{"collection":"folklore-oral-tradition","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_64012/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_64012","id":"gutenberg_64012","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64012","summary":null,"tags":["Boys -- Juvenile fiction","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Novels","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Dogs -- Juvenile fiction","Fairies -- Juvenile fiction","Fairy tales","Puck (Legendary character) -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"+---------------------------------------------------+\n    |                      Note:                        |\n    |                                                   |\n    | _Surrounding_ text indicates italics.             |\n    |                                                   |\n    | =Surrounding= text indicates bold.                |\n    |                                                   |\n    | Corrected various punctuation.                    |\n    +---------------------------------------------------+\n\n\n\n\n\nPUCK'S BROOM\n\n[Illustration:\n\n    I am sent, with\n        Broom before,\n    To sweep the Dust\n      behind the Door\n]\n\n[Illustration: \"LOOK, THERE'S THE CASTLE!\" SAID THE KNIGHT\n\n    _Fr._\n]\n\n\n\n    Puck's Broom\n\n    The wonderful adventures\n    of George Henry & his dog Alexander\n    who went to seek their fortunes in\n    the ONCE UPON A TIME Land....\n\n    By\n    E. Gordon Browne\n\n    Illustrated by\n    Kathleen I. Nixon\n\n    New York\n    Moffat Yard & Company\n    1923\n\n    [Illustration]\n\n\n    PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED\n    EDINBURGH\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n    CHAPTER I\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n\n    =GEORGE ARRIVES=                                                  17\n\n    _How George Henry came into the world, and what Puck and the\n    fairies thought about it. Some wise words about nurses and\n    parents. Alexander the Greatest appears for the first time.\n    Why George did not believe in the fairies._\n\n\n    CHAPTER II\n\n    =GEORGE GROWS UP=                                                 29\n\n    _All about the birthday party. A particularly jolly tea with\n    special games and fireworks. All about the other fireworks,\n    which were quite a surprise. How the fairies meant to invite\n    George to their party, and what the old frog said._\n\n\n    CHAPTER III\n\n    =MIDSUMMER EVE=                                                   41\n\n    _The fairy invitation arrives. George's first pair of trousers.\n    Midsummer Eve and the preparations for the fairy party.\n    Puck's anger, and the nasty things that the old frog said.\n    What happened at the party in the wood._\n\n\n    CHAPTER IV\n\n    =DREAM-MUSIC=                                                     53\n\n    _George is ill and very cross. His wonderful dream. What_\n    was _it all about? What the doctor said to him about the\n    fairies. \"Perhaps there is and perhaps there isn't.\" The\n    fairies listen to a story. \"To-night!\" George hears the\n    dream-music._\n\n\n    CHAPTER V\n\n    =THE LAND OF DREAMS=                                              65\n\n    _George and Alexander set out in search of adventure. The\n    dream-music calls to him again. Can dogs talk? \"Wish as\n    hard as ever you can!\" Just like a bit of a story-book!\n    The little green gate. The delightful little house in the wood,\n    and the tea waiting there for George and Alexander. The\n    Land of Dreams._\n\n\n    CHAPTER VI\n\n    =FATHER TIME=                                                     77\n\n    _George's house. The twisty-curly paths which led to the sea.\n    The old man sitting on the seashore. The hour-glass. \"Are you\n    Father Time, please?\" \"A stitch in time saves nine.\" \"Follow\n    your fortune, little George!\" And it was Puck after all!_\n\n\n    CHAPTER VII\n\n    =MORE ADVENTURES=                                                 89\n\n    _Alexander could_ really _talk, for barking_ is _talking. George\n    learns more about the little house. The golden weathercock\n    guides them on their way. Everything and everybody can talk.\n    This way to Once-upon-a-Time!_\n\n\n    CHAPTER VIII\n\n    =A NICE DRAGON=                                                   99\n\n    _All about the wonders in this strange country. \"She lives not\n    far from here.\" Oh, it was_ ever _so much bigger than one\n    expected! A game at 'catch-my-tail.' The dragon who went\n    to look for his fortune. George is told that he is not real. A\n    ride on the dragon's back._\n\n\n    CHAPTER IX\n\n    =THE WITCH=                                                      113\n\n    _The witch's kitchen. What a witch really looks like. Her\n    curious smile. Wonders will never cease! What happened\n    when the kettle boiled. \"Will you ride on your catoplane?\"\n    George guesses again. It is all_ very _puzzling_.\n\n\n    CHAPTER X\n\n    =THE HIGH MOUNTAINS=                                             121\n\n    _The tower which came to life. \"Who's 'Him,' please?\" How\n    witches can read your thoughts. Why the giant was so sad.\n    They fly toward the glowing mountains, and George sings a song._\n\n\n    CHAPTER XI\n\n    =TOM TIDDLER'S GROUND=                                           129\n\n    _The funny little man who told George all about it. \"Ask for\n    what you want.\" The wonderful meal. Picking up gold and\n    silver. Tom Tiddler's sack. Alexander is George's best\n    friend after all. George's fortune grows heavier and heavier,\n    then lighter and lighter. The story of the golden sausage._\n\n\n    CHAPTER XII\n\n    =OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY=                                    143\n\n    _The path which was like the letter S. At the top of the\n    mountain. \"Where does that music come from?\" The\n    little weathercock again. Home once more. What George\n    found in his sack. Never throw your fortune away!_\n\n\n    CHAPTER XIII\n\n    =SIR TRISTRAM=                                                   153\n\n    _Topsy-turvy thoughts. Fancy a giant with an umbrella!\n    George finds a new suit, and Alexander disappears. To the\n    Castle of the Thousand Towers. The knight who was bound\n    on a quest. They arrive at the castle._\n\n\n    CHAPTER XIV\n\n    =AT COURT=                                                       163\n\n    _About the wonders they saw in the castle. \"The King bids you\n    welcome.\" George becomes a squire. They see the King.\n    Why he was so lonely and sad. What happened to the beautiful\n    Princess Fortunata._\n\n\n    CHAPTER XV\n\n    =THE QUEST BEGINS=                                               173\n\n    _The quest to free the enchanted princess. \"The weathercock\n    knows the way.\" They lose their way in the great forest. The\n    mysterious voices in the air, and how George heard about\n    the magician's castle. The greatest adventure of all._\n\n\n    CHAPTER XVI\n\n    =THE GIANT AGAIN=                                                181\n\n    _On the shores of the black lake. The giant appears again.\n    How they came safely across the lake. The giant begins\n    another story. The prince and his bicycle._\n\n\n    CHAPTER XVII\n\n    =THE ARRIVAL AT THE CASTLE=                                      189\n\n    _The castle on the glass hill._ 'Whizz' _once more! \"Don't\n    forget to ask for what you want!\" The terrible guardians of\n    the gate and how they were utterly vanquished. \"Don't forget\n    the password!\"_\n\n\n    CHAPTER XVIII\n\n    =WHAT THE WEATHERCOCK SAID=                                      195\n\n    _How George learned the password which was a magic charm.\n    \"Nobody but you may hear it.\" How Sir Tristram and the\n    dragon fought, but it was not anything to bother about. George\n    fares on his quest alone._\n\n\n    CHAPTER XIX\n\n    =PRINCESS FORTUNATA=                                             203\n\n    _What happened to George in the magician's castle. A story\n    which is like a patchwork counterpane. How difficult it was to\n    remember the charm! Alexander barks just in time. The\n    Chinese box-trick. The Princess Fortunata! \"The magician\n    is coming!\"_\n\n\n    CHAPTER XX\n\n    =ANOTHER PARTY=                                                  211\n\n    _What had become of everybody? The dream-music again.\n    The little house changes. \"George is home at last!\" The\n    party and supper which George had never heard about before.\n    How each of the guests gave him a present, and the beautiful\n    Queen gave him the best of all. \"Of course, you've guessed\n    it, too!\"_\n\n\n    CHAPTER XXI\n\n    =BACK TO THE WORLD=                                              223\n\n    _Alexander's bark again. How George and the doctor talked\n    about Fairyland. What they all said about George's adventures.\n    How Mother has a little house in the wood, too, and why\n    she goes there. How George began to understand why his\n    fortune lay right under his very nose._\n\n\n    CHAPTER XXII\n\n    =WHAT THE FAIRIES THOUGHT=                                       235\n\n    _How the old frog actually laughed! Why George Henry_ was\n    _a wonder-child after all, and why Puck was delighted_.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n\n    \"LOOK, THERE'S THE CASTLE!\" SAID THE KNIGHT,\n      POINTING STRAIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM                    _Frontispiece_\n\n    THERE STOOD A DELIGHTFUL LITTLE HOUSE WITH\n      SMOKE CURLING UP FROM ITS CHIMNEYS                              70\n\n    THE LIGHT GREW BRIGHTER AND BRIGHTER                             122\n\n    AROUND HIM WERE HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF TINY FIGURES            220\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTHIS is a true story.\n\nIt all happened through George Henry not believing in the fairies, just as\nsome boys but _very_ few girls would do.\n\nBoys believe in Red Indians and pirates, and think fairies are all stuff\nand nonsense; but they are quite wrong, for Puck can turn himself into\nanybody or anything he chooses. So if one day when you are ploughing the\nfoaming main you sight a pirate ship flying the skull and crossbones at\nthe masthead, it may not be a pirate at all, but only Puck himself.\n\nBeware! If he catches you he will make you walk the fairy plank, and you\nwill fall off it _splash!_ right into Fairyland, and find yourself turned\ninto a cross old frog or something quite as disagreeable.\n\nThis story should be read aloud. You should seat yourselves in a\nring--that will please the fairies--and look happy, even if you aren't as\nhappy as you might be. Sour looks curdle cream and stories as well.\n\n\"What!\" you say. \"Dragons and witches and giants! Do you expect us to\nbelieve in _them_?\"\n\nWell, why not? Do you only believe in what you have seen? All the best\nbooks are full of wonders like these, and everything wonderful _must_ be\ntrue.\n\nSo, once again, this is a true story.\n\nNow turn to the next page and begin!\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER I\n\n_George Arrives_\n\n\nGEORGE HENRY was born under a lucky star, which means that a star laughed\nwhen he came into the world. This happens to very, _very_ few of us;\nperhaps it is because we are born naughty and ready to be stood in the\ncorner at once.\n\nThe fairies knew all about George Henry, however, and were delighted, for\nhe was a darling boy. Puck brought them the news wrapped up in a leaf and\npacked inside a nutshell in order to keep it dry.\n\nOf course you have heard of Puck. He is the little fairy who often plays\nmischievous tricks upon people; but if children behave nicely he is always\nready to be their friend.\n\nSanta Claus often pays him a visit about Christmas-time in order to find\nout if any children have not been as good as gold during the past year.\nThen the naughty children find their stockings empty on Christmas morning,\nand wish and wish--too late--that they had thought in time of what Father\nand Mother had told them.\n\nWell, the fairies danced that night in the greenwood to the music of the\ncricket, the grasshopper, and the frog. Puck told them all about George\nHenry and what a very fine boy he was going to be.\n\nGeorge's father and mother thought so too, and Nurse said that he was the\nfinest child she had ever seen. Nurses _always_ know.\n\nThe birds and animals soon heard the news too, and there was such a\nchattering, jabbering, twittering, squeaking, and I really don't know how\nto tell you what other curious noises in the wood that night.\n\nThis 'wonder-child,' as the fairies called him, was named George\nHenry--'George' after his grandfather, who gave him a large silver\ndrinking-mug as a christening present, and 'Henry' after his father. His\nmother would have liked to add 'Alexander' as a third name, but it was\ngiven, after all, to a new black, woolly puppy which came into the house\nabout this time; so that was all right. It is a great pity to waste fine\nnames like Alexander.\n\nGeorge Henry and Alexander grew up together and were great friends.\nAlexander learned to walk long before his little playmate, who used to\ntoddle along holding on to the dog's tail, and very often falling over on\ntop of him when his legs grew tired.\n\nAs soon as he got past his toddle-days he loved to walk about everywhere\nand see everything.\n\nThe world was full of the most wonderful things; there was a pigsty in\nwhich lived a family of little pigs with curly tails. They used to squeak\n\"Good-morning\" to him every time he passed by.\n\nHe loved their curly tails, and often tried to make Alexander's tail like\ntheirs, but it was of no use. It either stood straight up on end or else\ndisappeared between his legs.\n\nIt was fine, too, to see the geese marching along like soldiers with\nthe old gander at their head; to watch the old hen fussing and clucking\nafter her little fluffy chicks, who would never come home when they were\ntold--\"Like naughty little boys, you know,\" said Nurse.\n\nIt would take hours to tell you all the things Alexander and he saw\ntogether--the animals, the birds, the trees, the flowers; and they all\nloved him. But he never saw the fairies--though they often waved their\nlittle hands to him; and Puck sometimes rode on Alexander's back through\nthe woods and led them to all the prettiest spots--but George never knew.\n\nBy and by, when they had grown up a little more, and George was in sailor\ntrousers, while Alexander had a great big bark which quite made you jump\nthe first time you heard it, Father and Mother began to wonder what George\nwould be when he became a man.\n\nHe loved playing at soldiers, and had boxes and boxes full of them which\nGrandfather and Grandmother, uncles and aunts, and other kind people gave\nhim from time to time. He played with them on the nursery floor, up and\ndown stairs until the housemaid, Anne, fell over them, on his bed when\nhe ought to have been asleep, until Father said: \"Ah, the boy will be a\ngeneral and win great battles when he grows up!\"\n\n\"No!\" answered Mother. \"George is born for something better than _that_.\"\n\nHe knew all about everything in the shop windows, better than even the\npeople to whom the shops belonged.\n\n\"He will be a great merchant!\" said his grandfather.\n\n\"Pooh!\" answered Mother. \"Buying and selling? My little George was not\nborn for _that_.\"\n\nHe began to use paper and pencil, and then a paint-box.\n\n\"Ah!\" said the aunt who had given him all these things. \"George will be a\ngreat artist who will draw and paint most wonderful pictures.\"\n\n\"Rubbish!\" replied Mother. \"George was born to do something _great_. He\ncan always draw pictures to amuse himself.\"\n\nThen he learned to write, and wrote the most wonderful stories which no\none except himself could understand.\n\n\"He will be a great writer and write stories which everybody will read,\"\nsaid his grandmother.\n\n\"I never heard such nonsense!\" cried his mother, quite vexed. \"Don't\nI tell you that he is going to do _great_ things? Anybody can write\nstories; besides, he might sit up late at night and catch colds and I\ndon't know what else if he began writing stories!\"\n\nPuck was delighted to hear them all guessing in this way, and laughed\nuntil he fell off the top of a big sunflower on which he was sitting.\n\n\"Oh, dear!\" he cried. \"How funny these big people are!\" And he flew away\ninto the wood to tell the fairies all about it.\n\nThey laughed and laughed for days and days, and were never tired of\nhearing Puck talk like Grandfather, Father, Mother, and Aunt.\n\nEven the old bull-frog in the large pond, right in the middle of the\ndarkest part of the wood, croaked \"_Ker-ek!_\" which was _his_ way of\nlaughing. He always had a cold, poor fellow, because his feet were never,\n_never_ dry, and nobody ever thinks of giving frogs medicine. Perhaps they\nhave neither nurses nor aunts.\n\nAnd so the days and months went by, and presently George was big enough to\ngo to school. It was quite a nice school, so Puck said, for he went there\nwhen he had time. Puck liked to listen to the fairy stories best of all,\nand often sat on the teacher's shoulder and whispered in her ear. You\nwould have been surprised and delighted to hear what splendid stories she\ntold the children on those days, and she could _never_ imagine how they\ncame into her head.\n\nNow, it is a very sad thing to have to tell you, but Puck soon found\nout that George did not believe that there were any fairies, nor--worse\nstill--that there ever had been any.\n\nOne day he actually fell asleep when the very best story of all was being\ntold! Puck didn't know what was to be done, and the fairies couldn't help\nhim, for they had never heard of a boy like this before. \"Dear me!\" they\nsaid. \"If there were _no_ fairies how could there be any fairy stories?\nHow stupid of little George not to believe in us! We believe in _him_, and\nhe is only a boy and not a fairy at all.\"\n\nSo Puck set to work to think what to do, and went wandering through the\nwoods, asking all the birds, all the beasts, and even the insects if\nthey knew what to do with a boy called George who didn't believe in the\nfairies. None of them were able to help him. An old horned beetle said,\n\"I should pinch him!\" but Puck didn't think that pinching was of much use.\n\nWhen George went to bed, Puck used to sit on his pillow and tell him the\nmost beautiful dreams, but George forgot all about them when he woke up.\nWhat can one do with a boy like that?\n\nNurse, however, just nodded her head wisely and said: \"Wait and see!\"\nThere are thousands of nurses saying the same thing all over the world.\nThey just _know_ what will happen later on, and that is all. They never\ntell anyone else. If they do they are not real nurses, and should be given\na month's notice.\n\nGeorge's nurse was what people called a 'comfortable' person. She was big\nand round, and her shoes creaked just now and again--quite a lady-like\ncreak. She did not often smile, but when she did you felt sure the sun\nwas shining and that the world was a jolly place to live in. Nurses--real\nnurses--know _everything_; very likely they have been taught by the\nfairies, but if you asked your nurse this question she would never tell\nyou. Oh no!\n\nNurse always spoke of Alexander as \"that black imp,\" but he knew how to\ncoax a piece of biscuit from her whenever he wished. He used to sit down\non the nursery hearth-rug with his head on one side, thump gently with his\ntail on the floor, and bark very gently, \"_Wuff! Wuff!_\" without stopping,\nfor ever so long.\n\nIt must be a grand thing to be a dog like Alexander whenever one wants a\nbiscuit.\n\nGeorge was very busy just now, for he had made up his mind to be an\naviator. An aviator is a man who flies up in the air on a machine which\nlooks something like a large bird, and makes a noise like ever so many\ncats quarrelling. It flies straight up, and then before you can say\n\"Knife!\" it is out of sight. There are no tunnels or stations, no tickets\nsuch as you have on the railway. You just go straight ahead until you get\nthere.\n\nNo wonder George didn't think about the fairies when his head was full of\nsuch wonderful things.\n\nBut Father said: \"Time enough to fly when you are grown up.\"\n\nMother said: \"An aviator? _No_, George, darling! You can come for a ride\nin the carriage with me this afternoon.\"\n\nAnd Nurse said--of course, the same as before.\n\nAnd so the months and the years went by; George grew bigger, Alexander\ngrew fatter, Nurse grew more and more comfortable, and Puck grew crosser\nand crosser. At last, one day, everybody woke up and said: \"George Henry\nis eight years old to-morrow!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTHE FAIRY RIDE\n\n    HAVE you seen the fairies ride\n      All down the magic glen?\n    Green jackets, red caps,\n      Teeny, weeny men!\n\n    Hearken to their music,\n      The winding of the horn!\n    _Ta-tan-ta-ra-ta!_\n      A fairy boy is born!\n\n    Mind you keep the doors shut\n      When they're riding by,\n    Lest you get some fairy dust\n      In your little eye.\n\n    If that were to happen,\n      In a flash you'd be\n    Changed into a fairy.\n      Goodness gracious me!\n\n    Green jackets, red caps,\n      See them trooping past.\n    Hear their bridles jingling--\n      Shut the door fast!\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER II\n\n_George Grows Up_\n\n\nIT was not long before everybody knew all about it. George was going\nto have a party! Not an ordinary party, but a splendid one. There\nwere invitations for all George's friends, both boys and girls; for\nGrandfather, Grandmother, uncles, aunts, and all kinds of grown-ups who\ncould help to hand round the tea and cakes and let off fireworks when it\ngrew dark.\n\nGeorge was quite ready to have the fireworks first thing in the morning as\nsoon as he woke up; but Father said, \"No!\" Mother said, \"No!\" and Nurse\nsaid nothing, but just _looked_. Nurses don't like fireworks, though they\nsometimes pretend they do.\n\nEverybody--except Alexander--must have been getting ready for this\nbirthday for weeks and weeks, for when George woke up a little earlier\nthan usual on the great day there was quite a stir and bustle in the\nhouse. The postman could hardly carry his bag along the path up to the\nfront door. It was packed full of presents.\n\nAlexander had a big red silk bow fastened round his neck, and nearly fell\nall the way downstairs through twisting his head round to try and bite it\noff. Even Nurse, for once, almost ran, she was in such a hurry.\n\nIt is a wonderful thing to have a birthday if you have enough kind uncles\nand aunts to help. Uncles must be strong enough to carry you on their\nshoulders like a never-tiring horse, then to change into bears which you\ncan shoot at, and, almost before they have finished dying under the sofa,\nthey must be ready to change into anything else you may want.\n\nAunts are best when they smile all the time and bring out sweets and\nchocolates from some hidden part of their dresses, like conjurers, just\nwhen you are tired and want to rest for a minute. Alexander liked aunts,\nand was always ready to beg for biscuits even when he met one of them in\nthe middle of the street or in a shop. Uncles were all right, but rather\ntiring. Dogs don't always want to play games.\n\nWell, the number of presents was perfectly delightful, and everybody had\nsent exactly what George wanted. But in the middle of breakfast he looked\nup suddenly and said: \"It's Alexander's birthday too. Hasn't _he_ got any\npresents?\"\n\n\"What?\" said Father, turning quite red in the face and forgetting that he\nwas holding a piece of bacon on the end of his fork.\n\n\"Dear me!\" said Mother, looking as if she were going to cry. \"Oh, where's\nNurse?\"\n\nNurse appeared in the room at once, and when she heard that it was\nAlexander's birthday, do you think that she said \"What?\" or \"Dear me?\" Not\nat all.\n\nShe just went to the door and called: \"Alex--ander!\"\n\nAlexander arrived with a rush and a bang, looking as if nothing in the\nworld would ever surprise _him_.\n\n\"Alexander,\" said Father solemnly, \"I have great pleasure in telling you\nthat this is your birthday. I wish you many happy returns of the day!\"\n\n\"_Wuff!_\" replied Alexander, wagging his tail, and looking at Father as\nmuch as to say: \"Don't keep me waiting any longer. You know how hungry I\nam!\"\n\nFather smiled, and suddenly in his hand he held a most beautiful silver\ncollar, on which was written Alexander's name. He took off the red bow and\nput the collar round Alexander's neck. Alexander said nothing, but sat and\nwaited.\n\nMother wished him 'many happy returns' too, and then--where had she hidden\nit?--there was a pretty tin of sugary biscuits with 'A' printed on the top.\n\n\"_Wu--uff!_\" said Alexander, and wagged his tail so hard that he nearly\nfell over.\n\nGeorge looked quite pleased. \"I'm so glad he wasn't forgotten,\" he said;\n\"it didn't seem fair for me to get such lots of things, and Alexander\nnothing at all.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt was soon four o'clock, and the guests began to arrive, first in ones\nand twos and then in threes and fours.\n\nIt was a lovely summer day, and after games in the garden there was a\nPunch and Judy which everybody liked, especially Father and the uncles.\nAlexander sat quite still until Punch's dog appeared, and then he had to\nbe led indoors and shut up, for he grew quite fierce, and was just getting\nready to bite Punch's nose off.\n\nPunch without a nose wouldn't be a Punch at all, and then the man who\nkeeps him would never be able to go to parties again. But Alexander never\nthought about that.\n\nBy this time everybody was ready for tea, which was served in a large tent\nin the garden. On the middle of the table stood a very large cake stuffed\nfull of plums. Nurse had made this with her own hands, and there were no\ncakes like hers. One could eat two and even three large-sized slices and\nscarcely feel a little bit uncomfortable afterward.\n\nNo one could eat any of this cake, however, until most of the white and\nbrown bread and butter--you were allowed to have jam spread on it--scones,\ntea cakes, cream cakes, ice cakes, jam puffs, tartlets, and oh! heaps of\nother things had disappeared. Then Father stood up with a large knife in\nhis right hand, and made a little speech. Everybody clapped their hands\nand laughed--even the uncles and aunts who had had no tea at all.\n\nGeorge sat in a high chair looking as proud as a king. Kings always look\nproud, and queens, their wives, look proud too, but in quite a nice way.\nIf you have ever seen them riding by in a carriage drawn by six white\nhorses in gold harness you will understand exactly why you cannot _really_\nlook proud in a cab with one horse, or in a taxi-cab which flies along\nwith a fizz and a bang. You only just have time to get the eighteenpence\nready for the driver. If you were a king you wouldn't ever have to do that.\n\nAfter the speech George cut the cake and Father helped, so that everybody,\ngrown-ups and all, had a slice.\n\nThen George had to speak. \"Thank you very much,\" he said. \"I hope you've\nenjoyed the party. I know I have, and so has Alexander. Now we're going to\nhave the fireworks!\"\n\nIt was not dark yet, so there were games and races, followed by a little\nrest, during which Mother told them stories. Then Uncle William, the funny\nman of the party, gave an imitation of all the animals in a farmyard,\nwhich was even better than the real thing, of a railway train coming out\nof a tunnel, and, last of all, of Father getting up in the morning.\n\nFather laughed so much at this that Mother had to pat him very hard\non the back for several minutes. Uncle William was not allowed to tell\nthe story of the two cats on the wall, because Alexander did not like\ncats--even cats which weren't real.\n\nAt last it was time for the fireworks, and all the children seated\nthemselves at one end of the garden and waited patiently. Suddenly _bang!_\nup went a red star, then a green one; then showers and showers of little\ngreen ones. Then _bang! bing! bang! fizz! crack!_ jumped the crackers.\n_Rrrrrrr!_ whirled the Catherine wheels, slowly at first, then fast,\nfaster, and so fast that they made your eyes quite sore watching them.\n\n_Hiss! Whizz! Bang!_ went a rocket with a tail as long as from here\nto the end of the next street. Higher and higher it flew, until, all\nof a sudden, just as you thought it was quite out of sight, it burst,\nand--ah!--hundreds of little stars lit up the sky and made it look lighter\nthan even the lightest day.\n\nBut there was something better to come still. At the end of the shrubbery\na light shone faintly and then went out. Then shone more and more lights,\nuntil you could see that great big letters as tall as yourself were\ngrowing up. And then--all of a sudden--in a blaze of light there was\nspelt out for all to see, GEORGE.\n\nSuch crackings and bangings, such shouts and cheers from all over the\ngarden you _never_ heard, nor anyone else either.\n\nThat was a _real_ surprise.\n\nJust as people were getting ready to put on their coats and say \"Thank you\nvery much for your delightful party,\" another light shone out over the\nhigh tree near the garden gate.\n\n\"Hullo!\" said Father. \"Hullo, what's this? A surprise from Uncle William,\nI expect,\" and he stood still and watched.\n\nBrighter and brighter grew the light, longer and longer, until it looked\nlike a great tongue of fire. Then it swept along over the trees, under\nthe trees, in and out and round about, until it looked as if thousands of\nlittle lanterns were shining everywhere.\n\n\"It sounds as if there were music somewhere, quite far off,\" said Mother.\n\"Well, I don't know what it can be.\"\n\nUncle William, who was supposed to know all about it, said that he hadn't\ndone it, but nobody believed him.\n\nLittle by little the lights died out, and then it was time to go home to\nbed.\n\nGeorge was quite sleepy, and was very glad to find his head resting on\na soft pillow. After he had said his prayers and said \"Good-night,\" he\ncalled out to Nurse: \"Do _you_ know who made those jolly little lights,\nright at the end of the fireworks?\"\n\nNurse stood silent for a moment: \"Perhaps I do; perhaps I don't,\" she\nreplied.\n\n\"Oh,\" said George, \"tell me, then!\"\n\n\"Good-night, Master George.\" Out went the light, and if George hadn't been\nso sleepy and tired he might have found out all about it then and there;\nbut that would have meant that all kinds of things which were just going\nto happen wouldn't have happened at all, which would have been a pity.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPuck sat cross-legged on an old toadstool, and the fairies danced all\nround him in their magic ring.\n\n\"It _was_ a jolly party!\" he said to the old frog. \"You ought to have been\nthere.\"\n\n\"_Ker-ek!_\" replied the frog. \"My throat was rather sore to-night, so of\ncourse I could not go. I hear there were fireworks.\"\n\nAll the fairies stopped dancing and burst out laughing when they heard him\nsay this.\n\n\"What _are_ you laughing at?\" he croaked.\n\nPuck jumped off his stool and turned head over heels.\n\n\"Tell him! Tell him!\" they all cried out.\n\n\"Well,\" said Puck, \"_we_ were all there. The fairy music band played; the\nfire-flies and glow-worms made beautiful fireworks, more beautiful than\nthe grown-ups had bought--and no one knows who did it. What fun!\"\n\n\"_Ugh!_\" said the frog. \"I don't see anything to laugh at.\"\n\n\"Don't you?\" said Puck. \"Well, wait until we have _our_ party and invite\nGeorge.\"\n\n\"He won't come,\" croaked the frog.\n\n\"Won't he?\" replied Puck. \"_Won't_ he?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nA-TISH-OO!\n\n    OH, who would be an old, old frog,\n      With a cold in his head\n        And no cosy bed?\n          _A-tish-oo!_\n\n    Oh, who would be a cross old frog,\n      Who grumbles and growls\n        All night to the owls?\n          _A-tish-oo!_\n\n    Oh, who would be a rude old frog,\n      Who never says 'please,'\n        Does nothing but sneeze?\n          _A-tish-oo!_\n\n    Oh, who would be a wet old frog,\n      Who lives, as a rule,\n        In a deep, deep pool?\n          _A-tish-oo!_\n\n    Oh, who would be a queer old frog,\n      As hoarse as a crow?\n        Would you?--Oh dear, no!\n          _A-tish-oo!_\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER III\n\n_Midsummer Eve_\n\n\nIN a few days' time it would be Midsummer Eve, and then the little fairies\nhave a dance and supper all to themselves. Very few people have ever been\nthere, and even fewer know anything at all about it. Only the _very_ best\npeople receive invitations, and, of course, there are never very many of\nthe best people in the world.\n\nIt is very hard indeed to be good, but--oh dear!--to be best! Why, it\nmeans being good, and going on being good, until you are _so_ good that\nMother thinks something must be the matter with you and sends for the\ndoctor.\n\nAnyway, the fairies sent George an invitation, but he didn't understand\nwhat it meant, for it was written on an oak leaf which Puck blew in\nthrough the bedroom window. George thought it was only a common leaf and\nnever picked it up.\n\n\"Well, has George answered his invitation yet?\" said the old frog to Puck\na few days before the dance.\n\n\"No,\" replied Puck, \"he hasn't, but he's coming.\"\n\n\"Coming, indeed!\" croaked the frog, who had just caught a worse cold than\never. \"Well, I'll believe it when I see him, and not before.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said Puck. \"You'd better go home, or else you won't be able\nto come to the party with that cold of yours.\"\n\nThere was such a bustling, a running about, a flying here and a flying\nthere in the wood all day and all night getting ready for Midsummer Eve.\nSuch a brushing and combing, such a sewing and darning, polishing and\nscrubbing, and I don't know what else! Such a baking and brewing, cooking,\nstewing, and such nice smells! Puck carried bits of these away in his\npocket, and George had the most delightful dreams of all the things he\nliked best to eat and drink.\n\nNurse smiled when he told her, and Alexander listened with his head a\nlittle on one side, hoping to hear the word 'biscuit' or 'bone.' His\nidea of a really good party was a pile of bones and biscuits, with leave\nto eat them on the drawing-room carpet. This is just as good fun as\nwaiting outside on the stairs for the jellies and creams when there is a\ndinner-party at your house.\n\nGeorge had already forgotten about aeroplanes, and was very proud of\nbeing in trousers. When he first wore them he could not help looking down\nalmost every minute to see if they were still there. The worst of wearing\ntrousers is that you have to be so careful. Dogs like Alexander _will_\njump and bump against them, leaving dirty paw-marks, just when you are not\nlooking. Directly one begins to grow up there are really such a number of\nthings one must think about.\n\nGeorge used to stand with his legs wide apart and his hands in his pockets\nlike Father, until Nurse sewed the pockets up tight one night when he was\nfast asleep. Trousers without pockets are like jam tarts without jam.\n\nGeorge said nothing when he found it out, but in the garden after\nbreakfast he remarked to Alexander: \"When I grow up--_really_ grow up--I\nam going to have pockets all over me, just as many as ever you can\nimagine. There will be so many that no one will ever be able to sew them\nup again.\"\n\nAlexander nodded. After all, he might be able to keep his bones in a suit\nwith as many pockets as that!\n\nMidsummer Eve came at last. Everything was ready in the wood; even the old\nfrog's cold was better, though he was still rather hoarse. The fairy ring\nwas as smooth as velvet, and the fairy band had learned quite a number of\nnew tunes.\n\nPuck was as busy as he could be, and whenever there was a moment to spare\nhe brought another piece of moss for the seat which he had been making\nfor George. It was right in the middle of the wood in a little open space\nwith high trees all round it. Whenever the wind came the trees rustled\nsoftly, and it sounded just as if they were putting their heads together\nand whispering secrets. Most of these trees were very old; so old that\nthey had grown quite bent, and their long, twisted boughs hung down almost\nto the ground.\n\nOn Midsummer Eve the moon always shines brightly, and lights up the fairy\nring with a soft, silvery light. No one knows whether Puck asks her to do\nit, but if you will look out of your window--if you can wake up at the\nright moment--you will see for yourself that it is quite true, for so many\nof the best things always happen while we are fast asleep in bed.\n\nGeorge went to bed as usual. Alexander flopped down on the mat outside the\ndoor and curled himself up. One by one the lights in the house went out,\nand soon everybody was fast asleep. It was as still as still can be.\n\nFar, far off sounded the first notes of the fairy music. Alexander pricked\nup one ear for a second, then sighed and fell fast asleep again.\n\nGeorge turned over in his bed and began to snore. Puck flew in through the\nhalf-open window and rested for a moment on his pillow.\n\n\"It's all ready, George,\" he whispered. \"We're only waiting for you!\"\n\nGeorge snored a little louder.\n\n\"George!\" cried Puck, \"George, come along! Don't be late!\"\n\nGeorge was dreaming. He was dreaming that he was in school saying the\nmultiplication table, twice times, three times, and some of four times.\nHe actually wasn't thinking about the fairies at all!\n\nPuck sat for a moment thinking what he should do; then he flew out through\nthe window and back to the wood.\n\nThe multiplication table, indeed! No one ever thinks of such things on\nMidsummer Eve. It is a time to dream of dancing, music, light, laughter,\nthe wind in the trees, the _tinkle, tinkle_ of water in the little brooks,\nthe song of birds--they are all awake then--of almost anything else, but\n_not_ twice times two.\n\nThe fairies were just beginning to dance when Puck flew into the middle\nof the ring, and he looked so angry that they all stopped, wondering what\ncould have happened.\n\nHe could say nothing at first but \"twice times four is ten,\" which is\nnonsense, but he had never learned his tables and never wanted to. He\nsaid this over and over again, just as if it were a rhyme, and they all\nlistened, though they did not understand a bit what it meant.\n\n\"Oh, ho!\" said the old frog, who was sitting there puffing himself out as\nif he were trying to turn himself into a toy balloon. \"Oh, ho! I see what\nit is. George won't come after all. I told you so. Oh, ho! Oh, ho!\"\n\n\"For shame!\" all the fairies cried out. \"For shame! Nasty old thing!\nYou're quite glad he isn't coming.\"\n\nPuck sat with his head in his hands, thinking and whispering to himself,\n\"Three times four are seven,\" which was worse than ever.\n\nThe fairies felt _so_ sorry for him. They all came and sat round him in a\nring with their little heads in their hands. They did not know why he was\ndoing this, but they did it to cheer him up. The old frog sat puffing,\njust as if some one had wound him up like a clockwork toy and he wasn't\nable to stop.\n\nAfter a long time Puck looked up and said: \"Well, it's no use waiting. He\nwon't come to-night.\"\n\nThe old frog was so pleased when he heard this that he opened his mouth\nto say \"I told you so,\" but he had puffed himself out to such a size that\nhe fell over backward suddenly into a pool with a great splash, and never\nspoke another word for the rest of the evening.\n\n\"No, he won't come,\" said Puck, \"it's no use waiting. I always thought he\nwould learn to believe in us after a time, but he won't, he _won't!_\" And\nhe spun himself round on one leg like lightning a hundred times without\nstopping. He was really angry!\n\nThe fairies all spun themselves round on one leg too, but this made them\nso dizzy that they fell over one another in heaps, and for a few minutes\nthey really didn't know whether they were on their heads or their heels.\nAt last they were all right side up again, wondering what it was all about.\n\n\"Let's go on with the dance now!\" cried Puck. \"I'll tell you all about it\nto-morrow.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe fairy music began again; the fairies danced round the ring, and all\nthe animals in the wood came out to watch them. The moon looked on with a\nsmile; she was always very fond of the fairies, and never minded shining\na little longer than usual if the fairies wanted to go on dancing.\n\nAt midnight they were ready for supper. First of all they had--but wait a\nbit!--it is not time to tell you about that yet, with George snoring away\nin bed, and saying his tables over and over to himself.\n\nAfter supper they danced again, and acted a little play in which they\npretended to be grown-up people at a party.\n\nOne fairy pretended to be Alexander, and barked \"_Wuff! Wuff!_\" so like\nhim that all the rabbits ran back into their holes in a fright. It was\ndelightful to hear the tinkle of the fairy laughter.\n\nIf you strike a glass very, _very_ softly with a spoon several times, that\nsounds something like a fairy laughing--but not quite.\n\nPuck had forgotten about George now, and was enjoying himself as much as\nthe rest of them. He pretended that he was an aeroplane, and flew round\nand round until he looked as if he would fly away for good.\n\nThen he turned head over heels ever so many times until you could hardly\nsee him. Then he pretended to be the old frog, \"_Oh, ho! Oh, ho!_\" and\npuffed himself out and coughed until the fairies nearly died of laughing.\n\nBy and by the moon began to disappear behind a cloud. This was her polite\nway of saying that it was time for her to go to bed, because the sun was\njust getting up.\n\nThe party was at an end; and soon over the top of the hill peeped the sun,\nvery red in the face, ready to begin his day's work.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nBLOW-NOSEY\n\n    FROM gossamer and flowers' bloom\n        The fairies weave\n    Their dainty little handkerchiefs,\n          I do believe.\n    And so ... and so ...\n        Whene'er they want to blow their noses\n        They merely sniff their fragrant posies.\n\n    'Tis different quite for you and me,\n        For all of us,\n    Who aren't grown up--for Nurse always\n          Makes such a fuss.\n    Oh dear! Oh dear!\n        She says I'm in complete disgrace\n        If I forget to wash my face.\n\n    And noses, so she always says,\n        Were made to blow.\n    She's very old and very wise,\n          And ought to know.\n    I wish ... I wish ...\n        Sometimes I hadn't any nose.\n        And yet I _must_ have one--so I suppose.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\n_Dream-Music_\n\n\nWHETHER it was the cakes or the fireworks, no one ever knew. Father said\nthat it must have been the cakes. Nurse thought it was the fireworks. The\ndoctor, who came in a little motor-car with just room for himself inside,\nshook his head and looked very solemn.\n\nGeorge was not well and was kept in bed. The doctor sent a large bottle of\nmedicine, and Nurse shook the bottle very hard before giving George two\nlarge tablespoonfuls. Alexander sat at the end of the bed and looked on.\nPerhaps he thought he ought to have some medicine too, for he was always\nready to taste anything, and even a tin of boot polish didn't seem to\ndisagree with him. There were very few things that he hadn't tasted.\n\nThe doctor came every morning for four days, and every morning his little\nmotor _puff-puffed_ outside the garden gate whilst he went upstairs\ninto the bedroom where George was, and said: \"Well, and how are we this\nmorning? A little better, eh?\"\n\nBut George always said that he felt a little worse, and wanted to get up\nand go out for a walk with Alexander. He was cross with everybody, and at\nlast Mother thought he must be really ill.\n\nShe sat by his bed and read stories to him; sometimes he listened, and\nsometimes he just kicked his legs about in bed and said: \"Oh, _do_ let me\nget up. I hate being in bed.\"\n\n\"You _must_ be good, George dear,\" said Mother, \"or else you will never\nget well.\"\n\nIt was no good. George wouldn't even listen to Nurse now, so it was not a\nbit of use talking.\n\nHe wouldn't take his medicine; he wouldn't lie quiet. He did everything he\nought not to do. Even Alexander looked as if he would like to cry, and\nnever once wagged his tail. This showed how sorry he felt for himself and\nfor everybody else.\n\nAt last George was so tired that, as it was growing dark, he fell asleep.\nNurse sat by the side of his bed with a large pair of spectacles on,\nknitting a pair of stockings.\n\nAs fast as she knitted stockings for George he wore them out, but she\ndidn't seem to mind. What the boys do who haven't got nurses it is\ndifficult to say. Think of all the stockings there must be in the world\nwith holes in their heels and toes and knees! It was quite quiet. Nurse\nsat as still as still could be; if her fingers hadn't been moving all the\ntime you would have thought she was fast asleep.\n\nIt grew darker and darker, until at last the moon came out from behind a\ncloud and shone through the window. It was just the kind of night on which\nthe fairies love to be dancing in the wood. Perhaps they were.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"What a splendid sleep you've had, darling,\" said Mother, as she kissed\nGeorge next morning.\n\nGeorge sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. \"I've had _such_ a dream!\" he\nbegan.\n\n\"Won't you tell me all about it?\" asked Mother.\n\nGeorge thought for a long time, then shook his head. \"It's all gone\nagain,\" he said. \"I can only just remember that I went for a long walk\nwith Alexander, and we came to such a wonderful place. I think I met Nurse\nthere, but she looked quite different ... and yet she was just the same.\"\n\nNurse smiled.\n\n\"Were you really there?\" asked George.\n\n\"Perhaps,\" she replied. \"Now it's time for your medicine.\"\n\nBy the time he had finished his medicine George had forgotten about the\ndream, but he kept remembering it in bits all day long.\n\nAlexander looked delighted when George was allowed to get up and come into\nthe garden. Perhaps he knew all about the dream, for he would often stop\nwhen he was digging up a bone, and look as if he were trying to remember\nsomething.\n\nDogs have splendid dreams sometimes. When they give short little barks in\ntheir sleep they must be chasing cats. But what do cats dream about?\n\nThe doctor did not look at all solemn to-day. He sat in the garden and\ntalked to George about motor-cars and aeroplanes. But George was all the\ntime trying to remember his dream, and told the doctor little bits of it\nwhenever he remembered.\n\n\"Do you believe in fairies?\" George asked the doctor suddenly.\n\n\"Fairies?\" said the doctor. \"Well, _you_ believe in them, don't you?\"\n\n\"I don't know,\" replied George. \"I think my dream last night was about\nfairies, but they weren't very like the fairies in the books I read. Is\nthere a _real_ Fairyland?\"\n\n\"Well, you see,\" replied the doctor, looking very solemn again, \"you\nreally ought to go there and find out.\"\n\n\"But _how_ can I find out,\" asked George, \"if I don't know whether there\nis a Fairyland or not? How can I find the way there?\"\n\nThe doctor scratched his head. \"Well, I expect Nurse or Mother will tell\nyou all about it,\" he said.\n\n\"Nurse always answers, 'Perhaps there is and perhaps there isn't.' I don't\nbelieve any of you really know at all,\" cried George.\n\nThe doctor shook his head, looked as if he were going to say something,\nthen smiled and said: \"Perhaps!--that's just what we've all got to find\nout about a great many things, George. If you really want to find the way\nthere, I expect you will. Only you must wish hard, as hard as ever you\ncan!\" and with a laugh he went down the garden path, stepped into his\nmotor, and _puff-puffed_ away.\n\n\"I don't believe there are any fairies,\" said George, with a stamp of his\nfoot. \"It's just silly nonsense, and they only say that there are fairies\nto tease me.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPuck was sitting on a toadstool watching the little fairies, who were\nhaving a flying race. They flew round and round and up and down, and the\ncolours of their little wings were as beautiful as the most beautiful\nrainbow. Maybe the rainbow is made out of fairies' wings.\n\nWhen they were tired they all fluttered down to the ground again and sat\ndown on the grass in a ring. They love to sit like this, because most of\nthe good games are played when one sits round in a ring. The fairies are\nnever tired of playing games. Even their work is play to them, and so they\nnever need to go to school.\n\nNo one ever heard of a fairy schoolmaster or schoolmistress. If there\nwere such people, they would be playing all the time, and so they couldn't\npossibly be teachers.\n\nThey had forgotten all about George, for they really believed by now that\nthere was not a boy of that name at all. When grown-up people forget about\nthe fairies, is it because they are getting old and thinking about what\nthey should eat and drink, and what clothes they should wear? The fairies\nknow that grown-ups do these silly things, and don't mind, but children\nought to know better. The fairies were not playing a game just then. They\nwere listening to Puck, who was telling them a story. It is hard to guess\nwhat the story was about, for the fairies do not have fairy stories. What\nseems so wonderful to us is only what happens to them every day, and so\nwhoever tells a story in Fairyland must think of something quite different.\n\nThey enjoyed the story very much, for they laughed and clapped their\nhands, and even the old frog forgot his cold.\n\n\"To-night! To-night!\" they all cried when Puck had finished, and then they\nall danced round and round so fast that it would have hurt your eyes to\nlook at them.\n\nThe moon shone more brightly than ever that night. The sky was covered\nwith bright, twinkling stars, and a soft, warm breeze rustled through the\ntops of the trees in the wood.\n\nGeorge would have loved to go for a walk, but he was tucked up safely in\nbed, and Alexander was lying on the mat outside his door. Nurse had left\nhim alone for some time, and he couldn't get to sleep. He wanted to dream\nagain and go back to that wonderful country of which he remembered so\nlittle.\n\nHe tossed about on his pillow, wishing that he were outside in the garden\nor anywhere except in bed. He could hear the old clock outside on the\nlanding, _tick, tock, tick, tock_, and now and again Alexander gave a\nlittle bark which showed that he was fast asleep and dreaming.\n\nSuddenly he heard another sound. It seemed to be far off, but little by\nlittle it sounded nearer and nearer.\n\n\"It's just as if somebody were blowing little trumpets,\" thought George to\nhimself. \"I wonder where it can be?\"\n\nThe sound of the music floated in the air, died away, and then, more\nsweetly than ever, echoed and echoed until it seemed as if it might indeed\nbe fairy music.\n\n\"I must get up and see what it is,\" said George. \"It might be soldiers,\nthough they don't seem to have a drum.\"\n\nHe jumped quickly out of bed and went to the window. There was nothing to\nbe seen, not even a shadow on the lawn.\n\n\"That's very queer,\" thought George. \"I wonder that Alexander hasn't heard\nit.\"\n\nAfter waiting for a few minutes he got back into bed, and scarcely had he\nlaid his head on the pillow when far, far away sounded the fairy music.\n\n\"Lovely! Lovely!\" murmured George. \"It must come from that country I\ndreamed about last night.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nHOW TO SEE THE FAIRIES\n\n    IF you would view the fairy rout,\n    And see them dance and twirl about,\n    Then turn your jacket inside out.\n\n    But hush! Be silent--not a sound!\n    They'll pinch you--yes!--if you are found\n    Without their leave on fairy ground.\n\n    They'll pinch you black, they'll pinch you blue,\n    Green, yellow, red, and every hue!\n    Remember what I'm telling you!\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n                _And_\n              don't _run\n            round the fairy\n          ring in the wrong\n        direction_--Widershins--\n      _the opposite way to the sun. It is\n    ever so dangerous! Don't forget this._\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER V\n\n_The Land of Dreams_\n\n\nIT was still, so still in the wood that you could have heard a pin drop.\nOne doesn't usually drop pins in a wood, but on the floor, or on a chair,\nor somewhere else where they are sure to run into you just when you are\nnot expecting anything of the kind.\n\nThere was not a breath of wind; the trees, standing in rows like giant\nsentinels, seemed to be waiting for somebody. Who could it be?\n\nA lovely path of soft green moss ran through this wood from one end of it\nto the other. Far away one could see a little patch of blue. This was the\nsky. The trees were so high that they formed a roof overhead and shut out\nnearly all the light.\n\nBy and by there was a joyful bark, and dashing through the wood came a\nblack dog with his tail waving behind him. It was Alexander! He _was_\nenjoying himself.\n\nGeorge came hurrying along after him. Though he had been running for quite\na long time he didn't seem to be a little bit tired. His cheeks were rosy,\nhis eyes were bright, and he sang aloud for joy. He was so glad to be out\nwith Alexander once more.\n\n\"Wait for me, Alexander!\" he cried. \"Wait for me. Don't be in such a\nhurry!\"\n\nAlexander came bounding toward him, and after chasing one another in and\nout of among the trees they threw themselves down on the soft moss to rest\nfor a moment.\n\n\"I think I should like to lie here all day,\" said George. \"I don't\nremember coming to this part of the wood before. I wonder how we got here.\nDo you know, Alexander?\"\n\n\"I brought you here, little George,\" said Alexander--at least, it sounded\nas if he had said that, and for a moment George thought he had really\nspoken.\n\n\"That would be fun,\" he thought to himself as he lay back with his head\nagainst the trunk of a tree. \"What would they say if I went home and said\nthat Alexander had been talking to me?\"\n\nSuddenly, far, far off he heard the music again. It seemed to be calling,\ncalling to him: \"Come, little boy, come and dance and play! The sun is\nshining; the soft wind is blowing. Come and play with us!\"\n\n\"What nonsense!\" said George aloud. \"I must be dreaming again. I wonder if\nthe doctor gave me that medicine to make me dream. What was it he said to\nme about Fairyland?\"\n\n\"Wish as hard as ever you can!\" said Alexander.\n\nGeorge was so startled when he heard Alexander speak for the second time\nthat he fell down backward. Then he sat up slowly and looked at him. The\ndear black dog was sitting up, looking at George with--yes!--a _smile_ on\nhis face, and wagging his tail gently to and fro.\n\n\"Now am I dreaming or not?\" said George.\n\nAlexander still smiled and wagged his tail, but he said never a word this\ntime.\n\n\"Come on!\" cried George, and he ran down the path as hard as ever he could.\n\nHe ran and ran until suddenly he found himself right out of the wood and\nin the midst of a most beautiful meadow. A little stream of clear blue\nwater flowed gently along past banks carpeted with flowers. There must\nhave been hundreds of them, and every one a different colour.\n\nThe sun was shining as he had never seen it shine before, and yet he did\nnot feel a bit too hot.\n\nHe looked around him, but there was no one to be seen. The only sound was\nthe soft _gurgle, gurgle_ of the stream flowing over the stones. He lay\ndown by the side of it, and hollowing his hands to make a cup, dipped them\nin the water; then, raising them to his mouth, took a deep, delicious\ndrink.\n\nGeorge drank again and yet again; then, lying face downward, gazed into\nthe stream. It was full of little fishes; golden, silver--there were so\nmany that he could not even count them, and each was more beautiful than\nthe other.\n\n\"This is jolly!\" he thought. \"It's just like a piece out of a story, only\nbetter.\"\n\nHe rose to his feet and stood for a moment thinking. \"I know; I want to\ncross the stream,\" he said, when--lo and behold!--just in front of him\nthere was a little bridge, exactly wide enough for one person at a time.\nHe crossed it with Alexander at his heels; then, turning round to look\nback, found that the bridge had vanished!\n\nThis was a curious thing to happen, but George hadn't time to wait. He\nwanted to go on and on and find out where the wonderful music came from.\n\n\"_Wu-uff!_\" barked Alexander, and it sounded for all the world as if he\nwere saying: \"What fun, George! What fun!\"\n\nOn they dashed, first George in front and then his dog. Right across the\nmeadow they went, and suddenly found themselves on a broad white road\nwhich went winding and winding along as far as ever you could see.\n\n\"This is like 'Over the hills and far away,'\" laughed George. \"Come on,\nold boy!\" And on they ran again, so fast that the road looked as if it\nwere unwinding itself quickly like a ball of ribbon.\n\n\"I expect we shall soon get there now,\" said George. \"We must be miles\nand miles away from home.\"\n\nThe road grew narrower and narrower until it became quite a little path,\nand this path led them up to a little green gate, which appeared suddenly\nin front of them as if it had popped up out of the ground.\n\n\"This must lead to just where I want to go,\" said George. He was quite\naccustomed to talking aloud now. Somehow his voice sounded different, and\nhe felt as if he _must_ talk, for it seemed as if some one--he didn't know\nwho--was listening to him all the time.\n\nAcross the top of the gate was written in shining letters \"_Please open\nme._\"\n\nGeorge pushed it open and walked through; then he saw that on the other\nside was \"_Please shut me._\" He shut it carefully behind him and walked on.\n\nOnce more, in front of him, sounded the music, but clearer and louder, as\nif it were only round the corner--but there was no corner.\n\n[Illustration: THERE STOOD A DELIGHTFUL LITTLE HOUSE]\n\nHe found himself in a narrow, shady glade. The trees, the grass,\neverything was a cool, delicious green. It was like looking down a long\ntunnel lighted by a soft green light. The little path went straight\ndown-hill as far as one could see, and never seemed to end.\n\nGeorge was beginning to wonder where he was going to, and if he had not\nwanted to find out about the music he would have turned back, for it felt\nlike tea-time. He could not remember at what hour he had started out; nor\nhow he had got into the wood; nor did he know how he was going to find his\nway back. But he knew that it was close upon tea-time, which is quite a\ndifferent feeling from breakfast and lunch-time, as you all know.\n\n\"I wish there was a house here,\" he thought. \"I should like tea with\nplenty of jam and cake.\"\n\nThere was really no end to the surprises of this most wonderful day. The\npath went straight--as if it had been told--into a wide open space, and\nthere stood a delightful little house with smoke curling up from its\nchimneys.\n\nGeorge stood still for a moment and looked at it with eyes wide open in\nsurprise. Alexander rushed forward, barking joyfully, and jumped against\nthe door.\n\nGeorge followed him, and then stood still again, for painted on the door\nin tiny letters was GEORGE'S HOUSE.\n\n\"How funny!\" he thought. \"There must be another George living here. I hope\nhe will be kind and give me tea.\"\n\nHe lifted the latch and walked inside. There was no one there, but in the\nmiddle of the most comfortable little room stood a table with the cloth\nlaid; tea, bread and butter, cake, jam (two kinds)--quite a birthday tea,\nin fact.\n\nAlexander was already seated in one of the chairs as if he were in the\nnursery at home and eager to begin.\n\n\"Well!\" said George, \"this _is_ nice!\" And before you could count 'two'\nhe had seated himself at the table, poured out a cup of tea, and was\nspreading strawberry jam on to a large piece of fresh bread and butter.\nHow they both enjoyed themselves! There never was such a tea!\n\nWhen they had eaten all they could there was still plenty left on the\ntable. It almost looked as if some one had been cutting bread and butter\nand cake for them all the time.\n\nGeorge remembered to say his grace, and then, all of a sudden, he felt\nvery sleepy.\n\n\"It's not nearly bed-time yet, but I wonder if there's a bedroom. I should\nlike to lie down just for a minute or two,\" he said. Alexander yawned and\nstretched himself.\n\nGeorge looked round, and there in the corner he saw a stair, so up he went\nand found himself in a little bedroom. The bed looked so comfortable that\nhe lay down on it, while Alexander curled himself up at the foot with a\nsigh of content.\n\nThe wind blew gently in through the window, bringing with it the scent of\nsweet flowers. Really it was just like asking George to go to sleep.\n\nHe closed his eyes, and in a moment was far away in the Land of Dreams.\n\nOnce more was heard the strain of music, sweet and clear, and with it,\nwafted on the wings of the wind, came the sound of hundreds of tiny little\nvoices laughing.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nLULLA-LULLABY\n\n    HERE we come.\n    Hark the drum!\n    _Rum-ti-tum!_\n\n      Here we go\n      In a row,\n      Tip-i-toe.\n\n    Silence keep\n    Whilst we peep.\n    He's asleep.\n\n      Leave him this,\n      A fairy kiss,\n      Dreams of bliss.\n\n    Round and round\n    Softly fly,\n    Singing sweetly\n      Lullaby.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\n_Father Time_\n\n\nGEORGE dreamed that night as he had never dreamed before. It was a curious\ndream, full of dragons, giants, fairies, aeroplanes, motor-cars, all mixed\nup together. But all the time he half remembered where he was and kept\nthinking: \"I am in bed in the little house that belongs to George, and it\nmust be a dream-house. If it is, then I am dreaming inside a dream.\"\n\nEvery time he thought this he woke up--or seemed to wake up--and then fell\nasleep again. Alexander dreamed about large bones and crackly biscuits.\nThat was the kind of dream he liked best.\n\nMorning came--but perhaps there had never been any night--and George\nreally awoke, sat up, and rubbed his eyes. The sun was shining through the\nwindow, and Alexander had gone.\n\nHe washed his face and hands and went downstairs. The table was laid for\nbreakfast with porridge and cream--a jug full!--eggs and bacon, toast,\nrolls hot from the oven, fresh butter, jam, and marmalade.\n\nThe Mr George who lived in this house _was_ a nice person to know. George\nfelt that he would like to stay here for quite a long time if he could\nonly send a message to Mother and let her know where he was.\n\nHe sat down feeling quite delighted at having breakfast all by himself,\nand just as he was drinking his second cup of tea the door opened and in\ncame Alexander.\n\n\"Oh, where have you been?\" cried George. \"Don't you want any breakfast?\"\n\n\"_Wuff! Wuff!_\" replied Alexander, which meant: \"Don't ask me silly\nquestions like that, but give me something to eat.\"\n\nHe ate a good breakfast and drank a whole saucerful of milk, which he\nhardly ever got at home.\n\nAfter breakfast George thought it was time to start again. He had quite\nforgotten about going home now. It seemed quite the right thing to put on\nhis cap and set off again to--where, goodness only knows!\n\nAlexander stood waiting by the door, and George said aloud: \"Thank you,\nMr George, for your kindness,\" just to show that he hadn't forgotten his\nmanners; then they went out into the bright sunshine.\n\nGeorge's House stood in a lovely little spot. Birds called to one another\nfrom the branches of the high trees; rabbits scuttled in and out of their\nholes, played hide-and-seek, and even flopped just under Alexander's nose.\n\nGeorge took a deep breath: \"Oh, I am enjoying myself,\" he cried. \"Aren't\nyou, Alexander?\"\n\n\"Ra-ther!\" barked Alexander, and ran round and round chasing his tail\nwhile all the rabbits sat and watched him. It certainly did seem as if he\nhad spoken that time--but no!--it wasn't possible!\n\nOff they went again. There were sure to be more adventures if one only\nkept on and on to the end of the wood. Little paths ran in all directions,\nand each one looked greener and nicer than the other.\n\n\"I expect they all go to the same place in the end,\" said George, and so,\nwithout waiting for a moment, he ran as hard as he could down the nearest\nat hand. It twisted and turned in all directions; sometimes it seemed as\nif it were turning round and coming all the way back again. At last it\ngave quite a little jump and went straight ahead.\n\nThey walked and ran, and ran and walked by turns; it grew lighter and\nlighter until they could see the sun shining on the--yes, it was!--the sea.\n\nNow, if there is one place which is jollier than all the others it is\nthe seashore on a sunny day. There is always paddling, bathing, digging,\nmaking castles and lakes; besides, the fun of getting caught by a splashy\nwave is worth while getting wet twice over.\n\nHurrah for the sea! You could almost hear it calling, for in the\nsummer-time all the little boy-waves love to play with their friends the\nhuman boys. Dogs are welcome too if they will swim in after sticks.\n\nIn another moment George and Alexander were out of the wood and on the\nseashore. Such miles of hard yellow sand as far as one could see, and a\nsea as blue, or even bluer than the sky.\n\nOff came George's clothes, and in he splashed with Alexander after him.\nThe water was as warm as toast, and made him feel like having five minutes\nmore every time he thought of coming out.\n\nGeorge dried himself in the sun and put on his clothes, while Alexander\nrolled about in the sand and shook himself until he looked like a great\nmop with all its hair on end. But after a bathe there are usually\nbiscuits, and there were certainly none here.\n\n\"I expect we shall find some,\" said George. \"If we don't, we must go back\nto George's House and have dinner.\"\n\nHe turned to walk up the beach toward the long sand-hills which ran in a\nline along the shore, and there, sitting not far off him, he saw an old\nman. This old man had white hair, not very much of it, and a long beard\nwhich flowed down to his knees. He was holding something in his hand;\nGeorge could not see what it was.\n\n\"Perhaps he's lost his way. Come on, Alexander; we'll go and ask him,\"\nsaid George.\n\nHe was quite a nice old man, and smiled such a kind smile when George\ntook off his cap politely and said: \"Good-morning.\"\n\n\"Good-morning, little George,\" he answered.\n\n\"I say, do you know my name?\" asked George in surprise. \"Oh, are you the\nMr George who lives in that little house in the wood, because I slept\nthere. This is Alexander, my dog; he was there with me. He's a very\nwell-behaved dog unless he sees a cat or a rabbit, and then it's an awful\nbother to get him back. Have you got a dog? And what is that thing you\nhave in your hand? Oh, I forgot I was never to ask more than one question\nat a time. I am very sorry I was rude.\"\n\nThe old man smiled again. \"No, my name is not George. The little house\nbelongs to--well, you will find that out by and by. I haven't a dog of my\nown, but I know all about dogs. This is an hour-glass. It tells the time.\nYou see the sand trickling down from one glass into the other. When all\nthe sand has trickled through I turn the glass over, and it begins all\nover again.\"\n\n\"Oh, I say, how jolly!\" cried George. \"May I look? I've seen an hour-glass\nin a picture-book I have at home, but this is a real one, isn't it?\"\n\n\"Quite real,\" answered the old man; \"as real as you are, little George.\"\n\nGeorge gazed at the hour-glass for some time; then suddenly he remembered\nsomething. \"Why, I know who is holding the hour-glass in the picture,\" he\nsaid. \"It's Father Time.... Oh, you look just like him! Are you Father\nTime, please?\"\n\n\"Well, that is what people call me,\" said Father Time, stroking his long\nbeard and looking at George with a queer look, as if he were trying to see\nright inside him.\n\n\"Then you can _really_ fly?\" asked George. \"Nurse always says that 'Time\nflies.' I don't see your wings ... but perhaps you don't need any,\" he\nadded politely.\n\nFather Time smiled very kindly, and spoke in a very soft, gentle voice:\n\"Yes, I fly, and I have wings, though you cannot see them. The young\npeople think that I fly far too slowly, and when they are grown up they\nthink I fly too quickly.... But the sand in my hour-glass is always\nfalling, falling, never quickly, never slowly.\"\n\n\"And do you have to look after all the clocks in the world?\" asked George.\n\"There are ever so many. We've got six in our house, and Father and\nMother have got watches as well.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied Father Time. \"It gives me a great deal of work, but if it\nwere not for me you wouldn't have any clocks and watches.\"\n\n\"Oh, that would be queer!\" exclaimed George. \"We should never know if it\nwas time to go to bed or time to get up. Nurse wouldn't like that, for she\nloves everything to be 'on the tick,' she says. 'A stitch in time saves\nnine' is what she is always telling me.\"\n\n\"A great many people say that,\" answered Father Time. \"If everybody\nremembered it, my old cloak wouldn't be as ragged as it is,\" and he showed\nGeorge a number of holes and tears which certainly looked as if they\nneeded mending.\n\nAlexander whined and then barked: \"Come on, don't talk so much, please!\"\n\n\"Down, Alexander!\" cried George. \"We're going in a minute. Oh, please, can\nyou tell me the way to----\" And then he stopped, for he really didn't know\nwhere he wanted to go to.\n\n\"You had better go up the road over there,\" said Father Time, pointing.\n\"You will find a finger-post which will show you the way. You can't miss\nit; it is quite easy to find. Good-bye!\"\n\n\"Oh, wait a minute!\" cried George, for old Time was already some way off.\nHe turned and waved his hand.\n\n\"Time waits for no man!\" he said. \"Follow your fortune, little George!\"\n\n\"He _is_ a funny old man,\" thought George. \"Follow my fortune? Whatever\ndoes he mean?\"\n\nFar, far off, he heard the sweet music once again. It sounded more\ninviting than ever. \"It's like the story of Dick Whittington, only he had\na cat and not a dog. I believe the music is saying: 'Follow your fortune,\nyour fortune, oh, follow!' Come and look for the finger-post, Alexander!\"\nAnd he ran up the sands toward the road.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPuck flew into the wood. \"He's here!\" he cried.\n\nThe fairies danced round him in delight. \"Hurrah!\" they cried. \"Hurrah!\"\nsounds different altogether and much nicer in their language. \"Tell us all\nabout it!\"\n\nSo Puck sat down and told them all about George's adventures right from\nthe beginning. If you have not remembered everything you must turn back\nand read it all again for yourself.\n\n\"_Ker-ek!_\" croaked the old frog. \"But what's all this about Father Time?\nHow do you know he met Time. I don't believe it!\" and then he nearly fell\nbackward in surprise, for there stood the old man in front of him.\n\n\"Now do you believe?\" said Puck's voice, and the fairies burst out\nlaughing, for it was Puck himself all the time!\n\nWhen the old frog had stopped coughing Father Time had disappeared, and\nPuck sat there smiling.\n\n\"What a clever Puck I am!\" he cried, turning head over heels.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTIME FLIES\n\n     TIME flies\n    On wings of light.\n      He flies by day.\n    He flies by night.\n\n      Time flies,\n    And ne'er doth he\n      Stay still and rest\n    For you and me.\n\n      Time flies.\n    The clock strikes--hark!\n      The day has gone,\n    And now 'tis dark.\n\n      Time flies.\n    You go to bed.\n      'Tis day once more,\n    And night has fled.\n\n      Time flies.\n    You're young to-day.\n      Time touches you--\n    You're old and grey.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\n_More Adventures_\n\n\nIT really was a delightful country to live in. There was no need to ask\nyour way to anywhere--you just went. Almost before he knew where he was\nGeorge found himself back in front of the little house.\n\nSmoke was still curling up from the chimneys, so somebody must have been\nputting more coal on the fire--at least, it would seem so.\n\nIt was quite time for dinner; and, sure enough, dinner was ready. It\ndoesn't matter what George had to eat--it would make you feel both hungry\nand cross if you knew.\n\nWhen the meal was over George thought it was quite time to follow his\nfortune, but where and what was it?\n\n\"Oh, Alexander shall show me the way,\" he said, and he stepped outside\ninto the garden, where that always hungry creature was cracking a large\nbone.\n\n\"Alexander, I mean to follow my fortune,\" he said, \"but I don't know where\nit is. Can you help me?\"\n\nTo his surprise, Alexander looked up, wagged his tail, and then said quite\nas plain as could be: \"All right; let me finish this bone and then I'll\ncome!\"\n\nGeorge stared at him. \"Can you _really_ talk, Alexander?\"\n\n\"Talk? Of course I can talk,\" he replied. \"Who ever heard of a dog who\ncouldn't talk? I've talked to you ever since I've known you, only I don't\ntalk like a boy. I talk like a dog.\"\n\nThis was quite true, for he still had a 'doggy' voice, and there was a\nsound of \"_Wuff, wuff!_\" in everything he said.\n\n\"Good gracious!\" cried George. \"I never knew you were talking. I thought\nyou were only barking.\"\n\n\"Well, barking _is_ talking. What would be the use of my barking if it\nmeant nothing?\" replied Alexander rather crossly, for he hated to be\ninterrupted in the middle of a meal. \"Sit down a minute and then I shall\nbe ready.\"\n\nGeorge sat down and waited quietly. It was quite still everywhere; there\nwas a soft little breeze which was just enough to set the flowers in the\ngarden nodding their heads. It kissed George gently on the cheek, and then\ngave a puff which made the golden weathercock on the roof-top turn round\nand round until it must have become giddy.\n\n\"Now I'm ready,\" said Alexander, licking his lips and brushing his\nwhiskers carefully, in case there might still be a fragment left of his\nmeal.\n\n\"Alexander, can you tell me whose house this is?\" George asked.\n\n\"Whose house?\" said Alexander. \"Why, _you_ know. It's written on the door.\"\n\n\"Yes, I know that; but who is this Mr George?\"\n\n\"You are, of course,\" laughed Alexander, and gave a jump of delight. \"You\nare! Fancy not knowing that it was your own house! Ha, ha! What fun!\" and\nhe began running after his own tail, faster and faster, until he looked\nlike a black Catherine wheel.\n\n\"Oh, I say!\" cried George. \"_My_ house! Oh, I wish I could bring Father\nand Mother to see it. Can't I send them an invitation to tea? But I don't\nsee a letter-box anywhere, and I can't write a proper letter. Can you?\"\n\n\"No!\" replied Alexander. \"I don't want to. I don't know why people want\nto write letters at all when they can go for walks and talk to one\nanother--and have games and meals,\" he added.\n\n\"Oh, well, I must just tell them all about it when we get back again. Now\nwe had better start for--you know, wherever my fortune is.\"\n\nAlexander looked round him for a moment. \"I think I know the way, but we\nmay as well ask the weathercock, so as to be quite sure.\"\n\n\"Ask the weathercock? How can that help us?\" George was becoming quite\npuzzled.\n\nAlexander said nothing, but gave a short, sharp bark. There was a faint\n\"_Cock-a-doodle-doo!_\" from the roof in reply; then--could George believe\nhis eyes?--the golden cock stepped off his little perch and fluttered down\nto their feet.\n\nHe _was_ a smart little bird! All gold from the comb on his head to the\nspurs on his feet, and he twinkled and shone so in the sunshine that he\nwas quite dazzling to look at. He flapped his wings, pecked Alexander\nplayfully behind the ear, and then crowed: \"_Cock-a-doodle-doo-oo-oo!_\"\nand it sounded for all the world as if he were saying: \"How do you\ndo-oo-oo?\"\n\n\"George is going to follow his fortune,\" said Alexander. \"Can you put us\non the right road?\"\n\n\"I'd better come with you for part of the way,\" replied the weathercock.\n\"It's just along down there.\"\n\n\"How do you know the way so well, please?\" asked George.\n\n\"I know the way to everywhere. A brother of mine stands on the roof of\nyour home. Haven't you ever seen him point?\"\n\n\"Yes, of course,\" said George; \"I've often stood and watched him turning\nround and round.\"\n\n\"Well, you don't suppose he's doing that for fun, do you?\" asked the cock,\nlooking at him with a bright and shining red eye. \"He's pointing out the\nway.\"\n\n\"I'm afraid I don't understand.\"\n\n\"Well, he's pointing out the way to _there_.... Every one wants to go\nthere, some time or other. If _you_ don't want to go, why did you ask me?\"\n\n\"Come along!\" said Alexander. \"George will understand by and by. He's a\nstranger here, you know.\"\n\nThe weathercock strutted on ahead of them, and George and Alexander\nfollowed.\n\n\"_He_ can talk too,\" said George. \"Everybody seems able to talk here.\"\n\n\"Of course,\" replied Alexander. \"Why shouldn't they? Everything and\neverybody talks in its own way if you only know how to listen. Why, the\nwind's talking all the time. Can't you hear it?\"\n\nGeorge stood still and listened. \"It does seem to be saying something. It\nsounds just like: '_Oh-oo! Oh-oo!_'\"\n\nAlexander laughed--such a funny, wuffy laugh. \"It's humming a tune to the\ntrees. Can't you see them nodding their heads in time to the music? If the\nwind were angry they would be shivering and shaking with fright. Perhaps\nit will talk to us by and by.\"\n\n\"Come on!\" cried the cock, looking round, \"I have to get back to work or\nelse the wind will be coming along and scolding me for wasting time.\"\n\nThey walked along down a winding path, up a little hill, down another, and\nthere in front stood a post with a large finger pointing straight ahead.\n\n\"Here you are!\" said the cock. \"Go straight on until you arrive\nthere. The weather will be quite fine, and your fortune is waiting for\nyou. If you want to get back ask any of my family you may meet and\nthey will show you the way. Good-bye!\" He flapped his wings, crowed\n\"_Cock-a-doodle-doo!_\" and disappeared.\n\nGeorge went up to the finger-post, and there, printed on it in large\nletters, was: \"THIS WAY TO ONCE-UPON-A-TIME.\"\n\n\"Another adventure!\" he cried. \"Come on, Alexander!\"--but Alexander was\nalready scampering down the road, barking joyfully.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nFOLLOW YOUR FORTUNE\n\n    WEATHERCOCK, oh, weathercock,\n      _Cock-a-doodle-doo!_\n    Shall I find the road I seek\n      If I follow you?\n\n    Turning, turning, ever turning\n      North, south, east, and west;\n    Weathercock, oh, weathercock,\n      Which way is the best?\n\n    Pointing, pointing, ever pointing\n      With your golden bill.\n    Does the road to fortune lead me\n      Up or down the hill?\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\n_A Nice Dragon_\n\n\nIT was really very jolly in this Once-upon-a-Time Land, though nothing\nwonderful happened at first. There were beautiful green trees, scattered\nabout everywhere in twos and threes as if they were keeping one another\ncompany; there were large fields full of flowers; little rivers bustling\nalong as if they were in a great hurry to get somewhere, and then turning\na corner and flowing quite slowly as if they had remembered that it didn't\nreally matter after all; and far off in the distance, with snowy peaks\nglittering in the sunshine--mountains!\n\nThe road led them along up and down like a switchback. It was quite easy\nwalking; in fact, the road almost seemed to walk by itself. Whenever\nthey felt thirsty there was a spring of delicious cold water bubbling\nup by the roadside, and when they felt hungry there were apples, pears,\nblackberries, strawberries, and raspberries all growing and ready for\nanybody who would take the trouble to pick them.\n\n\"I think it's time we got somewhere,\" said George.\n\n\"We're nearly there,\" replied Alexander. \"I know She lives not far from\nhere.\"\n\n\"She? Who is She?\" asked George.\n\n\"Why, Her, of course,\" and Alexander ran on ahead and round the corner\nbefore George could ask another question. Suddenly he heard a loud\nbarking, and thinking that Alexander was chasing a rabbit, or perhaps a\ncat, he ran as hard as he could, turned the corner, and saw----\n\nWell, I never! It was wonderful, and yet it was in Once-upon-a-Time Land,\nwhere things like this happen every day. It was just as one sees it in\npicture-books, only naturally it looked _ever_ so much bigger than one\nexpected.\n\n\"A dragon!\" cried George. \"I haven't got a sword or anything at all to\nfight with. If it begins to breathe fire it will burn me right up! And\nwhat _is_ Alexander doing? Why, I do believe he's playing with it.\"\n\nAnd so he was, and what was even funnier still, the dragon actually seemed\nto like it. Alexander ran down its long, long back, which rippled and\nshone in the sunshine like scales of golden flame, bit the end of its tail\nplayfully, and barked right under its great nose. The dragon opened its\ngreat mouth, showing rows and rows of sharp, pointed teeth, and laughed a\nreally jolly laugh.\n\n\"You seem to want a game,\" it said, in a great deep voice which sounded as\nif it came from somewhere half-way down its back. \"Come on, little George;\njust wait until I uncurl myself.\"\n\nIt gave itself a shake and uncoiled all the twists in its back, which\ncracked like little pistols, _bang! bang!_ then jumped once or twice in\nthe air to stretch its legs.\n\n\"See if you can catch my tail!\" it cried, and then began a regular game\nof 'Catch me who can!' The dragon didn't seem to run exactly, but moved\nalong somewhat like a snake, only ever so fast, with its tail hanging\ntemptingly behind. Every time George put out his hand to catch hold of\nit, _whisk!_--away it went again! Alexander leapt this way and that way,\nand every time he came to the ground again found that the dragon was not\nwhere he expected it to be. Then the dragon began to make loops and curves\nof itself, as if it were writing all the letters of the alphabet with its\nlong back.\n\nAt last all three lay down on the ground quite out of breath.\n\n\"I'm not so old as I thought I was,\" said the dragon. \"I haven't had such\na good game for a long time. _Phew!_ I'm absolutely boiling hot!\" and out\ncame a long tongue like yards and yards of red flannel, and it smoothed\nits scales as far as it could reach.\n\n\"Alexander does just the same when he's washing himself,\" thought George.\n\n\"So you're going to look for your fortune?\" said the dragon after a while.\n\n\"Yes,\" replied George, \"I am. I hope Alexander will find his too.\"\n\n\"I hope so,\" smiled the dragon. \"I like to see people who are looking for\nfortunes, though they don't always find them, even when they're under\ntheir very noses. I knew a dragon once--it's not a long story--who went to\nlook for his fortune.\"\n\n\"Was it in Once-upon-a-Time Land?\" asked George.\n\n\"Of course,\" replied the dragon. \"People don't understand dragons anywhere\nelse. They tell the most stupid stories about us, as if we went about\ndoing nothing but eat up people and breathe fire. You might as well say\nthat dogs do nothing else but kill cats,\" he added, with a laugh.\n\nAlexander looked very solemn, and as if butter would not melt in his mouth.\n\n\"Well, this dragon, as I was saying, went out to look for his fortune. He\nwas quite a young dragon, and ought to have stayed at home as his mother\ntold him. He had never been farther than the end of the valley where they\nlived, though of course he thought he knew all about everything.\n\n\"So his mother kissed him good-bye, told him to take care not to catch\ncold, and watched him disappear in the distance. It was a fine day, and\nthe young dragon went along thinking of all the great things he was going\nto do, and bumping his head against trees because he never looked where\nhe was going.\n\n\"He met nobody and nothing for a long time. About midday he began to feel\nvery hungry, and almost wished he were at home again. But at last, on the\ntop of a hill, he saw a man standing by the door of a house; at least, he\nthought it must be a house, but he wasn't quite sure, for he had never\nseen one before. It was really a miller standing by his mill, whistling\nfor the wind to come and turn the sails round.\n\n\"He was a friendly miller. He invited the dragon to rest for a while and\nhave something to eat. After the dragon had eaten forty loaves and two\nhundred currant buns and drunk all the water out of the water-butt, he\nbegan to feel better, and told the miller what he was looking for.\n\n\"'Looking for your fortune, are you?' said the miller. 'Well, you've come\nto the right place, for the road to fortune starts from here and from\nnowhere else.'\n\n\"He saw that the dragon was quite young and rather vain, so he thought he\nwould play a joke upon him.\n\n\"'Do you see those long fingers?' he said, pointing to the sails of the\nmill. 'They are pointing out the way to your fortune.'\n\n\"'Oh!' replied the dragon. 'They are all pointing different ways. How can\nI tell in which direction to go? Does my fortune lie everywhere all around\nme?'\n\n\"'No, no,' said the miller. 'Just stand quietly here for a bit, and by and\nby you will learn all about it.' Then he went inside the mill and waited\nto see what would happen.\n\n\"Presently the breeze heard the miller whistling and came blowing along in\nanswer to his call. The sails of the mill shook, and then, _very_ slowly,\ncommenced to turn.\n\n\"'Dear me!' thought the young dragon. 'They seem to be pointing in a\ndifferent direction now. This is very funny. I must see what it means,'\nand he walked right up to the sails, which were now whirling round quite\nfast.\n\n\"Suddenly, _smack!_ on his nose came the first sail; _smack!_ came the\nsecond, and SMACK! the third.\n\n\"The dragon tumbled head over heels backward. He was so frightened that he\npicked himself up and ran away as fast as he could with his tail between\nhis legs, never once looking behind him.\n\n\"The miller laughed until he was so tired that he could laugh no more.\n'That will teach him not to be so greedy next time,' he said, for he was\nrather vexed at seeing so many of his loaves and buns disappear down the\ndragon's throat.\n\n\"The dragon went on running until, to his great surprise, he found himself\nat the door of his home. His mother saw him coming, and there was a good\ntea waiting for him, you may be sure.\n\n\"He was very glad to find himself safe and sound and far away from the\ndreadful mill, but at the same time felt very sorry that he had not found\nhis fortune. His mother listened to everything he told her, and then she\nsaid: 'My son, you have found your fortune, after all.'\n\n\"'Where?' asked her son, looking around him in surprise, as if he expected\nto see he didn't know what.\n\n\"'There, my child; it lies there, right under your very nose.'\n\n\"He looked down, and there he saw----\"\n\n\"Oh, what was it?\" cried George.\n\n\"Can't you guess?\" said the dragon. \"Dear me, I _am_ surprised. Why, the\ndragon guessed at once. They don't seem to teach boys anything at school\nnowadays.\"\n\n\"Oh, I learn heaps of things,\" said George.\n\n\"_Umph!_\" snorted the dragon. \"I expect it's just heaps of rubbish.\nI don't suppose you know half as much as a dragon of the same age as\nyourself.\"\n\n\"But dragons don't go to school, do they?\" asked George.\n\n\"Why not?\" replied the dragon. \"Of course they do; but they don't sit on\nbenches in a schoolroom. They learn out of doors, which is the proper\nplace for a school. They learn useful things, such as how to see what they\nsee and hear what they hear; not to go about the world like blind mice,\nnot believing in the fairies like a little boy I once heard of.\"\n\nAlexander laughed. \"He means you, George. You know, you never liked fairy\nstories, did you?\"\n\nGeorge blushed. \"I never said I didn't believe in them, but it always\nseemed as if they couldn't be real.\"\n\n\"Are _you_ real?\" suddenly asked the dragon.\n\n\"Of course I am,\" said George. \"I'm as real as real can be.\"\n\n\"Well, you're not a bit, not a little bit real,\" replied the dragon. \"Any\nboy who is lucky enough to find his way into this country, and _then_\ndoesn't believe in the fairies, is not more real than a soap bubble, and\nwill burst into little bits just as a bubble does.\"\n\nAlexander laughed. \"I should love to see George all in little bits. I\nwonder if we could ever fit him together again.\"\n\n\"No; he'd be just like Humpty Dumpty,\" said the dragon. \"There have been\nhundreds of little boys like that, and I have never heard of one who was\nmended again. Some were patched up, but there were always pieces missing,\nand they were never the same boys. Their mothers soon got tired of them\nand gave them away to the rag-and-bone man.\"\n\nGeorge sat quite silent for some time. He didn't like being laughed\nat, and felt that both the dragon and Alexander thought him quite as\nstupid--or even more so--as the dragon in the story.\n\n\"Come, we'd better be starting,\" said the dragon. \"She doesn't like to be\nkept waiting.\"\n\nGeorge was just about to ask who She might be, but he shut his mouth with\na snap and pretended that he knew all about it.\n\n\"Get on my back!\" ordered the dragon, and George jumped on at once and\nseated himself comfortably.\n\nOff the dragon went like a great, long railway train, faster and faster,\nuntil they shot into a forest and it became as dark as the darkest tunnel.\n\n\"_Wuff! Wuff!_\" barked Alexander. \"Hold tight, George!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n               _Now,\n                do_ you\n              _believe in the\n            fairies? If you\n          don't, then close the\n        book at once, and leave\n      George and Alexander to\n    seek their fortunes by themselves_.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\n_The Witch_\n\n\nSUDDENLY the dragon's eyes lit up as if they were lamps. They could see a\nlittle way ahead, but all around it was so dark that you could almost feel\nit. George thought--he was always having funny thoughts now--that if he\nput his hand out some of the black darkness would rub off on it.\n\nAfter a time they seemed to be going down-hill. Far away gleamed a light\nwhich grew brighter and brighter every moment. At last George could see\nthat they were close to the mouth of a large cave, in front of which sat\na perfectly enormous black cat with green eyes shining like lights on a\nrailway signal.\n\nIts tail was standing straight up on end, black and bushy; never had\nGeorge seen such a tail before. The dragon went on past the cat into the\ncave, round corners, on and on until at last he stopped with a jerk, and\nGeorge fell off his back.\n\n\"Here we are,\" said the dragon, \"just in time. I thought at first we were\nlate, and then, my word!--we should have caught it! Come on!\" and he led\nthe way into the witch's kitchen.\n\nAll that George could see at first was a huge open fireplace upon which\ngreat logs of wood were crackling. Over the fire hung a big round kettle\nfrom which at times came weird gurgling sounds. The queerest shadows of\ngoblins and imps danced about as if they were really alive. Altogether it\nwas a most uncomfortable place to be in.\n\nCurled up on the hearth was another cat; a yellow animal with red eyes\nwhich stared and stared at them as if it wondered who on earth they could\nbe.\n\n\"So here you are at last!\" said a voice from somewhere, so suddenly that\nit made George jump.\n\nHe looked round on every side, but for a long time could see nothing. At\nlast, in the dim light, he could just make out what looked like the figure\nof an old, old woman with a very crooked back and a queer, wrinkled face.\nShe was sitting in a dark corner in a high-backed chair, looking into the\nfire as if she were reading all kinds of stories in it.\n\n\"Come here, George,\" she said. \"Tell me all about your fortune.\"\n\nIt was really rather annoying that everybody seemed to know all about\nGeorge and what he was going to do. However, it couldn't be helped, so\nhe walked up to the witch, feeling just a little bit afraid, and looked\nstraight into her eyes.\n\nHer face was covered with hundreds of little wrinkles, which crossed and\nrecrossed one another almost without end. She looked as if she had lived\nfor hundreds and hundreds of years, and was, oh, so tired of everything!\nHer eyes were very bright, and shone with a pale light which made George\nfeel a little bit giddy at first, though he couldn't think why.\n\nHer voice was quite gentle, rather sad, and sounded as if it came from\nfar, far, away. Perhaps it had grown tired too.\n\n\"So you are following your fortune?\" said the witch. \"Dear me! Do you\nknow who I am?\"\n\n\"Please, ma'am,\" replied George, \"you're a witch.\"\n\n\"And a very wicked old woman too, who turns little boys into frogs and\ntoads, and flies through the air on a broomstick. Isn't that what you've\nlearned about me?\" asked the witch, with a queer smile. Where had George\nseen that smile before?\n\nHe blushed rosy red, for he certainly had always heard that witches were\nwicked women. Had not Father once called some old woman who was always\ntelling disagreeable stories about other people behind their backs a\nwicked witch? George had asked this same old woman if she had brought her\nbroomstick with her. She had been quite cross, and called him \"a rude\nlittle boy.\"\n\n\"If you please, ma'am,\" he said, \"I expect there are good witches as well\nas bad witches.\"\n\n\"Ah, well! Let us hope I'm a good witch, one who will help you to find\nyour fortune, and Alexander's too\"; and the witch stretched out her thin\nold hands to the fire to warm them.\n\nWonders will never cease! George suddenly caught sight of Alexander lying\ndown side by side with the yellow cat--and when he was at home not a\nsingle cat was allowed to put even one foot inside the garden!\n\n\"He's quite an old friend,\" said the witch. \"My dear Golden Girl and he\nare almost like brother and sister.\"\n\nAlexander licked the end of the cat's nose, and she patted him gently with\nher paw and purred.\n\n\"Sit down and tell me all about it,\" continued the witch, pushing a\nthree-legged stool toward George. He perched himself on it with his legs\nswinging in the air, and commenced to talk--at least, he always said\nafterward that he did--but what with the witch nodding, the cat purring,\nand the kettle boiling it is more than likely that he fell asleep.\n\nSuddenly the kettle began to boil furiously, and clouds of steam poured\nout of its spout.\n\n\"Nearly ready! Nearly ready!\" said the witch, and counted slowly up to\nten. Then: \"Take off the lid, Alexander!\" she cried.\n\nAlexander jumped up and lifted off the kettle-lid with his tail as if he\nhad been used to doing it all his life.\n\nIn a moment the kitchen was full of steam, which wreathed and curled\nitself into the queerest shapes and figures. George wondered what was\ngoing to happen next, but sat still and said nothing.\n\nThe witch rose from her chair and hobbled up to the kettle, helping\nherself along with a long-handled stick. She leaned over the kettle,\nlooking down into it for a moment or two, then, waving her stick,\ncommenced to sing in a high, shrill voice. It sounded at first as if she\nwere singing the multiplication table. George remembered bits of it, and\nthis is what he said she sang:\n\n    \"Twice times one is two,\n      Bubble, bubble brew!\n    Water boil and fire burn,\n    Turn around and turn and turn.\n      Up and down, and down and up,\n      Fill the pot and fill the cup.\n    Blood of toad and juice of nettle\n    Stew and stew within the kettle.\n      Stir about with witch's stick.\n        Quick!... Quick!\n\n    \"Oh, ho!... Oh, ho!\n      Twice times four is eight,\n    Now it's getting late.\n      Add a little puppy's tail\n    And a dragon's shining scale.\n    From the boy who's sitting there\n    Cut a lock of curly hair!\n        Ah, ha!... Ah, ha!\"\n\n\"Ah, ha! Ah, ha!\" sang Golden Girl and Alexander together, and the kettle\nbubbled and boiled: \"Oh, ho! Oh, ho!\"\n\nThis went on for quite a long time, and George wondered if the witch were\ngoing to cut off a lock of his hair. How nasty a stew with hair in it\nwould taste. _Ugh!_\n\n\"It's time to start now. Are we all ready? Dragon! Where's that lazy\ndragon?\" cried the witch.\n\n\"Here I am!\" replied the dragon, appearing from somewhere or other: \"I'm\nquite ready. Will you ride on your catoplane?\"\n\nGeorge wondered whatever a catoplane might be, but was too polite to ask.\nThe witch quickly put on a long cloak and waved her stick, and the wall of\nthe kitchen flew open.\n\n\"Come along; don't keep me waiting!\" she said to George, and he jumped off\nhis stool and followed her. He could see nothing, but felt that they were\nin the open air again.\n\n\"Here's my broomstick!\" he heard the witch say, with a laugh; he felt\nhimself lifted on to something, and then--_whirrrr! whizzz!_--off they\nwent.\n\n\"Oh, are we in an aeroplane, please?\" asked George, feeling tremendously\nexcited.\n\n\"Aeroplane, indeed!\" sniffed the witch. \"I should like to see the\naeroplane that could fly as fast as this. Look and see for yourself,\nGeorge!\"\n\nGeorge looked in front of him. He certainly seemed to be seated on\nsomething like a broomstick, and right in front of him sat the yellow cat,\nflashing its red eyes into the darkness like searchlights. Alexander was\nseated quite close to her, looking as pleased as Punch.\n\nGeorge looked behind him and heard the noise of an engine, _throb, throb_,\nand saw a black something turning, turning without stopping.\n\n\"I suppose that's the motor,\" he said.\n\n\"Guess again, George!\" laughed the witch.\n\nGeorge looked and looked. \"No, I can't guess,\" he confessed.\n\n\"Well--wait and see!\" And the witch smiled. Her smile was just like--no,\nit wasn't.... Oh, it was very puzzling!\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER X\n\n_The High Mountains_\n\n\n\"WE must be going faster than a railway train,\" said George.\n\n\"We're going faster than twenty trains,\" replied the witch. \"In a minute\nor two we shall catch up the daylight.... Ah, there you can see it\nalready!\" And she pointed to a speck of light toward which they were\ntravelling at lightning speed.\n\nThe light grew brighter and brighter, and at last they shot into the most\ndazzling sunshine, and there, ahead of them, were the lovely mountains\nwith their snowy tops all aglow. They were travelling high up above the\nland, and the only thing to be seen was a tremendously tall tower which\nstood erect in the middle of the plain.\n\n\"Blow the horn!\" cried the witch, and Alexander barked \"_Wu-uff!_\" three\ntimes, while Golden Girl _miaowed_ like ten railway engines all blowing\noff steam at the same time. The tower suddenly came to life, and, to\nGeorge's astonishment, as they drew closer he saw that it was a giant\nholding out a hand nearly as big as a station platform.\n\nThey flew straight on and alighted gently on the outstretched hand, and\nthen the engines stopped. George looked behind him and saw two large cats,\nas black as coal, sitting at the end of the broom.\n\n\"There, you see!\" said the witch. \"You never would have guessed.\"\n\n\"I haven't guessed now,\" replied George. \"Did those two cats drive the\nmachine along?\"\n\n\"Of course!\" laughed the witch. \"That's why it's called a catoplane. If\nyou wait until we start again you'll see how it's done.\" Then, turning,\nshe called out: \"Good-morning, friend! Are you quite well to-day?\"\n\n\"Good-morning!\" replied the giant in a deep voice which rumbled and rolled\nlike thunder. \"I'm fairly well, thank you. What brings you here?\"\n\n[Illustration: THE LIGHT GREW BRIGHTER AND BRIGHTER]\n\n\"We're just giving George and Alexander a lift. George is following his\nfortune, you know.\"\n\n\"Ah, to be sure!\" said the giant. \"I remember hearing about it the last\ntime the storks passed this way. They generally bring me some news of what\nis going on down below there.\"\n\nGeorge looked up at him with wide-open eyes. It isn't every day that one\ngets a chance of seeing a live giant, except in a circus--and even then\nthey are disappointing, for they are not really a little bit like the\npicture which is shown outside. No circus would be big enough to hold this\ngiant. He looked as if he were quite a mile long. His face was as big as\nan enormous moon, but he looked quite kind and smiled all the time.\n\n\"Are you off to the mountains?\" he asked. \"I expect you'll find Him there.\nHe's not been very busy lately, but He's expecting you, I'm sure.\"\n\n\"Who's 'Him,' please?\" asked George.\n\n\"Wait and see,\" replied the witch. \"Little boys should always wait, and\nthen--perhaps--they will see.\"\n\nThere seemed to be a great deal of waiting in this country, but George\nwas learning to be patient. Alexander was busy talking to the cat, and\nthe witch was whispering in the giant's ear, as he had bent down his head\nquite close to her.\n\n\"I wonder why he stands there all by himself,\" thought George. \"He must\nfeel very lonely with his feet down ever so far below him and his head in\nthe clouds. I wonder if he ever goes to bed, and how does he get enough to\neat? I shouldn't like to be as big as that.\"\n\n\"He wants to know all about you, you see,\" said the witch to the giant.\nGeorge gave such a start! He had forgotten that she was there. How had she\nbeen able to read his thoughts?\n\n\"I'm a witch, my dear, and can tell everything,\" smiled the witch,\nanswering his thoughts. \"I can see right inside your little head if I want\nto. If I couldn't, I shouldn't be a witch at all.\"\n\n\"Well, it's rather a long story to tell you all about myself,\" began\nthe giant. \"It would take weeks and weeks. Even then we shouldn't have\nfinished, for then there would be the story of all the weeks during which\nyou had been listening to me.\"\n\n\"But I should know all about _that_,\" said George. \"You would have been\ntelling me the story, of course, and I should have been here.\"\n\nThe giant thought for a moment. \"Yes ... but _then_ I should have to tell\nyou the story of how I told you the story ... and even then it wouldn't\nhave an end, for----\"\n\n\"You're half asleep!\" cried the witch. \"We can't wait to hear any more\njust now. You can tell it to George by and by.\"\n\n\"It's always by and by,\" grumbled the giant. \"I've been trying to tell\nsome one for years and years, and just as I'm going to begin it's always\ntime to go somewhere and do something. Where's the dragon?\"\n\n\"Playing with his tail, or else fast asleep, I expect,\" said the witch.\n\"I never in all my life knew such a lazy creature. He's only awake when\nthere's a chance of a game. If he comes along after we've gone, tell _him_\nyour story.\"\n\n\"It's no use. He just jumps about and never listens. The last time he was\nhere he played with my boots and bit a great piece out of one of them.\nHe said he was sorry, but I've had a sore toe ever since. You wouldn't\nbelieve what a lot I have to put up with,\" and the poor giant looked as if\nhe were going to cry.\n\n\"There, there!\" said the witch soothingly. \"You shall come with us if\nyou're good, only don't cry. Remember, the last time you flooded the\nwhole country and gave all of us dreadful colds. And what a bother it was\nmaking extra handkerchiefs for you.\"\n\n\"Oh, may I come with you?\" cried the giant. \"I _should_ like that! I get\nsuch pins and needles in my feet standing here.\"\n\n\"Why do you stand here?\" asked George.\n\n\"To look out, of course,\" said the witch; and then, as she saw George was\ngoing to ask another question, she gave the order to start.\n\nThe two black cats curled their tails round the end of the broom and then\nbegan to turn round and round in the air.\n\n\"Doesn't it make them dreadfully giddy?\" asked George.\n\n\"No, of course not,\" said the witch. \"It might do so if they were ordinary\ncats--but they're not. Listen to them purring.\"\n\nWhat George had imagined was the throbbing of an engine was indeed the\npurring of the two cats as they whirled round in opposite directions. The\nwitch was riding straight toward the mountains, and the giant with huge\nstrides was keeping close by their side. He nodded to them from time to\ntime, and George waved his hand in reply.\n\nHe was really a nice giant, and it was just as well to keep him cheerful\nand happy, for it would be very disagreeable to have a flood.\n\nThe mountains came nearer and nearer, and George thought he had never seen\nanything so splendid in all his life. Even the giant looked quite small\nbeside them.\n\n\"Are we going right to the top, the very tip-top of that mountain?\" asked\nGeorge, pointing.\n\nThe witch did not answer for a moment. Then she turned to him and said:\n\"Sing!\"\n\n\"What shall I sing?\" asked George in surprise, for he only knew some old\nnursery rhymes, and wasn't quite certain if he could remember the words or\nnot.\n\n\"Listen to the music,\" answered the witch. \"That will tell you the words.\"\n\nTrue enough, there was music in the air all around them, as if the trees,\nthe water, and the wind were all playing together. George listened, and\nthen, to his surprise, began to sing all about the thoughts which he had\nbeen turning over in his mind.\n\n    \"The mountain-tops are, oh, so high!\n    They make a hole right through the sky.\n    They glow with such a lovely light,\n    And far below them lies the night.\n    Their slopes are clad in fir and pine,\n    The queen has ne'er a dress so fine.\n\n    \"And there they've stood, so I've heard say,\n    Ever so long and one long day.\n    And they will stand, so I've heard tell,\n    For ever and one day more as well.\n    So winds blow warm and winds blow cold\n    Over the mountain-tops so old.\n\n    \"The mountain-tops so old and proud,\n    They wear a crown of mist and cloud.\n    For they were there when things began,\n    Ages before the oldest man.\n    Oh, mountain-tops, you're older far\n    Than great-great-great-great-grandpapa!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\n_Tom Tiddler's Ground_\n\n\nTHEY were now quite close to the mountains, and the witch gave the order\nto come to earth. The catoplane floated gently down until it came to rest\nin a beautiful grassy spot all ringed round with trees.\n\nThe giant was standing just a little way off, looking around him.\n\n\"Can you see Him?\" called the witch.\n\n\"Yes, He's just coming,\" cried the giant. \"_Coo-ee! Coo-ee!_\"--and he\nwaved his great hand to some one.\n\nThe witch, George, Alexander, and the cats all sat down and waited.\nPresently a funny little man came running along through the trees. He had\na queer wrinkled-up face, with a smile in one corner of his mouth. He wore\na high sugar-loaf hat with a bunch of feathers stuck in it, and a long\ngolden cloak which floated behind him in the wind.\n\nHe stepped right into the middle of their circle, and, taking off his hat,\nmade a low bow.\n\n\"Welcome!\" he said, \"welcome! I hope you are all quite well. So you want\nto follow your fortune?\"--with a queer look out of the corner of his eye\nat George.\n\n\"Yes, please,\" replied George. \"At least, I suppose I'm following it. I\ndon't know where it is or where I am.\"\n\n\"To be sure!\" chuckled the little man, sitting down suddenly as if he\nworked with springs. \"Well, of course, you're _here_!\"\n\n\"I know that,\" laughed George.\n\n\"If you know that, why did you ask me?\" said the little man, cocking his\nhat on one side. \"You're here: you might be there, but you're not. Now you\nknow _all_ about it.... Would you like something to eat?\"\n\n\"Oh yes, please!\" cried George, \"I should like some----\" And he stopped\nfor a moment to think what he would like.\n\n\"Ask for what you want,\" said the little man. \"I expect it's here. There\nare all sorts of things lying about if one knows where to look for them.\"\n\nGeorge looked around him. \"I don't see anything----\" he began.\n\n\"Of course not!\" snapped the witch. \"How can you when you don't know what\nto look for.\"\n\nGeorge did not wait a moment. \"A plate of roast beef and potatoes, and a\nlarge bone for Alexander, please!\"\n\n\"Help yourself!\" said the little man.\n\nThere, sure enough, was a large plate of beef on George's knees, and\nAlexander was contentedly gnawing a huge bone.\n\n\"I've got no knife and fork,\" said George, looking at his plate longingly.\n\n\"Why don't you ask for them?\" grumbled the witch. \"You don't expect knives\nand forks to come of themselves, do you?\"\n\n\"A knife and fork, please!\" He had hardly spoken when Golden Girl got\nup--where had she found them?--and handed him a knife and fork; just the\nright size too!\n\n\"Aren't you going to have something to eat?\" asked George.\n\n\"By and by,\" replied the witch. \"Perhaps I shall eat _you_ if I get very\nhungry,\" and she smiled as if it were a good joke.\n\nThere never was such good roast beef, and George was quite sorry when it\nwas all finished.\n\n\"Might I have some apple tart--and a spoon,\" he added quickly, just\nremembering in time.\n\nThe apple tart appeared from nowhere, and George, when he had finished it,\nsaid his grace to himself, so as not to make the others feel that they had\nhad no lunch.\n\nThe little man had wrapped himself up in his cloak and was sitting quite\nstill. Now he jumped up. \"What is your fortune?\" he asked George.\n\n\"I don't know. No one ever told me--unless, of course, it's money. Father\nalways says he's going to make his fortune some day, and he means money.\nI should like _lots_ of money.\"\n\n\"Lots of money, eh?\"--and the queer little man smiled a queer little\nsmile. \"Well, you've come to the right place for _that_!\" and they all\nburst out laughing.\n\nThen the little man sang in a voice like a shrill tin whistle:\n\n    \"Here we are on Tom Tiddler's ground,\n      Picking up gold and silver,\"\n\nuntil the echoes answered: \"Gold and silver! Gold and silver!\"\n\nGeorge stared at him. \"Are _you_ Tom Tiddler?\"\n\nThe little man bowed low. \"At your service! This is my land. Make yourself\nat home, I beg you,\" and then sat down again.\n\n\"But I don't see any gold and silver,\" said George.\n\n\"Pick it up!\" replied Tom Tiddler. \"You'll see it quick enough then.\"\n\nGeorge bent down, and there, sure enough, in his hand was a lump of\nsomething sparkling in the light.\n\n\"Gold!\" he cried, and he commenced to pick up more and more. He soon had\na large heap by his side.\n\n\"How can I carry all this away?\" he thought to himself.\n\nTom Tiddler jumped up and handed him a large sack.\n\n\"Oh, thank you!\" and George shovelled all the gold and silver into it,\nwhile all the others sat watching him in silence. No one offered to help\nhim, which he thought rather rude.\n\nThe sack was very heavy when he had filled it, and he could only just\nmanage to lift it.\n\n\"Now that you've found your fortune, what are you going to do?\" asked Tom\nTiddler. \"Go home, I suppose, and spend it.\" And they all laughed once\nmore.\n\n\"I don't see anything to laugh at,\" said George. \"I would go home, only I\ndon't know my way.\"\n\n\"It's straight ahead until you get there, and then you stop,\" replied Tom\nTiddler.\n\nGeorge thought this rather rude and not funny, so he turned and walked\naway a short distance. He felt as if he would like to cry, and began to\nwish he were at home again. Something cold touched his hand, and there was\nAlexander looking up at him, just in the old way, as if he were saying:\n\"I'm here; don't mind what the others say. I'm always your friend.\"\n\nGeorge stooped down and patted him. \"Dear old Alexander! Let us go back\nnow. I don't like Tom Tiddler at all.\"\n\nAlexander wagged his tail, but said never a word.\n\nThere was a sudden _whirr_--and there was the witch flying away far above\ntheir heads. George was rather glad, for he felt that he wanted only\nAlexander and nobody else.\n\nTom Tiddler came up to him again, and said with a bow: \"May I show you the\nway, little master? You mustn't mind their laughter; you will understand\nbetter by and by. So many come here, following their fortunes like you,\nand don't even know what their fortunes are.\"\n\nWith another bow he turned and led the way up a rocky path which seemed to\nlead right into the heart of the mountains.\n\nGeorge followed him, carrying his bag. How heavy it was and how it hurt\nhis shoulder! He got hot and then hotter, and at last, speaking half to\nhimself, he said: \"It is too heavy for me to carry.... I can't carry it\nany farther.... I'd sooner have no fortune at all if it's as difficult to\ntake away as this is.... Oh, I wish it were gone!\" Then, all in a moment,\nthe sack no longer seemed to weigh anything. It might have been empty.\n\nHe felt so pleased and happy that he raced along after Tom Tiddler, but he\ncould never quite catch him up, for the little man skipped along, jumping\nfrom rock to rock like a young goat. At last he gave a bigger jump than\never, and--_hey presto!_--like a Jack-in-the-box he was gone.\n\nGeorge rubbed his eyes. Yes, there was no doubt about it. Unless he had\nslipped through a hole in the ground or flown away, no one could tell what\nhad become of him. He turned to Alexander, and was just going to ask him\nwhat they should do when he saw the great round face of the giant appear,\nas if it were floating in the air.\n\n\"This is a funny place,\" thought George. \"One never knows what is going to\nhappen next. Where did the poor old giant come from, I wonder.\"\n\n\"Hullo!\" said the giant as he caught sight of them. \"Hullo! Here you are\nat last. I've been waiting for you. They've all gone, I suppose.\"\n\n\"Yes, they've gone. How did you get here?\" asked George.\n\n\"Oh, I'm just standing down in the valley below. I can put my head over\nthe edge of the hill, and it's more comfortable for talking. Look over!\"\n\nGeorge peeped over the edge of the cliff, and there, sure enough, below\nthem in the valley were the great feet belonging to the giant. They\nlooked, so far off were they, as if they must belong to some one else.\n\nIt was quite a long time before the giant spoke again. \"Let us talk. You\ndo want to talk, don't you? I was just thinking over one or two stories to\ntell you--not the whole of my life, you know--that's very long, as I told\nyou before. It's a queer thing about stories. They grow just as you and\nI do. Every time I tell a story I find that it has grown longer. Some of\nthem, so I've been told, have no end.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" said George, \"but they must have an end, however long they are! They\ngenerally end with 'and so they married and lived happily ever after.'\"\n\n\"I never heard _that_ kind of story. It couldn't end that way if you were\ntelling a story about a sausage. Sausages don't marry, do they?\" And the\ngiant laughed until all the echoes joined in with \"_Ha, ha! Ho, ho!_\"\n\n\"Is the story you are going to tell me about a sausage?\" asked George.\n\nThe giant did not reply, but after a short pause he began: \"Once there\nwas a sausage. It was the most beautiful sausage I ever saw. Everybody\nloved it. It belonged to a prince who was very, very rich. He had so many\nsausages that he was never able to count them, and he had to go long past\ntwelve times in the multiplication table even then.\n\n\"This sausage was large, round, and covered all over with gold paper to\nkeep it from catching cold. It was rather delicate when it was young, but\nas it grew up----\"\n\n\"Sausages don't grow up!\" exclaimed George in surprise.\n\n\"Don't interrupt me,\" answered the giant. \"As it grew up it became\nstronger and more beautiful every day. The prince was never tired of\nlooking at it and admiring it.\n\n\"One day he thought it was time for him to get married, and so he wrote a\nletter to a lovely princess who lived not far away, and asked her if she\nwould accept his hand and his sausages.\n\n\"The princess, however, was not very fond of sausages. She had once been\nill after eating them, and had never cared for them since. So she wrote\nback and said that she was very sorry but she could not accept his kind\ninvitation.\n\n\"The prince became very sorrowful when he received her letter, for she was\na beautiful princess--almost as beautiful as his sausage. So he made up\nhis mind to go and see where he could find a wife who would like both him\nand his sausages.\n\n\"He mounted his horse and rode away,\" continued the giant in a slow,\nsleepy voice, and George closed his eyes for just one minute, he felt so\ndrowsy....\n\n[Illustration]\n\n    Hush! _You must take forty winks before turning over the page. It\n    would be unkind to hear the rest of the story before George woke\n    up._\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\n_Over the Hills and Far Away_\n\n\nGEORGE woke with a start.\n\n\"And so the princess said to the prince: 'I had no idea it was a\n_golden_ sausage. Why didn't you tell me that at first? It makes all the\ndifference.' And so ... and so....\" the giant had fallen fast asleep.\n\n\"Of course, they married and lived happily ever after!\" cried George.\n\"Didn't I tell you so?\"\n\nThere was no answer. Suddenly he heard what sounded to him like thunder.\nIt rumbled and rolled, nearer and nearer, louder and louder. At last a\ntremendous clap made the stones roll down the mountain-side, and the\ntrees quivered and shook in fright.\n\n\"What shall we do, Alexander?\" exclaimed George, for he hated thunder; and\nhe wasn't in bed, so he couldn't bury his head under the clothes. If you\ndo this--as everybody knows--the thunder can't get at you, and just rolls\nand bumps about under the bed until it gets tired.\n\nAlexander yawned and stretched himself. \"Oh, it's only the old giant\nsnoring. I don't wonder, after talking so long about princesses and\nsausages. Nobody ate a sausage in the whole story. I wish I'd been there,\nthat's all! We'd better be going. He won't wake up for at least a week\nnow.\"\n\nSure enough, the poor old giant was fast asleep, and snoring so that you\ncould have heard him twenty miles off. You could hardly hear yourself\nspeak for the noise.\n\nWell, it was no use waiting, so George and Alexander started to follow\nthe little path which wound in and out, like the letter S, up the\nmountain-side. It was the easiest thing in the world to climb. It was as\nnice as going upstairs on a very soft carpet, up--up, until they were\nright above the fir-trees, and it grew colder and colder. In another\nmoment they were walking on real snow!\n\n\"We're nearly at the top now,\" said Alexander.\n\nGeorge had never been up to the top of a mountain before. Fancy going home\nand telling everybody what he'd done! Of course he would have to pretend\nthat it was really very difficult, just as people do in books. But would\nanyone believe him?\n\nUp--up, until at last there they were right on the very tip-top. Far\nbelow for miles and miles stretched a great plain, green and beautiful to\nbehold. Was it fancy, that faint sound of music?\n\n\"Alexander, where does that music come from?\" asked George.\n\n\"It comes from there,\" replied Alexander. \"Over there, you know.\"\n\n\"But I don't know--and where is 'over there,' and why does nobody ever\nanswer questions properly?\"\n\nAlexander looked as if he were going to say, \"Wait and see,\" but George\nlooked really vexed--so he didn't.\n\n\"We'd better go down and see,\" he said, and bounded down the\nmountain-side. Oh, you have no idea how fast they ran! It was almost like\nflying.\n\nAt last they came to a forest of pine-trees through which the path seemed\nto lead. Into the forest they ran helter-skelter. There must have been\nthousands of trees; there seemed to be no end to them, and no way through\nexcept by the little path which curled in and out and round about.\n\nCurly paths are the best; they enjoy having a little fun, for just as you\nthink you are getting to wherever you want to go you find that the path\nhas turned itself round and is staring you in the face.\n\nStraight paths just go there. They are rather dull unless you are in a\nhurry, and then it doesn't matter.\n\nThis path was sometimes curly and sometimes not. It never seemed to be\nquite sure what it wanted to do. At last it made up its mind, unrolled\nitself, and ran as straight as the straightest line right through the wood\nand out into the sun again.\n\n\"Look there!\" cried George, pointing, to the branch of a tree just in\nfront of them. There, perched on it and shining away like anything, was\nthe little weathercock!\n\n\"You've come at last,\" he crowed. \"It's just time for tea. Come along!\"\nand he fluttered down to the ground beside them.\n\n\"How did you get here?\" asked George.\n\n\"I've been here all the time,\" answered the weathercock. \"Where else\nshould I be?\"\n\nGeorge gazed all round him; then he caught sight of a little house he\nthought he knew, with the smoke curling up from its chimneys. \"Why, that's\n_my_ house! How did it get here?\"\n\n\"Really, you do ask a lot of questions,\" complained the little cock. \"The\nhouse hasn't moved. You've been moving. Didn't you want to get back here?\"\n\n\"Yes, of course, but--oh, well, I don't understand. I thought we were\ngoing somewhere else all the time.\"\n\n\"There is no such place as 'somewhere else' that I ever heard of,\" said\nthe cock. \"Where did you expect to get to? You said you wanted to get\nhome, and here you are, aren't you?\"\n\nAlexander ran on ahead and disappeared through the garden gate. George\nwaited for a moment to watch the cock fly up to his little perch on\nthe roof again, and then went in. Tea was spread on the table just as\nusual. Oh, it was good to be home again! There was no time for talking.\nGeorge put down his sack, which he had held in his hand all this time and\nquite forgotten. What's the good of talking at tea-time, except to say\n\"Yes, please,\" and \"Thank you\"? Besides, it is rude to talk with your\nmouth full, and if you are enjoying your tea your mouth is full all the\ntime. Anyway, that is what George thought. He didn't even stop to see if\nAlexander was getting anything to eat.\n\nAt last he finished, and Alexander, who had found some biscuits somewhere,\nlicked the last crumb from his nose.\n\n\"Don't forget your sack, George,\" he said, in a queer kind of voice.\n\nGeorge gave a start of surprise, then picked up the sack from the\nfloor. It had grown quite, quite small, and weighed almost nothing at\nall. He opened it, and there inside was--what do you think?--a heap of\ngolden-coloured leaves!\n\nHe burst out laughing! So this was his wonderful fortune!\n\nAlexander gazed at him, and neither of them said a word for a moment.\n\n\"I see,\" said George. \"I think I see. My fortune isn't made of gold at\nall. Well, I don't mind a little bit. The sack was very heavy to carry at\nfirst, and I felt as cross as cross could be. I'll put these leaves on the\nfire.\"\n\n\"No, no!\" cried Alexander. \"Don't do that! You must _never_ throw away\nanything that Tom Tiddler has given you. It might bring you bad luck....\nYou know, so many people throw away their good fortune, and they never,\nnever get a chance of finding it a second time. And they never find their\nway back here.\"\n\n\"Do you mean that other people have been here in the house?\" asked George.\n\n\"No, of course not. This is _your_ house. Every one has his own house here\nuntil he--or she--grows up. Then they don't seem to want to come back.\nThey're funny people, these grown-ups. I often wonder whether it's wearing\ntrousers and long skirts that makes such a difference to them.\"\n\nThis was quite a long speech for Alexander, so he put his head down on his\npaws and fell fast asleep.\n\nGeorge wanted to ask ever so many more questions, but all of a sudden he\nfelt sleepy too, so he climbed the stairs to the dear little bedroom, lay\ndown on the bed, and fell fast asleep.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTOMMY TIDDLER\n\n    TOMMY, Tommy Tiddler,\n      Oh, so bent and old,\n    Will you please to give me\n      Heaps and heaps of gold?\n\n    No, my little master,\n      If you have the mind\n    To take away my treasure,\n      Seek, and you will find.\n\n    Tommy, Tommy Tiddler,\n      Have you got a sack?\n    Too small are all my pockets\n      To carry it all back.\n\n    Here, my little master,\n      This is deep and wide.\n    Pack the treasure safely--\n      Room for all inside.\n\n    Heavy is my burden,\n      Long and steep the road.\n    Oh, I find my fortune\n      Is too great a load!\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\n_Sir Tristram_\n\n\nIT must be very queer living in a country where everything happens in a\ntopsy-turvy kind of way. For one thing, there would be no time to get\ndull. You cannot help feeling a little bit excited if you never know from\none minute to another what o'clock it is, where you are, whether you are\ngoing to have your dinner or not, and, if you go out for a walk, what\nstrange people you are likely to meet.\n\nGeorge thought about all these things when he woke up. It must have been\nmorning, for it was quite light, and the sun was shining away as it always\nseemed to shine in this country. Did it ever rain here? If it did, it must\nhave been quite a nice, gentle kind of rain--baby showers, not the kind\nthat pours and pours and keeps you waiting with your nose flattened to the\nwindow-pane, wishing that it would clear up. It never does--until bed-time.\n\nThe night-time is the proper time for the rain, only what would the people\ndo then who sell umbrellas? Fancy a world without umbrellas!\n\nIf it ever did rain here, what on earth would the giant do? He would\nprobably catch a dreadful cold, and then, if he began to sneeze, he would\nblow the roof off one's house! It would be much worse than the worst\nthunder-storm.\n\nOf course, nobody ever heard of a giant with an umbrella. If it were open,\nit would darken the whole sky worse than a fog, and fogs are bad enough.\n\nGeorge had now been quite a long time in this country; one, two--well, it\nwas no use counting, for perhaps even numbers weren't the same. It would\nbe very difficult to remember things if the twice-times-two table were\nturned upside down. Try it and see for yourself!\n\nStill, though many wonderful things had happened, he had not found his\nfortune; at least--well, there again, those leaves in the sack which\nAlexander had told him not to throw away must be worth _something_, or\nwhat was the use of keeping them?\n\nThere was no postman either. How was he to write to Mother?--though, after\nall, George wasn't quite sure if he could write a long letter without any\nmistakes in spelling. Perhaps there wasn't any spelling in this country.\nIf that were true it would be more delightful than ever.\n\nSuddenly, \"_Wuff! Wuff!_\" he heard Alexander's bark! \"I'm coming!\" he\ncried, and jumped out of bed. He never could remember whether he had\nundressed or not when he went to bed. Anyway, his clothes were on--but\nwere they his clothes? Of course they were not!\n\nHe was dressed in a suit of brown and green, brown the colour of the\nsweet-smelling earth and green the colour of the soft grass. A little\ncloak of the same colours lay neatly folded on the chair beside his bed,\nand a cap with a long golden feather hung from a peg on the wall.\n\nHow pleased George did feel with himself when he looked in the glass! \"I\ncan go and visit the king in this suit,\" he thought to himself. \"I suppose\nthere _is_ a king in this country. Oh, there's sure to be one somewhere\nabout in a castle, and perhaps there will be a little prince as well.\"\n\nHe went downstairs, two steps at a time. Breakfast was laid as usual, and\nthrough the window he could see Alexander lying at full length licking his\nlips, so he had eaten his bone or whatever else it may have been.\n\nBreakfast was soon over, and George was ready once more for all sorts of\nadventures. He went out into the garden, but lo and behold, Alexander had\ndisappeared!\n\nHe whistled and called for some time, but it was all of no use. Alexander\nhad gone off to look for adventures himself, and would be sure to return\nby and by.\n\nThe little golden cock was turning round in the breeze, but although\nGeorge waited for some time, hoping that he would fly down to earth again,\nit was all in vain.\n\n\"I suppose I must go out by myself this morning,\" thought George. \"I'll\njust go straight on as usual until I find a road to somewhere. It's sure\nto be all right.\"\n\nHe went off toward the wood and turned down the first path he saw. It went\nstraight ahead, for a wonder, and after some time he saw, sure enough, a\nlittle sign-post.\n\nWritten on it in large letters, so that it was easy enough even for small\nboys to read, was:\n\n    TO THE CASTLE OF THE THOUSAND TOWERS\n\n\"I say!\" said George. \"A thousand towers! Why, that's ten times one\nhundred! Whoever lives in a castle like that, I wonder.\"\n\nHe lost no time in running on, until he found himself on a broad white\nroad which seemed to stretch for miles and miles ahead as far as he could\nsee. He stood still for a moment, thinking of the best plan for travelling\nsuch a long distance. Suddenly he heard a _Jingle, jingle! Trot, trot!_\nand there, coming toward him out of another part of the wood, was a knight\non horseback.\n\nGeorge knew he was a knight, because he had often seen pictures of knights\nin the olden days, clad in armour, with long plumes flowing from their\nhelmets.\n\nThis knight might have stepped out of a picture-book. He wore a great\nsword at his side, and carried a long spear with a sharp point. When he\nsaw George he pulled up his horse and spoke in a kindly voice: \"Well, my\nyoung squire, and whither are you bound?\"\n\nGeorge took off his cap. \"If you please, I am going to the Castle of a\nThousand Towers. Can you tell me if it is very far away?\"\n\nThe knight looked down at him and smiled. \"How many miles to Babylon?\" he\nasked.\n\n\"Why, that's in the nursery-rhyme book!\" cried George.\n\n\"Ah!\" replied the knight. \"It's sure to be true, then. Nothing like a good\nrhyme, is there? I'm bound in the same direction, so you had better get up\nbehind me and we can travel together.\"\n\nHe bent down and lifted George into the saddle, and off they went.\n\n\"I suppose this is a real war-horse--what the books call a charger, isn't\nit?\" asked George, holding on tight.\n\n\"Yes, of course,\" replied the knight. \"He's the finest horse in the land.\nHe can carry me for days and days and never tire.\"\n\n\"Do you really ride for days and days on horseback, seeking adventure?\"\nGeorge felt quite excited at the thought.\n\n\"Yes. You can't be a knight, you know, unless you seek adventures. I'm\nlooking for dragons at present. You haven't seen one hereabouts, have\nyou?\"\n\nGeorge was silent for a moment. What was he to say? If he told the knight\nabout his friend the dragon something horrid was sure to happen, and he\nwas such a friendly dragon too!\n\nAt last he said: \"I don't expect there are any dragons near here; not any\n_dangerous_ dragons, I mean. Some dragons are quite friendly, you know.\"\n\nThe knight laughed. \"Dragons are meant to be killed. They're always doing\nwicked things--carrying off beautiful princesses or breathing fire and\nburning up whole villages. I don't call _that_ very friendly, do you?\"\n\nAfter this they rode on for some time in silence. At last George asked:\n\"Have you ever been to the castle?\"\n\n\"No. I have never been in this part of the country before. I never stay in\nthe same place for long. When I do I shall hang up my sword, spear, and\nshield and turn my good horse out to rest. My work will be finished then.\"\n\nThey rode on again, _jingle, jingle, trot, trot_, along the road and\nacross an open plain, with not a house or a human being in sight. The\nknight began to sing, first in a very low voice as if to himself, and then\nlouder, so that George could hear the words:\n\n    \"Sword, sword,\n    Gleaming so bright,\n      Sword, sword,\n    Aid me in the fight.\n    Out of the scabbard\n    And sturdily smite!\n\n    \"Shield, shield,\n    Guard me 'gainst blow,\n      Shield, shield,\n    Of oncoming foe.\n    Keep me unscathed\n      Wherever I go!\n\n    \"Lance, lance,\n      Steady and true,\n    Lance, lance,\n    Pierce through and through.\n      Into the battle\n    I'll charge, lance, with you!\"\n\nThe horse seemed to trot in time with the melody, and George nodded his\nhead as he had seen Father doing when he was listening to Mother playing\nthe piano after dinner. _Nid, nod, nid, nod_--he kept on nid-nodding until\nhe woke up with a jerk and found that he must have been half asleep.\n\n\"Look, there's the castle!\" said the knight, pointing straight in front of\nhim.\n\nThere it was, sure enough! It stood all by itself on a hill, round whose\ngrassy sides a road wound and curved up to the great gates. These gates\nwere made of some bright metal, and on the top of each was carved a\ngreat crown. Whether there were really one thousand towers or not it is\nimpossible to say, but there were towers everywhere, all shining like\nburnished gold in the bright sunshine.\n\nAs they drew nearer they could hear the blare of trumpets. Presently the\ngates swung open without a sound, and the trumpeters, mounted on white\nhorses, came riding through, playing such stirring music that George felt\nas if he wanted to wave his cap and cheer.\n\nThey formed up in two lines, one on each side of the road; the knight rode\nthrough the gates into the courtyard. Here he dismounted and lifted George\ndown from the saddle.\n\n\"Here we are at last!\" he said.\n\nA long flight of marble steps led up to the entrance. The knight took\nGeorge by the hand, and up they went, ever so high, together. At the top\nstood two soldiers in armour. They saluted, and the door of the castle\nopened as if by magic.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\n_At Court_\n\n\nTHEY found themselves in a great hall. It was so great that they could\nonly see the roof by almost bending backward. If you imagine that it was\nanything like the hall at home you are greatly mistaken.\n\nThe floor was made of shining wood, and marble pillars of different\ncolours towered up above them to the great glass-domed roof. It would take\na whole week to tell you all the wonders there were to be seen. Pictures\nof kings and queens, of knights in armour and lovely ladies; mirrors,\nfountains full of goldfish, cages full of singing-birds--all the riches of\nthe world seemed to be here.\n\nThe two walked on hand in hand for a long way without meeting a single\nperson, and George was just going to ask if anybody lived there when from\nbehind a curtain there came toward them a man clad in scarlet and gold,\ncarrying a long white wand in his hand. He bowed solemnly and, holding\nback the curtain, said: \"The King, my master, bids you welcome. Be pleased\nto enter and refresh yourselves after your journey.\"\n\nHe stood on one side to let them pass through into the dining-room, where\na meal was already laid. After taking off his armour the knight sat down,\nlooking as if he were quite accustomed to dining in castles. He told\nGeorge later on that kings always expected you to eat and drink directly\nyou arrived, and were very vexed if you didn't.\n\n\"I don't think people can go and dine with our King like this,\" said\nGeorge, \"but I expect that's because there are no knights. At least, I\nhaven't heard of any.\"\n\n\"I expect you would find them if you knew where to look for them,\" replied\nhis friend.\n\n\"There used to be knights in King Arthur's time,\" said George. \"Mother\nreads to me all about the Round Table out of a book at home. There was\nSir Launcelot and Galahad; and oh, please, would you mind telling me your\nname? Mine is George.\"\n\n\"A very good name too. My name--but I cannot tell you that yet awhile. I\nam on a quest, and my real name I may not tell.\"\n\nGeorge gazed at him. \"I think you look like Sir Tristram. May I call you\nby that name, please?\"\n\nThe knight smiled. \"'Tis a great name, and a great knight bore it; so, if\nit please you, Tristram I will be to you, but to you alone.\"\n\n\"Oh, it's a secret between ourselves then!... Will you take me with you on\nyour quest?\"\n\n\"You are full young to be a squire, but you too are in search of\nadventure, are you not?\" asked Sir Tristram.\n\n\"Yes, I'm seeking my fortune,\" replied George.\n\n\"I expect it's not far off. We will look for it together,\" and the knight\nsmiled kindly.\n\nThen they set to work and ate all the good things which had been provided\nfor them. The gentleman in scarlet and gold--who, Sir Tristram told George\nin a whisper, was the chamberlain--reappeared, and bowing solemnly, said:\n\"The King hopes that you are feeling refreshed from your journey, and\nwishes to hear of your adventures.\" He then turned and led the way through\nanother door.\n\nThey followed him down a long passage and found themselves in the presence\nof the King. He was standing quite alone and without his crown on, but you\ncould see that he was a _real_ king. He bade them welcome and listened\nattentively while Sir Tristram related his adventures.\n\n\"And you, young squire?\" he said, turning with a smile to George. \"Are\nyou, too, following a quest?\"\n\n\"I am seeking my fortune, your Majesty,\" replied George.\n\nThe King was silent for a while, as if in thought.\n\nThe windows of the room looked out upon a fair country of great forests,\nfields of waving corn, and hills covered with vineyards. George thought\nthat it would be a splendid place to come to for the summer holidays.\n\n\"To-night,\" said the King, \"I hold my court, and all those who seek their\nfortunes or are looking for adventure are welcome. I shall hope to see you\nboth,\" and with a kindly nod he bade them farewell.\n\nGeorge dined again with Sir Tristram, and the dinner was delicious. He\nwondered what was going to happen, but didn't like to ask any questions.\nHe felt just a little bit lonely, too, without Alexander.\n\nAfter dinner was over the chamberlain led them down the hall and up a\ngreat staircase, so wide that eight people abreast could have walked up\nit. He paused for a moment before two folding doors, over which hung thick\ncurtains edged with gold embroidery, and then, bowing low, said: \"I pray\nyou enter.\"\n\nThe doors flew open and the two friends entered. They found themselves\nin a great room ablaze with light, but without a single person in it.\nSuddenly George caught sight of the King sitting on a throne at the far\nend of the room. He looked so lonely and tired that George felt ever so\nsorry for him.\n\nAt the foot of the throne stood two trumpeters, who played delightful\nmusic as George and Sir Tristram stepped toward the King and bowed low.\n\n\"Welcome!\" said the King. \"Welcome! Ye seek adventure, noble knight and\nsquire, in which to gain renown for your arms. Here ye will find adventure\nenough for the bravest.\"\n\nHe bade them be seated, and then he spoke as follows:\n\n\"Many years ago, when my father reigned over this country, there lived a\nmighty magician. He was very rich, much richer than my father, and very\nproud. His wife was dead, and he lived with an only daughter, who was said\nto be very beautiful but _very_ bad-tempered.\n\n\"My father had never seen them, but my grandfather had often told him that\nthis magician, who was called Xystipos, might come to pay a visit as soon\nas his daughter was fully grown up.\n\n\"But alas! there came a great sickness, and my father and mother both died\nand left me to reign alone.\n\n\"Now there lived in a country not far from here a princess, the daughter\nof my father's old friend the king of that country. Both her parents and\nmy parents wished us to marry, and indeed we were both willing, for we\nloved one another.\n\n\"When I became King I paid a visit to their country, and the marriage was\nthen arranged to take place in a few weeks.\n\n\"But shortly after my return a messenger arrived who announced that\nXystipos was on his way to pay me a visit. He arrived the next day.\nNobody saw him enter the castle, or knew how he had travelled such a great\ndistance.\n\n\"He was a tall, dark man, with a long black beard and eyes which glowed\nlike fire. His voice was deep and mysterious. He spoke but seldom, and\nseemed as if he could read one's very thoughts.\n\n\"I wondered why he had come, until one day he said to me: 'Why have you\nnot married? This country needs a queen.'\n\n\"I told him that I was soon to marry the Princess Fortunata, to which he\nreplied: 'No, that will never do. She is too young, too poor. You need a\nwife who is rich, beautiful, wise. Such a maid is my daughter. Marry her,\nand you shall be the richest and most powerful king in this land.' He\nsmiled a smile that made me shiver with fear.\n\n\"'I cannot!' I cried. 'I love the Princess Fortunata!'\n\n\"He smiled again and said no more.\n\n\"But the next day, and every day for a week, he asked me to marry his\ndaughter. I told him each time that it was quite impossible.\n\n\"At last he said: 'I return now to my home. You _shall_ marry my daughter\nin the end whether you like it or not. Farewell!' He was gone before I\ncould say a word in reply.\n\n\"Now on the very day on which the Princess and I were to be married there\narose a great storm, and darkness fell over the whole city. When the sky\ngrew clear again the Princess had vanished. Although we searched high and\nlow, nobody could find her.\n\n\"I returned at last to my home, miserable and heart-broken. There I found\na letter from Xystipos. No one knew how it had come. In it was written:\n'If you would win back your Princess, you must seek and find her.' That\nwas all.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_While the King paused for a moment the trumpeters played_:\n\n[Illustration: [Music]]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\n_The Quest Begins_\n\n\n\"THAT happened five years ago,\" continued the King, \"and from that day to\nthis I have never been able to find out where the magician lives. I fear\nthat Fortunata is lost for ever!\"\n\nSir Tristram knelt before the King. \"Grant me this quest, I pray you,\nsire!\"\n\nThe King sat in silence for a moment. \"Be it so!\" he replied. \"But I fear\nyou little know the dangers and the trials which await you. Arms and money\nI can provide, but in no other way can I help you. If you succeed, then\nask of me what you will and it is yours. Many have set out on this quest,\nbut none return. Now my court is deserted, for a sad king has but few\nfriends.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt was a clear, sunny morning. Sir Tristram and George were already upon\ntheir way to seek the enchanted Princess.\n\nGeorge was riding--actually riding!--upon a beautiful pony which the King\nhad given him. You may imagine how proud he felt!\n\nIn which direction should they go? Sir Tristram and he talked it over,\nand, as it did not matter very much, they rode down the hill and out on to\nthe plain, hoping by and by to come upon a good road to somewhere.\n\n\"It will be all right,\" said George. \"On we go!\"\n\nHe had scarcely said this when he caught sight of a little weathercock\nperched up on the top of a house roof. To be sure! His friend the\nweathercock had told him to ask any of his family he might meet to show\nhim the way.\n\nThis weathercock was pointing straight down a long road across the plain,\nand when George told Sir Tristram this he nodded his head and said: \"'Tis\nwell! The weathercock knows the way better than we do.\"\n\nThey rode and rode until at last they came to a great forest. And now a\ndreadful thing happened, for when they were right in the middle of it they\nlost their way.\n\nSir Tristram dismounted. \"Let us eat and then rest awhile. We shall find\nour way by and by. Here the adventure begins, young squire.\"\n\nSo they sat down under a great tree and ate and drank. After they had\nfinished their meal Sir Tristram took off some of his armour and lay down\non the soft mossy bank. After a time he fell asleep.\n\nGeorge nearly fell asleep too. He felt only half awake, and lay on his\nback listening to the sighing of the wind in the trees and the twittering\nof the birds. Sometimes it sounded as if they were talking to one another,\nand sometimes as if they were laughing. Who ever heard birds laugh?\n\nHe felt in his pocket for his knife, as he wanted to try to make a whistle\nout of a piece of wood as Father did. In one pocket he found nothing and\nin the other some leaves, which he took out to throw away.\n\n\"Why, these must be Tom Tiddler's leaves!\" he thought. \"Alexander said\nthat I wasn't to throw them away. I'll put one of them in my cap.\"\n\nHe fixed one carefully in the side of his cap, and put the others back in\nhis pocket. Then, all of a sudden, he seemed to hear voices, quite tiny\nvoices, talking high up in the air above him.\n\n\"Yes!\" said the first voice, \"it _is_ a long way to the magician's castle.\"\n\nGeorge sat up and listened eagerly.\n\n\"Nobody has ever found the way there yet,\" said the second voice.\n\n\"That's because they are so stupid,\" was the reply. \"You must follow the\nsun until it sinks, and then follow it again when it rises, until you\narrive.\"\n\n\"No, no!\" exclaimed another voice. \"First of all you must cross the black\nlake, and that is impossible.\"\n\n\"Then there is the glass mountain to climb,\" cried a fourth voice. \"That's\n_ever_ so slippery, you know!\"\n\n\"And then there are the two guardians of the gate. Nobody ever passed\n_them_ alive!\" The fifth voice said this.\n\n\"And even if you get into the castle, that's no use, for it is enchanted\nground,\" said a squeaky voice. \"You have to know the magic word, and\nnobody knows that.\"\n\n\"Pooh! Rubbish!\" answered a great big voice. \"The weathercock who sits on\nthe very tip-top of the highest tower of the castle knows it. But nobody\nhas ever asked him yet.\"\n\nThen the voices were silent. George stood up and looked all round him, but\nhe could see nobody. As he looked up into the trees a few birds flew away,\nand then there was silence in the forest.\n\n\"Well, we know the way to the castle now,\" he thought. \"Oh, _what_ an\nadventure it's going to be! Won't Alexander be sorry that he missed it!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nDOUBLE YOUR THUMBS\n\n    OH, fear not, brave knight,\n      Fear no danger nor trouble.\n    To guard against witchcraft\n      Your thumbs you must double!\n\n    If ogres terrific\n      With loud _fee-faw-fums_\n    Dismay you, I pray you,\n      Oh, double your thumbs!\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\n_The Giant Again_\n\n\nSIR TRISTRAM and George journeyed onward, following the sun through the\ngreat forest. At last they came into open country, and found themselves on\na rocky road which dipped down-hill as if it never meant to stop. It led\nthem into a valley, and then on again into a deep gorge, which came to an\nend on the shores of a great lake.\n\n\"The black lake!\" cried George. \"Look, it's as black as pitch! What a\nhorrid place!\"\n\nSir Tristram dismounted and gazed around him. \"I marvel how we shall ever\nfare across it. I cannot swim, and even if I could I must leave my armour\nbehind. The doughtiest knight cannot fight in his doublet.\"\n\nGeorge looked out on to the waters of the lake, but it was so wide that he\ncould not see the other side. High above his head towered rugged cliffs as\nblack as the waters of the lake, and in the distance he caught sight of a\nmighty pillar standing erect on the summit.\n\nHe looked again. \"I do believe it's the old giant!\" he cried.\n\n\"A giant!\"--and in a moment Sir Tristram was on his feet and had drawn his\nmighty two-handed sword.\n\n\"Oh, _please_, don't!\" implored George. \"He's a friend of mine. He's quite\na good giant. He wouldn't harm anybody.\"\n\n\"How can that be?\" asked Sir Tristram. \"A good giant?... Still, if you\nknow him I must take your word for it.\"\n\n\"_Coo-ee!_\" cried George. \"_Coo-ee!_\" His voice echoed against the rocky\nwalls as if a hundred voices were all crying \"_Coo-ee!_\" together.\n\nThe pillar moved, stopped for a moment, and then moved on again, and\nthen--_plop!_--into the lake went one of the giant's feet, and then\n_plop!_ went the other. He was now in the water right up to his neck, so\nyou can tell from that how deep it was!\n\n\"Good-evening!\" rumbled his great voice. \"I've been waiting for you ever\nso long. You want to cross the lake, I suppose? Come along then!\" And he\nstretched out his huge hand.\n\n\"Come along, Sir Tristram!\" commanded George. \"It's all right. There's\nheaps of room on his hand for both the horses and ourselves.\"\n\nThey led the horses on to his outstretched hand, and without another word\nthe giant began to wade across the lake. On and on he went until they lost\nsight of the shore; on and on until the water began to grow shallower\nagain. After an hour's journey they arrived, and the giant lowered them\ngently on to dry land.\n\n\"I must go for a run to dry myself,\" he said, and in one--two--three\ntremendous strides he was out of sight.\n\nSir Tristram leant on his sword. \"In faith, he is a mighty giant. I fear\nme that even my trusty blade would be of little avail against him.\"\n\nGeorge smiled. \"Oh no! He's fearfully strong, but he's very kind, although\nhe does tell very long stories.\"\n\n\"Stories?\" asked Sir Tristram. He had hardly spoken when the giant was at\ntheir side again.\n\n\"I'm _quite_ dry now!\" he roared. He seemed to be very pleased with\nhimself, and smiled a huge smile as he asked: \"Did I hear you saying that\nyou wanted to hear a story? Wait a minute!\"--and before they guessed what\nhe was about he was lying on the ground with his head close up to them.\n\n\"I'm afraid it's going to be _very_ long,\" whispered George to Sir\nTristram, who sat with his sword between his knees, gazing at the giant in\nastonishment.\n\n\"Well, once upon a time there was a prince----\"\n\n\"Had he a sausage?\" asked George.\n\n\"Yes. How did you know?... Oh, I must have told you that story before. It\ndoesn't matter, for I never tell it twice in the same way. My stories are\nalways changing; the older they are the longer they grow.\"\n\nGeorge sighed. \"Oh dear! This is going to be a dreadfully long story.\nNever mind; I missed most of it the last time, and perhaps he'll go to\nsleep again.\"\n\nThe giant continued: \"Now this prince was very rich. He had twenty\ncastles, each with two hundred rooms, and a bicycle.\"\n\n\"A bicycle? That's nothing!\" said George. \"I'm going to have a bicycle\nmyself.\"\n\n\"Don't interrupt!\" grumbled the giant. \"This was a special bicycle. It had\ntwenty-five wheels.\"\n\n\"But it wouldn't be a bicycle, then. A bicycle has only two wheels,\" cried\nGeorge.\n\n\"What was it, then, if it wasn't a bicycle?\"\n\nGeorge thought for a moment. \"I don't know,\" he replied.\n\n\"There you are! You don't know. Of _course_ it was a bicycle. I've told\nthis story, oh, hundreds of times, and I've always called it a bicycle.\nThat's a sure proof!\" The giant smiled triumphantly.\n\n\"I beg your pardon for interrupting you,\" said George politely.\n\n\"Not at all. You see, you know now what a bicycle is. You didn't before I\ntold you.... Well, this prince went out one day on his bicycle to hunt----\"\n\nSir Tristram looked quite startled. \"To hunt?\" he exclaimed.\n\n\"Yes, to hunt. Princes always go out hunting.... Well, he hunted and he\nhunted and he hunted for weeks and weeks and weeks....\" Here the giant\npaused. \"Oh, I forgot. She said I was not to delay you by telling stories.\nSo you'd better be going on your way.\"\n\n\"Did She send you here?\" asked George, who knew what the giant meant.\n\n\"What a lot of questions you ask! Hurry up or you'll be late.\" And without\nanother word the giant rose, stepped over a high mountain which stood in\nhis way, and disappeared.\n\n\"Come along, Sir Tristram!\" said George, \"I'll tell you all about it as we\nride along.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTHE SONG OF A SAUSAGE\n\n    A PIG lived in a lordly sty;\n      A fat, fat pig was he,\n    And every day he used to try\n      To eat enough for three.\n        Sing hey, sing ho,\n        I'd have you know\n      He ate enough for three!\n\n    He grew so fat, he grew so round,\n      As round as round could be.\n    He weighed at least five hundred pound,\n      And, oh, so proud was he!\n        Sing hey, sing ho,\n        I'd have you know\n      He weighed as much as three!\n\n    Now all the pigs from far and near\n      Were jealous as could be.\n    And oh, they shed a bitter tear\n      At breakfast, lunch, and tea.\n        Sing ho, sing hey,\n        Alack-a-day,\n      A doleful sight to see!\n\n    For though they ate with all their might,\n      It was no use, for he\n    Ate all the day and half the night\n      As greedy as could be!\n        Sing ho, sing hey,\n        Yes, all the day\n      He stuffed right greedily!\n\n    One day the farmer to his wife,\n      The farmer said, said he:\n    \"Fetch me my very sharpest knife,\n      The knife as sharp as three!\n        Sing hey, sing ho,\n        Now quickly go\n      And fetch my knife to me!\"\n\n    He took the knife, and to the sty\n      He went as quick could be.\n    \"The fattest pig to-day must die,\n      The pig as fat as three.\n        Sing ho, sing hey,\n        We'll have to-day\n      His sausages for tea!\"\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\n_The Arrival at the Castle_\n\n\nIt was the end of the third day when at last the two travellers espied a\nhill rising out of the plain. It shone and glittered as if it were made of\ndiamonds, so they guessed that this must be the rays of the sun shining on\nthe glass hill where the magician lived.\n\nAs they came closer they could see that the hill was very high and steep,\nand that there was no road leading up to the castle on the top.\n\n\"We can never win to the summit of that hill,\" said Sir Tristram in a\nmelancholy voice.\n\n\"Oh, it will be all right. She knows all about it. She sent the giant to\nhelp us over the black lake, I'm sure,\" said George cheerfully. But he\ncertainly did not like the hill at all. It was steeper than a switchback,\nand you know how steep that is!\n\nAt last they arrived at the foot of the hill. It was so slippery that\ntheir horses stumbled and nearly fell at the first step.\n\n\"That's no good,\" said George. \"We must just sit down and wait.\"\n\nThey dismounted and waited. Nothing happened for a long time. \"I _do_ wish\nShe were here!\" sighed George.\n\nThere was a _whizz!_ overhead, and down swooped the witch on her\nbroomstick.\n\n\"What a long time it takes for little boys to learn to ask nicely for what\nthey want,\" she said, with a smile. \"Jump up! You can leave your horses\nbehind. They will look after themselves.\"\n\nUp they climbed without delay, for Sir Tristram was too astonished to say\na single word.\n\n_Whizz!_--off they went again. Up--up--up--and then, in the twinkling of\nan eye, there they were on top!\n\n\"Here we are!\" said the witch. \"Off you get! I expect we shall meet again\nbefore long. Don't forget to ask for what you want\"--and, with a smile\nwhich was more crooked than ever, she disappeared.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"This is indeed a mighty adventure,\" said Sir Tristram. \"See, yonder lies\nthe magician's castle!\"\n\nGeorge looked in the direction in which the knight pointed, and there was\nindeed the strangest castle he had ever seen. It was built of polished\nglass, and all the windows looked like great wide-open eyes which were\nstaring at them. The gates were made of brass in the shape of letters of\nthe alphabet, all mixed up together.\n\nOn the top of the highest tower stood a weathercock, a fierce-looking bird\nwith green eyes and a long black beak. But fiercer still looked the two\nguardians of the gate. These were two enormous dogs with two great round\neyes like blazing fires. They were almost as large as elephants.\n\nSuddenly they caught sight of the two strangers and, opening their huge\nmouths, they growled, \"_Grrrr!_\" It was enough to make you shiver and\nshake with fear.\n\nSir Tristram drew his sword. \"Methinks this will be a great battle,\" he\nsaid. \"Stay you here, and if I do not return, still I shall have fallen\nas a knight should fall.\"\n\n\"No, no!\" cried George. \"Don't you remember what the witch told me? I must\nask for what I want. I want the dragon!... Oh, look!\" and there, sure\nenough, in front of them was his old friend the dragon, blinking his eyes\nand wagging his tail.\n\n\"I thought you would want me before long, George,\" he said. \"Do tell that\nfriend of yours to put away his sword. It looks dreadfully sharp, and I\nnever did like swords. It isn't any good here, for you are on enchanted\nground. Just let me get my breath, and I'll soon finish this business.\"\n\nHe lay there and panted, while the two great dogs growled and growled\nworse than ever.\n\n\"Nasty beasts!\" said the dragon. \"I mustn't go too close to them or else\nthey might bite me. I'll give them a taste of something they won't like.\"\n\nHe began to crawl toward the dogs very slowly, and when he was within a\nfew yards of them his mouth opened wide like a great pit, and out shot a\ntremendous flame. _One! Two!_\n\nGeorge rubbed his eyes. The dragon was lying there licking his scales,\nbut the dogs had disappeared. Two small heaps of white ashes lay in the\nplace where they had been.\n\n\"That's all right!\" said the dragon. \"Now you can walk in, but don't\nforget the password.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\n_What the Weathercock Said_\n\n\nThe password--what could it be? George puzzled and puzzled until he almost\ngrew dizzy with thinking, but no, he couldn't remember. Then, at last--of\ncourse! The weathercock on top of the castle knew. He remembered the\nvoices which he had heard talking in the forest and what they had said.\n\nBut how could he get the weathercock to tell him? He whistled and called,\nbut all in vain. Nothing whatever happened.\n\nThen suddenly the thought came into his head: \"Why, those voices I\nheard in the forest must have been birds talking.... Why didn't I hear\nthem before that day?... They must have been magic birds ... perhaps\nfairies?... Oh, I wonder if Tom Tiddler's leaves had anything to do with\nit? I know I put one in my cap.... Where is my cap?\"\n\nHe bent down and picked it up from the ground. The leaf was still where\nhe had placed it. He placed it on his head, and then, looking up at the\nweathercock, cried \"_Coo-ee!_\"\n\nThe cock turned round slowly and, fixing its green eye upon George, asked:\n\"Who calls?\"\n\n\"A friend!\" George thought this was quite the right thing to say. It was\nthe answer to the sentry's \"Who goes there?\" He felt that as he was squire\nto a knight it was as good as being a soldier.\n\nThe cock went on turning. At last: \"You're George, aren't you?\" he said.\n\n\"Yes,\" replied George. \"I met your brother not so long ago. He lives close\nby my house in the wood.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" said the cock, and went on turning and turning.\n\n\"I hope he won't be long,\" thought George. \"He doesn't seem as nice as my\nfriend.\"\n\n\"What do you want?\" said a voice in his ear.\n\nHe gave a jump, for there was the cock standing by his side.\n\n\"I suppose you want the password? She brought you here, so it will be all\nright. I must whisper it--nobody but you may hear it.\" The cock turned,\nwhispered in George's ear, and before you could wink an eyelid was back on\ntop of the castle.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"Where's Sir Tristram?\" George looked everywhere, but there was no sign of\nhim.\n\nAt last, after he had walked quite a long way, he caught sight of him and\nthe dragon actually--yes, actually fighting! He was horrified, for the\ndragon was leaping, turning, and twisting in all directions, while Sir\nTristram's sword was hissing and flashing through the air like lightning.\n\n\"They'll hurt one another, I'm sure!\" And George ran as near to them as he\ndared, calling out: \"Stop! Oh, stop!\"\n\nThe dragon stopped at once and called out: \"It's all right! Don't be\nafraid. I'm only showing your friend one or two tricks in fighting. We\nshouldn't dream of hurting one another.\"\n\n\"This is indeed a glorious dragon,\" said Sir Tristram, leaning on his\nsword and smiling. \"Little did I think that I should ever be friends with\none. He has taught me much that I did not know before.\"\n\n\"Oh, so you were only pretending?\" George laughed, and then said solemnly:\n\"I've learnt the password, but it's ever so difficult, and I'm not to tell\nit to anybody else.\"\n\nThe knight did not answer him for a moment. \"I think then, young squire,\nit would be best for you to go upon this quest alone. Your friend the\ndragon has told me that She wishes it.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" cried George. \"All by myself?\"\n\nThe dragon laughed. \"We'll wait here for you, George. You came to seek\nyour fortune, you know, and you're not far off it now. You're getting\nwarm!\"\n\n\"All right!\" answered George. \"If you hear me cry '_Coo-ee!_' you must\ncome to my help at once. This is going to be a tremendous adventure.\nAlexander doesn't know how much he is missing. Here goes!\"--and waving his\nhand to the two friends, he ran off. He looked back once and saw that they\nhad again commenced to play at fighting, and then he ran on again until he\ncame to the great gates.\n\nHe paused for a moment to repeat the password over to himself; then\nsaid it out aloud. The gates swung open with a clang, and, as he walked\nthrough, shut behind him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n    _Whisper this!_\n\n    _It is the password, and this is how you must say it. Stand with\n    both feet firmly pressed together, crook the little finger on each\n    hand into one another, and say three times backward:_\n\n    ABRACADABRA\n\n    _For goodness sake don't let anyone hear you! It is a very powerful\n    charm, and might--if a wicked magician were anywhere near at\n    hand--lift your house up into the air and pop it down into a sandy\n    desert, five thousand miles away!_\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\n_Princess Fortunata_\n\n\nGeorge never was able to remember clearly what happened in the magician's\ncastle. He used afterward to tell the story in bits, and Mother put all\nthe bits together, little by little, just as one sews a counterpane, until\nthere was a whole story. How long he was there, whether he felt afraid,\nwhether it was only a dream, whether it was all magic--who knows?--and,\nafter all, what does it matter?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHe first remembers that he was going upstairs. Not ordinary stairs, you\nknow, like those in your house. No; these stairs were quite different.\nThey were moving all the time. As fast as he mounted one step, two and\neven three steps moved up, so that he was always farther and farther away\nfrom the top. He was very puzzled for some time to know what to do. So at\nlast he stopped and repeated the magic charm. Then the steps began to move\nin the opposite direction.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNow the steps had stopped moving, and began to curl and wind in the most\nvexing manner. Round and round they went, and round and round went George,\nuntil he was quite giddy.\n\n\"These stairs are always coming back to the same place, I declare!\" he\nthought. \"This will never do. I shall go on climbing until this time next\nyear, and oh, shan't I be tired!\"\n\nAgain he repeated the charm, and the stairs became straight as a straight\nline. Up and up he went. Would they never end?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHe was at the top and standing before a door which was closed. He turned\nthe handle; he pushed and pushed.... He seemed to hear somebody laughing,\nand laughing in a very disagreeable, ill-tempered way. It sounded as if\nit came from inside the room, or whatever it was behind the door. George\nbecame very angry. He just hated anybody laughing at him. He would show\nthem what he could do!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHe must remember to say the charm sooner next time. But it was so\ndifficult to remember anything in this queer place!\n\nWhere was he now? There seemed to be faces--thousands of faces--peeping at\nhim from every side, from every hole, and from every corner.\n\nWhere had he seen these faces before? He couldn't tell, and yet he knew\nthem.... Why, of course! They were the reflections of his own face in\nmirrors, hundreds and thousands of mirrors! How very strange it looked!\nWell, there was nothing to be afraid of.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe mirrors grew dull and duller, and then bright and brighter. George saw\nhimself wherever he looked; even the ceiling and the floor seemed made of\nglass. How horrid! Even if you were _very_ good-looking you wouldn't like\nto see nothing but your own face, would you?\n\nThere must be a door somewhere.... If he didn't find the door soon\nhe would become enchanted, and that would never do.... What had he\nforgotten?... Ah, the charm!\n\nHe was standing on the bank of a great river. It was very dark, and he\ncould scarcely see a foot in front of him, but he could hear the roar of\nthe water as it went rushing and roaring by.\n\nWas it his fancy, or were there voices mocking him? It sounded as if they\nwere saying something. \"_Ooooh! Ooooh! Ooooh! It is so-oo-oo co-o-old!\nHoo-oo! As co-old as i-ice!_\"\n\n\"I can't swim a little bit,\" thought George. \"Even Alexander couldn't swim\nacross this horrible river.... I wonder if I counted 'one, two, three!'\nand jumped in, whether I should be drowned.... One ... two....\"\n\nCould that be Alexander's bark in the far-away distance? \"Jump in,\nGeorge!\" the dear dog seemed to be saying.\n\nWell, this was an adventure!... \"One, two....\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe river had disappeared. George found himself in a most wonderful\ngarden. The sun was shining overhead in a blue sky, and everywhere he\nlooked he could see nothing but flowers.... What a perfectly delightful\nscent! The grass was so soft, too. He must just sit down and rest for a\nmoment....\n\nHe began to feel very thirsty.... Why, there were lovely pears and apples\non those trees over there. He must just pluck one!... He felt so tired,\nand it was so cool sitting in the shade. He could almost hear little\nvoices singing a lullaby to him....\n\nWhat was the good of bothering about anything? It was ever so jolly\nhere.... Wouldn't it be fun if Alexander were here too! What races they\nwould run!... No, they would just lie down together and.... Hark! Was that\nAlexander's bark once more? \"Wake up! Wake up!\"\n\nWhat a bother! But the sound kept ringing in his ears, and slowly--oh, so\nslowly!--he walked toward a little door in the garden wall.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHe was walking down a long passage, and on each side of him were doors.\nHe could not make up his mind which door to open. Never mind! It didn't\nmatter very much. Perhaps they weren't real, but only magic doors. He\nopened the next door he came to and walked into ... no, not a room, but\njust a little space scarcely as large as a cupboard, with a door in the\nwall facing him.\n\nHe opened that, and found himself facing another door.\n\n\"This _is_ a bother!\" he thought. \"Just like a Chinese box-trick. You open\none box and then you find another inside it, and then another inside that.\nThey keep on getting smaller and smaller until.... Why, this place _is_\ngetting smaller!\"... And so it was!... He had hardly room to move now.\n\nHe turned round to go back again, but found the door shut behind him.\n\n\"I'll just open one more.\" He opened it, and found himself in a most\nbeautiful room, and there, lying on a couch fast asleep, was--the Princess\nFortunata! Just like a story-book, isn't it?\n\nNow it is just here that George's story begins to get a little patchy,\nlike the counterpane.\n\nHe remembers trying to wake the Princess. She remained fast asleep in\nspite of all that he did. She was very beautiful, just like a pink and\nwhite rose, but he could not remember what dress she wore, or what the\ncolour of her hair was, or anything else at all, so you must make up the\nrest of it for yourselves.\n\nHe woke her up at last. Did he kiss her, like the Prince in _Sleeping\nBeauty_? He never remembered--or said that he didn't remember. I wonder!\n\nShe opened her eyes and gazed at him, as if just awakening from a dream.\n\nWhat did she say? What do princesses say to brave knights who rescue them\nfrom enchantment?\n\nYou may be sure that she said _just_ the right things. Princesses always\ndo. They are taught the right words to say by their governesses, in case\nthey might become enchanted when they grow up. You never know what a fairy\ngod-mother may do, especially if she be a bad fairy!\n\nNow came the hardest part of all--to escape with the Princess from the\nenchanted castle.\n\nThe Princess took George gently by the hand like a nice, kind, grown-up\nsister, and said: \"We must hasten. In another moment the wicked magician\nwill be here, and then we are lost!\"\n\nSo they ran hand in hand to the door and down a passage. \"Faster!\" cried\nthe Princess, and George ran faster than he had ever run before.\n\n\"Faster, faster!\" cried the Princess again, and on and on they sped until\nGeorge wondered if there was any end at all to the passage.\n\nSuddenly, _boom! boom!_--like the rolling of thunder!\n\n\"The magician is coming! Hasten, oh, hasten!\" On and on they ran.\n\n_Boo-oom!_ Closer and closer! Faster and faster the two ran, until it\nseemed as if they were flying through the air.\n\n_Boom!_ It sounded almost in their very ears. They caught sight of a\nlittle door, so tiny you could scarcely see it, and rushed toward it;\nGeorge pulled it open, pushed the Princess through, and was just going to\nfollow her when--_crash!_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\n_Another Party_\n\n\nHe was lying on a soft mossy bank, and Alexander--yes, Alexander!--was\ngently licking the tip of his nose.\n\n\"Wherever have you been?\" he cried, sitting up and looking at the dear,\ndear dog in surprise and delight.\n\n\"Oh, I've just been having a little snooze,\" wuffed Alexander, and yawned\na real doggy yawn.\n\nGeorge was so pleased that he got up and hugged him. After Alexander had\nshaken himself, for his coat was just a little ruffled up after George's\nembrace, he sat down and smiled--such a friendly smile! Only a dog can\nsmile like that.\n\n\"Where have I been, Alexander?\" asked George.\n\n\"_You_ know, George,\" replied Alexander. \"Why do you ask me?\"\n\n\"Where's the Princess?\"\n\n\"At home, where she ought to be, I suppose.\"\n\n\"Oh! Well, where am I, now?\"\n\n\"Look around you!\"\n\nGeorge looked, and there, standing just in front of him, was the little\nhouse. It felt like coming home again.... Home? Ah, yes; but wasn't it\ntime to be returning to their _real_ home?\n\nHe got up and walked toward the house. \"I wish ... I wish my fortune were\nhere!\" he said. \"I would like to go home and see Mother and Father again!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOnce more they heard the sweet music, but louder and louder, as if it were\ncoming toward them.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"Shall I ever find my fortune, Alexander?\" said George after tea. It was\ntea, not breakfast, so it must have been evening.\n\n\"There, my child; it lies right there under your very nose.\"\n\n\"Where?\" George looked down, and then remembered. \"That's what the mother\nsaid in the dragon's story, isn't it?... Oh, dear, everything is so\npuzzling! Where is Sir Tristram? Shan't I ever see him again?\"\n\n\"Time for bed now!\" Alexander yawned and stretched himself, and not\nanother word would he say.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt was nice to be in bed in this cosy little room. There were such jolly\npatterns on the wall-paper, and they seemed to be changing all the time.\nSometimes there were trees and rivers, sometimes birds and animals,\nsometimes ships and whales. Perhaps it was a dream wall-paper. Would there\nbe another adventure to-morrow? It would be fun to go back to the Castle\nof the Thousand Towers and visit the King. Just fancy if he invited George\nto stay with him! Did the Princess get back quite safely?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhat was happening?\n\nThe room seemed to be full of a soft rosy light. The walls seemed to be\ngrowing and spreading in all directions. The bed--why, it wasn't a bed at\nall! It was a beautiful couch of soft moss, and the room had disappeared\naltogether.\n\nGeorge was lying in the forest, in the middle of a glade surrounded by\ntrees of all shapes and sizes. Music was everywhere--above him, around\nhim, ebbing and flowing like the tide of the sea. Little voices were\nwhispering, laughing, singing; what were they saying? Could it be: \"George\nis home at last!\"\n\nWhy, this wasn't home! It was ... what was it?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThousands and thousands of tiny lights! They came on and on, until the\nwhole glade was lit up as bright as day. Still there was not a soul to\nbe seen! What was that? \"_Wuff! Wuff!_\"--and there was Alexander with--a\ngreen bow round his neck!\n\n\"What _are_ you doing here?\" cried George.\n\n\"I've come to your party, George,\" said Alexander, and standing on his\nhind legs he made a low bow. What next, I wonder?\n\nGeorge stared at him in astonishment.\n\n\"Ah, here are some old friends coming!\" And Alexander bounded away as if\nhe thought George understood what he meant. Some old friends?\n\nA blast of trumpets, and lines of trumpeters marched two by two into the\nglade. They formed into two lines, and then down the middle there came the\nKing and his Princess--now his Queen--wearing their royal robes and their\ncrowns! They looked perfectly splendid! With them was Sir Tristram in full\narmour.\n\nThey walked up to George and shook hands with him. \"Thank you so much for\ninviting us to your party,\" said the Queen, with a heavenly smile. \"I\nhaven't been to a party for ages and ages. I am so glad we are not late.\nWhat a sweet spot you have chosen for the entertainment.\"\n\nThe entertainment? What did she mean, or was it one of Alexander's jokes?\n\nA _whirr, whirr_, and there in the middle of the glade was the witch.\n\n\"Well, George!\" she said, with a smile. \"You look surprised to see me. You\ndid invite me, you know, so I'm not a rude old witch, whatever you may\nthink. The giant's coming too. He stopped to tell the storks a story, but\nhe'll arrive in time for supper.\"\n\nSupper? So there was going to be a supper!\n\nThe dragon was the next guest to appear. He and the weathercock came--not\narm in arm, but--well, you know what one means by arm in arm when dragons\nare walking. They were both very pleased to see George, and the dragon was\nfull of jokes and fun.\n\nLast of all came Tom Tiddler, helping old Father Time along, and then\nAlexander with his two friends the cats.\n\n\"Are we all here?\" asked the witch. \"We can't wait for the giant. He's\nalways late. Let's begin!\"\n\nThey seated themselves in a circle round George, and all looked at him as\nif they were expecting something.\n\n\"Now then, George!\" said the witch. \"We are waiting to hear all about your\nfortune.\"\n\nEverybody clapped their hands--not the dragon, the weathercock, and those\nwithout hands--and cried: \"Bravo! Bravo!\"\n\nGeorge felt very shy. \"It's a long story,\" he began.\n\n\"All stories are long; all _good_ stories,\" said a voice, and there was\nthe giant peeping at them from behind the trees!\n\n\"It's all right,\" he explained. \"I'm lying down, so I shan't be in\nanybody's way.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSo George told them his story--all that you have read in these pages, and\neverybody listened, and now and then told a little bit themselves when it\ncame to the part which they knew.\n\nAt last they came to the end. \"And so they married and lived happily ever\nafter!\" said the Queen, with a smile.\n\nGeorge jumped to his feet and clapped his hands. \"I told you I was right!\"\nhe cried to the giant. \"All stories end in that way.\"\n\n\"Ah, but _your_ story isn't finished, so I shall be right,\" said the\ngiant. \"You're not married, you know. Ha, ha!\"\n\n\"Stop laughing at once!\" ordered the witch. \"You'll curdle all the cream\nif you're not careful. Laugh down in your boots and then it won't matter.\"\n\n\"I can't,\" replied the giant. \"I've tried, oh, ever so hard, and it always\ncomes out the wrong way. Whatever I do is wrong.\"\n\n\"Oh, please, don't cry!\" begged George. \"I'm sure you did try. It must be\ndifficult to remember that you are a giant.\"\n\n\"It's a long, long way to my boots,\" said the giant. \"I expect the\nlaughter gets tired about half-way, and bursts. Then, you know, it's no\ngood. When your laughter bursts it flies out of your mouth before you\nknow where you are. I remember----\"\n\n\"You are _not_ to remember,\" commanded the witch. \"It's time for supper.\"\n\nShe waved her stick, and in a flash there was the supper all ready laid.\nWhat a pity that all suppers can't be arranged as easily as this!\n\nWell, they ate and they drank, and all the time sweet music was played\nby invisible musicians. It was far, far finer than George's last\nbirthday-party.\n\nAfter supper everybody--except the giant--told stories or sang songs, and\nAlexander showed them how dogs signal to one another by tail-wagging.\n\nThen there was a moment's silence. Old Father Time arose and said: \"I must\ngo on my way once more. It is now time to say farewell.\"\n\n\"Stop a minute!\" cried Tom Tiddler. \"We must give George a present. Each\none of us must give him something as a remembrance--or else he might\nforget us!\"\n\nHe put his hand in his pocket, drew something out and presented it to\nGeorge. It was a leaf!\n\n\"A leaf for remembrance! George will find out what it means by and by,\"\nhe said, with a smile. \"Now then, it's somebody else's turn.\"\n\nEach in turn shook hands with George and gave him a present. Now, what did\nthey give?\n\nLast of all came the beautiful Queen. With a radiant smile she took George\nin her arms and kissed him. It was just like being kissed by sweet roses,\nhoneysuckle, and all the fragrant flowers you can think of!\n\n\"I have given him the best present of all,\" she said. \"For his end to the\nstory is really the sweetest; 'they lived happily ever after.' George is\na fairy boy, after all, aren't you, George?\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHow madly the music was playing! _Tum-tee-rum-tee-tiddle-tee-tum!_ Almost\nas if one ought to dance to it. Yes, he would dance with the beautiful\nQueen!\n\nHe opened his eyes--but where was everybody? Gone, all gone!\n\nAround him were hundreds and hundreds of tiny figures dancing, singing,\nflying through the air. Many of them were wearing green jackets and red\ncaps and were playing--ah, the music--the same sweet melody he had heard\nso often!\n\nCould they be--the fairies?\n\nWhere was he? He seemed to be moving along. He was actually in a carriage\nwhich was being dragged along by any number of these tiny people. On the\nbox sat a little figure--could it be Tom Tiddler? He guessed all in a\nflash it was--of course, you've guessed it too--Puck.\n\nPuck turned round and smiled at George. \"Home! We're going home now.\nMother wants you. Mind you don't forget your fortune, George!\"\n\nOn they drove; through the wood with the moon shining down on them above\nthe trees; down the hill past the windmill, which made George think of the\nyoung dragon who went to look for his fortune; and into the garden. Home\nat last! Alexander met them at the gate.\n\n\"Welcome home, George!\" he wuffed. \"Hasn't it been an adventure?\"\n\nGeorge sat up straight in the carriage as if he had been a prince or a\nvictorious general coming home from the war. At last the carriage stopped.\n\n[Illustration: AROUND HIM WERE HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF TINY FIGURES]\n\nThen George, who felt as if he had been in a dream, turned to the fairies\nand said: \"I _am_ pleased to be home again. Thank you so much for\nbringing me all this way. I have enjoyed myself, oh, ever so much!\"\n\nPuck took off his cap and bowed. \"You're here: you might be there, but\nyou're not. Now you know _all_ about it!\"\n\n\"Why, Tom Tiddler said that!\" cried George.\n\nBefore he could say another word the fairies were all flying away in the\nair. _Tinkle, tinkle!_--you should have heard their tiny laughter!\n\nPuck smiled: \"Don't forget us, little George! Don't forget us! You are a\nfairy boy, after all, aren't you?\" and in an instant--_whish!_--he was\ngone!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"George, darling!\" Who was that calling him? Could it be Mother?\n\nWhat a long time he must have kept her waiting!\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\n_Back to the World_\n\n\n\"George, darling!\" George rubbed his eyes. Ah, it was the beautiful Queen\nkissing him again.\n\n\"George!\" Ah, it was the witch this time. He knew _her_ voice well enough.\nShe must have come back again. It felt like a dream, but there were dreams\nwithin dreams, and he didn't really know which was the true dream. He must\nbe back in his little house again ... but hadn't the fairies brought him\nhome? The fairies? Then had he been dreaming about these adventures, and,\nif so, where was he now? There were really fairies, anyway; he was quite\nsure about that!\n\nAnd so he went on thinking and thinking, although the voice, such a sweet\nvoice, kept repeating \"George, darling!\"\n\nWhat was that? Alexander's bark! \"_Wuff! Wuff!_\" That was all right.\nAlexander would explain everything.\n\n\"_Wuff! Wuff!_\" right in his ear. He sat up with a start.\n\nWhy, he was in bed in his own room! There was Alexander sitting with his\nhead a little on one side looking at him, and thump-thumping with his tail\non the bed-clothes.\n\nAnd there were the beautiful Queen and the witch ... no, it wasn't ... it\nwas Mother bending over him and saying \"George, darling!\" and there was\nNurse sitting knitting. How odd!\n\n\"You _have_ been sound asleep, dear. It was Alexander who woke you up at\nlast,\" said Mother. Nurse said nothing, but she smiled such a peculiar\nsmile. Where had George seen that smile before? Could Nurse be a witch?\n\nHis head was so full of all his wonderful adventures that he wanted to\nbegin to tell them all about it at once. But Mother said \"No!\" and Nurse\nsaid \"No!\" and Alexander said nothing, but just lay on the bed and smiled\nall the time.\n\nOh, it _was_ annoying! Every time he began his story Mother said: \"George,\ndear, you mustn't get so excited,\" and Nurse said: \"Time for your\nmedicine!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe doctor arrived in his little motor, _puff-puffing_ away as hard as\never.\n\n\"Well, how are we to-day?\" he said. \"Feeling a little better, eh?\"\n\n\"I'm all right,\" answered George. \"I want to get up and go out with\nAlexander!\"\n\n\"H'm! You weren't so well after you had been out yesterday, you know. You\nshould take care of yourself.\" And the doctor bent over him, felt his\npulse, looked at his tongue, and did all the tiresome things doctors do\nwhen we aren't well.\n\n\"He really seems much better. In fact, you can let him go for a walk so\nlong as he doesn't overheat himself,\" George heard him say to Mother.\n\n\"Doctor!\" called George, just as the doctor was getting ready to go.\n\"Doctor, come here!\" And as the doctor came up to the bedside he whispered\nin his ear: \"I've been there!\"\n\n\"Been there?\" The doctor was puzzled.\n\n\"Yes. You remember my asking you if there was a real Fairyland, and you\nsaid that if I really wanted to find the way there I must wish as hard as\never I could. Well, I've been there, and oh, I've had _such_ adventures!\"\n\nThe doctor smiled. \"How many miles to Babylon?\" he asked.\n\nNow _who_ had said that to George before? Why, it was Sir Tristram! Wasn't\nit queer that the doctor should say it too?\n\n\"Lucky boy!\" said the doctor, taking up his hat again. \"Lucky boy! We\ngrown-ups have no luck at all. I lose my way every time I try to get\nthere.\"\n\n\"What a pity!\" cried George. \"I'm sure your house is ready waiting there\nfor you.\"\n\n\"Well, well,\" replied the doctor. \"See that it's kept well aired for me\nwhen you're there next time, won't you? I _might_ manage to get there some\ntime, if only by accident.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt took George days and days to tell his story properly. Mother was never\ntired of hearing it, and asked heaps and heaps of questions; Father said\nthe mere thought of a real live dragon, and especially a wicked magician,\nmade him shiver and shake. He really did shake all over, but perhaps he\nwas only pretending.\n\nNurse nodded her head very wisely, but though George asked her if she had\never seen a witch, no, she wouldn't answer anything but: \"Perhaps I have;\nperhaps I haven't.\"\n\nUncle William was delighted to hear that Alexander could talk, and used to\nread him bits out of the newspaper and ask him what he thought about the\nweather, and all kinds of nonsense. He loved the part about Tom Tiddler,\nand really could imitate his voice so well that George sometimes couldn't\ntell the difference.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nGeorge often talked to Mother about his little house in the wood. One day\nwhen they were sitting in the garden he said to her: \"You have a house\nthere too, haven't you?\"\n\n\"Yes, I have a little house,\" replied Mother. \"I have been back to it\nquite lately. I sometimes forget about it for a time, but I always like to\ngo back to it when I am feeling a little tired or cross. It is so nice to\nrest there.\"\n\n\"Has Father got a house there?\"\n\n\"Yes. I once had a tiny peep at it. It was _so_ untidy, just as he likes\nthings to be. Papers and books all over the floor; clothes all unfolded,\nand a smell of tobacco in every room. He called it a 'heavenly little\nhouse.'\" And Mother laughed merrily at the thought.\n\n\"Did you really _see_ it?\"\n\n\"Yes, but it was only a peep, you know. He has seen the inside of mine\nonce, and he said he thought he would have to sleep outside in the garden\nif he ever came to pay me a visit. The house was far too neat and tidy for\na big clumsy man.\"\n\n\"Did you ever see the fairies?\"\n\n\"Long, long ago. You see, once you have been back to your little house\nthey know that you belong to the 'right people,' and only pay you a visit\non very special days.\"\n\n\"Oh, then shall I go back to my little house again?\" asked George.\n\n\"Of course you will, so long as you don't become too grown-up. If you\nforget your house it will fall into ruins, and by and by you will never be\nable to find it again.\"\n\n\"Ah, that's what Alexander said!\" answered George.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere seemed to be no end to the things George was learning from his\nadventures. One day he said to Nurse: \"The dragon's fortune--the little\ndragon, I mean--lay right under his nose, didn't it?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied Nurse, \"right under his nose.\"\n\n\"Is mine under _my_ nose?\"\n\n\"Yes, if you look for it. It's been there all the time.\" Nurse smiled more\nlike a witch than ever.\n\nGeorge had a long talk with Alexander about this. Although Alexander only\n_seemed_ to _wuff-wuff_, George was quite certain that he could understand\nhim now.\n\n\"I believe,\" said George, with his hands deep in his pockets--_big_\npockets he had specially asked for--\"I believe Mother's a piece of my\nfortune, quite a large piece. Father's another and\"--here he hugged\nAlexander--\"you're another! Of course, I mustn't forget Nurse,\" he added.\n\nMother was very pleased when she heard this, and one day after tea she\nshowed George something she had found in his room on the day he came\nback from the Once-upon-a-Time Land. They were leaves--golden-brown\nleaves--from Tom Tiddler's sack! George had almost forgotten about them.\n\n\"I have been keeping these safe for you,\" she said. \"You must not lose\nthem. It would never do to throw away your fortune.\"\n\n\"No; I would like to have them always, so that I shall never forget. Now\nthat I know where my fortune is I don't want to go searching for it again,\nthough I _did_ enjoy myself.\"\n\nMother took a piece of paper out of the pocket of her apron. \"You remember\nthat each of the guests at your party gave you a present. What were they?\nDo you know still, or have you forgotten?\"\n\nGeorge thought for some time. \"I can half guess, you know, but I'm not\nsure.\"\n\n\"Well, they gave you each a gift which you could not buy for gold or\njewels. Think of what you would like to be?\"\n\n\"I should like to be happy,\" said George at once.\n\n\"That's one!\"\n\n\"Oh, and healthy too. It's horrid to be ill, and I should like to be brave\nlike Sir Tristram and ... oh, I know, full of fun and laughter like the\ndragon.\"\n\n\"Yes; there are still some more.\"\n\n\"Well, wise like the witch or like Tom Tiddler. Oh\"--here he clapped his\nhands--\"unselfish like Alexander! He's always ready to forgive me, even if\nI hurt him.\"\n\nAlexander, who was lying at his feet, looked up and wagged his tail.\n\n\"And what did the beautiful Queen give you? Her present was the best of\nall!\"\n\n\"The best of all?\" How sweet she had looked, the dear Queen, almost--no,\njust the same as Mother!\n\n\"Have you guessed, dear?\" said Mother, bending down and kissing George.\n\nIn a moment he knew. \"Of course, how stupid of me! It's the last and the\nbest!\" And he hugged her and Alexander in turns.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTHE FAIRY MUSIC\n\n[Illustration: [Music]]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER XXII\n\n_What the Fairies Thought_\n\n\nPuck was sitting on top of his favourite toadstool, balancing a blade\nof grass on his nose. The fairies were watching him do one trick after\nanother with delight. He wasn't the least bit cross now.\n\n\"_Ker-ek!_\" croaked the old frog. \"You make me dizzy.\"\n\n\"Are you there still?\" said Puck, turning a somersault on to the ground.\n\"I thought your cold was no better.\"\n\n\"I haven't got a cold,\" grumbled the frog. \"I haven't _always_ got a cold.\nSometimes it's a cold, sometimes it's not.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Puck, \"you see, he came to our party after all.\"\n\nBut the old frog didn't answer. He made all kinds of queer noises, blew\nhimself out like a balloon, and really frightened the fairies. They ran\nas fast as they could with dewdrops and honey-balls--their medicine, you\nknow--to help him.\n\n\"I'm all right!\" he gasped. \"I'm all right. I was only laughing.\"\n\nThis was too much for the fairies. They laughed and laughed until they\nwere tired, for who had ever heard of an old frog laughing?\n\n\"What were you laughing at?\" Puck asked.\n\n\"Why, at _you_, of course!\" replied the old frog. \"Your party was\ndelightful. It quite cured my cold. And that boy of yours, George Henry,\nis a nice little boy. I'll teach him to swim one day.\"\n\nThis was quite a long speech for the old frog, and he was quite hoarse for\ntwo days after it.\n\nPuck stood up on a tall thistle and bowed solemnly. \"Listen!\" he said.\n\"George Henry is a wonder-child. I said he was, and so he is. If he hadn't\nhad a large piece of fairyness in him he would never, _never_ have come to\nthe party at all. His great-great-great-grandmother, you know, was quite\nhalf a fairy. And his mother makes up stories about us in her head. I knew\nI was right!\"\n\n\"You _are_ clever!\" cried the fairies in chorus.\n\n\"Am I not a clever Puck?\" he cried, turning head over heels. \"Clever,\nclever, clever!\" And he danced round and round the old frog with all the\nfairies after him.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWell, that's a good thing! All the fairies understand that George Henry\nis a kind of a fairy, and quite believe that in time he will grow more\nand more like one, although the storks \"_Pooh, pooh!_\" whenever they hear\nthis, and ask: \"What about us? He's _our_ boy!\"\n\nGeorge is growing up fast, and will soon be a man--and yet that's not\nreally true, for he's not a man at all, but just George.\n\nAlexander said one day--but you will have to wait until another time to\nhear that!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTHE FAIRY GIFTS\n\n    Now take hands, and dance and sing\n    Round and round the fairy ring.\n    Sing and dance with mirth and joy,\n    George, he is a fairy boy!\n\n    Gifts we gave him. What were they?\n    Happiness the livelong day;\n    Happiness and heart's delight\n    Was the gift of every sprite.\n\n    Better far than sacks of wealth\n    Were our gifts of youth and health.\n    Health to keep him young and gay\n    Was the gift of every fay.\n\n    Gifts we gave him from our store;\n    Yet again we gave one more.\n    \"Live for others, not yourself,\"\n    Was the gift of every elf.\n\n    And the last, and quite the best,\n    Better far than all the rest,\n    This he learned on fairy ground:\n    \"'Tis Love that makes the world go round!\"","title":"Puck's Broom: The wonderful adventures of George Henry & his dog Alexander who went to seek their fortunes in the Once upon a time land","tradition":"folklore-oral-tradition","translated_text":null,"word_count":33937}