries are so large.” - -“I don’t think our world is much larger than yours,” answered the -groom. “But come along; I hear the bell, and we are a good way from the -palace.” - -Jack, in fact, heard the violent ringing of a bell at some distance; -and when the groom began to run, he ran beside him, for he thought -he should like to see the palace. As they ran, people gathered from -all sides--fields, cottages, mills--till at last there was a little -crowd, among whom Jack saw Dow and Faxa, and they were all making for -a large house, the wide door of which was standing open. Jack stood -with the crowd, and peeped in. There was a woman sitting inside upon a -rocking-chair, a tall, large woman, with a gold-coloured gown on, and -beside her stood a table, covered with things that looked like keys. - -“What is that woman doing?” said he to Faxa, who was standing close to -him. - -“Winding us up, to be sure,” answered Faxa. “You don’t suppose, surely, -that we can go for ever?” - -“Extraordinary!” said Jack. “Then are you wound up every evening, like -watches?” - -“Unless we have misbehaved ourselves,” she answered; “and then she lets -us run down.” - -“And what then?” - -“What then?” repeated Faxa, “why, then we have to stop and stand -against a wall, till she is pleased to forgive us, and let our friends -carry us in to be set going again.” - -Jack looked in, and saw the people pass in and stand close by the -woman. One after the other she took by the chin with her left hand, and -with her right hand found a key that pleased her. It seemed to Jack -that there was a tiny keyhole in the back of their heads, and that she -put the key in and wound them up. - -“You must take your turn with the others,” said the groom. - -“There’s no keyhole in my head,” said Jack; “besides, I do not want any -woman to wind me up.” - -“But you must do as others do,” he persisted; “and if you have no -keyhole, our Queen can easily have one made, I should think.” - -“Make one in my head!” exclaimed Jack. “She shall do no such thing.” - -“We shall see,” said Faxa quietly. And Jack was so frightened that he -set off, and ran back towards the river with all his might. Many of the -people called to him to stop, but they could not run after him, because -they wanted winding up. However, they would certainly have caught him -if he had not been very quick, for before he got to the river he heard -behind him the footsteps of those who had been first attended to by -the Queen, and he had only just time to spring into the boat when they -reached the edge of the water. - -No sooner was he on board than the boat swung round, and got again into -the middle of the stream; but he could not feel safe till not only was -there a long reach of water between him and the shore, but till he had -gone so far down the river that the beautiful bay had passed out of -sight, and the sun was going down. By this time he began to feel very -tired and sleepy; so, having looked at his fairies, and found that they -were all safe and fast asleep, he laid down in the bottom of the boat, -and fell into a doze, and then into a dream. - -[Illustration: They would certainly have caught him if he had not been -very quick.] - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -BEES AND OTHER FELLOW-CREATURES - -[Illustration] - - - “The dove laid some little sticks, - Then began to coo; - The gnat took his trumpet up - To play the day through; - The pie chattered soft and long-- - But that she always does; - The bee did all he had to do, - And only said ‘Buzz.’” - -When Jack at length opened his eyes, he found that it was night, for -the full moon was shining; but it was not at all a dark night, for he -could see distinctly some black birds, that looked like ravens. They -were sitting in a row on the edge of the boat. - -Now that he had fairies in his pockets, he could understand bird-talk, -and he heard one of these ravens saying, “There is no meat so tender; I -wish I could pick their little eyes out.” - -“Yes,” said another, “fairies are delicate eating indeed. We must speak -Jack fair if we want to get at them.” And she heaved up a deep sigh. - -Jack lay still, and thought he had better pretend to be asleep; but -they soon noticed that his eyes were open, and one of them presently -walked up his leg and bowed, and asked if he was hungry. - -Jack said, “No.” - -“No more am I,” replied the raven, “not at all hungry.” Then she hopped -off his leg, and Jack sat up. - -“And how are the sweet fairies that my young master is taking to their -home?” asked another of the ravens. “I hope they are safe in my young -masters pockets?” - -Jack felt in his pockets. Yes, they were all safe; but he did not take -any of them out, lest the ravens should snatch at them. - -“Eh?” continued the raven, pretending to listen; “did this dear young -gentleman say that the fairies were asleep?” - -“It doesn’t amuse me to talk about fairies,” said Jack; “but if you -would explain some of the things in this country that I cannot make -out, I should be very glad.” - -“What things?” asked the blackest of the ravens. - -“Why,” said Jack, “I see a full moon lying down there among the -water-flags, and just going to set, and there is a half-moon overhead -plunging among those great grey clouds, and just this moment I saw a -thin crescent moon peeping out between the branches of that tree.” - -“Well,” said all the ravens at once, “did the young master never see a -crescent moon in the men and women’s world?” - -“Oh yes,” said Jack. - -“Did he never see a full moon?” asked the ravens. - -“Yes, of course,” said Jack; “but they are the same moon. I could never -see all three of them at the same time.” - -The ravens were very much surprised at this, and one of them said: - -“If my young master did not see the moons it must have been because he -didn’t look. Perhaps my young master slept in a room, and had only one -window; if so, he couldn’t see all the sky at once.” - -“I tell you, Raven,” said Jack, laughing, “that I KNOW there is never -more than one moon in my country, and sometimes there is no moon at -all!” - -Upon this all the ravens hung down their heads, and looked very much -ashamed; for there is nothing that birds hate so much as to be laughed -at, and they believed that Jack was saying this to mock them, and that -he knew what they had come for. So first one and then another hopped -to the other end of the boat and flew away, till at last there was only -one left, and she appeared to be out of spirits, and did not speak -again till he spoke to her. - -“Raven,” said Jack, “there’s something very cold and slippery lying at -the bottom of the boat. I touched it just now, and I don’t like it at -all.” - -“It’s a water-snake,” said the raven, and she stooped and picked up a -long thing with her beak, which she threw out, and then looked over. -“The water swarms with them, wicked, murderous creatures; they smell -the young fairies, and they want to eat them.” - -Jack was so thrown off his guard that he snatched one fairy out, just -to make sure that it was safe. It was the one with the moustache; and, -alas! in one instant the raven flew at it, got it out of his hand, and -pecked off its head before it had time to wake or Jack to rescue it. -Then, as she slowly rose, she croaked, and said to Jack, “You’ll catch -it for this, my young master!” and she flew to the bough of a tree, -where she finished eating the fairy, and threw his little empty coat -into the river. - -On this Jack began to cry bitterly, and to think what a foolish boy -he had been. He was the more sorry because he did not even know that -poor little fellow’s name. But he had heard the others calling by -name to their companions, and very grand names they were too. One was -Jovinian--he was a very fierce-looking gentleman; the other two were -Roxaletta and Mopsa. - -Presently, however, Jack forgot to be unhappy, for two of the moons -went down, and then the sun rose, and he was delighted to find that -however many moons there might be, there was only one sun, even in the -country of the wonderful river. - -So on and on they went; but the river was very wide, and the waves were -boisterous. On the right brink was a thick forest of trees, with such -heavy foliage that a little way off they looked like a bank, green and -smooth and steep; but as the light became clearer, Jack could see here -and there the great stems, and see creatures like foxes, wild boars, -and deer, come stealing down to drink in the river. - -It was very hot here; not at all like the spring weather he had left -behind. And as the low sunbeams shone into Jack’s face he said hastily, -without thinking of what would occur, “I wish I might land among those -lovely glades on the left bank.” - -No sooner said than the boat began to make for the left bank, and the -nearer they got towards it the more beautiful it became; but also the -more stormy were the reaches of water they had to traverse. - -A lovely country indeed! It sloped gently down to the water’s edge, -and beautiful trees were scattered over it, soft mossy grass grew -everywhere, great old laburnum trees stretched their boughs down in -patches over the water, and higher up camellias, almost as large as -hawthorns, grew together and mingled their red and white flowers. - -The country was not so open as a park, it was more like a half-cleared -woodland; but there was a wide space just where the boat was steering -for, that had no trees, only a few flowering shrubs. Here groups of -strange-looking people were bustling about, and there were shrill fifes -sounding, and drums. - -Farther back he saw rows of booths or tents under the shade of the -trees. - -In another place some people dressed like gipsies had made fires of -sticks just at the skirts of the woodland, and were boiling their pots. -Some of these had very gaudy tilted carts, hung all over with goods, -such as baskets, brushes, mats, little glasses, pottery, and beads. - -It seemed to be a kind of fair, to which people had gathered from all -parts; but there was not one house to be seen. All the goods were -either hung upon the trees or collected in strange-looking tents. - -The people were not all of the same race; indeed, he thought the only -human beings were the gipsies, for the folks who had tents were no -taller than himself. - -[Illustration: “WHAT’LL YOU BUY?--WHAT’LL YOU BUY, SIR?”] - -How hot it was that morning! and as the boat pushed itself into a -little creek, and made its way among the beds of yellow and purple -iris which skirted the brink, what a crowd of dragonflies and large -butterflies rose from them! - -“Stay where you are!” cried Jack to the boat; and at that instant such -a splendid moth rose slowly, that he sprang on shore after it, and -quite forgot the fair and the people in his desire to follow it. - -The moth settled on a great red honey-flower, and he stole up to look -at it. As large as a swallow, it floated on before him. Its wings were -nearly black, and they had spots of gold on them. - -When it rose again Jack ran after it, till he found himself close to -the rows of tents where the brown people stood; and they began to -cry out to him, “What’ll you buy? what’ll you buy, sir?” and they -crowded about him, so that he soon lost sight of the moth, and forgot -everything else in his surprise at the booths. - -They were full of splendid things--clocks and musical boxes, strange -china ornaments, embroidered slippers, red caps, and many kinds of -splendid silks and small carpets. In other booths were swords and -dirks, glittering with jewels; and the chatter of the people when they -talked together was not in a language that Jack could understand. - -Some of the booths were square, and evidently made of common canvas, -for when you went into them and the sun shone you could distinctly see -the threads. - -But scattered a little farther on in groups were some round tents, -which were far more curious. They were open on all sides, and consisted -only of a thick canopy overhead, which was supported by one beautiful -round pillar in the middle. - -Outside, the canopy was white or brownish; but when Jack stood under -these tents, he saw that they were lined with splendid flutings of -brown or pink silk: what looked like silk, at least, for it was -impossible to be sure whether these were real tents or gigantic -mushrooms. - -They varied in size, also, as mushrooms do, and in shape: some were -large enough for twenty people to stand under them, and had flat tops -with a brown lining; others had dome-shaped roofs; these were lined -with pink, and would only shelter six or seven. - -The people who sold in these tents were as strange as their neighbours; -each had a little high cap on his head, in shape just like a bee-hive, -and it was made of straw, and had a little hole in front. In fact, Jack -very soon saw bees flying in and out, and it was evident that these -people had their honey made on the premises. They were chiefly selling -country produce. They had cheeses so large as to reach to their waists, -and the women trundled them along as boys do their hoops. They sold -a great many kinds of seed too, in wooden bowls, and cakes and good -things to eat, such as gilt gingerbread. Jack bought some of this, and -found it very nice indeed. But when he took out his money to pay for -it, the little man looked rather strangely at it, and turned it over -with an air of disgust. Then Jack saw him hand it to his wife, who also -seemed to dislike it; and presently Jack observed that they followed -him about, first on one side, then on the other. At last, the little -woman slipped her hand into his pocket, and Jack, putting his hand in -directly, found his sixpence had been returned. - -“Why, you’ve given me back my money!” he said. - -The little woman put her hands behind her. “I do not like it,” she -said; “it’s dirty; at least, it’s not new.” - -“No, it’s not new,” said Jack, a good deal surprised, “but it is a good -sixpence.” - -“The bees don’t like it,” continued the little woman. “They like things -to be neat and new, and that sixpence is bent.” - -“What shall I give you then?” said Jack. - -The good little woman laughed and blushed. “This young gentleman has a -beautiful whistle round his neck,” she observed, politely, but did not -ask for it. - -Jack had a dog-whistle, so he took it off and gave it to her. - -“Thank you for the bees,” she said. “They love to be called home when -we’ve collected flowers for them.” - -So she made a pretty little curtsey, and went away to her customers. - -There were some very strange creatures also, about the same height as -Jack, who had no tents, and seemed there to buy, not to sell. Yet they -looked poorer than the other folks and they were also very cross and -discontented; nothing pleased them. Their clothes were made of moss, -and their mantles of feathers; and they talked in a queer whistling -tone of voice, and carried their skinny little children on their backs -and on their shoulders. - -They were treated with great respect by the people in the tents; and -when Jack asked his friend to whom he had given the whistle what they -were, and where they got so much money as they had, she replied that -they lived over the hills, and were afraid to come in their best -clothes. They were rich and powerful at home, and they came shabbily -dressed, and behaved humbly, lest their enemies should envy them. It -was very dangerous, she said, to fairies to be envied. - -Jack wanted to listen to their strange whistling talk, but he could -not for the noise and cheerful chattering of the brown folks, and more -still for the screaming and talking of parrots. - -Among the goods were hundreds of splendid gilt cages, which were hung -by long gold chains from the trees. Each cage contained a parrot and -his mate, and they all seemed to be very unhappy indeed. - -The parrot could talk, and they kept screaming to the discontented -women to buy things for them, and trying very hard to attract attention. - -One old parrot made himself quite conspicuous by these efforts. He -flung himself against the wires of his cage, he squalled, he screamed, -he knocked the floor with his beak, till Jack and one of the customers -came running up to see what was the matter. - -“What do you make such a fuss for?” cried the discontented woman. -“You’ve set your cage swinging with knocking yourself about; and what -good does that do? I cannot break the spell and open it for you.” - -“I know that,” answered the parrot, sobbing; “but it hurts my feelings -so that you should take no notice of me now that I have come down in -the world.” - -“Yes,” said the parrot’s mate, “it hurts our feelings.” - -“I haven’t forgotten you,” answered the woman, more crossly than ever; -“I was buying a measure of maize for you when you began to make such a -noise.” - -Jack thought this was the queerest conversation he had ever heard in -his life, and he was still more surprised when the bird answered: - -“I would much rather you would buy me a pocket-handkerchief. Here we -are, shut up, without a chance of getting out, and with nobody to pity -us; and we can’t even have the comfort of crying, because we’ve got -nothing to wipe our eyes with.” - -“But at least,” replied the woman, “you CAN cry now if you please, and -when you had your other face you could not.” - -“Buy me a handkerchief,” sobbed the parrot. - -“I can’t afford both,” whined the cross woman, “and I’ve paid now for -the maize.” So saying, she went back to the tent to fetch her present -to the parrots, and as their cage was still swinging Jack put out his -hand to steady it for them, and the instant he did so they became -perfectly silent, and all the other parrots on that tree, who had been -flinging themselves about in their cages, left off screaming and became -silent too. - -The old parrot looked very cunning. His cage hung by such a long gold -chain that it was just on a level with Jack’s face, and so many odd -things had happened that day that it did not seem more odd than usual -to hear him say, in a tone of great astonishment: - -“It’s a BOY, if ever there was one!” - -“Yes,” said Jack, “I’m a boy.” - -“You won’t go yet, will you?” said the parrot. - -“No, don’t,” said a great many other parrots. Jack agreed to stay a -little while, upon which they all thanked him. - -“I had no notion you were a boy till you touched my cage,” said the old -parrot. - -Jack did not know how this could have told him, so he only answered, -“Indeed!” - -“I’m a fairy,” observed the parrot, in a confidential tone. “We are -imprisoned here by our enemies the gipsies.” - -“So we are,” answered a chorus of other parrots. - -“I’m sorry for that,” replied Jack. “I’m friends with the fairies.” - -“Don’t tell,” said the parrot, drawing a film over his eyes, and -pretending to be asleep. At that moment his friend in the moss -petticoat and feather cloak came up with a little measure of maize, and -poured it into the cage. - -“Here, neighbour,” she said; “I must say good-bye now, for the gipsy is -coming this way, and I want to buy some of her goods.” - -“Well, thank you,” answered the parrot, sobbing again; “but I could -have wished it had been a pocket-handkerchief.” - -“I’ll lend you my handkerchief,” said Jack. “Here!” And he drew it out -and pushed it between the wires. - -The parrot and his wife were in a great hurry to get Jack’s -handkerchief. They pulled it in very hastily; but instead of using it -they rolled it up into a ball, and the parrot-wife tucked it under her -wing. - -“It makes me tremble all over,” said she, “to think of such good luck.” - -“I say!” observed the parrot to Jack, “I know all about it now. You’ve -got some of my people in your pockets--not of my own tribe, but -fairies.” - -By this Jack was sure that the parrot really was a fairy himself, and -he listened to what he had to say the more attentively. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -The Parrot in his Shawl - -[Illustration] - - - “That handkerchief - Did an Egyptian to my mother give: - She was a charmer, and could almost read - The thoughts of people.”--_Othello._ - -“That gipsy woman who is coming with her cart,” said the parrot, “is a -fairy too, and very malicious. It was she and others of her tribe who -caught us and put us into these cages, for they are more powerful than -we. Mind you do not let her allure you into the woods, nor wheedle you -or frighten you into giving her any of those fairies.” - -“No,” said Jack; “I will not.” - -“She sold us to the brown people,” continued the parrot. “Mind you do -not buy anything of her, for your money in her palm would act as a -charm against you.” - -“She has a baby,” observed the parrot-wife, scornfully. - -“Yes, a baby,” repeated the old parrot; “and I hope by means of that -baby to get her driven away, and perhaps get free myself. I shall try -to put her in a passion. Here she comes.” - -There she was indeed, almost close at hand. She had a little cart; her -goods were hung all about it, and a small horse drew it slowly on, and -stopped when she got a customer. - -Several gipsy children were with her, and as the people came running -together over the grass to see her goods, she sang a curious kind of -song, which made them wish to buy them. - -Jack turned from the parrot’s cage as she came up. He had heard her -singing a little way off, and now, before she began again, he felt that -already her searching eyes had found him out, and taken notice that he -was different from the other people. - -When she began to sing her selling song, he felt a most curious -sensation. He felt as if there were some cobwebs before his face, -and he put up his hand as if to clear them away. There were no real -cobwebs, of course; and yet he again felt as if they floated from the -gipsy-woman to him, like gossamer threads, and attracted him towards -her. So he gazed at her, and she at him, till Jack began to forget how -the parrot had warned him. - -He saw her baby too, wondered whether it was heavy for her to carry, -and wished he could help her. I mean, he saw that she had a baby on her -arm. It was wrapped in a shawl, and had a handkerchief over its face. -She seemed very fond of it, for she kept hushing it; and Jack softly -moved nearer and nearer to the cart, till the gipsy-woman smiled, and -suddenly began to sing: - - “My good man--he’s an old, old man-- - And my good man got a fall, - To buy me a bargain so fast he ran - When he heard the gipsies call: - ‘Buy, buy brushes, - Baskets wrought o’ rushes. - Buy them, buy them, take them, try them, - Buy, dames all.’ - - “My old man, he has money and land, - And a young, young wife am I. - Let him put the penny in my white hand - When he hears the gipsies cry: - ‘Buy, buy laces, - Veils to screen your faces. - Buy them, buy them, take and try them, - Buy, maids, buy.’” - -When the gipsy had finished her song, Jack felt as if he was covered -all over with cobwebs; but he could not move away, and he did not mind -them now. All his wish was to please her, and get close to her; so when -she said, in a soft wheedling voice, “What will you please to buy, -my pretty gentleman?” he was just going to answer that he would buy -anything she recommended, when, to his astonishment and displeasure, -for he thought it very rude, the parrot suddenly burst into a violent -fit of coughing, which made all the customers stare. “That’s to clear -my throat,” he said, in a most impertinent tone of voice; and then -he began to beat time with his foot, and sing, or rather scream out, -an extremely saucy imitation of the gipsy’s song, and all his parrot -friends in the other cages joined in the chorus. - - “My fair lady’s a dear, dear lady-- - I walked by her side to woo. - In a garden alley, so sweet and shady, - She answered, ‘I love not you, - John, John Brady,’ - Quoth my dear lady, - ‘Pray now, pray now, go your way now, - Do, John, do!’” - -At first the gipsy did not seem to know where that mocking song came -from, but when she discovered that it was her prisoner, the old parrot, -who was thus daring to imitate her, she stood silent and glared at -him, and her face was almost white with rage. - -When he came to the end of the verse he pretended to burst into a -violent fit of sobbing and crying, and screeched out to his wife, -“Mate! mate! hand up my handkerchief. Oh! oh! it’s so affecting, this -song is.” - -Upon this the other parrot pulled Jack’s handkerchief from under her -wing, hobbled up, and began, with a great show of zeal, to wipe his -horny beak with it. But this was too much for the gipsy; she took a -large brush from her cart, and flung it at the cage with all her might. - -This set it violently swinging backwards and forwards, but did not stop -the parrot, who screeched out, “How delightful it is to be swung!” And -then he began to sing another verse in the most impudent tone possible, -and with a voice that seemed to ring through Jack’s head, and almost -pierce it. - - “Yet my fair lady’s my own, own lady, - For I passed another day; - While making her moan, she sat all alone, - And thus and thus did she say: - ‘John, John Brady,’ - Quoth my dear lady, - ‘Do now, do now, once more woo now, - Pray, John, pray!’” - -“It’s beautiful!” screeched the parrot-wife, “and so ap-pro-pri-ate.” -Jack was delighted when she managed slowly to say this long word -with her black tongue, and he burst out laughing. In the meantime a -good many of the brown people came running together, attracted by the -noise of the parrots and the rage of the gipsy, who flung at his cage, -one after the other, all the largest things she had in her cart. But -nothing did the parrot any harm; the more violently his cage swung, the -louder he sang, till at last the wicked gipsy seized her poor little -young baby, who was lying in her arms, rushed frantically at the cage -as it flew swiftly through the air towards her, and struck at it with -the little creature’s head. “Oh, you cruel, cruel woman!” cried Jack, -and all the small mothers who were standing near with their skinny -children on their shoulders screamed out with terror and indignation; -but only for one instant, for the handkerchief flew off that had -covered its face, and was caught in the wires of the cage, and all the -people saw that it was not a real baby at all, but a bundle of clothes, -and its head was a turnip. - -Yes, a turnip! You could see that as plainly as possible, for though -the green leaves had been cut off, their stalks were visible through -the lace cap that had been tied on it. - -Upon this all the crowd pressed closer, throwing her baskets, and -brushes, and laces, and beads at the gipsy, and calling out, “We will -have none of your goods, you false woman! Give us back our money, or we -will drive you out of the fair. You’ve stuck a stick into a turnip, and -dressed it up in baby clothes. You’re a cheat! a cheat!” - -“My sweet gentlemen, my kind ladies,” began the gipsy; but baskets and -brushes flew at her so fast that she was obliged to sit down on the -grass and hold up the sham baby to screen her face. - -While this was going on, Jack felt that the cobwebs which had seemed -to float about his face were all gone; he did not care at all any more -about the gipsy, and began to watch the parrots with great attention. - -He observed that when the handkerchief stuck between the cage wires, -the parrots caught it, and drew it inside; and then Jack saw the -cunning old bird himself lay it on the floor, fold it crosswise like a -shawl, and put it on his wife. - -Then she jumped upon the perch, and held it with one foot, looking -precisely like an old lady with a parrot’s head. Then he folded Jack’s -handkerchief in the same way, put it on, and got upon the perch beside -his wife, screaming out, in his most piercing tone: - -“I like shawls; they’re so becoming.” - -Now the gipsy did not care at all what those inferior people thought of -her, and she was calmly counting out their money, to return it; but -she was very desirous to make Jack forget her behaviour, and had begun -to smile again, and tell him she had only been joking, when the parrot -spoke, and, looking up, she saw the two birds sitting side by side, and -the parrot-wife was screaming in her mate’s ear, though neither of them -was at all deaf: - -“If Jack lets her allure him into the woods, he’ll never come out -again. She’ll hang him up in a cage, as she did us. I say, how does my -shawl fit?” - -So saying, the parrot-wife whisked herself round on the perch, and -lo! in the corner of the handkerchief were seen some curious letters, -marked in red. When the crowd saw these, they drew a little farther -off, and glanced at one another with alarm. - -“You look charming, my dear; it fits well!” screamed the old parrot in -answer. “A word in your ear, ‘Share and share alike’ is a fine motto.” - -“What do you mean by all this?” said the gipsy, rising, and going with -slow steps to the cage, and speaking cautiously. - -“Jack,” said the parrot, “do they ever eat handkerchiefs in your part -of the country?” - -“No, never,” answered Jack. - -“Hold your tongue and be reasonable,” said the gipsy, trembling. “What -do you want? I’ll do it, whatever it is.” - -“But do they never pick out the marks?” continued the parrot. “O Jack! -are you sure they never pick out the marks?” - -“The marks?” said Jack, considering. “Yes, perhaps they do.” - -“Stop!” cried the gipsy, as the old parrot made a peck at the strange -letters. “Oh! you’re hurting me. What do you want? I say again, tell me -what you want, and you shall have it.” - -“We want to get out,” replied the parrot; “you must undo the spell.” - -“Then give me my handkerchief,” answered the gipsy, “to bandage my -eyes. I dare not say the words with my eyes open. You had no business -to steal it. It was woven by human hands, so that nobody can see -through it; and if you don’t give it to me, you’ll never get out--no, -never!” - -“Then,” said the old parrot, tossing his shawl off, “you may have -Jack’s handkerchief; it will bandage your eyes just as well. It was -woven over the water, as yours was.” - -“It won’t do!” cried the gipsy in terror; “give me my own.” - -“I tell you,” answered the parrot, “that you shall have Jack’s -handkerchief; you can do no harm with that.” - -By this time the parrots all around had become perfectly silent, and -none of the people ventured to say a word, for they feared the malice -of the gipsy. She was trembling dreadfully, and her dark eyes, which -had been so bright and piercing, had become dull and almost dim; but -when she found there was no help for it, she said: - -“Well, pass out Jack’s handkerchief. I will set you free if you will -bring out mine with you.” - -“Share and share alike,” answered the parrot; “you must let all my -friends out too.” - -“Then I won’t let you out,” answered the gipsy. “You shall come out -first, and give me my handkerchief, or not one of their cages will I -undo. So take your choice.” - -“My friends, then,” answered the brave old parrot; and he poked Jack’s -handkerchief out to her through the wires. - -The wondering crowd stood by to look, and the gipsy bandaged her eyes -tightly with the handkerchief; and then, stooping low, she began to -murmur something and clap her hands--softly at first, but by degrees -more and more violently. The noise was meant to drown the words she -muttered; but as she went on clapping, the bottom of cage after cage -fell clattering down. Out flew the parrots by hundreds, screaming and -congratulating one another; and there was such a deafening din that not -only the sound of her spell but the clapping of her hands was quite -lost in it. - -But all this time Jack was very busy; for the moment the gipsy had tied -up her eyes, the old parrot snatched the real handkerchief off his -wife’s shoulders, and tied it round her neck. Then she pushed out her -head through the wires, and the old parrot called to Jack, and said, -“Pull!” - -Jack took the ends of the handkerchief, pulled terribly hard, and -stopped. “Go on! go on!” screamed the old parrot. - -“I shall pull her head off,” cried Jack. - -“No matter,” cried the parrot; “no matter--only pull.” - -Well, Jack did pull, and he actually did pull her head off! nearly -tumbling backward himself as he did it; but he saw what the whole thing -meant then, for there was another head inside--a fairy’s head. - -Jack flung down the old parrot’s head and great beak, for he saw that -what he had to do was to clear the fairy of its parrot covering. The -poor little creature seemed nearly dead, it was so terribly squeezed -in the wires. It had a green gown or robe on, with an ermine collar; -and Jack got hold of this dress, stripped the fairy out of the parrot -feathers, and dragged her through--velvet robe, and crimson girdle, -and little yellow shoes. She was very much exhausted, but a kind brown -woman took her instantly, and laid her in her bosom. She was a splendid -little creature, about half a foot long. - -“There’s a brave boy!” cried the parrot. Jack glanced round, and saw -that not all the parrots were free yet, the gipsy was still muttering -her spell. - -He returned the handkerchief to the parrot, who put it round his own -neck, and again Jack pulled. But oh! what a tough old parrot that was, -and how Jack tugged before his cunning head would come off! It did, -however, at last; and just as a fine fairy was pulled through, leaving -his parrot skin and the handkerchief behind him, the gipsy untied her -eyes, and saw what Jack had done. - -“Give me my handkerchief!” she screamed in despair. - -“It’s in the cage, gipsy,” answered Jack; “you can get it yourself. Say -your words again.” - -But the gipsy’s spell would only open places where she had confined -fairies, and no fairies were in the cage now. - -“No, no, no!” she screamed; “too late! Hide me! O good people, hide me!” - -But it was indeed too late. The parrots had been wheeling in the air, -hundreds and hundreds of them, high above her head; and as she ceased -speaking, she fell shuddering on the ground, drew her cloak over her -face, and down they came, swooping in one immense flock, and settled so -thickly all over her that she was completely covered; from her shoes to -her head not an atom of her was to be seen. - -All the people stood gravely looking on. So did Jack, but he could not -see much for the fluttering of the parrots, nor hear anything for their -screaming voices; but at last he made one of the cross people hear when -he shouted to her, “What are they going to do to the poor gipsy?” - -“Make her take her other form,” she replied; “and then she cannot hurt -us while she stays in our country. She is a fairy, as we have just -found out, and all fairies have two forms.” - -“Oh!” said Jack; but he had no time for more questions. - -The screaming, and fighting, and tossing about of little bits of cloth -and cotton ceased; a black lump heaved itself up from the ground among -the parrots; and as they flew aside, an ugly great condor, with a bare -neck, spread out its wings, and, skimming the ground, sailed slowly -away. - -“They have pecked her so that she can hardly rise,” exclaimed the -parrot fairy. “Set me on your shoulder, Jack, and let me see the end of -it.” - -Jack set him there; and his little wife, who had recovered herself, -sprang from her friend the brown woman, and sat on the other shoulder. -He then ran on--the tribe of brown people, and mushroom people, and -the feather-coated folks running too--after the great black bird, who -skimmed slowly on before them till she got to the gipsy carts, when -out rushed the gipsies, armed with poles, milking-stools, spades, and -everything they could get hold of to beat back the people and the -parrots from hunting their relation, who had folded her tired wings, -and was skulking under a cart, with ruffled feathers and a scowling eye. - -Jack was so frightened at the violent way in which the gipsies and the -other tribes were knocking each other about, that he ran off, thinking -he had seen enough of such a dangerous country. - -As he passed the place where that evil-minded gipsy had been changed, -he found the ground strewed with little bits of her clothes. Many -parrots were picking them up, and poking them into the cage where the -handkerchief was; and presently another parrot came with a lighted -brand, which she had pulled from one of the gipsies’ fires. - -“That’s right,” said the fairy on Jack’s shoulder, when he saw his -friend push the brand between the wires of what had been his cage, and -set the gipsy’s handkerchief on fire, and all the bits of her clothes -with it. “She won’t find much of herself here,” he observed, as Jack -went on. “It will not be very easy to put herself together again.” - -So Jack moved away. He was tired of the noise and confusion; and the -sun was just setting as he reached the little creek where his boat lay. - -Then the parrot fairy and his wife sprang down, and kissed their hands -to him as he stepped on board, and pushed the boat off. He saw, when -he looked back, that a great fight was still going on; so he was glad -to get away, and he wished his two friends good-bye, and set off, the -old parrot fairy calling after him, “My relations have put some of our -favourite food on board for you.” Then they again thanked him for his -good help, and sprang into a tree, and the boat began to go down the -wonderful river. - -“This has been a most extraordinary day,” thought Jack; “the strangest -day I have had yet.” And after he had eaten a good supper of what the -parrots had brought, he felt so tired and sleepy that he lay down in -the boat, and presently fell fast asleep. His fairies were sound asleep -too in his pockets, and nothing happened of the least consequence; so -he slept comfortably till morning. - -[Illustration: A great fight was still going on.] - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -The Town with Nobody in it - -[Illustration] - - - “‘Master,’ quoth the auld hound, - ‘Where will ye go?’ - ‘Over moss, over muir, - To court my new jo.’ - ‘Master, though the night be merk, - I’se follow through the snow. - - “‘Court her, master, court her, - So shall ye do weel; - But and ben she’ll guide the house, - I’se get milk and meal. - Ye’se get lilting while she sits - With her rock and reel.’ - - “‘For, oh! she has a sweet tongue, - And een that look down, - A gold girdle for her waist, - And a purple gown. - She has a good word forbye - Fra a’ folk in the town.’” - -Soon after sunrise they came to a great city, and it was perfectly -still. There were grand towers and terraces, wharves, too, and a large -market, but there was nobody anywhere to be seen. Jack thought that -might be because it was so early in the morning; and when the boat ran -itself up against a wooden wharf and stopped, he jumped ashore, for he -thought this must be the end of his journey. A delightful town it was, -if only there had been any people in it! The market-place was full of -stalls, on which were spread toys, baskets, fruit, butter, vegetables, -and all the other things that are usually sold in a market. - -Jack walked about in it. Then he looked in at the open doors of the -houses, and at last, finding that they were all empty, he walked -into one, looked at the rooms, examined the picture-books, rang the -bells, and set the musical-boxes going. Then, after he had shouted a -good deal, and tried in vain to make some one hear, he went back to -the edge of the river where his boat was lying, and the water was so -delightfully clear and calm, that he thought he would bathe. So he -took off his clothes, and folding them very carefully, so as not to -hurt the fairies, laid them down beside a haycock, and went in, and -ran about and paddled for a long time--much longer than there was any -occasion for; but then he had nothing to do. - -When at last he had finished, he ran to the haycock, and began to dress -himself; but he could not find his stockings, and after looking about -for some time he was obliged to put on his clothes without them, and -he was going to put his boots on his bare feet, when, walking to the -other side of the haycock, he saw a little old woman about as large as -himself. She had a pair of spectacles on, and she was knitting. - -She looked so sweet tempered that Jack asked her if she knew anything -about his stockings. - -“It will be time enough to ask for them when you have had your -breakfast,” said she. “Sit down. Welcome to our town. How do you like -it?” - -“I should like it very much indeed,” said Jack, “if there was anybody -in it.” - -“I’m glad of that,” said the woman. “You’ve seen a good deal of it; but -it pleases me to find that you are a very honest boy. You did not take -anything at all. I am honest too.” - -“Yes,” said Jack, “of course you are.” - -“And as I am pleased with you for being honest,” continued the little -woman, “I shall give you some breakfast out of my basket.” So she took -out a saucer full of honey, a roll of bread, and a cup of milk. - -“Thank you,” said Jack, “but I am not a beggar-boy; I have got a -half-crown, a shilling, a sixpence, and two pence; so I can buy this -breakfast of you, if you like. You look very poor.” - -“Do I?” said the little woman, softly; and she went on knitting, and -Jack began to eat the breakfast. - -“I wonder what has become of my stockings,” said Jack. - -“You will never see them any more,” said the old woman. “I threw them -into the river, and they floated away.” - -“Why did you?” asked Jack. - -The little woman took no notice; but presently she had finished a -beautiful pair of stockings, and she handed them to Jack, and said: - -“Is that like the pair you lost?” - -“Oh no,” said Jack, “these are much more beautiful stockings than mine.” - -“Do you like them as well?” asked the fairy woman. - -“I like them much better,” said Jack, putting them on. “How clever you -are!” - -“Would you like to wear these,” said the woman, “instead of yours?” - -She gave Jack such a strange look when she said this, that he was -afraid to take them, and answered: - -“I shouldn’t like to wear them if you think I had better not.” - -“Well,” she answered, “I am very honest, as I told you; and therefore I -am obliged to say that if I were you I would not wear those stockings -on any account.” - -“Why not?” said Jack; for she looked so sweet tempered that he could -not help trusting her. - -“Why not?” repeated the fairy; “why, because when you have those -stockings on, your feet belong to me.” - -“Oh!” said Jack. “Well, if you think that matters, I’ll take them off -again. Do you think it matters?” - -“Yes,” said the fairy woman; “it matters, because I am a slave, and my -master can make me do whatever he pleases, for I am completely in his -power. So, if he found out that I had knitted those stockings for you, -he would make me order you to walk into his mill--the mill which grinds -the corn for the town; and there you would have to grind and grind till -I got free again.” - -When Jack heard this, he pulled off the beautiful stockings, and laid -them on the old woman’s lap. Upon this she burst out crying, as if her -heart would break. - -“If my fairies that I have in my pocket would only wake,” said Jack, -“I would fight your master; for if he is no bigger than you are, -perhaps I could beat him, and get you away.” - -“No, Jack,” said the little woman; “that would be of no use. The only -thing you could do would be to buy me; for my cruel master has said -that if ever I am late again he shall sell me in the slave-market to -the brown people, who work underground. And, though I am dreadfully -afraid of my master, I mean to be late to-day, in hopes (as you -are kind, and as you have some money) that you will come to the -slave-market and buy me. Can you buy me, Jack, to be your slave?” - -“I don’t want a slave,” said Jack; “and, besides, I have hardly any -money to buy you with.” - -“But it is real money,” said the fairy woman, “not like what my master -has. His money has to be made every week, for if there comes a hot day -it cracks, so it never has time to look old, as your half-crown does; -and that is how we know the real money, for we cannot imitate anything -that is old. Oh, now, now it is twelve o’clock! now I am late again! -and though I said I would do it, I am so frightened!” - -So saying, the little woman ran off towards the town, wringing her -hands, and Jack ran beside her. - -“How am I to find your master?” he said. - -“O Jack, buy me! buy me!” cried the fairy woman. “You will find me in -the slave-market. Bid high for me. Go back and put your boots on, and -bid high.” - -Now Jack had nothing on his feet, so he left the poor little woman to -run into the town by herself, and went back to put his boots on. They -were very uncomfortable, as he had no stockings; but he did not much -mind that, and he counted his money. There was the half-crown that -his grandmamma had given him on his birthday, there was a shilling, a -sixpence, and two pence, besides a silver four-penny-piece which he had -forgotten. He then marched into the town; and now it was quite full of -people--all of them little men and women about his own height. They -thought he was somebody of consequence, and they called out to him to -buy their goods. And he bought some stockings, and said, “What I want -to buy now is a slave.” - -So they showed him the way to the slave-market, and there whole rows of -odd-looking little people were sitting, while in front of them stood -the slaves. - -Now Jack had observed as he came along how very disrespectful the dogs -of that town were to the people. They had a habit of going up to them -and smelling at their legs, and even gnawing their feet as they sat -before the little tables selling their wares; and what made this more -surprising was that the people did not always seem to find out when -they were being gnawed. But the moment the dogs saw Jack they came -and fawned on him, and two old hounds followed him all the way to the -slave-market; and when he took a seat one of them laid down at his -feet, and said, “Master, set your handsome feet on my back, that they -may be out of the dust.” - -“Don’t be afraid of him,” said the other hound; “he won’t gnaw your -feet. He knows well enough that they are real ones.” - -“Are the other people’s feet not real?” asked Jack. - -“Of course not,” said the hound. “They had a feud long ago with the -fairies, and they all went one night into a great cornfield which -belonged to these enemies of theirs, intending to steal the corn. So -they made themselves invisible, as they are always obliged to do till -twelve o’clock at noon; but before morning dawn, the wheat being quite -ripe, down came the fairies with their sickles, surrounded the field, -and cut the corn. So all their legs of course got cut off with it, for -when they are invisible they cannot stir. Ever since that they have -been obliged to make their legs of wood.” - -While the hound was telling this story Jack looked about, but he did -not see one slave who was in the least like his poor little friend, -and he was beginning to be afraid that he should not find her, when he -heard two people talking together. - -“Good day!” said one. “So you have sold that good-for-nothing slave of -yours?” - -“Yes,” answered a very cross-looking old man. “She was late again -this morning, and came to me crying and praying to be forgiven; but -I was determined to make an example of her, so I sold her at once to -Clink-of-the-Hole, and he has just driven her away to work in his mine.” - -Jack, on hearing this, whispered to the hound at his feet, “If you will -guide me to Clink’s hole, you shall be my dog.” - -“Master, I will do my best,” answered the hound; and he stole softly -out of the market, Jack following him. - -[Illustration: “Master, I will do my best,” answered the hound.] - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -HALF-A-CROWN - -[Illustration: CLINK-OF-THE-HOLE.] - - - “So useful it is to have money, heigh ho! - So useful it is to have money!” - - A. H. CLOUGH. - -The old hound went straight through the town, smelling Clink’s -footsteps, till he came into a large field of barley; and there, -sitting against a sheaf, for it was harvest time, they found -Clink-of-the-Hole. He was a very ugly little brown man, and he was -smoking a pipe in the shade; while crouched near him was the poor -little woman, with her hands spread before her face. - -“Good day, sir,” said Clink to Jack. “You are a stranger here, no -doubt?” - -“Yes,” said Jack; “I only arrived this morning.” - -“Have you seen the town?” asked Clink, civilly; “there is a very fine -market.” - -“Yes, I have seen the market,” answered Jack. “I went into it to buy a -slave, but I did not see one that I liked.” - -“Ah!” said Clink; “and yet they had some very fine articles.” Here he -pointed to the poor little woman, and said, “Now that’s a useful body -enough, and I had her very cheap.” - -“What did you give for her?” said Jack, sitting down. - -“Three pitchers,” said Clink, “and fifteen cups and saucers, and two -shillings in the money of the town.” - -“Is their money like this?” said Jack, taking out his shilling. - -When Clink saw the shilling he changed colour, and said, very -earnestly, “Where did you get that, dear sir?” - -“Oh, it was given me,” said Jack, carelessly. - -Clink looked hard at the shilling, and so did the fairy woman, and -Jack let them look some time, for he amused himself with throwing -it up several times and catching it. At last he put it back in his -pocket, and then Clink heaved a deep sigh. Then Jack took out a penny, -and began to toss that up, upon which, to his great surprise, the -little brown man fell on his knees, and said, “Oh, a shilling and a -penny--a shilling and a penny of mortal coin! What would I not give for -a shilling and a penny!” - -[Illustration: THE LITTLE BROWN MAN FELL ON HIS KNEES AND SAID, “OH, A -SHILLING AND A PENNY.”] - -“I don’t believe you have got anything to give,” said Jack, cunningly; -“I see nothing but that ring on your finger, and the old woman.” - -“But I have a great many things at home, sir,” said the brown -man, wiping his eyes; “and besides, that ring would be cheap at a -shilling--even a shilling of mortal coin.” - -“Would the slave be cheap at a penny?” said Jack. - -“Would you give a penny for her, dear sir?” inquired Clink, trembling -with eagerness. - -“She is honest,” answered Jack; “ask her whether I had better buy her -with this penny.” - -“It does not matter what she says,” replied the brown man; “I would -sell twenty such as she is for a penny--a real one.” - -“Ask her,” repeated Jack; and the poor little woman wept bitterly, but -she said “No.” - -“Why not?” asked Jack; but she only hung down her head and cried. - -“I’ll make you suffer for this,” said the brown man. But when Jack took -out the shilling, and said, “Shall I buy you with this, slave?” his -eyes actually shot out sparks, he was so eager. - -“Speak!” he said to the fairy woman; “and if you don’t say ‘Yes,’ I’ll -strike you.” - -“He cannot buy me with that,” answered the fairy woman, “unless it is -the most valuable coin he has got.” - -The brown man, on hearing this, rose up in a rage, and was just going -to strike her a terrible blow, when Jack cried out, “Stop!” and took -out his half-crown. - -“Can I buy you with this?” said he; and the fairy woman answered, “Yes.” - -Upon this Clink drew a long breath, and his eyes grew bigger and bigger -as he gazed at the half-crown. - -“Shall she be my slave for ever, and not yours,” said Jack, “if I give -you this?” - -“She shall,” said the brown man. And he made such a low bow, as he took -the money, that his head actually knocked the ground. Then he jumped -up; and, as if he was afraid Jack should repent of his bargain, he ran -off towards the hole in the hill with all his might, shouting for joy -as he went. - -“Slave,” said Jack, “that is a very ragged old apron that you have got, -and your gown is quite worn out. Don’t you think we had better spend my -shilling in buying you some new clothes? You look so very shabby.” - -“Do I?” said the fairy woman, gently. “Well, master, you will do as you -please.” - -“But you know better than I do,” said Jack, “though you are my slave.” - -“You had better give me the shilling, then,” answered the little old -woman; “and then I advise you to go back to the boat, and wait there -till I come.” - -“What!” said Jack; “can you go all the way back into the town again? I -think you must be tired, for you know you are so very old.” - -The fairy woman laughed when Jack said this, and she had such a sweet -laugh that he loved to hear it; but she took the shilling, and trudged -off to the town, and he went back to the boat, his hound running after -him. - -He was a long time going, for he ran a good many times after -butterflies, and then he climbed up several trees; and altogether he -amused himself for such a long while that when he reached the boat his -fairy woman was there before him. So he stepped on board, the hound -followed, and the boat immediately began to swim on. - -“Why, you have not bought any new clothes!” said Jack to his slave. - -“No, master,” answered the fairy woman; “but I have bought what I -wanted.” And she took out of her pocket a little tiny piece of purple -ribbon, with a gold-coloured satin edge, and a very small tortoiseshell -comb. - -When Jack saw these he was vexed, and said, “What do you mean by being -so silly? I can’t scold you properly, because I don’t know what name to -call you by, and I don’t like to say ‘Slave,’ because that sounds so -rude. Why, this bit of ribbon is such a little bit that it’s of no use -at all. It’s not large enough even to make one mitten of.” - -“Isn’t it?” said the slave. “Just take hold of it, master, and let us -see if it will stretch.” - -So Jack did. And she pulled, and he pulled, and very soon the silk had -stretched till it was nearly as large as a handkerchief; and then she -shook it, and they pulled again. “This is very good fun,” said Jack; -“why now it is as large as an apron.” - -So she shook it again, and gave it a twitch here and a pat there; and -then they pulled again, and the silk suddenly stretched so wide that -Jack was very nearly falling overboard. So Jack’s slave pulled off her -ragged gown and apron, and put it on. It was a most beautiful robe of -purple silk, it had a gold border, and it just fitted her. - -[Illustration: “MASTER, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?”] - -“That will do,” she said. And then she took out the little -tortoiseshell comb, pulled off her cap, and threw it into the river. -She had a little knot of soft grey hair, and she let it down, and began -to comb. And as she combed the hair got much longer and thicker, till -it fell in waves all about her throat. Then she combed again, and it -all turned gold colour, and came tumbling down to her waist; and then -she stood up in the boat, and combed once more, and shook out the hair, -and there was such a quantity that it reached down to her feet, and she -was so covered with it that you could not see one bit of her, excepting -her eyes, which peeped out, and looked bright and full of tears. - -Then she began to gather up her lovely locks; and when she had dried -her eyes with them, she said, “Master, do you know what you have done? -look at me now!” So she threw back the hair from her face, and it was a -beautiful young face; and she looked so happy that Jack was glad he had -bought her with his half-crown--so glad that he could not help crying, -and the fair slave cried too; and then instantly the little fairies -woke, and sprang out of Jack’s pockets. As they did so, Jovinian cried -out, “Madam, I am your most humble servant;” and Roxaletta said, “I -hope your Grace is well;” but the third got on Jack’s knee, and took -hold of the buttons of his waistcoat, and when the lovely slave looked -at her, she hid her face and blushed with pretty childish shyness. - -“These are fairies,” said Jack’s slave; “but what are you?” - -“Jack kissed me,” said the little thing; “and I want to sit on his -knee.” - -“Yes,” said Jack, “I took them out, and laid them in a row, to see if -they were safe, and this one I kissed, because she looked such a little -dear.” - -“Was she not like the others, then?” asked the slave. - -“Yes,” said Jack; “but I liked her the best; she was my favourite.” - -Now, the instant these three fairies sprang out of Jack’s pockets, they -got very much larger; in fact, they became fully grown--that is to -say, they measured exactly one foot one inch in height, which, as most -people know, is exactly the proper height for fairies of that tribe. -The two who had sprung out first were very beautifully dressed. One -had a green velvet coat, and a sword, the hilt of which was encrusted -with diamonds. The second had a white spangled robe, and the loveliest -rubies and emeralds round her neck and in her hair; but the third, the -one who sat on Jack’s knee, had a white frock and a blue sash on. She -had soft, fat arms, and a face just like that of a sweet little child. - -When Jack’s slave saw this, she took the little creature on her knee, -and said to her, “How comes it that you are not like your companions?” - -And she answered, in a pretty lisping voice, “It’s because Jack kissed -me.” - -“Even so it must be,” answered the slave; “the love of a mortal works -changes indeed. It is not often that we win anything so precious. Here, -master, let her sit on your knee sometimes, and take care of her, for -she cannot now take the same care of herself that others of her race -are capable of.” - -So Jack let little Mopsa sit on his knee; and when he was tired of -admiring his slave, and wondering at the respect with which the -other two fairies treated her, and at their cleverness in getting -water-lilies for her, and fanning her with feathers, he curled himself -up in the bottom of the boat with his own little favourite, and taught -her how to play at cat’s-cradle. - -When they had been playing some time, and Mopsa was getting quite -clever at the game, the lovely slave said, “Master, it is a long time -since you spoke to me.” - -“And yet,” said Jack, “there is something that I particularly want to -ask you about.” - -“Ask it, then,” she replied. - -“I don’t like to have a slave,” answered Jack; “and as you are so -clever, don’t you think you can find out how to be free again?” - -“I am very glad you asked me about that,” said the fairy woman. “Yes, -master, I wish very much to be free; and as you were so kind as to give -the most valuable piece of real money you possessed in order to buy -me, I can be free if you can think of anything that you really like -better than that half-crown, and if I can give it you.” - -“Oh, there are many things,” said Jack. “I like going up this river to -Fairyland much better.” - -“But you are going there, master,” said the fairy woman; “you were on -the way before I met with you.” - -“I like this little child better,” said Jack; “I love this little -Mopsa. I should like her to belong to me.” - -“She is yours,” answered the fairy woman; “she belongs to you already. -Think of something else.” - -Jack thought again, and was so long about it that at last the beautiful -slave said to him, “Master, do you see those purple mountains?” - -Jack turned round in the boat, and saw a splendid range of purple -mountains, going up and up. They were very great and steep, each had a -crown of snow, and the sky was very red behind them, for the sun was -going down. - -“At the other side of those mountains is Fairyland,” said the slave; -“but if you cannot think of something that you should like better -to have than your half-crown, I can never enter in. The river flows -straight up to yonder steep precipice, and there is a chasm in it -which pierces it, and through which the river runs down beneath, among -the very roots of the mountains, till it comes out at the other side. -Thousands and thousands of the small people will come when they see the -boat, each with a silken thread in his hand; but if there is a slave in -it, not all their strength and skill can tow it through. Look at those -rafts on the river; on them are the small people coming up.” - -Jack looked, and saw that the river was spotted with rafts, on which -were crowded brown fairy sailors, each one with three green stripes on -his sleeve, which looked like good-conduct marks. All these sailors -were chattering very fast, and the rafts were coming down to meet the -boat. - -“All these sailors to tow my slave!” said Jack. “I wonder, I do wonder, -what you are?” But the fairy woman only smiled, and Jack went on: -“I have thought of something that I should like much better than my -half-crown. I should like to have a little tiny bit of that purple gown -of yours with the gold border.” - -Then the fairy woman said, “I thank you, master. Now I can be free.” -So she told Jack to lend her his knife, and with it she cut off a very -small piece of the skirt of her robe, and gave it to him. “Now mind,” -she said; “I advise you never to stretch this unless you want to make -some particular thing of it, for then it will only stretch to the right -size; but if you merely begin to pull it for your own amusement, it -will go on stretching and stretching, and I don’t know where it will -stop.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -A STORY - -[Illustration] - - - “In the night she told a story, - In the night and all night through, - While the moon was in her glory, - And the branches dropped with dew. - - “’Twas my life she told, and round it - Rose the years as from a deep; - In the world’s great heart she found it, - Cradled like a child asleep. - - “In the night I saw her weaving - By the misty moonbeam cold, - All the weft her shuttle cleaving - With a sacred thread of gold. - - “Ah! she wept me tears of sorrow, - Lulling tears so mystic sweet; - Then she wove my last to-morrow, - And her web lay at my feet. - - “Of my life she made the story: - I must weep--so soon ’twas told! - But your name did lend it glory, - And your love its thread of gold!” - -By this time, as the sun had gone down, and none of the moons had -risen, it would have been dark but that each of the rafts was rigged -with a small mast that had a lantern hung to it. - -By the light of these lanterns Jack saw crowds of little brown faces, -and presently many rafts had come up to the boat, which was now -swimming very slowly. Every sailor in every raft fastened to the boat’s -side a silken thread; then the rafts were rowed to shore, and the -sailors jumped out, and began to tow the boat along. - -These crimson threads looked no stronger than the silk that ladies -sew with, yet by means of them the small people drew the boat along -merrily. There were so many of them that they looked like an army as -they marched in the light of the lanterns and torches. Jack thought -they were very happy, though the work was hard, for they shouted and -sang. - -The fairy woman looked more beautiful than ever now, and far more -stately. She had on a band of precious stones to bind back her hair, -and they shone so brightly in the night that her features could be -clearly seen. - -Jack’s little favourite was fast asleep, and the other two fairies had -flown away. He was beginning to feel rather sleepy himself, when he was -roused by the voice of his free lady, who said to him, “Jack, there -is no one listening now, so I will tell you my story. I am the Fairy -Queen!” - -Jack opened his eyes very wide, but he was so much surprised that he -did not say a word. - -“One day, long, long ago,” said the Queen, “I was discontented with my -own happy country. I wished to see the world, so I set forth with a -number of the one-foot-one fairies, and went down the wonderful river, -thinking to see the world. - -“So we sailed down the river till we came to that town which you know -of; and there, in the very middle of the stream, stood a tower--a tall -tower built upon a rock. - -“Fairies are afraid of nothing but of other fairies, and we did not -think this tower was fairywork, so we left our ship and went up the -rock and into the tower, to see what it was like; but just as we -had descended into the dungeon keep, we heard the gurgling of water -overhead, and down came the tower. It was nothing but water enchanted -into the likeness of stone, and we all fell down with it into the very -bed of the river. - -“Of course we were not drowned, but there we were obliged to lie, -for we have no power out of our own element; and the next day the -townspeople came down with a net and dragged the river, picked us all -out of the meshes, and made us slaves. The one-foot-one fairies got -away shortly; but from that day to this, in sorrow and distress, I have -had to serve my masters. Luckily, my crown had fallen off in the water, -so I was not known to be the Queen; but till you came, Jack, I had -almost forgotten that I had ever been happy and free, and I had hardly -any hope of getting away.” - -“How sorry your people must have been,” said Jack, “when they found you -did not come home again.” - -“No,” said the Queen; “they only went to sleep, and they will not -wake till to-morrow morning, when I pass in again. They will think I -have been absent for a day, and so will the apple-woman. You must not -undeceive them; if you do, they will be very angry.” - -“And who is the apple-woman?” inquired Jack; but the Queen blushed, and -pretended not to hear the question, so he repeated: - -“Queen, who is the apple-woman?” - -“I’ve only had her for a very little while,” said the Queen, evasively. - -“And how long do you think you have been a slave, Queen?” asked Jack. - -“I don’t know,” said the Queen. “I have never been able to make up my -mind about that.” - -And now all the moons began to shine, and all the trees lighted -themselves up, for almost every leaf had a glowworm or a firefly on -it, and the water was full of fishes that had shining eyes. And now -they were close to the steep mountain side; and Jack looked and saw -an opening in it, into which the river ran. It was a kind of cave, -something like a long, long church with a vaulted roof, only the -pavement of it was that magic river, and a narrow towing-path ran on -either side. - -As they entered the cave there was a hollow murmuring sound, and the -Queen’s crown became so bright that it lighted up the whole boat; at -the same time she began to tell Jack a wonderful story, which he liked -very much to hear, but every fresh thing she said he forgot what had -gone before; and at last, though he tried very hard to listen, he was -obliged to go to sleep; and he slept soundly and never dreamed of -anything, till it was morning. - -He saw such a curious sight when he woke. They had been going through -this underground cavern all night, and now they were approaching its -opening on the other side. This opening, because they were a good way -from it yet, looked like a lovely little round window of blue and -yellow and green glass, but as they drew on he could see far-off -mountains, blue sky, and a country all covered with sunshine. - -He heard singing too, such as fairies make; and he saw some beautiful -people, such as those fairies whom he had brought with him. They were -coming along the towing-path. They were all lady fairies; but they -were not very polite, for as each one came up she took a silken rope -out of a brown sailor’s hand and gave him a shove which pushed him -into the water. In fact, the water became filled with such swarms of -these sailors that the boat could hardly get on. But the poor little -brown fellows did not seem to mind this conduct, for they plunged and -shook themselves about, scattering a good deal of spray. Then they all -suddenly dived, and when they came up again they were ducks--nothing -but brown ducks, I assure you, with green stripes on their wings; and -with a great deal of quacking and floundering they all began to swim -back again as fast as they could. - -Then Jack was a good deal vexed, and he said to himself, “If nobody -thanks the ducks for towing us I will;” so he stood up in the boat -and shouted, “Thank you, ducks; we are very much obliged to you!” But -neither the Queen nor these new towers took the least notice, and -gradually the boat came out of that dim cave and entered Fairyland, -while the river became so narrow that you could hear the song of the -towers quite easily; those on the right bank sang the first verse, and -those on the left bank answered: - - “Drop, drop from the leaves of lign aloes, - O honey-dew! drop from the tree. - Float up through your clear river shallows, - White lilies, beloved of the bee. - - “Let the people, O Queen! say, and bless thee, - Her bounty drops soft as the dew, - And spotless in honour confess thee, - As lilies are spotless in hue. - - “On the roof stands yon white stork awaking, - His feathers flush rosy the while, - For, lo! from the blushing east breaking, - The sun sheds the bloom of his smile. - - “Let them boast of thy word, ‘It is certain; - We doubt it no more,’ let them say, - ‘Than to-morrow that night’s dusky curtain - Shall roll back its folds for the day.’” - -“Master,” whispered the old hound, who was lying at Jack’s feet. - -“Well?” said Jack. - -“They didn’t invent that song themselves,” said the hound; “the old -apple-woman taught it to them--the woman whom they love because she can -make them cry.” - -Jack was rather ashamed of the hound’s rudeness in saying this; but the -Queen took no notice. And now they had reached a little landing-place, -which ran out a few feet into the river, and was strewed thickly with -cowslips and violets. - -Here the boat stopped, and the Queen rose and got out. - -Jack watched her. A whole crowd of one-foot-one fairies came down a -garden to meet her, and he saw them conduct her to a beautiful tent -with golden poles and a silken covering; but nobody took the slightest -notice of him, or of little Mopsa, or of the hound, and after a long -silence the hound said, “Well, master, don’t you feel hungry? Why don’t -you go with the others and have some breakfast?” - -“The Queen didn’t invite me,” said Jack. - -“But do you feel as if you couldn’t go?” asked the hound. - -“Of course not,” answered Jack; “but perhaps I may not.” - -“Oh, yes, master,” replied the hound; “whatever you _can_ do in -Fairyland you _may_ do.” - -“Are you sure of that?” asked Jack. - -“Quite sure, master,” said the hound; “and I am hungry too.” - -“Well,” said Jack, “I will go there and take Mopsa. She shall ride on -my shoulder; you may follow.” - -So he walked up that beautiful garden till he came to the great tent. A -banquet was going on inside. All the one-foot-one fairies sat down the -sides of the table, and at the top sat the Queen on a larger chair; and -there were two empty chairs, one on each side of her. - -Jack blushed; but the hound whispering again, “Master, whatever you -can do you may do,” he came slowly up the table towards the Queen, -who was saying as he drew near, “Where is our trusty and well-beloved -the apple-woman?” And she took no notice of Jack; so, though he could -not help feeling rather red and ashamed, he went and sat in the chair -beside her with Mopsa still on his shoulder. Mopsa laughed for joy when -she saw the feast. The Queen said, “O Jack, I am so glad to see you!” -and some of the one-foot-one fairies cried out, “What a delightful -little creature that is! She can laugh! Perhaps she can also cry!” - -Jack looked about, but there was no seat for Mopsa; and he was afraid -to let her run about on the floor, lest she should be hurt. - -There was a very large dish standing before the Queen; for though the -people were small, the plates and dishes were exactly like those we -use, and of the same size. - -This dish was raised on a foot, and filled with grapes and peaches. -Jack wondered at himself for doing it, but he saw no other place for -Mopsa; so he took out the fruit, laid it round the dish, and set his -own little one-foot-one in the dish. - -Nobody looked in the least surprised; and there she sat very happily, -biting an apple with her small white teeth. - -Then, as they brought him nothing to eat, Jack helped himself from some -of the dishes before him, and found that a fairy breakfast was very -nice indeed. - -In the meantime there was a noise outside, and in stumped an elderly -woman. She had very thick boots on, a short gown of red print, an -orange cotton handkerchief over her shoulders, and a black silk bonnet. -She was exactly the same height as the Queen--for of course nobody in -Fairyland is allowed to be any bigger than the Queen; so, if they are -not children when they arrive, they are obliged to shrink. - -“How are you, dear?” said the Queen. - -“I am as well as can be expected,” answered the apple-woman, sitting -down in the empty chair. “Now, then, where’s my tea? They’re never -ready with my cup of tea.” - -Two attendants immediately brought a cup of tea, and set it down before -the apple-woman, with a plate of bread and butter; and she proceeded -to pour it out into the saucer, and blow it, because it was hot. In so -doing her wandering eyes caught sight of Jack and little Mopsa, and she -set down the saucer, and looked at them with attention. - -Now Mopsa, I am sorry to say, was behaving so badly that Jack was -quite ashamed of her. First, she got out of her dish, took something -nice out of the Queen’s plate with her fingers, and ate it; and then, -as she was going back, she tumbled over a melon, and upset a glass of -red wine, which she wiped up with her white frock; after which she got -into her dish again, and there she sat smiling, and daubing her pretty -face with a piece of buttered muffin. - -“Mopsa,” said Jack, “you are very naughty; if you behave in this way, I -shall never take you out to parties again.” - -“Pretty lamb!” said the apple-woman; “it’s just like a child.” And then -she burst into tears, and exclaimed, sobbing, “Its many a long day -since I’ve seen a child. Oh dear! oh deary me!” - -Upon this, to the astonishment of Jack, every one of the guests began -to cry and sob too. - -“Oh dear! oh dear!” they said to one another, “we’re crying; we can cry -just as well as men and women. Isn’t it delightful? What a luxury it is -to cry, to be sure!” - -They were evidently quite proud of it; and when Jack looked at the -Queen for an explanation, she only gave him a still little smile. - -But Mopsa crept along the table to the apple-woman, let her take her -and hug her, and seemed to like her very much; for as she sat on her -knee, she patted her brown face with a little dimpled hand. - -“I should like vastly well to be her nurse,” said the apple-woman, -drying her eyes, and looking at Jack. - -“If you’ll always wash her, and put clean frocks on her, you may,” said -Jack; “for just look at her--what a figure she is already!” - -Upon this the apple-woman laughed for joy, and again every one else did -the same. The fairies can only laugh and cry when they see mortals do -so. - -[Illustration: “I should like vastly well to be her nurse,” said the -apple-woman.] - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -AFTER THE PARTY - -[Illustration] - - - “_Stephano._ This will prove a brave kingdom to me, - Where I shall have my music for nothing.” - _The Tempest._ - -When breakfast was over, the guests got up, one after the other, -without taking the least notice of the Queen; and the tent began to -get so thin and transparent that you could see the trees and the sky -through it. At last, it looked only like a coloured mist, with blue, -and green, and yellow stripes, and then it was gone; and the table and -all the things on it began to go in the same way. Only Jack, and the -apple-woman, and Mopsa were left, sitting on their chairs, with the -Queen between them. - -Presently, the Queen’s lips began to move, and her eyes looked -straight before her, as she sat upright in her chair. Whereupon the -apple-woman snatched up Mopsa, and, seizing Jack’s hand, hurried him -off, exclaiming, “Come away! come away! She is going to tell one of her -stories; and if you listen, you’ll be obliged to go to sleep, and sleep -nobody knows how long.” - -Jack did not want to go to sleep; he wished to go down to the river -again, and see what had become of his boat, for he had left his cap and -several other things in it. - -So he parted from the apple-woman--who took Mopsa with her, and said he -would find her again when he wanted her at her apple-stall--and went -down to the boat, where he saw that his faithful hound was there before -him. - -“It was lucky, master, that I came when I did,” said the hound, “for a -dozen or so of those one-foot-one fellows were just shoving it off, and -you will want it at night to sleep in.” - -“Yes,” said Jack; “and I can stretch the bit of purple silk to make a -canopy over head--a sort of awning--for I should not like to sleep in -tents or palaces that are inclined to melt away.” - -So the hound with his teeth, and Jack with his hands, pulled and pulled -at the silk till it was large enough to make a splendid canopy, like -a tent; and it reached down to the water’s edge, and roofed in all the -after part of the boat. - -So now he had a delightful little home of his own; and there was no -fear of its being blown away, for no wind ever blows in Fairyland. All -the trees are quite still, no leaf rustles, and the flowers lie on the -ground exactly where they fall. - -After this Jack told the hound to watch his boat, and went himself -in search of the apple-woman. Not one fairy was to be seen, any more -than if he had been in his own country, and he wandered down the -green margin of the river till he saw the apple-woman sitting at a -small stall with apples on it, and cherries tied to sticks, and some -dry-looking nuts. She had Mopsa on her knee, and had washed her face, -and put a beautiful clean white frock on her. - -“Where are all the fairies gone to?” asked Jack. - -“I never take any notice of that common trash and their doings,” -she answered. “When the Queen takes to telling her stories they are -generally frightened, and go and sit in the tops of the trees.” - -“But you seem very fond of Mopsa,” said Jack, “and she is one of them. -You will help me to take care of her, won’t you, till she grows a -little older?” - -“Grows!” said the apple-woman, laughing. “Grows! Why you don’t think, -surely, that she will ever be any different from what she is now!” - -“I thought she would grow up,” said Jack. - -“They never change so long as they last,” answered the apple-woman, -“when once they are one-foot-one high.” - -“Mopsa,” said Jack, “come here, and I’ll measure you.” - -Mopsa came dancing towards Jack, and he tried to measure her, first -with a yard measure that the apple-woman took out of her pocket, and -then with a stick, and then with a bit of string; but Mopsa would not -stand steady, and at last it ended in their having a good game of romps -together, and a race; but when he carried her back, sitting on his -shoulder, he was sorry to see that the apple-woman was crying again, -and he asked her kindly what she did it for. - -“It is because,” she answered, “I shall never see my own country any -more, nor any men and women and children, excepting such as by a rare -chance stray in for a little while as you have done.” - -“I can go back whenever I please,” said Jack. “Why don’t you?” - -“Because I came in of my own good-will, after I had had fair warning -that if I came at all it would end in my staying always. Besides, I -don’t know that I exactly wish to go home again--I should be afraid.” - -“Afraid of what?” asked Jack. - -“Why, there’s the rain and the cold, and not having anything to eat -excepting what you earn. And yet,” said the apple-woman, “I have three -boys of my own at home; one of them must be nearly a man by this time, -and the youngest is about as old as you are. If I went home I might -find one or more of those boys in jail, and then how miserable I should -be.” - -“But you are not happy as it is,” said Jack. “I have seen you cry.” - -“Yes,” said the apple-woman; “but now I live here I don’t care about -anything so much as I used to do. ‘May I have a satin gown and a -coach?’ I asked when first I came. ‘You may have a hundred and fifty -satin gowns if you like,’ said the Queen, ‘and twenty coaches with six -cream-coloured horses to each.’ But when I had been here a little time, -and found I could have everything I wished for, and change it as often -as I pleased, I began not to care for anything; and at last I got so -sick of all their grand things that I dressed myself in my own clothes -that I came in, and made up my mind to have a stall and sit at it, as -I used to do, selling apples. And I used to say to myself, ‘I have but -to wish with all my heart to go home, and I can go, I know that;’ but -oh dear! oh dear! I couldn’t wish enough, for it would come into my -head that I should be poor, or that my boys would have forgotten me, -or that my neighbours would look down on me, and so I always put off -wishing for another day. Now here is the Queen coming. Sit down on the -grass and play with Mopsa. Don’t let her see us talking together, lest -she should think I have been telling you things which you ought not to -know.” - -Jack looked, and saw the Queen coming slowly towards them, with her -hands held out before her, as if it was dark. She felt her way, yet her -eyes were wide open, and she was telling her stories all the time. - -“Don’t you listen to a word she says,” whispered the apple-woman, and -then, in order that Jack might not hear what the Queen was talking -about, she began to sing. - -She had no sooner begun than up from the river came swarms of -one-foot-one fairies to listen, and hundreds of them dropped down from -the trees. The Queen, too, seemed to attend as they did, though she -kept murmuring her story all the time; and nothing that any of them did -appeared to surprise the apple-woman--she sang as if nobody was taking -any notice at all: - - “When I sit on market-days amid the comers and the goers, - Oh! full oft I have a vision of the days without alloy, - And a ship comes up the river with a jolly gang of towers, - And a ‘pull’e haul’e, pull’e haul’e, yoy! heave, hoy!’ - - “There is busy talk around me, all about mine ears it hummeth, - But the wooden wharves I look on, and a dancing, heaving buoy, - For ’tis tidetime in the river, and she cometh--oh, she cometh! - With a ‘pull’e haul’e, pull’e haul’e, yoy! heave, hoy!’ - - “Then I hear the water washing, never golden waves were brighter, - And I hear the capstan creaking--’tis a sound that cannot cloy. - Bring her to, to ship her lading, brig or schooner, sloop or lighter, - With a ‘pull’e haul’e, pull’e haul’e, yoy! heave, hoy!’ - - “‘Will ye step aboard, my dearest? for the high seas lie before us.’ - So I sailed adown the river in those days without alloy. - We are launched! But when, I wonder, shall a sweeter sound float - o’er us - Than yon ‘pull’e haul’e, pull’e haul’e, yoy! heave hoy!’” - -As the apple-woman left off singing, the Queen moved away, still -murmuring the words of her story, and Jack said: - -“Does the Queen tell stories of what has happened, or of what is going -to happen?” - -“Why, of what is going to happen, of course,” replied the woman, -“Anybody could tell the other sort.” - -“Because I heard a little of it,” observed Jack. “I thought she was -talking of me. She said, ‘So he took the measure, and Mopsa stood still -for once, and he found she was only one foot high, and she grew a great -deal after that. Yes, she can grow.’” - -“That’s a fine hearing, and a strange hearing,” said the apple-woman; -“and what did she mutter next?” - -“Of how she heard me sobbing,” replied Jack; “and while you went on -about stepping on board the ship, she said, ‘He was very good to me, -dear little fellow! But Fate is the name of my old mother, and she -reigns here. Oh, she reigns! The fatal F is in her name, and I cannot -take it out!’” - -“Ah!” replied the apple-woman, “they all say that, and that they are -fays, and that mortals call their history fable; they are always crying -out for an alphabet without the fatal F.” - -“And then she told how she heard Mopsa sobbing too,” said Jack; -“sobbing among the reeds and rushes by the river side.” - -“There are no reeds and no rushes either here,” said the apple-woman, -“and I have walked the river from end to end. I don’t think much of -that part of the story. But you are sure she said that Mopsa was short -of her proper height?” - -“Yes, and that she would grow; but that’s nothing. In my country we -always grow.” - -“Hold your tongue about your country!” said the apple-woman, sharply. -“Do you want to make enemies of them all?” - -Mopsa had been listening to this, and now she said, “I don’t love the -Queen. She slapped my arm as she went by, and it hurts.” - -Mopsa showed her little fat arm as she spoke, and there was a red place -on it. - -“That’s odd too,” said the apple-woman; “there’s nothing red in a -common fairy’s veins. They have sap in them: that’s why they can’t -blush.” - -Just then the sun went down, and Mopsa got up on the apple-woman’s lap -and went to sleep; and Jack, being tired, went to his boat and lay down -under the purple canopy, his old hound lying at his feet to keep guard -over him. - -The next morning, when he woke, a pretty voice called to him, “Jack! -Jack!” and he opened his eyes and saw Mopsa. The apple-woman had -dressed her in a clean frock and blue shoes, and her hair was so long! -She was standing on the landing-place, close to him. “O Jack! I’m so -big,” she said. “I grew in the night; look at me.” - -Jack looked. Yes, Mopsa had grown indeed; she had only just reached -to his knee the day before, and now her little bright head, when he -measured her, came as high as the second button of his waistcoat. - -“But I hope you will not go on growing so fast as this,” said Jack, “or -you will be as tall as my mamma is in a week or two--much too big for -me to play with.” - -[Illustration: And now her bright little head ... came as high as the -second button of his waistcoat.] - - - - -CHAPTER X - -MOPSA LEARNS HER LETTERS - -[Illustration: THE CRAKEN.] - - - “A----apple-pie. - B----bit it.” - -“How ashamed I am,” Jack said, “to think that you don’t know even your -letters!” - -Mopsa replied that she thought that did not signify, and then she and -Jack began to play at jumping from the boat on to the bank, and back -again; and afterwards, as not a single fairy could be seen, they had -breakfast with the apple-woman. - -“Where is the Queen?” asked Jack. - -The apple-woman answered, “It’s not the fashion to ask questions in -Fairyland.” - -“That’s a pity,” said Jack, “for there are several things that I -particularly want to know about this country. Mayn’t I even ask how big -it is?” - -“How big?” said Mopsa--little Mopsa looking as wise as possible. “Why, -the same size as your world, of course.” - -Jack laughed. “It’s the same world that you call yours,” continued -Mopsa; “and when I’m a little older, I’ll explain it all to you.” - -“If it’s our world,” said Jack, “why are none of us in it, excepting me -and the apple-woman?” - -“That’s because you’ve got something in your world that you call TIME,” -said Mopsa; “so you talk about NOW, and you talk about THEN.” - -“And don’t you?” asked Jack. - -“I do if I want to make you understand,” said Mopsa. - -The apple-woman laughed, and said, “To think of the pretty thing -talking so queenlike already! Yes, that’s right, and just what the -grown-up fairies say. Go on, and explain it to him if you can.” - -“You know,” said Mopsa, “that your people say there was a time when -there were none of them in the world--a time before they were made. -Well, THIS is that time. This is long ago.” - -“Nonsense!” said Jack. “Then how do I happen to be here?” - -“Because,” said Mopsa, “when the albatross brought you, she did not fly -with you a long way off, but a long way back--hundreds and hundreds of -years. This is your world, as you can see; but none of your people are -here, because they are not made yet. I don’t think any of them will be -made for a thousand years.” - -“But I saw the old ships,” answered Jack, “in the enchanted bay.” - -“That was a border country,” said Mopsa. “I was asleep while you went -through those countries; but these are the real Fairylands.” - -Jack was very much surprised when he heard Mopsa say these strange -things; and as he looked at her, he felt that a sleep was coming over -him, and he could not hold up his head. He felt how delightful it was -to go to sleep; and though the apple-woman sprang to him, when she -observed that he was shutting his eyes, and though he heard her begging -and entreating him to keep awake, he did not want to do so; but he let -his head sink down on the mossy grass, which was as soft as a pillow, -and there under the shade of a Guelder rose-tree, that kept dropping -its white flowrets all over him, he had this dream. - -He thought that Mopsa came running up to him, as he stood by the river, -and that he said to her, “Oh, Mopsa, how old we are! We have lived back -to the times before Adam and Eve!” - -“Yes,” said Mopsa; “but I don’t feel old. Let us go down the river, and -see what we can find.” - -So they got into the boat, and it floated into the middle of the river, -and then made for the opposite bank, where the water was warm and very -muddy, and the river became so very wide that it seemed to be afternoon -when they got near enough to see it clearly; and what they saw was a -boggy country, green, and full of little rills, but the water--which, -as I told you, was thick and muddy--the water was full of small holes! -YOU never saw water with eyelet-holes in it; but Jack did. On all sides -of the boat he saw holes moving about in pairs, and some were so close -that he looked and saw their lining; they were lined with pink, and -they snorted! Jack was afraid, but he considered that this was such a -long time ago that the holes, whatever they were, could not hurt him; -but it made him start, notwithstanding, when a huge flat head reared -itself up close to the boat, and he found that the holes were the -nostrils of creatures who kept all the rest of themselves under water. - -In a minute or two, hundreds of ugly flat-heads popped up, and the boat -danced among them as they floundered about in the water. - -“I hope they won’t upset us,” said Jack. “I wish you would land.” - -Mopsa said she would rather not, because she did not like the hairy -elephants. - -“There are no such things as hairy elephants,” said Jack, in his dream; -but he had hardly spoken when out of a wood close at hand some huge -creatures, far larger than our elephants, came jogging down to the -water. There were forty or fifty of them, and they were covered with -what looked like tow. In fact, so coarse was their shaggy hair that -they looked as if they were dressed in door-mats; and when they stood -still and shook themselves, such clouds of dust flew out that, as it -swept over the river, it almost stifled Jack and Mopsa. - -“Odious!” exclaimed Jack, sneezing. “What terrible creatures these are!” - -“Well,” answered Mopsa, at the other end of the boat (but he could -hardly see her for the dust), “then why do you dream of them?” - -Jack had just decided to dream of something else, when, with a noise -greater than fifty trumpets, the elephants, having shaken out all the -dust, came thundering down to the water to bathe in the liquid mud. -They shook the whole country as they plunged; but that was not all. The -awful river-horses rose up, and, with shrill screams, fell upon them, -and gave them battle; while up from every rill peeped above the rushes -frogs as large as oxen, and with blue and green eyes that gleamed like -the eyes of cats. - -[Illustration: “THE AWFUL RIVER-HORSES ROSE UP AND, WITH SHRILL SCREAMS, -FELL UPON THEM.”] - -The frogs’ croaking, and the shrill trumpeting of the elephants, -together with the cries of the river-horses, as all these creatures -fought with horn and tusk, and fell on one another, lashing the water -into whirlpools, among which the boat danced up and down like a -cork--the blinding spray, and the flapping about of great bats over the -boat and in it--so confused Jack that Mopsa had spoken to him several -times before he answered. - -“O Jack!” she said at last; “if you can’t dream any better, I must call -the Craken.” - -“Very well,” said Jack. “I’m almost wrapped up and smothered in bats’ -wings, so call anything you please.” - -Thereupon Mopsa whistled softly, and in a minute or two he saw, almost -spanning the river, a hundred yards off, a thing like a rainbow, or a -slender bridge, or still more, like one ring or coil of an enormous -serpent; and presently the creature’s head shot up like a fountain, -close to the boat, almost as high as a ship’s mast. It was the Craken; -and when Mopsa saw it, she began to cry, and said, “We are caught -in this crowd of creatures, and we cannot get away from the land of -dreams. Do help us, Craken.” - -Some of the bats that hung to the edges of the boat had wings as large -as sails, and the first thing the Craken did was to stoop its lithe -neck, pick two or three of them off, and eat them. - -“You can swim your boat home under my coils where the water is calm,” -the Craken said, “for she is so extremely old now, that if you do not -take care she will drop to pieces before you get back to the present -time.” - -Jack knew it was of no use saying anything to this formidable creature, -before whom the river-horses and the elephants were rushing to the -shore; but when he looked and saw down the river rainbow behind -rainbow--I mean coil behind coil--glittering in the sun, like so many -glorious arches that did not reach to the banks, he felt extremely glad -that this was a dream, and besides that, he thought to himself, “It’s -only a fabled monster.” - -“No, it’s only a fable to these times,” said Mopsa, answering his -thought; “but in spite of that we shall have to go through all the -rings.” - -They went under one--silver, green, and blue, and gold. The water -dripped from it upon them, and the boat trembled, either because of its -great age, or because it felt the rest of the coil underneath. - -A good way off was another coil, and they went so safely under that, -that Jack felt himself getting used to Crakens, and not afraid. Then -they went under thirteen more. These kept getting nearer and nearer -together, but, besides that, the fourteenth had not quite such a high -span as the former ones; but there were a great many to come, and yet -they got lower and lower. - -Both Jack and Mopsa noticed this, but neither said a word. The -thirtieth coil brushed Jack’s cap off, then they had to stoop to -pass under the two next, and then they had to lie down in the bottom -of the boat, and they got through with the greatest difficulty; but -still before them was another! The boat was driving straight towards -it, and it lay so close to the water that the arch it made was only a -foot high. When Jack saw it, he called out, “No! that I cannot bear. -Somebody else may do the rest of this dream. I shall jump overboard!” - -Mopsa seemed to answer in quite a pleasant voice, as if she was not -afraid: - -“No, you’d much better wake.” And then she went on, “Jack! Jack! why -don’t you wake?” - -Then all on a sudden Jack opened his eyes, and found that he was lying -quietly on the grass, that little Mopsa really had asked him why he did -not wake. He saw the Queen too, standing by, looking at him, and saying -to herself, “I did not put him to sleep. _I_ did not put him to sleep.” - -“We don’t want any more stories to-day, Queen,” said the apple-woman, -in a disrespectful tone, and she immediately began to sing, clattering -some tea-things all the time, for a kettle was boiling on some sticks, -and she was going to make tea out of doors: - - “The marten flew to the finch’s nest, - Feathers, and moss, and a wisp of hay: - ‘The arrow it sped to thy brown mate’s breast; - Low in the broom is thy mate to-day.’ - - “‘Liest thou low, love? low in the broom? - Feathers and moss, and a wisp of hay, - Warm the white eggs till I learn his doom.’ - She beateth her wings, and away, away. - - “‘Ah, my sweet singer, thy days are told - (Feathers and moss, and a wisp of hay)! - Thine eyes are dim, and the eggs grow cold. - O mournful morrow! O dark to-day!’ - - “The finch flew back to her cold, cold nest, - Feathers and moss, and a wisp of hay. - Mine is the trouble that rent her breast, - And home is silent, and love is clay.” - -Jack felt very tired indeed--as much tired as if he had really been out -all day on the river, and gliding under the coils of the Craken. He -however rose up, when the apple-woman called him, and drank his tea, -and had some fairy bread with it, which refreshed him very much. - -After tea he measured Mopsa again, and found that she had grown up to -a higher button. She looked much wiser too, and when he said she must -be taught to read she made no objection, so he arranged daisies and -buttercups into the forms of the letters, and she learnt nearly all of -them that one evening, while crowds of the one-foot-one fairies looked -on, hanging from the boughs and sitting in the grass, and shouting out -the names of the letters as Mopsa said them. They were very polite to -Jack, for they gathered all these flowers for him, and emptied them -from their little caps at his feet as fast as he wanted them. - -[Illustration: “While crowds of the one-foot-one fairies looked on, -hanging from the boughs.”] - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -GOOD MORNING, SISTER - -[Illustration] - - - “Sweet is childhood--childhood’s over, - Kiss and part. - Sweet is youth; but youth’s a rover-- - So’s my heart. - Sweet is rest; but by all showing - Toil is nigh. - We must go. Alas! the going, - Say ‘good-bye.’” - -Jack crept under his canopy, went to sleep early that night, and did -not wake till the sun had risen, when the apple-woman called him, and -said breakfast was nearly ready. - -The same thing never happens twice in Fairyland, so this time the -breakfast was not spread in a tent, but on the river. The Queen had cut -off a tiny piece of her robe, the one-foot-one fairies had stretched it -till it was very large, and then they had spread it on the water, where -it floated and lay like a great carpet of purple and gold. One corner -of it was moored to the side of Jack’s boat; but he had not observed -this, because of his canopy. However, that was now looped up by the -apple-woman, and Jack and Mopsa saw what was going on. - -Hundreds of swans had been towing the carpet along, and were still -holding it with their beaks, while a crowd of doves walked about on it, -smoothing out the creases and patting it with their pretty pink feet -till it was quite firm and straight. The swans then swam away, and they -flew away. - -Presently troops of fairies came down to the landing-place, jumped into -Jack’s boat without asking leave, and so got on to the carpet, while -at the same time a great tree which grew on the bank began to push out -fresh leaves, as large as fans, and shoot out long branches, which -again shot out others, till very soon there was shade all over the -carpet--a thick shadow as good as a tent, which was very pleasant, for -the sun was already hot. - -When the Queen came down, the tree suddenly blossomed out with -thousands of red and white flowers. - -“You must not go on to that carpet,” said the apple-woman; “let us sit -still in the boat, and be served here.” She whispered this as the Queen -stepped into the boat. - -“Good morning, Jack,” said the Queen. “Good morning, dear.” This was -to the apple-woman; and then she stood still for a moment and looked -earnestly at little Mopsa, and sighed. - -“Well,” she said to her, “don’t you mean to speak to me?” Then Mopsa -lifted up her pretty face and blushed very rosy red, and said, in a -shy voice, “Good morning----sister.” - -“I said so!” exclaimed the Queen; “I said so!” and she lifted up her -beautiful eyes, and murmured out, “What is to be done now?” - -“Never mind, Queen dear,” said Jack. “If it was rude of Mopsa to say -that, she is such a little young thing that she does not know better.” - -“It was not rude,” said Mopsa, and she laughed and blushed again. “It -was not rude, and I am not sorry.” - -As she said this the Queen stepped on to the carpet, and all the -flowers began to drop down. They were something like camellias, and -there were thousands of them. - -The fairies collected them in little heaps. They had no tables and -chairs, nor any plates and dishes for this breakfast; but the Queen sat -down on the carpet close to Jack’s boat, and leaned her cheek on her -hand, and seemed to be lost in thought. The fairies put some flowers -into her lap, then each took some, and they all sat down and looked at -the Queen, but she did not stir. - -At last Jack said, “When is the breakfast coming?” - -“This is the breakfast,” said the apple-woman; “these flowers are most -delicious eating. You never tasted anything so good in your life; but -we don’t begin till the Queen does.” - -Quantities of blossoms had dropped into the boat. Several fairies -tumbled into it almost head over heels, they were in such a hurry, and -they heaped them into Mopsa’s lap, but took no notice of Jack, nor of -the apple-woman either. - -At last, when every one had waited some time, the Queen pulled a petal -off one flower, and began to eat, so every one else began; and what the -apple-woman had said was quite true. Jack knew that he never had tasted -anything half so nice, and he was quite sorry when he could not eat any -more. So, when every one had finished, the Queen leaned her arm on the -edge of the boat, and, turning her lovely face towards Mopsa, said, “I -want to whisper to you, sister.” - -“Oh!” said Mopsa, “I wish I was in Jack’s waistcoat pocket again; but -I’m so big now.” And she took hold of the two sides of his velvet -jacket, and hid her face between them. - -“My old mother sent a message last night,” continued the Queen, in a -soft, sorrowful voice. “She is much more powerful than we are.” - -“What is the message?” asked Mopsa; but she still hid her face. - -So the Queen moved over, and put her lips close to Mopsa’s ear, and -repeated it: “There cannot be two queens in one hive.” - -“If Mopsa leaves the hive, a fine swarm will go with her,” said the -apple-woman. “I shall, for one; that I shall!” - -“No!” answered the Queen. “I hope not, dear; for you know well that -this is my old mother’s doing, not mine.” - -“Oh!” said Mopsa; “I feel as if I must tell a story too, just as the -Queen does.” But the apple-woman broke out in a very cross voice, “It’s -not at all like Fairyland, if you go on in this way, and I would as -lieve be out of it as in it.” Then she began to sing, that she and Jack -might not hear Mopsa’s story: - - “On the rocks by Aberdeen, - Where the whislin’ wave had been, - As I wandered and at e’en - Was eerie; - There I saw thee sailing west, - And I ran with joy opprest-- - Ay, and took out all my best, - My dearie. - - “Then I busked mysel’ wi’ speed, - And the neighbours cried, ‘What need? - ’Tis a lass in any weed - Aye bonny!’ - Now my heart, my heart is sair. - What’s the good, though I be fair, - For thou’lt never see me mair, - Man Johnnie!” - -While the apple-woman sang Mopsa finished her story; and the Queen -untied the fastening which held her carpet to the boat, and went -floating upon it down the river. - -“Good-bye,” she said, kissing her hand to them. “I must go and prepare -for the deputation.” - -So Jack and Mopsa played about all the morning, sometimes in the boat -and sometimes on the shore, while the apple-woman sat on the grass, -with her arms folded, and seemed to be lost in thought. At last she -said to Jack, “What was the name of the great bird that carried you two -here?” - -“I have forgotten,” answered Jack. “I’ve been trying to remember ever -since we heard the Queen tell her first story, but I cannot.” - -“I remember,” said Mopsa. - -“Tell it, then,” replied the apple-woman; but Mopsa shook her head. - -“I don’t want Jack to go,” she answered. - -“I don’t want to go, nor that you should,” said Jack. - -“But the Queen said, ‘there cannot be two Queens in one hive,’ and that -means that you are going to be turned out of this beautiful country.” - -“The other fairy lands are just as nice,” answered Mopsa; “she can only -turn me out of this one.” - -“I never heard of more than one Fairyland,” observed Jack. - -“It’s my opinion,” said the apple-woman, “that there are hundreds! And -those one-foot-one fairies are such a saucy set, that if I were you -I should be very glad to get away from them. You’ve been here a very -little while as yet, and you’ve no notion what goes on when the leaves -begin to drop.” - -“Tell us,” said Jack. - -“Well, you must know,” answered the apple-woman, “that fairies cannot -abide cold weather; so, when the first rime frost comes, they bury -themselves.” - -“Bury themselves?” repeated Jack. - -“Yes, I tell you, they bury themselves. You’ve seen fairy rings, of -course, even in your own country; and here the fields are full of -them. Well, when it gets cold a company of fairies forms itself into a -circle, and every one digs a little hole. The first that has finished -jumps into his hole, and his next neighbour covers him up, and then -jumps into his own little hole, and he gets covered up in his turn, -till at last there is only one left, and he goes and joins another -circle, hoping he shall have better luck than to be last again. I’ve -often asked them why they do that, but no fairy can ever give a reason -for anything. They always say that old Mother Fate makes them do it. -When they come up again, they are not fairies at all, but the good ones -are mushrooms, and the bad ones are toadstools.” - -“Then you think there are no one-foot-one fairies in the other -countries?” said Jack. - -“Of course not,” answered the apple-woman; “all the fairy lands are -different. It’s only the queens that are alike.” - -[Illustration: “WELL, YOU MUST KNOW,” ANSWERED THE APPLE-WOMAN, “THAT -FAIRIES CANNOT ABIDE COLD WEATHER.”] - -“I wish the fairies would not disappear for hours,” said Jack. “They -all seem to run off and hide themselves.” - -“That’s their way,” answered the apple-woman. “All fairies are part of -their time in the shape of human creatures, and the rest of it in the -shape of some animal. These can turn themselves, when they please, into -Guinea-fowl. In the heat of the day they generally prefer to be in that -form, and they sit among the leaves of the trees. - -“A great many are now with the Queen, because there is a deputation -coming; but if I were to begin to sing, such a flock of Guinea-hens -would gather round, that the boughs of the trees would bend with their -weight, and they would light on the grass all about so thickly that not -a blade of grass would be seen as far as the song was heard.” - -So she began to sing, and the air was darkened by great flocks of these -Guinea-fowl. They alighted just as she had said, and kept time with -their heads and their feet, nodding like a crowd of mandarins; and yet -it was nothing but a stupid old song that you would have thought could -have no particular meaning for them. - - -LIKE A LAVEROCK IN THE LIFT - -I - - It’s we two, it’s we two, it’s we two for aye, - All the world and we two, and Heaven be our stay. - Like a laverock in the lift, sing, O bonny bride! - All the world was Adam once, with Eve by his side. - - -II - - What’s the world, my lass, my love! what can it do? - I am thine, and thou art mine; life is sweet and new. - If the world have missed the mark, let it stand by, - For we two have gotten leave, and once more we’ll try. - - -III - - Like a laverock in the lift, sing, O bonny bride! - It’s we two, it’s we two, happy side by side. - Take a kiss from me thy man; now the song begins: - “All is made afresh for us, and the brave heart wins.” - - -IV - - When the darker days come, and no sun will shine, - Thou shalt dry my tears, lass, and I’ll dry thine. - It’s we two, it’s we two, while the world’s away, - Sitting by the golden sheaves on our wedding-day. - -[Illustration: “So she began to sing.”] - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THEY RUN AWAY FROM OLD MOTHER FATE - -[Illustration] - - - “A land that living warmth disowns, - It meets my wondering ken; - A land where all the men are stones, - Or all the stones are men.” - -Before the apple-woman had finished, Jack and Mopsa saw the Queen -coming in great state, followed by thousands of the one-foot-one -fairies, and leading by a ribbon round its neck a beautiful brown doe. -A great many pretty fawns were walking among the fairies. - -“Here’s the deputation,” said the apple-woman; but as the Guinea-fowl -rose like a cloud at the approach of the Queen, and the fairies and -fawns pressed forward, there was a good deal of noise and confusion, -during which Mopsa stepped up close to Jack and whispered in his ear, -“Remember, Jack, whatever you can do you may do.” - -Then the brown doe laid down at Mopsa’s feet, and the Queen began: - -“Jack and Mopsa, I love you both. I had a message last night from my -old mother, and I told you what it was.” - -“Yes, Queen,” said Mopsa, “you did.” - -“And now,” continued the Queen, “she has sent this beautiful brown -doe from the country beyond the lake, where they are in the greatest -distress for a queen, to offer Mopsa the crown; and, Jack, it is fated -that Mopsa is to reign there, so you had better say no more about it.” - -“I don’t want to be a queen,” said Mopsa, pouting; “I want to play with -Jack.” - -“You are a queen already,” answered the real Queen; “at least, you will -be in a few days. You are so much grown, even since the morning, that -you come up nearly to Jack’s shoulder. In four days you will be as tall -as I am; and it is quite impossible that any one of fairy birth should -be as tall as a queen in her own country.” - -“But I don’t see what stags and does can want with a queen,” said Jack. - -“They were obliged to turn into deer,” said the Queen, “when they -crossed their own border; but they are fairies when they are at home, -and they want Mopsa, because they are always obliged to have a queen of -alien birth.” - -“If I go,” said Mopsa, “shall Jack go too?” - -“Oh, no,” answered the Queen; “Jack and the apple-woman are my -subjects.” - -“Apple-woman,” said Jack, “tell us what you think; shall Mopsa go to -this country?” - -“Why, child,” said the apple-woman, “go away from here she must; but -she need not go off with the deer, I suppose, unless she likes. They -look gentle and harmless; but it is very hard to get at the truth in -this country, and I’ve heard queer stories about them.” - -“Have you?” said the Queen. “Well you can repeat them if you like; but -remember that the poor brown doe cannot contradict them.” - -So the apple-woman said, “I have heard, but I don’t know how true it -is, that in that country they shut up their queen in a great castle, -and cover her with a veil, and never let the sun shine on her; for if -by chance the least little sunbeam should light on her she would turn -into a doe directly, and all the nation would turn with her, and stay -so.” - -“I don’t want to be shut up in a castle,” said Mopsa. - -“But is it true?” asked Jack. - -“Well,” said the apple-woman, “as I told you before, I cannot make out -whether it’s true or not, for all these stags and fawns look very mild, -gentle creatures.” - -“I won’t go,” said Mopsa; “I would rather run away.” - -All this time the Queen with the brown doe had been gently pressing -with the crowd nearer and nearer to the brink of the river, so that now -Jack and Mopsa, who stood facing them, were quite close to the boat; -and while they argued and tried to make Mopsa come away, Jack suddenly -whispered to her to spring into the boat, which she did, and he after -her, and at the same time he cried out: - -“Now, boat, if you are my boat, set off as fast as you can, and let -nothing of fairy birth get on board of you.” - -No sooner did he begin to speak than the boat swung itself away from -the edge, and almost in a moment it was in the very middle of the -river, and beginning to float gently down with the stream. - -Now, as I have told you before, that river runs up the country instead -of down to the sea, so Jack and Mopsa floated still farther up into -Fairyland; and they saw the Queen, and the apple-woman, and all the -crowd of fawns and fairies walking along the bank of the river, keeping -exactly to the same pace that the boat went; and this went on for hours -and hours, so that there seemed to be no chance that Jack and Mopsa -could land; and they heard no voices at all, nor any sound but the -baying of the old hound, who could not swim out to them, because Jack -had forbidden the boat to take anything of fairy birth on board of her. - -Luckily, the bottom of the boat was full of those delicious flowers -that had dropped into it at breakfast-time, so there was plenty of -nice food for Jack and Mopsa; and Jack noticed, when he looked at her -towards evening, that she was now nearly as tall as himself, and that -her lovely brown hair floated down to her ankles. - -“Jack,” she said, before it grew dusk, “will you give me your little -purse that has the silver fourpence in it?” - -Now Mopsa had often played with this purse. It was lined with a nice -piece of pale green silk, and when Jack gave it to her she pulled the -silk out, and shook it, and patted it, and stretched it, just as the -Queen had done, and it came into a most lovely cloak, which she tied -round her neck. Then she twisted up her long hair into a coil, and -fastened it round her head, and called to the fireflies which were -beginning to glitter on the trees to come, and they came and alighted -in a row upon the coil, and turned into diamonds directly. So now Mopsa -had got a crown and a robe, and she was so beautiful that Jack thought -he should never be tired of looking at her; but it was nearly dark now, -and he was so sleepy and tired that he could not keep his eyes open, -though he tried very hard, and he began to blink, and then he began -to nod, and at last he fell fast asleep, and did not awake till the -morning. - -Then he sat up in the boat, and looked about him. A wonderful country, -indeed!--no trees, no grass, no houses, nothing but red stones and -red sand--and Mopsa was gone. Jack jumped on shore, for the boat had -stopped, and was close to the brink of the river. He looked about for -some time, and at last, in the shadow of a pale brown rock, he found -her; and oh! delightful surprise, the apple-woman was there too. She -was saying, “O my bones! Dearie, dearie me, how they do ache!” That was -not surprising, for she had been out all night. She had walked beside -the river with the Queen and her tribe till they came to a little -tinkling stream, which divides their country from the sandy land, and -there they were obliged to stop; they could not cross it. But the -apple-woman sprang over, and, though the Queen told her she must come -back again in twenty-four hours, she did not appear to be displeased. -Now the Guinea-hens, when they had come to listen, the day before, to -the apple-woman’s song, had brought each of them a grain of maize in -her beak, and had thrown it into her apron; so when she got up she -carried it with her gathered up there, and now she had been baking -some delicious little cakes on a fire of dry sticks that the river -had drifted down, and Mopsa had taken a honey-comb from the rock, so -they all had a very nice breakfast. And the apple-woman gave them a -great deal of good advice, and told them if they wished to remain in -Fairyland, and not be caught by the brown doe and her followers, they -must cross over the purple mountains, “For on the other side of those -peaks,” she said, “I have heard that fairies live who have the best of -characters for being kind and just. I am sure they would never shut up -a poor queen in a castle. - -“But the best thing you could do, dear,” she said to Mopsa, “would -be to let Jack call the bird, and make her carry you back to his own -country.” - -“The Queen is not at all kind,” said Jack; “I have been very kind to -her, and she should have let Mopsa stay.” - -“No, Jack, she could not,” said Mopsa; “but I wish I had not grown so -fast, and I don’t like to go to your country. I would rather run away.” - -“But who is to tell us where to run?” asked Jack. - -“Oh,” said Mopsa, “some of these people.” - -“I don’t see anybody,” said Jack, looking about him. - -Mopsa pointed to a group of stones, and then to another group, and as -Jack looked he saw that in shape they were something like people--stone -people. One stone was a little like an old man with a mantle over him, -and he was sitting on the ground with his knees up nearly to his chin. -Another was like a woman with a hood on, and she seemed to be leaning -her chin on her hand. Close to these stood something very much like a -cradle in shape; and beyond were stones that resembled a flock of sheep -lying down on the bare sand, with something that reminded Jack of the -figure of a man lying asleep near them, with his face to the ground. - -That was a very curious country; all the stones reminded you of people -or of animals, and the shadows that they cast were much more like than -the stones themselves. There were blocks with things that you might -have mistaken for stone ropes twisted round them; but, looking at the -shadows, you could see distinctly that they were trees, and that what -coiled round were snakes. Then there was a rocky prominence, at one -side of which was something like a sitting figure, but its shadow, -lying on the ground, was that of a girl with a distaff. Jack was very -much surprised at all this; Mopsa was not. She did not see, she said, -that one thing was more wonderful than another. All the fairy lands -were wonderful, but the men-and-women world was far more so. She and -Jack went about among the stones all day, and as the sun got low both -the shadows and the blocks themselves became more and more like people, -and if you went close you could now see features, very sweet, quiet -features, but the eyes were all shut. - -By this time the apple-woman began to feel very sad. She knew she -should soon have to leave Jack and Mopsa, and she said to Mopsa, as -they finished their evening meal, “I wish you would ask the inhabitants -a few questions, dear, before I go, for I want to know whether they can -put you in the way how to cross the purple mountains.” - -Jack said nothing, for he thought he would see what Mopsa was going -to do; so when she got up, and went towards the shape that was like a -cradle he followed, and the apple-woman too. Mopsa went to the figure -that sat by the cradle. It was a stone yet, but when Mopsa laid her -little warm hand on its bosom it smiled. - -“Dear,” said Mopsa, “I wish you would wake.” - -A curious little sound was now heard, but the figure did not move, and -the apple-woman lifted Mopsa on to the lap of the statue; then she put -her arms round its neck, and spoke to it again very distinctly: “Dear! -why don’t you wake? You had better wake now; the baby’s crying.” - -Jack now observed that the sound he had heard was something like the -crying of a baby. He also heard the figure answering Mopsa. It said, “I -am only a stone!” - -“Then,” said Mopsa, “I am not a queen yet. I cannot wake her. Take me -down.” - -“I am not warm,” said the figure: and that was quite true, and yet she -was not a stone now which reminded one of a woman, but a woman that -reminded one of a stone. - -All the west was very red with the sunset, and the river was red too, -and Jack distinctly saw some of the coils of rope glide down from -the trees and slip into the water; next he saw the stones that had -looked like sheep raise up their heads in the twilight, and then lift -themselves and shake their woolly sides. At that instant the large -white moon heaved up her pale face between two dark blue hills, and -upon this the statue put out its feet and gently rocked the cradle. - -Then it spoke again to Mopsa: “What was it that you wished me to tell -you?” - -“How to find the way over those purple mountains,” said Mopsa. - -“You must set off in an hour, then,” said the woman, and she had hardly -anything of the stone about her now. “You can easily find it by night -without any guide, but nothing can ever take you to it by day.” - -“But we would rather stay a few days in this curious country,” said -Jack; “let us wait at least till to-morrow night.” - -The statue at this moment rubbed her hands together as if they still -felt cold and stiff. - -“You are quite welcome to stay,” she observed; “but you had better not.” - -“Why not?” persisted Jack. - -“Father,” said the woman, rising and shaking the figure next to her by -the sleeve, “Wake up!” What had looked like an old man was a real old -man now, and he got up and began to gather sticks to make a fire, and -to pick up the little brown stones which had been scattered about all -day, but which now were berries of coffee; the larger ones, which you -might find here and there, were rasped rolls. Then the woman answered -Jack, “Why not? Why, because it’s full moon to-night at midnight, and -the moment the moon is past the full your Queen, whose country you have -just left, will be able to cross over the little stream, and she will -want to take you and that other mortal back. She can do it, of course, -if she pleases; and we can afford you no protection, for by that time -we shall be stones again. We are only people two hours out of the -twenty-four.” - -“That is very hard,” observed Jack. - -“No,” said the woman, in a tone of indifference; “it comes to the same -thing, as we live twelve times as long as others do.” - -By this time the shepherd was gently driving his flock down to the -water, and round fifty little fires groups of people were sitting -roasting coffee, while cows were lowing to be milked, and girls with -distaffs were coming to them slowly, for no one was in a hurry there. -They say in that country that they wish to enjoy their day quietly, -because it is so short. - -“Can you tell us anything of the land beyond the mountains?” asked Jack. - -“Yes,” said the woman. “Of all fairy lands it is the best; the people -are the gentlest and kindest.” - -“Then I had better take Mopsa there than down the river?” said Jack. - -“You can’t take her down the river,” replied the woman; and Jack -thought she laughed and was glad of that. - -“Why not?” asked Jack. “I have a boat.” - -“Yes, sir,” answered the woman, “but where is it now?” - -[Illustration: “Yes, sir,” said the woman, “But where is it now?”] - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -MELON SEEDS - -[Illustration] - - - “_Rosalind._ Well, this is the forest of Arden. - - “_Touchstone._ Ay, now am I in Arden: the more fool I; - when I was at home I was in a better place; but - travellers must be content?”--_As You Like It._ - -“Where is it now?” said the stone-woman; and when Jack heard that he -ran down to the river, and looked right and looked left. At last he saw -his boat--a mere speck in the distance, it had floated so far. - -He called it, but it was far beyond the reach of his voice; and Mopsa, -who had followed him, said: - -“It does not signify, Jack, for I feel that no place is the right place -for me but that country beyond the purple mountains, and I shall never -be happy unless we go there.” - -So they walked back towards the stone-people hand in hand, and the -apple-woman presently joined them. She was crying gently, for she knew -that she must soon pass over the little stream and part with these -whom she called her dear children. Jack had often spoken to her that -day about going home to her own country, but she said it was too late -to think of that now, and she must end her days in the land of Faery. - -The kind stone-people asked them to come and sit by their little fire; -and in the dusk the woman whose baby had slept in a stone cradle took -it up and began to sing to it. She seemed astonished when she heard -that the apple-woman had power to go home if she could make up her mind -to do it; and as she sang she looked at her with wonder and pity. - - “Little babe, while burns the west, - Warm thee, warm thee in my breast; - While the moon doth shine her best, - And the dews distil not. - - “All the land so sad, so fair-- - Sweet its toils are, blest its care. - Child, we may not enter there! - Some there are that will not. - - “Fain would I thy margins know, - Land of work, and land of snow; - Land of life, whose rivers flow - On, and on, and stay not. - - “Fain would I thy small limbs fold, - While the weary hours are told, - Little babe in cradle cold. - Some there are that may not.” - -“You are not exactly fairies, I suppose?” said Jack. “If you were, you -could go to our country when you pleased.” - -“No,” said the woman; “we are not exactly fairies; but we shall be more -like them when our punishment is over.” - -“I am sorry you are punished,” answered Jack, “for you seem very nice, -kind people.” - -“We were not always kind,” answered the woman; “and perhaps we are only -kind now because we have no time and no chance of being otherwise. I’m -sure I don’t know about that. We were powerful once, and we did a cruel -deed. I must not tell you what it was. We were told that our hearts -were all as cold as stones--and I suppose they were--and we were doomed -to be stones all our lives, excepting for the two hours of twilight. -There was no one to sow the crops, or water the grass, so it all -failed, and the trees died, and our houses fell, and our possessions -were stolen from us.” - -“It is a very sad thing,” observed the apple-woman; and then she said -that she must go, for she had a long way to walk before she should -reach the little brook that led to the country of her own queen; so she -kissed the two children, Jack and Mopsa, and they begged her again to -think better of it, and return to her own land. But she said No; she -had no heart for work now, and could not bear either cold or poverty. - -Then the woman who was hugging her little baby, and keeping it cosy and -warm, began to tell Jack and Mopsa that it was time they should begin -to run away to the country over the purple mountains, or else the Queen -would overtake them and be very angry with them; so, with many promises -that they would mind her directions, they set off hand in hand to run; -but before they left her they could see plainly that she was beginning -to turn again into stone. However, she had given them a slice of melon -with the seeds in it. It had been growing on the edge of the river, and -was stone in the daytime, like everything else. “When you are tired,” -she said, “eat the seeds, and they will enable you to go running on. -You can put the slice into this little red pot, which has string -handles to it, and you can hang it on your arm. While you have it with -you it will not turn to stone, but if you lay it down it will, and then -it will be useless.” - -So, as I said before, Jack and Mopsa set off hand in hand to run; and -as they ran all the things and people gradually and softly settled -themselves to turn into stone again. Their cloaks and gowns left off -fluttering, and hung stiffly; and then they left off their occupations, -and sat down, or lay down themselves; and the sheep and cattle turned -stiff and stonelike too, so that in a very little while all that -country was nothing but red stones and red sand, just as it had been in -the morning. - -Presently the full moon, which had been hiding behind a cloud, came -out, and they saw their shadows, which fell straight before them; so -they ran on hand in hand very merrily till the half-moon came up, -and the shadows she made them cast fell sideways. This was rather -awkward, because as long as only the full moon gave them shadows they -had but to follow them in order to go straight towards the purple -mountains. Now they were not always sure which were her shadows; and -presently a crescent moon came, and still further confused them; also -the sand began to have tufts of grass in it; and then, when they had -gone a little farther, there were beautiful patches of anemones, and -hyacinths, and jonquils, and crown imperials, and they stopped to -gather them; and they got among some trees, and then, as they had -nothing to guide them but the shadows, and these went all sorts of -ways, they lost a great deal of time, and the trees became of taller -growth; but they still ran on and on till they got into a thick forest -where it was quite dark, and here Mopsa began to cry, for she was tired. - -“If I could only begin to be a queen,” she said to Jack, “I could go -wherever I pleased. I am not a fairy, and yet I am not a proper queen. -Oh, what shall I do? I cannot go any farther.” - -So Jack gave her some of the seeds of the melon, though it was so -dark that he could scarcely find the way to her mouth, and then he -took some himself, and they both felt that they were rested, and Jack -comforted Mopsa. - -“If you are not a queen yet,” he said, “you will be by to-morrow -morning; for when our shadows danced on before us yours was so very -nearly the same height as mine that I could hardly see any difference.” - -When they reached the end of that great forest, and found themselves -out in all sorts of moonlight, the first thing they did was to -laugh--the shadows looked so odd, sticking out in every direction; and -the next thing they did was to stand back to back, and put their heels -together, and touch their heads together, to see by the shadow which -was the taller; and Jack was still the least bit in the world taller -than Mopsa; so they knew she was not a queen yet, and they ate some -more melon seeds, and began to climb up the mountain. - -They climbed till the trees of the forest looked no bigger than -gooseberry bushes, and then they climbed till the whole forest looked -only like a patch of moss; and then, when they got a little higher, -they saw the wonderful river, a long way off, and the snow glittering -on the peaks overhead; and while they were looking and wondering how -they should find a pass, the moons all went down, one after the other, -and, if Mopsa had not found some glow-worms, they would have been quite -in the dark again. However, she took a dozen of them, and put them -round Jack’s ankles, so that when he walked he could see where he was -going; and he found a little sheep-path, and she followed him. - -Now they had noticed during the night how many shooting-stars kept -darting about from time to time, and at last one shot close by them, -and fell in the soft moss on before. There it lay shining; and Jack, -though he began to feel very tired again, made haste to it, for he -wanted to see what it was like. - -It was not what you would have supposed. It was soft and round, and -about the colour of a ripe apricot; it was covered with fur, and in -fact it was evidently alive, and had curled itself up into a round ball. - -“The dear little thing!” said Jack, as he held it in his hand, and -showed it to Mopsa; “how its heart beats! Is it frightened?” - -“Who are you?” said Mopsa to the thing. “What is your name?” - -The little creature made a sound that seemed like “Wisp.” - -“Uncurl yourself, Wisp,” said Mopsa. “Jack and I want to look at you.” - -So Wisp unfolded himself, and showed two little black eyes, and spread -out two long filmy wings. He was like a most beautiful bat, and the -light he shed out illuminated their faces. - -“It is only one of the air fairies,” said Mopsa. “Pretty creature! It -never did any harm, and would like to do us good if it knew how, for -it knows that I shall be a queen very soon. Wisp, if you like, you may -go and tell your friends and relations that we want to cross over the -mountains; and if they can they may help us.” - -Upon this Wisp spread out his wings, and shot off again; and Jack’s -feet were so tired that he sat down, and pulled off one of his shoes, -for he thought there was a stone in it. So he set the little red jar -beside him, and quite forgot what the stone woman had said, but went on -shaking his shoe, and buckling it, and admiring the glow-worms round -his ankle, till Mopsa said, “Darling Jack, I am so dreadfully tired! -Give me some more melon seeds.” Then he lifted up the jar, and thought -it felt very heavy; and when he put in his hand, jar, and melon, and -seeds were all turned to stone together. - -[Illustration: THEY SPREAD OUT LONG FILMY WINGS.] - -They were both very sorry, and they sat still for a minute or two, -for they were much too tired to stir; and then shooting-stars began -to appear in all directions. The fairy bat had told his friends and -relations, and they were coming. One fell at Mopsa’s feet, another -in her lap; more, more, all about, behind, before, and over them. And -they spread out long filmy wings, some of them a yard long, till Jack -and Mopsa seemed to be enclosed in a perfect network of the rays of -shooting-stars, and they were both a good deal frightened. Fifty or -sixty shooting-stars, with black eyes that could stare, were enough, -they thought, to frighten anybody. - -“If we had anything to sit upon,” said Mopsa, “they could carry us -over the pass.” She had no sooner spoken than the largest of the bats -bit off one of his own long wings, and laid it at Mopsa’s feet. It did -not seem to matter much to him that he had parted with it, for he shot -out another wing directly, just as a comet shoots out a ray of light -sometimes, when it approaches the sun. - -Mopsa thanked the shooting fairy, and, taking the wing, began to -stretch it, till it was large enough for her and Jack to sit upon. Then -all the shooting fairies came round it, took its edges in their mouths, -and began to fly away with it over the mountains. They went slowly, -for Jack and Mopsa were heavy, and they flew very low, resting now and -then; but in the course of time they carried the wing over the pass, -and half-way down the other side. Then the sun came up; and the moment -he appeared all their lovely apricot-coloured light was gone, and they -only looked like common bats, such as you can see every evening. - -They set down Jack and Mopsa, folded up their long wings, and hung down -their heads. - -Mopsa thanked them, and said they had been useful; but still they -looked ashamed, and crept into little corners and crevices of the rock, -to hide. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -REEDS AND RUSHES - -[Illustration] - - - “’Tis merry, ’tis merry in Fairyland, - When Fairy birds are singing; - When the court doth ride by their monarch’s side, - With bit and bridle ringing.” - - WALTER SCOTT. - -There were many fruit-trees on that slope of the mountain, and Jack and -Mopsa, as they came down, gathered some fruit for breakfast, and did -not feel very tired, for the long ride on the wing had rested them. - -They could not see the plain, for a slight blue mist hung over it; but -the sun was hot already, and as they came down they saw a beautiful bed -of high reeds, and thought they would sit awhile and rest in it. A rill -of clear water ran beside the bed, so when they had reached it they sat -down, and began to consider what they should do next. - -“Jack,” said Mopsa, “did you see anything particular as you came down -with the shooting stars?” - -“No, I saw nothing so interesting as they were,” answered Jack. “I was -looking at them and watching how they squeaked to one another, and how -they had little hooks in their wings, with which they held the large -wing that we sat on.” - -“But I saw something,” said Mopsa. “Just as the sun rose I looked down, -and in the loveliest garden I ever saw, and all among trees and woods, -I saw a most beautiful castle. O Jack! I am sure that castle is the -place I am to live in, and now we have nothing to do but to find it. I -shall soon be a queen, and there I shall reign.” - -“Then I shall be king there,” said Jack; “shall I?” - -“Yes, if you can,” answered Mopsa. “Of course, whatever you can do you -may do. And, Jack, this is a much better fairy country than either the -stony land or the other that we first came to, for this castle is a -real place! It will not melt away. There the people can work, they know -how to love each other: common fairies cannot do that, I know. They can -laugh and cry, and I shall teach them several things that they do not -know yet. Oh! do let us make haste and find the castle.” - -So they arose; but they turned the wrong way, and by mistake walked -farther and farther in among the reeds, whose feathery heads puffed -into Mopsa’s face, and Jack’s coat was all covered with the fluffy seed. - -“This is very odd,” said Jack. “I thought this was only a small bed of -reeds when we stepped into it; but really we must have walked a mile -already.” - -But they walked on and on, till Mopsa grew quite faint, and her sweet -face became very pale, for she knew that the beds of reeds were -spreading faster than they walked, and then they shot up so high that -it was impossible to see over their heads; so at last Jack and Mopsa -were so tired, that they sat down, and Mopsa began to cry. - -However, Jack was the braver of the two this time, and he comforted -Mopsa, and told her that she was nearly a queen, and would never reach -her castle by sitting still. So she got up and took his hand, and he -went on before, parting the reeds and pulling her after him, till all -on a sudden they heard the sweetest sound in the world: it was like a -bell, and it sounded again and again. - -It was the castle clock, and it was striking twelve at noon. - -As it finished striking they came out at the farther edge of the -great bed of reeds, and there was the castle straight before them--a -beautiful castle, standing on the slope of a hill. The grass all about -it was covered with beautiful flowers; two of the taller turrets were -over-grown with ivy, and a flag was flying on a staff; but everything -was so silent and lonely that it made one sad to look on. As Jack and -Mopsa drew near they trod as gently as they could, and did not say a -word. - -All the windows were shut, but there was a great door in the centre of -the building, and they went towards it, hand in hand. - -What a beautiful hall! The great door stood wide open, and they could -see what a delightful place this must be to live in: it was paved with -squares of blue and white marble, and here and there carpets were -spread, with chairs and tables upon them. They looked and saw a great -dome overhead, filled with windows of coloured glass, and they cast -down blue and golden and rosy reflections. - -“There is my home that I shall live in,” said Mopsa; and she came close -to the door, and they both looked in, till at last she let go of -Jack’s hand, and stepped over the threshold. - -The bell in the tower sounded again more sweetly than ever, and the -instant Mopsa was inside there came from behind the fluted columns, -which rose up on every side, the brown doe, followed by troops of deer -and fawns! - -“Mopsa! Mopsa!” cried Jack, “come away! come back!” But Mopsa was -too much astonished to stir, and something seemed to hold Jack from -following; but he looked and looked, till, as the brown doe advanced, -the door of the castle closed--Mopsa was shut in, and Jack was left -outside. - -So Mopsa had come straight to the place she thought she had run away -from. - -“But I am determined to get her away from those creatures,” thought -Jack; “she does not want to reign over deer.” And he began to look -about him, hoping to get in. It was of no use: all the windows in that -front of the castle were high, and when he tried to go round, he came -to a high wall with battlements. Against some parts of this wall the -ivy grew, and looked as if it might have grown there for ages; its -stems were thicker than his waist, and its branches were spread over -the surface like network; so by means of them he hoped to climb to the -top. - -He immediately began to try. Oh, how high the wall was! First he came -to several sparrows’ nests, and very much frightened the sparrows were; -then he reached starlings’ nests, and very angry the starlings were; -but at last, just under the coping, he came to jackdaws’ nests, and -these birds were very friendly, and pointed out to him the best little -holes for him to put his feet into. At last he reached the top, and -found to his delight that the wall was three feet thick, and he could -walk upon it quite comfortably, and look down into a lovely garden, -where all the trees were in blossom, and creepers tossed their long -tendrils from tree to tree, covered with puffs of yellow, or bells of -white, or bunches and knots of blue or rosy bloom. - -He could look down into the beautiful empty rooms of the castle, and -he walked cautiously on the wall till he came to the west front, and -reached a little casement window that had latticed panes. Jack peeped -in; nobody was there. He took his knife, and cut away a little bit of -lead to let out the pane, and it fell with such a crash on the pavement -below that he wondered it did not bring the deer over to look at what -he was about. Nobody came. - -He put in his hand and opened the latchet, and with very little trouble -got down into the room. Still nobody was to be seen. He thought that -the room, years ago, might have been a fairies’ schoolroom, for it was -strewn with books, slates, and all sorts of copybooks. A fine soft dust -had settled down over everything--pens, papers, and all. Jack opened a -copybook: its pages were headed with maxims, just as ours are, which -proved that these fairies must have been superior to such as he had -hitherto come among. Jack read some of them: - - “Turn your back on the light, and you’ll follow a shadow.” - - “The deaf queen Fate has dumb courtiers.” - - “If the hound is your foe, don’t sleep in his kennel.” - - “That that is, is.” - -And so on; but nobody came, and no sound was heard, so he opened the -door, and found himself in a long and most splendid gallery, all hung -with pictures, and spread with a most beautiful carpet, which was as -soft and white as a piece of wool, and wrought with a beautiful device. -This was the letter M, with a crown and sceptre, and underneath a -beautiful little boat, exactly like the one in which he had come up the -river. Jack felt sure that this carpet had been made for Mopsa, and he -went along the gallery upon it till he reached a grand staircase of oak -that was almost black with age, and he stole gently down it, for he -began to feel rather shy, more especially as he could now see the great -hall under the dome, and that it had a beautiful lady in it, and many -other people, but no deer at all. - -These fairy people were something like the one-foot-one fairies, but -much larger and more like children, and they had very gentle, happy -faces, and seemed to be extremely glad and gay. But seated on a couch, -where lovely painted windows threw down all sorts of rainbow colours -on her, was a beautiful fairy lady, as large as a woman. She had Mopsa -in her arms, and was looking down upon her with eyes full of love, -while at her side stood a boy, who was exactly and precisely like Jack -himself. He had rather long light hair and grey eyes, and a velvet -jacket. That was all Jack could see at first, but as he drew nearer the -boy turned, and then Jack felt as if he was looking at himself in the -glass. - -Mopsa had been very tired, and now she was fast asleep, with her head -on that lady’s shoulder. The boy kept looking at her, and he seemed -very happy indeed; so did the lady, and she presently told him to bring -Jack something to eat. - -It was rather a curious speech that she made to him; it was this: - -“Jack, bring Jack some breakfast.” - -“What!” thought Jack to himself, “has he got a face like mine, and a -name like mine too?” - -So that other Jack went away, and presently came back with a golden -plate full of nice things to eat. - -“I know you don’t like me,” he said, as he came up to Jack with the -plate. - -“Not like him?” repeated the lady; “and pray what reason have you for -not liking my royal nephew?” - -“O dame!” exclaimed the boy, and laughed. - -The lady, on hearing this, turned pale, for she perceived that she -herself had mistaken the one for the other. - -“I see you know how to laugh,” said the real Jack. “You are wiser -people than those whom I went to first; but the reason I don’t like you -is, that you are so exactly like me.” - -“I am not!” exclaimed the boy. “Only hear him, dame! You mean, I -suppose, that you are so exactly like me. I am sure I don’t know what -you mean by it.” - -“Nor I either,” replied Jack, almost in a passion. - -“It couldn’t be helped, of course,” said the other Jack. - -“Hush! hush!” said the fairy woman; “don’t wake our dear little Queen. -Was it you, my royal nephew, who spoke last?” - -“Yes, dame,” answered the boy, and again he offered the plate; but Jack -was swelling with indignation, and he gave the plate a push with his -elbow, which scattered the fruit and bread on the ground. - -“I won’t eat it,” he said; but when the other Jack went and picked -it up again, and said, “Oh, yes, do, old fellow; it’s not my fault, -you know,” he began to consider that it was no use being cross in -Fairyland; so he forgave his double, and had just finished his -breakfast when Mopsa woke. - -[Illustration: He gave the plate a push with his elbow.] - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -THE QUEEN’S WAND - -[Illustration] - - - “One, two, three, four; one, two, three, four; - ’Tis still one, two, three, four. - Mellow and silvery are the tones, - But I wish the bells were more.” - - SOUTHEY. - -Mopsa woke: she was rather too big to be nursed, for she was the size -of Jack, and looked like a sweet little girl of ten years, but she did -not always behave like one; sometimes she spoke as wisely as a grown-up -woman, and sometimes she changed again and seemed like a child. - -Mopsa lifted up her head and pushed back her long hair: her coronet -had fallen off while she was in the bed of reeds; and she said to the -beautiful dame: - -“I am a queen now.” - -“Yes, my sweet Queen,” answered the lady, “I know you are.” - -“And you promise that you will be kind to me till I grow up,” said -Mopsa, “and love me, and teach me how to reign?” - -“Yes,” repeated the lady; “and I will love you too, just as if you were -a mortal and I your mother.” - -“For I am only ten years old yet,” said Mopsa, “and the throne is too -big for me to sit upon; but I am a queen.” And then she paused, and -said, “Is it three o’clock?” - -As she spoke, the sweet clear bell of the castle sounded three times, -and then chimes began to play; they played such a joyous tune that it -made everybody sing. The dame sang, the crowd of fairies sang, the boy -who was Jack’s double sang, and Mopsa sang--only Jack was silent--and -this was the song: - - “The prince shall to the chase again, - The dame has got her face again, - The king shall have his place again - Aneath the fairy dome. - - “And all the knights shall woo again, - And all the doves shall coo again, - And all the dreams come true again, - And Jack shall go home.” - -“We shall see about that!” thought Jack to himself. And Mopsa, while -she sang those last words, burst into tears, which Jack did not like to -see; but all the fairies were so very glad, so joyous, and so delighted -with her for having come to be their queen, that after a while she -dried her eyes, and said to the wrong boy: - -“Jack, when I pulled the lining out of your pocket-book there was a -silver fourpence in it.” - -“Yes,” said the real Jack, “and here it is.” - -“Is it real money?” asked Mopsa. “Are you sure you brought it with you -all the way from your own country?” - -“Yes,” said Jack, “quite sure.” - -“Then, dear Jack,” answered Mopsa, “will you give it to me?” - -“I will,” said Jack, “if you will send this boy away.” - -“How can I?” answered Mopsa, surprised. “Don’t you know what happened -when the door closed? Has nobody told you?” - -“I did not see any one after I got into the place,” said Jack. “There -was no one to tell anything--not even a fawn, nor the brown doe. I have -only seen down here these fairy people, and this boy, and this lady.” - -“The lady is the brown doe,” answered Mopsa; “and this boy and the -fairies were the fawns.” Jack was so astonished at this that he stared -at the lady and the boy and the fairies with all his might. - -“The sun came shining in as I stepped inside,” said Mopsa, “and a long -beam fell down from the fairy dome across my feet. Do you remember -what the apple-woman told us--how it was reported that the brown doe -and her nation had a queen whom they shut up, and never let the sun -shine on her? That was not a kind or true report, and yet it came from -something that really happened.” - -“Yes, I remember,” said Jack; “and if the sun did shine they were all -to be turned into deer.” - -“I dare not tell you all that story yet,” said Mopsa; “but, Jack, as -the brown doe and all the fawns came up to greet me, and passed by -turns into the sunbeam, they took their own forms, every one of them, -because the spell was broken. They were to remain in the disguise of -deer till a queen of alien birth should come to them against her will. -I am a queen of alien birth, and did not I come against my will?” - -“Yes, to be sure,” answered Jack. “We thought all the time that we were -running away.” - -“If ever you come to Fairyland again,” observed Mopsa, “you can save -yourself the trouble of trying to run away from the old mother.” - -“I shall not ‘come,’” answered Jack, “because I shall not go--not for a -long while, at least. But the boy--I want to know why this boy turned -into another ME?” - -“Because he is the heir, of course,” answered Mopsa. - -“But I don’t see that this is any reason at all,” said Jack. - -Mopsa laughed. “That’s because you don’t know how to argue,” she -replied. “Why, the thing is as plain as possible.” - -“It may be plain to you,” persisted Jack, “but it’s no reason.” - -“No reason!” repeated Mopsa, “no reason! when I like you the best of -anything in the world, and when I am come here to be queen! Of course, -when the spell was broken he took exactly your form on that account; -and very right too.” - -“But why?” asked Jack. - -Mopsa, however, was like other fairies in this respect--that she knew -all about Old Mother Fate, but not about causes and reasons. She -believed, as we do in this world, that - - “That that is, is,” - -but the fairies go further than this; they say: - - “That that is, is; and when it is, that is the reason that it is.” - -This sounds like nonsense to us, but it is all right to them. - -So Mopsa, thinking she had explained everything, said again: - -“And, dear Jack, will you give the silver fourpence to me?” - -Jack took it out; and she got down from the dame’s knee and took it in -the palm of her hand, laying the other palm upon it. - -“It will be very hot,” observed the dame. - -“But it will not burn me so as really to hurt, if I am a real queen,” -said Mopsa. - -Presently she began to look as if something gave her pain. - -“Oh, it’s so hot!” she said to the other Jack; “so very hot!” - -“Never mind, sweet Queen,” he answered; “it will not hurt you long. -Remember my poor uncle and all his knights.” - -Mopsa still held the little silver coin; but Jack saw that it hurt -her, for two bright tears fell from her eyes; and in another moment -he saw that it was actually melted, for it fell in glittering drops -from Mopsa’s hand to the marble floor, and there it lay as soft as -quick-silver. - -“Pick it up,” said Mopsa to the other Jack; and he instantly did -so, and laid it in her hand again; and she began gently to roll it -backwards and forwards between her palms till she had rolled it into a -very slender rod, two feet long, and not nearly so thick as a pin; but -it did not bend, and it shone so brightly that you could hardly look at -it. - -Then she held it out towards the real Jack, and said, “Give this a -name.” - -“I think it is a----” began the other Jack; but the dame suddenly -stopped him. “Silence, sire! Don’t you know that what it is first -called that it will be?” - -Jack hesitated; he thought if Mopsa was a queen the thing ought to be a -sceptre; but it certainly was not at all like a sceptre. - -“That thing is a wand,” said he. - -“You are a wand,” said Mopsa, speaking to the silver stick, which -was glittering now in a sunbeam almost as if it were a beam of light -itself. Then she spoke again to Jack: - -“Tell me, Jack, what can I do with a wand?” - -Again the boy-king began to speak, and the dame stopped him, and again -Jack considered. He had heard a great deal in his own country about -fairy wands, but he could not remember that the fairies had done -anything particular with them, so he gave what he thought was true, but -what seemed to him a very stupid answer: - -“You can make it point to anything that you please.” - -The moment he had said this, shouts of ecstasy filled the hall, and all -the fairies clapped their hands with such hurrahs of delight that he -blushed for joy. - -The dame also looked truly glad, and as for the other Jack, he actually -turned head over heels, just as Jack had often done himself on his -father’s lawn. - -Jack had merely meant that Mopsa could point with the wand to anything -that she saw; but he was presently told that what he had meant was -nothing, and that his words were everything. - -“I can make it point now,” said Mopsa, “and it will point aright to -anything I please, whether I know where the thing is or not.” - -Again the hall was filled with those cries of joy, and the sweet -childlike fairies congratulated each other with “The Queen has got a -wand--a wand! and she can make it point wherever she pleases!” - -Then Mopsa rose and walked towards the beautiful staircase, the dame -and all the fairies following. Jack was going too, but the other Jack -held him. - -“Where is Mopsa going? and why am I not to follow?” inquired Jack. - -“They are going to put on her robes, of course,” answered the other -Jack. - -“I am so tired of always hearing you say ‘of course,’” answered Jack; -“and I wonder how it is that you always seem to know what is going to -be done without being told. However, I suppose you can’t help being odd -people.” - -The boy-king did not make a direct answer; he only said, “I like you -very much, though you don’t like me.” - -“Why do you like me?” asked Jack. - -So he opened his eyes wide with surprise: “Most boys say Sire to me,” -he observed; “at least they used to do when there were any boys here. -However, that does not signify. Why, of course I like you, because I -am so tired of being always a fawn, and you brought Mopsa to break the -spell. You cannot think how disagreeable it is to have no hands, and -to be all covered with hair. Now look at my hands; I can move them and -turn them everywhere, even over my head if I like. Hoofs are good for -nothing in comparison: and we could not talk.” - -“Do tell me about it,” said Jack. “How did you become fawns?” - -“I dare not tell you,” said the boy; “and listen!--I hear Mopsa.” - -Jack looked, and certainly Mopsa was coming, but very strangely, he -thought. Mopsa, like all other fairies, was afraid to whisper a spell -with her eyes open; so a handkerchief was tied across them, and as she -came on she felt her way, holding by the banisters with one hand, and -with the other, between her finger and thumb, holding out the silver -wand. She felt with her foot for the edge of the first stair; and Jack -heard her say, “I am much older--ah! so much older, now I have got my -wand. I can feel sorrow too, and _their_ sorrow weighs down my heart.” - -Mopsa was dressed superbly in a white satin gown, with a long, long -train of crimson velvet which was glittering with diamonds; it reached -almost from one end of the great gallery to the other, and had hundreds -of fairies to hold it and keep it in its place. But in her hair were no -jewels, only a little crown made of daisies, and on her shoulders her -robe was fastened with the little golden image of a boat. These things -were to show the land she had come from and the vessel she had come in. - -So she came slowly, slowly down stairs blindfold, and muttering to her -wand all the time: - - “Though the sun shine brightly, - Wand, wand, guide rightly.” - -So she felt her way down to the great hall. There the wand turned half -round in the hall towards the great door, and she and Jack and the -other Jack came out into the lawn in front with all the followers and -trainbearers; only the dame remained behind. - -Jack noticed now for the first time that, with the one exception of the -boy-king, all these fairies were lady-fairies; he also observed that -Mopsa, after the manner of fairy queens, though she moved slowly and -blindfold, was beginning to tell a story. This time it did not make him -feel sleepy. It did not begin at the beginning: their stories never do. - -These are the first words he heard, for she spoke softly and very low, -while he walked at her right hand, and the other Jack on her left: - -“And so now I have no wings. But my thoughts can go up (Jovinian and -Roxaletta could not think). My thoughts are instead of wings; but they -have dropped with me now, as a lark among the clods of the valley. -Wand, do you bend? Yes, I am following, wand. - -“And after that the bird said, ‘I will come when you call me.’ I have -never seen her moving overhead; perhaps she is out of sight. Flocks of -birds hover over the world, and watch it high up where the air is thin. -There are zones, but those in the lowest zone are far out of sight. - -“I have not been up there. I have no wings. - -“Over the highest of the birds is the place where angels float and -gather the children’s souls as they are set free. - -“And so that woman told me--(Wand, you bend again, and I will turn at -your bending)--that woman told me how it was: for when the new king -was born, a black fairy with a smiling face came and sat within the -doorway. She had a spindle, and would always spin. She wanted to teach -them how to spin, but they did not like her, and they loved to do -nothing at all. So they turned her out. - -“But after her came a brown fairy, with a grave face, and she sat on -the black fairy’s stool and gave them much counsel. They liked that -still less; so they got spindles and spun, for they said, ‘She will go -now, and we shall have the black fairy again.’ When she did not go they -turned her out also, and after her came a white fairy, and sat in the -same seat. She did nothing at all, and she said nothing at all; but she -had a sorrowful face, and she looked up. So they were displeased. They -turned her out also; and she went and sat by the edge of the lake with -her two sisters. - -“And everything prospered over all the land; till, after shearing-time, -the shepherds, because the king was a child, came to his uncle, and -said, ‘Sir, what shall we do with the old wool, for the new fleeces are -in the bales, and there is no storehouse to put them in?’ So he said, -‘Throw them into the lake.’ - -“And while they threw them in, a great flock of finches flew to them, -and said, ‘Give us some of the wool that you do not want; we should be -glad of it to build our nests with.’ - -“They answered, ‘Go and gather for yourselves; there is wool on every -thorn.’ - -“Then the black fairy said, ‘They shall be forgiven this time, because -the birds should pick wool for themselves.’ - -“So the finches flew away. - -“Then the harvest was over, and the reapers came and said to the -child-king’s uncle, ‘Sir, what shall we do with the new wheat, for the -old is not half eaten yet, and there is no room in the granaries?’ - -“He said, ‘Throw that into the lake also.’ - -“While they were throwing it in, there came a great flight of the wood -fairies, fairies of passage from over the sea. They were in the form of -pigeons, and they alighted and prayed them, ‘O cousins! we are faint -with our long flight; give us some of that corn which you do not want, -that we may peck it and be refreshed.’ - -“But they said, ‘You may rest on our land, but our corn is our own. -Rest awhile, and go and get food in your own fields.’ - -“Then the brown fairy said, ‘They may be forgiven this once, but yet it -is a great unkindness.’ - -“And as they were going to pour in the last sackful, there passed a -poor mortal beggar, who had strayed in from the men and women’s world, -and she said, ‘Pray give me some of that wheat, O fairy people! for I -am hungry, I have lost my way, and there is no money to be earned here. -Give me some of that wheat, that I may bake cakes, lest I and my baby -should starve.’ - -“And they said, ‘What is starve? We never heard that word before, and -we cannot wait while you explain it to us.’ - -“So they poured it all into the lake; and then the white fairy said, -‘This cannot be forgiven them;’ and she covered her face with her hands -and wept. Then the black fairy rose and drove them all before her--the -prince, with his chief shepherd and his reapers, his courtiers and his -knights; she drove them into the great bed of reeds, and no one has -ever set eyes on them since. Then the brown fairy went into the palace -where the king’s aunt sat, with all her ladies and her maids about her, -and with the child-king on her knee. - -“It was a very gloomy day. - -“She stood in the middle of the hall, and said, ‘Oh, you cold-hearted -and most unkind! my spell is upon you, and the first ray of sunshine -shall bring it down. Lose your present forms, and be of a more gentle -and innocent race, till a queen of alien birth shall come to reign over -you against her will.’ - -“As she spoke they crept into corners, and covered the dame’s head with -a veil. And all that day it was dark and gloomy, and nothing happened, -and all the next day it rained and rained; and they thrust the dame -into a dark closet, and kept her there for a whole month, and still not -a ray of sunshine came to do them any damage; but the dame faded and -faded in the dark, and at last they said, ‘She must come out, or she -will die; and we do not believe the sun will ever shine in our country -any more.’ So they let the poor dame come out; and lo! as she crept -slowly forth under the dome, a piercing ray of sunlight darted down -upon her head, and in an instant they were all changed into deer, and -the child-king too. - -“They are gentle now, and kind; but where is the prince? where are the -fairy knights and the fairy men? - -“Wand! why do you turn?” - -Now while Mopsa told her story the wand continued to bend, and Mopsa, -following, was slowly approaching the foot of a great precipice, which -rose sheer up for more than a hundred feet. The crowd that followed -looked dismayed at this: they thought the wand must be wrong; or even -if it was right, they could not climb a precipice. - -But still Mopsa walked on blindfold, and the wand pointed at the rock -till it touched it, and she said, “Who is stopping me?” - -They told her, and she called to some of her ladies to untie the -handkerchief. Then Mopsa looked at the rock, and so did the two Jacks. -There was nothing to be seen but a very tiny hole. The boy-king -thought it led to a bees’ nest, and Jack thought it was a keyhole, for -he noticed in the rock a slight crack which took the shape of an arched -door. Mopsa looked earnestly at the hole. “It may be a keyhole,” she -said, “but there is no key.” - -[Illustration: But still Mopsa walked on blindfold.] - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -FAILURE - -[Illustration] - - - “We are much bound to them that do succeed; - But, in a more pathetic sense, are bound - To such as fail. They all our loss expound; - They comfort us for work that will not speed, - And life--itself a failure. Ay, his deed, - Sweetest in story, who the dusk profound - Of Hades flooded with entrancing sound, - Music’s own tears, was failure. Doth it read - Therefore the worse? Ah, no! So much to dare, - He fronts the regnant Darkness on its throne.-- - So much to do; impetuous even there, - He pours out love’s disconsolate sweet moan-- - He wins; but few for that his deed recall: - Its power is in the look which costs him all.” - -At this moment Jack observed that a strange woman was standing among -them, and that the train-bearing fairies fell back, as if they were -afraid of her. As no one spoke, he did, and said, “Good morning!” - -“Good afternoon!” she answered correcting him. “I am the black fairy. -Work is a fine thing. Most people in your country can work.” - -“Yes,” said Jack. - -“There are two spades,” continued the fairy woman, “one for you, and -one for your double.” - -Jack took one of the spades--it was small, and was made of silver; but -the other Jack said with scorn: - -“I shall be a king when I am old enough, and must I dig like a clown?” - -“As you please,” said the black fairy, and walked away. - -Then they all observed that a brown woman was standing there; and she -stepped up and whispered in the boy-king’s ear. As he listened his -sullen face became good tempered, and at last he said, in a gentle -tone, “Jack, I’m quite ready to begin if you are.” - -“But where are we to dig?” asked Jack. - -“There,” said a white fairy, stepping up and setting her foot on the -grass just under the little hole. “Dig down as deep as you can.” - -So Mopsa and the crowd stood back, and the two boys began to dig; and -greatly they enjoyed it, for people can dig so fast in Fairyland. - -Very soon the hole was so deep that they had to jump into it, because -they could not reach the bottom with their spades. “This is very jolly -indeed,” said Jack, when they had dug so much deeper that they could -only see out of the hole by standing on tiptoe. - -“Go on,” said the white fairy; so they dug till they came to a flat -stone, and then she said, “Now you can stamp. Stamp on the stone, and -don’t be afraid.” So the two Jacks began to stamp, and in such a little -time that she had only half turned her head round, the flat stone gave -way, for there was a hollow underneath it, and down went the boys, and -utterly disappeared. - -Then, while Mopsa and the crowd silently looked on, the white fairy -lightly pushed the clods of earth towards the hole with the side of -her foot, and in a very few minutes the hole was filled in, and that -so completely and so neatly, that when she had spread the turf on it, -and given it a pat with her foot, you could not have told where it -had been. Mopsa said not a word, for no fairy ever interferes with -a stronger fairy; but she looked on earnestly, and when the white -stranger smiled she was satisfied. - -Then the white stranger walked away, and Mopsa and the fairies sat down -on a bank under some splendid cedar-trees. The beautiful castle looked -fairer than ever in the afternoon sunshine; a lovely waterfall tumbled -with a tinkling noise near at hand, and the bank was covered with -beautiful wild flowers. - -They sat for a long while, and no one spoke: what they were thinking of -is not known, but sweet Mopsa often sighed. - -At last a noise--a very, very slight noise, as of footsteps of people -running--was heard inside the rock, and then a little quivering was -seen in the wand. It quivered more and more as the sound increased. At -last that which had looked like a door began to shake as if some one -was pushing it from within. Then a noise was distinctly heard as of a -key turning in the hole, and out burst the two Jacks, shouting for joy, -and a whole troop of knights and squires and serving-men came rushing -wildly forth behind them. - -Oh, the joy of that meeting! who shall describe it? Fairies by dozens -came up to kiss the boy-king’s hand, and Jack shook hands with every -one that could reach him. Then Mopsa proceeded to the castle between -the two Jacks, and the king’s aunt came out to meet them, and welcomed -her husband with tears of joy; for these fairies could laugh and cry -when they pleased, and they naturally considered this a great proof of -superiority. - -After this a splendid feast was served under the great dome. The other -fairy feasts that Jack had seen were nothing to it. The prince and his -dame sat at one board, but Mopsa sat at the head of the great table, -with the two Jacks one on each side of her. - -Mopsa was not happy, Jack was sure of that, for she often sighed; and -he thought this strange. But he did not ask her any questions, and -he, with the boy-king, related their adventures to her: how, when the -stone gave way, they tumbled in and rolled down a sloping bank till -they found themselves at the entrance of a beautiful cave, which was -all lighted up with torches, and glittering with stars and crystals of -all the colours in the world. There was a table spread with what looked -like a splendid luncheon in this great cave, and chairs were set round, -but Jack and the boy-king felt no inclination to eat anything, though -they were hungry, for a whole nation of ants were creeping up the -honey-pots. There were snails walking about over the table-cloth, and -toads peeping out of some of the dishes. - -So they turned away, and, looking for some other door to lead them -farther in, they at last found a very small one--so small that only one -of them could pass through at a time. - -They did not tell Mopsa all that had occurred on this occasion. It was -thus: - -The boy-king said, “I shall go in first, of course, because of my rank.” - -“Very well,” said Jack, “I don’t mind. I shall say to myself that -you’ve gone in first to find the way for me, because you’re my double. -Besides, now I think of it, our Queen always goes last in a procession; -so it’s grand to go last. Pass in, Jack.” - -“No,” answered the other Jack; “now you have said that I will not. You -may go first.” - -So they began to quarrel and argue about this, and it is impossible to -say how long they would have gone on if they had not begun to hear a -terrible and mournful sort of moaning and groaning, which frightened -them both and instantly made them friends. They took tight hold of one -another’s hand, and again there came by a loud sighing, and a noise -of all sorts of lamentation, and it seemed to reach them through the -little door. - -Each of the boys would now have been very glad to go back, but neither -liked to speak. At last Jack thought anything would be less terrible -than listening to those dismal moans, so he suddenly dashed through the -door, and the other Jack followed. - -There was nothing terrible to be seen. They found themselves in a -place like an immensely long stable; but it was nearly dark, and when -their eyes got used to the dimness, they saw that it was strewed with -quantities of fresh hay, from which curious things like sticks stuck up -in all directions. What were they? - -“They are dry branches of trees,” said the boy-king. - -“They were table-legs turned upside down,” said Jack; but then the -other Jack suddenly perceived the real nature of the thing, and he -shouted out, “No; they are antlers!” - -The moment he said this the moaning ceased, hundreds of beautiful -antlered heads were lifted up, and the two boys stood before a splendid -herd of stags; but they had had hardly time to be sure of this when the -beautiful multitude rose and fled away into the darkness, leaving the -two boys to follow as well as they could. - -They were sure they ought to run after the herd, and they ran and ran, -but they soon lost sight of it, though they heard far on in front -what seemed at first like a pattering of deer’s feet, but the sound -changed from time to time. It became heavier and louder, and then the -clattering ceased, and it was evidently the tramping of a great crowd -of men. At last they heard words, very glad and thankful words; people -were crying to one another to make haste, lest the spell should come -upon them again. Then the two Jacks, still running, came into a grand -hall, which was quite full of knights and all sorts of fairy men, and -there was the boy-king’s uncle, but he looked very pale. “Unlock the -door!” they cried. “We shall not be safe till we see our new Queen. -Unlock the door; we see light coming through the keyhole.” - -The two Jacks came on to the front, and felt and shook the door. At -last the boy-king saw a little golden key glittering on the floor, just -where the one narrow sunbeam fell that came through the keyhole; so he -snatched it up. It fitted, and out they all came, as you have been told. - -When they had done relating their adventures, the new Queen’s health -was drunk. And then they drank the health of the boy-king, who stood up -to return thanks, and, as is the fashion there, he sang a song. Jack -thought it the most ridiculous song he had ever heard; but as everybody -else looked extremely grave, he tried to be grave too. It was about -Cock-Robin and Jenny Wren, how they made a wedding feast, and how the -wren said she should wear her brown gown, and the old dog brought a -bone to the feast. - - “‘He had brought them,’ he said, ‘some meat on a bone: - They were welcome to pick it or leave it alone.’” - -The fairies were very attentive to this song; they seemed, if one may -judge by their looks, to think it was rather a serious one. Then they -drank Jack’s health, and afterwards looked at him as if they expected -him to sing too; but as he did not begin, he presently heard them -whispering, and one asking another, “Do you think he knows manners?” - -So he thought he had better try what he could do, and he stood up and -sang a song that he had often heard his nurse sing in the nursery at -home. - - “One morning, oh! so early, my beloved, my beloved. - All the birds were singing blithely, as if never they would cease; - ’Twas a thrush sang in my garden, ‘Hear the story, hear the story!’ - And the lark sang, ‘Give us glory!’ - And the dove said, ‘Give us peace!’ - - “Then I listened, oh! so early, my beloved, my beloved, - To that murmur from the woodland of the dove, my dear, the dove; - When the nightingale came after, ‘Give us fame to sweeten duty!’ - When the wren sang, ‘Give us beauty!’ - She made answer, ‘Give us love!’ - - “Sweet is spring, and sweet the morning, my beloved, my beloved; - Now for us doth spring, doth morning, wait upon the year’s increase, - And my prayer goes up, ‘Oh, give us, crowned in youth with marriage - glory, - Give for all our life’s dear story, - Give us love, and give us peace!’” - -“A very good song too,” said the dame, at the other end of the table; -“only you made a mistake in the first verse. What the dove really said -was, no doubt, ‘Give us peas.’ All kinds of doves and pigeons are very -fond of peas.” - -“It isn’t peas, though,” said Jack. However, the court historian was -sent for to write down the song, and he came with a quill pen, and -wrote it down as the dame said it ought to be. - -Now all this time Mopsa sat between the two Jacks, and she looked very -mournful--she hardly said a word. - -When the feast was over, and everything had vanished, the musicians -came in, for there was to be dancing; but while they were striking up, -the white fairy stepped in, and, coming up, whispered something in -Jack’s ear; but he could not hear what she said, so she repeated it -more slowly, and still he could neither hear nor understand it. - -Mopsa did not seem to like the white fairy: she leaned her face on -her hand and sighed; but when she found that Jack could not hear the -message, she said, “That is well. Cannot you let things alone for this -one day?” The fairy then spoke to Mopsa, but she would not listen; she -made a gesture of dislike and moved away. So then this strange fairy -turned and went out again, but on the doorstep she looked round, and -beckoned to Jack to come to her. So he did; and then, as they two stood -together outside, she made him understand what she had said. It was -this: - -“Her name was Jenny, her name was Jenny.” - -When Jack understood what she said he felt so sorrowful; he wondered -why she had told him, and he longed to stay in that great place with -Queen Mopsa--his own little Mopsa, whom he had carried in his pocket, -and taken care of, and loved. - -He walked up and down, up and down, outside, and his heart swelled and -his eyes filled with tears. The bells had said he was to go home, and -the fairy had told him how to go. Mopsa did not need him, she had so -many people to take care of her now; and then there was that boy, so -exactly like himself that she would not miss him. Oh, how sorrowful it -all was! Had he really come up the fairy river, and seen those strange -countries, and run away with Mopsa over those dangerous mountains, only -to bring her to the very place she wished to fly from, and there to -leave her, knowing that she wanted him no more, and that she was quite -content? - -No; Jack felt that he could not do that. “I will stay,” he said; “they -cannot make me leave her. That would be too unkind.” - -As he spoke, he drew near to the great yawning door, and looked in. The -fairy folk were singing inside; he could hear their pretty chirping -voices, and see their beautiful faces, but he could not bear it, and he -turned away. - -The sun began to get low, and all the west was dyed with crimson. Jack -dried his eyes, and, not liking to go in, took one turn more. - -“I will go in,” he said; “there is nothing to prevent me.” He set his -foot on the step of the door, and while he hesitated Mopsa came out to -meet him. - -“Jack,” she said, in a sweet mournful tone of voice. But he could not -make any answer; he only looked at her earnestly, because her lovely -eyes were not looking at him, but far away towards the west. - -“He lives there,” she said, as if speaking to herself. “He will play -there again, in his father’s garden.” - -Then she brought her eyes down slowly from the rose-flush in the cloud, -and looked at him and said, “Jack.” - -“Yes,” said Jack; “I am here. What is it that you wish to say?” - -She answered, “I am come to give you back your kiss.” - -So she stooped forward as she stood on the step, and kissed him, and -her tears fell on his cheek. - -“Farewell!” she said, and she turned and went up the steps and into -the great hall; and while Jack gazed at her as she entered, and would -fain have followed, but could not stir, the great doors closed together -again, and he was left outside. - -[Illustration: SO SHE STOOPED FORWARD AS SHE STOOD ON THE STEP.] - -Then he knew, without having been told, that he should never enter them -any more. He stood gazing at the castle; but it was still--no more -fairy music sounded. - -How beautiful it looked in the evening sunshine, and how Jack cried! - -Suddenly he perceived that reeds were growing up between him and the -great doors: the grass, which had all day grown about the steps, was -getting taller; it had long spear-like leaves, it pushed up long pipes -of green stem, and they whistled. - -They were up to his ankles, they were presently up to his waist; soon -they were as high as his head. He drew back that he might see over -them; they sprang up faster as he retired, and again he went back. It -seemed to him that the castle also receded; there was a long reach of -these great reeds between it and him, and now they were growing behind -also, and on all sides of him. He kept moving back and back: it was of -no use, they sprang up and grew yet more tall, till very shortly the -last glimpse of the fairy castle was hidden from his sorrowful eyes. - -The sun was just touching the tops of the purple mountains when Jack -lost sight of Mopsa’s home; but he remembered how he had penetrated the -bed of reeds in the morning, and he hoped to have the same good fortune -again. So on and on he walked, pressing his way among them as well as -he could, till the sun went down behind the mountains, and the rosy sky -turned gold colour, and the gold began to burn itself away, and then -all on a sudden he came to the edge of the reed-bed, and walked out -upon a rising ground. - -Jack ran up it, looking for the castle. He could not see it, so -he climbed a far higher hill; still he could not see it. At last, -after a toilsome ascent to the very top of the green mountain, he -saw the castle lying so far, so very far off, that its peaks and its -battlements were on the edge of the horizon, and the evening mist rose -while he was gazing, so that all its outlines were lost, and very soon -they seemed to mingle with the shapes of the hill and the forest, till -they had utterly vanished away. - -Then he threw himself down on the short grass. The words of the white -fairy sounded in his ears, “Her name was Jenny;” and he burst into -tears again, and decided to go home. - -He looked up into the rosy sky, and held out his arms, and called, -“Jenny! O Jenny! come.” - -In a minute or two he saw a little black mark overhead, a small speck, -and it grew larger, and larger, and larger still, as it fell headlong -down like a stone. In another instant he saw a red light and a green -light, then he heard the winnowing noise of the bird’s great wings, and -she alighted at his feet, and said, “Here I am.” - -“I wish to go home,” said Jack, hanging down his head and speaking in a -low voice, for his heart was heavy because of his failure. - -“That is well,” answered the bird. She took Jack on her back, and in -three minutes they were floating among the clouds. - -As Jack’s feet were lifted up from Fairyland he felt a little consoled. -He began to have a curious feeling, as if this had all happened a good -while ago, and then half the sorrow he had felt faded into wonder, and -the feeling still grew upon him that these things had passed some great -while since, so that he repeated to himself, “It was a long time ago.” - -Then he fell asleep, and did not dream at all, nor know anything more -till the bird woke him. - -“Wake up now, Jack,” she said; “we are at home.” - -“So soon!” said Jack, rubbing his eyes. “But it is evening; I thought -it would be morning.” - -“Fairy time is always six hours in advance of your time,” said the -bird. “I see glow-worms down in the hedge, and the moon is just rising.” - -They were falling so fast that Jack dared not look; but he saw the -church, and the wood, and his father’s house, which seemed to be -starting up to meet him. In two seconds more the bird alighted, and he -stepped down from her back into the deep grass of his father’s meadow. - -“Good-bye!” she said; “make haste and run in, for the dews are -falling;” and before he could ask her one question, or even thank her, -she made a wide sweep over the grass, beat her magnificent wings, and -soared away. - -It was all very extraordinary, and Jack felt shy and ashamed; but he -knew he must go home, so he opened the little gate that led into the -garden, and stole through the shrubbery, hoping that his footsteps -would not be heard. - -Then he came out on the lawn, where the flower-beds were, and he -observed that the drawing-room window was open, so he came softly -towards it and peeped in. - -His father and mother were sitting there. Jack was delighted to see -them, but he did not say a word, and he wondered whether they would be -surprised at his having stayed away so long. The bird had said that -they would not. - -He drew a little nearer. His mother sat with her back to the open -window, but a candle was burning, and she was reading aloud. Jack -listened as she read, and knew that this was not in the least like -anything that he had seen in Fairyland, nor the reading like anything -that he had heard, and he began to forget the boy-king, and the -apple-woman, and even his little Mopsa, more and more. - -At last his father noticed him. He did not look at all surprised, but -just beckoned to him with his finger to come in. So Jack did, and got -upon his father’s knee, where he curled himself up comfortably, laid -his head on his father’s waistcoat, and wondered what he would think -if he should be told about the fairies in somebody else’s waistcoat -pocket. He thought, besides, what a great thing a man was; he had -never seen anything so large in Fairyland, nor so important; so, on -the whole, he was glad he had come back, and felt very comfortable. -Then his mother, turning over the leaf, lifted up her eyes and looked -at Jack, but not as if she was in the least surprised, or more glad to -see him than usual; but she smoothed the leaf with her hand, and began -again to read, and this time it was about the Shepherd Lady:-- - - -I - - _Who pipes upon the long green hill, - Where meadow grass is deep? - The white lamb bleats but followeth on-- - Follow the clean white sheep. - The dear white lady in yon high tower, - She hearkeneth in her sleep._ - - _All in long grass the piper stands, - Goodly and grave is he; - Outside the tower, at dawn of day, - The notes of his pipe ring free. - A thought from his heart doth reach to hers: - “Come down, O lady! to me.”_ - - _She lifts her head, she dons her gown: - Ah! the lady is fair; - She ties the girdle on her waist, - And binds her flaxen hair, - And down she stealeth, down and down, - Down the turret stair._ - - _Behold him! With the flock he wons - Along yon grassy lea. - “My shepherd lord, my shepherd love, - What wilt thou, then, with me? - My heart is gone out of my breast, - And followeth on to thee.”_ - - -II - - _“The white lambs feed in tender grass: - With them and thee to bide, - How good it were,” she saith at noon; - “Albeit the meads are wide. - Oh! well is me,” she saith when day - Draws on to eventide._ - - _Hark! hark! the shepherd’s voice. Oh, sweet! - Her tears drop down like rain. - “Take now this crook, my chosen, my fere, - And tend the flock full fain: - Feed them, O lady, and lose not one, - Till I shall come again.”_ - - _Right soft her speech: “My will is thine, - And my reward thy grace!” - Gone are his footsteps over the hill, - Withdrawn his goodly face; - The mournful dusk begins to gather, - The daylight wanes apace._ - - -III - - _On sunny slopes, ah! long the lady - Feedeth her flock at noon; - She leads them down to drink at eve - Where the small rivulets croon. - All night her locks are wet with dew, - Her eyes outwatch the moon._ - - _Over the hills her voice is heard, - She sings when light doth wane: - “My longing heart is full of love. - When shall my loss be gain? - My shepherd lord, I see him not, - But he will come again.”_ - -When she had finished, Jack lifted his face and said, “Mamma!” Then she -came to him and kissed him, and his father said, “I think it must be -time this man of ours was in bed.” - -So he looked earnestly at them both, and as they still asked him no -questions, he kissed and wished them good-night; and his mother said -there were some strawberries on the sideboard in the dining-room, and -he might have them for his supper. - -So he ran out into the hall, and was delighted to find all the house -just as usual, and after he had looked about him he went into his own -room, and said his prayers. Then he got into his little white bed, and -comfortably fell asleep. - -That’s all. - -[Illustration] - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: - -Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - -Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOPSA THE FAIRY *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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