{"collection":"folklore-oral-tradition","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_67087/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_67087","id":"gutenberg_67087","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67087","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Novels","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction","Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction","Courts and courtiers -- Juvenile fiction","Fairies -- Juvenile fiction","Fairy tales","Fairyland (Imaginary place) -- Juvenile fiction","Magic -- Juvenile fiction","Queens -- Juvenile fiction","Voyages and travels -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"EVERYMAN\u2019S LIBRARY\nEDITED BY ERNEST RHYS\n\nFOR YOUNG PEOPLE\n\nMOPSA THE FAIRY\nBY JEAN INGELOW\n\n\n  THIS IS NO. =619= OF =_EVERYMAN\u2019S\n  LIBRARY_=. THE PUBLISHERS WILL\n  BE PLEASED TO SEND FREELY TO ALL\n  APPLICANTS A LIST OF THE PUBLISHED\n  AND PROJECTED VOLUMES, ARRANGED\n  UNDER THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS:\n\n\n  TRAVEL \u2766 SCIENCE \u2766 FICTION\n  THEOLOGY & PHILOSOPHY\n  HISTORY \u2766 CLASSICAL\n  FOR YOUNG PEOPLE\n  ESSAYS \u2766 ORATORY\n  POETRY & DRAMA\n  BIOGRAPHY\n  REFERENCE\n  ROMANCE\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n\n  IN FOUR STYLES OF BINDING: CLOTH,\n  FLAT BACK, COLOURED TOP; LEATHER,\n  ROUND CORNERS, GILT TOP; LIBRARY\n  BINDING IN CLOTH, & QUARTER PIGSKIN\n\n  LONDON: J. M. DENT & SONS, LTD.\n  NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  THIS IS FAIRY GOLD, BOY; AND \u2019TWILL PROVE SO\n  SHAKESPEARE]\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  MOPSA _The_ FAIRY BY JEAN INGELOW\n\n  EVERY MAN I WILL GO WITH THEE & BE THY GVIDE\n\n  IN THY MOST NEED TO GO BY THY SIDE\n\n  LONDON & TORONTO\n  PUBLISHED BY J\u00b7M\u00b7DENT\n  & SONS LTD & IN NEW YORK\n  BY E\u00b7P\u00b7DUTTON & CO]\n\n\n  FIRST ISSUE OF THIS EDITION      1912\n  REPRINTED                        1919\n\n  THE\n  TEMPLE PRESS LETCHWORTH\n  ENGLAND\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nJean Ingelow may be said to have begun her study of the art of\nwriting child-rhymes and the tales that are akin to them under Jane\nand Ann Taylor. A friendship had sprung up between the families at\nWalton-on-the-Naze in Essex, where the Ingelow youngsters used to\nstay; and \u201cGreedy Dick\u201d and \u201cMrs. Duck, the notorious glutton,\u201d were\namong their favourite characters. In her first book, however, Jean\nIngelow showed that she had a note and a child-fantasy of her own.\nThey are seen in her fairy-ballad of Mimie and of the forest where the\nchild-fairy lived:\n\n    \u201cWhen the clouded sun goes in--\n      Waiting for the thunder,\n    We can hear their revel din\n      The moss\u2019d greensward under.\n\n    \u201cAnd I tell you, all the birds\n      On the branches singing\n    Utter to us human words\n      Like a silver ringing.\u201d\n\nHer earliest impressions are reflected in some lines found in _Mopsa_,\nwhich tell of a ship coming up the river with a jolly gang of towing\nmen. She was born at Boston, Lincolnshire, on the 17th of March 1820;\nthe daughter of a banker who had married a Scottish wife, Jean Kilgour.\nHer grandfather owned some of the ships that came up the Boston water;\nand the scenery of that fen country entered into her inner mind. Her\nfine ballad, \u201cHigh Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire,\u201d was one outcome\nof those early days. In middle life she came to live in London, and she\nwrote of the city and its shifting and unending throng; but her best\npages are those, whether verse or prose, that reflect the things of the\nseashore and waterside, the \u201cempty sky,\u201d the \u201cworld of heather,\u201d which\nshe knew as a child in Lincolnshire and Essex. Ipswich, Filey Brig\nin Yorkshire, and other places are to be counted in her own history;\nand some of the memories that are a picture of her early days may be\nfound in her long story _Off the Skelligs_, where she sketches her\nbirthplace, and the house by the wharves, with a room in the rooftree\noverlooking the ships and a long reach of the river.\n\nJean Ingelow died in Kensington in 1897; and a memorial brass is to be\nseen bearing her name in the church of St. Barnabas there.\n\nHer works include the following stories and volumes of poems:--\n\n WORKS: A Rhyming Chronicle of Incidents and Feelings, 1850; Allerton\n and Dreux, 1851; Tales of Orris, 1860; Poems, with 4th edition in same\n year, 1863; illustrated by Pinwell, Poynter, and others, 1866; Studies\n for Stories, 1864; 5th edition, 1868; Stories Told to a Child, 1865;\n another edition, 1892; Home Thoughts and Home Scenes, 1865; Little Rie\n and the Rosebuds, 1867; The Suspicious Jackdaw, and the Life of John\n Smith, 1867; The Grandmother\u2019s Shoe, 1867; The Golden Opportunity,\n 1867; Deborah\u2019s Book, and The Lonely Rock, 1867; A Story of Doom,\n and other Poems, 1867; The Moorish Gold and The One-Eyed Servant,\n 1867; The Minnows with Silver Tails, and Two Ways of Telling a Story,\n 1867; The Wild-Duck Shooter, and I Have a Right, 1867; A Sister\u2019s\n Bye-Hours, 1868; Mopsa the Fairy, 1869; another edition, 1871; The\n Little Wonder-Horn, 1872; another edition, 1877; Off the Skelligs,\n 1872; 2nd edition, 1879; Fated to be Free, 1873; 2nd edition, 1875;\n other editions, 1876, 1879; Poems, 2nd series, 1876; Poems, new\n edition in 2 vols., Vol. I. from 23rd edition, Vol. II. from 6th\n edition, 1879; Sarah de Berenger, 1879; other editions, 1880, 1886;\n Don John: a story, 1881; another edition, 1881; High-Tide on the Coast\n of Lincolnshire 1571, 1883; Poems of the Old Days and the New, 1885;\n John Jerome, 1886; Lyrical and other Poems selected from the Writings\n of J. I., 1886; The Little Wonder-Box, 1887; Very Young, and Quite\n Another Story, 1890; Selections, edited by Mackenzie Bell (Poets and\n Poetry of the Century), 1892; The Old Man\u2019s Prayer, 1895; Poetical\n Works of J. I., 1898; Laura Richmond, 1901; The Black Polyanthus,\n and Widow Maclean, 1903; Poems (Muses\u2019 Library), 1906; Poems, with\n an Introduction by Alice Meynell (Red Letter Library), 1908; Poems,\n selected and arranged by Andrew Lang (Longman\u2019s Pocket Library), 1908.\n\n LIFE: Short biography in Poets and Poetry of the Century edition of\n Poems, by Mackenzie Bell, 1892; some Recollections of Jean Ingelow and\n her Early Friends, 1901.\n\n\n\n\n  Dedicated\n  TO\n  MY DEAR LITTLE COUSIN\n  JANET HOLLWAY\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nCHAP.                                          PAGE\n\n   I. ABOVE THE CLOUDS                            1\n\n   II. CAPTAIN JACK                              13\n\n   III. WINDING-UP TIME                          22\n\n   IV. BEES AND OTHER FELLOW-CREATURES           37\n\n   V. THE PARROT IN HIS SHAWL                    53\n\n   VI. THE TOWN WITH NOBODY IN IT                68\n\n   VII. HALF-A-CROWN                             77\n\n   VIII. A STORY                                 93\n\n   IX. AFTER THE PARTY                          105\n\n   X. MOPSA LEARNS HER LETTERS                  115\n\n   XI. GOOD MORNING, SISTER                     126\n\n   XII. THEY RUN AWAY FROM OLD MOTHER FATE      137\n\n   XIII. MELON SEEDS                            149\n\n   XIV. REEDS AND RUSHES                        161\n\n   XV. THE QUEEN\u2019S WAND                         171\n\n   XVI. FAILURE                                 187\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n\n   Headpiece                                                           1\n\n   Thereupon a lantern became visible.                                 9\n\n   He saw the sun come rolling up among them.                         12\n\n   Headpiece                                                          13\n\n   \u201cThose five grand ones with high prows ... were part of\n   the Spanish Armada and those open boats with the blue\n   sails belonged to the Romans.\u201d                                     15\n\n   Tailpiece                                                          21\n\n   \u201cI\u2019m willing to gee and I\u2019m agreeable to wo.\u201d                      22\n\n   They would certainly have caught him if he had not been\n   very quick.                                                        36\n\n   Headpiece                                                          37\n\n   \u201cWhat\u2019ll you buy?--what\u2019ll you buy, sir?\u201d                          43\n\n   Tailpiece                                                          52\n\n   Headpiece                                                          53\n\n   A great fight was still going on.                                  67\n\n   Headpiece                                                          68\n\n   \u201cMaster, I will do my best,\u201d answered the hound.                   76\n\n   Clink-of-the-Hole.                                                 77\n\n   The little brown man fell on his knees and said, \u201cOh,\n   a shilling and a penny.\u201d                                           79\n\n   \u201cMaster, do you know what you have done?\u201d                          86\n\n   Tailpiece                                                          92\n\n   Headpiece                                                          93\n\n   \u201cI should like vastly well to be her nurse,\u201d\n   said the apple-woman.                                             104\n\n   Headpiece                                                         105\n\n   And now her bright little head ... came as high as the\n   second button of his waistcoat.                                   114\n\n   The Craken                                                        115\n\n   \u201cThe awful river-horses rose up and, with shrill screams,\n   fell upon them.\u201d                                                  120\n\n   \u201cWhile crowds of the one-foot-one fairies looked on,\n   hanging from the boughs.\u201d                                         125\n\n   Headpiece                                                         126\n\n   \u201cWell, you must know,\u201d answered the apple-woman, \u201cthat\n   fairies cannot abide cold weather.\u201d                               133\n\n   \u201cSo she began to sing.\u201d                                           136\n\n   Headpiece                                                         137\n\n   \u201cYes, sir,\u201d said the woman, \u201cbut where is it now?\u201d                148\n\n   Headpiece                                                         149\n\n   They spread out long filmy wings.                                 157\n\n   Tailpiece                                                         160\n\n   Headpiece                                                         161\n\n   He gave the plate a push with his elbow.                          170\n\n   Headpiece                                                         171\n\n   But still Mopsa walked on blindfold.                              186\n\n   Headpiece                                                         187\n\n   So she stooped forward as she stood on the step.                  199\n\n   Tailpiece                                                         208\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nMOPSA THE FAIRY\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nABOVE THE CLOUDS\n\n\n    \u201c\u2018And can this be my own world?\n      \u2019Tis all gold and snow,\n    Save where scarlet waves are hurled\n      Down yon gulf below.\u2019\n    \u2019Tis thy world, \u2019tis my world,\n      City, mead, and shore,\n    For he that hath his own world\n      Hath many worlds more.\u2019\u201d\n\nA boy, whom I knew very well, was once going through a meadow, which\nwas full of buttercups. The nurse and his baby sister were with him;\nand when they got to an old hawthorn, which grew in the hedge and was\ncovered with blossom, they all sat down in its shade, and the nurse\ntook out three slices of plum-cake, gave one to each of the children,\nand kept one for herself.\n\nWhile the boy was eating, he observed that this hedge was very high\nand thick, and that there was a great hollow in the trunk of the old\nthorn-tree, and he heard a twittering, as if there was a nest somewhere\ninside; so he thrust his head in, twisted himself round, and looked up.\n\nIt was a very great thorn-tree, and the hollow was so large that two\nor three boys could have stood upright in it; and when he got used to\nthe dim light in that brown, still place, he saw that a good way above\nhis head there was a nest--rather a curious one too, for it was as\nlarge as a pair of blackbirds would have built--and yet it was made\nof fine white wool and delicate bits of moss; in short, it was like a\ngoldfinch\u2019s nest magnified three times.\n\nJust then he thought he heard some little voices cry, \u201cJack! Jack!\u201d His\nbaby sister was asleep, and the nurse was reading a story book, so it\ncould not have been either of them who called. \u201cI must get in here,\u201d\nsaid the boy. \u201cI wish this hole was larger.\u201d So he began to wriggle\nand twist himself through, and just as he pulled in his last foot, he\nlooked up, and three heads which had been peeping over the edge of the\nnest suddenly popped down again.\n\n\u201cThose heads had no beaks, I am sure,\u201d said Jack, and he stood on\ntiptoe and poked in one of his fingers. \u201cAnd the things have no\nfeathers,\u201d he continued; so, the hollow being rather rugged, he managed\nto climb up and look in.\n\nHis eyes were not used yet to the dim light; but he was sure those\nthings were not birds--no. He poked them, and they took no notice; but\nwhen he snatched one of them out of the nest, it gave a loud squeak,\nand said, \u201cO don\u2019t, Jack!\u201d as plainly as possible, upon which he was\nso frightened that he lost his footing, dropped the thing, and slipped\ndown himself. Luckily, he was not hurt, nor the thing either; he could\nsee it quite plainly now: it was creeping about like rather an old\nbaby, and had on a little frock and pinafore.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a fairy!\u201d exclaimed Jack to himself. \u201cHow curious! and this must\nbe a fairy\u2019s nest. Oh, how angry the old mother will be if this little\nthing creeps away and gets out of the hole!\u201d So he looked down. \u201cOh,\nthe hole is on the other side,\u201d he said; and he turned round, but the\nhole was not on the other side; it was not on any side; it must have\nclosed up all on a sudden, while he was looking into the nest, for,\nlook whichever way he would, there was no hole at all, excepting\na very little one high up over the nest, which let in a very small\nsunbeam.\n\nJack was very much astonished, but he went on eating his cake, and was\nso delighted to see the young fairy climb up the side of the hollow and\nscramble again into her nest, that he laughed heartily; upon which all\nthe nestlings popped up their heads, and, showing their pretty white\nteeth, pointed at the slice of cake.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Jack, \u201cI may have to stay inside here for a long time,\nand I have nothing to eat but this cake; however, your mouths are very\nsmall, so you shall have a piece;\u201d and he broke off a small piece, and\nput it into the nest, climbing up to see them eat it.\n\nThese young fairies were a long time dividing and munching the cake,\nand before they had finished, it began to be rather dark, for a black\ncloud came over and covered the little sunbeam. At the same time the\nwind rose, and rocked the boughs, and made the old tree creak and\ntremble. Then there was thunder and rain, and the little fairies were\nso frightened that they got out of the nest and crept into Jack\u2019s\npockets. One got into each waistcoat pocket, and the other two were\nvery comfortable, for he took out his handkerchief and made room for\nthem in the pocket of his jacket.\n\nIt got darker and darker, till at last Jack could only just see the\nhole, and it seemed to be a very long way off. Every time he looked at\nit, it was farther off, and at last he saw a thin crescent moon shining\nthrough it.\n\n\u201cI am sure it cannot be night yet,\u201d he said; and he took out one of the\nfattest of the young fairies, and held it up towards the hole.\n\n\u201cLook at that,\u201d said he; \u201cwhat is to be done now? the hole is so far\noff that it\u2019s night up there, and down here I haven\u2019t done eating my\nlunch.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d answered the young fairy, \u201cthen why don\u2019t you whistle?\u201d\n\nJack was surprised to hear her speak in this sensible manner, and in\nthe light of the moon he looked at her very attentively.\n\n\u201cWhen first I saw you in the nest,\u201d said he, \u201cyou had a pinafore on,\nand now you have a smart little apron, with lace round it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is because I am much older now,\u201d said the fairy; \u201cwe never take\nsuch a long time to grow up as you do.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut your pinafore?\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cTurned into an apron, of course,\u201d replied the fairy, \u201cjust as your\nvelvet jacket will turn into a tail-coat when you are old enough.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt won\u2019t,\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cYes, it will,\u201d answered the fairy, with an air of superior wisdom.\n\u201cDon\u2019t argue with me; I am older now than you are--nearly grown up in\nfact. Put me into your pocket again, and whistle as loudly as you can.\u201d\n\nJack laughed, put her in, and pulled out another. \u201cWorse and worse,\u201d\nhe said; \u201cwhy, this was a boy fairy, and now he has a moustache and a\nsword, and looks as fierce as possible!\u201d\n\n\u201cI think I heard my sister tell you to whistle?\u201d said this fairy, very\nsternly.\n\n\u201cYes, she did,\u201d said Jack. \u201cWell, I suppose I had better do it.\u201d So he\nwhistled very loudly indeed.\n\n\u201cWhy did you leave off so soon?\u201d said another of them, peeping out.\n\n\u201cWhy, if you wish to know,\u201d answered Jack, \u201cit was because I thought\nsomething took hold of my legs.\u201d\n\n\u201cRidiculous child!\u201d cried the last of the four, \u201chow do you think you\nare ever to get out, if she doesn\u2019t take hold of your legs?\u201d\n\nJack thought he would rather have done a long-division sum than have\nbeen obliged to whistle; but he could not help doing it when they told\nhim, and he felt something take hold of his legs again, and then give\nhim a jerk, which hoisted him on to its back, where he sat astride, and\nwondered whether the thing was a pony; but it was not, for he presently\nobserved that it had a very slender neck, and then that it was covered\nwith feathers. It was a large bird, and he presently found that they\nwere rising towards the hole, which had become so very far off, and in\na few minutes she dashed through the hole, with Jack on her back and\nall the fairies in his pockets.\n\nIt was so dark that he could see nothing, and he twined his arms round\nthe bird\u2019s neck, to hold on, upon which this agreeable fowl told him\nnot to be afraid, and said she hoped he was comfortable.\n\n\u201cI should be more comfortable,\u201d replied Jack, \u201cif I knew how I could\nget home again. I don\u2019t wish to go home just yet, for I want to see\nwhere we are flying to, but papa and mamma will be frightened if I\nnever do.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh no,\u201d replied the albatross (for she was an albatross), \u201cyou need\nnot be at all afraid about that. When boys go to Fairyland, their\nparents never are uneasy about them.\u201d\n\n\u201cReally?\u201d exclaimed Jack.\n\n\u201cQuite true,\u201d replied the albatross.\n\n\u201cAnd so we are going to Fairyland?\u201d exclaimed Jack; \u201chow delightful!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the albatross; \u201cthe back way, mind; we are only going the\nback way. You could go in two minutes by the usual route; but these\nyoung fairies want to go before they are summoned, and therefore you\nand I are taking them.\u201d And she continued to fly on in the dark sky for\na very long time.\n\n\u201cThey seem to be all fast asleep,\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cPerhaps they will sleep till we come to the wonderful river,\u201d replied\nthe albatross; and just then she flew with a great bump against\nsomething that met her in the air.\n\n\u201cWhat craft is this that hangs out no light?\u201d said a gruff voice.\n\n\u201cI might ask the same question of you,\u201d answered the albatross sullenly.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m only a poor Will-o\u2019-the-wisp,\u201d replied the voice, \u201cand you know\nvery well that I have but a lantern to show.\u201d Thereupon a lantern\nbecame visible, and Jack saw by the light of it a man, who looked old\nand tired, and he was so transparent that you could see through him,\nlantern and all.\n\n\u201cI hope I have not hurt you, William,\u201d said the albatross; \u201cI will\nlight up immediately. Good night.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood night,\u201d answered the Will-o\u2019-the-wisp. \u201cI am going down as fast\nas I can; the storm blew me up, and I am never easy excepting in my\nnative swamps.\u201d\n\nJack might have taken more notice of Will, if the albatross had not\nbegun to light up. She did it in this way. First, one of her eyes began\nto gleam with a beautiful green light, which cast its rays far and\nnear, and then, when it was as bright as a lamp, the other eye began to\nshine, and the light of that eye was red. In short, she was lighted up\njust like a vessel at sea.\n\n[Illustration: THEREUPON A LANTERN BECAME VISIBLE.]\n\nJack was so happy that he hardly knew which to look at first, there\nreally were so many remarkable things.\n\n\u201cThey snore,\u201d said the albatross, \u201cthey are very fast asleep, and\nbefore they wake I should like to talk to you a little.\u201d\n\nShe meant that the fairies snored, and so they did, in Jack\u2019s pockets.\n\n\u201cMy name,\u201d continued the albatross, \u201cis Jenny. Do you think you shall\nremember that? because when you are in Fairyland and want some one to\ntake you home again, and call \u2018Jenny,\u2019 I shall be able to come to you;\nand I shall come with pleasure, for I like boys better than fairies.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you,\u201d said Jack. \u201cOh yes, I shall remember your name, it is such\na very easy one.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf it is in the night that you want me, just look up,\u201d continued the\nalbatross, \u201cand you will see a green and a red spark moving in the air;\nyou will then call Jenny, and I will come; but remember that I cannot\ncome unless you do call me.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said Jack; but he was not attending, because there was so\nmuch to be seen.\n\nIn the first place, all the stars excepting a few large ones were\ngone, and they looked frightened; and as it got lighter, one after the\nother seemed to give a little start in the blue sky and go out. And\nthen Jack looked down and saw, as he thought, a great country covered\nwith very jagged snow mountains with astonishingly sharp peaks. Here\nand there he saw a very deep lake--at least he thought it was a lake;\nbut while he was admiring the mountains, there came an enormous crack\nbetween two of the largest, and he saw the sun come rolling up among\nthem, and it seemed to be almost smothered.\n\n\u201cWhy, those are clouds!\u201d exclaimed Jack; \u201cand O how rosy they have all\nturned! I thought they were mountains.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, they are clouds,\u201d said the albatross; and then they turned gold\ncolour; and next they began to plunge and tumble, and every one of the\npeaks put on a glittering crown; and next they broke themselves to\npieces, and began to drift away. In fact, Jack had been out all night,\nand now it was morning.\n\n[Illustration: He saw the sun come rolling up among them.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nCaptain Jack\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n \u201cIt has been our lot to sail with many captains, not one of whom is\n fit to be a patch on your back.\u201d--_Letter of the Ship\u2019s Company of\n H.M.S.S. Royalist to Captain W. T. Bate._\n\nAll this time the albatross kept dropping down and down like a stone\ntill Jack was quite out of breath, and they fell or flew, whichever you\nlike to call it, straight through one of the great chasms which he had\nthought were lakes, and he looked down as he sat on the bird\u2019s back to\nsee what the world is like when you hang a good way above it at sunrise.\n\nIt was a very beautiful sight; the sheep and lambs were still fast\nasleep on the green hills, and the sea birds were asleep in long rows\nupon the ledges of the cliffs, with their heads under their wings.\n\n\u201cAre those young fairies awake yet?\u201d asked the albatross.\n\n\u201cAs sound asleep as ever,\u201d answered Jack; \u201cbut, Albatross, is not that\nthe sea which lies under us? You are a sea bird, I know, but I am not a\nsea boy, and I cannot live in the water.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, that is the sea,\u201d answered the albatross. \u201cDon\u2019t you observe that\nit is covered with ships?\u201d\n\n\u201cI see boats and vessels,\u201d answered Jack, \u201cand all their sails are set,\nbut they cannot sail because there is no wind.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe wind never does blow in this great bay,\u201d said the bird; \u201cand those\nships would all lie there becalmed till they dropped to pieces if one\nof them was not wanted now and then to go up the wonderful river.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut how did they come there?\u201d asked Jack.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cTHOSE FIVE GRAND ONES WITH HIGH PROWS ... WERE PART OF\nTHE SPANISH ARMADA AND THOSE OPEN BOATS WITH THE BLUE SAILS BELONGED TO\nTHE ROMANS.\u201d]\n\n\u201cSome of them had captains who ill-used their cabin-boys, some\nwere pirate ships, and others were going out on evil errands. The\nconsequence was, that when they chanced to sail within this great bay\nthey got becalmed; the fairies came and picked all the sailors out and\nthrew them into the water; they then took away the flags and pennons\nto make their best coats of, threw the ship-biscuits and other\nprovisions to the fishes, and set all the sails. Many ships which are\nsupposed by men to have foundered lie becalmed in this quiet sea.\nLook at those five grand ones with high prows, they are moored close\ntogether, they were part of the Spanish Armada; and those open boats\nwith blue sails belonged to the Romans, they sailed with C\u00e6sar when he\ninvaded Britain.\u201d\n\nBy this time the albatross was hovering about among the vessels, making\nchoice of one to take Jack and the fairies up the wonderful river.\n\n\u201cIt must not be a large one,\u201d she said, \u201cfor the river in some places\nis very shallow.\u201d\n\nJack would have liked very much to have a fine three-master, all to\nhimself; but then he considered that he did not know anything about\nsails and rigging, he thought it would be just as well to be contented\nwith whatever the albatross might choose, so he let her set him down\nin a beautiful little open boat, with a great carved figure-head to\nit. There he seated himself in great state, and the albatross perched\nherself on the next bench, and faced him.\n\n\u201cYou remember my name?\u201d asked the albatross.\n\n\u201cOh yes,\u201d said Jack; but he was not attending--he was thinking what a\nfine thing it was to have such a curious boat all to himself.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s well,\u201d answered the bird; \u201cthen, in the next place, are those\nfairies awake yet?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, they are not,\u201d said Jack; and he took them out of his pockets, and\nlaid them down in a row before the albatross.\n\n\u201cThey are certainly asleep,\u201d said the bird. \u201cPut them away again, and\ntake care of them. Mind you don\u2019t lose any of them, for I really don\u2019t\nknow what will happen if you do. Now I have one thing more to say to\nyou, and that is, are you hungry?\u201d\n\n\u201cRather,\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d replied the albatross, \u201cas soon as you feel _very_ hungry, lie\ndown in the bottom of the boat and go to sleep. You will dream that you\nsee before you a roasted fowl, some new potatoes, and an apple-pie.\nMind you don\u2019t eat too much in your dream, or you will be sorry for it\nwhen you wake. That is all. Good-bye! I must go.\u201d\n\nJack put his arms round the neck of the bird, and hugged her; then she\nspread her magnificent wings and sailed slowly away. At first he felt\nvery lonely, but in a few minutes he forgot that, because the little\nboat began to swim so fast.\n\nShe was not sailing, for she had no sail, and he was not rowing, for\nhe had no oars; so I am obliged to call her motion swimming, because\nI don\u2019t know of a better word. In less than a quarter of an hour they\npassed close under the bows of a splendid three-decker, a seventy-gun\nship. The gannets who live in those parts had taken possession of her,\nand she was so covered with nests that you could not have walked one\nstep on her deck without treading on them. The father birds were aloft\nin the rigging, or swimming in the warm green sea, and they made such a\nclamour when they saw Jack that they nearly woke the fairies--nearly,\nbut not quite, for the little things turned round in Jack\u2019s pockets,\nand sneezed, and began to snore again.\n\nThen the boat swam past a fine brig. Some sea fairies had just flung\nher cargo overboard, and were playing at leap-frog on deck. These were\nnot at all like Jack\u2019s own fairies; they were about the same height and\nsize as himself, and they had brown faces, and red flannel shirts and\nred caps on. A large fleet of the pearly nautilus was collected close\nunder the vessel\u2019s lee. The little creatures were feasting on what the\nsea fairies had thrown overboard, and Jack\u2019s boat, in its eagerness\nto get on, went plunging through them so roughly that several were\ncapsized. Upon this the brown sea fairies looked over, and called out\nangrily, \u201cBoat ahoy!\u201d and the boat stopped.\n\n\u201cTell that boat of yours to mind what she is about,\u201d said the fairy\nsea-captain to Jack.\n\nJack touched his cap, and said, \u201cYes, sir,\u201d and then called out to his\nboat, \u201cYou ought to be ashamed of yourself, running down these little\nlive fishing-vessels so carelessly. Go at a more gentle pace.\u201d\n\nSo it swam more slowly; and Jack, being by this time hungry, curled\nhimself up in the bottom of the boat, and fell asleep.\n\nHe dreamt directly about a fowl and some potatoes, and he ate a wing,\nand then he ate a merrythought, and then somebody said to him that\nhe had better not eat any more, but he did, he ate another wing; and\npresently an apple-pie came, and he ate some of that, and then he ate\nsome more, and then he immediately woke.\n\n\u201cNow that bird told me not to eat too much,\u201d said Jack, \u201cand yet I have\ndone it. I never felt so full in my life,\u201d and for more than half an\nhour he scarcely noticed anything.\n\nAt last he lifted up his head, and saw straight before him two great\nbrown cliffs, and between them flowed in the wonderful river. Other\nrivers flow out, but this river flowed in, and took with it far into\nthe land dolphins, sword-fish, mullet, sunfish, and many other strange\ncreatures; and that is one reason why it was called the magic river, or\nthe wonderful river.\n\nAt first it was rather wide, and Jack was alarmed to see what\nmultitudes of soldiers stood on either side to guard the banks, and\nprevent any person from landing.\n\nHe wondered how he should get the fairies on shore. However, in about\nan hour the river became much narrower, and then Jack saw that the\nguards were not real soldiers, but rose-coloured flamingos. There they\nstood, in long regiments, among the reeds, and never stirred. They are\nthe only foot-soldiers the fairies have in their pay; they are very\nfierce, and never allow anything but a fairy ship to come up the river.\n\nThey guarded the banks for miles and miles, many thousands of them,\nstanding a little way into the water among the flags and rushes; but\nat last there were no more reeds and no soldier guards, for the stream\nbecame narrower, and flowed between such steep rocks that no one could\npossibly have climbed them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nWINDING-UP TIME\n\n[Illustration: \u201cI\u2019M WILLING TO GEE AND I\u2019M AGREEABLE TO WO.\u201d]\n\n\n    \u201c\u2018Wake, baillie, wake! the crafts are out;\n      Wake!\u2019 said the knight, \u2018be quick!\n    For high street, bye street, over the town\n      They fight with poker and stick.\u2019\n    Said the squire, \u2018A fight so fell was ne\u2019er\n      In all thy bailliewick.\u2019\n    What said the old clock in the tower?\n          \u2018Tick, tick, tick!\u2019\n\n    \u201c\u2018Wake, daughter, wake! the hour draws on;\n      Wake!\u2019 quoth the dame, \u2018be quick!\n    The meats are set, the guests are coming,\n      The fiddler waxing his stick.\u2019\n    She said, \u2018The bridegroom waiting and waiting\n      To see thy face is sick.\u2019\n    What said the new clock in her bower?\n          \u2018Tick, tick, tick!\u2019\u201d\n\nJack looked at these hot brown rocks, first on the left bank and then\non the right, till he was quite tired; but at last the shore on the\nright bank became flat, and he saw a beautiful little bay, where the\nwater was still, and where grass grew down to the brink.\n\nHe was so much pleased at this change, that he cried out hastily, \u201cOh\nhow I wish my boat would swim into that bay and let me land!\u201d He had no\nsooner spoken than the boat altered her course, as if somebody had been\nsteering her, and began to make for the bay as fast as she could go.\n\n\u201cHow odd!\u201d thought Jack. \u201cI wonder whether I ought to have spoken; for\nthe boat certainly did not intend to come into this bay. However, I\nthink I will let her alone now, for I certainly do wish very much to\nland here.\u201d\n\nAs they drew towards the strand the water got so shallow that you could\nsee crabs and lobsters walking about at the bottom. At last the boat\u2019s\nkeel grated on the pebbles; and just as Jack began to think of jumping\non shore, he saw two little old women approaching and gently driving a\nwhite horse before them.\n\nThe horse had panniers, one on each side; and when his feet were in the\nwater he stood still; and Jack said to one of the old women, \u201cWill you\nbe so kind as to tell me whether this is Fairyland?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat does he say?\u201d asked one old woman of the other.\n\n\u201cI asked if this was Fairyland,\u201d repeated Jack, for he thought the\nfirst old woman might have been deaf. She was very handsomely dressed\nin a red satin gown, and did not look in the least like a washerwoman,\nthough it afterwards appeared that she was one.\n\n\u201cHe says \u2018Is this Fairyland?\u2019\u201d she replied; and the other, who had a\nblue satin cloak, answered, \u201cOh, does he?\u201d and then they began to empty\nthe panniers of many small blue, and pink, and scarlet shirts, and\ncoats, and stockings; and when they had made them into two little heaps\nthey knelt down and began to wash them in the river, taking no notice\nof him whatever.\n\nJack stared at them. They were not much taller than himself, and they\nwere not taking the slightest care of their handsome clothes; then he\nlooked at the old white horse, who was hanging his head over the lovely\nclear water with a very discontented air.\n\nAt last the blue washerwoman said, \u201cI shall leave off now; I\u2019ve got a\npain in my works.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo,\u201d said the other. \u201cWe\u2019ll go home and have a cup of tea.\u201d Then she\nglanced at Jack, who was still sitting in the boat, and said, \u201cCan you\nstrike?\u201d\n\n\u201cI can if I choose,\u201d replied Jack, a little astonished at this speech.\nAnd the red and blue washerwomen wrung out the clothes, put them again\ninto the panniers, and, taking the old horse by the bridle, began\ngently to lead him away.\n\n\u201cI have a great mind to land,\u201d thought Jack. \u201cI should not wonder at\nall if this is Fairyland. So as the boat came here to please me, I\nshall ask it to stay where it is, in case I should want it again.\u201d\n\nSo he sprang ashore, and said to the boat, \u201cStay just where you are,\nwill you?\u201d and he ran after the old women, calling to them:\n\n\u201cIs there any law to prevent my coming into your country?\u201d\n\n\u201cWo!\u201d cried the red-coated old woman, and the horse stopped, while the\nblue-coated woman repeated, \u201cAny law? No, not that I know of; but if\nyou are a stranger here you had better look out.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy?\u201d asked Jack.\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t suppose, do you,\u201d she answered, \u201cthat our Queen will wind up\nstrangers?\u201d\n\nWhile Jack was wondering what she meant, the other said:\n\n\u201cI shouldn\u2019t wonder if he goes eight days. Gee!\u201d and the horse went on.\n\n\u201cNo, wo!\u201d said the other.\n\n\u201cNo, no. Gee! I tell you,\u201d cried the first.\n\nUpon this, to Jack\u2019s intense astonishment, the old horse stopped, and\nsaid, speaking through his nose:\n\n\u201cNow, then, which is it to be? I\u2019m willing to gee, and I\u2019m agreeable to\nwo; but what\u2019s a fellow to do when you say them both together?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, he talks!\u201d exclaimed Jack.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s because he\u2019s got a cold in his head,\u201d observed one of the\nwasherwomen; \u201che always talks when he\u2019s got a cold, and there\u2019s no\npleasing him; whatever you say, he\u2019s not satisfied. Gee, Boney, do!\u201d\n\n\u201cGee it is, then,\u201d said the horse, and began to jog on.\n\n\u201cHe spoke again!\u201d said Jack, upon which the horse laughed, and Jack was\nquite alarmed.\n\n\u201cIt appears that your horses don\u2019t talk?\u201d observed the blue-coated\nwoman.\n\n\u201cNever,\u201d answered Jack; \u201cthey can\u2019t.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou mean they won\u2019t,\u201d observed the old horse; and though he spoke the\nwords of mankind, it was not in a voice like theirs. Still Jack felt\nthat his was just the natural tone for a horse, and that it did not\narise only from the length of his nose. \u201cYou\u2019ll find out some day,\nperhaps,\u201d he continued, \u201cwhether horses can talk or not.\u201d\n\n\u201cShall I?\u201d said Jack, very earnestly.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ll TELL,\u201d proceeded the white horse. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be you when they\ntell how you\u2019ve used them.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you been ill used?\u201d said Jack, in an anxious tone.\n\n\u201cYes, yes, of course he has,\u201d one of the women broke in; \u201cbut he has\ncome here to get all right again. This is a very wholesome country for\nhorses; isn\u2019t it, Boney?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the horse.\n\n\u201cWell, then, jog on, there\u2019s a dear,\u201d continued the old woman. \u201cWhy,\nyou will be young again soon, you know--young, and gamesome, and\nhandsome; you\u2019ll be quite a colt by and by, and then we shall set you\nfree to join your companions in the happy meadows.\u201d\n\nThe old horse was so comforted by this kind speech, that he pricked up\nhis ears and quickened his pace considerably.\n\n\u201cHe was shamefully used,\u201d observed one washerwoman. \u201cLook at him, how\nlean he is! You can see all his ribs.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the other, as if apologising for the poor old horse. \u201cHe\ngets low-spirited when he thinks of all he has gone through; but he is\na vast deal better already than he was. He used to live in London; his\nmaster always carried a long whip to beat him with, and never spoke\ncivilly to him.\u201d\n\n\u201cLondon!\u201d exclaimed Jack; \u201cwhy that is in my country. How did the horse\nget here?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s no business of yours,\u201d answered one of the women. \u201cBut I can\ntell you he came because he was wanted, which is more than you are.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou let him alone,\u201d said the horse in a querulous tone. \u201cI don\u2019t bear\nany malice.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo; he has a good disposition has Boney,\u201d observed the red old woman.\n\u201cPray, are you a boy?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cA real boy, that wants no winding up?\u201d inquired the old woman.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know what you mean,\u201d answered Jack; \u201cbut I am a real boy,\ncertainly.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d she replied. \u201cWell, I thought you were, by the way Boney spoke\nto you. How frightened you must be! I wonder what will be done to all\nyour people for driving, and working, and beating so many beautiful\ncreatures to death every year that comes? They\u2019ll have to pay for it\nsome day, you may depend.\u201d\n\nJack was a little alarmed, and answered that he had never been unkind\nhimself to horses, and he was glad that Boney bore no malice.\n\n\u201cThey worked him, and often drove him about all night in the miserable\nstreets, and never let him have so much as a canter in a green field,\u201d\nsaid one of the women; \u201cbut he\u2019ll be all right now, only he has to\nbegin at the wrong end.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cWhy, in this country,\u201d answered the old woman, \u201cthey begin by being\nterribly old and stiff, and they seem miserable and jaded at first,\nbut by degrees they get young again, as you heard me reminding him.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed,\u201d said Jack; \u201cand do you like that?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt has nothing to do with me,\u201d she answered. \u201cWe are only here to take\ncare of all the creatures that men have ill used. While they are sick\nand old, which they are when first they come to us--after they are\ndead, you know--we take care of them, and gradually bring them up to be\nyoung and happy again.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis must be a very nice country to live in then,\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cFor horses it is,\u201d said the old lady, significantly.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Jack, \u201cit does seem very full of haystacks certainly, and\nall the air smells of fresh grass.\u201d\n\nAt this moment they came to a beautiful meadow, and the old horse\nstopped, and, turning to the blue-coated woman, said, \u201cFaxa, I think I\ncould fancy a handful of clover.\u201d Upon this Faxa snatched Jack\u2019s cap\noff his head, and in a very active manner jumped over a little ditch,\nand gathering some clover, presently brought it back full, handing it\nto the old horse with great civility.\n\n\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be in such a hurry,\u201d observed the old horse; \u201cyour\nweights will be running down some day, if you don\u2019t mind.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s all zeal,\u201d observed the red-coated woman.\n\nJust then a little man, dressed like a groom, came running up, out of\nbreath. \u201cOh, here you are, Dow!\u201d he exclaimed to the red-coated woman.\n\u201cCome along, will you? Lady Betty wants you; it\u2019s such a hot day, and\nnobody, she says, can fan her so well as you can.\u201d\n\nThe red-coated woman, without a word, went off with the groom, and Jack\nthought he would go with them, for this Lady Betty could surely tell\nhim whether the country was called Fairyland, or whether he must get\ninto his boat and go farther. He did not like either to hear the way in\nwhich Faxa and Dow talked about their works and their weights; so he\nasked Faxa to give him his cap, which she did, and he heard a curious\nsort of little ticking noise as he came close to her, which startled\nhim.\n\n\u201cOh, this must be Fairyland, I am sure,\u201d thought Jack, \u201cfor in my\ncountry our pulses beat quite differently from that.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Faxa, rather sharply, \u201cdo you find any fault with the way\nI go?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Jack, a little ashamed of having listened. \u201cI think you walk\nbeautifully; your steps are so regular.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s machine-made,\u201d observed the old horse, in a melancholy voice,\nand with a deep sigh. \u201cIn the largest magnifying-glass you\u2019ll hardly\nfind the least fault with her chain. She\u2019s not like the goods they turn\nout in Clerkenwell.\u201d\n\nJack was more and more startled, and so glad to get his cap and run\nafter the groom and Dow to find Lady Betty, that he might be with\nordinary human beings again; but when he got up to them, he found that\nLady Betty was a beautiful brown mare! She was lying in a languid and\nrather affected attitude, with a load of fresh hay before her, and two\nattendants, one of whom stood holding a parasol over her head, and the\nother was fanning her.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m so glad you are come, my good Dow,\u201d said the brown mare. \u201cDon\u2019t\nyou think I am strong enough to-day to set off for the happy meadows?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Dow, \u201cI\u2019m afraid not yet; you must remember that it is of\nno use your leaving us till you have quite got over the effects of the\nfall.\u201d\n\nJust then Lady Betty observed Jack, and said, \u201cTake that boy away; he\nreminds me of a jockey.\u201d\n\nThe attentive groom instantly started forward, but Jack was too nimble\nfor him; he ran and ran with all his might, and only wished he had\nnever left the boat. But still he heard the groom behind him; and in\nfact the groom caught him at last, and held him so fast that struggling\nwas of no use at all.\n\n\u201cYou young rascal!\u201d he exclaimed, as he recovered breath. \u201cHow you do\nrun! It\u2019s enough to break your mainspring.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat harm did I do?\u201d asked Jack. \u201cI was only looking at the mare.\u201d\n\n\u201cHarm!\u201d exclaimed the groom; \u201charm, indeed! Why, you reminded her of\na jockey. It\u2019s enough to hold her back, poor thing!--and we trying so\nhard, too, to make her forget what a cruel end she came to in the old\nworld.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou need not hold me so tightly,\u201d said Jack. \u201cI shall not run away\nagain; but,\u201d he added, \u201cif this is Fairyland, it is not half such a\nnice country as I expected.\u201d\n\n\u201cFairyland!\u201d exclaimed the groom, stepping back with surprise. \u201cWhy,\nwhat made you think of such a thing? This is only one of the border\ncountries, where things are set right again that people have caused to\ngo wrong in the world. The world, you know, is what men and women call\ntheir own home.\u201d\n\n\u201cI know,\u201d said Jack; \u201cand that\u2019s where I came from.\u201d Then, as the groom\nseemed no longer to be angry, he went on: \u201cAnd I wish you would tell me\nabout Lady Betty.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe was a beautiful fleet creature, of the racehorse breed,\u201d said the\ngroom; \u201cand she won silver cups for her master, and then they made her\nrun a steeplechase, which frightened her, but still she won it; and\nthen they made her run another, and she cleared some terribly high\nhurdles, and many gates and ditches, till she came to an awful one,\nand at first she would not take it, but her rider spurred and beat her\ntill she tried. It was beyond her powers, and she fell and broke her\nforelegs. Then they shot her. After she had died that miserable death,\nwe had her here, to make her all right again.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs this the only country where you set things right?\u201d asked Jack.\n\n\u201cCertainly not,\u201d answered the groom; \u201cthey lie about in all directions.\nWhy, you might wander for years, and never come to the end of this one.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am afraid I shall not find the one I am looking for,\u201d said Jack, \u201cif\nyour countries are so large.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think our world is much larger than yours,\u201d answered the\ngroom. \u201cBut come along; I hear the bell, and we are a good way from the\npalace.\u201d\n\nJack, in fact, heard the violent ringing of a bell at some distance;\nand when the groom began to run, he ran beside him, for he thought\nhe should like to see the palace. As they ran, people gathered from\nall sides--fields, cottages, mills--till at last there was a little\ncrowd, among whom Jack saw Dow and Faxa, and they were all making for\na large house, the wide door of which was standing open. Jack stood\nwith the crowd, and peeped in. There was a woman sitting inside upon a\nrocking-chair, a tall, large woman, with a gold-coloured gown on, and\nbeside her stood a table, covered with things that looked like keys.\n\n\u201cWhat is that woman doing?\u201d said he to Faxa, who was standing close to\nhim.\n\n\u201cWinding us up, to be sure,\u201d answered Faxa. \u201cYou don\u2019t suppose, surely,\nthat we can go for ever?\u201d\n\n\u201cExtraordinary!\u201d said Jack. \u201cThen are you wound up every evening, like\nwatches?\u201d\n\n\u201cUnless we have misbehaved ourselves,\u201d she answered; \u201cand then she lets\nus run down.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what then?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat then?\u201d repeated Faxa, \u201cwhy, then we have to stop and stand\nagainst a wall, till she is pleased to forgive us, and let our friends\ncarry us in to be set going again.\u201d\n\nJack looked in, and saw the people pass in and stand close by the\nwoman. One after the other she took by the chin with her left hand, and\nwith her right hand found a key that pleased her. It seemed to Jack\nthat there was a tiny keyhole in the back of their heads, and that she\nput the key in and wound them up.\n\n\u201cYou must take your turn with the others,\u201d said the groom.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no keyhole in my head,\u201d said Jack; \u201cbesides, I do not want any\nwoman to wind me up.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you must do as others do,\u201d he persisted; \u201cand if you have no\nkeyhole, our Queen can easily have one made, I should think.\u201d\n\n\u201cMake one in my head!\u201d exclaimed Jack. \u201cShe shall do no such thing.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe shall see,\u201d said Faxa quietly. And Jack was so frightened that he\nset off, and ran back towards the river with all his might. Many of the\npeople called to him to stop, but they could not run after him, because\nthey wanted winding up. However, they would certainly have caught him\nif he had not been very quick, for before he got to the river he heard\nbehind him the footsteps of those who had been first attended to by\nthe Queen, and he had only just time to spring into the boat when they\nreached the edge of the water.\n\nNo sooner was he on board than the boat swung round, and got again into\nthe middle of the stream; but he could not feel safe till not only was\nthere a long reach of water between him and the shore, but till he had\ngone so far down the river that the beautiful bay had passed out of\nsight, and the sun was going down. By this time he began to feel very\ntired and sleepy; so, having looked at his fairies, and found that they\nwere all safe and fast asleep, he laid down in the bottom of the boat,\nand fell into a doze, and then into a dream.\n\n[Illustration: They would certainly have caught him if he had not been\nvery quick.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nBEES AND OTHER FELLOW-CREATURES\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n    \u201cThe dove laid some little sticks,\n      Then began to coo;\n    The gnat took his trumpet up\n      To play the day through;\n    The pie chattered soft and long--\n      But that she always does;\n    The bee did all he had to do,\n      And only said \u2018Buzz.\u2019\u201d\n\nWhen Jack at length opened his eyes, he found that it was night, for\nthe full moon was shining; but it was not at all a dark night, for he\ncould see distinctly some black birds, that looked like ravens. They\nwere sitting in a row on the edge of the boat.\n\nNow that he had fairies in his pockets, he could understand bird-talk,\nand he heard one of these ravens saying, \u201cThere is no meat so tender; I\nwish I could pick their little eyes out.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said another, \u201cfairies are delicate eating indeed. We must speak\nJack fair if we want to get at them.\u201d And she heaved up a deep sigh.\n\nJack lay still, and thought he had better pretend to be asleep; but\nthey soon noticed that his eyes were open, and one of them presently\nwalked up his leg and bowed, and asked if he was hungry.\n\nJack said, \u201cNo.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo more am I,\u201d replied the raven, \u201cnot at all hungry.\u201d Then she hopped\noff his leg, and Jack sat up.\n\n\u201cAnd how are the sweet fairies that my young master is taking to their\nhome?\u201d asked another of the ravens. \u201cI hope they are safe in my young\nmasters pockets?\u201d\n\nJack felt in his pockets. Yes, they were all safe; but he did not take\nany of them out, lest the ravens should snatch at them.\n\n\u201cEh?\u201d continued the raven, pretending to listen; \u201cdid this dear young\ngentleman say that the fairies were asleep?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t amuse me to talk about fairies,\u201d said Jack; \u201cbut if you\nwould explain some of the things in this country that I cannot make\nout, I should be very glad.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat things?\u201d asked the blackest of the ravens.\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d said Jack, \u201cI see a full moon lying down there among the\nwater-flags, and just going to set, and there is a half-moon overhead\nplunging among those great grey clouds, and just this moment I saw a\nthin crescent moon peeping out between the branches of that tree.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said all the ravens at once, \u201cdid the young master never see a\ncrescent moon in the men and women\u2019s world?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh yes,\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cDid he never see a full moon?\u201d asked the ravens.\n\n\u201cYes, of course,\u201d said Jack; \u201cbut they are the same moon. I could never\nsee all three of them at the same time.\u201d\n\nThe ravens were very much surprised at this, and one of them said:\n\n\u201cIf my young master did not see the moons it must have been because he\ndidn\u2019t look. Perhaps my young master slept in a room, and had only one\nwindow; if so, he couldn\u2019t see all the sky at once.\u201d\n\n\u201cI tell you, Raven,\u201d said Jack, laughing, \u201cthat I KNOW there is never\nmore than one moon in my country, and sometimes there is no moon at\nall!\u201d\n\nUpon this all the ravens hung down their heads, and looked very much\nashamed; for there is nothing that birds hate so much as to be laughed\nat, and they believed that Jack was saying this to mock them, and that\nhe knew what they had come for. So first one and then another hopped\nto the other end of the boat and flew away, till at last there was only\none left, and she appeared to be out of spirits, and did not speak\nagain till he spoke to her.\n\n\u201cRaven,\u201d said Jack, \u201cthere\u2019s something very cold and slippery lying at\nthe bottom of the boat. I touched it just now, and I don\u2019t like it at\nall.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a water-snake,\u201d said the raven, and she stooped and picked up a\nlong thing with her beak, which she threw out, and then looked over.\n\u201cThe water swarms with them, wicked, murderous creatures; they smell\nthe young fairies, and they want to eat them.\u201d\n\nJack was so thrown off his guard that he snatched one fairy out, just\nto make sure that it was safe. It was the one with the moustache; and,\nalas! in one instant the raven flew at it, got it out of his hand, and\npecked off its head before it had time to wake or Jack to rescue it.\nThen, as she slowly rose, she croaked, and said to Jack, \u201cYou\u2019ll catch\nit for this, my young master!\u201d and she flew to the bough of a tree,\nwhere she finished eating the fairy, and threw his little empty coat\ninto the river.\n\nOn this Jack began to cry bitterly, and to think what a foolish boy\nhe had been. He was the more sorry because he did not even know that\npoor little fellow\u2019s name. But he had heard the others calling by\nname to their companions, and very grand names they were too. One was\nJovinian--he was a very fierce-looking gentleman; the other two were\nRoxaletta and Mopsa.\n\nPresently, however, Jack forgot to be unhappy, for two of the moons\nwent down, and then the sun rose, and he was delighted to find that\nhowever many moons there might be, there was only one sun, even in the\ncountry of the wonderful river.\n\nSo on and on they went; but the river was very wide, and the waves were\nboisterous. On the right brink was a thick forest of trees, with such\nheavy foliage that a little way off they looked like a bank, green and\nsmooth and steep; but as the light became clearer, Jack could see here\nand there the great stems, and see creatures like foxes, wild boars,\nand deer, come stealing down to drink in the river.\n\nIt was very hot here; not at all like the spring weather he had left\nbehind. And as the low sunbeams shone into Jack\u2019s face he said hastily,\nwithout thinking of what would occur, \u201cI wish I might land among those\nlovely glades on the left bank.\u201d\n\nNo sooner said than the boat began to make for the left bank, and the\nnearer they got towards it the more beautiful it became; but also the\nmore stormy were the reaches of water they had to traverse.\n\nA lovely country indeed! It sloped gently down to the water\u2019s edge,\nand beautiful trees were scattered over it, soft mossy grass grew\neverywhere, great old laburnum trees stretched their boughs down in\npatches over the water, and higher up camellias, almost as large as\nhawthorns, grew together and mingled their red and white flowers.\n\nThe country was not so open as a park, it was more like a half-cleared\nwoodland; but there was a wide space just where the boat was steering\nfor, that had no trees, only a few flowering shrubs. Here groups of\nstrange-looking people were bustling about, and there were shrill fifes\nsounding, and drums.\n\nFarther back he saw rows of booths or tents under the shade of the\ntrees.\n\nIn another place some people dressed like gipsies had made fires of\nsticks just at the skirts of the woodland, and were boiling their pots.\nSome of these had very gaudy tilted carts, hung all over with goods,\nsuch as baskets, brushes, mats, little glasses, pottery, and beads.\n\nIt seemed to be a kind of fair, to which people had gathered from all\nparts; but there was not one house to be seen. All the goods were\neither hung upon the trees or collected in strange-looking tents.\n\nThe people were not all of the same race; indeed, he thought the only\nhuman beings were the gipsies, for the folks who had tents were no\ntaller than himself.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cWHAT\u2019LL YOU BUY?--WHAT\u2019LL YOU BUY, SIR?\u201d]\n\nHow hot it was that morning! and as the boat pushed itself into a\nlittle creek, and made its way among the beds of yellow and purple\niris which skirted the brink, what a crowd of dragonflies and large\nbutterflies rose from them!\n\n\u201cStay where you are!\u201d cried Jack to the boat; and at that instant such\na splendid moth rose slowly, that he sprang on shore after it, and\nquite forgot the fair and the people in his desire to follow it.\n\nThe moth settled on a great red honey-flower, and he stole up to look\nat it. As large as a swallow, it floated on before him. Its wings were\nnearly black, and they had spots of gold on them.\n\nWhen it rose again Jack ran after it, till he found himself close to\nthe rows of tents where the brown people stood; and they began to\ncry out to him, \u201cWhat\u2019ll you buy? what\u2019ll you buy, sir?\u201d and they\ncrowded about him, so that he soon lost sight of the moth, and forgot\neverything else in his surprise at the booths.\n\nThey were full of splendid things--clocks and musical boxes, strange\nchina ornaments, embroidered slippers, red caps, and many kinds of\nsplendid silks and small carpets. In other booths were swords and\ndirks, glittering with jewels; and the chatter of the people when they\ntalked together was not in a language that Jack could understand.\n\nSome of the booths were square, and evidently made of common canvas,\nfor when you went into them and the sun shone you could distinctly see\nthe threads.\n\nBut scattered a little farther on in groups were some round tents,\nwhich were far more curious. They were open on all sides, and consisted\nonly of a thick canopy overhead, which was supported by one beautiful\nround pillar in the middle.\n\nOutside, the canopy was white or brownish; but when Jack stood under\nthese tents, he saw that they were lined with splendid flutings of\nbrown or pink silk: what looked like silk, at least, for it was\nimpossible to be sure whether these were real tents or gigantic\nmushrooms.\n\nThey varied in size, also, as mushrooms do, and in shape: some were\nlarge enough for twenty people to stand under them, and had flat tops\nwith a brown lining; others had dome-shaped roofs; these were lined\nwith pink, and would only shelter six or seven.\n\nThe people who sold in these tents were as strange as their neighbours;\neach had a little high cap on his head, in shape just like a bee-hive,\nand it was made of straw, and had a little hole in front. In fact, Jack\nvery soon saw bees flying in and out, and it was evident that these\npeople had their honey made on the premises. They were chiefly selling\ncountry produce. They had cheeses so large as to reach to their waists,\nand the women trundled them along as boys do their hoops. They sold\na great many kinds of seed too, in wooden bowls, and cakes and good\nthings to eat, such as gilt gingerbread. Jack bought some of this, and\nfound it very nice indeed. But when he took out his money to pay for\nit, the little man looked rather strangely at it, and turned it over\nwith an air of disgust. Then Jack saw him hand it to his wife, who also\nseemed to dislike it; and presently Jack observed that they followed\nhim about, first on one side, then on the other. At last, the little\nwoman slipped her hand into his pocket, and Jack, putting his hand in\ndirectly, found his sixpence had been returned.\n\n\u201cWhy, you\u2019ve given me back my money!\u201d he said.\n\nThe little woman put her hands behind her. \u201cI do not like it,\u201d she\nsaid; \u201cit\u2019s dirty; at least, it\u2019s not new.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, it\u2019s not new,\u201d said Jack, a good deal surprised, \u201cbut it is a good\nsixpence.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe bees don\u2019t like it,\u201d continued the little woman. \u201cThey like things\nto be neat and new, and that sixpence is bent.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat shall I give you then?\u201d said Jack.\n\nThe good little woman laughed and blushed. \u201cThis young gentleman has a\nbeautiful whistle round his neck,\u201d she observed, politely, but did not\nask for it.\n\nJack had a dog-whistle, so he took it off and gave it to her.\n\n\u201cThank you for the bees,\u201d she said. \u201cThey love to be called home when\nwe\u2019ve collected flowers for them.\u201d\n\nSo she made a pretty little curtsey, and went away to her customers.\n\nThere were some very strange creatures also, about the same height as\nJack, who had no tents, and seemed there to buy, not to sell. Yet they\nlooked poorer than the other folks and they were also very cross and\ndiscontented; nothing pleased them. Their clothes were made of moss,\nand their mantles of feathers; and they talked in a queer whistling\ntone of voice, and carried their skinny little children on their backs\nand on their shoulders.\n\nThey were treated with great respect by the people in the tents; and\nwhen Jack asked his friend to whom he had given the whistle what they\nwere, and where they got so much money as they had, she replied that\nthey lived over the hills, and were afraid to come in their best\nclothes. They were rich and powerful at home, and they came shabbily\ndressed, and behaved humbly, lest their enemies should envy them. It\nwas very dangerous, she said, to fairies to be envied.\n\nJack wanted to listen to their strange whistling talk, but he could\nnot for the noise and cheerful chattering of the brown folks, and more\nstill for the screaming and talking of parrots.\n\nAmong the goods were hundreds of splendid gilt cages, which were hung\nby long gold chains from the trees. Each cage contained a parrot and\nhis mate, and they all seemed to be very unhappy indeed.\n\nThe parrot could talk, and they kept screaming to the discontented\nwomen to buy things for them, and trying very hard to attract attention.\n\nOne old parrot made himself quite conspicuous by these efforts. He\nflung himself against the wires of his cage, he squalled, he screamed,\nhe knocked the floor with his beak, till Jack and one of the customers\ncame running up to see what was the matter.\n\n\u201cWhat do you make such a fuss for?\u201d cried the discontented woman.\n\u201cYou\u2019ve set your cage swinging with knocking yourself about; and what\ngood does that do? I cannot break the spell and open it for you.\u201d\n\n\u201cI know that,\u201d answered the parrot, sobbing; \u201cbut it hurts my feelings\nso that you should take no notice of me now that I have come down in\nthe world.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the parrot\u2019s mate, \u201cit hurts our feelings.\u201d\n\n\u201cI haven\u2019t forgotten you,\u201d answered the woman, more crossly than ever;\n\u201cI was buying a measure of maize for you when you began to make such a\nnoise.\u201d\n\nJack thought this was the queerest conversation he had ever heard in\nhis life, and he was still more surprised when the bird answered:\n\n\u201cI would much rather you would buy me a pocket-handkerchief. Here we\nare, shut up, without a chance of getting out, and with nobody to pity\nus; and we can\u2019t even have the comfort of crying, because we\u2019ve got\nnothing to wipe our eyes with.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut at least,\u201d replied the woman, \u201cyou CAN cry now if you please, and\nwhen you had your other face you could not.\u201d\n\n\u201cBuy me a handkerchief,\u201d sobbed the parrot.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t afford both,\u201d whined the cross woman, \u201cand I\u2019ve paid now for\nthe maize.\u201d So saying, she went back to the tent to fetch her present\nto the parrots, and as their cage was still swinging Jack put out his\nhand to steady it for them, and the instant he did so they became\nperfectly silent, and all the other parrots on that tree, who had been\nflinging themselves about in their cages, left off screaming and became\nsilent too.\n\nThe old parrot looked very cunning. His cage hung by such a long gold\nchain that it was just on a level with Jack\u2019s face, and so many odd\nthings had happened that day that it did not seem more odd than usual\nto hear him say, in a tone of great astonishment:\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a BOY, if ever there was one!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Jack, \u201cI\u2019m a boy.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou won\u2019t go yet, will you?\u201d said the parrot.\n\n\u201cNo, don\u2019t,\u201d said a great many other parrots. Jack agreed to stay a\nlittle while, upon which they all thanked him.\n\n\u201cI had no notion you were a boy till you touched my cage,\u201d said the old\nparrot.\n\nJack did not know how this could have told him, so he only answered,\n\u201cIndeed!\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m a fairy,\u201d observed the parrot, in a confidential tone. \u201cWe are\nimprisoned here by our enemies the gipsies.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo we are,\u201d answered a chorus of other parrots.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry for that,\u201d replied Jack. \u201cI\u2019m friends with the fairies.\u201d\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t tell,\u201d said the parrot, drawing a film over his eyes, and\npretending to be asleep. At that moment his friend in the moss\npetticoat and feather cloak came up with a little measure of maize, and\npoured it into the cage.\n\n\u201cHere, neighbour,\u201d she said; \u201cI must say good-bye now, for the gipsy is\ncoming this way, and I want to buy some of her goods.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, thank you,\u201d answered the parrot, sobbing again; \u201cbut I could\nhave wished it had been a pocket-handkerchief.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll lend you my handkerchief,\u201d said Jack. \u201cHere!\u201d And he drew it out\nand pushed it between the wires.\n\nThe parrot and his wife were in a great hurry to get Jack\u2019s\nhandkerchief. They pulled it in very hastily; but instead of using it\nthey rolled it up into a ball, and the parrot-wife tucked it under her\nwing.\n\n\u201cIt makes me tremble all over,\u201d said she, \u201cto think of such good luck.\u201d\n\n\u201cI say!\u201d observed the parrot to Jack, \u201cI know all about it now. You\u2019ve\ngot some of my people in your pockets--not of my own tribe, but\nfairies.\u201d\n\nBy this Jack was sure that the parrot really was a fairy himself, and\nhe listened to what he had to say the more attentively.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nThe Parrot in his Shawl\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n            \u201cThat handkerchief\n    Did an Egyptian to my mother give:\n    She was a charmer, and could almost read\n    The thoughts of people.\u201d--_Othello._\n\n\u201cThat gipsy woman who is coming with her cart,\u201d said the parrot, \u201cis a\nfairy too, and very malicious. It was she and others of her tribe who\ncaught us and put us into these cages, for they are more powerful than\nwe. Mind you do not let her allure you into the woods, nor wheedle you\nor frighten you into giving her any of those fairies.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Jack; \u201cI will not.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe sold us to the brown people,\u201d continued the parrot. \u201cMind you do\nnot buy anything of her, for your money in her palm would act as a\ncharm against you.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe has a baby,\u201d observed the parrot-wife, scornfully.\n\n\u201cYes, a baby,\u201d repeated the old parrot; \u201cand I hope by means of that\nbaby to get her driven away, and perhaps get free myself. I shall try\nto put her in a passion. Here she comes.\u201d\n\nThere she was indeed, almost close at hand. She had a little cart; her\ngoods were hung all about it, and a small horse drew it slowly on, and\nstopped when she got a customer.\n\nSeveral gipsy children were with her, and as the people came running\ntogether over the grass to see her goods, she sang a curious kind of\nsong, which made them wish to buy them.\n\nJack turned from the parrot\u2019s cage as she came up. He had heard her\nsinging a little way off, and now, before she began again, he felt that\nalready her searching eyes had found him out, and taken notice that he\nwas different from the other people.\n\nWhen she began to sing her selling song, he felt a most curious\nsensation. He felt as if there were some cobwebs before his face,\nand he put up his hand as if to clear them away. There were no real\ncobwebs, of course; and yet he again felt as if they floated from the\ngipsy-woman to him, like gossamer threads, and attracted him towards\nher. So he gazed at her, and she at him, till Jack began to forget how\nthe parrot had warned him.\n\nHe saw her baby too, wondered whether it was heavy for her to carry,\nand wished he could help her. I mean, he saw that she had a baby on her\narm. It was wrapped in a shawl, and had a handkerchief over its face.\nShe seemed very fond of it, for she kept hushing it; and Jack softly\nmoved nearer and nearer to the cart, till the gipsy-woman smiled, and\nsuddenly began to sing:\n\n    \u201cMy good man--he\u2019s an old, old man--\n      And my good man got a fall,\n    To buy me a bargain so fast he ran\n      When he heard the gipsies call:\n          \u2018Buy, buy brushes,\n          Baskets wrought o\u2019 rushes.\n          Buy them, buy them, take them, try them,\n                Buy, dames all.\u2019\n\n    \u201cMy old man, he has money and land,\n      And a young, young wife am I.\n    Let him put the penny in my white hand\n      When he hears the gipsies cry:\n          \u2018Buy, buy laces,\n          Veils to screen your faces.\n          Buy them, buy them, take and try them,\n                Buy, maids, buy.\u2019\u201d\n\nWhen the gipsy had finished her song, Jack felt as if he was covered\nall over with cobwebs; but he could not move away, and he did not mind\nthem now. All his wish was to please her, and get close to her; so when\nshe said, in a soft wheedling voice, \u201cWhat will you please to buy,\nmy pretty gentleman?\u201d he was just going to answer that he would buy\nanything she recommended, when, to his astonishment and displeasure,\nfor he thought it very rude, the parrot suddenly burst into a violent\nfit of coughing, which made all the customers stare. \u201cThat\u2019s to clear\nmy throat,\u201d he said, in a most impertinent tone of voice; and then\nhe began to beat time with his foot, and sing, or rather scream out,\nan extremely saucy imitation of the gipsy\u2019s song, and all his parrot\nfriends in the other cages joined in the chorus.\n\n    \u201cMy fair lady\u2019s a dear, dear lady--\n      I walked by her side to woo.\n    In a garden alley, so sweet and shady,\n      She answered, \u2018I love not you,\n          John, John Brady,\u2019\n          Quoth my dear lady,\n    \u2018Pray now, pray now, go your way now,\n          Do, John, do!\u2019\u201d\n\nAt first the gipsy did not seem to know where that mocking song came\nfrom, but when she discovered that it was her prisoner, the old parrot,\nwho was thus daring to imitate her, she stood silent and glared at\nhim, and her face was almost white with rage.\n\nWhen he came to the end of the verse he pretended to burst into a\nviolent fit of sobbing and crying, and screeched out to his wife,\n\u201cMate! mate! hand up my handkerchief. Oh! oh! it\u2019s so affecting, this\nsong is.\u201d\n\nUpon this the other parrot pulled Jack\u2019s handkerchief from under her\nwing, hobbled up, and began, with a great show of zeal, to wipe his\nhorny beak with it. But this was too much for the gipsy; she took a\nlarge brush from her cart, and flung it at the cage with all her might.\n\nThis set it violently swinging backwards and forwards, but did not stop\nthe parrot, who screeched out, \u201cHow delightful it is to be swung!\u201d And\nthen he began to sing another verse in the most impudent tone possible,\nand with a voice that seemed to ring through Jack\u2019s head, and almost\npierce it.\n\n    \u201cYet my fair lady\u2019s my own, own lady,\n      For I passed another day;\n    While making her moan, she sat all alone,\n      And thus and thus did she say:\n          \u2018John, John Brady,\u2019\n          Quoth my dear lady,\n    \u2018Do now, do now, once more woo now,\n          Pray, John, pray!\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s beautiful!\u201d screeched the parrot-wife, \u201cand so ap-pro-pri-ate.\u201d\nJack was delighted when she managed slowly to say this long word\nwith her black tongue, and he burst out laughing. In the meantime a\ngood many of the brown people came running together, attracted by the\nnoise of the parrots and the rage of the gipsy, who flung at his cage,\none after the other, all the largest things she had in her cart. But\nnothing did the parrot any harm; the more violently his cage swung, the\nlouder he sang, till at last the wicked gipsy seized her poor little\nyoung baby, who was lying in her arms, rushed frantically at the cage\nas it flew swiftly through the air towards her, and struck at it with\nthe little creature\u2019s head. \u201cOh, you cruel, cruel woman!\u201d cried Jack,\nand all the small mothers who were standing near with their skinny\nchildren on their shoulders screamed out with terror and indignation;\nbut only for one instant, for the handkerchief flew off that had\ncovered its face, and was caught in the wires of the cage, and all the\npeople saw that it was not a real baby at all, but a bundle of clothes,\nand its head was a turnip.\n\nYes, a turnip! You could see that as plainly as possible, for though\nthe green leaves had been cut off, their stalks were visible through\nthe lace cap that had been tied on it.\n\nUpon this all the crowd pressed closer, throwing her baskets, and\nbrushes, and laces, and beads at the gipsy, and calling out, \u201cWe will\nhave none of your goods, you false woman! Give us back our money, or we\nwill drive you out of the fair. You\u2019ve stuck a stick into a turnip, and\ndressed it up in baby clothes. You\u2019re a cheat! a cheat!\u201d\n\n\u201cMy sweet gentlemen, my kind ladies,\u201d began the gipsy; but baskets and\nbrushes flew at her so fast that she was obliged to sit down on the\ngrass and hold up the sham baby to screen her face.\n\nWhile this was going on, Jack felt that the cobwebs which had seemed\nto float about his face were all gone; he did not care at all any more\nabout the gipsy, and began to watch the parrots with great attention.\n\nHe observed that when the handkerchief stuck between the cage wires,\nthe parrots caught it, and drew it inside; and then Jack saw the\ncunning old bird himself lay it on the floor, fold it crosswise like a\nshawl, and put it on his wife.\n\nThen she jumped upon the perch, and held it with one foot, looking\nprecisely like an old lady with a parrot\u2019s head. Then he folded Jack\u2019s\nhandkerchief in the same way, put it on, and got upon the perch beside\nhis wife, screaming out, in his most piercing tone:\n\n\u201cI like shawls; they\u2019re so becoming.\u201d\n\nNow the gipsy did not care at all what those inferior people thought of\nher, and she was calmly counting out their money, to return it; but\nshe was very desirous to make Jack forget her behaviour, and had begun\nto smile again, and tell him she had only been joking, when the parrot\nspoke, and, looking up, she saw the two birds sitting side by side, and\nthe parrot-wife was screaming in her mate\u2019s ear, though neither of them\nwas at all deaf:\n\n\u201cIf Jack lets her allure him into the woods, he\u2019ll never come out\nagain. She\u2019ll hang him up in a cage, as she did us. I say, how does my\nshawl fit?\u201d\n\nSo saying, the parrot-wife whisked herself round on the perch, and\nlo! in the corner of the handkerchief were seen some curious letters,\nmarked in red. When the crowd saw these, they drew a little farther\noff, and glanced at one another with alarm.\n\n\u201cYou look charming, my dear; it fits well!\u201d screamed the old parrot in\nanswer. \u201cA word in your ear, \u2018Share and share alike\u2019 is a fine motto.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean by all this?\u201d said the gipsy, rising, and going with\nslow steps to the cage, and speaking cautiously.\n\n\u201cJack,\u201d said the parrot, \u201cdo they ever eat handkerchiefs in your part\nof the country?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, never,\u201d answered Jack.\n\n\u201cHold your tongue and be reasonable,\u201d said the gipsy, trembling. \u201cWhat\ndo you want? I\u2019ll do it, whatever it is.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut do they never pick out the marks?\u201d continued the parrot. \u201cO Jack!\nare you sure they never pick out the marks?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe marks?\u201d said Jack, considering. \u201cYes, perhaps they do.\u201d\n\n\u201cStop!\u201d cried the gipsy, as the old parrot made a peck at the strange\nletters. \u201cOh! you\u2019re hurting me. What do you want? I say again, tell me\nwhat you want, and you shall have it.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe want to get out,\u201d replied the parrot; \u201cyou must undo the spell.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen give me my handkerchief,\u201d answered the gipsy, \u201cto bandage my\neyes. I dare not say the words with my eyes open. You had no business\nto steal it. It was woven by human hands, so that nobody can see\nthrough it; and if you don\u2019t give it to me, you\u2019ll never get out--no,\nnever!\u201d\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d said the old parrot, tossing his shawl off, \u201cyou may have\nJack\u2019s handkerchief; it will bandage your eyes just as well. It was\nwoven over the water, as yours was.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt won\u2019t do!\u201d cried the gipsy in terror; \u201cgive me my own.\u201d\n\n\u201cI tell you,\u201d answered the parrot, \u201cthat you shall have Jack\u2019s\nhandkerchief; you can do no harm with that.\u201d\n\nBy this time the parrots all around had become perfectly silent, and\nnone of the people ventured to say a word, for they feared the malice\nof the gipsy. She was trembling dreadfully, and her dark eyes, which\nhad been so bright and piercing, had become dull and almost dim; but\nwhen she found there was no help for it, she said:\n\n\u201cWell, pass out Jack\u2019s handkerchief. I will set you free if you will\nbring out mine with you.\u201d\n\n\u201cShare and share alike,\u201d answered the parrot; \u201cyou must let all my\nfriends out too.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I won\u2019t let you out,\u201d answered the gipsy. \u201cYou shall come out\nfirst, and give me my handkerchief, or not one of their cages will I\nundo. So take your choice.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy friends, then,\u201d answered the brave old parrot; and he poked Jack\u2019s\nhandkerchief out to her through the wires.\n\nThe wondering crowd stood by to look, and the gipsy bandaged her eyes\ntightly with the handkerchief; and then, stooping low, she began to\nmurmur something and clap her hands--softly at first, but by degrees\nmore and more violently. The noise was meant to drown the words she\nmuttered; but as she went on clapping, the bottom of cage after cage\nfell clattering down. Out flew the parrots by hundreds, screaming and\ncongratulating one another; and there was such a deafening din that not\nonly the sound of her spell but the clapping of her hands was quite\nlost in it.\n\nBut all this time Jack was very busy; for the moment the gipsy had tied\nup her eyes, the old parrot snatched the real handkerchief off his\nwife\u2019s shoulders, and tied it round her neck. Then she pushed out her\nhead through the wires, and the old parrot called to Jack, and said,\n\u201cPull!\u201d\n\nJack took the ends of the handkerchief, pulled terribly hard, and\nstopped. \u201cGo on! go on!\u201d screamed the old parrot.\n\n\u201cI shall pull her head off,\u201d cried Jack.\n\n\u201cNo matter,\u201d cried the parrot; \u201cno matter--only pull.\u201d\n\nWell, Jack did pull, and he actually did pull her head off! nearly\ntumbling backward himself as he did it; but he saw what the whole thing\nmeant then, for there was another head inside--a fairy\u2019s head.\n\nJack flung down the old parrot\u2019s head and great beak, for he saw that\nwhat he had to do was to clear the fairy of its parrot covering. The\npoor little creature seemed nearly dead, it was so terribly squeezed\nin the wires. It had a green gown or robe on, with an ermine collar;\nand Jack got hold of this dress, stripped the fairy out of the parrot\nfeathers, and dragged her through--velvet robe, and crimson girdle,\nand little yellow shoes. She was very much exhausted, but a kind brown\nwoman took her instantly, and laid her in her bosom. She was a splendid\nlittle creature, about half a foot long.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a brave boy!\u201d cried the parrot. Jack glanced round, and saw\nthat not all the parrots were free yet, the gipsy was still muttering\nher spell.\n\nHe returned the handkerchief to the parrot, who put it round his own\nneck, and again Jack pulled. But oh! what a tough old parrot that was,\nand how Jack tugged before his cunning head would come off! It did,\nhowever, at last; and just as a fine fairy was pulled through, leaving\nhis parrot skin and the handkerchief behind him, the gipsy untied her\neyes, and saw what Jack had done.\n\n\u201cGive me my handkerchief!\u201d she screamed in despair.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s in the cage, gipsy,\u201d answered Jack; \u201cyou can get it yourself. Say\nyour words again.\u201d\n\nBut the gipsy\u2019s spell would only open places where she had confined\nfairies, and no fairies were in the cage now.\n\n\u201cNo, no, no!\u201d she screamed; \u201ctoo late! Hide me! O good people, hide me!\u201d\n\nBut it was indeed too late. The parrots had been wheeling in the air,\nhundreds and hundreds of them, high above her head; and as she ceased\nspeaking, she fell shuddering on the ground, drew her cloak over her\nface, and down they came, swooping in one immense flock, and settled so\nthickly all over her that she was completely covered; from her shoes to\nher head not an atom of her was to be seen.\n\nAll the people stood gravely looking on. So did Jack, but he could not\nsee much for the fluttering of the parrots, nor hear anything for their\nscreaming voices; but at last he made one of the cross people hear when\nhe shouted to her, \u201cWhat are they going to do to the poor gipsy?\u201d\n\n\u201cMake her take her other form,\u201d she replied; \u201cand then she cannot hurt\nus while she stays in our country. She is a fairy, as we have just\nfound out, and all fairies have two forms.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said Jack; but he had no time for more questions.\n\nThe screaming, and fighting, and tossing about of little bits of cloth\nand cotton ceased; a black lump heaved itself up from the ground among\nthe parrots; and as they flew aside, an ugly great condor, with a bare\nneck, spread out its wings, and, skimming the ground, sailed slowly\naway.\n\n\u201cThey have pecked her so that she can hardly rise,\u201d exclaimed the\nparrot fairy. \u201cSet me on your shoulder, Jack, and let me see the end of\nit.\u201d\n\nJack set him there; and his little wife, who had recovered herself,\nsprang from her friend the brown woman, and sat on the other shoulder.\nHe then ran on--the tribe of brown people, and mushroom people, and\nthe feather-coated folks running too--after the great black bird, who\nskimmed slowly on before them till she got to the gipsy carts, when\nout rushed the gipsies, armed with poles, milking-stools, spades, and\neverything they could get hold of to beat back the people and the\nparrots from hunting their relation, who had folded her tired wings,\nand was skulking under a cart, with ruffled feathers and a scowling eye.\n\nJack was so frightened at the violent way in which the gipsies and the\nother tribes were knocking each other about, that he ran off, thinking\nhe had seen enough of such a dangerous country.\n\nAs he passed the place where that evil-minded gipsy had been changed,\nhe found the ground strewed with little bits of her clothes. Many\nparrots were picking them up, and poking them into the cage where the\nhandkerchief was; and presently another parrot came with a lighted\nbrand, which she had pulled from one of the gipsies\u2019 fires.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d said the fairy on Jack\u2019s shoulder, when he saw his\nfriend push the brand between the wires of what had been his cage, and\nset the gipsy\u2019s handkerchief on fire, and all the bits of her clothes\nwith it. \u201cShe won\u2019t find much of herself here,\u201d he observed, as Jack\nwent on. \u201cIt will not be very easy to put herself together again.\u201d\n\nSo Jack moved away. He was tired of the noise and confusion; and the\nsun was just setting as he reached the little creek where his boat lay.\n\nThen the parrot fairy and his wife sprang down, and kissed their hands\nto him as he stepped on board, and pushed the boat off. He saw, when\nhe looked back, that a great fight was still going on; so he was glad\nto get away, and he wished his two friends good-bye, and set off, the\nold parrot fairy calling after him, \u201cMy relations have put some of our\nfavourite food on board for you.\u201d Then they again thanked him for his\ngood help, and sprang into a tree, and the boat began to go down the\nwonderful river.\n\n\u201cThis has been a most extraordinary day,\u201d thought Jack; \u201cthe strangest\nday I have had yet.\u201d And after he had eaten a good supper of what the\nparrots had brought, he felt so tired and sleepy that he lay down in\nthe boat, and presently fell fast asleep. His fairies were sound asleep\ntoo in his pockets, and nothing happened of the least consequence; so\nhe slept comfortably till morning.\n\n[Illustration: A great fight was still going on.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nThe Town with Nobody in it\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n    \u201c\u2018Master,\u2019 quoth the auld hound,\n      \u2018Where will ye go?\u2019\n    \u2018Over moss, over muir,\n      To court my new jo.\u2019\n    \u2018Master, though the night be merk,\n      I\u2019se follow through the snow.\n\n    \u201c\u2018Court her, master, court her,\n      So shall ye do weel;\n    But and ben she\u2019ll guide the house,\n      I\u2019se get milk and meal.\n    Ye\u2019se get lilting while she sits\n      With her rock and reel.\u2019\n\n    \u201c\u2018For, oh! she has a sweet tongue,\n      And een that look down,\n    A gold girdle for her waist,\n      And a purple gown.\n    She has a good word forbye\n      Fra a\u2019 folk in the town.\u2019\u201d\n\nSoon after sunrise they came to a great city, and it was perfectly\nstill. There were grand towers and terraces, wharves, too, and a large\nmarket, but there was nobody anywhere to be seen. Jack thought that\nmight be because it was so early in the morning; and when the boat ran\nitself up against a wooden wharf and stopped, he jumped ashore, for he\nthought this must be the end of his journey. A delightful town it was,\nif only there had been any people in it! The market-place was full of\nstalls, on which were spread toys, baskets, fruit, butter, vegetables,\nand all the other things that are usually sold in a market.\n\nJack walked about in it. Then he looked in at the open doors of the\nhouses, and at last, finding that they were all empty, he walked\ninto one, looked at the rooms, examined the picture-books, rang the\nbells, and set the musical-boxes going. Then, after he had shouted a\ngood deal, and tried in vain to make some one hear, he went back to\nthe edge of the river where his boat was lying, and the water was so\ndelightfully clear and calm, that he thought he would bathe. So he\ntook off his clothes, and folding them very carefully, so as not to\nhurt the fairies, laid them down beside a haycock, and went in, and\nran about and paddled for a long time--much longer than there was any\noccasion for; but then he had nothing to do.\n\nWhen at last he had finished, he ran to the haycock, and began to dress\nhimself; but he could not find his stockings, and after looking about\nfor some time he was obliged to put on his clothes without them, and\nhe was going to put his boots on his bare feet, when, walking to the\nother side of the haycock, he saw a little old woman about as large as\nhimself. She had a pair of spectacles on, and she was knitting.\n\nShe looked so sweet tempered that Jack asked her if she knew anything\nabout his stockings.\n\n\u201cIt will be time enough to ask for them when you have had your\nbreakfast,\u201d said she. \u201cSit down. Welcome to our town. How do you like\nit?\u201d\n\n\u201cI should like it very much indeed,\u201d said Jack, \u201cif there was anybody\nin it.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m glad of that,\u201d said the woman. \u201cYou\u2019ve seen a good deal of it; but\nit pleases me to find that you are a very honest boy. You did not take\nanything at all. I am honest too.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Jack, \u201cof course you are.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd as I am pleased with you for being honest,\u201d continued the little\nwoman, \u201cI shall give you some breakfast out of my basket.\u201d So she took\nout a saucer full of honey, a roll of bread, and a cup of milk.\n\n\u201cThank you,\u201d said Jack, \u201cbut I am not a beggar-boy; I have got a\nhalf-crown, a shilling, a sixpence, and two pence; so I can buy this\nbreakfast of you, if you like. You look very poor.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo I?\u201d said the little woman, softly; and she went on knitting, and\nJack began to eat the breakfast.\n\n\u201cI wonder what has become of my stockings,\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cYou will never see them any more,\u201d said the old woman. \u201cI threw them\ninto the river, and they floated away.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy did you?\u201d asked Jack.\n\nThe little woman took no notice; but presently she had finished a\nbeautiful pair of stockings, and she handed them to Jack, and said:\n\n\u201cIs that like the pair you lost?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh no,\u201d said Jack, \u201cthese are much more beautiful stockings than mine.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you like them as well?\u201d asked the fairy woman.\n\n\u201cI like them much better,\u201d said Jack, putting them on. \u201cHow clever you\nare!\u201d\n\n\u201cWould you like to wear these,\u201d said the woman, \u201cinstead of yours?\u201d\n\nShe gave Jack such a strange look when she said this, that he was\nafraid to take them, and answered:\n\n\u201cI shouldn\u2019t like to wear them if you think I had better not.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d she answered, \u201cI am very honest, as I told you; and therefore I\nam obliged to say that if I were you I would not wear those stockings\non any account.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d said Jack; for she looked so sweet tempered that he could\nnot help trusting her.\n\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d repeated the fairy; \u201cwhy, because when you have those\nstockings on, your feet belong to me.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said Jack. \u201cWell, if you think that matters, I\u2019ll take them off\nagain. Do you think it matters?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the fairy woman; \u201cit matters, because I am a slave, and my\nmaster can make me do whatever he pleases, for I am completely in his\npower. So, if he found out that I had knitted those stockings for you,\nhe would make me order you to walk into his mill--the mill which grinds\nthe corn for the town; and there you would have to grind and grind till\nI got free again.\u201d\n\nWhen Jack heard this, he pulled off the beautiful stockings, and laid\nthem on the old woman\u2019s lap. Upon this she burst out crying, as if her\nheart would break.\n\n\u201cIf my fairies that I have in my pocket would only wake,\u201d said Jack,\n\u201cI would fight your master; for if he is no bigger than you are,\nperhaps I could beat him, and get you away.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, Jack,\u201d said the little woman; \u201cthat would be of no use. The only\nthing you could do would be to buy me; for my cruel master has said\nthat if ever I am late again he shall sell me in the slave-market to\nthe brown people, who work underground. And, though I am dreadfully\nafraid of my master, I mean to be late to-day, in hopes (as you\nare kind, and as you have some money) that you will come to the\nslave-market and buy me. Can you buy me, Jack, to be your slave?\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t want a slave,\u201d said Jack; \u201cand, besides, I have hardly any\nmoney to buy you with.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut it is real money,\u201d said the fairy woman, \u201cnot like what my master\nhas. His money has to be made every week, for if there comes a hot day\nit cracks, so it never has time to look old, as your half-crown does;\nand that is how we know the real money, for we cannot imitate anything\nthat is old. Oh, now, now it is twelve o\u2019clock! now I am late again!\nand though I said I would do it, I am so frightened!\u201d\n\nSo saying, the little woman ran off towards the town, wringing her\nhands, and Jack ran beside her.\n\n\u201cHow am I to find your master?\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cO Jack, buy me! buy me!\u201d cried the fairy woman. \u201cYou will find me in\nthe slave-market. Bid high for me. Go back and put your boots on, and\nbid high.\u201d\n\nNow Jack had nothing on his feet, so he left the poor little woman to\nrun into the town by herself, and went back to put his boots on. They\nwere very uncomfortable, as he had no stockings; but he did not much\nmind that, and he counted his money. There was the half-crown that\nhis grandmamma had given him on his birthday, there was a shilling, a\nsixpence, and two pence, besides a silver four-penny-piece which he had\nforgotten. He then marched into the town; and now it was quite full of\npeople--all of them little men and women about his own height. They\nthought he was somebody of consequence, and they called out to him to\nbuy their goods. And he bought some stockings, and said, \u201cWhat I want\nto buy now is a slave.\u201d\n\nSo they showed him the way to the slave-market, and there whole rows of\nodd-looking little people were sitting, while in front of them stood\nthe slaves.\n\nNow Jack had observed as he came along how very disrespectful the dogs\nof that town were to the people. They had a habit of going up to them\nand smelling at their legs, and even gnawing their feet as they sat\nbefore the little tables selling their wares; and what made this more\nsurprising was that the people did not always seem to find out when\nthey were being gnawed. But the moment the dogs saw Jack they came\nand fawned on him, and two old hounds followed him all the way to the\nslave-market; and when he took a seat one of them laid down at his\nfeet, and said, \u201cMaster, set your handsome feet on my back, that they\nmay be out of the dust.\u201d\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid of him,\u201d said the other hound; \u201che won\u2019t gnaw your\nfeet. He knows well enough that they are real ones.\u201d\n\n\u201cAre the other people\u2019s feet not real?\u201d asked Jack.\n\n\u201cOf course not,\u201d said the hound. \u201cThey had a feud long ago with the\nfairies, and they all went one night into a great cornfield which\nbelonged to these enemies of theirs, intending to steal the corn. So\nthey made themselves invisible, as they are always obliged to do till\ntwelve o\u2019clock at noon; but before morning dawn, the wheat being quite\nripe, down came the fairies with their sickles, surrounded the field,\nand cut the corn. So all their legs of course got cut off with it, for\nwhen they are invisible they cannot stir. Ever since that they have\nbeen obliged to make their legs of wood.\u201d\n\nWhile the hound was telling this story Jack looked about, but he did\nnot see one slave who was in the least like his poor little friend,\nand he was beginning to be afraid that he should not find her, when he\nheard two people talking together.\n\n\u201cGood day!\u201d said one. \u201cSo you have sold that good-for-nothing slave of\nyours?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d answered a very cross-looking old man. \u201cShe was late again\nthis morning, and came to me crying and praying to be forgiven; but\nI was determined to make an example of her, so I sold her at once to\nClink-of-the-Hole, and he has just driven her away to work in his mine.\u201d\n\nJack, on hearing this, whispered to the hound at his feet, \u201cIf you will\nguide me to Clink\u2019s hole, you shall be my dog.\u201d\n\n\u201cMaster, I will do my best,\u201d answered the hound; and he stole softly\nout of the market, Jack following him.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cMaster, I will do my best,\u201d answered the hound.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nHALF-A-CROWN\n\n[Illustration: CLINK-OF-THE-HOLE.]\n\n\n    \u201cSo useful it is to have money, heigh ho!\n      So useful it is to have money!\u201d\n\n    A. H. CLOUGH.\n\nThe old hound went straight through the town, smelling Clink\u2019s\nfootsteps, till he came into a large field of barley; and there,\nsitting against a sheaf, for it was harvest time, they found\nClink-of-the-Hole. He was a very ugly little brown man, and he was\nsmoking a pipe in the shade; while crouched near him was the poor\nlittle woman, with her hands spread before her face.\n\n\u201cGood day, sir,\u201d said Clink to Jack. \u201cYou are a stranger here, no\ndoubt?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Jack; \u201cI only arrived this morning.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you seen the town?\u201d asked Clink, civilly; \u201cthere is a very fine\nmarket.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I have seen the market,\u201d answered Jack. \u201cI went into it to buy a\nslave, but I did not see one that I liked.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said Clink; \u201cand yet they had some very fine articles.\u201d Here he\npointed to the poor little woman, and said, \u201cNow that\u2019s a useful body\nenough, and I had her very cheap.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat did you give for her?\u201d said Jack, sitting down.\n\n\u201cThree pitchers,\u201d said Clink, \u201cand fifteen cups and saucers, and two\nshillings in the money of the town.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs their money like this?\u201d said Jack, taking out his shilling.\n\nWhen Clink saw the shilling he changed colour, and said, very\nearnestly, \u201cWhere did you get that, dear sir?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, it was given me,\u201d said Jack, carelessly.\n\nClink looked hard at the shilling, and so did the fairy woman, and\nJack let them look some time, for he amused himself with throwing\nit up several times and catching it. At last he put it back in his\npocket, and then Clink heaved a deep sigh. Then Jack took out a penny,\nand began to toss that up, upon which, to his great surprise, the\nlittle brown man fell on his knees, and said, \u201cOh, a shilling and a\npenny--a shilling and a penny of mortal coin! What would I not give for\na shilling and a penny!\u201d\n\n[Illustration: THE LITTLE BROWN MAN FELL ON HIS KNEES AND SAID, \u201cOH, A\nSHILLING AND A PENNY.\u201d]\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t believe you have got anything to give,\u201d said Jack, cunningly;\n\u201cI see nothing but that ring on your finger, and the old woman.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I have a great many things at home, sir,\u201d said the brown\nman, wiping his eyes; \u201cand besides, that ring would be cheap at a\nshilling--even a shilling of mortal coin.\u201d\n\n\u201cWould the slave be cheap at a penny?\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cWould you give a penny for her, dear sir?\u201d inquired Clink, trembling\nwith eagerness.\n\n\u201cShe is honest,\u201d answered Jack; \u201cask her whether I had better buy her\nwith this penny.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt does not matter what she says,\u201d replied the brown man; \u201cI would\nsell twenty such as she is for a penny--a real one.\u201d\n\n\u201cAsk her,\u201d repeated Jack; and the poor little woman wept bitterly, but\nshe said \u201cNo.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d asked Jack; but she only hung down her head and cried.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll make you suffer for this,\u201d said the brown man. But when Jack took\nout the shilling, and said, \u201cShall I buy you with this, slave?\u201d his\neyes actually shot out sparks, he was so eager.\n\n\u201cSpeak!\u201d he said to the fairy woman; \u201cand if you don\u2019t say \u2018Yes,\u2019 I\u2019ll\nstrike you.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe cannot buy me with that,\u201d answered the fairy woman, \u201cunless it is\nthe most valuable coin he has got.\u201d\n\nThe brown man, on hearing this, rose up in a rage, and was just going\nto strike her a terrible blow, when Jack cried out, \u201cStop!\u201d and took\nout his half-crown.\n\n\u201cCan I buy you with this?\u201d said he; and the fairy woman answered, \u201cYes.\u201d\n\nUpon this Clink drew a long breath, and his eyes grew bigger and bigger\nas he gazed at the half-crown.\n\n\u201cShall she be my slave for ever, and not yours,\u201d said Jack, \u201cif I give\nyou this?\u201d\n\n\u201cShe shall,\u201d said the brown man. And he made such a low bow, as he took\nthe money, that his head actually knocked the ground. Then he jumped\nup; and, as if he was afraid Jack should repent of his bargain, he ran\noff towards the hole in the hill with all his might, shouting for joy\nas he went.\n\n\u201cSlave,\u201d said Jack, \u201cthat is a very ragged old apron that you have got,\nand your gown is quite worn out. Don\u2019t you think we had better spend my\nshilling in buying you some new clothes? You look so very shabby.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo I?\u201d said the fairy woman, gently. \u201cWell, master, you will do as you\nplease.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you know better than I do,\u201d said Jack, \u201cthough you are my slave.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou had better give me the shilling, then,\u201d answered the little old\nwoman; \u201cand then I advise you to go back to the boat, and wait there\ntill I come.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d said Jack; \u201ccan you go all the way back into the town again? I\nthink you must be tired, for you know you are so very old.\u201d\n\nThe fairy woman laughed when Jack said this, and she had such a sweet\nlaugh that he loved to hear it; but she took the shilling, and trudged\noff to the town, and he went back to the boat, his hound running after\nhim.\n\nHe was a long time going, for he ran a good many times after\nbutterflies, and then he climbed up several trees; and altogether he\namused himself for such a long while that when he reached the boat his\nfairy woman was there before him. So he stepped on board, the hound\nfollowed, and the boat immediately began to swim on.\n\n\u201cWhy, you have not bought any new clothes!\u201d said Jack to his slave.\n\n\u201cNo, master,\u201d answered the fairy woman; \u201cbut I have bought what I\nwanted.\u201d And she took out of her pocket a little tiny piece of purple\nribbon, with a gold-coloured satin edge, and a very small tortoiseshell\ncomb.\n\nWhen Jack saw these he was vexed, and said, \u201cWhat do you mean by being\nso silly? I can\u2019t scold you properly, because I don\u2019t know what name to\ncall you by, and I don\u2019t like to say \u2018Slave,\u2019 because that sounds so\nrude. Why, this bit of ribbon is such a little bit that it\u2019s of no use\nat all. It\u2019s not large enough even to make one mitten of.\u201d\n\n\u201cIsn\u2019t it?\u201d said the slave. \u201cJust take hold of it, master, and let us\nsee if it will stretch.\u201d\n\nSo Jack did. And she pulled, and he pulled, and very soon the silk had\nstretched till it was nearly as large as a handkerchief; and then she\nshook it, and they pulled again. \u201cThis is very good fun,\u201d said Jack;\n\u201cwhy now it is as large as an apron.\u201d\n\nSo she shook it again, and gave it a twitch here and a pat there; and\nthen they pulled again, and the silk suddenly stretched so wide that\nJack was very nearly falling overboard. So Jack\u2019s slave pulled off her\nragged gown and apron, and put it on. It was a most beautiful robe of\npurple silk, it had a gold border, and it just fitted her.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cMASTER, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?\u201d]\n\n\u201cThat will do,\u201d she said. And then she took out the little\ntortoiseshell comb, pulled off her cap, and threw it into the river.\nShe had a little knot of soft grey hair, and she let it down, and began\nto comb. And as she combed the hair got much longer and thicker, till\nit fell in waves all about her throat. Then she combed again, and it\nall turned gold colour, and came tumbling down to her waist; and then\nshe stood up in the boat, and combed once more, and shook out the hair,\nand there was such a quantity that it reached down to her feet, and she\nwas so covered with it that you could not see one bit of her, excepting\nher eyes, which peeped out, and looked bright and full of tears.\n\nThen she began to gather up her lovely locks; and when she had dried\nher eyes with them, she said, \u201cMaster, do you know what you have done?\nlook at me now!\u201d So she threw back the hair from her face, and it was a\nbeautiful young face; and she looked so happy that Jack was glad he had\nbought her with his half-crown--so glad that he could not help crying,\nand the fair slave cried too; and then instantly the little fairies\nwoke, and sprang out of Jack\u2019s pockets. As they did so, Jovinian cried\nout, \u201cMadam, I am your most humble servant;\u201d and Roxaletta said, \u201cI\nhope your Grace is well;\u201d but the third got on Jack\u2019s knee, and took\nhold of the buttons of his waistcoat, and when the lovely slave looked\nat her, she hid her face and blushed with pretty childish shyness.\n\n\u201cThese are fairies,\u201d said Jack\u2019s slave; \u201cbut what are you?\u201d\n\n\u201cJack kissed me,\u201d said the little thing; \u201cand I want to sit on his\nknee.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Jack, \u201cI took them out, and laid them in a row, to see if\nthey were safe, and this one I kissed, because she looked such a little\ndear.\u201d\n\n\u201cWas she not like the others, then?\u201d asked the slave.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Jack; \u201cbut I liked her the best; she was my favourite.\u201d\n\nNow, the instant these three fairies sprang out of Jack\u2019s pockets, they\ngot very much larger; in fact, they became fully grown--that is to\nsay, they measured exactly one foot one inch in height, which, as most\npeople know, is exactly the proper height for fairies of that tribe.\nThe two who had sprung out first were very beautifully dressed. One\nhad a green velvet coat, and a sword, the hilt of which was encrusted\nwith diamonds. The second had a white spangled robe, and the loveliest\nrubies and emeralds round her neck and in her hair; but the third, the\none who sat on Jack\u2019s knee, had a white frock and a blue sash on. She\nhad soft, fat arms, and a face just like that of a sweet little child.\n\nWhen Jack\u2019s slave saw this, she took the little creature on her knee,\nand said to her, \u201cHow comes it that you are not like your companions?\u201d\n\nAnd she answered, in a pretty lisping voice, \u201cIt\u2019s because Jack kissed\nme.\u201d\n\n\u201cEven so it must be,\u201d answered the slave; \u201cthe love of a mortal works\nchanges indeed. It is not often that we win anything so precious. Here,\nmaster, let her sit on your knee sometimes, and take care of her, for\nshe cannot now take the same care of herself that others of her race\nare capable of.\u201d\n\nSo Jack let little Mopsa sit on his knee; and when he was tired of\nadmiring his slave, and wondering at the respect with which the\nother two fairies treated her, and at their cleverness in getting\nwater-lilies for her, and fanning her with feathers, he curled himself\nup in the bottom of the boat with his own little favourite, and taught\nher how to play at cat\u2019s-cradle.\n\nWhen they had been playing some time, and Mopsa was getting quite\nclever at the game, the lovely slave said, \u201cMaster, it is a long time\nsince you spoke to me.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd yet,\u201d said Jack, \u201cthere is something that I particularly want to\nask you about.\u201d\n\n\u201cAsk it, then,\u201d she replied.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t like to have a slave,\u201d answered Jack; \u201cand as you are so\nclever, don\u2019t you think you can find out how to be free again?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am very glad you asked me about that,\u201d said the fairy woman. \u201cYes,\nmaster, I wish very much to be free; and as you were so kind as to give\nthe most valuable piece of real money you possessed in order to buy\nme, I can be free if you can think of anything that you really like\nbetter than that half-crown, and if I can give it you.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, there are many things,\u201d said Jack. \u201cI like going up this river to\nFairyland much better.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you are going there, master,\u201d said the fairy woman; \u201cyou were on\nthe way before I met with you.\u201d\n\n\u201cI like this little child better,\u201d said Jack; \u201cI love this little\nMopsa. I should like her to belong to me.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe is yours,\u201d answered the fairy woman; \u201cshe belongs to you already.\nThink of something else.\u201d\n\nJack thought again, and was so long about it that at last the beautiful\nslave said to him, \u201cMaster, do you see those purple mountains?\u201d\n\nJack turned round in the boat, and saw a splendid range of purple\nmountains, going up and up. They were very great and steep, each had a\ncrown of snow, and the sky was very red behind them, for the sun was\ngoing down.\n\n\u201cAt the other side of those mountains is Fairyland,\u201d said the slave;\n\u201cbut if you cannot think of something that you should like better\nto have than your half-crown, I can never enter in. The river flows\nstraight up to yonder steep precipice, and there is a chasm in it\nwhich pierces it, and through which the river runs down beneath, among\nthe very roots of the mountains, till it comes out at the other side.\nThousands and thousands of the small people will come when they see the\nboat, each with a silken thread in his hand; but if there is a slave in\nit, not all their strength and skill can tow it through. Look at those\nrafts on the river; on them are the small people coming up.\u201d\n\nJack looked, and saw that the river was spotted with rafts, on which\nwere crowded brown fairy sailors, each one with three green stripes on\nhis sleeve, which looked like good-conduct marks. All these sailors\nwere chattering very fast, and the rafts were coming down to meet the\nboat.\n\n\u201cAll these sailors to tow my slave!\u201d said Jack. \u201cI wonder, I do wonder,\nwhat you are?\u201d But the fairy woman only smiled, and Jack went on:\n\u201cI have thought of something that I should like much better than my\nhalf-crown. I should like to have a little tiny bit of that purple gown\nof yours with the gold border.\u201d\n\nThen the fairy woman said, \u201cI thank you, master. Now I can be free.\u201d\nSo she told Jack to lend her his knife, and with it she cut off a very\nsmall piece of the skirt of her robe, and gave it to him. \u201cNow mind,\u201d\nshe said; \u201cI advise you never to stretch this unless you want to make\nsome particular thing of it, for then it will only stretch to the right\nsize; but if you merely begin to pull it for your own amusement, it\nwill go on stretching and stretching, and I don\u2019t know where it will\nstop.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nA STORY\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n    \u201cIn the night she told a story,\n      In the night and all night through,\n    While the moon was in her glory,\n      And the branches dropped with dew.\n\n    \u201c\u2019Twas my life she told, and round it\n      Rose the years as from a deep;\n    In the world\u2019s great heart she found it,\n      Cradled like a child asleep.\n\n    \u201cIn the night I saw her weaving\n      By the misty moonbeam cold,\n    All the weft her shuttle cleaving\n      With a sacred thread of gold.\n\n    \u201cAh! she wept me tears of sorrow,\n      Lulling tears so mystic sweet;\n    Then she wove my last to-morrow,\n      And her web lay at my feet.\n\n    \u201cOf my life she made the story:\n      I must weep--so soon \u2019twas told!\n    But your name did lend it glory,\n      And your love its thread of gold!\u201d\n\nBy this time, as the sun had gone down, and none of the moons had\nrisen, it would have been dark but that each of the rafts was rigged\nwith a small mast that had a lantern hung to it.\n\nBy the light of these lanterns Jack saw crowds of little brown faces,\nand presently many rafts had come up to the boat, which was now\nswimming very slowly. Every sailor in every raft fastened to the boat\u2019s\nside a silken thread; then the rafts were rowed to shore, and the\nsailors jumped out, and began to tow the boat along.\n\nThese crimson threads looked no stronger than the silk that ladies\nsew with, yet by means of them the small people drew the boat along\nmerrily. There were so many of them that they looked like an army as\nthey marched in the light of the lanterns and torches. Jack thought\nthey were very happy, though the work was hard, for they shouted and\nsang.\n\nThe fairy woman looked more beautiful than ever now, and far more\nstately. She had on a band of precious stones to bind back her hair,\nand they shone so brightly in the night that her features could be\nclearly seen.\n\nJack\u2019s little favourite was fast asleep, and the other two fairies had\nflown away. He was beginning to feel rather sleepy himself, when he was\nroused by the voice of his free lady, who said to him, \u201cJack, there\nis no one listening now, so I will tell you my story. I am the Fairy\nQueen!\u201d\n\nJack opened his eyes very wide, but he was so much surprised that he\ndid not say a word.\n\n\u201cOne day, long, long ago,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cI was discontented with my\nown happy country. I wished to see the world, so I set forth with a\nnumber of the one-foot-one fairies, and went down the wonderful river,\nthinking to see the world.\n\n\u201cSo we sailed down the river till we came to that town which you know\nof; and there, in the very middle of the stream, stood a tower--a tall\ntower built upon a rock.\n\n\u201cFairies are afraid of nothing but of other fairies, and we did not\nthink this tower was fairywork, so we left our ship and went up the\nrock and into the tower, to see what it was like; but just as we\nhad descended into the dungeon keep, we heard the gurgling of water\noverhead, and down came the tower. It was nothing but water enchanted\ninto the likeness of stone, and we all fell down with it into the very\nbed of the river.\n\n\u201cOf course we were not drowned, but there we were obliged to lie,\nfor we have no power out of our own element; and the next day the\ntownspeople came down with a net and dragged the river, picked us all\nout of the meshes, and made us slaves. The one-foot-one fairies got\naway shortly; but from that day to this, in sorrow and distress, I have\nhad to serve my masters. Luckily, my crown had fallen off in the water,\nso I was not known to be the Queen; but till you came, Jack, I had\nalmost forgotten that I had ever been happy and free, and I had hardly\nany hope of getting away.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow sorry your people must have been,\u201d said Jack, \u201cwhen they found you\ndid not come home again.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the Queen; \u201cthey only went to sleep, and they will not\nwake till to-morrow morning, when I pass in again. They will think I\nhave been absent for a day, and so will the apple-woman. You must not\nundeceive them; if you do, they will be very angry.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd who is the apple-woman?\u201d inquired Jack; but the Queen blushed, and\npretended not to hear the question, so he repeated:\n\n\u201cQueen, who is the apple-woman?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve only had her for a very little while,\u201d said the Queen, evasively.\n\n\u201cAnd how long do you think you have been a slave, Queen?\u201d asked Jack.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d said the Queen. \u201cI have never been able to make up my\nmind about that.\u201d\n\nAnd now all the moons began to shine, and all the trees lighted\nthemselves up, for almost every leaf had a glowworm or a firefly on\nit, and the water was full of fishes that had shining eyes. And now\nthey were close to the steep mountain side; and Jack looked and saw\nan opening in it, into which the river ran. It was a kind of cave,\nsomething like a long, long church with a vaulted roof, only the\npavement of it was that magic river, and a narrow towing-path ran on\neither side.\n\nAs they entered the cave there was a hollow murmuring sound, and the\nQueen\u2019s crown became so bright that it lighted up the whole boat; at\nthe same time she began to tell Jack a wonderful story, which he liked\nvery much to hear, but every fresh thing she said he forgot what had\ngone before; and at last, though he tried very hard to listen, he was\nobliged to go to sleep; and he slept soundly and never dreamed of\nanything, till it was morning.\n\nHe saw such a curious sight when he woke. They had been going through\nthis underground cavern all night, and now they were approaching its\nopening on the other side. This opening, because they were a good way\nfrom it yet, looked like a lovely little round window of blue and\nyellow and green glass, but as they drew on he could see far-off\nmountains, blue sky, and a country all covered with sunshine.\n\nHe heard singing too, such as fairies make; and he saw some beautiful\npeople, such as those fairies whom he had brought with him. They were\ncoming along the towing-path. They were all lady fairies; but they\nwere not very polite, for as each one came up she took a silken rope\nout of a brown sailor\u2019s hand and gave him a shove which pushed him\ninto the water. In fact, the water became filled with such swarms of\nthese sailors that the boat could hardly get on. But the poor little\nbrown fellows did not seem to mind this conduct, for they plunged and\nshook themselves about, scattering a good deal of spray. Then they all\nsuddenly dived, and when they came up again they were ducks--nothing\nbut brown ducks, I assure you, with green stripes on their wings; and\nwith a great deal of quacking and floundering they all began to swim\nback again as fast as they could.\n\nThen Jack was a good deal vexed, and he said to himself, \u201cIf nobody\nthanks the ducks for towing us I will;\u201d so he stood up in the boat\nand shouted, \u201cThank you, ducks; we are very much obliged to you!\u201d But\nneither the Queen nor these new towers took the least notice, and\ngradually the boat came out of that dim cave and entered Fairyland,\nwhile the river became so narrow that you could hear the song of the\ntowers quite easily; those on the right bank sang the first verse, and\nthose on the left bank answered:\n\n    \u201cDrop, drop from the leaves of lign aloes,\n      O honey-dew! drop from the tree.\n    Float up through your clear river shallows,\n      White lilies, beloved of the bee.\n\n    \u201cLet the people, O Queen! say, and bless thee,\n      Her bounty drops soft as the dew,\n    And spotless in honour confess thee,\n      As lilies are spotless in hue.\n\n    \u201cOn the roof stands yon white stork awaking,\n      His feathers flush rosy the while,\n    For, lo! from the blushing east breaking,\n      The sun sheds the bloom of his smile.\n\n    \u201cLet them boast of thy word, \u2018It is certain;\n      We doubt it no more,\u2019 let them say,\n    \u2018Than to-morrow that night\u2019s dusky curtain\n      Shall roll back its folds for the day.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cMaster,\u201d whispered the old hound, who was lying at Jack\u2019s feet.\n\n\u201cWell?\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cThey didn\u2019t invent that song themselves,\u201d said the hound; \u201cthe old\napple-woman taught it to them--the woman whom they love because she can\nmake them cry.\u201d\n\nJack was rather ashamed of the hound\u2019s rudeness in saying this; but the\nQueen took no notice. And now they had reached a little landing-place,\nwhich ran out a few feet into the river, and was strewed thickly with\ncowslips and violets.\n\nHere the boat stopped, and the Queen rose and got out.\n\nJack watched her. A whole crowd of one-foot-one fairies came down a\ngarden to meet her, and he saw them conduct her to a beautiful tent\nwith golden poles and a silken covering; but nobody took the slightest\nnotice of him, or of little Mopsa, or of the hound, and after a long\nsilence the hound said, \u201cWell, master, don\u2019t you feel hungry? Why don\u2019t\nyou go with the others and have some breakfast?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Queen didn\u2019t invite me,\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cBut do you feel as if you couldn\u2019t go?\u201d asked the hound.\n\n\u201cOf course not,\u201d answered Jack; \u201cbut perhaps I may not.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes, master,\u201d replied the hound; \u201cwhatever you _can_ do in\nFairyland you _may_ do.\u201d\n\n\u201cAre you sure of that?\u201d asked Jack.\n\n\u201cQuite sure, master,\u201d said the hound; \u201cand I am hungry too.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Jack, \u201cI will go there and take Mopsa. She shall ride on\nmy shoulder; you may follow.\u201d\n\nSo he walked up that beautiful garden till he came to the great tent. A\nbanquet was going on inside. All the one-foot-one fairies sat down the\nsides of the table, and at the top sat the Queen on a larger chair; and\nthere were two empty chairs, one on each side of her.\n\nJack blushed; but the hound whispering again, \u201cMaster, whatever you\ncan do you may do,\u201d he came slowly up the table towards the Queen,\nwho was saying as he drew near, \u201cWhere is our trusty and well-beloved\nthe apple-woman?\u201d And she took no notice of Jack; so, though he could\nnot help feeling rather red and ashamed, he went and sat in the chair\nbeside her with Mopsa still on his shoulder. Mopsa laughed for joy when\nshe saw the feast. The Queen said, \u201cO Jack, I am so glad to see you!\u201d\nand some of the one-foot-one fairies cried out, \u201cWhat a delightful\nlittle creature that is! She can laugh! Perhaps she can also cry!\u201d\n\nJack looked about, but there was no seat for Mopsa; and he was afraid\nto let her run about on the floor, lest she should be hurt.\n\nThere was a very large dish standing before the Queen; for though the\npeople were small, the plates and dishes were exactly like those we\nuse, and of the same size.\n\nThis dish was raised on a foot, and filled with grapes and peaches.\nJack wondered at himself for doing it, but he saw no other place for\nMopsa; so he took out the fruit, laid it round the dish, and set his\nown little one-foot-one in the dish.\n\nNobody looked in the least surprised; and there she sat very happily,\nbiting an apple with her small white teeth.\n\nThen, as they brought him nothing to eat, Jack helped himself from some\nof the dishes before him, and found that a fairy breakfast was very\nnice indeed.\n\nIn the meantime there was a noise outside, and in stumped an elderly\nwoman. She had very thick boots on, a short gown of red print, an\norange cotton handkerchief over her shoulders, and a black silk bonnet.\nShe was exactly the same height as the Queen--for of course nobody in\nFairyland is allowed to be any bigger than the Queen; so, if they are\nnot children when they arrive, they are obliged to shrink.\n\n\u201cHow are you, dear?\u201d said the Queen.\n\n\u201cI am as well as can be expected,\u201d answered the apple-woman, sitting\ndown in the empty chair. \u201cNow, then, where\u2019s my tea? They\u2019re never\nready with my cup of tea.\u201d\n\nTwo attendants immediately brought a cup of tea, and set it down before\nthe apple-woman, with a plate of bread and butter; and she proceeded\nto pour it out into the saucer, and blow it, because it was hot. In so\ndoing her wandering eyes caught sight of Jack and little Mopsa, and she\nset down the saucer, and looked at them with attention.\n\nNow Mopsa, I am sorry to say, was behaving so badly that Jack was\nquite ashamed of her. First, she got out of her dish, took something\nnice out of the Queen\u2019s plate with her fingers, and ate it; and then,\nas she was going back, she tumbled over a melon, and upset a glass of\nred wine, which she wiped up with her white frock; after which she got\ninto her dish again, and there she sat smiling, and daubing her pretty\nface with a piece of buttered muffin.\n\n\u201cMopsa,\u201d said Jack, \u201cyou are very naughty; if you behave in this way, I\nshall never take you out to parties again.\u201d\n\n\u201cPretty lamb!\u201d said the apple-woman; \u201cit\u2019s just like a child.\u201d And then\nshe burst into tears, and exclaimed, sobbing, \u201cIts many a long day\nsince I\u2019ve seen a child. Oh dear! oh deary me!\u201d\n\nUpon this, to the astonishment of Jack, every one of the guests began\nto cry and sob too.\n\n\u201cOh dear! oh dear!\u201d they said to one another, \u201cwe\u2019re crying; we can cry\njust as well as men and women. Isn\u2019t it delightful? What a luxury it is\nto cry, to be sure!\u201d\n\nThey were evidently quite proud of it; and when Jack looked at the\nQueen for an explanation, she only gave him a still little smile.\n\nBut Mopsa crept along the table to the apple-woman, let her take her\nand hug her, and seemed to like her very much; for as she sat on her\nknee, she patted her brown face with a little dimpled hand.\n\n\u201cI should like vastly well to be her nurse,\u201d said the apple-woman,\ndrying her eyes, and looking at Jack.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019ll always wash her, and put clean frocks on her, you may,\u201d said\nJack; \u201cfor just look at her--what a figure she is already!\u201d\n\nUpon this the apple-woman laughed for joy, and again every one else did\nthe same. The fairies can only laugh and cry when they see mortals do\nso.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cI should like vastly well to be her nurse,\u201d said the\napple-woman.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nAFTER THE PARTY\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n    \u201c_Stephano._ This will prove a brave kingdom to me,\n                Where I shall have my music for nothing.\u201d\n                                        _The Tempest._\n\nWhen breakfast was over, the guests got up, one after the other,\nwithout taking the least notice of the Queen; and the tent began to\nget so thin and transparent that you could see the trees and the sky\nthrough it. At last, it looked only like a coloured mist, with blue,\nand green, and yellow stripes, and then it was gone; and the table and\nall the things on it began to go in the same way. Only Jack, and the\napple-woman, and Mopsa were left, sitting on their chairs, with the\nQueen between them.\n\nPresently, the Queen\u2019s lips began to move, and her eyes looked\nstraight before her, as she sat upright in her chair. Whereupon the\napple-woman snatched up Mopsa, and, seizing Jack\u2019s hand, hurried him\noff, exclaiming, \u201cCome away! come away! She is going to tell one of her\nstories; and if you listen, you\u2019ll be obliged to go to sleep, and sleep\nnobody knows how long.\u201d\n\nJack did not want to go to sleep; he wished to go down to the river\nagain, and see what had become of his boat, for he had left his cap and\nseveral other things in it.\n\nSo he parted from the apple-woman--who took Mopsa with her, and said he\nwould find her again when he wanted her at her apple-stall--and went\ndown to the boat, where he saw that his faithful hound was there before\nhim.\n\n\u201cIt was lucky, master, that I came when I did,\u201d said the hound, \u201cfor a\ndozen or so of those one-foot-one fellows were just shoving it off, and\nyou will want it at night to sleep in.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Jack; \u201cand I can stretch the bit of purple silk to make a\ncanopy over head--a sort of awning--for I should not like to sleep in\ntents or palaces that are inclined to melt away.\u201d\n\nSo the hound with his teeth, and Jack with his hands, pulled and pulled\nat the silk till it was large enough to make a splendid canopy, like\na tent; and it reached down to the water\u2019s edge, and roofed in all the\nafter part of the boat.\n\nSo now he had a delightful little home of his own; and there was no\nfear of its being blown away, for no wind ever blows in Fairyland. All\nthe trees are quite still, no leaf rustles, and the flowers lie on the\nground exactly where they fall.\n\nAfter this Jack told the hound to watch his boat, and went himself\nin search of the apple-woman. Not one fairy was to be seen, any more\nthan if he had been in his own country, and he wandered down the\ngreen margin of the river till he saw the apple-woman sitting at a\nsmall stall with apples on it, and cherries tied to sticks, and some\ndry-looking nuts. She had Mopsa on her knee, and had washed her face,\nand put a beautiful clean white frock on her.\n\n\u201cWhere are all the fairies gone to?\u201d asked Jack.\n\n\u201cI never take any notice of that common trash and their doings,\u201d\nshe answered. \u201cWhen the Queen takes to telling her stories they are\ngenerally frightened, and go and sit in the tops of the trees.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you seem very fond of Mopsa,\u201d said Jack, \u201cand she is one of them.\nYou will help me to take care of her, won\u2019t you, till she grows a\nlittle older?\u201d\n\n\u201cGrows!\u201d said the apple-woman, laughing. \u201cGrows! Why you don\u2019t think,\nsurely, that she will ever be any different from what she is now!\u201d\n\n\u201cI thought she would grow up,\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cThey never change so long as they last,\u201d answered the apple-woman,\n\u201cwhen once they are one-foot-one high.\u201d\n\n\u201cMopsa,\u201d said Jack, \u201ccome here, and I\u2019ll measure you.\u201d\n\nMopsa came dancing towards Jack, and he tried to measure her, first\nwith a yard measure that the apple-woman took out of her pocket, and\nthen with a stick, and then with a bit of string; but Mopsa would not\nstand steady, and at last it ended in their having a good game of romps\ntogether, and a race; but when he carried her back, sitting on his\nshoulder, he was sorry to see that the apple-woman was crying again,\nand he asked her kindly what she did it for.\n\n\u201cIt is because,\u201d she answered, \u201cI shall never see my own country any\nmore, nor any men and women and children, excepting such as by a rare\nchance stray in for a little while as you have done.\u201d\n\n\u201cI can go back whenever I please,\u201d said Jack. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you?\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause I came in of my own good-will, after I had had fair warning\nthat if I came at all it would end in my staying always. Besides, I\ndon\u2019t know that I exactly wish to go home again--I should be afraid.\u201d\n\n\u201cAfraid of what?\u201d asked Jack.\n\n\u201cWhy, there\u2019s the rain and the cold, and not having anything to eat\nexcepting what you earn. And yet,\u201d said the apple-woman, \u201cI have three\nboys of my own at home; one of them must be nearly a man by this time,\nand the youngest is about as old as you are. If I went home I might\nfind one or more of those boys in jail, and then how miserable I should\nbe.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you are not happy as it is,\u201d said Jack. \u201cI have seen you cry.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the apple-woman; \u201cbut now I live here I don\u2019t care about\nanything so much as I used to do. \u2018May I have a satin gown and a\ncoach?\u2019 I asked when first I came. \u2018You may have a hundred and fifty\nsatin gowns if you like,\u2019 said the Queen, \u2018and twenty coaches with six\ncream-coloured horses to each.\u2019 But when I had been here a little time,\nand found I could have everything I wished for, and change it as often\nas I pleased, I began not to care for anything; and at last I got so\nsick of all their grand things that I dressed myself in my own clothes\nthat I came in, and made up my mind to have a stall and sit at it, as\nI used to do, selling apples. And I used to say to myself, \u2018I have but\nto wish with all my heart to go home, and I can go, I know that;\u2019 but\noh dear! oh dear! I couldn\u2019t wish enough, for it would come into my\nhead that I should be poor, or that my boys would have forgotten me,\nor that my neighbours would look down on me, and so I always put off\nwishing for another day. Now here is the Queen coming. Sit down on the\ngrass and play with Mopsa. Don\u2019t let her see us talking together, lest\nshe should think I have been telling you things which you ought not to\nknow.\u201d\n\nJack looked, and saw the Queen coming slowly towards them, with her\nhands held out before her, as if it was dark. She felt her way, yet her\neyes were wide open, and she was telling her stories all the time.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t you listen to a word she says,\u201d whispered the apple-woman, and\nthen, in order that Jack might not hear what the Queen was talking\nabout, she began to sing.\n\nShe had no sooner begun than up from the river came swarms of\none-foot-one fairies to listen, and hundreds of them dropped down from\nthe trees. The Queen, too, seemed to attend as they did, though she\nkept murmuring her story all the time; and nothing that any of them did\nappeared to surprise the apple-woman--she sang as if nobody was taking\nany notice at all:\n\n    \u201cWhen I sit on market-days amid the comers and the goers,\n      Oh! full oft I have a vision of the days without alloy,\n    And a ship comes up the river with a jolly gang of towers,\n      And a \u2018pull\u2019e haul\u2019e, pull\u2019e haul\u2019e, yoy! heave, hoy!\u2019\n\n    \u201cThere is busy talk around me, all about mine ears it hummeth,\n      But the wooden wharves I look on, and a dancing, heaving buoy,\n    For \u2019tis tidetime in the river, and she cometh--oh, she cometh!\n      With a \u2018pull\u2019e haul\u2019e, pull\u2019e haul\u2019e, yoy! heave, hoy!\u2019\n\n    \u201cThen I hear the water washing, never golden waves were brighter,\n      And I hear the capstan creaking--\u2019tis a sound that cannot cloy.\n    Bring her to, to ship her lading, brig or schooner, sloop or lighter,\n      With a \u2018pull\u2019e haul\u2019e, pull\u2019e haul\u2019e, yoy! heave, hoy!\u2019\n\n    \u201c\u2018Will ye step aboard, my dearest? for the high seas lie before us.\u2019\n      So I sailed adown the river in those days without alloy.\n    We are launched! But when, I wonder, shall a sweeter sound float\n        o\u2019er us\n      Than yon \u2018pull\u2019e haul\u2019e, pull\u2019e haul\u2019e, yoy! heave hoy!\u2019\u201d\n\nAs the apple-woman left off singing, the Queen moved away, still\nmurmuring the words of her story, and Jack said:\n\n\u201cDoes the Queen tell stories of what has happened, or of what is going\nto happen?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, of what is going to happen, of course,\u201d replied the woman,\n\u201cAnybody could tell the other sort.\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause I heard a little of it,\u201d observed Jack. \u201cI thought she was\ntalking of me. She said, \u2018So he took the measure, and Mopsa stood still\nfor once, and he found she was only one foot high, and she grew a great\ndeal after that. Yes, she can grow.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a fine hearing, and a strange hearing,\u201d said the apple-woman;\n\u201cand what did she mutter next?\u201d\n\n\u201cOf how she heard me sobbing,\u201d replied Jack; \u201cand while you went on\nabout stepping on board the ship, she said, \u2018He was very good to me,\ndear little fellow! But Fate is the name of my old mother, and she\nreigns here. Oh, she reigns! The fatal F is in her name, and I cannot\ntake it out!\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d replied the apple-woman, \u201cthey all say that, and that they are\nfays, and that mortals call their history fable; they are always crying\nout for an alphabet without the fatal F.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd then she told how she heard Mopsa sobbing too,\u201d said Jack;\n\u201csobbing among the reeds and rushes by the river side.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere are no reeds and no rushes either here,\u201d said the apple-woman,\n\u201cand I have walked the river from end to end. I don\u2019t think much of\nthat part of the story. But you are sure she said that Mopsa was short\nof her proper height?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, and that she would grow; but that\u2019s nothing. In my country we\nalways grow.\u201d\n\n\u201cHold your tongue about your country!\u201d said the apple-woman, sharply.\n\u201cDo you want to make enemies of them all?\u201d\n\nMopsa had been listening to this, and now she said, \u201cI don\u2019t love the\nQueen. She slapped my arm as she went by, and it hurts.\u201d\n\nMopsa showed her little fat arm as she spoke, and there was a red place\non it.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s odd too,\u201d said the apple-woman; \u201cthere\u2019s nothing red in a\ncommon fairy\u2019s veins. They have sap in them: that\u2019s why they can\u2019t\nblush.\u201d\n\nJust then the sun went down, and Mopsa got up on the apple-woman\u2019s lap\nand went to sleep; and Jack, being tired, went to his boat and lay down\nunder the purple canopy, his old hound lying at his feet to keep guard\nover him.\n\nThe next morning, when he woke, a pretty voice called to him, \u201cJack!\nJack!\u201d and he opened his eyes and saw Mopsa. The apple-woman had\ndressed her in a clean frock and blue shoes, and her hair was so long!\nShe was standing on the landing-place, close to him. \u201cO Jack! I\u2019m so\nbig,\u201d she said. \u201cI grew in the night; look at me.\u201d\n\nJack looked. Yes, Mopsa had grown indeed; she had only just reached\nto his knee the day before, and now her little bright head, when he\nmeasured her, came as high as the second button of his waistcoat.\n\n\u201cBut I hope you will not go on growing so fast as this,\u201d said Jack, \u201cor\nyou will be as tall as my mamma is in a week or two--much too big for\nme to play with.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: And now her bright little head ... came as high as the\nsecond button of his waistcoat.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nMOPSA LEARNS HER LETTERS\n\n[Illustration: THE CRAKEN.]\n\n\n    \u201cA----apple-pie.\n    B----bit it.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow ashamed I am,\u201d Jack said, \u201cto think that you don\u2019t know even your\nletters!\u201d\n\nMopsa replied that she thought that did not signify, and then she and\nJack began to play at jumping from the boat on to the bank, and back\nagain; and afterwards, as not a single fairy could be seen, they had\nbreakfast with the apple-woman.\n\n\u201cWhere is the Queen?\u201d asked Jack.\n\nThe apple-woman answered, \u201cIt\u2019s not the fashion to ask questions in\nFairyland.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a pity,\u201d said Jack, \u201cfor there are several things that I\nparticularly want to know about this country. Mayn\u2019t I even ask how big\nit is?\u201d\n\n\u201cHow big?\u201d said Mopsa--little Mopsa looking as wise as possible. \u201cWhy,\nthe same size as your world, of course.\u201d\n\nJack laughed. \u201cIt\u2019s the same world that you call yours,\u201d continued\nMopsa; \u201cand when I\u2019m a little older, I\u2019ll explain it all to you.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf it\u2019s our world,\u201d said Jack, \u201cwhy are none of us in it, excepting me\nand the apple-woman?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s because you\u2019ve got something in your world that you call TIME,\u201d\nsaid Mopsa; \u201cso you talk about NOW, and you talk about THEN.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd don\u2019t you?\u201d asked Jack.\n\n\u201cI do if I want to make you understand,\u201d said Mopsa.\n\nThe apple-woman laughed, and said, \u201cTo think of the pretty thing\ntalking so queenlike already! Yes, that\u2019s right, and just what the\ngrown-up fairies say. Go on, and explain it to him if you can.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou know,\u201d said Mopsa, \u201cthat your people say there was a time when\nthere were none of them in the world--a time before they were made.\nWell, THIS is that time. This is long ago.\u201d\n\n\u201cNonsense!\u201d said Jack. \u201cThen how do I happen to be here?\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause,\u201d said Mopsa, \u201cwhen the albatross brought you, she did not fly\nwith you a long way off, but a long way back--hundreds and hundreds of\nyears. This is your world, as you can see; but none of your people are\nhere, because they are not made yet. I don\u2019t think any of them will be\nmade for a thousand years.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I saw the old ships,\u201d answered Jack, \u201cin the enchanted bay.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat was a border country,\u201d said Mopsa. \u201cI was asleep while you went\nthrough those countries; but these are the real Fairylands.\u201d\n\nJack was very much surprised when he heard Mopsa say these strange\nthings; and as he looked at her, he felt that a sleep was coming over\nhim, and he could not hold up his head. He felt how delightful it was\nto go to sleep; and though the apple-woman sprang to him, when she\nobserved that he was shutting his eyes, and though he heard her begging\nand entreating him to keep awake, he did not want to do so; but he let\nhis head sink down on the mossy grass, which was as soft as a pillow,\nand there under the shade of a Guelder rose-tree, that kept dropping\nits white flowrets all over him, he had this dream.\n\nHe thought that Mopsa came running up to him, as he stood by the river,\nand that he said to her, \u201cOh, Mopsa, how old we are! We have lived back\nto the times before Adam and Eve!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Mopsa; \u201cbut I don\u2019t feel old. Let us go down the river, and\nsee what we can find.\u201d\n\nSo they got into the boat, and it floated into the middle of the river,\nand then made for the opposite bank, where the water was warm and very\nmuddy, and the river became so very wide that it seemed to be afternoon\nwhen they got near enough to see it clearly; and what they saw was a\nboggy country, green, and full of little rills, but the water--which,\nas I told you, was thick and muddy--the water was full of small holes!\nYOU never saw water with eyelet-holes in it; but Jack did. On all sides\nof the boat he saw holes moving about in pairs, and some were so close\nthat he looked and saw their lining; they were lined with pink, and\nthey snorted! Jack was afraid, but he considered that this was such a\nlong time ago that the holes, whatever they were, could not hurt him;\nbut it made him start, notwithstanding, when a huge flat head reared\nitself up close to the boat, and he found that the holes were the\nnostrils of creatures who kept all the rest of themselves under water.\n\nIn a minute or two, hundreds of ugly flat-heads popped up, and the boat\ndanced among them as they floundered about in the water.\n\n\u201cI hope they won\u2019t upset us,\u201d said Jack. \u201cI wish you would land.\u201d\n\nMopsa said she would rather not, because she did not like the hairy\nelephants.\n\n\u201cThere are no such things as hairy elephants,\u201d said Jack, in his dream;\nbut he had hardly spoken when out of a wood close at hand some huge\ncreatures, far larger than our elephants, came jogging down to the\nwater. There were forty or fifty of them, and they were covered with\nwhat looked like tow. In fact, so coarse was their shaggy hair that\nthey looked as if they were dressed in door-mats; and when they stood\nstill and shook themselves, such clouds of dust flew out that, as it\nswept over the river, it almost stifled Jack and Mopsa.\n\n\u201cOdious!\u201d exclaimed Jack, sneezing. \u201cWhat terrible creatures these are!\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d answered Mopsa, at the other end of the boat (but he could\nhardly see her for the dust), \u201cthen why do you dream of them?\u201d\n\nJack had just decided to dream of something else, when, with a noise\ngreater than fifty trumpets, the elephants, having shaken out all the\ndust, came thundering down to the water to bathe in the liquid mud.\nThey shook the whole country as they plunged; but that was not all. The\nawful river-horses rose up, and, with shrill screams, fell upon them,\nand gave them battle; while up from every rill peeped above the rushes\nfrogs as large as oxen, and with blue and green eyes that gleamed like\nthe eyes of cats.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cTHE AWFUL RIVER-HORSES ROSE UP AND, WITH SHRILL SCREAMS,\nFELL UPON THEM.\u201d]\n\nThe frogs\u2019 croaking, and the shrill trumpeting of the elephants,\ntogether with the cries of the river-horses, as all these creatures\nfought with horn and tusk, and fell on one another, lashing the water\ninto whirlpools, among which the boat danced up and down like a\ncork--the blinding spray, and the flapping about of great bats over the\nboat and in it--so confused Jack that Mopsa had spoken to him several\ntimes before he answered.\n\n\u201cO Jack!\u201d she said at last; \u201cif you can\u2019t dream any better, I must call\nthe Craken.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said Jack. \u201cI\u2019m almost wrapped up and smothered in bats\u2019\nwings, so call anything you please.\u201d\n\nThereupon Mopsa whistled softly, and in a minute or two he saw, almost\nspanning the river, a hundred yards off, a thing like a rainbow, or a\nslender bridge, or still more, like one ring or coil of an enormous\nserpent; and presently the creature\u2019s head shot up like a fountain,\nclose to the boat, almost as high as a ship\u2019s mast. It was the Craken;\nand when Mopsa saw it, she began to cry, and said, \u201cWe are caught\nin this crowd of creatures, and we cannot get away from the land of\ndreams. Do help us, Craken.\u201d\n\nSome of the bats that hung to the edges of the boat had wings as large\nas sails, and the first thing the Craken did was to stoop its lithe\nneck, pick two or three of them off, and eat them.\n\n\u201cYou can swim your boat home under my coils where the water is calm,\u201d\nthe Craken said, \u201cfor she is so extremely old now, that if you do not\ntake care she will drop to pieces before you get back to the present\ntime.\u201d\n\nJack knew it was of no use saying anything to this formidable creature,\nbefore whom the river-horses and the elephants were rushing to the\nshore; but when he looked and saw down the river rainbow behind\nrainbow--I mean coil behind coil--glittering in the sun, like so many\nglorious arches that did not reach to the banks, he felt extremely glad\nthat this was a dream, and besides that, he thought to himself, \u201cIt\u2019s\nonly a fabled monster.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, it\u2019s only a fable to these times,\u201d said Mopsa, answering his\nthought; \u201cbut in spite of that we shall have to go through all the\nrings.\u201d\n\nThey went under one--silver, green, and blue, and gold. The water\ndripped from it upon them, and the boat trembled, either because of its\ngreat age, or because it felt the rest of the coil underneath.\n\nA good way off was another coil, and they went so safely under that,\nthat Jack felt himself getting used to Crakens, and not afraid. Then\nthey went under thirteen more. These kept getting nearer and nearer\ntogether, but, besides that, the fourteenth had not quite such a high\nspan as the former ones; but there were a great many to come, and yet\nthey got lower and lower.\n\nBoth Jack and Mopsa noticed this, but neither said a word. The\nthirtieth coil brushed Jack\u2019s cap off, then they had to stoop to\npass under the two next, and then they had to lie down in the bottom\nof the boat, and they got through with the greatest difficulty; but\nstill before them was another! The boat was driving straight towards\nit, and it lay so close to the water that the arch it made was only a\nfoot high. When Jack saw it, he called out, \u201cNo! that I cannot bear.\nSomebody else may do the rest of this dream. I shall jump overboard!\u201d\n\nMopsa seemed to answer in quite a pleasant voice, as if she was not\nafraid:\n\n\u201cNo, you\u2019d much better wake.\u201d And then she went on, \u201cJack! Jack! why\ndon\u2019t you wake?\u201d\n\nThen all on a sudden Jack opened his eyes, and found that he was lying\nquietly on the grass, that little Mopsa really had asked him why he did\nnot wake. He saw the Queen too, standing by, looking at him, and saying\nto herself, \u201cI did not put him to sleep. _I_ did not put him to sleep.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want any more stories to-day, Queen,\u201d said the apple-woman,\nin a disrespectful tone, and she immediately began to sing, clattering\nsome tea-things all the time, for a kettle was boiling on some sticks,\nand she was going to make tea out of doors:\n\n    \u201cThe marten flew to the finch\u2019s nest,\n      Feathers, and moss, and a wisp of hay:\n    \u2018The arrow it sped to thy brown mate\u2019s breast;\n      Low in the broom is thy mate to-day.\u2019\n\n    \u201c\u2018Liest thou low, love? low in the broom?\n      Feathers and moss, and a wisp of hay,\n    Warm the white eggs till I learn his doom.\u2019\n      She beateth her wings, and away, away.\n\n    \u201c\u2018Ah, my sweet singer, thy days are told\n      (Feathers and moss, and a wisp of hay)!\n    Thine eyes are dim, and the eggs grow cold.\n      O mournful morrow! O dark to-day!\u2019\n\n    \u201cThe finch flew back to her cold, cold nest,\n      Feathers and moss, and a wisp of hay.\n    Mine is the trouble that rent her breast,\n      And home is silent, and love is clay.\u201d\n\nJack felt very tired indeed--as much tired as if he had really been out\nall day on the river, and gliding under the coils of the Craken. He\nhowever rose up, when the apple-woman called him, and drank his tea,\nand had some fairy bread with it, which refreshed him very much.\n\nAfter tea he measured Mopsa again, and found that she had grown up to\na higher button. She looked much wiser too, and when he said she must\nbe taught to read she made no objection, so he arranged daisies and\nbuttercups into the forms of the letters, and she learnt nearly all of\nthem that one evening, while crowds of the one-foot-one fairies looked\non, hanging from the boughs and sitting in the grass, and shouting out\nthe names of the letters as Mopsa said them. They were very polite to\nJack, for they gathered all these flowers for him, and emptied them\nfrom their little caps at his feet as fast as he wanted them.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cWhile crowds of the one-foot-one fairies looked on,\nhanging from the boughs.\u201d]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nGOOD MORNING, SISTER\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n    \u201cSweet is childhood--childhood\u2019s over,\n              Kiss and part.\n    Sweet is youth; but youth\u2019s a rover--\n              So\u2019s my heart.\n    Sweet is rest; but by all showing\n              Toil is nigh.\n    We must go. Alas! the going,\n              Say \u2018good-bye.\u2019\u201d\n\nJack crept under his canopy, went to sleep early that night, and did\nnot wake till the sun had risen, when the apple-woman called him, and\nsaid breakfast was nearly ready.\n\nThe same thing never happens twice in Fairyland, so this time the\nbreakfast was not spread in a tent, but on the river. The Queen had cut\noff a tiny piece of her robe, the one-foot-one fairies had stretched it\ntill it was very large, and then they had spread it on the water, where\nit floated and lay like a great carpet of purple and gold. One corner\nof it was moored to the side of Jack\u2019s boat; but he had not observed\nthis, because of his canopy. However, that was now looped up by the\napple-woman, and Jack and Mopsa saw what was going on.\n\nHundreds of swans had been towing the carpet along, and were still\nholding it with their beaks, while a crowd of doves walked about on it,\nsmoothing out the creases and patting it with their pretty pink feet\ntill it was quite firm and straight. The swans then swam away, and they\nflew away.\n\nPresently troops of fairies came down to the landing-place, jumped into\nJack\u2019s boat without asking leave, and so got on to the carpet, while\nat the same time a great tree which grew on the bank began to push out\nfresh leaves, as large as fans, and shoot out long branches, which\nagain shot out others, till very soon there was shade all over the\ncarpet--a thick shadow as good as a tent, which was very pleasant, for\nthe sun was already hot.\n\nWhen the Queen came down, the tree suddenly blossomed out with\nthousands of red and white flowers.\n\n\u201cYou must not go on to that carpet,\u201d said the apple-woman; \u201clet us sit\nstill in the boat, and be served here.\u201d She whispered this as the Queen\nstepped into the boat.\n\n\u201cGood morning, Jack,\u201d said the Queen. \u201cGood morning, dear.\u201d This was\nto the apple-woman; and then she stood still for a moment and looked\nearnestly at little Mopsa, and sighed.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d she said to her, \u201cdon\u2019t you mean to speak to me?\u201d Then Mopsa\nlifted up her pretty face and blushed very rosy red, and said, in a\nshy voice, \u201cGood morning----sister.\u201d\n\n\u201cI said so!\u201d exclaimed the Queen; \u201cI said so!\u201d and she lifted up her\nbeautiful eyes, and murmured out, \u201cWhat is to be done now?\u201d\n\n\u201cNever mind, Queen dear,\u201d said Jack. \u201cIf it was rude of Mopsa to say\nthat, she is such a little young thing that she does not know better.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt was not rude,\u201d said Mopsa, and she laughed and blushed again. \u201cIt\nwas not rude, and I am not sorry.\u201d\n\nAs she said this the Queen stepped on to the carpet, and all the\nflowers began to drop down. They were something like camellias, and\nthere were thousands of them.\n\nThe fairies collected them in little heaps. They had no tables and\nchairs, nor any plates and dishes for this breakfast; but the Queen sat\ndown on the carpet close to Jack\u2019s boat, and leaned her cheek on her\nhand, and seemed to be lost in thought. The fairies put some flowers\ninto her lap, then each took some, and they all sat down and looked at\nthe Queen, but she did not stir.\n\nAt last Jack said, \u201cWhen is the breakfast coming?\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is the breakfast,\u201d said the apple-woman; \u201cthese flowers are most\ndelicious eating. You never tasted anything so good in your life; but\nwe don\u2019t begin till the Queen does.\u201d\n\nQuantities of blossoms had dropped into the boat. Several fairies\ntumbled into it almost head over heels, they were in such a hurry, and\nthey heaped them into Mopsa\u2019s lap, but took no notice of Jack, nor of\nthe apple-woman either.\n\nAt last, when every one had waited some time, the Queen pulled a petal\noff one flower, and began to eat, so every one else began; and what the\napple-woman had said was quite true. Jack knew that he never had tasted\nanything half so nice, and he was quite sorry when he could not eat any\nmore. So, when every one had finished, the Queen leaned her arm on the\nedge of the boat, and, turning her lovely face towards Mopsa, said, \u201cI\nwant to whisper to you, sister.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said Mopsa, \u201cI wish I was in Jack\u2019s waistcoat pocket again; but\nI\u2019m so big now.\u201d And she took hold of the two sides of his velvet\njacket, and hid her face between them.\n\n\u201cMy old mother sent a message last night,\u201d continued the Queen, in a\nsoft, sorrowful voice. \u201cShe is much more powerful than we are.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is the message?\u201d asked Mopsa; but she still hid her face.\n\nSo the Queen moved over, and put her lips close to Mopsa\u2019s ear, and\nrepeated it: \u201cThere cannot be two queens in one hive.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf Mopsa leaves the hive, a fine swarm will go with her,\u201d said the\napple-woman. \u201cI shall, for one; that I shall!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d answered the Queen. \u201cI hope not, dear; for you know well that\nthis is my old mother\u2019s doing, not mine.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said Mopsa; \u201cI feel as if I must tell a story too, just as the\nQueen does.\u201d But the apple-woman broke out in a very cross voice, \u201cIt\u2019s\nnot at all like Fairyland, if you go on in this way, and I would as\nlieve be out of it as in it.\u201d Then she began to sing, that she and Jack\nmight not hear Mopsa\u2019s story:\n\n    \u201cOn the rocks by Aberdeen,\n    Where the whislin\u2019 wave had been,\n    As I wandered and at e\u2019en\n          Was eerie;\n    There I saw thee sailing west,\n    And I ran with joy opprest--\n    Ay, and took out all my best,\n          My dearie.\n\n    \u201cThen I busked mysel\u2019 wi\u2019 speed,\n    And the neighbours cried, \u2018What need?\n    \u2019Tis a lass in any weed\n          Aye bonny!\u2019\n    Now my heart, my heart is sair.\n    What\u2019s the good, though I be fair,\n    For thou\u2019lt never see me mair,\n          Man Johnnie!\u201d\n\nWhile the apple-woman sang Mopsa finished her story; and the Queen\nuntied the fastening which held her carpet to the boat, and went\nfloating upon it down the river.\n\n\u201cGood-bye,\u201d she said, kissing her hand to them. \u201cI must go and prepare\nfor the deputation.\u201d\n\nSo Jack and Mopsa played about all the morning, sometimes in the boat\nand sometimes on the shore, while the apple-woman sat on the grass,\nwith her arms folded, and seemed to be lost in thought. At last she\nsaid to Jack, \u201cWhat was the name of the great bird that carried you two\nhere?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have forgotten,\u201d answered Jack. \u201cI\u2019ve been trying to remember ever\nsince we heard the Queen tell her first story, but I cannot.\u201d\n\n\u201cI remember,\u201d said Mopsa.\n\n\u201cTell it, then,\u201d replied the apple-woman; but Mopsa shook her head.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t want Jack to go,\u201d she answered.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t want to go, nor that you should,\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cBut the Queen said, \u2018there cannot be two Queens in one hive,\u2019 and that\nmeans that you are going to be turned out of this beautiful country.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe other fairy lands are just as nice,\u201d answered Mopsa; \u201cshe can only\nturn me out of this one.\u201d\n\n\u201cI never heard of more than one Fairyland,\u201d observed Jack.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s my opinion,\u201d said the apple-woman, \u201cthat there are hundreds! And\nthose one-foot-one fairies are such a saucy set, that if I were you\nI should be very glad to get away from them. You\u2019ve been here a very\nlittle while as yet, and you\u2019ve no notion what goes on when the leaves\nbegin to drop.\u201d\n\n\u201cTell us,\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cWell, you must know,\u201d answered the apple-woman, \u201cthat fairies cannot\nabide cold weather; so, when the first rime frost comes, they bury\nthemselves.\u201d\n\n\u201cBury themselves?\u201d repeated Jack.\n\n\u201cYes, I tell you, they bury themselves. You\u2019ve seen fairy rings, of\ncourse, even in your own country; and here the fields are full of\nthem. Well, when it gets cold a company of fairies forms itself into a\ncircle, and every one digs a little hole. The first that has finished\njumps into his hole, and his next neighbour covers him up, and then\njumps into his own little hole, and he gets covered up in his turn,\ntill at last there is only one left, and he goes and joins another\ncircle, hoping he shall have better luck than to be last again. I\u2019ve\noften asked them why they do that, but no fairy can ever give a reason\nfor anything. They always say that old Mother Fate makes them do it.\nWhen they come up again, they are not fairies at all, but the good ones\nare mushrooms, and the bad ones are toadstools.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen you think there are no one-foot-one fairies in the other\ncountries?\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cOf course not,\u201d answered the apple-woman; \u201call the fairy lands are\ndifferent. It\u2019s only the queens that are alike.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: \u201cWELL, YOU MUST KNOW,\u201d ANSWERED THE APPLE-WOMAN, \u201cTHAT\nFAIRIES CANNOT ABIDE COLD WEATHER.\u201d]\n\n\u201cI wish the fairies would not disappear for hours,\u201d said Jack. \u201cThey\nall seem to run off and hide themselves.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s their way,\u201d answered the apple-woman. \u201cAll fairies are part of\ntheir time in the shape of human creatures, and the rest of it in the\nshape of some animal. These can turn themselves, when they please, into\nGuinea-fowl. In the heat of the day they generally prefer to be in that\nform, and they sit among the leaves of the trees.\n\n\u201cA great many are now with the Queen, because there is a deputation\ncoming; but if I were to begin to sing, such a flock of Guinea-hens\nwould gather round, that the boughs of the trees would bend with their\nweight, and they would light on the grass all about so thickly that not\na blade of grass would be seen as far as the song was heard.\u201d\n\nSo she began to sing, and the air was darkened by great flocks of these\nGuinea-fowl. They alighted just as she had said, and kept time with\ntheir heads and their feet, nodding like a crowd of mandarins; and yet\nit was nothing but a stupid old song that you would have thought could\nhave no particular meaning for them.\n\n\nLIKE A LAVEROCK IN THE LIFT\n\nI\n\n    It\u2019s we two, it\u2019s we two, it\u2019s we two for aye,\n    All the world and we two, and Heaven be our stay.\n    Like a laverock in the lift, sing, O bonny bride!\n    All the world was Adam once, with Eve by his side.\n\n\nII\n\n    What\u2019s the world, my lass, my love! what can it do?\n    I am thine, and thou art mine; life is sweet and new.\n    If the world have missed the mark, let it stand by,\n    For we two have gotten leave, and once more we\u2019ll try.\n\n\nIII\n\n    Like a laverock in the lift, sing, O bonny bride!\n    It\u2019s we two, it\u2019s we two, happy side by side.\n    Take a kiss from me thy man; now the song begins:\n    \u201cAll is made afresh for us, and the brave heart wins.\u201d\n\n\nIV\n\n    When the darker days come, and no sun will shine,\n    Thou shalt dry my tears, lass, and I\u2019ll dry thine.\n    It\u2019s we two, it\u2019s we two, while the world\u2019s away,\n    Sitting by the golden sheaves on our wedding-day.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cSo she began to sing.\u201d]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nTHEY RUN AWAY FROM OLD MOTHER FATE\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n    \u201cA land that living warmth disowns,\n      It meets my wondering ken;\n    A land where all the men are stones,\n      Or all the stones are men.\u201d\n\nBefore the apple-woman had finished, Jack and Mopsa saw the Queen\ncoming in great state, followed by thousands of the one-foot-one\nfairies, and leading by a ribbon round its neck a beautiful brown doe.\nA great many pretty fawns were walking among the fairies.\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s the deputation,\u201d said the apple-woman; but as the Guinea-fowl\nrose like a cloud at the approach of the Queen, and the fairies and\nfawns pressed forward, there was a good deal of noise and confusion,\nduring which Mopsa stepped up close to Jack and whispered in his ear,\n\u201cRemember, Jack, whatever you can do you may do.\u201d\n\nThen the brown doe laid down at Mopsa\u2019s feet, and the Queen began:\n\n\u201cJack and Mopsa, I love you both. I had a message last night from my\nold mother, and I told you what it was.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, Queen,\u201d said Mopsa, \u201cyou did.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d continued the Queen, \u201cshe has sent this beautiful brown\ndoe from the country beyond the lake, where they are in the greatest\ndistress for a queen, to offer Mopsa the crown; and, Jack, it is fated\nthat Mopsa is to reign there, so you had better say no more about it.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t want to be a queen,\u201d said Mopsa, pouting; \u201cI want to play with\nJack.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are a queen already,\u201d answered the real Queen; \u201cat least, you will\nbe in a few days. You are so much grown, even since the morning, that\nyou come up nearly to Jack\u2019s shoulder. In four days you will be as tall\nas I am; and it is quite impossible that any one of fairy birth should\nbe as tall as a queen in her own country.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I don\u2019t see what stags and does can want with a queen,\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cThey were obliged to turn into deer,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cwhen they\ncrossed their own border; but they are fairies when they are at home,\nand they want Mopsa, because they are always obliged to have a queen of\nalien birth.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf I go,\u201d said Mopsa, \u201cshall Jack go too?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no,\u201d answered the Queen; \u201cJack and the apple-woman are my\nsubjects.\u201d\n\n\u201cApple-woman,\u201d said Jack, \u201ctell us what you think; shall Mopsa go to\nthis country?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, child,\u201d said the apple-woman, \u201cgo away from here she must; but\nshe need not go off with the deer, I suppose, unless she likes. They\nlook gentle and harmless; but it is very hard to get at the truth in\nthis country, and I\u2019ve heard queer stories about them.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you?\u201d said the Queen. \u201cWell you can repeat them if you like; but\nremember that the poor brown doe cannot contradict them.\u201d\n\nSo the apple-woman said, \u201cI have heard, but I don\u2019t know how true it\nis, that in that country they shut up their queen in a great castle,\nand cover her with a veil, and never let the sun shine on her; for if\nby chance the least little sunbeam should light on her she would turn\ninto a doe directly, and all the nation would turn with her, and stay\nso.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t want to be shut up in a castle,\u201d said Mopsa.\n\n\u201cBut is it true?\u201d asked Jack.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the apple-woman, \u201cas I told you before, I cannot make out\nwhether it\u2019s true or not, for all these stags and fawns look very mild,\ngentle creatures.\u201d\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t go,\u201d said Mopsa; \u201cI would rather run away.\u201d\n\nAll this time the Queen with the brown doe had been gently pressing\nwith the crowd nearer and nearer to the brink of the river, so that now\nJack and Mopsa, who stood facing them, were quite close to the boat;\nand while they argued and tried to make Mopsa come away, Jack suddenly\nwhispered to her to spring into the boat, which she did, and he after\nher, and at the same time he cried out:\n\n\u201cNow, boat, if you are my boat, set off as fast as you can, and let\nnothing of fairy birth get on board of you.\u201d\n\nNo sooner did he begin to speak than the boat swung itself away from\nthe edge, and almost in a moment it was in the very middle of the\nriver, and beginning to float gently down with the stream.\n\nNow, as I have told you before, that river runs up the country instead\nof down to the sea, so Jack and Mopsa floated still farther up into\nFairyland; and they saw the Queen, and the apple-woman, and all the\ncrowd of fawns and fairies walking along the bank of the river, keeping\nexactly to the same pace that the boat went; and this went on for hours\nand hours, so that there seemed to be no chance that Jack and Mopsa\ncould land; and they heard no voices at all, nor any sound but the\nbaying of the old hound, who could not swim out to them, because Jack\nhad forbidden the boat to take anything of fairy birth on board of her.\n\nLuckily, the bottom of the boat was full of those delicious flowers\nthat had dropped into it at breakfast-time, so there was plenty of\nnice food for Jack and Mopsa; and Jack noticed, when he looked at her\ntowards evening, that she was now nearly as tall as himself, and that\nher lovely brown hair floated down to her ankles.\n\n\u201cJack,\u201d she said, before it grew dusk, \u201cwill you give me your little\npurse that has the silver fourpence in it?\u201d\n\nNow Mopsa had often played with this purse. It was lined with a nice\npiece of pale green silk, and when Jack gave it to her she pulled the\nsilk out, and shook it, and patted it, and stretched it, just as the\nQueen had done, and it came into a most lovely cloak, which she tied\nround her neck. Then she twisted up her long hair into a coil, and\nfastened it round her head, and called to the fireflies which were\nbeginning to glitter on the trees to come, and they came and alighted\nin a row upon the coil, and turned into diamonds directly. So now Mopsa\nhad got a crown and a robe, and she was so beautiful that Jack thought\nhe should never be tired of looking at her; but it was nearly dark now,\nand he was so sleepy and tired that he could not keep his eyes open,\nthough he tried very hard, and he began to blink, and then he began\nto nod, and at last he fell fast asleep, and did not awake till the\nmorning.\n\nThen he sat up in the boat, and looked about him. A wonderful country,\nindeed!--no trees, no grass, no houses, nothing but red stones and\nred sand--and Mopsa was gone. Jack jumped on shore, for the boat had\nstopped, and was close to the brink of the river. He looked about for\nsome time, and at last, in the shadow of a pale brown rock, he found\nher; and oh! delightful surprise, the apple-woman was there too. She\nwas saying, \u201cO my bones! Dearie, dearie me, how they do ache!\u201d That was\nnot surprising, for she had been out all night. She had walked beside\nthe river with the Queen and her tribe till they came to a little\ntinkling stream, which divides their country from the sandy land, and\nthere they were obliged to stop; they could not cross it. But the\napple-woman sprang over, and, though the Queen told her she must come\nback again in twenty-four hours, she did not appear to be displeased.\nNow the Guinea-hens, when they had come to listen, the day before, to\nthe apple-woman\u2019s song, had brought each of them a grain of maize in\nher beak, and had thrown it into her apron; so when she got up she\ncarried it with her gathered up there, and now she had been baking\nsome delicious little cakes on a fire of dry sticks that the river\nhad drifted down, and Mopsa had taken a honey-comb from the rock, so\nthey all had a very nice breakfast. And the apple-woman gave them a\ngreat deal of good advice, and told them if they wished to remain in\nFairyland, and not be caught by the brown doe and her followers, they\nmust cross over the purple mountains, \u201cFor on the other side of those\npeaks,\u201d she said, \u201cI have heard that fairies live who have the best of\ncharacters for being kind and just. I am sure they would never shut up\na poor queen in a castle.\n\n\u201cBut the best thing you could do, dear,\u201d she said to Mopsa, \u201cwould\nbe to let Jack call the bird, and make her carry you back to his own\ncountry.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Queen is not at all kind,\u201d said Jack; \u201cI have been very kind to\nher, and she should have let Mopsa stay.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, Jack, she could not,\u201d said Mopsa; \u201cbut I wish I had not grown so\nfast, and I don\u2019t like to go to your country. I would rather run away.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut who is to tell us where to run?\u201d asked Jack.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said Mopsa, \u201csome of these people.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t see anybody,\u201d said Jack, looking about him.\n\nMopsa pointed to a group of stones, and then to another group, and as\nJack looked he saw that in shape they were something like people--stone\npeople. One stone was a little like an old man with a mantle over him,\nand he was sitting on the ground with his knees up nearly to his chin.\nAnother was like a woman with a hood on, and she seemed to be leaning\nher chin on her hand. Close to these stood something very much like a\ncradle in shape; and beyond were stones that resembled a flock of sheep\nlying down on the bare sand, with something that reminded Jack of the\nfigure of a man lying asleep near them, with his face to the ground.\n\nThat was a very curious country; all the stones reminded you of people\nor of animals, and the shadows that they cast were much more like than\nthe stones themselves. There were blocks with things that you might\nhave mistaken for stone ropes twisted round them; but, looking at the\nshadows, you could see distinctly that they were trees, and that what\ncoiled round were snakes. Then there was a rocky prominence, at one\nside of which was something like a sitting figure, but its shadow,\nlying on the ground, was that of a girl with a distaff. Jack was very\nmuch surprised at all this; Mopsa was not. She did not see, she said,\nthat one thing was more wonderful than another. All the fairy lands\nwere wonderful, but the men-and-women world was far more so. She and\nJack went about among the stones all day, and as the sun got low both\nthe shadows and the blocks themselves became more and more like people,\nand if you went close you could now see features, very sweet, quiet\nfeatures, but the eyes were all shut.\n\nBy this time the apple-woman began to feel very sad. She knew she\nshould soon have to leave Jack and Mopsa, and she said to Mopsa, as\nthey finished their evening meal, \u201cI wish you would ask the inhabitants\na few questions, dear, before I go, for I want to know whether they can\nput you in the way how to cross the purple mountains.\u201d\n\nJack said nothing, for he thought he would see what Mopsa was going\nto do; so when she got up, and went towards the shape that was like a\ncradle he followed, and the apple-woman too. Mopsa went to the figure\nthat sat by the cradle. It was a stone yet, but when Mopsa laid her\nlittle warm hand on its bosom it smiled.\n\n\u201cDear,\u201d said Mopsa, \u201cI wish you would wake.\u201d\n\nA curious little sound was now heard, but the figure did not move, and\nthe apple-woman lifted Mopsa on to the lap of the statue; then she put\nher arms round its neck, and spoke to it again very distinctly: \u201cDear!\nwhy don\u2019t you wake? You had better wake now; the baby\u2019s crying.\u201d\n\nJack now observed that the sound he had heard was something like the\ncrying of a baby. He also heard the figure answering Mopsa. It said, \u201cI\nam only a stone!\u201d\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d said Mopsa, \u201cI am not a queen yet. I cannot wake her. Take me\ndown.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am not warm,\u201d said the figure: and that was quite true, and yet she\nwas not a stone now which reminded one of a woman, but a woman that\nreminded one of a stone.\n\nAll the west was very red with the sunset, and the river was red too,\nand Jack distinctly saw some of the coils of rope glide down from\nthe trees and slip into the water; next he saw the stones that had\nlooked like sheep raise up their heads in the twilight, and then lift\nthemselves and shake their woolly sides. At that instant the large\nwhite moon heaved up her pale face between two dark blue hills, and\nupon this the statue put out its feet and gently rocked the cradle.\n\nThen it spoke again to Mopsa: \u201cWhat was it that you wished me to tell\nyou?\u201d\n\n\u201cHow to find the way over those purple mountains,\u201d said Mopsa.\n\n\u201cYou must set off in an hour, then,\u201d said the woman, and she had hardly\nanything of the stone about her now. \u201cYou can easily find it by night\nwithout any guide, but nothing can ever take you to it by day.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut we would rather stay a few days in this curious country,\u201d said\nJack; \u201clet us wait at least till to-morrow night.\u201d\n\nThe statue at this moment rubbed her hands together as if they still\nfelt cold and stiff.\n\n\u201cYou are quite welcome to stay,\u201d she observed; \u201cbut you had better not.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d persisted Jack.\n\n\u201cFather,\u201d said the woman, rising and shaking the figure next to her by\nthe sleeve, \u201cWake up!\u201d What had looked like an old man was a real old\nman now, and he got up and began to gather sticks to make a fire, and\nto pick up the little brown stones which had been scattered about all\nday, but which now were berries of coffee; the larger ones, which you\nmight find here and there, were rasped rolls. Then the woman answered\nJack, \u201cWhy not? Why, because it\u2019s full moon to-night at midnight, and\nthe moment the moon is past the full your Queen, whose country you have\njust left, will be able to cross over the little stream, and she will\nwant to take you and that other mortal back. She can do it, of course,\nif she pleases; and we can afford you no protection, for by that time\nwe shall be stones again. We are only people two hours out of the\ntwenty-four.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is very hard,\u201d observed Jack.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the woman, in a tone of indifference; \u201cit comes to the same\nthing, as we live twelve times as long as others do.\u201d\n\nBy this time the shepherd was gently driving his flock down to the\nwater, and round fifty little fires groups of people were sitting\nroasting coffee, while cows were lowing to be milked, and girls with\ndistaffs were coming to them slowly, for no one was in a hurry there.\nThey say in that country that they wish to enjoy their day quietly,\nbecause it is so short.\n\n\u201cCan you tell us anything of the land beyond the mountains?\u201d asked Jack.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the woman. \u201cOf all fairy lands it is the best; the people\nare the gentlest and kindest.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I had better take Mopsa there than down the river?\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t take her down the river,\u201d replied the woman; and Jack\nthought she laughed and was glad of that.\n\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d asked Jack. \u201cI have a boat.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir,\u201d answered the woman, \u201cbut where is it now?\u201d\n\n[Illustration: \u201cYes, sir,\u201d said the woman, \u201cBut where is it now?\u201d]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nMELON SEEDS\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n    \u201c_Rosalind._ Well, this is the forest of Arden.\n\n    \u201c_Touchstone._ Ay, now am I in Arden: the more fool I;\n    when I was at home I was in a better place; but\n    travellers must be content?\u201d--_As You Like It._\n\n\u201cWhere is it now?\u201d said the stone-woman; and when Jack heard that he\nran down to the river, and looked right and looked left. At last he saw\nhis boat--a mere speck in the distance, it had floated so far.\n\nHe called it, but it was far beyond the reach of his voice; and Mopsa,\nwho had followed him, said:\n\n\u201cIt does not signify, Jack, for I feel that no place is the right place\nfor me but that country beyond the purple mountains, and I shall never\nbe happy unless we go there.\u201d\n\nSo they walked back towards the stone-people hand in hand, and the\napple-woman presently joined them. She was crying gently, for she knew\nthat she must soon pass over the little stream and part with these\nwhom she called her dear children. Jack had often spoken to her that\nday about going home to her own country, but she said it was too late\nto think of that now, and she must end her days in the land of Faery.\n\nThe kind stone-people asked them to come and sit by their little fire;\nand in the dusk the woman whose baby had slept in a stone cradle took\nit up and began to sing to it. She seemed astonished when she heard\nthat the apple-woman had power to go home if she could make up her mind\nto do it; and as she sang she looked at her with wonder and pity.\n\n    \u201cLittle babe, while burns the west,\n    Warm thee, warm thee in my breast;\n    While the moon doth shine her best,\n      And the dews distil not.\n\n    \u201cAll the land so sad, so fair--\n    Sweet its toils are, blest its care.\n    Child, we may not enter there!\n      Some there are that will not.\n\n    \u201cFain would I thy margins know,\n    Land of work, and land of snow;\n    Land of life, whose rivers flow\n      On, and on, and stay not.\n\n    \u201cFain would I thy small limbs fold,\n    While the weary hours are told,\n    Little babe in cradle cold.\n      Some there are that may not.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are not exactly fairies, I suppose?\u201d said Jack. \u201cIf you were, you\ncould go to our country when you pleased.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the woman; \u201cwe are not exactly fairies; but we shall be more\nlike them when our punishment is over.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am sorry you are punished,\u201d answered Jack, \u201cfor you seem very nice,\nkind people.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe were not always kind,\u201d answered the woman; \u201cand perhaps we are only\nkind now because we have no time and no chance of being otherwise. I\u2019m\nsure I don\u2019t know about that. We were powerful once, and we did a cruel\ndeed. I must not tell you what it was. We were told that our hearts\nwere all as cold as stones--and I suppose they were--and we were doomed\nto be stones all our lives, excepting for the two hours of twilight.\nThere was no one to sow the crops, or water the grass, so it all\nfailed, and the trees died, and our houses fell, and our possessions\nwere stolen from us.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is a very sad thing,\u201d observed the apple-woman; and then she said\nthat she must go, for she had a long way to walk before she should\nreach the little brook that led to the country of her own queen; so she\nkissed the two children, Jack and Mopsa, and they begged her again to\nthink better of it, and return to her own land. But she said No; she\nhad no heart for work now, and could not bear either cold or poverty.\n\nThen the woman who was hugging her little baby, and keeping it cosy and\nwarm, began to tell Jack and Mopsa that it was time they should begin\nto run away to the country over the purple mountains, or else the Queen\nwould overtake them and be very angry with them; so, with many promises\nthat they would mind her directions, they set off hand in hand to run;\nbut before they left her they could see plainly that she was beginning\nto turn again into stone. However, she had given them a slice of melon\nwith the seeds in it. It had been growing on the edge of the river, and\nwas stone in the daytime, like everything else. \u201cWhen you are tired,\u201d\nshe said, \u201ceat the seeds, and they will enable you to go running on.\nYou can put the slice into this little red pot, which has string\nhandles to it, and you can hang it on your arm. While you have it with\nyou it will not turn to stone, but if you lay it down it will, and then\nit will be useless.\u201d\n\nSo, as I said before, Jack and Mopsa set off hand in hand to run; and\nas they ran all the things and people gradually and softly settled\nthemselves to turn into stone again. Their cloaks and gowns left off\nfluttering, and hung stiffly; and then they left off their occupations,\nand sat down, or lay down themselves; and the sheep and cattle turned\nstiff and stonelike too, so that in a very little while all that\ncountry was nothing but red stones and red sand, just as it had been in\nthe morning.\n\nPresently the full moon, which had been hiding behind a cloud, came\nout, and they saw their shadows, which fell straight before them; so\nthey ran on hand in hand very merrily till the half-moon came up,\nand the shadows she made them cast fell sideways. This was rather\nawkward, because as long as only the full moon gave them shadows they\nhad but to follow them in order to go straight towards the purple\nmountains. Now they were not always sure which were her shadows; and\npresently a crescent moon came, and still further confused them; also\nthe sand began to have tufts of grass in it; and then, when they had\ngone a little farther, there were beautiful patches of anemones, and\nhyacinths, and jonquils, and crown imperials, and they stopped to\ngather them; and they got among some trees, and then, as they had\nnothing to guide them but the shadows, and these went all sorts of\nways, they lost a great deal of time, and the trees became of taller\ngrowth; but they still ran on and on till they got into a thick forest\nwhere it was quite dark, and here Mopsa began to cry, for she was tired.\n\n\u201cIf I could only begin to be a queen,\u201d she said to Jack, \u201cI could go\nwherever I pleased. I am not a fairy, and yet I am not a proper queen.\nOh, what shall I do? I cannot go any farther.\u201d\n\nSo Jack gave her some of the seeds of the melon, though it was so\ndark that he could scarcely find the way to her mouth, and then he\ntook some himself, and they both felt that they were rested, and Jack\ncomforted Mopsa.\n\n\u201cIf you are not a queen yet,\u201d he said, \u201cyou will be by to-morrow\nmorning; for when our shadows danced on before us yours was so very\nnearly the same height as mine that I could hardly see any difference.\u201d\n\nWhen they reached the end of that great forest, and found themselves\nout in all sorts of moonlight, the first thing they did was to\nlaugh--the shadows looked so odd, sticking out in every direction; and\nthe next thing they did was to stand back to back, and put their heels\ntogether, and touch their heads together, to see by the shadow which\nwas the taller; and Jack was still the least bit in the world taller\nthan Mopsa; so they knew she was not a queen yet, and they ate some\nmore melon seeds, and began to climb up the mountain.\n\nThey climbed till the trees of the forest looked no bigger than\ngooseberry bushes, and then they climbed till the whole forest looked\nonly like a patch of moss; and then, when they got a little higher,\nthey saw the wonderful river, a long way off, and the snow glittering\non the peaks overhead; and while they were looking and wondering how\nthey should find a pass, the moons all went down, one after the other,\nand, if Mopsa had not found some glow-worms, they would have been quite\nin the dark again. However, she took a dozen of them, and put them\nround Jack\u2019s ankles, so that when he walked he could see where he was\ngoing; and he found a little sheep-path, and she followed him.\n\nNow they had noticed during the night how many shooting-stars kept\ndarting about from time to time, and at last one shot close by them,\nand fell in the soft moss on before. There it lay shining; and Jack,\nthough he began to feel very tired again, made haste to it, for he\nwanted to see what it was like.\n\nIt was not what you would have supposed. It was soft and round, and\nabout the colour of a ripe apricot; it was covered with fur, and in\nfact it was evidently alive, and had curled itself up into a round ball.\n\n\u201cThe dear little thing!\u201d said Jack, as he held it in his hand, and\nshowed it to Mopsa; \u201chow its heart beats! Is it frightened?\u201d\n\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d said Mopsa to the thing. \u201cWhat is your name?\u201d\n\nThe little creature made a sound that seemed like \u201cWisp.\u201d\n\n\u201cUncurl yourself, Wisp,\u201d said Mopsa. \u201cJack and I want to look at you.\u201d\n\nSo Wisp unfolded himself, and showed two little black eyes, and spread\nout two long filmy wings. He was like a most beautiful bat, and the\nlight he shed out illuminated their faces.\n\n\u201cIt is only one of the air fairies,\u201d said Mopsa. \u201cPretty creature! It\nnever did any harm, and would like to do us good if it knew how, for\nit knows that I shall be a queen very soon. Wisp, if you like, you may\ngo and tell your friends and relations that we want to cross over the\nmountains; and if they can they may help us.\u201d\n\nUpon this Wisp spread out his wings, and shot off again; and Jack\u2019s\nfeet were so tired that he sat down, and pulled off one of his shoes,\nfor he thought there was a stone in it. So he set the little red jar\nbeside him, and quite forgot what the stone woman had said, but went on\nshaking his shoe, and buckling it, and admiring the glow-worms round\nhis ankle, till Mopsa said, \u201cDarling Jack, I am so dreadfully tired!\nGive me some more melon seeds.\u201d Then he lifted up the jar, and thought\nit felt very heavy; and when he put in his hand, jar, and melon, and\nseeds were all turned to stone together.\n\n[Illustration: THEY SPREAD OUT LONG FILMY WINGS.]\n\nThey were both very sorry, and they sat still for a minute or two,\nfor they were much too tired to stir; and then shooting-stars began\nto appear in all directions. The fairy bat had told his friends and\nrelations, and they were coming. One fell at Mopsa\u2019s feet, another\nin her lap; more, more, all about, behind, before, and over them. And\nthey spread out long filmy wings, some of them a yard long, till Jack\nand Mopsa seemed to be enclosed in a perfect network of the rays of\nshooting-stars, and they were both a good deal frightened. Fifty or\nsixty shooting-stars, with black eyes that could stare, were enough,\nthey thought, to frighten anybody.\n\n\u201cIf we had anything to sit upon,\u201d said Mopsa, \u201cthey could carry us\nover the pass.\u201d She had no sooner spoken than the largest of the bats\nbit off one of his own long wings, and laid it at Mopsa\u2019s feet. It did\nnot seem to matter much to him that he had parted with it, for he shot\nout another wing directly, just as a comet shoots out a ray of light\nsometimes, when it approaches the sun.\n\nMopsa thanked the shooting fairy, and, taking the wing, began to\nstretch it, till it was large enough for her and Jack to sit upon. Then\nall the shooting fairies came round it, took its edges in their mouths,\nand began to fly away with it over the mountains. They went slowly,\nfor Jack and Mopsa were heavy, and they flew very low, resting now and\nthen; but in the course of time they carried the wing over the pass,\nand half-way down the other side. Then the sun came up; and the moment\nhe appeared all their lovely apricot-coloured light was gone, and they\nonly looked like common bats, such as you can see every evening.\n\nThey set down Jack and Mopsa, folded up their long wings, and hung down\ntheir heads.\n\nMopsa thanked them, and said they had been useful; but still they\nlooked ashamed, and crept into little corners and crevices of the rock,\nto hide.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nREEDS AND RUSHES\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n    \u201c\u2019Tis merry, \u2019tis merry in Fairyland,\n      When Fairy birds are singing;\n    When the court doth ride by their monarch\u2019s side,\n      With bit and bridle ringing.\u201d\n\n    WALTER SCOTT.\n\nThere were many fruit-trees on that slope of the mountain, and Jack and\nMopsa, as they came down, gathered some fruit for breakfast, and did\nnot feel very tired, for the long ride on the wing had rested them.\n\nThey could not see the plain, for a slight blue mist hung over it; but\nthe sun was hot already, and as they came down they saw a beautiful bed\nof high reeds, and thought they would sit awhile and rest in it. A rill\nof clear water ran beside the bed, so when they had reached it they sat\ndown, and began to consider what they should do next.\n\n\u201cJack,\u201d said Mopsa, \u201cdid you see anything particular as you came down\nwith the shooting stars?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I saw nothing so interesting as they were,\u201d answered Jack. \u201cI was\nlooking at them and watching how they squeaked to one another, and how\nthey had little hooks in their wings, with which they held the large\nwing that we sat on.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I saw something,\u201d said Mopsa. \u201cJust as the sun rose I looked down,\nand in the loveliest garden I ever saw, and all among trees and woods,\nI saw a most beautiful castle. O Jack! I am sure that castle is the\nplace I am to live in, and now we have nothing to do but to find it. I\nshall soon be a queen, and there I shall reign.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I shall be king there,\u201d said Jack; \u201cshall I?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, if you can,\u201d answered Mopsa. \u201cOf course, whatever you can do you\nmay do. And, Jack, this is a much better fairy country than either the\nstony land or the other that we first came to, for this castle is a\nreal place! It will not melt away. There the people can work, they know\nhow to love each other: common fairies cannot do that, I know. They can\nlaugh and cry, and I shall teach them several things that they do not\nknow yet. Oh! do let us make haste and find the castle.\u201d\n\nSo they arose; but they turned the wrong way, and by mistake walked\nfarther and farther in among the reeds, whose feathery heads puffed\ninto Mopsa\u2019s face, and Jack\u2019s coat was all covered with the fluffy seed.\n\n\u201cThis is very odd,\u201d said Jack. \u201cI thought this was only a small bed of\nreeds when we stepped into it; but really we must have walked a mile\nalready.\u201d\n\nBut they walked on and on, till Mopsa grew quite faint, and her sweet\nface became very pale, for she knew that the beds of reeds were\nspreading faster than they walked, and then they shot up so high that\nit was impossible to see over their heads; so at last Jack and Mopsa\nwere so tired, that they sat down, and Mopsa began to cry.\n\nHowever, Jack was the braver of the two this time, and he comforted\nMopsa, and told her that she was nearly a queen, and would never reach\nher castle by sitting still. So she got up and took his hand, and he\nwent on before, parting the reeds and pulling her after him, till all\non a sudden they heard the sweetest sound in the world: it was like a\nbell, and it sounded again and again.\n\nIt was the castle clock, and it was striking twelve at noon.\n\nAs it finished striking they came out at the farther edge of the\ngreat bed of reeds, and there was the castle straight before them--a\nbeautiful castle, standing on the slope of a hill. The grass all about\nit was covered with beautiful flowers; two of the taller turrets were\nover-grown with ivy, and a flag was flying on a staff; but everything\nwas so silent and lonely that it made one sad to look on. As Jack and\nMopsa drew near they trod as gently as they could, and did not say a\nword.\n\nAll the windows were shut, but there was a great door in the centre of\nthe building, and they went towards it, hand in hand.\n\nWhat a beautiful hall! The great door stood wide open, and they could\nsee what a delightful place this must be to live in: it was paved with\nsquares of blue and white marble, and here and there carpets were\nspread, with chairs and tables upon them. They looked and saw a great\ndome overhead, filled with windows of coloured glass, and they cast\ndown blue and golden and rosy reflections.\n\n\u201cThere is my home that I shall live in,\u201d said Mopsa; and she came close\nto the door, and they both looked in, till at last she let go of\nJack\u2019s hand, and stepped over the threshold.\n\nThe bell in the tower sounded again more sweetly than ever, and the\ninstant Mopsa was inside there came from behind the fluted columns,\nwhich rose up on every side, the brown doe, followed by troops of deer\nand fawns!\n\n\u201cMopsa! Mopsa!\u201d cried Jack, \u201ccome away! come back!\u201d But Mopsa was\ntoo much astonished to stir, and something seemed to hold Jack from\nfollowing; but he looked and looked, till, as the brown doe advanced,\nthe door of the castle closed--Mopsa was shut in, and Jack was left\noutside.\n\nSo Mopsa had come straight to the place she thought she had run away\nfrom.\n\n\u201cBut I am determined to get her away from those creatures,\u201d thought\nJack; \u201cshe does not want to reign over deer.\u201d And he began to look\nabout him, hoping to get in. It was of no use: all the windows in that\nfront of the castle were high, and when he tried to go round, he came\nto a high wall with battlements. Against some parts of this wall the\nivy grew, and looked as if it might have grown there for ages; its\nstems were thicker than his waist, and its branches were spread over\nthe surface like network; so by means of them he hoped to climb to the\ntop.\n\nHe immediately began to try. Oh, how high the wall was! First he came\nto several sparrows\u2019 nests, and very much frightened the sparrows were;\nthen he reached starlings\u2019 nests, and very angry the starlings were;\nbut at last, just under the coping, he came to jackdaws\u2019 nests, and\nthese birds were very friendly, and pointed out to him the best little\nholes for him to put his feet into. At last he reached the top, and\nfound to his delight that the wall was three feet thick, and he could\nwalk upon it quite comfortably, and look down into a lovely garden,\nwhere all the trees were in blossom, and creepers tossed their long\ntendrils from tree to tree, covered with puffs of yellow, or bells of\nwhite, or bunches and knots of blue or rosy bloom.\n\nHe could look down into the beautiful empty rooms of the castle, and\nhe walked cautiously on the wall till he came to the west front, and\nreached a little casement window that had latticed panes. Jack peeped\nin; nobody was there. He took his knife, and cut away a little bit of\nlead to let out the pane, and it fell with such a crash on the pavement\nbelow that he wondered it did not bring the deer over to look at what\nhe was about. Nobody came.\n\nHe put in his hand and opened the latchet, and with very little trouble\ngot down into the room. Still nobody was to be seen. He thought that\nthe room, years ago, might have been a fairies\u2019 schoolroom, for it was\nstrewn with books, slates, and all sorts of copybooks. A fine soft dust\nhad settled down over everything--pens, papers, and all. Jack opened a\ncopybook: its pages were headed with maxims, just as ours are, which\nproved that these fairies must have been superior to such as he had\nhitherto come among. Jack read some of them:\n\n \u201cTurn your back on the light, and you\u2019ll follow a shadow.\u201d\n\n \u201cThe deaf queen Fate has dumb courtiers.\u201d\n\n \u201cIf the hound is your foe, don\u2019t sleep in his kennel.\u201d\n\n \u201cThat that is, is.\u201d\n\nAnd so on; but nobody came, and no sound was heard, so he opened the\ndoor, and found himself in a long and most splendid gallery, all hung\nwith pictures, and spread with a most beautiful carpet, which was as\nsoft and white as a piece of wool, and wrought with a beautiful device.\nThis was the letter M, with a crown and sceptre, and underneath a\nbeautiful little boat, exactly like the one in which he had come up the\nriver. Jack felt sure that this carpet had been made for Mopsa, and he\nwent along the gallery upon it till he reached a grand staircase of oak\nthat was almost black with age, and he stole gently down it, for he\nbegan to feel rather shy, more especially as he could now see the great\nhall under the dome, and that it had a beautiful lady in it, and many\nother people, but no deer at all.\n\nThese fairy people were something like the one-foot-one fairies, but\nmuch larger and more like children, and they had very gentle, happy\nfaces, and seemed to be extremely glad and gay. But seated on a couch,\nwhere lovely painted windows threw down all sorts of rainbow colours\non her, was a beautiful fairy lady, as large as a woman. She had Mopsa\nin her arms, and was looking down upon her with eyes full of love,\nwhile at her side stood a boy, who was exactly and precisely like Jack\nhimself. He had rather long light hair and grey eyes, and a velvet\njacket. That was all Jack could see at first, but as he drew nearer the\nboy turned, and then Jack felt as if he was looking at himself in the\nglass.\n\nMopsa had been very tired, and now she was fast asleep, with her head\non that lady\u2019s shoulder. The boy kept looking at her, and he seemed\nvery happy indeed; so did the lady, and she presently told him to bring\nJack something to eat.\n\nIt was rather a curious speech that she made to him; it was this:\n\n\u201cJack, bring Jack some breakfast.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d thought Jack to himself, \u201chas he got a face like mine, and a\nname like mine too?\u201d\n\nSo that other Jack went away, and presently came back with a golden\nplate full of nice things to eat.\n\n\u201cI know you don\u2019t like me,\u201d he said, as he came up to Jack with the\nplate.\n\n\u201cNot like him?\u201d repeated the lady; \u201cand pray what reason have you for\nnot liking my royal nephew?\u201d\n\n\u201cO dame!\u201d exclaimed the boy, and laughed.\n\nThe lady, on hearing this, turned pale, for she perceived that she\nherself had mistaken the one for the other.\n\n\u201cI see you know how to laugh,\u201d said the real Jack. \u201cYou are wiser\npeople than those whom I went to first; but the reason I don\u2019t like you\nis, that you are so exactly like me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am not!\u201d exclaimed the boy. \u201cOnly hear him, dame! You mean, I\nsuppose, that you are so exactly like me. I am sure I don\u2019t know what\nyou mean by it.\u201d\n\n\u201cNor I either,\u201d replied Jack, almost in a passion.\n\n\u201cIt couldn\u2019t be helped, of course,\u201d said the other Jack.\n\n\u201cHush! hush!\u201d said the fairy woman; \u201cdon\u2019t wake our dear little Queen.\nWas it you, my royal nephew, who spoke last?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, dame,\u201d answered the boy, and again he offered the plate; but Jack\nwas swelling with indignation, and he gave the plate a push with his\nelbow, which scattered the fruit and bread on the ground.\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t eat it,\u201d he said; but when the other Jack went and picked\nit up again, and said, \u201cOh, yes, do, old fellow; it\u2019s not my fault,\nyou know,\u201d he began to consider that it was no use being cross in\nFairyland; so he forgave his double, and had just finished his\nbreakfast when Mopsa woke.\n\n[Illustration: He gave the plate a push with his elbow.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nTHE QUEEN\u2019S WAND\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n    \u201cOne, two, three, four; one, two, three, four;\n      \u2019Tis still one, two, three, four.\n    Mellow and silvery are the tones,\n      But I wish the bells were more.\u201d\n\n    SOUTHEY.\n\nMopsa woke: she was rather too big to be nursed, for she was the size\nof Jack, and looked like a sweet little girl of ten years, but she did\nnot always behave like one; sometimes she spoke as wisely as a grown-up\nwoman, and sometimes she changed again and seemed like a child.\n\nMopsa lifted up her head and pushed back her long hair: her coronet\nhad fallen off while she was in the bed of reeds; and she said to the\nbeautiful dame:\n\n\u201cI am a queen now.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my sweet Queen,\u201d answered the lady, \u201cI know you are.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd you promise that you will be kind to me till I grow up,\u201d said\nMopsa, \u201cand love me, and teach me how to reign?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d repeated the lady; \u201cand I will love you too, just as if you were\na mortal and I your mother.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor I am only ten years old yet,\u201d said Mopsa, \u201cand the throne is too\nbig for me to sit upon; but I am a queen.\u201d And then she paused, and\nsaid, \u201cIs it three o\u2019clock?\u201d\n\nAs she spoke, the sweet clear bell of the castle sounded three times,\nand then chimes began to play; they played such a joyous tune that it\nmade everybody sing. The dame sang, the crowd of fairies sang, the boy\nwho was Jack\u2019s double sang, and Mopsa sang--only Jack was silent--and\nthis was the song:\n\n    \u201cThe prince shall to the chase again,\n    The dame has got her face again,\n    The king shall have his place again\n      Aneath the fairy dome.\n\n    \u201cAnd all the knights shall woo again,\n    And all the doves shall coo again,\n    And all the dreams come true again,\n      And Jack shall go home.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe shall see about that!\u201d thought Jack to himself. And Mopsa, while\nshe sang those last words, burst into tears, which Jack did not like to\nsee; but all the fairies were so very glad, so joyous, and so delighted\nwith her for having come to be their queen, that after a while she\ndried her eyes, and said to the wrong boy:\n\n\u201cJack, when I pulled the lining out of your pocket-book there was a\nsilver fourpence in it.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the real Jack, \u201cand here it is.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it real money?\u201d asked Mopsa. \u201cAre you sure you brought it with you\nall the way from your own country?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Jack, \u201cquite sure.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, dear Jack,\u201d answered Mopsa, \u201cwill you give it to me?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will,\u201d said Jack, \u201cif you will send this boy away.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow can I?\u201d answered Mopsa, surprised. \u201cDon\u2019t you know what happened\nwhen the door closed? Has nobody told you?\u201d\n\n\u201cI did not see any one after I got into the place,\u201d said Jack. \u201cThere\nwas no one to tell anything--not even a fawn, nor the brown doe. I have\nonly seen down here these fairy people, and this boy, and this lady.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe lady is the brown doe,\u201d answered Mopsa; \u201cand this boy and the\nfairies were the fawns.\u201d Jack was so astonished at this that he stared\nat the lady and the boy and the fairies with all his might.\n\n\u201cThe sun came shining in as I stepped inside,\u201d said Mopsa, \u201cand a long\nbeam fell down from the fairy dome across my feet. Do you remember\nwhat the apple-woman told us--how it was reported that the brown doe\nand her nation had a queen whom they shut up, and never let the sun\nshine on her? That was not a kind or true report, and yet it came from\nsomething that really happened.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I remember,\u201d said Jack; \u201cand if the sun did shine they were all\nto be turned into deer.\u201d\n\n\u201cI dare not tell you all that story yet,\u201d said Mopsa; \u201cbut, Jack, as\nthe brown doe and all the fawns came up to greet me, and passed by\nturns into the sunbeam, they took their own forms, every one of them,\nbecause the spell was broken. They were to remain in the disguise of\ndeer till a queen of alien birth should come to them against her will.\nI am a queen of alien birth, and did not I come against my will?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, to be sure,\u201d answered Jack. \u201cWe thought all the time that we were\nrunning away.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf ever you come to Fairyland again,\u201d observed Mopsa, \u201cyou can save\nyourself the trouble of trying to run away from the old mother.\u201d\n\n\u201cI shall not \u2018come,\u2019\u201d answered Jack, \u201cbecause I shall not go--not for a\nlong while, at least. But the boy--I want to know why this boy turned\ninto another ME?\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause he is the heir, of course,\u201d answered Mopsa.\n\n\u201cBut I don\u2019t see that this is any reason at all,\u201d said Jack.\n\nMopsa laughed. \u201cThat\u2019s because you don\u2019t know how to argue,\u201d she\nreplied. \u201cWhy, the thing is as plain as possible.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt may be plain to you,\u201d persisted Jack, \u201cbut it\u2019s no reason.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo reason!\u201d repeated Mopsa, \u201cno reason! when I like you the best of\nanything in the world, and when I am come here to be queen! Of course,\nwhen the spell was broken he took exactly your form on that account;\nand very right too.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut why?\u201d asked Jack.\n\nMopsa, however, was like other fairies in this respect--that she knew\nall about Old Mother Fate, but not about causes and reasons. She\nbelieved, as we do in this world, that\n\n    \u201cThat that is, is,\u201d\n\nbut the fairies go further than this; they say:\n\n    \u201cThat that is, is; and when it is, that is the reason that it is.\u201d\n\nThis sounds like nonsense to us, but it is all right to them.\n\nSo Mopsa, thinking she had explained everything, said again:\n\n\u201cAnd, dear Jack, will you give the silver fourpence to me?\u201d\n\nJack took it out; and she got down from the dame\u2019s knee and took it in\nthe palm of her hand, laying the other palm upon it.\n\n\u201cIt will be very hot,\u201d observed the dame.\n\n\u201cBut it will not burn me so as really to hurt, if I am a real queen,\u201d\nsaid Mopsa.\n\nPresently she began to look as if something gave her pain.\n\n\u201cOh, it\u2019s so hot!\u201d she said to the other Jack; \u201cso very hot!\u201d\n\n\u201cNever mind, sweet Queen,\u201d he answered; \u201cit will not hurt you long.\nRemember my poor uncle and all his knights.\u201d\n\nMopsa still held the little silver coin; but Jack saw that it hurt\nher, for two bright tears fell from her eyes; and in another moment\nhe saw that it was actually melted, for it fell in glittering drops\nfrom Mopsa\u2019s hand to the marble floor, and there it lay as soft as\nquick-silver.\n\n\u201cPick it up,\u201d said Mopsa to the other Jack; and he instantly did\nso, and laid it in her hand again; and she began gently to roll it\nbackwards and forwards between her palms till she had rolled it into a\nvery slender rod, two feet long, and not nearly so thick as a pin; but\nit did not bend, and it shone so brightly that you could hardly look at\nit.\n\nThen she held it out towards the real Jack, and said, \u201cGive this a\nname.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think it is a----\u201d began the other Jack; but the dame suddenly\nstopped him. \u201cSilence, sire! Don\u2019t you know that what it is first\ncalled that it will be?\u201d\n\nJack hesitated; he thought if Mopsa was a queen the thing ought to be a\nsceptre; but it certainly was not at all like a sceptre.\n\n\u201cThat thing is a wand,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cYou are a wand,\u201d said Mopsa, speaking to the silver stick, which\nwas glittering now in a sunbeam almost as if it were a beam of light\nitself. Then she spoke again to Jack:\n\n\u201cTell me, Jack, what can I do with a wand?\u201d\n\nAgain the boy-king began to speak, and the dame stopped him, and again\nJack considered. He had heard a great deal in his own country about\nfairy wands, but he could not remember that the fairies had done\nanything particular with them, so he gave what he thought was true, but\nwhat seemed to him a very stupid answer:\n\n\u201cYou can make it point to anything that you please.\u201d\n\nThe moment he had said this, shouts of ecstasy filled the hall, and all\nthe fairies clapped their hands with such hurrahs of delight that he\nblushed for joy.\n\nThe dame also looked truly glad, and as for the other Jack, he actually\nturned head over heels, just as Jack had often done himself on his\nfather\u2019s lawn.\n\nJack had merely meant that Mopsa could point with the wand to anything\nthat she saw; but he was presently told that what he had meant was\nnothing, and that his words were everything.\n\n\u201cI can make it point now,\u201d said Mopsa, \u201cand it will point aright to\nanything I please, whether I know where the thing is or not.\u201d\n\nAgain the hall was filled with those cries of joy, and the sweet\nchildlike fairies congratulated each other with \u201cThe Queen has got a\nwand--a wand! and she can make it point wherever she pleases!\u201d\n\nThen Mopsa rose and walked towards the beautiful staircase, the dame\nand all the fairies following. Jack was going too, but the other Jack\nheld him.\n\n\u201cWhere is Mopsa going? and why am I not to follow?\u201d inquired Jack.\n\n\u201cThey are going to put on her robes, of course,\u201d answered the other\nJack.\n\n\u201cI am so tired of always hearing you say \u2018of course,\u2019\u201d answered Jack;\n\u201cand I wonder how it is that you always seem to know what is going to\nbe done without being told. However, I suppose you can\u2019t help being odd\npeople.\u201d\n\nThe boy-king did not make a direct answer; he only said, \u201cI like you\nvery much, though you don\u2019t like me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy do you like me?\u201d asked Jack.\n\nSo he opened his eyes wide with surprise: \u201cMost boys say Sire to me,\u201d\nhe observed; \u201cat least they used to do when there were any boys here.\nHowever, that does not signify. Why, of course I like you, because I\nam so tired of being always a fawn, and you brought Mopsa to break the\nspell. You cannot think how disagreeable it is to have no hands, and\nto be all covered with hair. Now look at my hands; I can move them and\nturn them everywhere, even over my head if I like. Hoofs are good for\nnothing in comparison: and we could not talk.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo tell me about it,\u201d said Jack. \u201cHow did you become fawns?\u201d\n\n\u201cI dare not tell you,\u201d said the boy; \u201cand listen!--I hear Mopsa.\u201d\n\nJack looked, and certainly Mopsa was coming, but very strangely, he\nthought. Mopsa, like all other fairies, was afraid to whisper a spell\nwith her eyes open; so a handkerchief was tied across them, and as she\ncame on she felt her way, holding by the banisters with one hand, and\nwith the other, between her finger and thumb, holding out the silver\nwand. She felt with her foot for the edge of the first stair; and Jack\nheard her say, \u201cI am much older--ah! so much older, now I have got my\nwand. I can feel sorrow too, and _their_ sorrow weighs down my heart.\u201d\n\nMopsa was dressed superbly in a white satin gown, with a long, long\ntrain of crimson velvet which was glittering with diamonds; it reached\nalmost from one end of the great gallery to the other, and had hundreds\nof fairies to hold it and keep it in its place. But in her hair were no\njewels, only a little crown made of daisies, and on her shoulders her\nrobe was fastened with the little golden image of a boat. These things\nwere to show the land she had come from and the vessel she had come in.\n\nSo she came slowly, slowly down stairs blindfold, and muttering to her\nwand all the time:\n\n    \u201cThough the sun shine brightly,\n    Wand, wand, guide rightly.\u201d\n\nSo she felt her way down to the great hall. There the wand turned half\nround in the hall towards the great door, and she and Jack and the\nother Jack came out into the lawn in front with all the followers and\ntrainbearers; only the dame remained behind.\n\nJack noticed now for the first time that, with the one exception of the\nboy-king, all these fairies were lady-fairies; he also observed that\nMopsa, after the manner of fairy queens, though she moved slowly and\nblindfold, was beginning to tell a story. This time it did not make him\nfeel sleepy. It did not begin at the beginning: their stories never do.\n\nThese are the first words he heard, for she spoke softly and very low,\nwhile he walked at her right hand, and the other Jack on her left:\n\n\u201cAnd so now I have no wings. But my thoughts can go up (Jovinian and\nRoxaletta could not think). My thoughts are instead of wings; but they\nhave dropped with me now, as a lark among the clods of the valley.\nWand, do you bend? Yes, I am following, wand.\n\n\u201cAnd after that the bird said, \u2018I will come when you call me.\u2019 I have\nnever seen her moving overhead; perhaps she is out of sight. Flocks of\nbirds hover over the world, and watch it high up where the air is thin.\nThere are zones, but those in the lowest zone are far out of sight.\n\n\u201cI have not been up there. I have no wings.\n\n\u201cOver the highest of the birds is the place where angels float and\ngather the children\u2019s souls as they are set free.\n\n\u201cAnd so that woman told me--(Wand, you bend again, and I will turn at\nyour bending)--that woman told me how it was: for when the new king\nwas born, a black fairy with a smiling face came and sat within the\ndoorway. She had a spindle, and would always spin. She wanted to teach\nthem how to spin, but they did not like her, and they loved to do\nnothing at all. So they turned her out.\n\n\u201cBut after her came a brown fairy, with a grave face, and she sat on\nthe black fairy\u2019s stool and gave them much counsel. They liked that\nstill less; so they got spindles and spun, for they said, \u2018She will go\nnow, and we shall have the black fairy again.\u2019 When she did not go they\nturned her out also, and after her came a white fairy, and sat in the\nsame seat. She did nothing at all, and she said nothing at all; but she\nhad a sorrowful face, and she looked up. So they were displeased. They\nturned her out also; and she went and sat by the edge of the lake with\nher two sisters.\n\n\u201cAnd everything prospered over all the land; till, after shearing-time,\nthe shepherds, because the king was a child, came to his uncle, and\nsaid, \u2018Sir, what shall we do with the old wool, for the new fleeces are\nin the bales, and there is no storehouse to put them in?\u2019 So he said,\n\u2018Throw them into the lake.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd while they threw them in, a great flock of finches flew to them,\nand said, \u2018Give us some of the wool that you do not want; we should be\nglad of it to build our nests with.\u2019\n\n\u201cThey answered, \u2018Go and gather for yourselves; there is wool on every\nthorn.\u2019\n\n\u201cThen the black fairy said, \u2018They shall be forgiven this time, because\nthe birds should pick wool for themselves.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo the finches flew away.\n\n\u201cThen the harvest was over, and the reapers came and said to the\nchild-king\u2019s uncle, \u2018Sir, what shall we do with the new wheat, for the\nold is not half eaten yet, and there is no room in the granaries?\u2019\n\n\u201cHe said, \u2018Throw that into the lake also.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhile they were throwing it in, there came a great flight of the wood\nfairies, fairies of passage from over the sea. They were in the form of\npigeons, and they alighted and prayed them, \u2018O cousins! we are faint\nwith our long flight; give us some of that corn which you do not want,\nthat we may peck it and be refreshed.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut they said, \u2018You may rest on our land, but our corn is our own.\nRest awhile, and go and get food in your own fields.\u2019\n\n\u201cThen the brown fairy said, \u2018They may be forgiven this once, but yet it\nis a great unkindness.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd as they were going to pour in the last sackful, there passed a\npoor mortal beggar, who had strayed in from the men and women\u2019s world,\nand she said, \u2018Pray give me some of that wheat, O fairy people! for I\nam hungry, I have lost my way, and there is no money to be earned here.\nGive me some of that wheat, that I may bake cakes, lest I and my baby\nshould starve.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd they said, \u2018What is starve? We never heard that word before, and\nwe cannot wait while you explain it to us.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo they poured it all into the lake; and then the white fairy said,\n\u2018This cannot be forgiven them;\u2019 and she covered her face with her hands\nand wept. Then the black fairy rose and drove them all before her--the\nprince, with his chief shepherd and his reapers, his courtiers and his\nknights; she drove them into the great bed of reeds, and no one has\never set eyes on them since. Then the brown fairy went into the palace\nwhere the king\u2019s aunt sat, with all her ladies and her maids about her,\nand with the child-king on her knee.\n\n\u201cIt was a very gloomy day.\n\n\u201cShe stood in the middle of the hall, and said, \u2018Oh, you cold-hearted\nand most unkind! my spell is upon you, and the first ray of sunshine\nshall bring it down. Lose your present forms, and be of a more gentle\nand innocent race, till a queen of alien birth shall come to reign over\nyou against her will.\u2019\n\n\u201cAs she spoke they crept into corners, and covered the dame\u2019s head with\na veil. And all that day it was dark and gloomy, and nothing happened,\nand all the next day it rained and rained; and they thrust the dame\ninto a dark closet, and kept her there for a whole month, and still not\na ray of sunshine came to do them any damage; but the dame faded and\nfaded in the dark, and at last they said, \u2018She must come out, or she\nwill die; and we do not believe the sun will ever shine in our country\nany more.\u2019 So they let the poor dame come out; and lo! as she crept\nslowly forth under the dome, a piercing ray of sunlight darted down\nupon her head, and in an instant they were all changed into deer, and\nthe child-king too.\n\n\u201cThey are gentle now, and kind; but where is the prince? where are the\nfairy knights and the fairy men?\n\n\u201cWand! why do you turn?\u201d\n\nNow while Mopsa told her story the wand continued to bend, and Mopsa,\nfollowing, was slowly approaching the foot of a great precipice, which\nrose sheer up for more than a hundred feet. The crowd that followed\nlooked dismayed at this: they thought the wand must be wrong; or even\nif it was right, they could not climb a precipice.\n\nBut still Mopsa walked on blindfold, and the wand pointed at the rock\ntill it touched it, and she said, \u201cWho is stopping me?\u201d\n\nThey told her, and she called to some of her ladies to untie the\nhandkerchief. Then Mopsa looked at the rock, and so did the two Jacks.\nThere was nothing to be seen but a very tiny hole. The boy-king\nthought it led to a bees\u2019 nest, and Jack thought it was a keyhole, for\nhe noticed in the rock a slight crack which took the shape of an arched\ndoor. Mopsa looked earnestly at the hole. \u201cIt may be a keyhole,\u201d she\nsaid, \u201cbut there is no key.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: But still Mopsa walked on blindfold.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nFAILURE\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n    \u201cWe are much bound to them that do succeed;\n      But, in a more pathetic sense, are bound\n      To such as fail. They all our loss expound;\n    They comfort us for work that will not speed,\n    And life--itself a failure. Ay, his deed,\n      Sweetest in story, who the dusk profound\n      Of Hades flooded with entrancing sound,\n    Music\u2019s own tears, was failure. Doth it read\n    Therefore the worse? Ah, no! So much to dare,\n      He fronts the regnant Darkness on its throne.--\n    So much to do; impetuous even there,\n      He pours out love\u2019s disconsolate sweet moan--\n    He wins; but few for that his deed recall:\n    Its power is in the look which costs him all.\u201d\n\nAt this moment Jack observed that a strange woman was standing among\nthem, and that the train-bearing fairies fell back, as if they were\nafraid of her. As no one spoke, he did, and said, \u201cGood morning!\u201d\n\n\u201cGood afternoon!\u201d she answered correcting him. \u201cI am the black fairy.\nWork is a fine thing. Most people in your country can work.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cThere are two spades,\u201d continued the fairy woman, \u201cone for you, and\none for your double.\u201d\n\nJack took one of the spades--it was small, and was made of silver; but\nthe other Jack said with scorn:\n\n\u201cI shall be a king when I am old enough, and must I dig like a clown?\u201d\n\n\u201cAs you please,\u201d said the black fairy, and walked away.\n\nThen they all observed that a brown woman was standing there; and she\nstepped up and whispered in the boy-king\u2019s ear. As he listened his\nsullen face became good tempered, and at last he said, in a gentle\ntone, \u201cJack, I\u2019m quite ready to begin if you are.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut where are we to dig?\u201d asked Jack.\n\n\u201cThere,\u201d said a white fairy, stepping up and setting her foot on the\ngrass just under the little hole. \u201cDig down as deep as you can.\u201d\n\nSo Mopsa and the crowd stood back, and the two boys began to dig; and\ngreatly they enjoyed it, for people can dig so fast in Fairyland.\n\nVery soon the hole was so deep that they had to jump into it, because\nthey could not reach the bottom with their spades. \u201cThis is very jolly\nindeed,\u201d said Jack, when they had dug so much deeper that they could\nonly see out of the hole by standing on tiptoe.\n\n\u201cGo on,\u201d said the white fairy; so they dug till they came to a flat\nstone, and then she said, \u201cNow you can stamp. Stamp on the stone, and\ndon\u2019t be afraid.\u201d So the two Jacks began to stamp, and in such a little\ntime that she had only half turned her head round, the flat stone gave\nway, for there was a hollow underneath it, and down went the boys, and\nutterly disappeared.\n\nThen, while Mopsa and the crowd silently looked on, the white fairy\nlightly pushed the clods of earth towards the hole with the side of\nher foot, and in a very few minutes the hole was filled in, and that\nso completely and so neatly, that when she had spread the turf on it,\nand given it a pat with her foot, you could not have told where it\nhad been. Mopsa said not a word, for no fairy ever interferes with\na stronger fairy; but she looked on earnestly, and when the white\nstranger smiled she was satisfied.\n\nThen the white stranger walked away, and Mopsa and the fairies sat down\non a bank under some splendid cedar-trees. The beautiful castle looked\nfairer than ever in the afternoon sunshine; a lovely waterfall tumbled\nwith a tinkling noise near at hand, and the bank was covered with\nbeautiful wild flowers.\n\nThey sat for a long while, and no one spoke: what they were thinking of\nis not known, but sweet Mopsa often sighed.\n\nAt last a noise--a very, very slight noise, as of footsteps of people\nrunning--was heard inside the rock, and then a little quivering was\nseen in the wand. It quivered more and more as the sound increased. At\nlast that which had looked like a door began to shake as if some one\nwas pushing it from within. Then a noise was distinctly heard as of a\nkey turning in the hole, and out burst the two Jacks, shouting for joy,\nand a whole troop of knights and squires and serving-men came rushing\nwildly forth behind them.\n\nOh, the joy of that meeting! who shall describe it? Fairies by dozens\ncame up to kiss the boy-king\u2019s hand, and Jack shook hands with every\none that could reach him. Then Mopsa proceeded to the castle between\nthe two Jacks, and the king\u2019s aunt came out to meet them, and welcomed\nher husband with tears of joy; for these fairies could laugh and cry\nwhen they pleased, and they naturally considered this a great proof of\nsuperiority.\n\nAfter this a splendid feast was served under the great dome. The other\nfairy feasts that Jack had seen were nothing to it. The prince and his\ndame sat at one board, but Mopsa sat at the head of the great table,\nwith the two Jacks one on each side of her.\n\nMopsa was not happy, Jack was sure of that, for she often sighed; and\nhe thought this strange. But he did not ask her any questions, and\nhe, with the boy-king, related their adventures to her: how, when the\nstone gave way, they tumbled in and rolled down a sloping bank till\nthey found themselves at the entrance of a beautiful cave, which was\nall lighted up with torches, and glittering with stars and crystals of\nall the colours in the world. There was a table spread with what looked\nlike a splendid luncheon in this great cave, and chairs were set round,\nbut Jack and the boy-king felt no inclination to eat anything, though\nthey were hungry, for a whole nation of ants were creeping up the\nhoney-pots. There were snails walking about over the table-cloth, and\ntoads peeping out of some of the dishes.\n\nSo they turned away, and, looking for some other door to lead them\nfarther in, they at last found a very small one--so small that only one\nof them could pass through at a time.\n\nThey did not tell Mopsa all that had occurred on this occasion. It was\nthus:\n\nThe boy-king said, \u201cI shall go in first, of course, because of my rank.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said Jack, \u201cI don\u2019t mind. I shall say to myself that\nyou\u2019ve gone in first to find the way for me, because you\u2019re my double.\nBesides, now I think of it, our Queen always goes last in a procession;\nso it\u2019s grand to go last. Pass in, Jack.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d answered the other Jack; \u201cnow you have said that I will not. You\nmay go first.\u201d\n\nSo they began to quarrel and argue about this, and it is impossible to\nsay how long they would have gone on if they had not begun to hear a\nterrible and mournful sort of moaning and groaning, which frightened\nthem both and instantly made them friends. They took tight hold of one\nanother\u2019s hand, and again there came by a loud sighing, and a noise\nof all sorts of lamentation, and it seemed to reach them through the\nlittle door.\n\nEach of the boys would now have been very glad to go back, but neither\nliked to speak. At last Jack thought anything would be less terrible\nthan listening to those dismal moans, so he suddenly dashed through the\ndoor, and the other Jack followed.\n\nThere was nothing terrible to be seen. They found themselves in a\nplace like an immensely long stable; but it was nearly dark, and when\ntheir eyes got used to the dimness, they saw that it was strewed with\nquantities of fresh hay, from which curious things like sticks stuck up\nin all directions. What were they?\n\n\u201cThey are dry branches of trees,\u201d said the boy-king.\n\n\u201cThey were table-legs turned upside down,\u201d said Jack; but then the\nother Jack suddenly perceived the real nature of the thing, and he\nshouted out, \u201cNo; they are antlers!\u201d\n\nThe moment he said this the moaning ceased, hundreds of beautiful\nantlered heads were lifted up, and the two boys stood before a splendid\nherd of stags; but they had had hardly time to be sure of this when the\nbeautiful multitude rose and fled away into the darkness, leaving the\ntwo boys to follow as well as they could.\n\nThey were sure they ought to run after the herd, and they ran and ran,\nbut they soon lost sight of it, though they heard far on in front\nwhat seemed at first like a pattering of deer\u2019s feet, but the sound\nchanged from time to time. It became heavier and louder, and then the\nclattering ceased, and it was evidently the tramping of a great crowd\nof men. At last they heard words, very glad and thankful words; people\nwere crying to one another to make haste, lest the spell should come\nupon them again. Then the two Jacks, still running, came into a grand\nhall, which was quite full of knights and all sorts of fairy men, and\nthere was the boy-king\u2019s uncle, but he looked very pale. \u201cUnlock the\ndoor!\u201d they cried. \u201cWe shall not be safe till we see our new Queen.\nUnlock the door; we see light coming through the keyhole.\u201d\n\nThe two Jacks came on to the front, and felt and shook the door. At\nlast the boy-king saw a little golden key glittering on the floor, just\nwhere the one narrow sunbeam fell that came through the keyhole; so he\nsnatched it up. It fitted, and out they all came, as you have been told.\n\nWhen they had done relating their adventures, the new Queen\u2019s health\nwas drunk. And then they drank the health of the boy-king, who stood up\nto return thanks, and, as is the fashion there, he sang a song. Jack\nthought it the most ridiculous song he had ever heard; but as everybody\nelse looked extremely grave, he tried to be grave too. It was about\nCock-Robin and Jenny Wren, how they made a wedding feast, and how the\nwren said she should wear her brown gown, and the old dog brought a\nbone to the feast.\n\n    \u201c\u2018He had brought them,\u2019 he said, \u2018some meat on a bone:\n    They were welcome to pick it or leave it alone.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe fairies were very attentive to this song; they seemed, if one may\njudge by their looks, to think it was rather a serious one. Then they\ndrank Jack\u2019s health, and afterwards looked at him as if they expected\nhim to sing too; but as he did not begin, he presently heard them\nwhispering, and one asking another, \u201cDo you think he knows manners?\u201d\n\nSo he thought he had better try what he could do, and he stood up and\nsang a song that he had often heard his nurse sing in the nursery at\nhome.\n\n    \u201cOne morning, oh! so early, my beloved, my beloved.\n    All the birds were singing blithely, as if never they would cease;\n    \u2019Twas a thrush sang in my garden, \u2018Hear the story, hear the story!\u2019\n            And the lark sang, \u2018Give us glory!\u2019\n            And the dove said, \u2018Give us peace!\u2019\n\n    \u201cThen I listened, oh! so early, my beloved, my beloved,\n    To that murmur from the woodland of the dove, my dear, the dove;\n    When the nightingale came after, \u2018Give us fame to sweeten duty!\u2019\n            When the wren sang, \u2018Give us beauty!\u2019\n            She made answer, \u2018Give us love!\u2019\n\n    \u201cSweet is spring, and sweet the morning, my beloved, my beloved;\n    Now for us doth spring, doth morning, wait upon the year\u2019s increase,\n    And my prayer goes up, \u2018Oh, give us, crowned in youth with marriage\n        glory,\n            Give for all our life\u2019s dear story,\n            Give us love, and give us peace!\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cA very good song too,\u201d said the dame, at the other end of the table;\n\u201conly you made a mistake in the first verse. What the dove really said\nwas, no doubt, \u2018Give us peas.\u2019 All kinds of doves and pigeons are very\nfond of peas.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt isn\u2019t peas, though,\u201d said Jack. However, the court historian was\nsent for to write down the song, and he came with a quill pen, and\nwrote it down as the dame said it ought to be.\n\nNow all this time Mopsa sat between the two Jacks, and she looked very\nmournful--she hardly said a word.\n\nWhen the feast was over, and everything had vanished, the musicians\ncame in, for there was to be dancing; but while they were striking up,\nthe white fairy stepped in, and, coming up, whispered something in\nJack\u2019s ear; but he could not hear what she said, so she repeated it\nmore slowly, and still he could neither hear nor understand it.\n\nMopsa did not seem to like the white fairy: she leaned her face on\nher hand and sighed; but when she found that Jack could not hear the\nmessage, she said, \u201cThat is well. Cannot you let things alone for this\none day?\u201d The fairy then spoke to Mopsa, but she would not listen; she\nmade a gesture of dislike and moved away. So then this strange fairy\nturned and went out again, but on the doorstep she looked round, and\nbeckoned to Jack to come to her. So he did; and then, as they two stood\ntogether outside, she made him understand what she had said. It was\nthis:\n\n\u201cHer name was Jenny, her name was Jenny.\u201d\n\nWhen Jack understood what she said he felt so sorrowful; he wondered\nwhy she had told him, and he longed to stay in that great place with\nQueen Mopsa--his own little Mopsa, whom he had carried in his pocket,\nand taken care of, and loved.\n\nHe walked up and down, up and down, outside, and his heart swelled and\nhis eyes filled with tears. The bells had said he was to go home, and\nthe fairy had told him how to go. Mopsa did not need him, she had so\nmany people to take care of her now; and then there was that boy, so\nexactly like himself that she would not miss him. Oh, how sorrowful it\nall was! Had he really come up the fairy river, and seen those strange\ncountries, and run away with Mopsa over those dangerous mountains, only\nto bring her to the very place she wished to fly from, and there to\nleave her, knowing that she wanted him no more, and that she was quite\ncontent?\n\nNo; Jack felt that he could not do that. \u201cI will stay,\u201d he said; \u201cthey\ncannot make me leave her. That would be too unkind.\u201d\n\nAs he spoke, he drew near to the great yawning door, and looked in. The\nfairy folk were singing inside; he could hear their pretty chirping\nvoices, and see their beautiful faces, but he could not bear it, and he\nturned away.\n\nThe sun began to get low, and all the west was dyed with crimson. Jack\ndried his eyes, and, not liking to go in, took one turn more.\n\n\u201cI will go in,\u201d he said; \u201cthere is nothing to prevent me.\u201d He set his\nfoot on the step of the door, and while he hesitated Mopsa came out to\nmeet him.\n\n\u201cJack,\u201d she said, in a sweet mournful tone of voice. But he could not\nmake any answer; he only looked at her earnestly, because her lovely\neyes were not looking at him, but far away towards the west.\n\n\u201cHe lives there,\u201d she said, as if speaking to herself. \u201cHe will play\nthere again, in his father\u2019s garden.\u201d\n\nThen she brought her eyes down slowly from the rose-flush in the cloud,\nand looked at him and said, \u201cJack.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Jack; \u201cI am here. What is it that you wish to say?\u201d\n\nShe answered, \u201cI am come to give you back your kiss.\u201d\n\nSo she stooped forward as she stood on the step, and kissed him, and\nher tears fell on his cheek.\n\n\u201cFarewell!\u201d she said, and she turned and went up the steps and into\nthe great hall; and while Jack gazed at her as she entered, and would\nfain have followed, but could not stir, the great doors closed together\nagain, and he was left outside.\n\n[Illustration: SO SHE STOOPED FORWARD AS SHE STOOD ON THE STEP.]\n\nThen he knew, without having been told, that he should never enter them\nany more. He stood gazing at the castle; but it was still--no more\nfairy music sounded.\n\nHow beautiful it looked in the evening sunshine, and how Jack cried!\n\nSuddenly he perceived that reeds were growing up between him and the\ngreat doors: the grass, which had all day grown about the steps, was\ngetting taller; it had long spear-like leaves, it pushed up long pipes\nof green stem, and they whistled.\n\nThey were up to his ankles, they were presently up to his waist; soon\nthey were as high as his head. He drew back that he might see over\nthem; they sprang up faster as he retired, and again he went back. It\nseemed to him that the castle also receded; there was a long reach of\nthese great reeds between it and him, and now they were growing behind\nalso, and on all sides of him. He kept moving back and back: it was of\nno use, they sprang up and grew yet more tall, till very shortly the\nlast glimpse of the fairy castle was hidden from his sorrowful eyes.\n\nThe sun was just touching the tops of the purple mountains when Jack\nlost sight of Mopsa\u2019s home; but he remembered how he had penetrated the\nbed of reeds in the morning, and he hoped to have the same good fortune\nagain. So on and on he walked, pressing his way among them as well as\nhe could, till the sun went down behind the mountains, and the rosy sky\nturned gold colour, and the gold began to burn itself away, and then\nall on a sudden he came to the edge of the reed-bed, and walked out\nupon a rising ground.\n\nJack ran up it, looking for the castle. He could not see it, so\nhe climbed a far higher hill; still he could not see it. At last,\nafter a toilsome ascent to the very top of the green mountain, he\nsaw the castle lying so far, so very far off, that its peaks and its\nbattlements were on the edge of the horizon, and the evening mist rose\nwhile he was gazing, so that all its outlines were lost, and very soon\nthey seemed to mingle with the shapes of the hill and the forest, till\nthey had utterly vanished away.\n\nThen he threw himself down on the short grass. The words of the white\nfairy sounded in his ears, \u201cHer name was Jenny;\u201d and he burst into\ntears again, and decided to go home.\n\nHe looked up into the rosy sky, and held out his arms, and called,\n\u201cJenny! O Jenny! come.\u201d\n\nIn a minute or two he saw a little black mark overhead, a small speck,\nand it grew larger, and larger, and larger still, as it fell headlong\ndown like a stone. In another instant he saw a red light and a green\nlight, then he heard the winnowing noise of the bird\u2019s great wings, and\nshe alighted at his feet, and said, \u201cHere I am.\u201d\n\n\u201cI wish to go home,\u201d said Jack, hanging down his head and speaking in a\nlow voice, for his heart was heavy because of his failure.\n\n\u201cThat is well,\u201d answered the bird. She took Jack on her back, and in\nthree minutes they were floating among the clouds.\n\nAs Jack\u2019s feet were lifted up from Fairyland he felt a little consoled.\nHe began to have a curious feeling, as if this had all happened a good\nwhile ago, and then half the sorrow he had felt faded into wonder, and\nthe feeling still grew upon him that these things had passed some great\nwhile since, so that he repeated to himself, \u201cIt was a long time ago.\u201d\n\nThen he fell asleep, and did not dream at all, nor know anything more\ntill the bird woke him.\n\n\u201cWake up now, Jack,\u201d she said; \u201cwe are at home.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo soon!\u201d said Jack, rubbing his eyes. \u201cBut it is evening; I thought\nit would be morning.\u201d\n\n\u201cFairy time is always six hours in advance of your time,\u201d said the\nbird. \u201cI see glow-worms down in the hedge, and the moon is just rising.\u201d\n\nThey were falling so fast that Jack dared not look; but he saw the\nchurch, and the wood, and his father\u2019s house, which seemed to be\nstarting up to meet him. In two seconds more the bird alighted, and he\nstepped down from her back into the deep grass of his father\u2019s meadow.\n\n\u201cGood-bye!\u201d she said; \u201cmake haste and run in, for the dews are\nfalling;\u201d and before he could ask her one question, or even thank her,\nshe made a wide sweep over the grass, beat her magnificent wings, and\nsoared away.\n\nIt was all very extraordinary, and Jack felt shy and ashamed; but he\nknew he must go home, so he opened the little gate that led into the\ngarden, and stole through the shrubbery, hoping that his footsteps\nwould not be heard.\n\nThen he came out on the lawn, where the flower-beds were, and he\nobserved that the drawing-room window was open, so he came softly\ntowards it and peeped in.\n\nHis father and mother were sitting there. Jack was delighted to see\nthem, but he did not say a word, and he wondered whether they would be\nsurprised at his having stayed away so long. The bird had said that\nthey would not.\n\nHe drew a little nearer. His mother sat with her back to the open\nwindow, but a candle was burning, and she was reading aloud. Jack\nlistened as she read, and knew that this was not in the least like\nanything that he had seen in Fairyland, nor the reading like anything\nthat he had heard, and he began to forget the boy-king, and the\napple-woman, and even his little Mopsa, more and more.\n\nAt last his father noticed him. He did not look at all surprised, but\njust beckoned to him with his finger to come in. So Jack did, and got\nupon his father\u2019s knee, where he curled himself up comfortably, laid\nhis head on his father\u2019s waistcoat, and wondered what he would think\nif he should be told about the fairies in somebody else\u2019s waistcoat\npocket. He thought, besides, what a great thing a man was; he had\nnever seen anything so large in Fairyland, nor so important; so, on\nthe whole, he was glad he had come back, and felt very comfortable.\nThen his mother, turning over the leaf, lifted up her eyes and looked\nat Jack, but not as if she was in the least surprised, or more glad to\nsee him than usual; but she smoothed the leaf with her hand, and began\nagain to read, and this time it was about the Shepherd Lady:--\n\n\nI\n\n    _Who pipes upon the long green hill,\n      Where meadow grass is deep?\n    The white lamb bleats but followeth on--\n      Follow the clean white sheep.\n    The dear white lady in yon high tower,\n      She hearkeneth in her sleep._\n\n    _All in long grass the piper stands,\n      Goodly and grave is he;\n    Outside the tower, at dawn of day,\n      The notes of his pipe ring free.\n    A thought from his heart doth reach to hers:\n      \u201cCome down, O lady! to me.\u201d_\n\n    _She lifts her head, she dons her gown:\n      Ah! the lady is fair;\n    She ties the girdle on her waist,\n      And binds her flaxen hair,\n    And down she stealeth, down and down,\n      Down the turret stair._\n\n    _Behold him! With the flock he wons\n      Along yon grassy lea.\n    \u201cMy shepherd lord, my shepherd love,\n      What wilt thou, then, with me?\n    My heart is gone out of my breast,\n      And followeth on to thee.\u201d_\n\n\nII\n\n    _\u201cThe white lambs feed in tender grass:\n      With them and thee to bide,\n    How good it were,\u201d she saith at noon;\n      \u201cAlbeit the meads are wide.\n    Oh! well is me,\u201d she saith when day\n      Draws on to eventide._\n\n    _Hark! hark! the shepherd\u2019s voice. Oh, sweet!\n      Her tears drop down like rain.\n    \u201cTake now this crook, my chosen, my fere,\n      And tend the flock full fain:\n    Feed them, O lady, and lose not one,\n      Till I shall come again.\u201d_\n\n    _Right soft her speech: \u201cMy will is thine,\n      And my reward thy grace!\u201d\n    Gone are his footsteps over the hill,\n      Withdrawn his goodly face;\n    The mournful dusk begins to gather,\n      The daylight wanes apace._\n\n\nIII\n\n    _On sunny slopes, ah! long the lady\n      Feedeth her flock at noon;\n    She leads them down to drink at eve\n      Where the small rivulets croon.\n    All night her locks are wet with dew,\n      Her eyes outwatch the moon._\n\n    _Over the hills her voice is heard,\n      She sings when light doth wane:\n    \u201cMy longing heart is full of love.\n      When shall my loss be gain?\n    My shepherd lord, I see him not,\n      But he will come again.\u201d_\n\nWhen she had finished, Jack lifted his face and said, \u201cMamma!\u201d Then she\ncame to him and kissed him, and his father said, \u201cI think it must be\ntime this man of ours was in bed.\u201d\n\nSo he looked earnestly at them both, and as they still asked him no\nquestions, he kissed and wished them good-night; and his mother said\nthere were some strawberries on the sideboard in the dining-room, and\nhe might have them for his supper.\n\nSo he ran out into the hall, and was delighted to find all the house\njust as usual, and after he had looked about him he went into his own\nroom, and said his prayers. Then he got into his little white bed, and\ncomfortably fell asleep.\n\nThat\u2019s all.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTE:\n\nItalicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.\n\nObvious typographical errors have been corrected.","title":"Mopsa the Fairy","tradition":"folklore-oral-tradition","translated_text":null,"word_count":42420}