{"collection":"folklore-oral-tradition","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_2325/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_2325","id":"gutenberg_2325","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2325","summary":null,"tags":["Adventure and adventurers -- Juvenile fiction","Category: Adventure","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Fairy tales","Fantasy literature","Mermaids -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"Produced by Brett Fishburne.  HTML version by Al Haines.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Iceberg Express\n\n\nby\n\nDavid Cory\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n  The Magic Comb\n  The Coral Palace\n  King Seaphus\n  Damages\n  The Wreck\n  Wonderland\n  The Enchanted Prince\n  The Magic Seeds\n  Candy City\n  Toy Land\n\n\n\n\nThe Magic Comb\n\n\nOne bright morning in August little Mary Louise put on her hat and went\ntrudging across the meadow to the beach.\n\nIt was the first time she had been trusted out alone since the family\nhad moved to the seashore for the summer; for Mary Louise was a little\ngirl, nothing about her was large, except her round gray eyes.\n\nThere was a pale mist on the far-off sea, and up around the sun were\nwhite clouds edged with the hues of pinks and violets.  The tide was\ncoming in, and the waves, little at first, but growing larger every\nmoment, were crowding up, along the sand and pebbles, laughing, winking\nand whispering, as they tumbled over each other, like thousands of\nchildren hurrying home from school.\n\nWho was down there under the blue water, with the hoarse, hollow voice,\nurging and pushing them across the beach to her feet?  And what was\nthere beneath the sea, and beyond the sea, so deep, so broad and so\ndim, away off where the white ships, that looked smaller than seabirds,\nwere gliding out and in?\n\nBut while Mary Louise stood still and wondered, there came a low\nrippling laugh to her ear.\n\nA little distance down the beach a girl, somewhat older than herself,\nrested on the beach.  She evidently was tired from swimming, for she\nlay half in the water and half on the warm sand, her face resting on\nher upturned palms, looking at Mary Louise with a smile, which seemed\nto say:  \"Why don't you come over and comb my hair?\"\n\nIndeed, this must have been exactly what she meant, for she held out a\npretty pearl comb until Mary Louise could resist no longer.\n\nLittle Mary Louise had never before seen such beautiful long hair. It\nspread like a scarf from the girl's shoulders down upon the sand.\n\nMary Louise had forgotten that there were mermaids, and that mermaids\nalways had most beautiful hair, and that they always combed it with\npearly combs!\n\n\"Have you been swimming?\" asked Mary Louise.\n\n\"Yes, a long swim,\" answered the little mermaid, and she gave a sudden\nkick in the water with her little feet, or, should I say, with her\nsmall fin-tail, which sent the spray flying.\n\n\"Oh, you're a mermaid!\" exclaimed Mary Louise, surprised and delighted\nat her unexpected discovery.  \"I saw your finny tail.  Do you like\ntails better than feet?\"\n\n\"I never had feet,\" said the little mermaid, \"so I can't say, but I\nshould think they'd be very nice to walk on.\"\n\n\"Yes, if you go to the mountains, as we did last summer,\" answered Mary\nLouise, \"but you don't have to climb hills in the ocean.\"\n\n\"Perhaps you don't know there are mountains in the sea,\" said the\nlittle mermaid.  \"Of course, you have seen nothing but their tops.\nWhat is that little rocky ledge over yonder, where the white lighthouse\nstands, but the stony top of a hill rising from the bottom of the sea?\nAnd what are those pretty green islands, with their clusters of trees\nand grassy slopes, but the summits of hills lifted out of the water?\"\n\n\"Oh!\" said Mary Louise, with a gasp.  \"You do know geography, don't\nyou?  Is it pretty, away down there under the waves?\" she added\nwistfully.\n\nThe mermaid smiled very sweetly as she answered, \"Yes, it is. There are\nmany wonderful things to see, and many strange beautiful things to hear\nunder the sea!  I will comb your hair with my magic comb,\" and she ran\nthe pearly comb gently through Mary Louise's hair.\n\n  \"Over the sea the white ships sail,\n  Out through the mist and the rollicking gale,\n  While deep below the mermaids swim\n  With their finny tails so neat and trim.\n  So please, little magic comb, don't fail\n  To give Mary Louise a mermaid tail.\"\n\nAnd the more she combed the longer grew the pretty curls, until, to the\nastonishment of Mary Louise, she found her hair trailing down to her\nvery feet.  The breeze suddenly blew it to one side, and there on the\nsand, instead of her two little shoes, was a mermaid's tail, with a\nflippy-floppy fin on the end!\n\n\"Come with me,\" said the mermaid, and without a moment's hesitation\nMary Louise followed her into the water and out beyond the breakers,\nswimming as easily as if she had always been a little mermaid, instead\nof a girl who wore tan shoes.\n\n\"Where are we going?\" asked Mary Louise, as the dim line of the shore\ndisappeared and there was nothing in sight but the great, restless\nocean.\n\nThe mermaid did not answer, but looked about intently, as if trying to\nfind something.\n\n\"What are you looking for?\" asked Mary Louise, for she was a curious\nlittle girl, and forgot one question as soon as she asked another.\n\n\"Oh, there it is!\" exclaimed the mermaid.  \"Come with me.  Hold your\nhands out before you like this and dive down!\"\n\n\"But where are we going?\" again asked Mary Louise as they sank lower\nand lower in the sea.\n\n\"Oh, I forgot,\" answered the mermaid, turning with a smile to her\nlittle companion; \"I was so busy looking for the subway entrance that I\nforgot your question.\"\n\n\"Goodness!\" cried Mary Louise.  \"I didn't know there was a subway in\nthe sea!\"\n\n\"To be sure,\" answered the mermaid.  \"The track lies along the bottom\nof the ocean.  It's not a railroad train we're going to take, but a\nwater train that comes all the way from the Northern seas, sweeping on\nlike a river in the sea.  Wait till we get down there.  You'll see how\nfast it goes.\"\n\nMary Louise was too astonished to speak.\n\n\"The Pullman cars,\" continued the mermaid, \"are icebergs.  They come\nfrom the North every summer to take a trip South.\"\n\n\"Whew!\" shivered Mary Louise.  \"I think we ar near one now, for I feel\nquite cold.\"\n\nSure enough, she was right, for there close at hand was a great white\nobject.\n\n\"All aboard!\" shouted a big polar bear.  \"Watch your step!\"\n\nThe mermaid helped Mary Louise to slide on a projecting ledge, and off\nthey went.\n\n\"Now we can enjoy the scenery,\" laughed the mermaid, as she arranged\nher tail in an artistic curve and brushed back her hair, which had been\nswept over her eyes by the swift action of the water.\n\n\"The train never stops, you know, until it reaches its destination, but\nthat need not interfere with our getting off any time we please should\nyou wish to visit any pretty spot we pass on our journey.\"\n\nJust at that moment there was a tremendous crash and Mary Louise found\nherself thrown off into the water, while a muffled roar rolled through\nthe depths of the ocean.\n\n\n\n\nThe Coral Palace\n\n\n\"Why, the ocean is full of cracked ice!\" exclaimed Mary Louise, as she\nand the mermaid rose to the surface and looked about them.  \"I wonder\nwhat it was that caused such a tremendous crash?\"\n\n\"Perhaps the Whale Ice Trust is after a big ice supply,\" replied the\nmermaid with a laugh.  \"The ocean depths are no longer a quiet place\nsince this dreadful hot weather set in.  Just the other day I heard the\nKing of the Mermen say that they were about to send a note of protest\nto Neptune for violating the laws of Merland!\"\n\n\"I don't know much about it,\" said Mary Louise, \"except that it's very\ninconvenient to have one's voyage disturbed in such a way.  What are we\ngoing to do now?\"\n\n\"How would you like to visit the Court of the Mer King?\" asked the\nmermaid.\n\n\"Oh, lovely!\" cried Mary Louise.  \"I've never met any kinds, although\nI've read about them in fairy stories.\"\n\n\"Come along then,\" said the mermaid.  \"Follow me straight down, for I\nthink we are not very far from the Coral Palace, where King Seaphus\nholds court.\"\n\nPlacing the palms of her hands together diving fashion, she gave her\npretty tail a kick-off, and away she went, head downward, through the\nwater.\n\nMary Louise followed her example, somewhat surprised at the ease with\nwhich she executed this difficult maneuver.\n\nIn a short time they found themselves on the bottom of the ocean. In\nthe distance could be seen the dim outline of a magnificent castle of\npink and white coral.  Leading up to it was a wide highway, flanked on\neither side with beautiful sea-grass, and dotted here and there, like\nmilestones, stood columns of beautiful coral.  Banks of exquisite\nmother-of-pearl rose at intervals along the way; water plants of\nvarious hues grew in wild profusion.\n\n\"Why, it's very much like the earth,\" exclaimed Mary Louise, \"only one\ndoesn't walk, and its not dusty, and--and it's not hot and sunny!\"\n\n\"No, indeed!\" said the mermaid.  \"But sometimes we have a pest of water\ngnats that are worse than mosquitoes, and we have to put up netting on\nour bedroom windows to keep them out.\"\n\nAs she finished speaking they approached the door of the castle, on\nwhich she knocked with a flap of her finny tail.  It was immediately\nopened by a merman dressed in the uniform of a court page.  \"What can I\ndo for you, Your Highness?\" he asked, bowing low.\n\n\"Why, are you a princess?\" asked Mary Louise in surprise, turning\nquickly to the mermaid and forgetting for the moment that they were on\nthe steps of a real merman's castle.\n\nThe little mermaid only laughed in reply, and taking Mary Louise by the\nhand led her through the coral doors to King Seaphus.\n\nHis Majesty was seated on a throne of pearl, studded with many precious\nstones.  A long emerald robe fell from his shoulders and on his head\nrested a magnificent crown set with glittering jewels, which gleamed\nand sparkled in the dim light of the royal chamber.\n\n\"Ah, my daughter, whom have you here?\" he asked, leaning from the\nthrone and gazing intently at little Mary Louise.  \"Methinks she is a\nmermaidized mortal!\"  At which the King laughed loudly, for he was very\nfond of coining words and was busily engaged, when his state duties did\nnot interfere, in compiling a new dictionary.\n\n\"You are right, Father Seaphus,\" replied his beautiful daughter. \"Let\nme introduce little Mary Louise.\"\n\nThe King rose graciously and extended his royal right hand.  Mary\nLouise made a low curtsey, finding it much easier now that she was a\nmermaid to perform this little act of graciousness on account of the\nflexibility of her tail.\n\nLegs, of course, are indispensable for walking; but, then, in these\ndays of new inventions, when the air is invaded by wing, and the earth\ntraversed by wheels, and the depths of the waters by mechanical fins,\nwalking may soon become a lost art!  Something like this may have\nflitted through her mind, but she only answered in a trembling voice,\n\"How do you do, Your Majesty!\"\n\n\"You are welcome, 'Mermaid Mary,' to our Kingdom of the Sea,\" he\nreplied.  \"I hope you will enjoy your stay with us.\"  So saying, he\ngallantly lifted his gold crown as little Mary Louise made another\ncurtsey.\n\n\"Let us dress for dinner,\" said the mermaid.\n\nThey swam quickly upstairs between two balustrades of lovely coral to\nher bedroom.\n\nIt was just like fairy-land; at least, it seemed so to little Mary\nLouise, as she looked about the pretty room.  In one corner stood a\nbeautiful bed of mother-of-pearl, hung with varied colored sea grass\nfor curtains.  Sea moss made it as soft as down.  In fact, it seemed\nalmost softer to Mary Louise, who by this time was very sleepy.  She\nrested her tired little body upon the cushions and in a few short\nseconds was sound asleep.  The princess mermaid looked at her with\nloving eyes, while she sang very low and sweetly:\n\n  \"Sleep, little sister, for when you awake,\n  We'll have a fine dinner of fishes and cake!\"\n\nI think the mermaid took somewhat after her royal father for she often\nspoke in rhyme, which she composed as she talked, while his great\ndelight, as has been mentioned before, was to coin a new word for his\ndictionary.\n\nLeaving Mary Louise to her slumbers, the princess mermaid sat herself\ndown before her mirror and combed her hair.  Presently, she went over\nto her wardrobe and took out a beautiful shimmery pink shawl.  What it\nwas made of I cannot tell, except that it shivered and quivered with\nlittle colors like a rainbow.  Perhaps it was made of changeable\nsea-silk.\n\nAt any rate, Mary Louise, who at that moment opened her eyes, thought\nit was the most exquisite thing she had ever seen.\n\n\"Is it really for me?  Is it really?\" she asked with a cry of delight,\nas the mermaid came toward her.\n\n\"Of course it is, my dear,\" replied the mermaid princess, \"and as soon\nas you have put it on, and combed your hair--you needn't wash your\nhands and face, you know--the banquet will be ready.\"\n\nMary Louise clapped her hands and hopped, or, rather, flopped about, so\nhappy was she to receive such a gift in the depths of the sea.\n\nWhen she was dressed in the lovely shawl, and a beautiful\nmother-of-pearl comb fastened in her hair, the princess mermaid\ndeclared she looked \"too sweet for anything!\"  Then they floated down,\narm in arm, to the great dining hall.\n\n\n\n\nKing Seaphus\n\n\nThe great dining hall of King Seaphus was considered by all the\ninhabitants of Merland--that is, all those who had been lucky enough to\nhave seen its splendor--to be the most magnificent of its kind anywhere.\n\nThe dining table, or banquet board, as it was called, was made of\nmother-of-pearl.  The pale, shimmery cloth was woven from the most\ndelicate of sea-grasses.  The gold and silver plates shone with a\nstrange luster, and the goblets, fashioned of the thinnest and most\nexquisite pearl, gave the impression that they were strange sea lilies.\n\nKing Seaphus seated himself majestically at the head of the banquet\nboard, and little Mary Louise was shown the place on his right.  At the\nother end sat the Mermaid Princess.  Mermen in dark green liveries\nserved the meal.  But what delighted and interested Mary Louise the\nmost was the way in which the food was served.  Instead of ordinary,\neveryday dishes, it appeared in little airtight boats, which the\nservants guided dexterously to the table, and when opened, the steam\nescaped in hundreds of little bubbles that took on all the hues of the\nrainbow.  These slowly ascended through the pale green water until they\nreached the surface, where they probably floated off in the air, until\nthey burst, like fairy soap-bubbles.\n\nAll kinds of delicious fish, little pink and white crabs, goldfish,\nluscious oysters, and, finally, coral-candy, made up the different\ncourses of the dinner.  When it was over and the coffee was served in a\nbeautiful room adjoining, King Seaphus smoked a big cigar, which, to\nMary Louise's amazement, glowed and burned like any ordinary Havana her\nfather smoked at home.\n\nAfter King Seaphus had smoked away in perfect silence for some time, he\nturned to Mary Louise and asked:\n\n\"Where were you going, my dear, when you met my daughter?\"\n\n\"Oh, nowhere in particular,\" replied little Mary Louise quickly.  \"You\nsee, I was playing on the beach when I saw the Princess,\nand--and--and---\"\n\n\"Then I combed her hair with my magic comb,\" said the Princess, coming\nto the relief of little Mary Louise, who was very much embarrassed by\nthe question.  You see, she was not at all accustomed to hold\nconversation with royalty, and to be talking to a Merman King was,\nperhaps, even more disconcerting.\n\n\"We took the subway,\" continued his daughter, \"we caught the Iceberg\nExpress, and, well, here we are.\"\n\n\"So I see,\" said the King.\n\nMary Louise gave a giggle and, forgetting her embarrassment, exclaimed,\n\"And just as we were safe on board, after the Polar Bear porter had\ntold us to 'watch our step,' there was an awful explosion, and we found\nourselves floating about in the midst of a lot of cracked ice.\"\n\n\"Indeed,\" exclaimed King Seaphus, \"this is the second time in the last\nmonth we've had an accident on the Sea Bottom Subway.  I must call in\nmy Prime Minister and have an investigation begun at once.\"\n\nPulling vigorously on a beautifully braided sea-grass rope, he awaited\nthe coming of a page.  Little Mary Louise heard the far-off tinkle of\nthe bell, and presently the Mer-bell-boy appeared.\n\n\"Summon his most excellent self, the Prime Minister,\" commanded King\nSeaphus.\n\nThe Mer-boy page glided away and presently appeared, deferentially\nescorting the Prime Minister.  The latter was a very distinguished\nlooking person.  His long, white beard was parted gracefully in the\ncenter, no doubt by the action of the water as he swam up to where the\nKing sat.  As befitted so important an official, he was clad in a long,\nred robe, which reached nearly to the end of his fin-tail. His head was\nadorned with a crimson cap and tassel made of the softest velvet\nsea-grass.\n\n\"What is your majesty's command?\" he asked, bending low before King\nSeaphus.  The King did not reply for a moment.  He was a wise King, and\nthought for several minutes before he spoke.  This made the Prime\nMinister fidget about on his tail.  If he had been a Prime Minister of\nany land, and not of the sea, he probably would have stood first on one\nleg and then on the other, but, as he had no feet, he shifted about\nuneasily on his fin-tail until the King spoke.\n\n\"I hear there has been another wreck on the Sea Bottom Subway.\"\n\nThe Prime Minister coughed, and little bubbles rose from the end of his\nnose, the sight of which almost caused Mary Louise to giggle aloud.\nBut she remembered her manners in time and saved herself the\nmortification of such a breach of etiquette.\n\n\"Yes, Your Royal Highness,\" admitted the Prime Minister, \"but I\nunderstand it was not at all serious.  One of the Iceberg cars was\ndemolished, and one of the Polar Bear porters, I believe, although I am\nnot certain at the moment, was slightly injured.  None of the\npassengers was hurt, with the possible exception of a Star Fish, who\ncomplained of a slight pain in one of his five fingers--I forget, for\nthe moment, which finger.\"\n\n\"Is the road again in operation?\" inquired King Seaphus.\n\n\"Not yet, your Royal Highness,\" replied the Prime Minister, \"but I have\nevery assurance from the management that trains will be running, at the\nvery latest, by tomorrow morning.\"\n\n\"You will have to spend the night with us, then,\" said the Princess,\nturning to Mary Louise, with a smile.  \"You know,\" she added in a\nwhisper, \"I'm glad there was an accident; otherwise you would not have\ncome to our castle, and we might not have grown to be such friends.\"\n\n\"Don't whisper, my daughter,\" said King Seaphus.  \"Your mother will\nthink, should she hear that you had been so rude during her absence,\nthat she cannot leave home to even visit her mother for a week without\nyour becoming demoralized.\"\n\nThe Prime Minister coughed behind his hand, while the little bubbles\nrose again through the pale green of the sea-water.  Mary Louise felt\nquite embarrassed, and the little Princess blushed.  King Seaphus\nlooked sternly at all three.\n\nJust then a loud knocking was heard on the castle door.  \"Billows and\nbreakers!\" exclaimed the King, \"what is that?\"\n\n\n\n\nDamages\n\n\nKing Seaphus waited anxiously as the knocking on the castle door\ncontinued.  \"Billows and breakers,\" he exclaimed again, expectantly\nwaiting for the visitor or visitors to be announced.\n\nJust as his impatience was nearly exhausted, a court page appeared\nescorting a Polar Bear and a Star Fish.  Mary Louise at once recognized\nthe former as the porter on the Iceberg Express.  The visitors bowed\nrespectfully to the King, and the little Star Fish winked one of his\nfive small eyes at the Princess.  The Polar Bear smiled at Mary Louise,\nbut said nothing.\n\n\"Well,\" exclaimed King Seaphus, after a brief silence, \"you honor us by\nyour presence, but, what do you want?\"\n\n\"I want redress,\" cried the Star Fish in a queer little gurgle.\n\n\"You want what?\" thundered the King, realizing now that his visitors\nwere looking for damages on account of the accident.  This naturally\nworried him, as he was a heavy stockholder in the Sea Bottom Subway.\n\n\"One of my five fingers has been badly bruised,\" continued the Star\nFish, \"for which reason I shall sue for damages.\"\n\n\"I have suffered internal injuries,\" said the Polar Bear, speaking up\nquickly, encouraged by the independent manner of the Star Fish.\n\n\"Internal injuries!\" laughed the King; \"infernal fiddlesticks, I have\nheard that tune before!\"\n\n\"Your Highness,\" interposed the Star Fish, \"my condition is quite\nserious.  As I have but five fingers, to have one of them injured is\nfar worse than to have one of my feet, for of the latter I have\nhundreds.\"\n\nThe King looked at him inquiringly.  Although he was Monarch of the\nSea, perhaps he did not know that a Star Fish, while he has hundreds of\nlittle feet, has no legs at all.  Even his feet do not move as ordinary\nfeet do, one before the other; they can only cling like little suckers\npulling him slowly along from place to place.\n\n\"Neither am I like the everyday common fish.  My mouth is in the center\nof my body, and I have a little scarlet-colored sieve through which I\nstrain the sea-water.  I couldn't think of swallowing sea-water with\neverything that might be floating in it.\"\n\n\"Holy mackerel!\" exclaimed the King, under his breath, \"I'd better\nsettle with this individual as quickly as possible.  He'll drive me\ncrazy if I don't, and maybe, cause me no end of trouble.\"\n\n\"Your Royal Highness,\" began the Polar Bear, \"I was hit by a large\npiece of ice in the chest.\"\n\n\"In the ice-chest or in the ice-box?\" inquired the King, his humor\ngetting the better of his anger, for he could never let go by an\nopportunity to make a pun.\n\n\"Your Royal Highness,\" interrupted the Star Fish, \"I wish to state that\nI took this little trip for my health.  My doctor told me I must go\nSouth.  So I boarded the Iceberg Express at Cape Cod, intending to\nspend the summer in the mountains.\"\n\n\"In the mountains!\" roared King Seaphus.  \"You don't go to the seashore\nfor the mountains!  You should have gone inland to the White Mountains\nor the Catskills--those are well-known summer resorts.\"\n\n\"May it please your Royal Highness,\" said the Star Fish, stroking his\nbeautiful purple coat with one of his five little fingers, \"I was bound\nfor the Caribbean Sea, which is as full of mountains as New Hampshire\nand Vermont are.  Of course, none of them have caps of snow like Mount\nWashington, for it's nice and warm in the Caribbean Sea; that's the\nreason I want to go there.  But, if the Iceberg Express is wrecked, how\nam I to continue my journey?\"\n\n\"Sufferin' mackerel!\" exclaimed King Seaphus; this time he uttered the\nwords aloud and not under his breath, \"Sufferin' mackerel!  I'll see\nthat you get there, if I have to charter a special train!\"\n\n\"But what about my finger?\" asked the Star Fish.\n\n\"Oh, I'll reimburse you for your ticket,\" exclaimed the King.  \"And\nnow, what can I do for you?\" he asked, turning to the Polar Bear.\n\n\"Train Porters have very low wages,\" replied the Polar Bear.\n\n\"Very well,\" answered King Seaphus, \"I will see that yours are\ndoubled,\" and he waved the two visitors away with a haughty gesture.\nThe court page then escorted them to the door.\n\n\"You heard what I said,\" cried the King, turning to the Prime Minister.\n\"Now go to the General Manager of the Sea Bottom Subway and inform him\nof my wishes.  Also that he must have an express ready to start for the\nCaribbean Sea tomorrow morning without fail.\"\n\nThe Prime Minister bowed respectfully and departed.\n\n\"Whew!\" exclaimed the King, smiling at Mary Louise and his daughter as\nsoon as the three were again alone, \"if that Star Fish wasn't a walking\nencyclopedia!  He had everything at his five finger-ends!\"\n\n\"I think I'll take the same train as the little Star Fish,\" said Mary\nLouise, \"for I've never been to the Caribbean Sea and I think it must\nbe a lovely place.\"\n\n\"May I go with Mary Louise?\" asked the Mermaid Princess.\n\n\"Well, I don't see why not,\" answered her father, after a pause, \"only\nyou must get back inside of a fortnight, for your mother will be home\nby that time.\"\n\n\"I must see that my mother-of-pearl trunk is packed,\" said the\nPrincess. \"Come with me, Mary Louise.\"  Then curtseying to the King,\nthey swam up the water stairway to the room of the little mermaid.\n\nThe next morning found Mary Louise and the Mermaid Princess waiting\nanxiously at the station for the Iceberg Express.  On the platform they\nrecognized among the passengers their little friend, the Star Fish.  In\na few minutes the express thundered into the station.  \"Watch your\nstep!\" yelled the Polar Bear Porter as he helped Mary Louise and the\nPrincess on board.  Then with a rush and a roar the Iceberg Express\nstarted on its journey for the Mountains of the Sea!\n\n\n\n\nThe Wreck\n\n\nMary Louise and the Mermaid Princess settled themselves back\ncomfortably in their seats and looked about them.  The Iceberg Express\ncertainly had every convenience.  Of course almost everything was made\nof ice. But, then, so is most everything in a Pullman car made of\nsteel. There was really very little difference except that the ice was\nmuch prettier, it was so clear and white, and the moss cushions that\ncovered the seats were soft and springy.  The crystal chandeliers that\nhung from the ceiling were resplendent with little twinkling lights,\nand the curtains at the ice-paned windows were made of the thinnest\nspun ice threads.  Even the little drinking cups that were packed in a\ncolumn, one within the other, at the ice water tank, were made of thin\nice.\n\n\"I don't feel the least bit cold,\" said Mary Louise, turning with a\nlaugh to her mermaid friend.  \"Do you?\"\n\n\"Not the least bit,\" she replied.\n\n\"It's so different, though, from the first train we were on,\" continued\nMary Louise.  \"It isn't anything like it really.  Why, the first train\nwas only an ordinary iceberg, don't you remember?\"\n\n\"That's because we never went inside,\" replied the mermaid.  \"We didn't\nhave the opportunity, the explosion came so soon.\"\n\n\"That's so,\" agreed Mary Louise.  \"The only think I distinctly remember\nis the Polar Bear porter calling out to be careful, and then the awful\nexplosion.  After that we were in the water and there was nothing\naround us but cracked ice.\"\n\n\"Dining car in the rear,\" announced the Polar Bear porter, walking down\nthe isle with a menu card held gracefully in his paw.  \"Last call for\nthe dining car!\"\n\n\"Goodness!\" exclaimed Mary Louise.  \"Let's hurry, or we won't be able\nto get anything to eat, and I always love to eat in a dining car.\"\n\nJumping up from the seat, she and the Princess swam down the aisle,\nacross the vestibuled platform, through the next car, and then into the\ndiner.\n\nThere were quite a number of passengers still seated at the different\nlittle tables.  A soldierly looking Penguin sat at one and a few tables\nbeyond a motherly looking Seal with a baby boy Seal at her side was\njust finishing some delicious looking pink water ice.\n\nMary Louise and the Mermaid sat down at the nearest table and looked\nover the menu.  It was great fun selecting what they wanted, and when\nthey had finished their water ices they felt that they had dined most\nsumptuously.\n\nThey then returned to their seats and looked out of the window for a\ntime.  Strange sights met their eyes as the train rushed on.  There\nwere no telegraph poles to count, nor cows to see grazing in green\nmeadows.  Instead, however, were numerous fish swimming here and there,\nsome of gorgeous coloring, others of white or silver hue.  Hills and\nvalleys of sand, as well as long meadows of seaweed, stretched away for\nmiles and miles.  Strange-looking sea animals crawled close to the\nrushing train.  If they came too close the suction of the water drew\nthem along until they disappeared beneath the car.\n\nAs darkness settled down over the quiet deep, Mary Louise turned from\nthe window with a sigh.  \"I feel sleepy already,\" she said, \"and it's\nonly supper time!\"\n\n\"We'll tell the porter to make up our berths,\" said the Mermaid\nPrincess.  \"He can do it while we are having our supper in the dining\ncar.\"\n\nOn their return they found their berth in readiness.  Soft green\nseaweed curtains hung gracefully to the floor, one of them being drawn\naside, showing a little white bed.  It looked as comfortable as her own\nlittle bed at home, Mary Louise thought.\n\nIt took the two little mermaids but a few minutes to undress, and as\nsoon as their tired heads touched the pillow they were sound asleep.\n\n  Softly the seabells are ringing away,\n  Dipping and dripping and white with the spray,\n  Ding-dong, and ding-dong, and ding-dong, so deep,\n  The seabells are singing me softly to sleep.\n\nOver and over again in her dreams little Mary Louise repeated this\nsong.  Then suddenly the bells seemed to change their tune.  They\nclanged out wildly until a sudden loud crash awoke her with a start.\nThe engine whistle was sending forth loud, warning cries.  The Mermaid\nPrincess began to tremble with fright.\n\n\"What do you suppose is the matter?\" she whispered.\n\n\"I'm sure I don't know,\" replied little Mary Louise.  \"Perhaps there's\nsomething on the track.\"\n\nBy this time all the passengers were thrusting their heads out through\nthe curtains of their berths.\n\n\"Porter, Porter!\" called the Penguin, who had been vainly pressing the\nelectric call-button.\n\nBut as usual, when a porter was wanted he is nowhere to be found.\n\nThen the Baby Seal began to cry.  Suddenly all the lights went out.\nMary Louise hastily caught up her clothes and commenced dressing.\n\"Thank goodness,\" she said in a trembling voice, \"I don't have to\nbother with stockings!\"\n\n\"I never was anything but a Mermaid,\" said the Princess in a frightened\nwhisper, \"so I don't know anything about them!\"\n\n\"Where's my waist?\" asked Mary Louise, hardly able to keep from crying.\n\"I can't find it anywhere, and it's so dreadfully dark, too.\"\n\n\"Oh, dear me!\" suddenly cried the Mermaid Princess.  \"I believe I'm\ntrying to get yours on over mine.  I'm so excited I forgot that I\nalready had on my own.\"\n\n\"Well, I'm dressed at last,\" exclaimed Mary Louise after wriggling and\nsquirming about for a few minutes longer.  \"Isn't it awful hard work\ndressing in a berth?\"\n\nSuddenly the engine bell clanged out more furiously than ever.  The\nwhistle shrieked again and again.  Mary Louise looked with frightened\neyes at the princess who gave a cry of terror and threw her arms about\nher neck as the lights again went out.  Then there was a sudden crash,\nand the Iceberg Express shivered and toppled over.\n\nThe next instant Mary Louise and the Mermaid Princess found themselves\nin the water.\n\nIt was quite warm and pleasant, and in a few minutes they reached the\nsurface.  To their surprise they saw their fellow passenger, the little\nStar Fish, swimming near them, and not far away, on a piece of ice, the\nPolar Bear porter.\n\n\"Where are we?\" asked Mary Louise.  But no one replied to her question,\nalthough the Star Fish looked all around, before and behind and both\nsides at once, which I'm sure you can't do no matter how hard you may\ntry--while with his fifth eye he kept a bright lookout for sharks.\n\nPresently the Polar Bear porter replied, \"I think we are in the\nCaribbean Sea.\"\n\nAnd if you don't know where that is, please get out you map of North\nAmerica, although school is over, and find it.\n\n\"I never thought we'd get here so soon,\" said the little Star Fish at\nlast.  \"You see, I boarded the train somewhere off Cape Cod.  And\nthat's a long way from here.\"\n\n\"I got on much farther north,\" said the Polar Bear porter, fanning\nhimself with a large sea shell.  \"Gracious me, but it's dreadfully hot\ndown here.\"\n\n\"This Caribbean Sea is as full of mountains as New Hampshire and\nVermont are, but none of them have caps of snow like that which Mount\nWashington sometimes wears,\" said the Mermaid Princess.  \"Snow wouldn't\nlast a second under this hot sun.\"\n\n\"Where did you learn all this?\" asked Mary Louise.\n\n\"Oh, I went to the Coral School for Girls,\" answered the Mermaid\nPrincess, and she sighed, for she suddenly remembered she was a long\nway from home.\n\nJust then the little Star Fish met a soft little body, much smaller\nthan himself, who invited him to visit her relatives, who live, by\nmillions, in this mountain region.\n\nSo off they started for Coraltown, where this little Miss Polyp lived.\n\nHer father and mother, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, were all\npolyps.  They had built the coral islands by fastening themselves to\nthe tops of the mountains under the sea, year after year, and at last\ntheir soft bodies had turned into stone.  And now you know how these\nmillions of little polyps finally made the small islands that dotted\nthe surface of the water.\n\nAfter the Star Fish and his little friend had swum away, Mary Louise\nspied a boat drifting toward them.  So she and the Mermaid Princess\nscrambled inside, and the polar Bear porter hoisted a sail, which he\nfound wrapped around a mast in the bottom of the boat.\n\n  \"Hip, hurrah, we're off once more,\"\n  Shouted the Polar Bear, waving his paw,\n  And the Mermaid Princess laughed in glee\n  As he held the tiller and sailed o'er the sea!\n\nBy and by the air became colder and the Mermaid said:\n\n\"We must be near my father's castle.  I think I'll slip into the ocean\nand swim home.\"\n\n\"Before you go, please comb my hair with your magic comb so that I may\nbe a little girl again,\" begged Mary Louise; \"I don't want to be a\nmermaid forever.\"\n\nAs soon as the magic pearl comb touched Mary Louise's hair her tail\nchanged into her own little pair of legs.\n\n\"Now kiss me good-by,\" said the little Mermaid Princess, and, with a\nsplash, she disappeared in the ocean.\n\n\n\n\nWonderland\n\n\nFor a few minutes Mary Louise felt quite lonely.  Presently she asked\nthe Polar Bear to be kind enough to land her on the nearest shore.\n\nAt once the big kind animal trimmed in his sail and before long they\nentered a beautiful bay whose dark waters were dotted with the white\nsails of the fisher boats, and directly in front, climbing up to the\nsky, a high mountain on which stood a castle, where from a tall tower\nall night long shone a light that could hardly be told from the stars\naround it.\n\nMary Louise jumped from the boat to the beach, and then turned to wave\ngood-by to the Polar Bear as he sailed away to the North Pole.\n\nNearby sat an old fisherman on a bench mending his net.\n\n\"Hello, little girl,\" he said, as Mary Louise hesitated.  \"Moor your\nlittle hulk 'longside o' me an' I'll spin you a yarn!\"\n\nThen he began to tell how, many hundred years ago, all the land around\nabout was covered with a thick forest instead of the deep blue water of\nthe bay.\n\nThen came the great giant Cormoran, who was 18 feet high and 3 yards\nwide, and his wife Cormelian, who was just as big, and they brought\nfrom the hills great gray rocks which they piled up, one on the other,\nhundreds of feet high, until they had made a mountain.  And on the top\nof this they built their castle, where they lived until the giant's\nwife died and was buried under the Chapel rock.\n\nThen Jack the Giant Killer climbed up the mountain, and after a hard\nfight Cormoran was killed, and there were no more giants in the land.\n\nNext came the Small People, who cut down most of the forest, and built\ncottages for themselves, ploughed the fields and made gardens.\n\nBut one day a great enchanter came that way, and his strange dress and\nlong gray beard frightened the women and children, and they shut their\ndoors in his face whenever he asked for a drink, for he had walked far\nand was tired and thirsty.\n\nAt last he found the principal man of the Small People, a little old\ncrusty fellow and very miserly.  And when the great enchanter asked him\nfor a drink of water, the Small Man told him he didn't keep a hotel for\nbeggars.  And this made the great enchanter so angry that he struck the\nground with his staff, so that it made a deep hole, and then he went\nupon his journey.\n\nSoon a little spring of water bubbled up through the hole, and by and\nby a stream burst forth that swelled to a river, and after a time the\nwhole land was drowned, and only the high mountain remained above the\nwater.\n\nBut the Small People who were buried under the water didn't die. They\nlived on just the same, waiting for the enchanter to return and lift\nthe spell, and the land to rise, again with all the people on it.\n\nWhen the old fisherman had finished his story, he said, \"I will take\nyou in my boat to see the Small People deep down in the water.\n\n\"Yes, come with me in my boat and you shall see the Wonderland under\nthe Sea.\"\n\nAs soon as the old fisherman had hoisted the sail, away they went out\nto sea over a wide path of moonlight like a silver road leading\nstraight out to the sky where it dipped down to the water.\n\nAll of a sudden Mary Louise noticed something come close up under the\nside of the boat, and remain there staring straight at her.  She bent\nover until she nearly touched the water, when what she had taken for a\nfish appeared to be a very odd-looking little man.  He was even shorter\nthan she, very broad about the shoulders, with funny little arms and\nfeet that were brought together at the heels, with the toes turned\nstraight out when he stood up, making them look like a fish's tail.\nHis eyes were big and round, without any eyelids or eyebrows.  But his\nmouth was the funniest part, and when he opened it, he looked like a\nfish trying to talk.  He was dressed in silvery white, shaded to blue\nand green.\n\nWith a sudden nod, he pointed to the road which opened behind him down\nthrough the depths of the water until lost in the distance.\n\nLittle Mary Louise could not take her eyes from him, and, forgetting\nall about the old fisherman and the boat, she bent over more and more,\nso as to look closer at the funny little old man, until, splash! down\nshe went into the water.\n\nThen came a tremendous ringing in her ears and she felt her breath go\nand she knew nothing more until she found herself standing with the\nstrange little fish man by the side of a splendid carriage made of a\nscallop shell, burnished until it shone with pearl and silver, and\ndrawn by two beautiful gold-fish and two silver-fish harnessed with the\nsilken threads of the finest sea-mosses, and driven by an old coachman\nthat looked like a mackerel.\n\n  \"We are the sea-horses of the deep,\n  And we race through the waters blue,\n  Faster than wind and swifter than tide\n  We gallop the ocean through.\"\n\n\"Jump in,\" said the little old fish man; and without a question Mary\nLouise stepped into the carriage and sat down on the beautiful\npea-green cushions.\n\nThen the little man got in, the mackerel-faced coachman cracked his\nwhip, the gold and the silver fishes darted ahead, and away they went.\n\nGreat trees waved their long branches as the carriage swept past, and\nodd-looking shapes came out from behind them.  Huge mouths opened and\nshut, long arms waved about trying to catch anything in their reach,\nand fierce looking monsters with fishes' heads came rushing in from all\nsides, to stare at little Mary Louise with their great savage eyes.\n\nPresently the little old man stood up and bowing politely, told them\nthat Mary Louise had never caught a fish with a cruel hook.\n\nThen these dreadful monsters snapped their horny jaws and swam away.\n\nAt once the mackerel-faced coachman whipped up his team of gold and\nsilver fishes and away they went spinning down the road again.\n\nAt last the carriage stopped in front of a fine mansion, and Mary\nLouise and the little old man jumped out on the smooth beach of\nsparkling sand which sloped down to a glassy lake on which curious and\nbeautiful little boats were sailing in all directions.\n\nAlong the edge of the lake were many houses, some stately castles and\nsome little cottages.  The little cottages were covered with creeping\nplants abloom with red flowers and the stately castles with moss like\nvines.\n\nBut the people.  Oh dear me!  They were the strangest folk!  Some had\nvery long noses and ugly looking teeth in their wide mouths, and others\nwere so thin they looked like small sticks, and others so round that\nthey could almost trundle themselves along like a coach-wheel.  Some\nwere dressed in the shabbiest clothes, others in splendid suits, and\nsome covered with knobs and spikes and strange looking armor.\n\n\"Come,\" said the little fish man, and he led Mary Louise into his house.\n\nPresently he brought out from a closet a quaintly shaped box.  \"It is\nthe legend of Wonderland that a little girl shall break the spell that\nhangs over us.  For it is deemed well-nigh impossible that a mortal\nchild would venture beneath the water to visit us.  Therefore, little\nMary Louise, if I call all my people together, will you open this box\nand deliver us from the spell of the Great Enchanter?\"\n\n\"I will,\" she answered bravely, and at once the little old fish man\ncalled together all his subjects.\n\nAs little Mary Louise looked at the box she saw printed on the cover\nthese words:\n\n  \"If a little girl mortal\n    Shall uncover this prize,\n  The sea will sink\n    And the land will rise.\"\n\nAnd, would you believe it, the first thing she knew after carefully\nopening the box, she was back in the boat with the old sailor, who was\nshading his eyes and looking towards a beautiful green island that had\nsuddenly come out of the water.\n\n\n\n\nThe Enchanted Prince\n\n\n\"Would you like to land on the island?\" asked the old sailor who seemed\nin no wise surprised that an island should suddenly come up out of the\nsea.\n\n\"Yes,\" gasped little Mary Louise, \"it may be a wonderful place.  I\ncertainly saw strange things beneath the water.\"\n\n\"To be sure you did,\" replied the old sailor, taking it as a matter of\ncourse that a little girl should make a trip to Wonder Land under the\nSea, and return safe and sound.\n\nBut then, you know, Mary Louise may have still retained some of the\ncharm of the little mermaid's magic comb.\n\nWell, anyway, the old sailor steered his boat over to the green island,\nwhere Mary Louise jumped out and after saying good-by to her sailor\nfriend, set off to look for new adventures.\n\nAfter a while, she came to a great wood, where the trees were as big\naround as smoke stacks on an ocean liner.\n\nAll of a sudden, she heard the sound of a woodman's ax, and the\ncrackling of the branches as they fell to the ground.\n\n\"It must be some giant cutting down a tree,\" she thought, and she\nstarted off in the direction of the sound, and by and by, she saw a\ngiant beaver.  He was a most wonderful sort of an animal, for he could\nswing an ax as well as a man.  Near at hand flowed a great river, where\na white water horse snorted as he dashed the spray high in the air with\nhis forefeet.\n\n\"Are you one of Neptune's horses?\" asked little Mary Louise.  \"I once\nread a story of a little boy named Hero who rode with King Neptune in\nhis wonderful chariot.\"\n\n\"No, little girl,\" answered the beautiful sea horse kindly.  \"But I can\nshow you some wonderful things.  Jump on my back and I will take you to\na strange place.\"\n\nThen away went the great Water Horse over the water and through the\nspray and Mary Louise wasn't the least bit afraid although she had no\nwater wings and might have slipped of into the water.\n\n\"Where are we going?\" she asked, after a while, for by this time they\nwere far away from the shore and going up a dark river.\n\n\"I'm going to show you the beautiful Green Waterfall Cave,\" answered\nthe big Sea Horse, shaking his mane until it seemed almost as if it\nwere raining.\n\nWell, pretty soon he stopped, telling Mary Louise to bend over his\nback, before he swam into a big opening in a gray rock.\n\n\"Now lift up your head,\" he said, and when Mary Louise looked around\nshe saw they were in a beautiful cave.  All about them were strange\npeople, Mermaids and Water Nymphs, Water Sprites and Mermen, fishes and\ndolphins, and even a whale, although he wasn't very large.  If he had\nbeen, he wouldn't have been there, for the entrance to the cave was\njust wide enough for him to squeeze through.\n\nWell, no sooner did they see the big Sea Horse, than they all said at\nonce,\n\n\"Hail to our King!\" and crowded around looking curiously at Mary\nLouise, and one little mermaid pinched her toe.\n\n\"This is Mary Louise,\" explained the great white Sea Horse.  \"I have\nbrought her to our cave to see the wonders of our Water Country.\"\n\nAt once the whale blew a stream of water into the air, the dolphins\nturned somersaults and the little mermaid who had just pinched Mary\nLouise's toe, stood up on a big pearly shell and sang:\n\n  \"In this river that leads to the sea,\n  We all live happy as happy can be,\n  The crocodile comes and opens his jaws,\n  And the giant crab stretches out his claws,\n  And the sword fish chases the sharp toothed shark,\n  But here we are safe when the day grows dark,\n  And the pale white moon looks down from the sky,\n  And the little star winks her golden eye.\"\n\nAnd when she had finished, she swam up close to the big Sea Horse and\npicking up Mary Louise placed her in a great shell that sailed over the\nwater just like a boat to the end of the cave where a little path ran\nalong close to the water's edge till it came to a door.\n\n\"Tap gently three times,\" said the little mermaid.\n\nAnd then, all of a sudden, it opened and there stood a great Sea\nSerpent.\n\n\"What do you want?\" he asked with a dreadful hiss and his breath was\nlike steam and his long red tongue like a thin flame.\n\n\"O wise Serpent,\" said the mermaid, \"do not frighten little Mary\nLouise. She is traveling through our country and means no harm.\"\n\n\"Then she may come into my kingdom,\" replied the great Serpent, and he\nglided swiftly away.\n\n\"Do not fear him,\" said the little mermaid.  \"I cannot go with you, but\nyou will be perfectly safe,\" and she closed the door and swam away,\nleaving little Mary Louise all alone.\n\nIt was a strange country in which Mary Louise found herself as she\nfollowed the great Serpent who was now some distance ahead.  Great\ntrees and moss-covered rocks were on every side, and only by keeping to\nthe narrow path was it possible to find a way through them.\n\nBy and by the Serpent stopped at a gate in a high stone wall, which\nswung open slowly as he tapped upon it.\n\n\"Now, let me tell you something,\" he said, leading Mary Louise to a\nseat beneath a beautiful tree in a large garden close by a stately\ncastle.\n\nWhile she rested on the marble bench the great Serpent coiled himself\nin a ring, his head raised about two feet above the ground.  He had\nwonderful black eyes and as he looked at her she almost fancied there\nwere tears in them.\n\n\"Once upon a time, not so very long ago,\" he began, \"a young prince\nlived in this castle.  But one day a wicked magician disguised as a\npoor beggar came to the kitchen door and asked for bread.  Now it\nhappened to be baking day, and the Royal Baker had just placed a\nthousand loaves of dough in the oven.  He was tired and hot and said to\nthe beggar in a cross voice:  'You must wait until evening.'  This made\nthe beggar man dreadfully angry, and the next minute he waved a crooked\nstick above his head and cried, 'Let the master of this castle and his\nhousehold become snakes!'  Instantly, a great change came over all who\nlived in the castle.  The prince turned into a serpent and all the\nretainers became snakes.\"\n\nAs he finished speaking, the poor Snake gave a low cry and hid his head\nin the grass.\n\n\"Cheer up,\" said Mary Louise, for she knew at once that the serpent was\nthe poor prince in disguise.  \"I have a magic ring!\"\n\nDear me, I forgot to mention that the Princess Mermaid had given it to\nlittle Mary Louise for a charm against evil.\n\n\"But what can that do for me?\" asked the poor serpent prince.\n\n\"Leave that to me,\" replied little Mary Louise, and she turned the\nmagic ring around three times, and, all of a sudden, a little Black Man\nappeared.\n\n\"What can I do for you, little Mistress?\" he asked.\n\n\"This serpent was once a handsome prince,\" explained Mary Louise, \"but\nby the magic of a wicked magician has been changed into a snake. Help\nhim to regain his natural shape.\"\n\n\"That is a hard matter,\" said the little Black Man thoughtfully.  \"I\nknow this wicked magician.  He has great power and it takes a strong\ncharm to work against his evil power.\"\n\nAnd then the little Black Man ran his hand through his crinkly hair and\nthought for a while.\n\n\"There is a crimson apple that grows in the Gardens of the West,\" he\nsaid at last, \"which if eaten, enables one to regain his natural shape.\nBut the distance is far, and the way dangerous.  And the owner of the\ngarden refuses admittance to any man.  But whether he would refuse a\nlittle girl, I do not know.\"\n\n\"I can but try,\" said little Mary Louise bravely.  And when the serpent\nheard this, he lifted up his head and said:\n\n\"If you will undertake this great deed for me, I will give you whatever\nyou desire, even my castle and all my lands.\"\n\n\"I would not take them from you,\" replied Mary Louise.  \"I am only a\nlittle girl.\"  And she paused for a moment, wondering when and how she\nwould return to her dear mother's home.\n\n\"How may I reach the Gardens of the West?\" she asked anxiously.\n\n\"You must go down to the sea and wait for the sun to sink in the west,\"\nanswered the little Black Man.  \"And when you see golden rays, like a\nbright road upon the water, call to King Neptune.  I will give you a\nwhistle made from a pearl shell on which you must blow three times, and\nwhen the King of the Sea hears it, he will come to you.  But whether he\nwill carry you across the ocean in his chariot, I know not.  But you\ncan try.\"\n\nAnd the little Black Man disappeared.\n\n\"Do you think you will be able to do all this?\" asked the serpent\nanxiously.\n\n\"I do,\" replied Mary Louise, and she opened the garden gate and made\nstraight for the great ocean, and by and by she came to the beach,\nwhere the great waves rolled and broke into foamy spray making the\npretty shells glisten in the sun.\n\nNo sooner had Mary Louise blown three times upon the magic whistle than\nKing Neptune drove up in his beautiful chariot.  His splendid horses\nwith foamy manes raised their forefeet and snorted till the old Sea\nKing was forced to quiet them.\n\n\"What can I do for you, pretty maiden?\" he asked kindly.\n\n\"Oh please, Mr. Neptune, take me to the garden of golden apples.  I\nmust give one to a poor Snake Prince that he may regain his human form.\"\n\nKing Neptune remained silent for a time.  At last he put his hand in\nhis great pocket and said with a sigh:\n\n\"Here is a golden apple.  It was to be a present to my wife.  But it\nwill be of greater use to this poor Snake Prince.\"\n\n\"Thank you, thank you,\" cried Mary Louise, and running hastily back to\nthe garden she stood before the poor miserable snake.\n\n\"Here is the magic golden apple,\" she cried in a glad voice.  No sooner\nhad the serpent eaten the apple, than, all of a sudden, just as he\nswallowed the last piece, he changed into a handsome prince and all his\nretainers and servants who were snakes, you remember, regained their\nhuman form.\n\n\"Now you shall have whatever is in my power to grant,\" said the prince,\n\"even if you ask for my castle.\"\n\n\"I will take nothing from you,\" replied generous little Mary Louise,\n\"unless you wish to give me the ring you wear on your finger.\"\n\n\"It is yours,\" said the prince.  \"May you always wear it and remember\nme.\"\n\n\n\n\nThe Magic Seeds\n\n\nLittle Mary Louise placed the ring upon her finger and then bidding the\nPrince good-by turned her steps as she thought, towards home.  But she\nhad gone but a short way when she came to a funny little dwarf tugging\nat a great sunflower, and every once in a while he'd shake the stalk\nuntil down would come a shower of black seeds, which he put in a small\nbasket.\n\n\"Hello,\" cried Mary Louise, \"don't you want me to help you?\"\n\nWhen the little dwarf heard her voice, he started to run away, but Mary\nLouise caught him by the tail of his coat.\n\n\"Don't be afraid of me, little dwarf, I won't harm you.\"\n\nSo the dwarf set down his basket of seeds, and after he had\nstraightened his coat, for it was half off his back, he said:\n\n\"I'll give you some of the seeds.  They are very wonderful seeds.\"\n\nThen little Mary Louise said good-by and by and by she came to a poor\nwoodcutter's hut.  In answer to her knock an old woman opened the door.\n\n\"How do you do!\" she said with a bow, and then she told Mary Louise\nthat her husband had just gone to the village for sunflower seeds.\nWasn't that strange?  It made Mary Louise laugh and taking from her\npocket a handful she showed them to the old lady.\n\n\"My husband may not find any,\" she said.  \"Will you give me two that I\nmay plant them on each side of our front door?\"  Then digging a hole in\nthe ground on each side of the step she planted the seeds. And, would\nyou believe it? all of a sudden a yellow stalk sprung up, and pretty\nsoon it was as high as the door and then it was higher than the roof\nand before long it reached way up into the sky, so far and so high that\nyou couldn't see the top.\n\n\"Goodness gracious me!\" exclaimed the old woman.  \"What kind of seeds\nare these?\"\n\n\"I'll climb up and see,\" and up the stalk went little Mary Louise.\nBigger and bigger it grew until finally it spread out altogether into a\ngreat big meadow covered with sunflowers.\n\nEverywhere the birds were singing and little rabbits hopping about, and\nnearby a flock of lambs nibbling the fresh green grass.\n\n\"Oh my!\" exclaimed little Mary Louise, \"this is strange, very strange!\"\n\nWhen, all of a sudden, one of the sunflowers began to sing:\n\n  \"I love the sun in the big blue sky,\n  As he rolls along his pathway high,\n  Through the clouds and over the blue\n  While he brightly shines on me and you.\n  There's no one else that I love so much\n  As the golden sun with his soft warm touch.\"\n\nAnd then all the sunflowers joined in the chorus:\n\n  \"Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful sun,\n  We turn and follow you as you run\n  Over the soft and azure sky;\n  Beautiful sun with your golden eye.\"\n\nWhen the song was finished, little Mary Louise went on her way, and it\nwas very lucky for her that the grass was soft, for she wore no boots,\nwhich I forgot to mention she had left a the foot of the big giant\nsunflower by the side of the poor woodman's hut.\n\nWell, by and by, she came to a little shoemaker's shop, where the\nshoemaker sat just outside the door.\n\n\"Have you a pair of red top boots?\" she asked.  And would you believe\nit?  That shoemaker got up and walked inside his shop and took down a\nbox from the top shelf, and there inside was a beautiful pair of red\ntop boots, which fitted as if they had been made for her.  Well wasn't\nthat the luckiest thing that could have happened?\n\nBut perhaps it was just as lucky that she found money enough in her\npocket to pay for them.\n\nPretty soon, not so very far, she came to a fountain where all day long\nthe water played a soft little song:\n\n  \"Over the pebbles and over the sand\n  I run till I reach the sea-shore land,\n  Where the pink shells sing and the big waves roar,\n  And the mermaids comb their hair on the shore.\"\n\n\"I think I'll follow this pretty book,\" said Mary Louise, \"and maybe it\nwill take me home.\"\n\nShe ran along its mossy banks until she came to the seashore.  Right\nthere on the soft warm sand sat a mermaid combing her long hair.\n\nWith a glad cry Mary Louise ran towards her.  But it wasn't her friend\nthe Mermaid Princess.  No, she was a strange little mermaid, who gave a\nfrightful scream and with a flop of her graceful tail, glided into the\nwater.  Just as she was about to dive down out of sight, she saw her\npretty pearl comb on the beach.\n\n\"Don't be afraid of me,\" said Mary Louise, picking it up and leaning\nover the water.  \"I know your Princess Mermaid--daughter of King\nSeaphus,\" and she handed the little mermaid the pearly comb, who then\nswam away to her island of coral and pearl.\n\n\"Heigh ho,\" sighed little Mary Louise, \"here I am by the sad sea waves\nwith nobody to talk to,\" and as she had nothing to do, she dug a hole\nin the sand and thrusting in both her feet, covered them up.  All of a\nsudden a tremendous crab crawled up and before she could run away,\nfastened his great claw in her sleeve.\n\n  \"Oh I am king of the blue sea crabs,\n  And king of the sandy shore,\n  And I can fight as well as bite\n  With my big tre-men-dous claw.\n  Oh, I can pinch as well as a clam,\n  I'm king of all pinchers, you bet I am.\"\n\nNow little Mary Louise was a brave girl, and unclasping her breastpin,\nshe stuck the point right in the wrist of the Crab King's claw, after\nwhich he began to sing a different kind of song, and the tears came out\nof his eyes, and pretty soon he begged to be let alone.\n\n\"I'll give you the most beautiful pearl in all the world,\" he said, but\nMary Louise only laughed and pointed to her torn sleeve:\n\n\"That won't mend my sleeve, King Crab.  What right had you to tear it?\"\n\n\"Oh, please take the pin out of my elbow,\" begged the tearful Crab\nKing, so frightened that he couldn't tell whether it was his wrist or\nhis elbow that Mary Louise was pricking.  \"I'll give you two pearls.\nOh, please pull out your pin.\"\n\nAs soon as she had put away her breastpin, the Crab King started to dig\nin the sand and pretty soon he brought up two lovely pearls.\n\n\"But what am I to do with my torn sleeve?\" asked Mary Louise, for she\nwas still angry with that disagreeable old crab.\n\nWithout answering, the King of the Crabs crawled off into the tall sea\ngrass and in a few minutes came back with a little package done up in\nsea weed, and after he had unwrapped it, what do you suppose Mary\nLouise saw?  Why, a beautiful pale sea green coat made of sea silk.  It\nwas very beautiful and looked just like the shimmery green of the waves.\n\n  \"Here is a coat of the great Crab King,\n  It's finer than silk or anything,\n  For none but a merman has ever worn\n  A coat so beautifully shimmery shorn,\"\n\ncried the King Crab, handing it to Mary Louise.  Then he crawled away,\nfor he wised to have the doctor see his wounded elbow, I imagine.\n\n\n\n\nCandy City\n\n\nJust then a little bird began to sing:\n\n  \"In the valley, green and neat,\n  I see the print of little feet,\n  And way, way yonder in the glen\n  I see a host of little men.\"\n\n\"Dear me!\" sighed Mary Louise.  \"I am too tired to walk any further.\"\n\n\"Jump on my back!\" cried a happy voice, and up trotted a little pony\nnamed Dapple Gray.\n\n\"Oh, how nice,\" laughed Mary Louise, and climbing up on the saddle,\nrode off on this pretty little pony, and pretty soon, not so very far,\nthey came to the place where the little men were at work.  And what do\nyou suppose they were doing.  Why, you'd never guess if I gave you\nuntil the 4th of July.\n\nThey were making maple sugar out of the sap from the maple trees.\nFirst they boiled the sap in great big pots and then put it away to\ncool in queer little dishes of various shapes, and when the sugar\nhardened it was in the forms of funny little fish, queer little houses,\nstrange animals, and, goodness knows, what not.\n\n  \"Oh, we are the Sugar Candy Men,\n    And we work all day in the snow\n  To make the maple sugar cakes\n    To sell in the town below,\"\n\nsang one little man who wore a red peaked hat and long turned-up\npointed shoes.\n\nBut when little Mary Louise rode up, they all stopped their work and\nlooked at her, and the little man with the long turned up pointed shoes\npulled off his red peaked cap and asked:\n\n\"What brings you here, Mary Louise?  Are you fond of maple sugar candy?\"\n\n\"I know lots of little boys and girls who are,\" answered Mary Louise\nwith a smile.\n\n\"Well, hold open your pockets,\" said the little man, and he stood up on\na stump alongside Dapple Gray and filled her pockets to overflowing.\nWasn't that nice of him?\n\n\"You're very generous,\" said Mary Louise.  \"What can I do for you?\"\n\n\"Go to yonder town and tell the dear old lady who keeps the 'Goody\nSweet Tooth-Shop' that we will bring her candy tomorrow morning just\nas--\n\n  \"The little red rooster\n    From his home on the hill\n  Sounds his merry cock-a-doo\n    Like a whistle shrill.\"\n\n\"All right,\" answered Mary Louise, and off she went to the little town\ndown in the valley.\n\nWell, by and by, after a while, and many a mile, and a song and a\nsmile, for Mary Louise felt very happy with all those nice candies in\nher pocket, she came to a bridge over a river, on the other side of\nwhich nestled a little town among the trees.\n\nNow there was a toll keeper, a funny little old lady with a crutch\nunder her arm, at the entrance to the bridge.\n\n  \"Give me a penny, Mary Louise,\n    For that is the toll you must pay,\n  If you would cross over the river to Dover,\n    Dover, just over the way.\"\n\nsang the little old lady toll keeper.\n\n\"Here is the penny,\" laughed Mary Louise, leaning down from Dapple Gray\nand dropping it into the old lady's apron, which she help up in both\nhands.\n\n\"Pass on, little girl,\" she said, opening the gate, and in a few\nminutes Dapple Gray was clattering over the bridge.  And pretty soon he\ndrew up before the Goody Sweet Tooth Shop.\n\n\"I bring you good news from the little men of the glen,\" cried Mary\nLouise to the little old woman who just then looked out of the door.\n\n\"What is the news, dearie?\" she asked, shading her eyes with her\nwithered hand.\n\n  \"Tomorrow morning, just at dawn,\n  When the little red rooster blows on his horn,\n  The maple sugar candy hearts,\n  Cute little cupids and candy darts,\n  In a great big box will be laid at your door\n      to give to the children who come to your store.\"\n\nsaid little Mary Louise.  And how she ever could have spoken in poetry\nis more than I can tell, but perhaps the fairy maple sugar candy, which\nshe had eaten on her way to town, had lent magic to her tongue.\n\nThen the little old woman made a curtsy, and Mary Louise continued on\nher way, and by and by, after a while, she came to a great big bear\nsitting on a stone by the roadside.  On the ground by his side was a\nbig bundle tied with a thick leather strap.\n\nWell, as soon as the bear saw Mary Louise, he took off his cap and said,\n\n  \"I wish I had a pony,\n    Either brown or gray,\n  So I could ride whate'er betide\n    For many miles away.\"\n\n\"Why, what's the matter?\" asked little Mary Louise.\n\n\"I have a splinter in my foot,\" answered the bear.\n\nSo Mary Louise dismounted and looked at the bear's foot, and when she\nfound the splinter, she said:\n\n  \"Now don't you cry, and don't you pout,\n  And I will pull the splinter out.\"\n\nAnd would you believe it, in less than five hundred short seconds, she\nheld the splinter under the bear's nose so he could see it, for the\nbear was very near sighted and couldn't even see the end of his toes.\n\n\"Dear me,\" sighed little Mary Louise, \"I wish I were safe at home with\nMother,\" she set out once more, and by and by she came to Candy Town.\n\nNow I guess many a little boy and girl wonders where all the Christmas\ncandies come from, but they wouldn't if they had once seen Peppermint\nCity, all painted white with red stripes, just like a stick of\npeppermint candy.\n\nEach house was built of white candy with columns of peppermint sticks\nsupporting the roof.  On either side the door stood lovely peppermint\nstatues and striped pillars held up the little porches and big piazzas.\n\nThe opera house was guarded by a candy lion, and a fountain in the\nmiddle of the town spouted maple syrup.  Rock candy crystal chandeliers\nhung from the ceilings in the rich man's house and little peppermint\ncandlesticks made light for the workman's hut.  Even the lamp posts on\nthe corners were peppermint sticks and so were the barber poles.\n\n\"Goodness me,\" said Mary Louise to herself, \"I wonder what would happen\nif it rained.\"  But you see it never rained in Candy Country, which was\nmighty lucky.\n\n\"What do you wish?\" asked a Chocolate Man, as she knocked on the Candy\nTown Gate.\n\nThe next moment the gate swung open and out marched a regiment of Lemon\nSoldiers dressed in Lemon Khaki Uniforms.\n\n\"Oh, I'm just lost,\" replied Mary Louise with a sigh.\n\n  \"I'm a little traveler who goes\n  For miles and miles upon her toes.\n  But sometimes when I'm tired out\n  I think I hear a kind of voice shout,\n  'Come, ride with me upon my Goose,'\n  And other times it is a Moose,\n  And then again a steed with wings;\n  Or maybe some kind stranger brings\n  A ship that sails the ocean wide,\n  And so instead of walk, I ride.\"\n\n\"Well, well, your a little poetry maker,\" said the Chocolate Man. \"Now\nyou are the very person to write pretty little verses on our round\npeppermint candies.\"  And then he held out his chocolate hand and drew\ntired Mary Louise inside the gate, after which he locked it with a\nsilver key.\n\n\"Come with me to our Candy Factory,\" and he ran down the street, which\nwas paved with little red brick candies, until he came to a big Rock\nCandy Building.\n\n\"Look here,\" gasped Mary Louise, all out of breath with running, for\nthat Chocolate Man was the best athlete in all Peppermint City, \"I said\nI was lost.  I'm not a poetry maker.  I wouldn't make poetry for\nanything.  I want to see things, not dream about them!\"\n\n\"Dear me,\" said the Chocolate Man, and he let go the lollypop door\nhandle, \"I'm sorry.  I thought you'd like to stay here.\"\n\n\"Don't feel badly about it,\" said Mary Louise as he shook hands and\nsaid good-by.  \"I must find my way home.  I've no time to lose.\"\n\n\"Heigh ho, this is a big river,\" she exclaimed a little later as she\nstood on the bank of a swiftly flowing stream.\n\n  \"There isn't any bridge, how can you get across,\n  There isn't any boat and you haven't any horse\n  That could swim across this river with you upon its back,\n  So I guess you'll have to turn about and go back upon your track,\"\n\nsang a cross voice.\n\n\"She won't have to do anything of the sort,\" answered a kind voice and\na little white duck in a boat rowed up to the bank.\n\n\"Come, jump aboard,\" quacked Commodore Drake, for that was the name of\nthis duck sailor.\n\nMary Louise jumped in and away they went down the river to the deep\nblue sea.  And after a while, maybe a mile, and perhaps a little more,\nthey came to the restless ocean.\n\n\"Now,\" said the duck, with a wheezy, breezy quack, \"I'll take you to\nthe Hotel Wave Crest.\"\n\nPresently they came to an island where a lovely coral building shone\npinky bright in the rays of the sun.  Right in front of it were two\nbell buoys who rang little bells to tell the man who owned the hotel\nthat somebody wanted a room with a fresh salt water bath.\n\nAs soon as Commodore Drake had fastened the little boat to the wharf,\nhe and Mary Louise walked up the steps and into Wave Crest Hotel.\n\nWhen the proprietor, a nice old Dolphin, saw Mary Louise's lovely sea\ngreen coat, he at once asked where she had bought it.\n\n\"The King of the Crabs gave it to me.\"\n\n\"You don't tell me,\" exclaimed the old Dolphin.  \"Do you know that coat\nis a magic one?\"\n\n\"What can it do?\" asked Mary Louise, even more surprised than you are.\n\n\"Why, anybody who wears it can swim like a fish,\" answered the\ngood-natured Dolphin.  \"It's better than a pair of water wings,\" and he\nturned over three times and began to sing,\n\n  \"Oh, many a mile I've swum in the sea\n    Like a hoop that rolls on the ground,\n  Over and over and over again,\n    Round and around and around,\n  But I always come right side up at last,\n    Out in the deep blue sea,\n  You bet I can do the loop de loo\n    High diddle diddledy dee.\"\n\nAs he finished speaking, the good-natured Dolphin turned a somersault,\nand after that I guess he thought he'd done enough to amuse Mary\nLouise, and the little white sailor duck, so he went inside the hotel\nand stood at the desk behind the big register book.\n\nJust then a great whale came swimming by, blowing a stream of water\nhigh in the air.  Maybe a piece of seaweed had tickled his nose, for\nwhen a whale spouts he's really sneezing, I'm told.\n\nAnd after that a pretty Cat Fish began to purr, and I guess she would\nhave asked Mary Louise a lot of questions if all of a sudden a Dog Fish\nhadn't barked, which so frightened the pussy cat fish that she went\ninto her room and locked the door, dropping the kin in her vanity bag\nwhich she hid under her pillow.\n\n\"If you'll stay awhile,\" said the old Dolphin, \"I'll give you the\nfinest fish dinner you ever ate,\n\n  \"A whale fish steak,\n  And some sea gull eggs,\n  And a pint of sea cow's milk,\n  Green sea weed sauce\n  And water cress\n  And oysters served on silk.\"\n\nBut, would you believe it, little Mary Louise didn't feel hungry.\nInstead she asked the duck sailor to take her back to the boat and to\nsail away, over the ocean's misty spray, until they should come to the\nLand of Nod where sleep is sent by the Little Dream God.\n\nAs soon as she and the little white duck reached this wonderful little\nland, they became sleepy and their eyes winked and blinked and pretty\nsoon they both lay down on the soft grass and went sound to sleep. And\nthen the twinkle, twinkle star shone down with its pretty golden eye\nand sang a sleepy lullaby,\n\n  \"Over the ocean cool and sweet\n  Up to the sea grass's waving feet\n  Blows the wind from the rainbow west\n  Whispering low, 'It is time for rest.'\"\n\n\n\n\nToy Land\n\n\nNow, when Mary Louise and the little white sailor duck woke up in the\nland of Nod, they both rubbed their eyes to make sure who stood there\ndressed in pink pajamas and little starry crown.\n\nIt was the little Dream God.  In his hand he carried a silver wand, in\nthe handle of which was a little whistle which made a soft sound when\nhe blew upon it.\n\n\"Did you have a good sleep?\" he asked, and with a laugh, he took off\nhis crown and sat down on the grass.  And oh, what a sweet laugh it\nwas.  Just like the tinkle of a far-away bell or the ripple of a little\nbrook.\n\nWell, after a little talk, the big Dream Bird came out of his wicker\ncage and said:  \"I'm going to take Mary Louise for a ride,\" and away he\nflew, while the little white sailor duck went back to his boat and\nsailed away, too, over the ocean big and blue.\n\n\"Where would you like to go?\" asked the Dream Bird.  \"I'm the bird who\nbrings dreams to people.  Dreams of doing great big wonderful things,\nyou know.  Not sleepy dreams.\"\n\n\"Take me to some place that is different from anything I've ever seen,\"\nanswered Mary Louise.\n\nSo the big Dream Bird scratched his head with his foot, but for a long\ntime he couldn't tell where to go.\n\nWell, anyway, by and by, not so very long, for the big Dream Bird kept\nflying on as he scratched his head with his foot, they came to Toy Land\nwhere all the toys of the world are made by little dwarfs and fairies.\n\n\"Now I'll leave you,\" said the big Dream Bird, and he flew away,\nleaving little Mary Louise in front of a pretty shop full of Little\nJack Rabbits, and, would you believe it, there was a toy Puss in Boots,\nJunior, with red top boots and a hat with a gold feather and a sword.\nAnd the workman who made these toys was a funny little dwarf with a\ngreen suit and a red cap and a long white beard.\n\n  \"This is the land of wonderful toys\n  That are made for good little girls and boys,\n  Talking dolls and horses that run,\n  Everything here is made for fun,\n  But only good little girls and boys\n  Can have our wonderful, beautiful toys.\"\n\n\"Heigh ho,\" said Mary Louise, \"what next, I wonder,\" and she looked at\na toy regiment of wooden soldiers marching down the street.\n\nJust then an old hand organ began to play,\n\n  \"Oh, where are the songs of yesterday,\n    And the songs we used to sing,\n  When you and I in the days gone by\n    Danced in the Fairy's Ring?\"\n\nAnd up ran a little monkey dressed in a red coat and cap.  Mary Louise\ngave him a penny, to hand to the old man who had stopped to set another\ntune to the organ.\n\n  \"Over the hills and far away,\n  I've tramped all my life till I am gray,\n  And now with my organ and monkey clown\n  I find myself in little Toy Town,\"\n\nsang the old organ grinder as he sat down to rest with the little\nmonkey on his lap.\n\n\"Are you very tired?\" asked Mary Louise.\n\n\"Pretty tired,\" answered the old man.  \"All these years I've tramped\nand played, and now I find myself in a town where they make toys for\nchildren.  But I see no children.  Only playthings which I have no use\nfor,\" and the old man sighed and patted the monkey and then he closed\nhis eyes and fell asleep.  And I guess he was very, very tired.\n\nThen Mary Louise slipped away, out of Toy Town where the dwarfs and the\nfairies made all the toys in little workshops, only they had the shades\npulled down so that nobody could see them, for they are queer little\npeople and don't like to be watched.\n\n\"Oh, dear,\" sighed Mary Louise, \"I wish I were home.  Mother will be\ndreadfully worried about me.\n\n  \"Oh, if I had a Wishing Stone\n  I know what I would do\n  I'd wish for lots of lovely things,\n  And give a lot to you.\n  But, Oh, dear me.  I've never known\n  Where is this wonder Wishing Stone.\"\n\n\"I know,\" cried a little voice, and then, of course, Mary Louise looked\nall around to see who had spoken, but she couldn't see anybody.\n\n\"Who are you?\" she asked, halting Dapple Gray on the edge of a big\nforest.\n\n\"Here I am,\" cried the same little voice, and then, quick as a wink, a\ntiny fairy jumped out from behind a bush.\n\n\"Don't frighten my pony,\" said Mary Louise, as Dapple Gray stood up\nstraight on his hind legs, \"he isn't used to fairies.\"\n\n\"No, indeed,\" whinnied the pony, for that is the way a horse talks, you\nknow.  \"I've met lots of people in dear Old Mother Goose Land, but\nnever a fairy.\"\n\n\"If you come into this forest you will meet many little people like\nme,\" answered the fairy.\n\n\"Will they object if I travel through it?\" asked little Mary Louise\nanxiously.  \"You see, I'm on my way home.\"\n\n\"You have my permission,\" answered the fairy.  \"I'm queen of the Forest\nFays.  But I thought you were looking for the Wishing Stone?\"\n\n\"Maybe I was,\" answered Mary Louise.  \"You see, I thought if I could\nfind it, I'd wish I was home with my dear mother.\"\n\n\"It is not very far from here,\" said the little fairy.  \"Follow this\npath through the trees and by and by you'll come to it.  But let me\ngive you some advice.  Be sure before you make your wish to say,\n\n  \"Rose red, rose white,\n  I will try to do what's right.\"\n\n\"Thank you, I'll remember,\" answered little Mary Louise, and she turned\nDapple Gray down the path to the woody glen.\n\nWell, by and by, after a while, she saw a big white stone.  It looked\nvery like a rude stone chair, only of course, it didn't have any nice\nsoft cushion in it like the one my grandmother used.\n\nWith a cry of joy little Mary Louise jumped from the saddle.  \"Now I'll\nmake my wish!\"  And she sat down in the big stone chair and closed her\neyes.\n\nBut, oh dear me.  She had been in such a hurry that she forgot to say\nthe little fairy verse and when she opened her eyes, there she was in\nthe very same spot.\n\nAnd, oh, dear me! again.  Instead of the Dapple Gray, a little gray\nsquirrel stood in the very spot where the little pony had been.\n\n  \"If you would have what you would wish\n    You must obey each rule,\n  No matter whether in your home\n    Or in your Grammar School,\"\n\nsang a little yellow bird, as Mary Louise stared in amazement at the\nlittle gray squirrel.\n\n\"Oh, dear me,\" she sighed, \"where is Dapple Gray?\"\n\n  \"I was your little pony,\n  And my name was Dapple Gray.\n  But now I am a squirrel\n  Because you did not say;\n  'Rose red, rose white,\n  I will try to do what's right,'\"\n\nanswered the little squirrel.\n\nAnd then Mary Louise remembered what the little fairy had told her to\nsay when she made the wish.  Oh, dear me.  How sad she felt!  But it\nwas too late, and pretty soon the little squirrel ran away, and poor\nMary Louise was left alone in the big Wishing Stone chair.\n\n\"Oh dear me,\" she sighed again, \"now what shall I do?\"  But nobody\nanswered, not even the little yellow bird, so she jumped down and\nstarted off through the wood, and by and by, after a mile, but never a\nsmile, she heard somebody laughing.  And, oh my, it was a great big,\ntremendous hearty laugh.  Why, it made all the leaves tremble and the\ndry twigs fall to the ground.  And then, all of a sudden, a giant\nwalked by, carrying on his big finger the prettiest yellow bird you\never saw.\n\n\"Why bless my big leather belt,\" he exclaimed, \"it's little Mary\nLouise.\"\n\n\"Oh, Mr. Giant,\" said Mary Louise, \"I've disobeyed the Fairy Queen and\nlost my pony Dapple Gray.\"\n\n\"Bless my big hob-nailed club,\" said Mr. Merry Laugh, for this was the\ngiant's name, \"how did you come to do that?\"\n\nSo Mary Louise told him how the Fairy Queen had directed her to the\nWishing Stone, but that she had forgotten to say when making her wish,\n\n  \"Rose red, rose white,\n  I will try to do what's right.\"\n\n\"Well, I'll give you another chance,\" said the big kind giant.  \"Now\nlet me see,\" and he took off his big leather cap and scratched his\nhead, and then he whispered something to the little yellow bird, but\nhis whisper was so loud that of course Mary Louise heard it, for when a\ngiant whispers it sounds like a man shouting, so I've been told.\n\n\"Come with me,\" said the giant after the little yellow bird had nodded\nher head, and pretty soon, not so very long, they came to his castle,\nwhere the giant made Mary Louise very comfortable in a little chair\nwhich had once belonged to his son.\n\n\"Now you rest here while I go and get out my big Gold Book,\" said Mr.\nMerry Laugh.\n\n  \"Mr. Merry Laugh, the Giant,\n    Has a big Gold Book,\n  Bound with leather hinges\n    And a big brass hook,\"\n\nsang the little yellow bird.\n\n\"Now let me see,\" said the good, kind giant, opening the book and\nturning over the pages with his great immense thumb.  \"Ah, here it is,\"\nbut before he began to read he took off his spectacles which were as\nbig as automobile lamps and wiped them carefully on his red silk\nhandkerchief which was bigger than a sail.\n\n  \"Whoever disobeys the queen\n    Can for his guilt atone\n  By making a little whistle\n    Out of a turkey's bone.\"\n\n\"Ha, ha, ha!\" roared the giant till the crystal chandelier tinkled like\na million little bells and the portrait of his mother-in-law fell off\nthe wall with a dreadful crash, \"I never heard anything so funny\nbefore,\" and he picked up the portrait and laughed again, only this\ntime even louder, for his mother-in-law's picture was all smashed to\nsmithereens!\n\n\"Well, that's easy,\" he said after wiping his eyes.  \"Tomorrow will be\nThanksgiving and you shall dine with me.  And after dinner I'll give\nyou a magic knife and if you can't make a whistle out of the drumstick\nbone, I'll have another portrait made of my mother-in-law.\"\n\n\"That's very good of you,\" said little Mary Louise.\n\n\"Don't mention it,\" replied the giant.  \"I have a book that once\nbelonged to my boy when he was a little fellow.  It's called the\nIceberg Express, and you look so like the little girl on the cover that\nI'd almost believe you were she.\"\n\n\"I am, I am,\" shouted Mary Louise, jumping out of her chair.  \"And\nthat's the reason I wanted to sit in the big Wishing Stone chair. I was\ngoing to wish I was home with mother.\"\n\n\"You don't say so,\" exclaimed Mr. Merry Laugh.  \"Well, well, well. It\ntakes me back to the time when my boy was a little fellow and sat on my\nknee to hear me read Little Journeys to Happyland.  How time flies!\"\nAnd the big kind giant took his pocket handkerchief out again to wipe\nhis blue eyes, and after that he went over to the piano and sang:\n\n  \"If I had my little boy again\n    How happy I should be,\n  I'd piggy-back him all around\n    And trundle him on my knee.\n\n  \"But oh, dear me.  It's so long ago,\n    And he's been away so long,\n  That all I can do is to wish and wish\n    That he could hear this song.\"\n\n\"Dear me,\" said little Mary Louise, when the giant had finished.  \"You\nwant your little boy and I want my mother.\"\n\nWell pretty soon when Mary Louise walked into the dining room she saw\nthe most wonderful turkey that ever graced a Thanksgiving table. Why,\nit weighed upty'leven pounds and was stuffed with a bushel of chestnuts.\n\n\"Now eat slowly and tuck your napkin under your chin,\" said Mr. Merry\nLaugh, \"for we don't have Thanksgiving every day, although we ought to\nbe thankful every day, just the same.\"  And he stuck in the fork which\nwas as big as a pitch-fork and began to carve with a knife that was\neven larger than General Pershing's sword.\n\nWell, after a while, a mince pie was brought in, so large that it would\nhave taken Mary Louise thirteen minutes to walk around it if the giant\nhad placed it on the floor.  But of course he didn't.  No sireemam. He\nfirst cut a little piece for her and then a great big tremendous piece\nfor himself, and would you believe he ate two pieces while she was\neating one!\n\nAt last, when the dinner was over, and the giant had dried the wish\nbone on the steam heater till it was nice and dry, he handed little\nMary Louise the magic knife and told her to make it into a whistle. And\nwould you believe it if I didn't say so, in less than five hundred\nshort seconds she had carved out the prettiest little whistle you ever\nsaw.\n\n\"Now, little girl,\" said Mr. Merry Laugh, \"blow on it and make a wish.\nBut don't make the same wish you did before.\"\n\n\"Oh dear me,\" sighed the little girl.  \"I only wish one thing, and that\nis to be home with mother.\"\n\n\"Get your pony back and I'll help you,\" said Mr. Merry Laugh kindly.\n\nSo Mary Louise blew on her whistle and made a wish, when, all of a\nsudden, quicker than a wink, they heard a neigh in the courtyard, and\nlooking out of the window, saw Dapple Gray.\n\n\"Here, take this little ring,\" said the giant, \"and if ever you are in\ntrouble, turn it around your finger three times and a half.\"\n\nJust then the little yellow bird began to sing:\n\n  \"'Tis a little golden ring,\n  Such a tiny, pretty thing.\n  But be careful lest you lose it,\n  For you may have need to use it,\n  It possesses such a charm\n  It will keep you from all harm.\"\n\n\"Good luck,\" said Mr. Merry Laugh as he opened the castle door.\n\"Good-by and good luck.  Drop in the next time you're in town, and\ndon't forget Castle Merry Laugh, Forest City, U.S.A.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" answered Mary Louise.\n\nJust then down flew the beautiful Dream Bird.\n\n\"I'll take you home,\" he said.  \"Climb up between my wings!\"\n\nThen away he went through the air so softly that maybe the little girl\nfell asleep, for when she woke up, there she was on the beach where she\nhad first met the little Mermaid Princess.\n\n\"Oh, oh,\" yawned Mary Louise, \"am I really here?\"  But nobody answered,\nso she jumped to her feet and ran home to her mother.\n\nWell, well, have we come to the end of the story, you and I, little\nreader?  I'm sorry I've nothing more to tell you in this book, but\nlisten--lean over to me and listen--I've written another book for the\n\"Little Journeys to Happyland\" series--it is called \"The Wind Wagon.\"\nIsn't that a strange title?  But I know you'll like it--yes, I'm sure\nyou will.\n\nSo don't forget.  It will be published next year.\n\nYours for a story,\n\nDavid Cory.","title":"The Iceberg Express","tradition":"folklore-oral-tradition","translated_text":null,"word_count":15113}