[Illustration: Cover art]

All the Way to Fairyland

Fairy Stories

BY

EVELYN SHARP

AUTHOR OF "WYMPS"

WITH EIGHT COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS

AND A COVER BY MRS. PERCY DEARMER

JOHN LANE

THE BODLEY HEAD

LONDON AND NEW YORK

1898

COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY

JOHN LANE. 

FIRST EDITION

University Press:

JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. 

_By the Same author:_

WYMPS: FAIRY TALES. With eight coloured illustrations by Mrs. PercyDearmer. 

THE MAKING OF A SCHOOLGIRL. 

AT THE RELTON ARMS. 

THE MAKING OF A PRIG. 

[Illustration: A PRINCESS FLOATING ABOUT ON A SOFT WHITE CLOUD]

THESE STORIES

ARE FOR

GEOFFREY AND CHRISTOPHER

TRISTAN AND ISEULT

MARGARET AND BOY

AND

EVERARD

AND ALL THE OTHER CHILDREN

WHO WOULD LIKE TO GO

ALL THE WAY TO FAIRYLAND

Contents

CHAPTER

 I. THE COUNTRY CALLED NONAMIA II. WHY THE WYMPS CRIED III. THE STORY OF HONEY AND SUNNY IV. THE LITTLE PRINCESS AND THE POET V. THE WONDERFUL TOYMAKER VI. THE PROFESSOR OF PRACTICAL JOKES VII. THE DOLL THAT CAME STRAIGHT FROM FAIRYLAND VIII. THOSE WYMPS AGAIN!

List of Illustrations

BY MRS. PERCY DEARMER

 I. A PRINCESS FLOATING ABOUT ON A SOFT WHITE CLOUD . _Frontispiece_

 II. THE WYMPS SAY THAT QUEER BEGAN IT

 III. SUNNY WAS SO ASTONISHED THAT SHE STOPPED CRYING AT ONCE

 IV. "COME WITH ME, POET, " SAID THE LITTLE PRINCESS

 V. THE ROCKING-HORSES RUSHED OVER THE GROUND

 VI. HE CURLED HIMSELF UP IN THE SUN AND CLOSED HIS EYES

 VII. THE LADY EMMELINA IS ALWAYS KEPT IN HER PROPER PLACE NOW

 VIII. "WILL YOU COME AND PLAY WITH ME, LITTLE WISDOM?"

The Country Called Nonamia

Ever so long ago, in the wonderful country of Nonamia, there lived anabsent-minded magician. It is not usual, of course, for a magician tobe absent-minded; but then, if it were usual it would not have happenedin Nonamia. Nobody knew very much about this particular magician, forhe lived in his castle in the air, and it is not easy to visit any onewho lives in the air. He did not want to be visited, however; visitorsalways meant conversation, and he could not endure conversation. This, by the way, was not surprising, for he was so absent-minded that healways forgot the end of his sentence before he was half-way throughthe beginning of it; and as for his visitors' remarks--well, if he hadhad any visitors, he would never have heard their remarks at all. So, when some one did call on him, one day, --and that was when he had beenliving in his castle in the air for seven hundred and seventy-sevenyears and had almost forgotten who he was and why he was there, --themagician was so astonished that he could not think of anything to say. 

"How did you get here?" he asked at last; for even an absent-mindedmagician cannot remain altogether silent, when he looks out of hiscastle in the air and sees a Princess in a gold and silver frock, witha bright little crown on her head, floating about on a soft white cloud. 

"Well, I just came, that's all, " answered the Princess, with aparticularly friendly smile. "You see, I have never been able to findmy own castle in the air, so when the West Wind told me about yours Iasked him to blow me here. May I come in and see what it is like?"

"Certainly not, " said the magician, hastily. "It is not like anything;and even if it were, I should not let you come in. Don't you knowthat, if you were to enter another person's castle in the air, it wouldvanish away like a puff of smoke?"

"Oh, dear!" sighed the Princess. "I did so want to know what a realcastle in the air was like. I wonder if yours is at all like mine!"

"Tell me about yours, " said the magician. "I may be able to help youto find it. " Of course, he only said this in order to prevent her fromcoming inside his own castle. At the same time, a little conversationwith a friendly Princess in a gold and silver gown is not at allunpleasant, when one has lived in a castle in the air for seven hundredand seventy-seven years. 

"My castle in the air is much bigger than yours, " she explained. "Ithas ever so many rooms in it, --a large room to laugh in and a smallroom to cry in--"

"To cry in?" interrupted the magician. "Why, no one ever thinks ofcrying in a castle in the air!"

"One never knows, " answered the Princess, gravely. "Supposing I wereto prick my finger, what should I do if there was n't a room to cry in?Then, there is a middling-sized room to be serious in; for there isjust a chance that I might want to be serious sometimes, and it wouldbe as well to have a room, in case. "

"Perhaps it would, " observed the magician, who had never listened soattentively to a conversation in the whole of his long life. "Whatelse will you have in your castle?"

"I shall have lots of nice books that end happily, " answered thePrincess; "and they shall be talking books, so that I need not readthem to find out what they are about. I shall have plenty of happythoughts in my castle, too, and lots of nice dreams piled up in heaps, and--well, there is just one thing more. "

"What is that?" asked the magician. 

"Well, I think I should like to have a Prince in my castle, a nicePrince, who would not want to be just dull and princely like all theprinces I have ever danced with, but a Prince who would like my castleexactly as I have built it and would play with me all day long. Thatwould be something like a Prince, wouldn't it?"

"You could not possibly have a Prince, " said the magician. "If youallowed some one else even to look into your castle in the air, itwould vanish away like a puff of smoke. I have lived in my castle forseven hundred and seventy-seven years, and I have never allowed any oneto put a foot in it. "

"Is it so beautiful, then, your castle in the air?" asked the Princess, wonderingly. 

"I'm sure I don't know, " said the absent-minded magician; "I don'tthink I ever noticed. I came to live in it, because it was the onlyplace in which I could be left alone. That reminds me, that if you donot go away at once I shall be obliged to become exceedingly angry withyou. "

"By all means, " said the Princess, who had the most charming manners inthe world; "but I should like to have my castle first. "

"I have n't got it here, " said the magician, looking about him vaguely. "I know I saw it somewhere not long ago, but I can't remember what Idid with it. However, if you ask the people of Nonamia, they will beable to tell you where it has gone. You will find that they are veryobliging. "

"Will they not be surprised?" asked the Princess. 

"Dear me, no! The Nonamiacs are never surprised at anything, " said themagician; and he drew in his head from the window. The Princess in thegold and silver frock sailed away on her cloud, and landed presently inthe flat, green country of Nonamia. 

"Have you seen my castle in the air?" she asked, very politely, of thefirst Nonamiac she met. 

"What is it like?" asked the Nonamiac, without showing the leastsurprise. 

"It is ever so large and ever so beautiful, and it is packed full ofhappiness, and there is a nice Prince inside, " answered the Princess. 

"Ah, " said the Nonamiac; "then it must be the one I saw being blownalong by the South Wind. But there was no Prince inside. "

The Princess thanked him and hastened away in the direction of theSouth Wind until she met another Nonamiac, to whom she explained aspolitely as before what she wanted to know. 

"Ah, " said the Nonamiac, "that must be the castle I met just now as itwas being carried off by the North Wind. But I saw no Prince inside. "

The Princess turned round and hurried after the North Wind as fast asshe could go. As soon as she met another Nonamiac, however, she had toturn round once more, for he told her that her castle had just beenstolen by the East Wind; and when she had been walking quite a longtime in the direction of the East Wind, she met yet another Nonamiac, who told her that it was the West Wind who had taken away her castle inthe air. 

"It is too bad!" said the little Princess, sitting down exhausted on alarge stone by the side of the road. "Why should all the winds beplaying with my castle in the air?"

"Castles in the air generally go to the winds, " observed a traveller ina dusty brown cloak, who was sitting on another large stone, not veryfar off. She was quite sure he had not been there the moment before, but, in Nonamia, there was nothing remarkable about that. The Princesswiped the tears out of her eyes with a small lace handkerchief, andlooked at the stranger. 

"Mine is a very particular castle in the air, you see, " she said. "Itis ever so large and ever so beautiful, and it is packed with happinessand dreams, and _perhaps_ there is a Prince in it, too. "

"A Prince?" said the stranger. "What sort of Prince?"

"A nice Prince, " explained the Princess, "who can play games and tellstories and be amusing. All the Princes I know can do nothing butdance, and they are not at all amusing. I am afraid, though, " sheadded, sighing, "that I am going to have my castle without a Prince, after all. "

"Would it do, " asked the traveller in the dusty brown cloak, "if youwere to have a Prince without a castle?"

"Oh, no!" answered the Princess, decidedly. "If you knew how beautifulmy castle in the air is, you would not even ask such a stupid question!"

Then she again took up her small lace handkerchief, and she brushed thedust from her gold and silver gown, and polished up her bright littlegold crown, and made herself as neat and dainty as a Princess shouldbe; for, in Nonamia, one never knows what may happen next, and it isjust as well to be prepared. And, in fact, no sooner was she quitetidy than the West Wind came hurrying along with her castle in the air;and the Princess gave a shout of joy and sprang inside it; and the WestWind blew, and blew, and blew, until the castle that was packed full ofhappiness, and the little Princess in the gold and silver gown, wereboth completely out of sight. The traveller looked after them and felta little forlorn; then he picked up his stick and walked on until hecame to the magician's castle. This may seem a little surprising, ashe had no wings of any kind and the magician's castle was in the air;but it must be remembered that it all happened in Nonamia. 

"Dear, dear! Here 's another of them!" grumbled the magician, when helooked out of his window and saw the stranger standing below. Afterbeing alone for seven hundred and seventy-seven years, it was a littleexhausting to have two visitors on the same day. Besides, a travellerin a dusty brown cloak is not at all the same thing as a daintyPrincess in a gold and silver gown. 

"Good-day, " said the stranger. "Are you the magician who has given acastle in the air to a Princess in a gold and silver frock with abright little crown on her head?"

"Very likely; but I cannot say for certain, " said the absent-mindedmagician. "I believe there was something of the kind, now you come tomention it; but I could n't tell you what it was. However, I don'tmean to give away any more castles in the air, so the sooner you leaveme alone, the better. "

"I don't want a castle in the air, " laughed the stranger. "People whospend their lives in building real houses never have time to buildcastles in the air! _I_ want to find the Princess, not the castle. "

"That you will never do as long as she is happy in it, " said themagician. "People who live in castles in the air are never to befound, unless they have grown tired of living in them. "

"Oho!" chuckled the stranger. "Are _you_ tired of living in yours, then?"

The absent-minded magician tried to determine whether he should beangry or not, when the stranger said this; but, by the time he had madeup his mind to be angry, he had forgotten what there was to be angryabout, and while he was thinking about it, the man in the dusty browncloak walked away and left him. 

Evidently, it was not very long before the Princess grew tired ofliving in her castle in the air, for the very next day, as thetraveller was once more resting on the large stone by the side of theroad, down she came, castle and all, and stopped just in front of him. Truly, there is no end to the wonderful things that happen in Nonamia!

"Hullo!" said the traveller, smiling. "What is it like inside yourcastle?"

"It is not half so nice as I expected to find it, " said the Princess, popping her head out of the top window. "You see, there is no one toplay with; and even if your castle is the most beautiful castle in theworld, it is always dull when there is no one to play with, isn't it?"

"I don't know, " answered the stranger; "I have never had any one toplay with. What else is wrong with your castle?"

"Well, " continued the Princess, "it is all very well to have a castlethat is packed with happiness; but, when it is packed so tight that youcannot get it out without some one to help you, it is not much good, isit?"

"I don't know, " answered the stranger; "my happiness has never beenpacked so tight as all that. Have you anything else to complain of?"

"A great many things, " said the Princess. "It is all that stupidmagician's fault. When I said, 'a small room to cry in, ' I did n'treally mean a room to _cry_ in, did I? But every way I turn, there isalways the room to cry in, staring me in the face! I am sure there issomething seriously wrong with my castle in the air. "

"No doubt about it, " said the traveller; "and it is clearly themagician's fault. "

"When you came to live in your castle in the air, " continued thePrincess, plaintively, "did you find that it was very different fromthe one you had built?"

The traveller in the dusty brown cloak burst out laughing. 

"I have no time to build castles in the air, " he said. "I build realhouses for other people to live in, people who would, perhaps, have nohouses at all if I did not build them. That is more important thanbuilding castles in the air for one's self. "

"What are your real houses like?" asked the Princess. 

"They are strong, " answered the stranger, proudly. "All the four windsjoined together could not blow them down. No one has ever built suchstrong houses as mine. "

"Are they beautiful, too?" asked the Princess. 

"I have no time to look after that, " answered the stranger. "I buildmore houses than any one else in the world; and still, there are peoplewho are waiting for houses to live in. I must build as fast as I can, day after day, year after year. "

"Then why are you not building houses now?" asked the Princess. Thegreat builder looked sorrowful. 

"There is something wrong about my real houses, too, " he confessed. "The people who live in them are never quite contented; and I have comeaway to think out a new plan by myself, so that the next houses I buildshall be the most wonderful houses in the world. "

The Princess leaned her chin on her hand, and looked quite thoughtfulfor a moment or two. 

"May I come and help you to build real houses, for a change?" she saidpresently. "I am dreadfully tired of building castles in the air thatdo not turn out properly--though, of course, that was principally themagician's fault! Still, if you were to show me the way, I might beable to build something real that would turn out properly; and thatwould be ever so much more amusing. "

"It is not at all amusing, " said the traveller, shaking his head. "Youwould soon grow tired of it; besides, you would have no Prince to playwith. "

"I don't think I want a Prince to play with, " said the charmingPrincess in the gold and silver frock. "He might turn out to be asdull as my castle in the air, especially if the magician had anythingto do with it! I would much sooner come and help you to build realhouses. "

The traveller in the dusty brown cloak still shook his head. 

"Little ladies in gold and silver gowns can only build castles in theair, " he said. 

"Do the people who live in your houses never build castles in the air?"asked the Princess. 

"I never thought of asking them, " answered the great builder. "I havebeen too much occupied in building their real houses. "

"Then let us go and ask them now, " said the Princess; and she came downfrom her castle in the air, and stepped once more on to the dusty road, and held out her little white hand to the traveller. Her castle in theair vanished like a puff of smoke the moment she stepped out of it. 

"What would be the use of that?" asked the traveller, smiling. He tookthe little white hand, however, for no one could have refused that muchto such a very charming Princess. 

"Why, " said the Princess in the gold and silver frock, "then we couldmake their real houses just like their castles in the air; and onlythink how packed with happiness they would be!"

The traveller looked at her in amazement. It was certainly astonishingthat so great a builder as he should find out what was wrong with hishouses, from a Princess with a bright little crown on her head who hadnever done anything but build castles in the air. Still, we mustremember that it all happened in Nonamia; and that accounts for a greatdeal. 

"You are quite right, " said the traveller; "you know far more about itthan I do. You shall come and help me to build real houses, and theyshall be the most wonderful houses that have ever been built. "

"All beautiful to look at, and packed with happiness inside!" cried thedainty little Princess, clapping her hands for joy. "And we won't letthat stupid magician spoil our real houses, will we?"

The magician was looking out of his window at nothing at all, when theycame past his castle, hand in hand. 

"We are going to build the most wonderful houses in the world, " criedthe Princess, --"ever so much more wonderful than the stupid castle inthe air you gave _me_!"

This was not very gracious of her, for, after all, the magician hadgiven her exactly what she had built for herself. However, as he hadalready forgotten both of them and could not think of anything to say, and as they were in too great a hurry to stay and help him, there isnothing more to be said about the magician, except that he is stillliving in his castle in the air and looking out of his window atnothing at all, which is a right and proper occupation for a magicianwho is absent-minded. As for the traveller and the charming Princess, they spent the rest of their days in building the most wonderful housesin the world for the people who had nowhere to live. And as for thepeople who had nowhere to live, it was only natural that they shouldall find their way to the country called Nonamia, where a little ladyin a gold and silver gown taught them to build a castle in the air, anda great builder in a dusty brown cloak made it into a real house thatwas packed with happiness. 

It is a little difficult to believe that this is all true; but then, itmust be remembered that it all happened in Nonamia, ever so long ago!

[Illustration: THE WYMPS SAY THAT QUEER BEGAN IT]

Why the Wymps Cried

The wymps and the fairies have never been able to agree. Nobody quiteknows why, though the Fairy Queen, who is the wisest person in thewhole world, was once heard to say that jealousy had something to dowith it. The fairies say, however, that they would never dream ofbeing jealous of people who live at the back of the sun and do not knowmanners; while the wymps say it would be absurd to be jealous of anyone who lives at the front of the sun and cannot take a joke. All thesame, the Fairy Queen is always right, so somebody must certainly bejealous of somebody; and it is well known that if the wymps and thefairies are invited to the same party, it is sure to end in a quarrel. It is really a wonder that the Fairy Queen has not lost patience withthe wymps long ago; but people say that she has more affection for hernaughty little subjects at the back of the sun than any one wouldimagine; and the Fairy Queen is so wonderful that it is quite possibleto believe this. 

Once, matters became so serious that there would have been a real war, if the Queen had not called an assembly of her subjects on thespot--which happened to be on the roof of a blacksmith's forge--andasked them what the fuss was all about. 

"Please, your Majesty, " said one fairy, half crying, "the wymps shut meup at the back of the sun for fifteen days, and they gave me nothing toeat, your Majesty; they said that if I couldn't take a joke I couldn'ttake anything. And I should never _wish_ to take one of their jokes, please your Majesty. "

"Do not trouble about that, " said the Fairy Queen, gravely. "For mypart, I shall never expect you to take a joke from any one. Now, Capricious, what have they done to you?" she added, as another fairywith a round dimpled face came forward in a great hurry. 

"Please, your Majesty, " began Capricious, trying to make a verycheerful voice sound extremely doleful, "I found a wymp in the nursery, after the children had gone to bed; and he was quite upset because theWymp King had made a joke and no one could see it; and he asked me togo behind the sun with him, so that I might help him to see the jokethat the King had made. But when I got there, your Majesty, I said itwas much too dark to see anything and I was not at all surprised thatno one could see the King's jokes; and the King was so angry that heordered me to be poked through the sun again; and here I am, pleaseyour Majesty. "

Her Majesty smiled approvingly. 

"You have made a joke worth two of the Wymp King's, " she said; "and Ishall appoint you as a reward to go to Wympland with a message from me. Do not trouble to thank me, " she added, as the round dimpled face ofCapricious grew a little crestfallen, "for there is no time. The sunis just going to rise, and the moment it is above the horizon you mustgo straight through it once more and tell the King that I invite him tobreakfast in Fairyland. And now I must be off, for I have a smile topaint on the face of every child in the world before it wakes. "

So the Fairy Queen flew away to paint a million or two of the mostbeautiful smiles in the world; and the other fairies popped downthrough the roof and did all the blacksmith's work for him and droppeda nice dream on his pillow just to show they had been there; andCapricious sat on the edge of the chimney-pot, until the sun came abovethe horizon and it was time for her to take the Queen's message toWympland. 

The Wymp King knew better than to refuse the Queen's invitation tobreakfast; so he yawned three hundred and fifty-four times, rubbed hiseyes to keep them open--for it is a well-known thing that the Wymp Kingis nearly always asleep--and started off in the direction of Fairyland. The Queen was as pleased to see him as if he had never been naughty atall; but, of course, she was far too much of a Queen to let him guessthat he was really there to be scolded. So she made him sit next toher at breakfast, and gave him a cup of stinging-nettle tea to keep himawake, and allowed him to make as many jokes as he pleased. The WympKing, in consequence, was extremely happy; and when the meal was overand the Queen began to look stern, he had to think very hard indeedbefore he remembered that he was nothing but a naughty little wympafter all. 

"This state of things cannot go on, " said the Fairy Queen. "What isthe use of my being a Queen if I am not to be obeyed?"

"Your Majesty's chief use is to look like a Queen and to forgive yourdisobedient subjects, " said the Wymp King, who had taken so muchstinging-nettle tea that he was almost bristling with jokes. 

"Ah, " sighed the Fairy Queen, looking sideways at the Wymp King, "it isnot at all easy to rule a country like mine. "

"It is very fortunate for the country to be ruled by a Queen like you, "said the Wymp King, who had not been so wide awake for a thousand years. 

"Do you think so? Then Wympland shall have a Queen for a change, andyou shall stay here instead and take a holiday, " said her Majesty, promptly. The Wymp King saw that he was outwitted, but he would nothave been a wymp if he had lost his temper about it; so he chuckledgood-humouredly, and pretended not to see that he had really beencheated of his kingdom and was nothing but a prisoner in Fairyland. However, the Fairy Queen gave him very little time even to keep histemper, for she turned him into a tortoise and sent him to sleep undera flower-pot in the garden; and then she called for Capricious to comeand help her to choose a Queen for Wympland. Capricious put her round, dimpled face on one side, and thought deeply for thirteen seconds and ahalf. 

"There is Molly, the shoemaker's daughter, " said Capricious, when shehad finished thinking. "She is seven years old, and she is almost asfond of sleeping as his Wympish Majesty. She would make an excellentQueen for Wympland. "

"I remember Molly, " said the Fairy Queen, thoughtfully. "She has ruledthe shoemaker and the shoemaker's wife and the shoemaker's customersfor seven years and a half; doubtless, she will have no difficulty inruling Wympland. So let no time be lost, Capricious, and see thatMolly wakes up from her morning sleep and finds herself on the WympKing's throne. She will look after the wymps for a time, and I shallhave some peace. Besides, " added the Fairy Queen with her wise smile, "if the wymps can only be made to cry for once in their lives, we shallprobably have no more difficulty with them. "

Capricious, who was just an ordinary little fairy and never thoughtabout anything much except singing and dancing, was quite unable tounderstand the Queen's last remark. 

"Shall I tell Molly what she is to do when she gets there, please yourMajesty?" she asked in rather a puzzled tone. 

"Do?" said the Queen. "The rulers of Wympland never have to doanything. If Molly will only keep her subjects amused, that is allthey will expect from her. "

That was how it was settled, and that was how Molly woke up from hermorning sleep and found herself on the Wymp King's throne, with fourlittle wymps standing in a row just in front of her. Molly stared atthe throne on which she was sitting, stared around at the dimly lightedLand of the Wymps, and stared at the four little wymps who stood andlaughed at her. 

"Who are you?" she asked, opening her eyes as wide as she could. "Areyou live dolls, or fairies, or just other children for me to play with?"

The four wymps laughed more than ever when she said this, and began tosing a funny little song all together, just to explain who they were. This was the song:--

 "We are Skilful and Wilful and Captious and Queer, There 's nothing to fright you and nothing to fear! Four little wymps at the back of the sun, Brimful of wympery, rubbish, and fun!

 "You 'll find we are wympish; but then, we 're not bores, Though we own to a weakness for wiping off scores. Ah! Skilful and Wilful and Captious and Queer Are never far off when mischief is near!

 "Of Kings we 've had many, but never a Queen; So bewymping a monarch we 've surely not seen; And--Skilful and Wilful and Captious and Queer Though we are, yet we know how to welcome you here!

 "You 'll surely bewymp all the wymps you come near Besides Skilful and Wilful and Captious and Queer; By the time you have gone and your wymping is done, The world will have changed at the back of the sun. "

"Are you really wymps?" exclaimed Molly, when the four little fellowshad finished explaining who they were; for, like every properlyeducated child, Molly knew quite well that the wymps lived at the backof the sun, although she had never been there before. 

"To be sure we are, " answered Skilful and Wilful and Captious andQueer. "And you are our new Queen. "

"Am I?" said Molly. "Oh, what fun!"

"Of course it's fun, " said Skilful. "Everything is fun up here. "

"Except the King's jokes, " said Wilful. 

"And the Fairy Queen's commands, " said Captious. 

"And the interference of the fairies, " said Queer. 

"How do the fairies interfere?" asked Molly. 

"They come without being invited, " said Skilful. 

"They don't play fair, " said Wilful. 

"They always expect to win, " said Captious. 

"They cry for nothing at all, " said Queer. 

"I cry sometimes, " observed Molly. 

"When?" asked all four, in a tone of alarm. 

"When I 'm hungry, " said Molly, "or tired; or sometimes, when I tumbledown; or when I feel cross. "

"You should never cry, " said Skilful, in a superior tone. "It takes upso much time, and when you 've done crying you 've got exactly the samething to cry about as before. If you are hungry, don't cry but getsomething to eat. "

"And if you 're tired, don't cry but go to sleep. Nothing could besimpler, " said Wilful. 

"And if you tumble down, don't cry but pick yourself up again, " saidCaptious. "If you know how to tumble down properly, it is the best funin the world. We spend most of our time up here in learning new waysof tumbling down. "

"And if you are cross, " added Queer; and then he stopped and lookeddoubtfully at the other three. "What is she to do if she feels cross?"he asked them. They shook their heads in reply. 

"Nobody is ever cross in Wympland, " they explained to Molly. "Peoplewho know how to make jokes, really _good_ jokes, soon learn how to takethem as well, and then there is nothing left to be cross about. Youdon't feel cross now, do you?"

Molly assured them that she did not feel in the least cross, and theirfaces brightened again. 

"Perhaps, if you will tell us when you begin to feel cross we shall beable to do something for you, " they said; "but, whatever you do, youmust not cry in Wympland. It is only the fairies who do that, and theydon't know any better. As long as the sun has had a country at theback of it, no wymp has ever been known to cry. Now, let us go andfind somebody to tease!"

"I thought Queens could always do as they like, " objected Molly, asthey took her two hands and made her jump down from the throne withoutfinding out whether she wished to come or not. 

"Oh, no, " said Skilful and Wilful and Captious and Queer. "You make agreat mistake. The King always does as he is told in Wympland. Socome along with us and see us tease somebody. "

"I don't want to tease anybody, " said Molly, decidedly. "I am going tobe a real Queen. Real Queens do just as they like; it is only Kingswho do as they are told. If you are not going to let me have my ownway I might just as well have stopped at home, instead of coming allthis way on purpose to be your Queen!"

The four little wymps looked very perplexed. "May she do as shelikes?" they asked one another, and shook their four little headsdoubtfully. 

"She might order us about, " said Skilful. 

"Or laugh at us, " said Wilful. 

"Or expect us to obey her, " said Captious. 

But Queer turned three somersaults in the air, just to show that he didnot care a bit if they did not agree with him; and then he bowed toMolly almost as gracefully as a fairy might have done at the front ofthe sun. 

"She is a real Queen, " he said; "and real Queens must be obeyed. "

And when Molly declared that she should probably cry if they did notimmediately allow her to have her own way, the other three wymps wereobliged to follow Queer's example. 

"You are a real Queen, and you may do as you like, " they said in aresigned tone; and Molly clapped her hands with delight. 

"Then please fetch me some plum-cake, and a large ice, and lots ofbarley sugar; I am so hungry, " she said. Immediately, everything sheasked for was lying before her on the King's throne, and they all satdown and enjoyed such a dinner as only a wymp or a real Queen wouldknow how to appreciate. When they had finished, Molly said she shouldlike to see the rest of Wympland, for nobody at the front of the sunhad ever been able to tell her anything about it; so they led her allover it, which did not take them longer than the rest of the afternoon, for the world at the back of the sun is smaller than some people think, and that is a very good thing, for after all it is better to live onthe right side of the sun if one is not a wymp. 

"It is a very flat country, " said the little Queen, as she trottedalong with two wymps on each side of her. 

"It has to be flat, " explained Skilful. "If it were tilted ever solittle we should roll into the sun and out at the other side, don't yousee; and no true wymp ever wants to do that. "

"It is rather dark, too, " continued the little Queen. 

"Of course, " said Wilful, proudly. "It is always the same here. Now, when you get to the front of the sun you never know whether it is goingto be light or dark. There are no surprises of that sort at the backof the sun. "

"And where, " asked Molly, "is the royal palace?"

"Wherever you like, " answered Captious in an obliging tone. "Would youlike it here, or will you have it a little nearer the sun? Of courseit is warmer, near the sun, but you will find it much noisier becausethe stars are so fond of chattering. "

"I should like it here, please, " said Molly, who did not want to waitanother minute for her palace. Hardly were her words spoken than aperfectly charming little palace appeared in front of her, just largeenough for such a very small Queen to feel happy in. It was all madeof rainbows and starshine and dewdrops; every thing that is bright andsweet-looking had helped to make her palace, and from the very middleof it rose a tall, silvery bell-tower, from which peals of laughterwere ringing merrily. 

"Oh, oh! how beautiful!" exclaimed Molly. "But how is it that mypalace is so bright while Wympland is so dull?"

"Ah, " said Queer, softly; "we wished for the palace, you see, and thethings we wish for are never dull. "

"It is a dream-palace, " added Wilful; "and dreams are never dulleither. "

"I hope it will not go away as my dreams do when I wake up in themorning, " said Molly. 

"Oh, no, " they assured her. "It cannot disappear until we wish it togo away again; and that we shall never do as long as it induces you tostay with us. "

"Do you always wish for what you want?" asked Molly. 

"Dear me, yes, " said Captious. "What is the use of having a lot ofthings lying about that you don't want? There is only just enough roomin Wympland for the things we do want, so we wish for them as we wantthem, and that is much more convenient. You should try it. "

"Everything you see here, " added Skilful, "has been wished for, sometime or another. Neither Wympland, nor the wymps, nor our bewympinglittle Queen would be here at all if somebody had not wished for them. "

"And if we were all to wish hard at the same moment, " said Wilful, "notone of us would be left standing here, nor would there be any countryat all at the back of the sun. "

"But we shall never wish that, now that we have a real Queen of ourown, " said Queer. 

Then, for the first time, Molly noticed that this strange littlecountry at the back of the sun had no people in it; for, ever since shehad waked up on the King's throne, she had seen no one except Skilfuland Wilful and Captious and Queer. 

"Where are all the other wymps?" she cried. 

"Ah, " they said, mysteriously; "most people don't know it, but thewymps go through the sun every morning and spend the day in making funfor the people on the other side. That is how the people down in theworld are taught to laugh instead of to cry. There would be nolaughter at all at the front of the sun if it were not for the wymps. "

"How strange!" said Molly. "I always thought it was wrong to make funof people. "

"So it is, " said Queer; "nobody but a bad wymp would do such a thing. A true wymp makes fun _for_ people, and that is a very different thing. "

"A _very_ different thing, " echoed the other three. "We only make funof people who have never learnt how to laugh, and very difficult it isto make them into fun at all. It's very poor fun when it is made, too, --most of it, " they added, sighing. 

Molly was just going to ask them how they managed to make people intofun at all, when a number of sounds like pistol-shots suddenly camefrom the direction of the sun, and the four wymps grew wildly excitedand seized her by the hands and began to race over the ground with heras fast as they could. 

"The wymps have come home!" they gasped breathlessly. "If we make allthe haste we can, we shall be there in time to see them arrive. "

It seemed to Molly that to run after her subjects was a curious thingfor a real Queen to do. However, she was far too much out of breath tosay anything, and the next moment they had reached the back of the sun;and there were dozens of little wymps, all tumbling through it, one onthe top of the other, until they made a large heap of themselves at thefeet of their new little Queen. 

"They are bidding you welcome, " whispered Queer, as the heap remainedmotionless at Molly's feet; and, except for the fact that a good manyshouts of laughter were coming from it, no one would have thought itwas made of wymps at all. 

"Oh, please get up, " implored their little Queen. "It is very nice ofyou to be so glad to see me, but I am sure it must be veryuncomfortable to lie about on the floor like that. "

Immediately, the heap dissolved itself into wymps again; and theycrowded round Molly, tumbling up against her so clumsily and chatteringand laughing so noisily, that she thought it was quite time to remindthem that she was a real Queen. 

"Do you think you could make a little less noise?" she begged them. "Idon't like noise at all. If you will only try to speak one at a time, I may be able to answer everybody. "

The wymps were so amazed to hear that she did not like noise that theybecame silent for a whole minute in order to think about it. "Yousee, " said Queer, apologetically, "we have never had a Queen before, sowe are not quite sure what she does like. Kings always like plenty ofnoise; at least, it does not seem to wake them up, and that is thegreat thing. "

"Yes, that is it!" cried all the little wymps together. "We have neverhad a Queen before, so we don't quite know how to treat her. "

"Supposing, " continued Queer, "that you were to tell us the kind ofthings that a real Queen would like us to do?"

"Yes, yes!" shouted all the other wymps, gleefully. "Tell us what areal Queen would like us to do!"

So Molly clambered up on the King's throne, and tried to look as muchlike a Queen as a very little girl, in a very short frock and a verypink pinafore, knows how to look; and the wymps stood in front of her, closely packed together; and she began to tell them some of the thingsthat a real Queen would like them to do. 

"First of all, " said Molly, "a real Queen does n't like her toestrodden on, and her pinafore crumpled, and her hair pulled. She doesn't like being screamed at, either; and she never allows herself to beordered about by any one. She likes to order other people aboutinstead, and she likes the other people to be very pleased when sheorders them about, and not to go slowly and look disagreeable andgrumble. She likes a new frock every Sunday, and a birthday everymonth; and she always drinks milk for supper. It is supper time now, "added the little Queen, beginning to yawn. 

All the wymps at once hurled themselves helter-skelter through the sunagain, in search of milk for their new Queen's supper. But Queer ranfaster than any of them, and he took the very milk that Molly's ownmother had just milked into the pail for herself; and the strangestthing of all was that, although the pail became empty before her eyesand she had to go without any supper, Molly's mother was quite happyafter that and did not worry any more about her little girl who had sostrangely disappeared in the morning. That shows what the wymps can dowhen they forget to be wympish. And Molly drank her milk and went tosleep in her dream-palace, and was the happiest little Queen on eitherside of the sun; and the wymps--well, it is impossible to describe whatthe wymps felt like. 

Molly was Queen of Wympland for a great many days, and there had neverreigned such peace at the back of the sun, nor in the whole world ofFairyland either. It was so remarkable that the Fairy Queen sent forCapricious, one day, and asked her why nobody had anything to grumbleabout. Any one might have thought from the Fairy Queen's tone that shewas not particularly pleased at so much contentment, but of course thatcould not possibly be the case. 

"Please, your Majesty, " said Capricious, who had been waiting anxiouslyto be asked this very question for quite a long time, "it is becausethe wymps are so much occupied in looking after their new Queen thatthey have no time to play tricks on us. "

"Ah, " said her Majesty, smiling wisely, "does she seem happy at theback of the sun?"

"Everybody is happy at the back of the sun, please your Majesty, " saidCapricious. "They play games all day long to amuse their new Queen, and they never quarrel except for the right to do things for her littleMajesty. If she stays there much longer it will soon be impossible todistinguish a wymp from a fairy!"

"It is time she went home again, " said the Fairy Queen, smiling wiselyfor the second time. "How do the shoemaker and his wife get on withouther?"

"Their house is so quiet that the shoemaker has never made bettershoes, " answered Capricious. "The shoemaker's wife, though, can donothing but sit out in the sunshine and wait, for she cannot bear thesilence indoors. Even wympcraft cannot make her forget everything, your Majesty. "

"Molly must certainly go home again, " said the Fairy Queen; "and shemust go to-morrow morning. "

Capricious sighed dismally. 

"Must she really go, your Majesty?" she ventured to say; "and will thewymps be free again to plague us with their tiresome wympish jokes?"

The Fairy Queen smiled wisely for the third time. 

"Wait until to-morrow morning, " she said. "You may have as good a jokeagainst the wymps as they have ever had against you. "

That night, Molly had a dream straight from Fairyland which remindedher that, although she had a whole palace of her own and quantities oflittle subjects to do her bidding, she was really the daughter of theshoemaker on the other side of the sun. So, when Skilful and Wilfuland Captious and Queer came to play with her in the morning, she toldthem she could not be their Queen any longer, as it was time for her togo back to the front of the sun. The four little fellows looked moredismal than a wymp had ever been known to look before, and so did allthe wymps in Wympland as soon as they heard that their bewymping Queenwas going away from them. 

"Can we do nothing to make you stop with us?" they asked her. "Have webeen too rough with you, after all? You must forgive us if we have, for we are not accustomed to Queens, at the back of the sun. If we tryto be less noisy, will you not stay with us a little longer?"

"Dear little wymps, " cried Molly; "you never tread on my toes now, norcrumple my pinafore, nor pull my hair. I do not want to go away fromyou, but it is time for me to go back to the other side of the sun. Will you please show me how to get there, dear little wymps?"

When they saw that she was quite determined to go, they led her verysadly to the back of the sun; and nobody made a single joke on the way, and there was not a smile to be seen in the whole of that sad littleprocession. There had never been so little laughter and so muchdolefulness in the Land of the Wymps. 

"How am I to get through that?" asked Molly, rubbing the tears out ofher eyes and looking up at the back of the big round sun; "and shall Itumble all the way down when I get to the other side?"

"It is quite easy, " explained Skilful. "You have only to shut youreyes and jump through it, and the sunbeams will catch you on the otherside; and you can slide down the one that shines into the shoemaker'sgarden, where your mother sits watching for you. "

Then Molly rubbed her eyes again, for there were still a great manytears in them, and the more she rubbed them away the faster they cameagain, until she was really afraid the wymps would see that she wascrying; and that would never do, for she felt quite sure that a realQueen should never cry. So she kissed her hand to her sad littlesubjects and promised to come back again some day; and then she shuther eyes tight and jumped through the big round sun and slid down thesunbeam that shone into the shoemaker's garden. And as she sped downthe shining, slippery sunbeam, she could hear Skilful and Wilful andCaptious and Queer in the distance, singing their funny little songabout her:--

 "You have surely bewymped all the wymps you came near, Besides Skilful and Wilful and Captious and Queer! And now that you 've gone and your wymping is done, The world has grown sad at the back of the sun. "

Molly never knew what happened when they finished singing; but thefairies knew, because they were hiding all round the edge of the sun atthe time. And it was the most remarkable thing that had ever happenedin Wympland. 

The wymps say that Queer began it; and this is extremely likely, forQueer was always a little different from the other wymps. Anyhow, theyvery soon followed his example; and so it was that all the wymps at theback of the sun sat down on the ground and cried, because theirbewymping little Queen was no longer with them. And all the fairieswho were hiding popped up their heads and peered over the edge of thesun and stared in amazement at what was going on in Wympland. 

So the Fairy Queen was right, as she always is, and the wymps were madeto cry for once in their lives; and the fairies have as good a jokeagainst the wymps as the wymps ever had against the fairies. Perhapsthat is why the wymps play so few tricks on the fairies, now; but theFairy Queen only smiles when people say that, so she probably knowsbetter. 

[Illustration: SUNNY WAS SO ASTONISHED THAT SHE STOPPED CRYING AT ONCE]

The Story of Honey and Sunny

There was once a wonderful country in which everything was beautiful. All the trees, and the flowers, and the birds, and the animals werejust as beautiful as could be imagined; and the shops, and the houses, and the palaces were the same. Of course all the little girls and boyswere beautiful, too; but that is the same everywhere. Now, whether itwas because of the beauty of his kingdom, or whether it was merely onaccount of his royal birth, it is impossible to say, but the King wasso extremely nervous that his life was no pleasure to him. 

"I cannot bear anything noisy, " he said. "Noise is so very alarming. "So when the baby Princess cried, he sent her away to another King'scountry, to be brought up in a village nobody had ever heard of, sothat her royal father should not be disturbed. And when he heard thatthe Queen, his wife, had gone after her, he hardly raised his royaleyebrows. "She laughed too much, " he observed, thoughtfully. 

The palace grew quieter day by day. The ladies in waiting wereforbidden to wear high heels because they made such a clatter on themarble floors; so everybody knew for the first time how short everybodyelse was. Every courtier whose boots creaked was instantly banished, and if he had a cough into the bargain he was beheaded as well; but theclimate was so delightful that this very rarely happened. In time, everybody at court took to speaking in a whisper, in order to spare theKing's nerves; and it even became the fashion to talk as little aspossible. The King was immensely pleased at this. "Anybody can talk, "he said; "but it is a sign of great refinement to be silent. " Afterthat, even the ladies in waiting were sometimes silent for quite halfan hour. It is true that the King talked whenever he felt inclined, but that, of course, was necessary. 

The silence of the court soon spread over the country. Laws were madeto forbid the people to keep chickens, or pigs, or cows, or anythingthat was noisy; and the children were ordered, by royal proclamation, never to laugh, and never to cry, and never to quarrel, so that whenthe King rode out from his palace not a sound should meet his ears. But this was not all; for the birds were so frightened by the stillnessof everything that they stopped singing altogether, and the leaves onthe trees ceased to rustle when the wind blew; and even the frogs andthe toads were startled at the hoarseness of their own voices and didnot croak any more, which was the most remarkable thing that everhappened, for it takes a very great deal to persuade a frog or a toadthat his voice is not charming. The only sound that broke the silencewas the occasional humming of bees, for the King still allowed thepeople to keep bees if they liked. "Bees are not noisy, " he said. "They do not grunt, or bark, or croak. I can bear to listen to thehumming of bees. " Even the bees did not hum so much as bees generallydo; for the sun soon found that nobody laughed when he was shining hisvery best, so he went behind a cloud in a temper and stayed there foryears and years and years; and the bees could not do without sunshine, even if the King could. So the country grew less beautiful and moregloomy every year. 

But the village without a name in the other King's country, where thelittle Princess was being brought up, was a very different kind ofplace. It was full of happy people, who made as much noise as theypleased, and laughed when they were glad, and cried when they were sad, and never bothered about anything at all. And the chickens ran in andout of the cottages with the children, and the birds sang all the yearround, and the sun had never been known to stop shining for a singleminute. It was the jolliest country imaginable, for nobody interferedwith anybody else, and the King never made any laws at all, and theonly punishment that existed was for grumbling. It is true that therewas hardly any conversation, for everybody talked at once and nobodyheard what anybody else said; but as it was not often worth hearing, that did not matter in the least. Everybody was happy and jolly, andthat was the great thing. 

Little Sunny the Princess grew up without knowing that she was aPrincess at all; and nobody else knew that she was a Princess either;and even the Queen had almost forgotten that she was a King's wife. That was nobody's concern though; and they lived in the tiniest cottageof all, and Sunny romped with every girl and boy in the place and wasloved by them all. They had called her Sunny because she could lookstraight at the sun without blinking, which was more than the boldestof them could do; and it was such a good name for her that she wasnever called anything else. Besides, nobody knew her real name, and asit is much too long to be mentioned here, and as the Queen hadforgotten it long ago, it really is of no consequence at all. 

One fine day, Sunny sat up in the chocolate tree, listening to one ofthe stories that Honey the gardener's son was so fond of telling her;and Honey the gardener's son lay on the grass below, and tried to catchthe chocolate drops with which she was pelting him. 

"Why are all your stories so much alike, Honey?" asked Sunny thePrincess. "Why does the Prince always go out into the world to find aPrincess? Why should n't the Princess go and find the Prince, for achange? I wish I was a Princess; I would start to-morrow. What fun!"

She laughed her very happiest laugh and found an extra large chocolatedrop and threw it into his mouth. Honey laughed as well as any onecould laugh with a chocolate drop in his mouth, and tried to think ofan answer to her question. Honey was not his real name either, but itwas the one they had given him because he knew the language of thebees, as, indeed, every true son of a gardener should. 

"Perhaps the stories are wrong, " he said. "I only tell them to you asI have them from the bees. Or perhaps none of those particularPrincesses ever wanted to go out into the world to find anybody. "

"Or perhaps, " added Sunny, "they were just found before they had timeto look for a Prince themselves. Do you think that was it? Anyhow, Idon't want to wait for a Prince, for Princes never come this way atall; so I am going out into the world to seek my own fortune, and Ishall start this very moment!"

She jumped down from the chocolate tree as she spoke, and danced roundHoney, clapping her hands with excitement. Honey was not surprised, for nobody was ever surprised at anything in that country, but he wasjust a little bit sad. 

"And I shall ask the first Prince I meet if he will come back with me, "continued Sunny; "just as the Princes always ask the Princesses in thestories. He won't know I am not a Princess, will he? And you won'ttell him, will you, Honey dear?"

"I shall not be there, " said Honey the gardener's son. "I don't thinkI want to look for a Princess; and I certainly cannot leave my garden. "

"Oh, " said Sunny, and she was almost grave for an instant. "But I willcome back some day, when I have found my Prince, and then you shall bemy gardener, " she went on consolingly. "And you don't mind my goingwithout you, do you, Honey dear?"

"The Princes in the stories always went alone, " answered Honey. 

So that was how Sunny the Princess went out into the world, withoutknowing that she was a Princess. And of course everybody in thevillage missed her; but the Queen, her mother, and Honey, thegardener's son, missed her most of all. Before she went, however, Honey taught her a song which she was to sing if she ever found herselfin trouble; and this was the song:--

 "Friends of Honey, Come to Sunny; Whizzing, whirring, Stillness stirring, Sunlight blurring; Friends of Honey, Fly to Sunny!"

and this she learned by heart before she started. 

Now, she travelled a great many days without meeting with anyadventures at all. It was such a delightful country that everybody waspleased to see her, and she never had any difficulty in getting enoughto eat, for she had only to smile and that was all the payment thatanybody wanted. But one day, as she was walking through a wood, agreat change suddenly came over everything. Every sound was hushed, and the birds stopped singing, and the wind stopped playing with theleaves; there was not a rustle or a movement anywhere, and the sun hadgone behind a cloud. In the whole of her short life the littlePrincess had never seen the sun go behind a cloud, and she feltextremely inclined to cry. The further she went, the darker andgloomier it grew, and at last she could not bear it another minute; sodown she sat by the side of the road and wept heartily. 

"Hullo! you must stop that noise or else you will be banished, " said avoice, not very far on. Sunny was so astonished that she stoppedcrying at once and looked up to see a little old man with a white beardstaring at her. He was a very sad-looking little man, and his mouthwas drawn down at the corners as though he had been on the point ofcrying all his life and had never quite broken down. 

"Why must I stop?" asked Sunny. "If you feel unhappy you _must_ cry, must n't you?"

"Dear me, no, " said the sad little man, in a tone of deep gloom. "I amalways unhappy, but I never cry. The whole country is unhappy, butnobody is allowed to cry. If you cry, you must go away. "

"What a funny country!" cried Sunny, and she at once began to laugh atthe absurdity of it. 

"Don't do that, " said the little man, in a tone of still greater alarm. "If you go on making any fresh noises, you will get beheaded. Whycan't you be quiet? You can do anything you like, as long as you do itquietly. "

"May n't I laugh?" exclaimed Sunny. "What is the use of feeling happyif you may n't laugh?"

"It is n't any use, " said the sad little man. "Nobody ever is happy inthis country. Nobody ever has been happy since the King was bewitchedand the sun went away in a temper, and that was sixteen years ago. Nobody ever will be happy again, unless the spell is broken; and thespell cannot be broken until a Princess of the royal blood comes thisway, without knowing that she is a Princess. "

"How absurd!" said Sunny. "As if a Princess could be a Princesswithout knowing she is a Princess!"

"Why not?" asked the sad little man, crossly. He had lived alone inthe dark, silent wood for such a long time that he began to find theconversation tiring. 

"Oh, because there are bands and flags and balls and banquets andcheers and Princes and lots of fun, wherever there is a Princess, "replied Sunny. 

The sad little man looked more sad than before. 

"Then the spell will never be broken, " he said, miserably; "because allthat noise would be stopped at once. If you have done talking you hadbetter go, or else we shall both be banished; and I advise you to takeoff those wooden shoes of yours, unless you want to be clapped intoprison. But, first of all, tell me if you can look straight at the sunwithout blinking. "

He always asked that of every little girl who came his way, in case sheshould happen to be a Princess; for he was really a very wise littleman in spite of his sadness, and he knew that only eagles, andPrincesses who did not know they were Princesses, could look straightat the sun without blinking. And he was so tired of feeling sadwithout being allowed to cry, that he longed to have the spell removedfrom the country, so that he need not keep back his tears any longer. 

"Why, of course I can, if there is a sun, " laughed Sunny. And to herastonishment the sad little man dropped straight on the ground, and puthis fists in his eyes, and began to cry at the very top of his voice, just like any child in any nursery. 

"Whatever is the matter?" exclaimed Sunny. 

"Matter?" shouted the little man, who was shaken with sobs from head tofoot. "I was never so happy in my life! I have been longing to cryfor sixteen years. "

There had certainly not been so much noise in that wood for sixteenyears. For no sooner did the old man begin to weep, than the treesbegan to rustle, and the birds began to sing, and the frogs began tocroak; and over it all came a faint glimmering of white light, asthough the sun were beginning to stretch himself behind the cloud. 

"What does it all mean?" demanded Sunny. 

"Go on to the palace and see, " sobbed the sad little man, and hepointed out the way to her between his tears. And Sunny set offrunning in her wooden shoes as fast as she could go, and there neverwas such a clatter as she made when she reached the town and ranstraight through the gates and all along the streets; and on eitherside of her the people fell down in heaps, from sheer amazement athearing such a noise after sixteen years of silence. So nobody triedto stop her; and she ran faster and faster and faster, and the lightgrew brighter and brighter and brighter, till at last she stood in thecourtyard of the King's palace. There she saw beautiful ladies inmagnificent court dresses creeping about on their bare feet, andhandsome courtiers in elegant costumes walking on tiptoe in carpetslippers; and there was the Captain of the King's guard drilling thesoldiers in whispers, and there were the soldiers pretending to firewith guns that had no gunpowder in them; and there was the headcoachman making faces at the stable boy because he could not shout athim, and there was the stable boy standing on his head because he wasnot allowed to whistle. And into the middle of it all came the clatterof Sunny's wooden shoes, as she ran across the courtyard, and up thesteps, and into the palace; and down dropped the ladies in waiting ingraceful groups, and down dropped the courtiers just anyhow; and allthe soldiers fell down in neat little rows, and the Captain of theKing's guard sat down and looked at them; and the head coachman shoutedas he had wanted to shout at all his stable boys for the last sixteenyears, and the stable boy waved his cap and cried "Hurrah!" And Sunnywent clattering along the great hall, past the page boys who wereplaying marbles with india-rubber marbles, and past the kitchen wherethe fires burned without crackling and the kettles never boiled over, and up the wide marble staircase, and along all the passages, until thesound of her coming even reached the King's ears. 

Now the King sat on his throne with cotton wool stuffed in his ears, incase there should by accident be the least sound in the palace. But, in spite of that, he heard the clatter of Sunny's shoes coming closerand closer, and he began to feel terribly nervous lest there really wasgoing to be a noise at last. 

"What is that noise? Take it away and behead it at once!" he said tothe Prime Minister, in his most distinct whisper. But the noiseoutside was now so great that the Prime Minister could not hear a word;and the next moment the door was flung open, and Sunny the Princess raninto the room. And the King looked so funny as he tried to make thePrime Minister hear his whispers, and the Prime Minister looked sofunny as he tried to hear the King's whispers, that Sunny was obligedto laugh; and when she had once begun she found she could not stop, soshe laughed and laughed and laughed; and when the poor, nervous oldKing turned again to the Prime Minister to tell him to behead some oneat once, he found that the Prime Minister was laughing too; andimmediately all the pages in the hall, and the courtiers in thecourtyard, and the cooks in the kitchen, and the townspeople in thestreets, and the children in the nurseries, were all laughing asheartily as they could. And when the sun heard all this laughter, hefinished making up his mind immediately, and came out from behind thecloud and shone his very best once more. So there was the sunshineagain, and there was everybody laughing, except the King. 

Now, when the King found that no one was paying any attention to hisroyal whispers, he began to grow angry, and without thinking any moreabout it he shouted at the very top of his royal voice. And this wasso remarkable, after sixteen years of whispering, that the laughter wasinstantly hushed; and even Sunny the Princess became grave, because shewanted to see what was going to happen next. 

"Who are you?" demanded the King, pointing at her with his sceptre. 

"I am Sunny, of course, " she said, stepping up to the throne in quite afriendly manner. All the courtiers looked at one another and nodded. 

"She is Sunny, of course, " they said, just as though there could be nodoubt about it whatever. 

"She is the little Princess your daughter, " said a fresh voice from thedoorway. And there stood the Queen, who had not been able to stay byherself any longer and had just come after Sunny as fast as she could. When the King saw her, he quite forgot that she used to laugh too much, and he came down from his throne in a terrific hurry and he kissed herseveral times before the whole court; and Sunny kissed them both thereand then; and all the ladies in waiting in the room kissed all thepages that were to be seen; and the courtiers stood in rows along thewall and never got kissed at all. 

So that was how Sunny found out she was a Princess; and there werebands and flags and balls and banquets and cheers and Princes and lotsof fun. For that evening the King gave a magnificent ball, tocelebrate the return of his daughter Sunny; and all the Princes in thekingdom were invited to it. 

"Now, " said the Queen, as she carefully put on Sunny's beautiful newcrown, "you will be able to find your Prince, as you said you would. "

But Sunny shook her head and wondered why she felt so sad wheneverything seemed to be going so well; and when the Queen had gonedownstairs to look after the supper, she went to the open window andlooked out into the garden. As she did so, there came a faint buzzingand humming close at hand, and three beautiful brown bees flew down andsettled on her round white arm. And Sunny gave a cry of joy and knewall at once why she had been feeling so lonely; and she began to singthe song Honey the gardener's son had taught her:--

 "Friends of Honey Come to Sunny; Whizzing, whirring, Stillness stirring, Sunlight blurring; Friends of Honey, Fly to Sunny!"

She had not nearly finished singing it before there came a distantmurmur in the still, warm air, and the murmur grew louder and louderuntil it would almost have deafened any one if there had been any onethere to deafen. But the people in the palace were so occupied indressing for the ball that a thunderstorm would not have made anydifference to them; and as for Sunny, the sound only reminded her ofthe village without a name, where she had been so happy with Honey. Soshe leaned out of the window as far as she could, and waited until shesaw a dense cloud coming gradually towards her, so large that itcovered the whole of the setting sun. When it reached the palace ithung just above it, and she could see quite plainly that it was made ofmillions and millions of bees. Then the three bees which had droppedon her round white arm floated up into the air and flew round her headthree times and went away to join the cloud of bees overhead. Sunnyknew then that they were going to do what she wanted; and she clappedher hands and laughed, as the humming and buzzing began all over again, and the cloud moved away as quickly as it had come. "Hurry, hurry, dear little bees!" she cried from the palace window; and the nextmoment there was not a bee left in the whole kingdom, for they had allgone to the village without a name, in the other King's country. 

Everybody wondered why the Princess was so disdainful to all thePrinces who danced with her, that night. But nobody wondered any morewhen Honey the gardener's son arrived; and this really happened, onlythree days later. And he came, all in his gardener's clothes; and hewalked straight into the palace, just as Sunny had done; and she methim in the great hall, where the King and the Queen and the whole courtwere having a reception to receive one another. And they both shoutedwith happiness and ran straight into each other's arms; and they kissedand kissed and kissed, and then they fell to talking as fast as theycould; and they both talked at once for three quarters of an hour, before either of them heard a word. Then they sat down on the steps ofthe King's throne, just because it happened to be there, and Sunny toldhim everything that had happened to her. Nobody interfered, not eventhe Prime Minister, for Sunny had done so many curious things since herarrival that one more or less made very little difference. 

"It is very dull being a Princess, " said Sunny. "And I don't likepalaces much, after all; they are such stuffy places! The people wholive in them are rather stuffy, too. And there is n't a chocolate treein the whole of the garden; did you ever know such a stupid garden?Oh, I am so glad you have come, Honey dear!"

"Have you found your Prince?" was all that Honey said. 

"Princes are not a bit amusing, " said Sunny. "There were fifty-twoPrinces at the ball, the other night, but I did n't like any of them. I am dreadfully tired of being a Princess. It is ever so much nicer inthe village, under the chocolate tree. "

"Of course it is, " said Honey. "We 'll go back, shall we?" Andnothing the King could say would make them see any other side to thequestion. Indeed, as the Queen pointed out to him, if he had notallowed the people to keep so many bees it might never have happened atall. So the end of it was, that the Queen stayed with the King; andHoney and Sunny were married that very same day and went back to livein the village without a name. And there they built a very small housein a very big garden, and they planted it with rows of chocolate trees, and rows of acid-drop bushes, and lots of almond rockeries; and thefairies came and filled it with flowers from Fairyland that had nonames at all, but were the most beautiful flowers that any one has everseen, for they never faded or died but just changed into something elsewhen they were tired of being the same flower. 

So no wonder that Honey and Sunny were happy for ever and ever!

[Illustration: "COME WITH ME, POET, " SAID THE LITTLE PRINCESS]

The Little Princess and the Poet

There was once a Poet whom nobody wanted. Wherever he went, he wasalways in the way; and the reason for this was his inability to doanything useful. All the people in all the countries through which hepassed seemed to be occupied in making something, --either war, ornoise, or money, or confusion; but the Poet could make nothing exceptlove, and that, of course, was of no use at all. Even the women, whomight otherwise have welcomed him, could not endure the ugliness of hisfeatures; and, indeed, it would have been difficult to find a face withless beauty in it, for he looked as if all the cares and the annoyancesof the world had been imprinted on his countenance and left it searedwith lines. So the poor, ugly Poet went from place to place, singingpoems to which nobody listened, and offering sympathy to people whocould not even understand his language. 

One day he came to a city he had never visited before; and, as healways did, he went straight to the part where the poorer people lived, for it was all about them that he wrote the poetry to which nobodylistened. But, as usual, the poor people were so full of theirtroubles that they could not even understand him. 

"What is the use of telling us we are unhappy?" they grumbled. "Weknow that already, and it does not interest us a bit. Can you not dosomething for us?"

The Poet only shook his head. 

"If I did, " he replied, "I should probably do it very badly. The worldis full of people who are always doing things; the only mistake theymake is in generally doing them wrong. But I am here to persuade themto do the right things for a change, so that you may have your chanceof happiness as well as they. "

"Oh, we shall never be happy, " the people said. "If that is all youhave to say, you had better leave us to our unhappiness and go up tothe King's palace. For the little Princess has been blind from herbirth, and her great delight is to listen to poetry, so the palace isfull of poets. But none of them ever come down here, so we do not knowwhat they are like. "

The Poet was overjoyed at hearing that at last he was in a countrywhere he was wanted; and he set off for the palace immediately. 

"Who are you, and what do you want?" demanded the royal sentinels, whenhe presented himself at the palace gates. 

"I am a Poet, " he replied. "And I have come to see the Princess, because she is fond of poets. "

"We have never seen a poet like you, " said the sentinels, doubtfully. "All the poets in the palace have smooth, smiling faces, and fineclothes, and white hands. Her Royal Highness is not accustomed toreceiving any one so untidy as yourself. "

The Poet looked down at his weather-beaten clothes and his toil-wornhands; and he stared at the reflection of his wrinkled, furrowed facein the moat that surrounded the palace; and he sighed in a disappointedmanner. 

"I am a Poet, " he repeated. "How can a man be a poet if his face issmooth and his hands are white? No man can be a poet if he has nottoiled and suffered and wandered over the earth, for the sake of thepeople who are in it. "

Just then he heard a woman's voice speaking from the other side of thegates; and looking through them, he saw a beautiful, pale Princess, standing there all by herself, with a look of interest on her face. 

"It is the little blind Princess, " thought the Poet, and he bowedstraight to the ground though he knew quite well that she could not seehim. The sentinels saluted, too, for they were so accustomed tosaluting people who never saw them at all that the blindness of thelittle Princess made no difference to them. 

"Tell me, " said the Princess, eagerly, "the name of the man with thewonderful voice, who is saying all those beautiful, true things. "

"Please your Highness, " said the sentinels, "he _says_ he is a Poet. "

"Ah, " cried the little Princess, joyfully, "at last you have come; Ihave been waiting for you all my life! At last I have found a realPoet, and the Queen-mother will see now that all those people in there, who say the same things over and over again in their small, thinvoices, are not poets at all. Come in, Poet; why do you stay so longoutside?"

So the drawbridge was let down, and the sentinels saw what a mistakethey had made and did their best to pretend that they had not made itat all; and for the first time in his life the Poet felt that he wasnot in anybody's way. 

"Come with me, Poet, " said the little Princess, holding out her smallwhite hand to him. "If you will take my hand, I shall feel quite sureyou are there. "

So the little blind Princess and the Poet went into the palace, hand inhand. 

"I have found a Poet, " she announced to the whole court, just as it wassitting down to luncheon. 

"What! Another?" groaned the King from the top of the table. "Ishould have thought five-and-forty were quite enough, considering thedemand. "

"This is a _real_ Poet, " continued the little Princess, still holdingthe Poet's hand. "I knew him by his wonderful voice. I am so glad hehas come; and now, we can send away all the others, who are not poetsat all. "

Now, this was a little awkward, for the five-and-forty poets were allpresent; and being mostly the younger sons of kings, who had only takenup poetry as an accomplishment, they were also suitors for thePrincess's hand, which made it more awkward still. So the Queencoughed uncomfortably, and all the ladies in waiting blusheduncomfortably, and the five-and-forty poets naturally lookeduncomfortable into the bargain. But the little Princess, who could seenothing and never had been able to see anything, neither blushed norfelt uncomfortable. 

"Will some one give place to the Poet?" she asked with a smile. 

The Queen, who was generally full of resources, felt that it was timeto interfere. 

"Do not listen to Her Royal Highness, " she said, soothingly, to thefive-and-forty poets. "She is so terribly truthful that she does notknow what she is saying. I have tried in vain to break her of it. "

"Don't know where she gets it from, " growled the old King, who had agreat dislike to scenes at meal times. 

The five-and-forty poets recovered their composure, when they heardthat the Princess was rather to be pitied than blamed; and the Queenwas able to turn to the cause of the disturbance. 

"Will you be kind enough to go?" she said to the Poet. "My daughterdid not know who you were because, unfortunately, she cannot see. Sheactually mistook you for a poet!"

"It is the first time, " said the Poet, "that any one has made themistake. However, you are quite right and I had better go. You willnot like my poetry; I see five-and-forty gentlemen who can write thepoetry that will give you pleasure; mine is written for the people, whohave to work that you may be happy. Little lady, " he added, turning tothe Princess, "I pray you, think no more of me. As for me, I shalllove you to the end of my days. "

Then he tried to go, but the small, white fingers of the little blindPrincess were round his own rough, tanned ones, and he could not move. 

"I loved you before you came, " she said, smiling. "I have been waitingfor you all the time. Why are you in such a hurry to go, if you loveme?"

The listeners grew more scandalised every moment. No one had seen suchlove-making before. To be sure, the five-and-forty poets had writtenlove songs innumerable, but that was not at all the same thing. Everyone felt that something ought to be done and nobody quite knew how todo it. Fortunately, the King was hungry. 

"I think you had better say the rest in private, when we have hadlunch, " he said grimly, and the courtiers looked immensely relieved, and a place was found next to the Princess for the Poet; and the Queenand her ladies in waiting proceeded to make conversation, and lunchwent on as usual. 

"Now, " said the King, with a sigh, for meals were of far greaterimportance to him than poetry, "you shall tell us one of your poems, sothat we may know whether you are a poet or not. "

Then the Poet stood up and told them one of his poems. It was aboutthe people who lived on the dark side of the city, and it was veryfierce, and bitter, and passionate; and when he had finished tellingit, he expected to be thrust out of the palace and banished from thecountry, for that was what usually happened to him. There was a greatsilence when he sat down again, and the Poet did not know what to makeof it. But the small, white fingers of the little Princess had againstolen round his, and that was at least consoling. 

The Queen was the first to break the silence. 

"Charming, " she said with an effort, "and so new. "

"We have heard nothing like it before, " said the ladies in waiting. "Are there really such people as that in the world? It might beamusing to meet them, or, at least, to study them. "

The King glanced at all the other poets and said nothing at all. Andthe five-and-forty kings' sons, who, if they were not poets, were atleast gentlemen, rose from their seats with one accord. 

"Her royal Highness was quite right, " they said. "We are not poets atall. "

Then they took leave of every one present and filed out of the room androde away to their respective countries, where, of course, nobody eversuspected them of being poets; and they just remained Princes of theroyal blood and nothing else to the end of their days. 

"And you, little lady?" said the Poet, anxiously. 

"It was wonderful, " answered the little blind Princess. "But there wasno love in it. "

By this time the Queen had ceased to be impressed and had begun toremember that she was a Queen. 

"We are quite sure you are a poet, " she said in her most queenlymanner, "because you have told us something that we did not knowbefore. But we think you are not a fit companion for her royalHighness, and it is therefore time for you to go. "

"No, no!" cried the Princess. "You are not to go. You are my Poet, and I want you to stay here always. "

Matters were becoming serious, and every one set to work to try to turnthe little Princess from her purpose. 

"He is shockingly untidy, " whispered the ladies in waiting. 

"And _so_ ugly, " murmured the Queen; "there is nothing distinguishedabout him at all. "

"He will cost the nation something to keep, " added the King, withoutlowering his voice at all. 

But the little Princess turned a deaf ear to them all and held out herhand again to the Poet. 

"I do not believe a word they say, " she cried. "You cannot be ugly, you with a voice like that! If you are ugly, then ugliness is what Ihave wanted all my life. Ugliness is what I love, and you are to stayhere with me. "

In the end, it was the Poet himself who came to the rescue. 

"I cannot stay with you, little lady, " he said gently. "It is truewhat they say; I am too ugly to be tolerated, and it has been my goodfortune that you could not see me. I will go away and put some loveinto my poetry, and then, perhaps, I shall find some one who willlisten to me. "

But the poor little Princess burst out sobbing. 

"If I could only see, " she wept, "I would prove to you that I do notthink you ugly. Oh, if I could only see! I have never wanted to seebefore. "

"Little lady, " whispered the Poet, bending over her, "_I_ am glad thatyou cannot see. "

And then, he turned and fled out of the palace and out of the city andaway from the country that contained the little Princess who had lovedhim because she was blind. And he wandered from place to place asbefore; but he told no one that he was a poet, for he had felt ashamedof his poetry ever since the little Princess had said there was no lovein it. But there came a day when he could keep silent no longer, so hewent among the people once more and told them one of his poems. Thistime, he had no difficulty in making them understand, for he told themthe story of his love for the little blind Princess. 

"Why, " said the people, when he had finished, "the maid is easilycured, for it is well known among our folk that a kiss on the eyelidswhen asleep, from a true lover, will open the eyes of any one who hasbeen blind from birth. "

Now, when the Poet heard this, he was greatly perplexed. For to openthe eyes of his little Princess was to kill her love for him; and yet, he could not forget how she had wept for the want of her sight, andhere was the power to give it back to her, and it rested with him aloneof all men in the world. So he determined to make her happy at anycost, and he turned his face towards the King's palace once more andarrived there at midday, after travelling for seven days and sevennights without ceasing. But, of course, that was nothing to a poet whowas in love. 

"Dear me, " said the King irritably, when the Poet appeared before him;"I thought you had gone for good. And a pretty time we 've been havingof it with the Princess, in consequence! What have you come back for?"

"I have come back to open the Princess's eyes, " answered the Poet, boldly. 

"It strikes me, " grumbled the King, "that you opened everybody's eyespretty effectually, last time you were here. You certainly can't seethe Princess now, for she has gone to sleep in the garden. "

"That is exactly what I want, " cried the Poet, joyfully. "Let me butkiss her eyelids while she is sleeping, and by the time she awakes Ishall have gone for ever. "

"The Queen must deal with this, " said the King, looking helpless in theface of such a preposterous suggestion. Her Majesty was accordinglysent for, and the Poet explained his mission all over again. 

"It is certainly unusual, " said the Queen, doubtfully, "not to say outof order. But still, in view of the advantage to be gained, and byconsidering it in the light of medical treatment--and if you promise togo away directly after, just like a physician, or--or asinging-master, --perhaps something might be arranged. "

The end of it was that the Poet was taken into the garden, and therewas the little blind Princess sound asleep in her hammock, with a maidof honour fanning her on each side. 

"Hush, " whispered the Queen. "She must not awake, on _any_ account. "

"No, " echoed the poor, ugly Poet; "she must not awake--on _my_ account. "

Then he bent over her, for the second time in his life, and touched hereyelids with his lips. The Princess went on dreaming happily, but thePoet turned and fled out of the city. 

"At least, " he said, "she shall never know how ugly I am. "

That day, every Prince who was in the palace put on his best courtsuit, in order to charm the Princess. But the Princess refused to becharmed. She looked at them all, with large, frightened eyes, and sentthem away, one by one, as they came to offer her their congratulations. 

"Why do you congratulate me on being able to see you?" she asked them. "Are you so beautiful, then?"

"Oh, _no_, " they said in a chorus. "Do not imagine such a thing for amoment. "

"Then why should I be glad because I can see you?" persisted thePrincess; and they went away much perplexed. 

"Tell me what is beautiful, " said the little Princess to her mother. "All my life I have longed to look on beauty, and now it is all soconfusing that I cannot tell one thing from another. Is there anythingbeautiful here?"

"To be sure there is, " replied the Queen. "This room is very beautifulto begin with, and the nation is still being taxed to pay for it. "

"This room?" said the Princess in astonishment. "How can anything bebeautiful that keeps out the sun and the air? Tell me something elsethat is beautiful. "

"The dresses of the ladies in waiting are very beautiful, " said theQueen. "And the ladies in waiting themselves might be called beautifulby some, though that of course is a matter of opinion. "

"They all look alike to me, " sighed the little Princess. "Is therenothing else here that is beautiful?"

"Certainly, " answered the Queen, pointing out the wealthiest and mosteligible Prince in the room. "That is the handsomest man you couldever want to see. "

"That?" said the Princess, disconsolately. "After all, one is bestwithout eyes! Can you not show me some ugliness for a change? Perhapsit may be ugliness that I want to see so badly. "

"There is nothing ugly in the palace, " replied the Queen. "When youget used to everything you will be able to see how beautiful it all is. "

But the Princess sighed and came down from her golden throne andwandered out into the garden. She walked uncertainly, for now that shewas no longer blind she did not know where she was going. And there, under the trees where she had been sleeping a few hours back, stood aman with his face buried in his hands. 

"Little lady, " he stammered, "I tried to keep away, but--"

Then the little Princess gave a shout of joy and pulled away his handsand looked into his face for a full minute without speaking. She puther small, white fingers into every one of his wrinkles, and shetouched every one of his ugly scars, and she drew a deep breath ofsatisfaction. 

"Just fancy, " laughed the little Princess to the Poet; "they have beentrying to persuade me in there that all those Princes and peopleare--_beautiful_!"

[Illustration: THE ROCKING-HORSES RUSHED OVER THE GROUND]

The Wonderful Toymaker

Princess Petulant sat on the nursery floor and cried. She was onlyeight years old, but she had lived quite long enough to grow extremelydiscontented; and the royal household was made very uncomfortable inconsequence. 

"I want a new toy, " sobbed the little Princess. "Do you expect me togo on playing with the same toys for ever? I might just as well not bea Princess at all!"

The whole country was searched in vain for a toy that would be likelyto please the Princess; but, as she already possessed every kind of toythat has ever been heard of, nobody succeeded in finding her a new one. So the little Princess went on crying bitterly, and the royal nursesshook their heads and sighed. Then the King called a council indespair. 

"It is very absurd, " grumbled his Majesty, "that my daughter cannot bekept amused. What is the use of an expensive government and awell-dressed court, if there are not enough toys for her to play with?Can no one invent a new toy for the Princess Petulant?"

He looked sternly at all his councillors as he spoke; but hiscouncillors were so horrified at being expected to invent somethingstraight out of their heads that no one said anything at all until thePrime Minister summoned up courage to speak. 

"Perhaps, if we were to send for Martin, " he suggested, "her royalHighness might consent to be comforted. "

"Who is Martin?" demanded the King. 

"He is my son, " said the Prime Minister, apologetically; "and he spendshis days either dreaming by himself or playing with the PrincessPetulant. He will never be Prime Minister, " he added sadly, "but hemight think of a way to amuse the Princess. "

So the King dismissed the council with much relief and sent for Martinto come and play with his daughter. Martin walked straight up to theroyal nursery and found the spoilt little Princess still crying on thefloor. So down on the floor sat Martin too; and he looked at her verysolemnly out of his round, serious eyes, and he asked her why she wascrying. 

"I want a new toy, " she pouted. "I am tired of all my old toys. Don'tyou think you can find me a new toy to play with, Martin?"

"If I do, " said Martin, "will you promise not to be cross when I runfaster than you do?"

The Princess nodded. 

"And will you promise not to mind when I don't want to play any more?"

The Princess nodded again. 

"And will you promise not to call me sulky when I don't feel inclinedto talk?" continued Martin. 

"Yes, yes!" cried Princess Petulant. "You won't be long before youfind it, will you, Martin?"

"In four weeks from now, " said the Prime Minister's son, "you will haveme with you again. "

"And I shall have my new toy, " said the Princess Petulant, sighingcontentedly. 

Now, Martin was one of the few children who can see the fairies. Heknew how to coax the flower fairies to speak to him, and how to findthe wood fairies when they hid among the ferns, and how to laugh backwhen the wymps made fun of him; and, above all, he knew how to find hisway to Bobolink, the Purple Enchanter, who knows everything. And hefound his way to Bobolink, on the evening of that very same day. 

Bobolink, the Purple Enchanter, sat on his amethyst throne in themiddle of a grove of deadly nightshade. He was the ugliest enchanterany one has ever seen; and on each side of him sat an enormous purpletoad with an ugly purple smile on his face. Even the sun's rays shonepurple in the home of the Purple Enchanter; and Martin stared at himfor a whole minute without speaking. For, although Martin was twoyears older than the little Princess Petulant, he was not a very bigboy for all that; and there was something that made him feel a littlequeer in the purple face, and the purple hands, and the purpleexpression of Bobolink. 

"Why don't you say something?" growled Bobolink, in just the kind ofvoice one would expect such a very ugly person to have. "What are youthinking about, eh? If it's anything about me, you 'd better say so atonce!"

"Well, " said Martin, as bravely as he could, "I was thinking that itmust be very odd to be so purple as you are. Of course, " he addedpolitely, "I don't suppose you can help it exactly, because even thesun is purple here, and perhaps you have got sunpurpled instead ofsunburned. "

"May I ask, " said Bobolink, rolling his purple eyes about, "if you cameall this way on purpose to make remarks about me?"

"No, I did n't, " explained Martin, hurriedly. "I came to ask you theway to the Wonderful Toymaker, who makes all the toys for Fairyland. Iam going to fetch a new toy for the Princess Petulant. "

"And how do you think you are going to get it?" asked Bobolink, with achuckle. 

"That is exactly what I want you to tell me, " said Martin, boldly. 

Now, Bobolink, the Purple Enchanter, was used to being visited bypeople who wanted to get something out of him, because, as I saidbefore, Bobolink knows everything. But he had never come across anyone who did not begin by flattering him; and he took a fancy to Martinfrom the moment he told him he was sunpurpled. So he smiled as well ashe could, --which was not very well, for he had never done such a thingbefore and his jaws were extremely stiff, --and for the moment he hardlylooked ugly at all. 

"I like you, " he said, nodding at the small figure of the PrimeMinister's son; "and I am going to help you. Of course, I know quitewell where the Wonderful Toymaker lives; but I have promised the pinedwarfs not to tell, because it is the only secret they possess, and itwould break their hearts if any one were to hear it from me instead offrom them. You see, when a person knows everything he must keep someof it to himself, or else there would be nothing left for anybody elseto say, and then there would be no more conversation. That is theworst of knowing everything. But I can show you the way to the pinedwarfs; and if you keep perfectly quiet and speak in a whisper to them, they'll tell you all you want to know. "

"Why must I keep perfectly quiet and speak in a whisper?" asked Martin. 

Bobolink scowled, and became as ugly as ever again. 

"Now you want to know too much, and that is n't fair, " he complained. "I 'll tell you the way to the pine dwarfs, and you must find out therest for yourself. Go straight ahead and take the hundred and firstturning to the right, and the fifty-second turning to the left, thenturn round seventeen times; and if that is n't good enough for you I'll never help you again. Now, off you go!"

Martin saw that he was no longer wanted and set off as fast as hecould. It took him a whole week to reach the hundred and first turningon the right; and it was the most anxious week he had ever spent, forhe had to keep counting the turnings all the time and was dreadfullyafraid of losing count altogether. And the fifty-second turning on theleft was almost as bad, for his way took him through a large town, andhe dare not stay to speak to any one for fear of overlooking one of thelittle streets. He left the town behind him at last; and after walkingfor two days longer, he reached the fifty-second turning on his left, and it led him to the middle of a vast sandy plain. 

"How queer!" thought Martin. "Not a single tree to be seen! Surelythe pine dwarfs don't live in a place like this? Perhaps old Bobolinkhas only hoaxed me after all. "

However, he turned round seventeen times just to see what would happen;and the first thing that happened was that he became remarkably giddyand had to sit down on the ground to recover himself. When he didrecover he found he was in a beautiful thick pine wood, with thesunshine coming through the branches, and flickering here and thereover the ground, and painting the great big pine trunks bright red. Over it all hung the most delicious silence, only broken by the softpassage of the wind through the pine leaves. Martin had almostforgotten the warning Bobolink had given him, but, even if he had quiteforgotten it, nothing would have induced him to speak loudly in such astillness as that. 

"Are you there, little pine dwarfs?" he whispered, as he looked upthrough the pine trees at the blue sky on the other side. No soonerhad his whisper travelled up through the hushed air than all thebranches seemed to be filled with life and movement; and what Martinhad believed to be brown pine cones suddenly moved, and ran about amongthe trees, and slid down the long red trunks. And then he saw theywere dear little brown dwarfs, who surrounded him by hundreds andthousands, and travelled up and down his boots, and stared at him withlooks full of curiosity. 

"Who are you, little boy, and where do you come from?" they seemed tobe saying; and as they spoke all together their voices sounded exactlylike the wind as we hear it in the pine trees. They were so gentle andkind-looking that Martin was not a bit afraid and asked them at once totell him the way to the Wonderful Toymaker who makes all the toys forFairyland. They were delighted to tell him all they knew, for it wastheir one secret and they were very proud of it; and so few people evercame that way that they had very few opportunities of telling it. Sotheir honest little brown faces were covered with good-nature andsmiles, as they crooned out their information. 

"You must walk straight through the wood, " they said, "until you cometo a waterfall at the beginning of a stream; and you must follow thestream down, down, down, until it brings you to a valley surrounded byhigh hills; and in that valley is the toyshop of the WonderfulToymaker, who makes all the toys for Fairyland. "

"That is simple enough, I 'm sure, " said Martin. 

"Ah, " said the pine dwarfs, wisely, "but it is not so easy to get thereas you think; for the stream leads you through the country of thepeople who make conversation, and they try to stop every stranger whopasses by, so that they can make him into conversation; and that is whyso few people ever reach the Wonderful Toymaker at all. "

"Make conversation! How funny!" said Martin; and he almost laughedaloud at the idea. 

"It is more sad than funny, " said the pine dwarfs, sighing like a largegust of wind that for the moment made Martin feel quite chilly; "for itgives _us_ so much to do. You see, they make conversation, and we makesilence; and the more conversation they make the more silence we haveto make to keep things even. They are always ahead of us, for allthat!" They sighed again. Martin looked puzzled. 

"Still, your silence is so full of sound, " he said. The pine dwarfslaughed softly, so softly that most people would have called it onlysmiling. 

"Real silence, the best kind, is always full of sound; and of course weonly make the very best kind, " they explained proudly. "Anybody canmake the other kind of silence by taking the air and sifting out thenoise in it. Now, _we_ take the air, and when we have sifted out thenoise we fill it with sound. That's a very different thing. The worstof it is, " they added, sadly, "there is so little demand for realsilence. We have layers of it piled up at the top, of those pinetrees, and nobody ever wants it. The other silence is so much cheaper, you see, and most people don't know the difference. "

"When I am grown up and have a house of my own, " said Martin, "I shallcome and ask you to fill it with the very best silence for me. "

The pine dwarfs shook their little brown heads incredulously. 

"Wait till you are grown up, " they said; "and then, if you will let usfill one room for you, we shall be quite satisfied. Now, set off onyour journey; and if you want to escape being made into conversation, you must not speak a single word until you reach the valley where theWonderful Toymaker lives. "

"Trust me!" laughed Martin. "It is only talking that is difficult; anyone can keep silent. "

"Very well; be careful, only be careful!" they sighed; and in anothermoment they had all gone back to their pine trees, and nothing was tobe heard except the distant sounds with which they were filling thesilence. 

Then Martin walked on until he came to the rushing waterfall; and alongby the side of the stream he trudged and thought it was the verynoisiest stream he had ever come across, for it clattered over thestones, and splashed up in the air, and seemed bent on getting throughlife with as much fuss and excitement as it was possible to make. Ashe walked along by its side, he discovered that the noise it made wascaused by millions of little voices, chattering and gossiping, quarrelling and laughing, as busily as they could. 

"This must be the country where they make conversation, " thoughtMartin. "Well, I must be pretty careful not to let them know I cantalk. " At the same time, the longer he walked by that talkative littlestream the easier it was to forget the silence in the pine wood; and hebegan to think that, after all, one silent room would be quite enoughin the house he was going to have some day. Presently, there were notonly voices in the stream beside him but all around him as well, in thetrees, and the flowers, and the grass, and the air; and they were notthe pretty little voices of the fairies which he knew so well, but theywere the harsh, shrill, unpleasant voices of unpleasant people, whomust have spent their lives in chattering about things that did notconcern them. Then the voices came closer and closer to him, andbuzzed up round his head, and shrieked into his ears, asking him dozensand dozens of questions, until it was all he could do not to shout atthem to leave him alone. 

"Who are you? Where do you come from? What do you want? Where areyou going? What are you doing here? Why don't you answer? How didyou get here? Whom did you meet on the way? Did they tell youanything interesting? What is your name? How old are you? Who isyour father? What is your mother like? Does she give parties? Doesshe invite many people? Do you know the King? Have you been to court?Does the Queen dress well? Do you like jam or cake best? What is yourfavourite sweet? Don't you think we are very amusing?" etc. , etc. , etc. 

These were only a few of the questions they asked Martin, but theyquite cured him of any wish to speak; and, instead of telling themanything about himself, he just put his hands over his ears and ran asfast as he could until he dropped down, very much out of breath, someway further along the stream. As he sat there, delighted at havingescaped from all those impertinent voices, a curious little fish with abent back popped his head above the water and nodded to him. 

"Good morning, " said the fish. His tone was so friendly that Martinforgot all about the warning of the pine dwarfs, and entered intoconversation with him. 

"This is a strange country, " said Martin. 

"It's a very busy country, " answered the fish. "None of us get leftalone for long; and as for me, I never get any peace at all. If Icould only get my tail into my mouth, things would be very different. "

"You look as though you had been trying a good deal, " observed Martin. "I suppose that is why your back is so bent. "

"Bent?" cried the fish, angrily. "Nothing of the sort! On thecontrary, it has a most elegant curve. It's not the shape I complainabout, it's the difference in the work. You see, if I could only getmy tail into my mouth I should be a Full-stop; and Full-stops have solittle to do nowadays that I should be able to retire at once. Being aComma is quite another matter; it's work, work, work, from year's endto year's end. Hullo! What is it now?"

His last remark was addressed to another fish, who seemed to havesucceeded in getting his tail into his mouth, and who spoke veryhuskily in consequence. 

"Come along, " he said to the Comma-fish; "you 've got to help me tomake a Semi-colon. "

"Oh, dear, oh, dear!" replied the other. "I do wish Colons were moreused; it would at least give me a rest and use up some of youFull-stops for a change. "

Martin was just going to sympathise with the poor little overworkedComma-fish, when the storm of voices he had left behind suddenlymanaged to overtake him; and there they were once more, buzzing roundhis head and shrieking in his ears, until he was almost deafened by thenoise; while dozens of invisible hands were lifting him from the groundand carrying him along at a terrific pace. 

"He has spoken, he has spoken!" the voices were shouting triumphantly, as they bore him along. "He is ours to make conversation of!"

Then they took him into a magnificent glittering palace, made of glassof a thousand colours; and invisible voices told him it was all his andhe should be king over it, if he would only make conversation for them. It was the most beautiful palace a king could possibly have wished for;and even the Prime Minister's son was dazzled by it for the moment. There was everything in it that a boy could want; if he pulled a goldencord, down fell a shower of chocolate creams; if he went to thestrawberry ice room, there was a wooden spade for him to dig it outwith, and a wheelbarrow in which to bring it away; if he wanted apresent, he had only to turn on the present-tap and out came whateverhe wished for. So he immediately wished for a six-bladed knife, a realpony, and a gold watch. For all that, he was not a bit happy. Theincessant talking around him never ceased for a moment; the air seemedpacked with people whom he never saw, but who asked him innumerablequestions which he never attempted to answer. Besides this, all thefurniture talked as well. When he opened the door it made remarksabout the way he did it, which were not at all polite. If he sat onthe arm of a chair, it pointed out to him in a hurt tone that chairswere not intended to be used in that way. When he cut his name on themahogany dining-table, it shouted abuse at him until he had to paintover the letters to appease it. The windows chatted pleasantly aboutthe weather when the wind blew, instead of rattling; and the firesgossiped when they were lighted, instead of crackling and smoking. Hegave up riding his pony after it had told him the history of itschildhood for the fifteenth time; and when he found that his gold watchwas always telling stories instead of telling the time he had to getrid of that too. As for his six-bladed knife, it wearied him so muchby telling him the same thing six times over that he threw it out ofthe window as far as he could. All this was excessively trying to aboy who had never talked much in the whole of his life; and the worstof it was that he was prevented by magic from running away; so the fourweeks came to an end, and he had not found a new toy for the PrincessPetulant. 

Meanwhile, the little Princess had been waiting, and waiting, andwaiting. In all the eight years of her life she had never waited sopatiently for anything; and the affairs of the country went on quitesmoothly in consequence. When, however, the four weeks were over andMartin did not return with her new toy, Princess Petulant grew tired ofbeing good, and, once more, she lay on the nursery floor and sobbed;and, once more, there was consternation in the royal household. So theKing called another council. 

"Haven't you got any more sons?" he demanded crossly of the PrimeMinister. The Prime Minister shook his head, and owned sadly that hehad only one son. 

"Then why do you lose him?" said the King, still more crossly. "Doesno one know where the Prime Minister's son has gone?"

The councillors looked helplessly at one another. One thought thatMartin had gone to Fairyland; another said it was to Toyland; and athird declared he must be with the wymps at the back of the sun. But, as nobody knew how to get to any of these places, the suggestions ofhis councillors only made the King more annoyed than before. At last, he asked the Queen's advice; and the Queen proposed that the littlePrincess should attend the council and explain why she was crying. However, when they sent up to the royal nursery for the PrincessPetulant, there was no Princess to be seen; and the royal nurses wererushing everywhere in great confusion, trying to find her. 

"It is a most extraordinary thing, " cried the King, "that we cannotkeep anybody in the place! What is the use of children who do nothingbut lose themselves? There must be wympcraft in this!"

The Queen only said "Poor children!" and set to work to have thecountry searched for the missing pair, and sat down to cry by herselfuntil they could be found. 

What had really happened was quite simple. While the Princess Petulantwas sobbing on the nursery floor, something came through the openwindow and dropped with a thud just in front of her. This astonishedher so much, that she stopped crying and looked up to see what it was. There stood a little pine dwarf, holding his hands to his ears. 

"Dear, dear!" crooned the pine dwarf in his soft voice. "What are youmaking such a noise for?"

"I am crying because Martin has not come back, " said the Princess, sorrowfully. "He promised to fetch me a new toy, and he has neverbroken his promise before. I do wish he would come back. Even if hedoes n't bring me a new toy, I wish he would come back. "

"Ah, " said the pine dwarf, smiling, "now I think I can help you. Butyou must not cry any more; it is almost as bad as the noise they aremaking in the country where Martin is imprisoned. "

"Oh!" cried Princess Petulant, clapping her hands; "do you _really_know where Martin is?"

"Come along with me and see, " said the pine dwarf. The next thing thePrincess knew was that she was gliding through the air in the mostdelicious manner possible; and she never stopped until she foundherself by the side of the waterfall, that stands at the edge of thecountry where they make conversation. 

"I cannot take you any further, " said the pine dwarf; "because there isso much noise down there that it would blow me into little pieces atonce. Follow the stream along until it brings you to a glass palace, and there you will find Martin waiting for you. Whatever you do, though, you must not speak a word to any one until you find him. Doyou think you can do this?"

The Princess was thoughtful for a whole minute. 

"I can do it if I stop up my ears with cotton wool, " she said. "I amquite certain I should speak if I heard any one talking to me. "

The pine dwarf smiled again; and a linnet, who had overheard theirconversation, kindly offered the Princess a piece of cotton wool fromthe nest he was making; and she thanked him as charmingly as a Princessshould, and immediately stuffed it into her two little pink ears. Thenshe kissed her hand to the good little pine dwarf, and ran away alongthe stream; and she never stopped running until she reached themagnificent, glittering glass palace; and there she saw Martin right inthe middle of it, sitting at the table with his head in his hands. 

"I do believe he is crying!" thought Princess Petulant; and she verynearly cried too at the mere thought of it, for no one had ever seenthe Prime Minister's son cry before. She picked up a stone instead, however, and sent it right through the glass wall of the palace, --forshe was in far too great a hurry to go round to the door, --and she madea hole large enough to slip through; and into the room she bounded, where Martin sat thinking about her. 

They kissed each other a great many times; and Martin pulled the cottonwool out of her two little pink ears, and told her all that hadhappened, and how miserable he had been because he could not keep hispromise to her, and how dreadfully tired he was of conversation. 

"Even now, " he added, sadly, "I don't suppose they will let me go withyou. Just listen to their stupid voices! I shall have to bear thatfor the rest of my life. "

"Oh, no, you won't!" buzzed the voices in the air. "You can go away assoon as you like. It is quite hopeless to think of making you intoconversation; you are the most unconversational prisoner we have evercaptured. If the Princess had not put cotton wool in her ears weshould have caught her directly; and what splendid conversation shewould have made! Unfortunately, she is out of our power now, becauseshe reached you without speaking a word; so you can go off together assoon as you like. "

They did not wait to be told twice, but set off at once, hand in hand, and walked straight on until they reached the top of the hill thatslopes down into the valley where the Wonderful Toymaker lives. Thenthey ran a race down the side of the hill; and of course Martin allowedthe Princess to win, so she was the first, after all, to see the mostwonderful toyshop in the world. It was so wonderful that she actuallyremained speechless with astonishment, until Martin caught her up; andthen they stood side by side and stared at it. 

To begin with, it was not a toyshop at all. The whole of the valleywas strewn with toys: they lay on the ground in heaps, they were piledhigh up on the rocks, they hung from the trees and made them look likehuge Christmas trees, and they covered the bushes like blossoms:wherever the children looked, they saw toys, toys, toys. And suchtoys, too! People who have never been to Fairyland can have no idea ofthe toys that are made by the Wonderful Toymaker; even Martin, who wasa friend of the fairies, had never seen anything like them before. Asfor the Princess Petulant--her large blue eyes were open, and herlittle round mouth was open, and she could not have spoken a word toplease anybody. 

Then, suddenly, into the middle of it all stepped the WonderfulToymaker. Any one who has lived for thousands and thousands of yearsmight reasonably be expected to look old, but the Wonderful Toymakerlooked young enough to play with his own toys; when he laughed, thechildren felt that they should never feel unhappy again; and when hecame running towards them, turning coach-wheels on the way, they feltcertain that he was only a very little older than themselves. For thatis what happens when a man has been making toys for thousands andthousands of years. 

"My dear children, how pleased I am to see you!" he cried joyfully. "At last, I shall have some one to play with! Come and look at my twonew tops. "

He took them by the hands and raced them across the valley to hisworkshop, which was strewn with gold and silver tools with handles madeof rubies; and he took up a gaily painted top and set it spinning byblowing gently upon it three times. As it spun it began to hum a tune, and in the tune they could hear every sound that the worldcontains, --birds singing and wind whistling, children laughing andchildren crying, people talking and people quarrelling, pretty soundsand ugly sounds, one after another, until the children were spellboundwith astonishment. 

"Oh, oh!" cried Princess Petulant, as the top rolled over on its side. "I never heard anything so beautiful before. "

"The top is yours, since you like it, " said the Wonderful Toymaker, handing it to her with a bow. "Now listen to my other new top. "

Then he took up another one, made of burnished copper, and gave it atwist with his fingers, and it began to spin with all its might; and asit spun round, the song it sang was one that could never be described, for it was full of the sounds that do not exist at all, the sounds thatare only to be heard in Fairyland when we are lucky enough to go there. It made the Princess Petulant feel sleepy; but Martin gave a shout ofpleasure when it stopped spinning. 

"I like that one much better, " he said. 

"It is the finest toy I have ever made, " said the Wonderful Toymaker;"and it is yours because you know how to appreciate it. Now, we willplay games!"

They had never played such games in their lives before, nor had theyever had such a delightful playfellow. He put such feelings of joy andhappiness into their hearts that the little Princess wondered how shecould ever have felt discontented, and Martin never once wanted to stopand dream. They played with toys that would not break, however badlythey were treated; they chased one another over the rocks and throughthe bushes, without getting out of breath at all; and when they couldnot think of anything else to do, they laughed and laughed and laughedand laughed. Then they sat down on the grass to rest; and theWonderful Toymaker sat between them and smiled at them both. 

"Now, we will refresh ourselves by eating unwholesome sweets, " he said, and he gave a long low whistle. Immediately, they were pelted from allsides by the most delicious, unwholesome sweets that were ever made;but, although they were ever so unwholesome, and although the childrenate quantities and quantities of them, they were not in the least bitthe worse for it; and when they had eaten all they could, the WonderfulToymaker filled their pockets for them, and laughed again. 

"Won't you stop here always?" he asked them. 

The children shook their heads. 

"I must go back to mother, " said the Princess Petulant. "She must bewondering where I am, now. "

"And I have got to be Prime Minister, some day, " said Martin, with asigh. 

"You will never be Prime Minister, " said the Toymaker, just as hisfather was always saying. "Why can't you both stay with me? Onlythink of all the games we can have, and the toys we can make, and theunwholesome sweets we can eat! Won't you really stay and play with me?"

However, when he saw that they were quite determined to go home, hemade the best of it and asked them whether they would like to go bysea, or by sky, or by land. Martin wanted to go by sky, but when thePrincess said she would much prefer to go by land as she had come mostof the way by sky, the Prime Minister's son gave in at once and saidthat he had meant to choose the land road all the time. So theToymaker fetched two beautiful rocking-horses and helped the childrento mount them, and said he should never forget their visit for the restof his life. He could not have said more than that, for of course hehas been living ever since. 

So they rode out of the valley and up the hill-side, and they wavedtheir hands to the Wonderful Toymaker who stood looking disconsolatelyafter them, and they wished they could have played with him just alittle longer. They had very little time even to wish, however, forthe rocking-horses rushed over the ground at such a pace that theycould see nothing they were passing; so, after all, they would havebeen none the wiser if they had come by sky as Martin had wished. Thenthe townspeople came out of their houses and stared with amazement, asthey saw their King's daughter and their Prime Minister's son racingpast them on wooden horses; but they had no time, either, to makeremarks on the matter before the children were out of sight again, forthe wooden horses never stopped until they brought their riders to thepalace gates; and then they disappeared and left Martin and thePrincess Petulant knocking for admission. 

Then there was a hullabaloo! The Queen dried her tears and hugged themboth, one after another; and the King dismissed the council which hadnot helped him in the least; and the Prime Minister was more convincedthan ever that his son would never be Prime Minister; and the twochildren span their tops before the whole court and told the story oftheir adventures. And it was at once written down, word for word, bythe Royal Historian, and that is how it has got inside this book. 

The two children never visited the Wonderful Toymaker again; and Martinnever became Prime Minister. One day he became King instead; and itwas all because he married the Princess Petulant the moment he wasgrown up. They thoroughly enjoyed life for the rest of their days, andso did everybody else in the kingdom, down to the Prime Minister andthe Royal Historian; and this was all because they never lost thewonderful tops which had been given them by the Wonderful Toymaker. 

[Illustration: HE CURLED HIMSELF UP IN THE SUN AND CLOSED HIS EYES]

The Professor of Practical Jokes

Years and years and years ago, in a country that has been longforgotten, there lived a king called Grumbelo. In spite of hisextremely ugly name, which was certainly no fault of his, he was young, handsome, and talented; and this made it all the more remarkable thathe had never thought of seeking a wife. He ruled his country so wellthat not a single poor or ill-treated person was to be found in thewhole of it; and yet, it was the dullest country that has ever existed. The reason for this was plain; the King was all very well in his way, and to be well-governed no doubt has its advantages, but the peoplewere unreasonable and they wanted more than this. They wanted courtballs, and court banquets, and royal processions through the streets, with bands playing and flags flying; they wanted more play, and moreholidays, and more fun; and all these things, as every one knows well, are only to be had when there is a Queen at court. The King, however, was so well satisfied with himself that it never occurred to him howdreadfully dull his kingdom was growing; and he was exceedinglysurprised when a number of the courtiers, headed by the RoyalComptroller of Whole Holidays and the learned Professor of PracticalJokes, --who had been positively out of work ever since his seriousyoung Majesty came to the throne, --waited upon him one morning, withthe humble request that he should begin to think about finding a Queen. 

"What more can you want?" asked the young King in astonishment. "Surely a King, or at least a King such as I am, is enough for mysubjects! I am quite satisfied with myself: is it possible that thecountry is not equally satisfied?"

"The country is more than satisfied with your excellent Majesty, "explained the Comptroller of Whole Holidays. "The country has neverbeen so admirably governed before. It feels, however, that certainother things are almost as important, your Majesty, as wise laws andhonest toil; such as--such as whole holidays, for instance. "

"And practical jokes, " murmured the learned Professor at his side. 

His Majesty was silent. It seemed incredible that the country shouldwant anything more than the excellent government of King Grumbelo; buthe was fond of his people at heart, --in spite of the dulness to whichhe had brought them, and so he consented in the end to give them aQueen. 

"Go and find me the most beautiful, the most silent, and the mostfoolish Princess in the world, " he said to them. "She must be the mostbeautiful because I shall have to look at her, and the most silentbecause I am able to talk for both of us, and the most foolish becauseI can be wise for her as well as for myself. If you find me a Princesslike this I will make her my Queen. "

Not long after, the King held a reception for all the beautifulPrincesses who could be collected at such a very short notice. Therewere a hundred and fifty altogether; but although they were withoutdoubt both beautiful and foolish, they never stopped talking for aninstant, and not one of them would King Grumbelo have for his Queen. So the Royal Comptroller of Whole Holidays and the learned Professor ofPractical Jokes put their heads together once more, and in a few days'time they came again to the King. 

"We have heard at last of the Princess who would suit you, " they saidto him. "She is so beautiful that the trees stop gossiping and theflowers stop breathing when she passes by; and she is so silent that ifit were not for the wonderful expression in her eyes it would beimpossible to hold any conversation with her at all. "

"Ah, " said King Grumbelo, nodding his royal head approvingly; "and isshe very foolish as well?"

"That she must be, your Majesty, " said the Comptroller of WholeHolidays, looking nervously towards the Professor of Practical Jokes, "because, your Majesty, --well, because--"

"Because she has refused to have anything to do with your Majesty, "boldly interrupted the Professor. 

"What?" cried the King, astounded. "She does not _wish_ to be myQueen?"

"Not exactly that, your Majesty, " stammered the Comptroller of WholeHolidays; "but she declares she could never marry any one who--who--"

"Who has so ridiculous a name as your Majesty!" said the Professor ofPractical Jokes without a moment's hesitation. 

King Grumbelo stepped down from his throne and merely smiled. 

"That is of no consequence, " he observed. "Evidently she knows nothingabout me except my unfortunate name, and that I certainly did not givemyself. Tell me at once where this wonderful Princess is to be found. "

"That is exactly what we do not know, your Majesty, " they confessed, reluctantly. "As soon as the Princess heard that your Majesty wishedto make her a Queen she fled from the country, and we have not beenable to discover where she has hidden herself!"

"No matter, " said King Grumbelo, actually omitting to scold them fortheir stupidity; "it is never difficult to find the most beautifulPrincess in the world! Bring me my horse at once; you can make readyfor the royal wedding as soon as you please. "

The country was very badly governed while the King was away; but it wascertainly not dull. Every person in the kingdom was occupied in makingpreparations for the royal wedding, and it was going to be such aparticularly grand royal wedding that the people were kept thoroughlyamused by looking forward to it alone. When, however, the last touchhad been put to the preparations, and there was positively nothing leftfor any one to do, the people began to grumble. It was clear thatthere could not be a marriage if nobody was there to be married, and notidings had been received of King Grumbelo since he rode away to fetchhis bride. There is no doubt that the discontent of the people wouldhave ended in a revolution if the Professor of Practical Jokes had nothit upon a happy idea. "It is true that we cannot have a royalwedding, " said the Professor of Practical Jokes; "but we can pretend tohave one. "

The Comptroller of Whole Holidays was only too delighted to fall inwith the idea, and at once issued a proclamation to the effect that thecountry should take a whole holiday until further notice. After that, the people could not think of grumbling; they gave themselves up togeneral rejoicing, and pretended, day after day, that the King wasbeing married, until they almost forgot that there was not even a kingin the country. 

Meanwhile, King Grumbelo was riding by night and by day in search ofhis beautiful, silent Princess. He rode for many months withoutdiscovering a trace of her; but instead of growing tired of his searchhe only became the more anxious to find her. One day, as he was ridingthrough a wood, he came upon a sweet-smelling hedge, all made ofhoneysuckle and sweet-briar, so high that he could not climb it, and sothick that he could not see through it. 

"Dear me!" thought King Grumbelo, "something charming must be hiddenbehind so pretty a hedge as this!" He rode along it with his mind fullof curiosity until he came to two slender, pink-and-white gates, madeentirely of apple-blossom; and through these he could see afresh-looking garden with green lawns and gravel paths and brightflower-beds, and in the middle of it all a dainty little house made ofnothing but rose leaves. The King was so impatient to know who was theowner of such a delightful little dwelling that he knocked at once onthe gates for admission; and a dragon with a singularly mild andharmless expression appeared inside, and asked him gently what hewanted. The King looked at him in surprise; for, although he wasdecidedly small for a dragon, he was certainly much too large and tooclumsy to live in a house made entirely of rose leaves. 

"Can you tell me who lives here?" asked King Grumbelo, politely; for, as every one knows, it is always wise to be polite to a dragon howeversmall he may be. 

"Oh, yes, " answered the dragon, with a wave of his tail towards thehouse and the garden; "I live here. "

"Nonsense!" said the King, forgetting in his surprise to be polite. "You could not possibly live in so small a house as that!"

"If you want to know who lives inside the house you should say so, "answered the dragon, in an injured tone. "It is n't likely that awell-bred dragon would live inside anything. You should be morecareful in the way you express yourself. "

"Well, well, " said the King, impatiently, "perhaps you can tell me towhom the house belongs?"

"No, I can't, " answered the dragon, with a smile; "because it does n'tbelong to anybody, you see. It is here because it is wanted, and whenit is n't wanted any longer it will cease to be here. "

"What a curious house!" exclaimed the King. 

"Curious? Not at all!" said the dragon, looking injured again. "Itwould be much more curious if it were to remain here when it was n'twanted. You should n't make needless remarks. "

If King Grumbelo had not been so anxious to find out who did liveinside the house he would certainly have ridden away, there and then;but the more he looked at the beautiful garden and the charming littledwelling of rose leaves, the more he longed for an answer to hisquestion. So he kept his temper with difficulty, and turned once moreto the aggravating dragon. 

"Does anybody live inside the house?" he asked. 

"Of course, " answered the dragon. "Do they build houses in yourcountry to be looked at? I suppose you can't help it, but I have neverbeen asked so many senseless questions before. "

"Answer me one more and I will go away, " said King Grumbelo. "Does abeautiful Princess, the most beautiful you have ever seen, live insidethe house over there?"

"There is no Princess in the place, be assured of that, " answered thedragon, emphatically. "I should not be here if there were; it is athankless task to keep guard over a Princess; it means nothing butspells and fighting and unpleasantness, and in the end the Princesscomplains that you have kept the right people away. Oh, no, nothingwould induce me to take another place with a Princess. We 've nothingof _that_ kind here. "

"Then I 'll bid you good-day, " said King Grumbelo, for he did not meanto waste any more time. Just as he was going to ride away, however, the door of the little house opened, and out of it stepped thesweetest-looking little lady the world has ever contained. She was sobeautiful that as she walked down the path the flowers stoppedbreathing and the trees stopped gossiping; and she had such wonderfuleyes that to look at them was to know everything she was thinkingabout. She glanced once at the King as he stood outside the gates ofapple-blossom, and then she turned aside without speaking a word andpassed out of sight among the flower-beds. Then the King knew that hissearch was over; she was beautiful and silent enough to please him, whether she were foolish or not; and he made up his mind on the spotnot to search any more for the disdainful Princess who had run awayfrom him. 

"Who is she?" he asked the dragon, eagerly. 

"The Lady Whimsical, to be sure, " answered the dragon. "What a lot ofquestions you ask!"

"Then go and tell the Lady Whimsical that if she pleases I would liketo speak with her, " said King Grumbelo. 

The dragon did not move. 

"The Lady Whimsical never speaks, " he observed. "It would really bemuch wiser if you were to go away. "

"I am not going away, " shouted the King, growing angry. "Go and askher at once if she will receive me, or I will put you out of the wayfor good and all!"

"Very well, " said the dragon, sighing; "I suppose I must. What name?"

"King Grumbelo, " answered the King, proudly. 

He fully expected that the dragon would fall flat on the ground at themention of such an important name as his; but the dragon did nothing ofthe kind. 

"It is not a bit of use expecting to come in here with a name likethat, " he complained. "The Lady Whimsical cannot bear anything ugly, and she has a particular horror of ugly names. I have strict ordersnever to mention an ugly name in her presence. You had really bettergo away. "

"I am not going away, " shouted the King once more. "Go and tell theLady Whimsical that a great King, who has heard how charming and howgracious she is, would like to make himself known to her. "

The dragon consented unwillingly to take this message, and ambledclumsily away among the flower-beds. When he came back, he found theKing pacing restlessly up and down. 

"Can't you keep still?" growled the dragon. "Your ridiculous name isenough to make any one giddy without--"

"What did the Lady Whimsical say?" interrupted King Grumbelo, impatiently. 

"The Lady Whimsical never says, " answered the dragon drowsily, as hecurled himself up in the sun and closed his eyes; "but she will allowyou to look at her for five minutes every morning, at two hours aftersunrise. "

Two hours after sunrise on the following morning, King Grumbelo wasaccordingly admitted into the garden beyond the pink-and-white gates ofapple-blossom. There sat the Lady Whimsical on the doorstep of herrose-leaf dwelling, and in front of her stood the King. 

"You are the most charming person I have ever seen, " declared the King. 

The Lady Whimsical smiled. 

"I never thought I should find any one so charming as you are, " saidthe King. 

The Lady Whimsical smiled again. 

"Nor so silent, " continued the King. 

The Lady Whimsical smiled for the third time. 

"Nor so--" began the King, and then he paused, for he thought she mightpossibly object to being called foolish, though foolish she undoubtedlywas if she did not wish him to stay longer than five minutes. As hehesitated, the Lady Whimsical burst out laughing and ran inside herlittle house of rose leaves, and banged the door in his face. 

"Time's up, " said the dragon, and King Grumbelo went away puzzled. Hecame back again, however, at the same time on the following morning;and there sat Lady Whimsical on the doorstep of her rose-leaf dwelling, just as though she were expecting him. 

"I have thought only of you since yesterday morning, " sighed KingGrumbelo. 

The Lady Whimsical smiled as before. 

"I shall think only of you for the rest of my days, " declared the King. 

The Lady Whimsical smiled even more than before. 

"Do you know why I have come all this way to find you?" demanded theKing, growing bolder. 

The Lady Whimsical shook her head at him, burst out laughing, and raninside her rose-leaf house as she had done the day before. 

Two hours after sunrise on the following morning, the Lady Whimsicalwas once more seated on her doorstep, and King Grumbelo was once morestanding in front of her. 

"You are so beautiful that I shall never tire of looking at you, " saidthe King. 

Again, the Lady Whimsical only smiled. 

"You are so silent that you will always allow me to talk enough forboth of us, " continued the King. 

The Lady Whimsical smiled once more. 

"And since you are so foolish as to send me away every morning, " saidthe King, "you must surely be foolish enough to be the Queen of so wisea King as myself. "

The Lady Whimsical had never laughed so heartily at anything as she didat these words of King Grumbelo; and even after she had banged the doorin his face, he could still hear her laughter as it floated out fromthe windows of the dainty little house of rose leaves. Now, all thiswas very amusing for the Lady Whimsical, who was quite happy as long asshe had something to make her smile; but King Grumbelo was not so wellsatisfied. 

It was not amusing to carry on a conversation entirely alone, and heeven began to wish secretly that the Lady Whimsical would not answerall his questions by laughing at them. However, the Lady Whimsicalshowed no signs of answering them in any other way, and at last theKing determined that he would make her speak to him just once, andafter that she might be as silent as she pleased. So, one morning, when the dragon opened the apple-blossom gates to him as usual, hestrode up to Lady Whimsical with a resolute air. 

"Lady Whimsical, I want you to come away with me and be my Queen, " hesaid. 

She shook her head and smiled. 

"Why not?" demanded King Grumbelo. 

She smiled again. 

"Why not?" shouted King Grumbelo at the very top of his voice. 

When the Lady Whimsical shrugged her shoulders and merely smiled again, the King lost his patience completely, which of course was an absurdthing to do, considering that he had come all this way on purpose tofind some one who knew how to be silent. 

"Will nothing induce you to speak just one word to me?" he exclaimed;and then he ran right away from her mocking laughter, and did not evenwait to have the rose-leaf door banged in his face. 

It was a very crestfallen King Grumbelo who knocked at the gates ofapple-blossom on the following morning. But no one was sitting on thedoorstep of the dainty little house of rose leaves; and King Grumbelo'sheart gave a great jump. 

"Where is she?" he demanded of the dragon, who had followed him alongthe path and was looking at him with his aggravating smile. 

The dragon became reproachful. 

"It is your fault, " he complained. "I told you she never spoke; whydid n't you listen to me? You have driven her away now by your endlessquestions; she has gone into her house of rose leaves, and the WiseWoman of the Wood alone knows what will bring her out again. "

King Grumbelo looked up at the dainty little house of rose leaves, andthought he heard the sound of muffled laughter floating through theopen windows. He turned once more to the dragon. 

"Where does the Wise Woman of the Wood live?" he asked. But the dragonhad curled himself up in the sun and was already half asleep. 

"Don't ask so many questions, " he mumbled sleepily; and King Grumbelostrode angrily out of the garden. He mounted his horse and allowed itto take him wherever it would, for he had no idea where the Wise Womanof the Wood lived, and one way was as good as another. Towardssundown, a blackbird hopped on to his horse's head and sang to him, andsomething in its song so reminded the King of Lady Whimsical's laughterthat he put out his hand to caress it. No sooner did he touch it, however, than it turned into a squirrel, and scampered away from him somischievously that he was again reminded of Lady Whimsical and of theway she, too, had run away from him. He put spurs to his horse andchased the squirrel until he overtook it, when it immediately turnedinto a field mouse and sprang into a large hole in the root of an oldelm tree; and after it went King Grumbelo without a moment'shesitation. He left his horse outside, and threw his crown on theground, and crept into the hole as humbly as though he had not been aKing at all. The hole opened into a long, dark passage which grewsmaller and smaller as it wound deeper into the earth, so that KingGrumbelo could scarcely drag himself along on his hands and knees. Itcame to an end at last, however, and he crawled into a cavern lighteddimly by glow-worms. The field mouse was just ahead of him, but beforehe could catch it he found that it was no longer there, and in itsplace stood a tall witch woman, with a voice like a blackbird's, andeyes like a squirrel's, and hair the colour of a field mouse. 

"Tell me, " said King Grumbelo, eagerly, "are you the Wise Woman of theWood?"

"Of course I am, " said the witch woman. "Do you think any one elsewould have been so much trouble to catch? And now that you have caughtme, what can I do for you?"

"I want you to remove the spell from the Lady Whimsical, so that shemay be able to speak to me, " said King Grumbelo. The witch womanlaughed outright. 

"There is no spell over the Lady Whimsical, " she said. "She can talkas much as she pleases. "

"Then why has she never spoken to me?" asked the King in astonishment. 

"You wished for the most silent woman in the world, " said the WiseWoman of the Wood. "Now that you have found her, why do you complain?"

For the first time in his life King Grumbelo felt distinctly foolish. 

"I made a mistake, " he owned. "I don't want a silent Queen at all. "

"Then go back and tell her so, " said the witch woman, promptly. 

"Do you think that will make her come out from her house of roseleaves?" asked King Grumbelo. 

"I should n't wonder, " said the Wise Woman of the Wood; "but go and seefor yourself. There is no need to thank me, for any one who takes thetrouble to follow the Wise Woman of the Wood to her home is welcome towhat he may find when he gets there. "

Indeed, before he had time to thank her he found himself once moreoutside the tree, with his crown lying at his feet and his horsestanding at his side. He was in such a hurry to get back to the LadyWhimsical, however, that he did not stay to pick up his crown, but rodebareheaded all through the night and reached the hedge of sweet-briarand honeysuckle precisely at two hours after sunrise. 

"Dear, dear, " complained the dragon; "do you mean to say you 've comeback again?"

"I have some good news for you, " said King Grumbelo, jovially. "Thereis no spell over the Lady Whimsical after all!"

"Of course there is n't, " said the dragon, as he slowly unfastened thegates of apple-blossom. "Did n't I tell you she was n't a Princess?"

King Grumbelo did not stay to argue the point with him, but walkedquickly up the path and stopped in front of the dainty little house allmade of rose leaves. 

"Lady Whimsical, " he said, very gently and humbly, "will it please youto smile on me once more? I have discovered that you are the wisestperson in the world, and that I am by far the most foolish. "

When the Lady Whimsical looked out of her window and saw the Kingstanding there so humbly without his crown, the tears came right intoher wonderful eyes and stayed there. 

"Oh!" she cried, "I am so glad you have come back! I was afraid youwere never coming back any more. "

She held out her two little hands, and the King kissed them. Then shecame running down the stairs as fast as she could; and they sat on thedoorstep side by side, and talked. 

"I feel as though I should never stop talking again! Do you mind?"asked Lady Whimsical. 

"I should like nothing better, " said King Grumbelo. "But first of allI must confess to you that I have an extremely ugly name. Do you thinkyou can bear to hear it?"

"I know it already!" laughed the Lady Whimsical. "Do you suppose Ihave n't coaxed it out of my dragon long ago? But I, too, havesomething to confess to you. Do you think it will make you angry?"

"I am quite sure I shall never be angry again, " declared the King. 

"Then, " said Lady Whimsical, looking extremely solemn, "to begin with, I am not a Princess at all. "

"As if I did n't know that!" laughed the King. "The dragon told me, ever so long ago!"

"He did n't tell you the rest, so stop laughing and listen to me, " saidLady Whimsical, with severity. "I knew all the while who you were andwhat you wanted, and I pretended to be under a spell just to tease you. "

"I know that, too, " said the King, triumphantly. "The Wise Woman ofthe Wood told me. "

"Did she tell you that I came and hid myself here on purpose, because Iheard you were looking for a Princess and I wanted you to find me?"asked the Lady Whimsical, softly. 

"Nobody told me that, " answered King Grumbelo; "I guessed it formyself. "

"What will the Professor of Practical Jokes say, when you come homewithout the Princess you went out to find?" she asked mischievously. 

The King had no time to answer, for at that moment the Professor ofPractical Jokes--whose profession always required him to arriveunexpectedly in places where he was not wanted--appeared at theapple-blossom gates and answered Lady Whimsical's question himself. 

"There is nothing to say, " he observed. "There never was a Princessfor your Majesty to find, so of course your Majesty has n't found her. "

"There never was anybody for you to find except me, " added LadyWhimsical, who was nodding at the Professor as though she had known himall her life. "The other Princess was a practical joke, don't you see. Do you mean to say my dragon did not tell you _that_, too?"

"Then, who are you?" asked King Grumbelo in bewilderment. The LadyWhimsical laughed, as she had laughed every day for a month when shebanged the door in the King's face. 

"Can't you guess?" she exclaimed. "Why, I am just the daughter of theProfessor of Practical Jokes!"

And the King only wondered that he had not guessed it long ago. 

As they went out through the apple-blossom gates, the dainty littlehouse of rose leaves vanished away because it was no longer wanted, andso did the beautiful flower-garden, and the hedge of sweet-briar andhoneysuckle, and the sleepy good-natured dragon. They had no troublein getting home, for the Wise Woman of the Wood had a hand in thematter, and the road came racing towards them as fast as an expresstrain; all they had to do was to stand quite still and wait until KingGrumbelo's country came hurrying along, which was the most convenientway of travelling any one could possibly invent. When the city reachedthem they found they were just in time to be married, for the peoplewere on the point of celebrating their wedding for the hundred andfirst time; so the King and Queen were married almost before they knewit themselves, and certainly before the people discovered that somebodywas really being married at last. This, however, was not at allsurprising, for the real wedding was very much the same as all themake-believe ones, except that it took a little longer because the Kingand Queen were not so used to being married as the people were tomarrying them. 

After that, every one was as happy as it was possible to be. Thecountry had grown so accustomed to being frivolous that it never becameserious again; and the King never made another law, because the peoplewere so fond of Lady Whimsical that they did everything she told them, and therefore no laws were needed. The result of all this happinesswas that nobody in the kingdom ever grew old; and the Lady Whimsicalwho sits and laughs on her throne at this very moment is the same LadyWhimsical who sat and laughed on the doorstep of her rose-leaf house, years and years and years ago. 

[Illustration: THE LADY EMMELINA IS ALWAYS KEPT IN HER PROPER PLACE NOW]

The Doll that came straight from Fairyland

The country was celebrating the tenth birthday of the PrincePerfection. That particular country always celebrated the tenthbirthday of its princes and princesses, but never before had it gone socompletely wild with joy. The fireworks began punctually at sunrise, and so did everything else that was worth beginning; and the happyshouts of the people made conversation quite impossible, except in theroyal family, which was fully accustomed to being shouted at wheneverthe country had a whole holiday. The Prince had five hundred andfifty-four birthday presents, and his Secretaries spent all theirsummer holidays in writing letters to acknowledge them; and every childin the kingdom who was of the same age as the Prince was allowed tocome to the palace gates and receive a royal smile and a large box ofbarley sugar from Prince Perfection himself. In the afternoon, thePrince drove through the streets over a carpet of flowers and smiledwithout stopping; and by his side sat the little Princess Pansy, whowas not smiling at all, for she had no birthday and no presents, andtwo years was a long time to wait before she, too, should be ten yearsold. Still, she was so fond of the Prince Perfection that she wouldnot have let him guess for a moment that she felt envious of him, although this he was in no danger of doing, for he was so brimful ofhappiness that he had no time to think about his sister at all. Truly, it is worth while to be ten years old if one is a Prince! In theevening there was a banquet of a hundred and twenty courses, which wasthe exact number of months in the Prince's life; and the two childrensat at the head of the table between their royal parents, and managedto keep awake until the moment arrived to cut the birthday cake. 

That was when the catastrophe occurred. At the moment nobody suspectedthat it was going to be a catastrophe at all. It seemed the mostfortunate thing in the world that the Prince's godmother, the FairyZigzag, should manage to arrive just in time to drink her godson'shealth. Most people would think that a catastrophe was far more likelyto have occurred if the King and Queen had forgotten to invite theFairy Zigzag. That only shows how little most of us know about fairygodmothers. The truth is that the Fairy Zigzag was not like othergodmothers at all. She did not like banquets and she did not likenoise; and she would much sooner have sent her present by post. Itwould never have done, however, to refuse the Queen's invitation, forthat is what no fairy godmother has ever been known to do; so she cameat the very last minute with a very bad grace, and she meant to go awayagain as soon as she could. 

Bang! What a noise she made as she came down the chimney in a cloud ofblue smoke! If she had not been quite so cross she would have arrivedthrough the window in her best chariot drawn by sea-gulls; but she wasdetermined to take as little trouble as possible over the matter, andno one could take less trouble over anything than to come straight downthe chimney. 

"Oh!" said every one with a little scream; and the Prince was sostartled that he cut an extremely crooked slice of cake. As soon asthe blue smoke cleared away, however, and he saw that it was his fairygodmother, he recovered his good manners without any difficulty, andwalked across the room to greet her. 

"I am delighted to see you, dear godmother, " said Prince Perfectionwith his best birthday smile, which he had been saving up all day onpurpose. "Would you like to have a piece of cake?"

His parents beamed with pleasure at the charming manners of PrincePerfection; and the little Princess rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and wondered how long it would take to live through two whole years, sothat she might have a birthday party and a birthday cake, and a visitfrom her fairy godmother. The Fairy Zigzag, however, did not seem atall impressed by the charming manners of her godson. 

"I never eat cake, " she said, without giving so much as a look at thecrooked slice of cake which the Prince was handing her on a real goldplate. Her godson put down the cake immediately, and took up a silvergoblet filled to the brim with sparkling ginger-beer. 

"You have come just in time, dear godmother, to drink my health, " hesaid, just as politely as ever. 

"I never drink healths, " said the Fairy Zigzag, frowning. "I haveplenty of my own, thank you. What's the matter with your health thatyou want every one to drink it up? You 'd better keep it: it may comein useful, later on. "

This was such an entirely new view of the matter that a completesilence fell on every one in the room; and all the guests put downtheir glasses of ginger beer, and stared into them to see if thePrince's health was floating about on the top. In the midst of thepause, the Fairy Zigzag stalked to the table, nodded to the royalparents, and took the seat that had been reserved for her at theQueen's right hand. 

"So good of you to come, " murmured the Queen, nervously. "We neverthought you would give us so great a pleasure. "

"Oh, didn't you? Then, why did you invite me?" snapped the fairygodmother. The Queen said nothing, for she did not know what to say. The King did his best to put matters right. 

"The Prince has been looking forward to your visit all day, " hehastened to say. "The dear boy has hardly known how to wait until thisevening. "

"Rubbish, " said the Fairy Zigzag, laughing most unpleasantly. "It isquite time for the dear boy to be in bed. What is that other childdoing, over there?"

She pointed with her wand at the little Princess Pansy, whose eyes werenow so full of sleep that she could hardly keep them open. When, however, she saw the Fairy Zigzag pointing at her, she instantly becamewide awake, and grew quite pink with pleasure at being noticed. It wasthe first time any one had noticed her all that day; but of course, onemust expect to be forgotten when it is somebody else's birthday. 

"Oh!" cried Princess Pansy, holding out both her hands to the cross oldFairy Zigzag. "Are you really a fairy godmother? I have never seen areal fairy before, and I am so glad you have come!"

The King and Queen were horrified at the familiar way in which thelittle Princess was speaking to such an important guest as the fairygodmother. It was true that she was only eight years old, but it wasquite time she learnt some of the charming manners for which herbrother the Prince was so remarkable. If the Fairy Zigzag had turnedher into a toad, or a marble statue, or something chilly like that, they would not have been in the least surprised. But the Fairy Zigzagdid nothing of the sort. She just took the two hands the PrincessPansy held out to her, and looked her full in the face; and directlyshe did that all the crossness faded out of her own, and instead ofbeing just a disagreeable old fairy she suddenly appeared quitegood-natured and pleasant. This, indeed, was no wonder; for it wouldhave been difficult to look at the little Princess without feelinghappier for it. The King and Queen, however, mistook her silence foranger. 

"Pray forgive her, " they said, tremblingly. "She is so young, and shedoesn't know any better. We have tried in vain to teach her goodmanners. Doubtless, when she is as old as the Prince Perfection shewill have learnt to be as polite as he is. "

"It is to be hoped not, " said the Fairy Zigzag, turning once more tothe royal parents. "And if I know anything about it, she will never beas polite as the Prince Perfection. That child is a real child, andnone of us will ever make her anything else. Now, I don't mean towaste any more time; so come here, godson, and tell me what you wouldlike for a birthday present. "

The Prince Perfection did not know what to say. He longed to ask for asteamboat that went by real steam, or a cannon that would fire realgunpowder, or a balloon that would take him wherever he wished to go;but he felt that only an ordinary boy would have asked for such thingsas these, and Prince Perfection had always been told by his nurses thathe was not an ordinary boy. 

"Please give me whatever you like, dear godmother, " he said, and hopedvery much that it would be a steamboat with real steam. 

"The dear boy does not like to appear greedy, " said the Queen. 

"Fiddlesticks!" said the Fairy Zigzag, and then she pointed again atthe little Princess Pansy. "If I were to give _you_ a present, do youthink you would know what to choose?" she asked her, smiling. 

"Oh, how beautiful!" exclaimed Princess Pansy, clapping her hands. Tohave a present without a birthday was more than she had ever believedpossible. 

"What will you have?" asked the Fairy, raising her wand. The Princessdid not stop to think. 

"I will have a wax doll, please, with blue eyes and yellow hair andpink cheeks, dressed in a white silk frock with lots of little frills, "she said, rapidly. "And, if you _could_ manage it, " she added, glancing sideways at the Prince, her brother, "I think I should likeone that doesn't melt when you put it near the fire. "

"I think I can manage it, " said the Fairy Zigzag, and down came herwand with a sharp tap on the table. Princess Pansy gave a cry ofdelight. In front of her lay the most beautiful wax doll any littlegirl of eight years old has ever possessed. She had blue eyes andyellow curls and pink cheeks; she was dressed in a white silk frockwith rows and rows of little frills; she had a gold crown perched onher head, and she wore high-heeled shoes on her dainty feet; she had areal pocket with a real lace handkerchief sticking out of it; shecarried a fan in one hand and a scent bottle in the other; and sheactually possessed real six-buttoned gloves, which could be drawn onand off her little hands. Princess Pansy was breathless. She hadnever seen anything so beautiful before. 

"You must thank the Fairy Zigzag, " whispered the King and Queen. Thelittle Princess gave a sigh and looked up; it seemed so stupid to say"Thank you" for such a superb dolly as hers. After all, she had to saynothing whatever, for the Fairy Zigzag was no longer there; she hadgone away without a chariot, or a cloud of blue smoke, or even a bang!

"She has given nothing to her godson, " said the courtiers to oneanother; and they fully expected that Prince Perfection would fly intoa passion. However, Prince Perfection did not fly into a passion. Helooked at the little Princess as she laughed with joy over herbeautiful new doll; he thought just once of the steamboat that wouldhave gone by real steam, and the cannon that would have fired realgunpowder, and the balloon that would have taken him wherever he wishedto go; and then he remembered that he was ten years old and a Prince, and he flung back his head and began to whistle. 

"It doesn't matter, " he said, indifferently. "I have five hundred andfifty-four presents upstairs, and I don't care for dolls. "

Little Princess Pansy had never been so contented in the whole of herlife. The palace seemed a different place to her, now that itcontained the doll that had come from Fairyland; and she immediatelynamed her the Lady Emmelina, which was the most important name shecould remember on the spur of the moment. From that day the Princessand her doll were never separated. When the Prince and Princess wentfor a drive, the Lady Emmelina sat up stiffly between them; when theProfessors came to give the children their lessons, they found thatthey had to give them also to a little lady in a white silk frock withrows and rows of little frills, who stared at them solemnly with herlarge, impassive blue eyes, and never answered a word to any of theirquestions. Princess Pansy no longer wished to be ten years old; she nolonger wished for anything: she had everything she wanted in theunchangeable Lady Emmelina. For the Lady Emmelina never varied; thePrincess might have as many moods as she pleased, but the Lady Emmelinamerely smiled. For a constant companion, it would have been difficultto find any one more delightful than the Lady Emmelina. The PrincePerfection, however, took a very different view of the matter. Thanksto the Lady Emmelina, he had no one to play with. He had never beenleft so much to himself in his life, and in spite of his excellentopinion of himself he found himself extremely dull. He could no longerplay cricket, since the Princess was not there to bowl for him; it wasno fun to play at soldiers if the Princess was not there to be on thelosing side; he could not pretend to be the Royal Executioner if thePrincess was not there to be executed. To be sure, he had five hundredand fifty-four birthday presents; but what consolation could theyafford him when he was still without a steamboat that went by realsteam? The Lady Emmelina was the cause of all his misfortunes, and hecould not bear the Lady Emmelina. It was the Lady Emmelina who hadcome in the place of his real steamboat and his real cannon and hisreal balloon; it was the Lady Emmelina who had bewitched the littlePrincess, his sister, and robbed him of his best playfellow. And thePrince Perfection, whatever his faults were, was extremely fond of thelittle Princess. 

"If you will come and play cricket with me, I will let you have thefirst innings, " he said to her in despair one sunny afternoon. 

"It is far too rough a game for the Lady Emmelina, " answered PrincessPansy, shaking her head. 

"Then choose any game you like, only do come and play with me, " beggedthe Prince. He had never had to beg so hard for anything before, forthe little Princess had been his willing slave as long as he couldremember. 

"We cannot possibly come this afternoon, " answered Princess Pansy. "The Lady Emmelina is going to have a tea-party. I will ask her toinvite you if you like. "

The Prince, however, would have nothing to do with Lady Emmelina'stea-party. He went and sat by the pond instead, and thought how finehis steamboat would have looked if it had gone puffing across the waterwith real smoke coming out of the funnel. The mere thought of it madehim dislike the Lady Emmelina so much more than before that he made uphis mind to be revenged on her. Now, this was an extremely bold thingeven to think about, for she had come straight from Fairyland, and itis never safe to meddle with toys that have come straight fromFairyland. For all that, the Prince crept into the nursery that verysame night, when everyone in the palace was asleep, and prepared tohave his revenge on the waxen Lady Emmelina. There she sat in all hermagnificence on the nursery table, with both her gloves tightlybuttoned, and both her pointed toes turned upwards. The very sight ofher annoyed the jealous little Prince. He pattered across the floor onhis bare feet, and seized the Lady Emmelina by the arm. She greetedhim with a shrill and angry shriek. 

"How dare you? Let me go at once!" she screamed. The Prince was sosurprised that he dropped her on the table again. The Lady Emmelina, shaking all over with fury, began smoothing out her rows of crumpledfrills. 

"The idea of such a thing!" she gasped. "I declare, you have actuallypushed my crown on one side, and there is no looking-glass in the room. I have a great mind to report you to Fairyland. "

"You may do what you like, " answered the Prince, who was no coward andhad recovered from his astonishment. "You have bewitched the PrincessPansy, and I mean to hide you where no one will be able to find you. "

No sooner had he uttered these words than the Lady Emmelina turnedextremely pale. If he had tried to melt her at the fire or to cut offher head with the scissors, which was the kind of thing he usually didto his sister's dolls, she knew that she would have been safe; but hehad threatened to do the one thing that even the fairies who protectedher could not prevent him from doing. Her only hope was that he wouldhide her somewhere so that she should have time to escape beforesunrise; for after sunrise all her powers of moving or speaking woulddesert her and she would be nothing but a wax doll again. She need nothave been afraid, for the Prince did not mean to waste any more timethan he could help; and the next moment she was being carried swiftlyout of the room under his arm. Downstairs ran the little Prince, withhis hand over the Lady Emmelina's mouth to prevent her from screaming;and along the marble passages he hastened, until he came to a littledoor that led into the garden, and this he unlocked with the diamondkey that usually hung on the nail on the nursery wall. It is notpleasant to run without shoes along a gravel path, and PrincePerfection soon turned aside on to the lawn, and trotted over the grassin search of a hiding place for the Lady Emmelina. A large white stonelay in the middle of the lawn and gleamed in the moonlight. The Princedid not remember having seen it there before; indeed, it was not likelythat the royal gardeners would have allowed it to remain in such aplace for a moment. He stooped down and rolled it on one side, andfound that it covered a neat round hole lined with green moss. It wasthe very place for the Lady Emmelina; and he laid her gently in thevery middle of it. 

"I hope you will not be very cramped, " said Prince Perfection, politely. 

Lady Emmelina lay motionless on the mossy ground, and stared at themoon. No one would have thought that she was the same dolly who hadscreamed so angrily in the nursery ten minutes ago. 

"It is the nicest place I could have found in the whole garden, "continued Prince Perfection a little anxiously. After all, she was avery beautiful doll, and she had come straight from Fairyland. 

Still the Lady Emmelina stared intently at the moon, with her largeblue eyes. 

"I should never have thought of putting you anywhere if you had notbewitched the Princess, " declared Prince Perfection, feeling still moreuncomfortable. It was not easy to go on apologising to some one whopersisted in staring at the moon just as though no one was speaking toher. 

"Why did you bewitch the Princess Pansy?" cried the little Prince. "Ifyou will promise not to bewitch her any more, I will take you straightback to the nursery. "

But although he waited eagerly for her answer, not a word came from theLady Emmelina; and the Prince ceased to feel sorry for her, and gave upapologising. 

"It is your own fault, and I don't care a bit, " he said, impatiently;and he rolled the large white stone over the hole, until the doll fromFairyland was completely hidden. It is a wonder the fairies did notinterfere; but perhaps they had their reasons. 

There was no peace for any one in the palace when the Princessdiscovered that the Lady Emmelina was gone; and she discovered itbefore breakfast the very next morning. It was in vain that the Princeoffered to give her his five hundred and fifty-four birthday presentsif she would only stop crying: the Princess wanted her doll fromFairyland, and nothing but her doll from Fairyland would console her. Every one who loved the little Princess--and that was every one in thepalace--began looking for the Lady Emmelina; but no one succeeded infinding a trace of her. This, however, was by no means so surprisingas it sounds, for the large white stone was no longer in the middle ofthe lawn, and the neat round hole lined with green moss had disappearedjust as completely. The Prince was no less unhappy than his sister. Nothing was turning out as he had expected; for, instead of being readyto play with him again, the little Princess was far too miserable tothink of playing at all. He tried all day long to coax her into a goodhumour; but bedtime came, and he had not won a single smile from her. It was then that he made up his mind to go out into the world and findthe Lady Emmelina. So that night the Prince once more unhooked thediamond key from the nail on the nursery wall, and stole into thegarden in the moonlight. This time, however, he had not forgotten toput on his shoes and stockings and his second-best court suit, for whena prince goes out into the world he must at least do his best to looklike a prince. When he came to the lawn he stopped and stared withamazement; for there, in the moonlight, lay the large white stone underwhich he had hidden the doll from Fairyland. Overjoyed at reaching theend of his journey so soon, he ran forward and rolled the stone on oneside. There, to be sure, was the neat round hole lined with greenmoss; but in the middle of it sat a large grasshopper, and not a signof the Lady Emmelina was to be seen. 

The Prince was so disappointed that he had the greatest difficulty inremembering that he was ten years old, and that crying was thereforeout of the question. The grasshopper was winking at him as though heunderstood how he felt. 

"I guessed you would come, " he said, in a kind voice. "I just waitedon purpose. "

"Where has she gone?" asked Prince Perfection, dolefully. 

"Ask me something easier than that, " answered the grasshopper. "Ididn't see her go. I happened to look in as I was passing; and when Ifound she was gone I thought I'd just wait and tell you she was gone, don't you see?"

"What is the good of waiting to tell me something I could have foundout for myself?" asked Prince Perfection. "If you can't help me tofind her, you might just as well not be there. "

"I didn't say I couldn't help you to find her, " said the grasshopper, looking hurt; "though if you are going to be cross about it I don'tknow that I will. "

"Oh, " cried Prince Perfection, "I will never be cross again, if youwill help me to find the Lady Emmelina. "

"Then why did you hide her in the first place?" asked the grasshopper. The Prince looked foolish. 

"Because I had no one to play with, " he said. 

"If you do find her, " continued the grasshopper, "do you think thePrincess will play with you again?"

"Oh, no, " sighed the Prince. "She will only want to play with the LadyEmmelina. "

"Then don't try to find the Lady Emmelina, " said the grasshopper, promptly. 

"I must, " said Prince Perfection. "Anything is better than seeing thePrincess cry. I took her doll away, you see, and it is my fault thatPansy is so unhappy. I don't mean to go home again until I have foundthe Lady Emmelina. "

"Right you are, " said the grasshopper. "You're the man for me. I'llhelp you as far as I can, but you must come down here first; I can't goon shouting like this. "

"Down there?" said the Prince. "The hole is much too small. "

"Nonsense! Come and try, " said the grasshopper, and indeed, before hetried at all, the Prince found himself inside the neat round hole, withthe mossy walls reaching far above his head, and the grasshoppershaking hands with him. 

"Feel all right?" asked the grasshopper. "Sit down and get yourbreath. These sudden changes are apt to be exhausting if you are notused to them. "

"Are you used to them?" asked the Prince, when he had recovered enoughbreath to speak. 

"Dear me, yes!" said the grasshopper with a chuckle. "When I get up inthe morning I never know how many changes I may not have to go throughbefore the day is over. Don't think I am complaining though, for ofcourse it is part of my profession. "

"What is your profession?" asked the Prince. 

"Chief Spy in Particular to the Fairy Queen, " answered the grasshopper. "It's very hard work, I can tell you; some days I haven't a moment tomyself. Of course, I find out a great deal that nobody else knows, which is always amusing. Yesterday, for instance, if I hadn't been acockchafer, a doll's teapot, a garden seat, a rose tree and a nurserytable, I shouldn't know as much as I do about you and the LadyEmmelina. "

"Then please tell me what I must do in order to find the LadyEmmelina, " begged the Prince. 

"By all means, " said the grasshopper, cheerfully. "Go straight onwithout turning to the right or the left; and whenever some one greetsyou, ask him politely to give you what he is thinking about, and thenyou will be able to find the Lady Emmelina. "

It seemed rather a roundabout way of finding anything; but, as thegrasshopper disappeared directly he had finished speaking, there wasnothing to do but to follow his advice. The first part was easyenough, for just in front of him the Prince noticed a little door inthe green mossy wall, which he was quite sure had not been therebefore; and through this he straightway walked. He immediately foundhimself in a blaze of sunshine on the sea-shore, with green wavesstretching before him as far as he could see, and nothing on eitherside of him except the flat stony beach. "It's all very well to tellany one to go straight on, but how am I to get across the sea?" thoughtthe Prince. He had never been afraid of anything in his life, however, so he ran down the beach and put one foot into the white foam at theedge. 

"Good-day to you!" said a voice. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"I am Prince Perfection, and I want what you are thinking about, "answered the Prince, boldly, although he could not see who was speaking. 

"That is a strange thing to want, " said the voice; "for I was justthinking about a little steamboat that would go by real steam; and howyou can possibly want such a thing as that is more than I canunderstand. "

At that moment there was a faint puffing sound in the distance, whichcame nearer and nearer; and presently over the waves rode a mostperfect little steamboat, with real smoke coming out of the funnel. Itwas just large enough for the Prince, and he stepped on board directlyit came near enough, and put his hand on the little brass wheel. 

"Thank you very much, " he said as loudly as he could, in the hope thatthe owner of the mysterious voice would hear him. Nobody answered him;but he wondered why an old crab, who was shuffling along the beach, chose that particular moment to wink at him. 

Certainly, no one has ever reached the shore on the opposite side ofthe sea so quickly as Prince Perfection in his real steamboat. It wasa pleasure to hear it puff as it cut through the big green waves; andhe stood like a real captain with his hand on the little brass wheel, and steered it right into a bay that seemed waiting on purpose for it. It was very sad that it should disappear directly he stepped out of it;but as it had come from nowhere at all because he wanted it, he couldnot complain because it went back to nowhere at all when he had donewith it. So he sighed twice, and then walked straight ahead as before, up the beach and over a flat grassy plain, covered with yellow poppiesand gorse bushes and purple heather. Nothing could have been easierthan this; and Prince Perfection had not the slightest wish to turn tothe right or the left, until he came suddenly upon a thick clump ofgorse bushes which lay in the very middle of his path. He made twoattempts to clamber over it; but, each time, he was caught in the gorsebushes and was scratched all over; and even if one is ten years old anda prince, it is hard to bear being scratched all over by a gorse bush. Prince Perfection began to wonder if it would be very wrong to followthe path to the right until he should come to an opening, but before hehad time to decide such a difficult question a shrill voice broke thesilence once more. 

"Good-day to you, " it said. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"I am Prince Perfection, and I want what you are thinking about, "answered the Prince, boldly. 

"How ridiculous!" laughed the voice. "Why, I am thinking about acannon, a real cannon that will fire real gunpowder. Surely, you canwant nothing so useless as that?"

"Indeed, I do, " said the Prince; and there stood the most perfectlittle real cannon, loaded with real shot, and in his hand was alighted match ready to fire it with. He lost no time in pointing itstraight at the clump of furze bushes, and the real gunpowder made aflash and a splutter, and the shot went right into the middle of theyellow gorse and blew it all away so completely that not a trace of itwas left, except one small bush that the Prince had no difficulty injumping over. The cannon went back to nowhere at all, just as thesteamboat had done. 

"Thank you very much, " said the Prince Perfection as loudly as hecould; and again no one answered him. He was much surprised, however, when he looked back and found that the gorse bush had disappeared assoon as he had jumped over it. After that he walked on for a long way;and just as he was beginning to feel tired, and the sun was beginningto think about setting, he tumbled right up against a big iceberg. Itis not usual for icebergs to drop down suddenly in the middle of theroad, but that is what this particular iceberg did, and that is why thePrince tumbled against it. 

"Dear me, " sighed Prince Perfection, for even a prince's legs are notvery long when he is only ten years old, and it is not pleasant to haveto climb an iceberg at the end of a long walk. There was no help forit, however, for there was the iceberg waiting to be climbed; so thelittle Prince went straight at it as bravely as he could. Any one whois accustomed to climbing icebergs will at once know how difficultPrince Perfection found it; and he tried seven times without being ableto get up a single yard of it. 

"Good-day to you, " said a voice, which sounded as though it came fromthe very middle of the iceberg. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"I am so glad you have come!" exclaimed the Prince; although, for thatmatter, no one had come at all. "I am Prince Perfection, and I wantwhat you are thinking about. "

"There certainly is no accounting for tastes, " observed the voice. "Iwas just thinking about a real balloon that would take me wherever Iwanted to go; and what use that would be to you I cannot imagine. "

The Prince did not trouble to explain what use it would be to him, forat that very instant the balloon floated down towards him, and hestepped into it as a matter of course. It was far more beautiful thananything he had ever been able to imagine, however; and the movement ofit was so delicious that he fell sound asleep the moment it began tocarry him upwards; and he could not keep awake long enough even tothank the sender of it. When he awoke, he was lying on the grass undera silver birch tree, and in front of him was a red brick fort withbattlements and a drawbridge. It was so like the fort in which he keptall his tin soldiers in the nursery at home that he was not at allsurprised when a sentinel without a head came out in answer to hisknock. He remembered melting off the head of that particular tinsoldier only two days before, and he was much relieved when he showedno signs of recognising him. As the poor tin fellow had no head, thiswas hardly to be wondered at. 

"Make haste, and let down the drawbridge, " said the Prince, bangingaway at the wooden gate with his fists; "I want to see if the LadyEmmelina is inside. "

He thought he could do what he liked with his own property, but thesoldier without a head was evidently of another opinion. He did notattempt to let down the drawbridge, and he answered the Prince in arhyme which he seemed to have made up for the occasion:

 "What a ridiculous clatter Over _such_ a small matter! I was peacefully napping When you came with your tapping; You are vastly mistaken If you think I've forsaken My official position Because no physician Could give me a cranium Like a pot of geranium. And these are my orders-- No one passes these borders Unless he is able, In song, rhyme, or fable, The real, true intention Of his coming to mention!"

To be sure, it was not much of a rhyme, but it was not bad for asoldier who had no head. When he had finished it he went away again, and the Prince sat down disconsolately under the silver birch tree. Hefelt more convinced than before that the Lady Emmelina was inside thefort; but although he thought as much as most people would over anordinary arithmetic lesson, he could not think of a single rhyme. 

"Good-day to you, " said a voice that seemed to come from the very topof the birch tree. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"I am Prince Perfection, and I want what you are thinking about, "answered the Prince, although he hardly hoped, this time, that he wouldget what he wanted. 

"Do you really mean it?" remarked the voice. "I was just composing asong about a charming little lady in a white silk frock, who livesbehind that drawbridge over there. It is not very likely you can wantthat!"

"Hurrah!" shouted the little Prince, standing on his head for joy. "Then, it is the Lady Emmelina!"

"The fact is, " continued the voice, without noticing the interruption, "I always make poetry when there is nothing else to do. So does thetin soldier. He can't help it, poor fellow, because he has lost hishead, you see. If you have lost your head you cannot be expected tomake anything except poetry. "

"Have you lost your head, too, may I ask?" said the Prince, as politelyas he could put such an awkward question. 

"For the time being I have no head to lose, " answered the voice. "Thatis how I happened to be inventing a song just as you came by. Are yousure there is nothing else you would like better? A nightmare, forinstance, or a thunder-storm?"

The Prince was sure he would like nothing better; and the voice in thebirch tree sang him the following song, very softly:

 "Here I've come as I was bidden To seek the dolly you have hidden-- The dolly with the yellow hair, With cheeks so pink and eyes so fair, With hands that move and feet that stand-- The doll that came from Fairyland. 

 "Do you pretend you've never seen her, The dainty Lady Emmelina? I pray you let the drawbridge down, I'm ten years old and I can frown! I mean to find her--here's my hand! I want the doll from Fairyland. 

 "The song I'm singing--let me mention-- Is not a song of my invention; It comes like steamboats sometimes do, Like real balloons and cannons too; It comes like all that's real and grand, All the way from Fairyland!"

"Why, " said Prince Perfection, "one would almost think you had made upthe song on purpose for me!"

What the birch tree thought about it has never been known, for when thelittle Prince looked up again it had gone away to nowhere at all. 

The soldier without a head let the drawbridge down, when he heard thesong that had come all the way from Fairyland. The Prince did not stopto thank him, but hastened into the fort and looked round anxiously forthe Lady Emmelina. He had very little difficulty in finding her, however, for she occupied nearly the whole of the ground floor. Shewas sitting up against the wall, supported on one side by an ambulancewaggon, and on the other by a camp-fire which, strange to say, had noteven singed her elegant fan, although it burned with the brightest ofred and yellow flames. 

"There you are! Will you come home with me?" said the Prince, rathernervously; for he was not much bigger than she was, now, and he was alittle afraid lest she should have unpleasant recollections of the neatround hole lined with green moss. To his relief, she seemed quite gladto see him. 

"To be sure I will, " said the Lady Emmelina. "I should not be fit tobe seen if I stayed much longer in this dusty old place!"

So they went home together, and of course that did not take them long, for the way home is always the shortest way in the world. To beginwith, the balloon was waiting for them as they came out of the fort;and it carried them all the way to the sea-shore before they had timeto notice that they were in a balloon at all. When they reached thesea-shore they found that the steamboat was waiting for them, too; andthe steamboat landed them on the opposite side of the sea even beforethey knew that they had stepped out of the balloon; and after that thePrince never knew what did happen, for the next thing he noticed wasthat he had grown to his proper size again, and was standing once morein the royal nursery with the Lady Emmelina tucked under his arm. There at the table in the middle of the room sat the little PrincessPansy, and in front of her was a large bowl of bread and milk. 

"Oh! Oh! You have come back at last!" cried the Princess, jumpingdown from her chair. "I am so glad, I am so glad!"

"I thought you would be glad to see her again, " said Prince Perfection, and he handed her the doll from Fairyland. 

"I didn't mean _that_!" exclaimed the little Princess. And then, sadas it is to relate, they both forgot all about the Lady Emmelina; andthe next minute, she found herself lying face downwards on the floor, while the Prince and Princess hugged each other. And it was of no usefor the royal nurses to talk about bread and milk, for not a thingwould the two children touch until they had talked as much as theywanted. 

"You will not cry any more, now that you have the Lady Emmelina to playwith, will you?" said Prince Perfection, who, strange to say, did notfeel in the least bit jealous of the Lady Emmelina as long as she layface downwards on the floor. 

"I don't think I want to play with the Lady Emmelina much, " answeredPrincess Pansy. "I think I would rather play with you. It has been sodull while you have been away. " For, although the Prince did not knowit, he had been away for a whole month. 

"I am delighted to hear it, " cried the little Prince. "Let us play atRoyal Executioner, and _you_ shall be executioner. "

"Oh, no, " said the little Princess. "I would _much_ sooner beexecuted. "

As they disputed the point politely, the grasshopper suddenly jumped inat the window and nodded at them. 

"Good-day to you, " he said. "I was just thinking at that moment abouta steamboat and a cannon and a real balloon. Strange, wasn't it?"

Immediately the Prince found a steamboat in his right hand and a cannonin his left; while outside the window floated a charming balloon, justlarge enough for himself and Princess Pansy. 

"Wait a minute, " cried the Prince, as the grasshopper jumped on to thewindow-sill again. "I want to tell you all about--"

"No need to do that, " chuckled the grasshopper. "You don't supposeI've been a crab and a gorse bush and an iceberg and a silver birchtree for nothing, do you?"

That time he really hopped away to nowhere at all, and the childrenhave never seen him since. This does not matter in the least, however, for they are not likely to want his help again; the Lady Emmelina isalways kept in her proper place now, and the Princess is no longerbewitched by her. It is only reasonable to suppose that the FairyZigzag had something to do with the change in the Lady Emmelina, butthe Fairy Zigzag says that she never troubled herself about it at all. However that may be, the children have never had an unhappy momentsince Prince Perfection went out into the world to find the doll thatcame straight from Fairyland. 

[Illustration: "WILL YOU COME AND PLAY WITH ME, LITTLE WISDOM?"]

THOSE WYMPS AGAIN

There was great consternation in Fairyland, for it was suddenlydiscovered that the sun had been shining crookedly all the morning. Itwas consequently two hours later than anybody thought it was; and this, as it happened, was a very serious matter, for all the fairies had beeninvited to the christening of the little Prince Charming, and it wouldnever do for them to arrive late. Of course, the wymps were at thebottom of it and the sun had no idea that he was not shining quite inhis usual way; but no one in Fairyland had time to trouble about that, and, without waiting even for the butterflies to be harnessed, awayflew all the fairies in a regular scurry. Now, even fairies are apt todo stupid things sometimes, especially when they are flustered and thewymps have been at work; so there may be some excuse for what they didon that particular morning. The fact is, they were so anxious toarrive in time to give their christening presents to the royal baby, that when they met a christening party coming along the road they neverstopped to see whether it was the right christening party or not, butjust flew down and presented their gifts to the baby, one afteranother, as fast as they could speak. 

"I give you beauty, " said one. "And I, thoughtfulness, " said another. "And I, wisdom, " said a third. "And I, patience, " said a fourth. "AndI, contentment, " said a fifth; and so on, until all the gifts ofFairyland had been given to the baby in the nurse's arms. Then, whenthey had quite finished speaking, the poor, flurried little fairiesdiscovered that the baby was the daughter of a poor peasant and hiswife, while Prince Charming lived in quite another country, a very longway off. It was a great calamity, no doubt, but nothing could be done, for the fairies had no more gifts left; so they returned very sadly toFairyland, and hoped that the wymps would not find it out. Of course, the wymps did find it out, for they had arranged the whole thing fromthe very beginning. Still, the wymps are not nearly so bad as theypretend to be; and when they had finished laughing over their joke theydid their best to make things right again by going in large numbers toPrince Charming's christening. They behaved very noisily when they gotthere; and they ate every bit of the christening cake and ended ingiving the baby Prince the only nice gift the wymps have the power togive; and that is the nicest gift in the world, for it is calledLaughter. To be sure, there had never been such a topsy-turveychristening party before; but all the guests enjoyed it thoroughly, andthat cannot be said of all the parties to which the fairies areinvited. The Fairy Queen could not help smiling when she heard whathappened. "Never mind!" she said. "Some day, Prince Charming shallhave all the gifts of Fairyland, too. Meanwhile, he has something farbetter than we should have given him. "

The peasant's daughter grew up as beautiful and as wise as all thegifts of Fairyland could make her. Everything she did was as well doneas the cleverest people in the world, all put together, could have doneit; and everything she said was as wise as the contents of all thebooks in the King's library. When she cooked the Sunday dinner, shemade it taste like a banquet of twenty courses; she had only to look atthe flowers in the garden, and they bloomed as luxuriantly as thoughthey had been brought straight from Fairyland. She helped all thevillage people when they were in a difficulty, for her advice was thevery best that could be had; and they soon forgot that she was only achild, and they called her "Little Wisdom" instead of the ordinary nameby which she had been christened. She loved to sit by herself in thecherry orchard, and she wondered how the other children could laugh andplay when there was so much thinking to be done. She never laughed norplayed herself, for the fairies had been so anxious to make her wiseand beautiful, that they had not thought of giving her anything soordinary as happiness. Every one envied her parents for having such awonderful daughter; but for all that the peasant and his wife were notsatisfied. 

"It is a great pity, " grumbled her father, "that all the gifts ofFairyland should have been wasted on a girl. If the child had been aboy, now, she would have made some stir in the world. "

"For my part, " sighed her mother, "I would gladly see her lose all thegifts of Fairyland if she would only laugh and cry like other children. "

In the meantime the little Prince Charming was growing up without thehelp of a single gift from Fairyland. Never had the palace containedsuch an idle, careless little Prince; he laughed at everything thathappened, morning, noon, and night; he played tricks on all hisProfessors instead of learning his lessons, and he could not keep gravelong enough even to say the alphabet. He was so determined to look onthe bright side of everything, that when people were angry with him hethought it was only their way of being amusing; and when they tried topunish him, he found it such a good joke that they very soon gave upthe attempt. The people, one and all, loved the merry little Princewho laughed at life from his royal nursery and refused to grow anyolder; but the King viewed the matter in quite another light. 

"What will become of the country, " said his Majesty, "if the boy doesnot learn to be serious?"

"He is so happy, " said the Queen, apologetically. "Is not that enough?"

The King evidently thought it was not nearly enough, for he despatcheda page at once to fetch Prince Charming from the nursery. The Princecame whistling into the room, with his hands in his pockets, which wasnot a princely way of behaving, to begin with. 

"You are eleven years old, " began the King, solemnly. 

"Everybody tells me that, " said the Prince, smiling gaily. He supposedgrown-up people could not help saying the same thing so often; at allevents he did not mean to let it trouble him. 

"It is time you learned to be serious, " continued the King, still moresolemnly. 

"To be serious? What is that? Is it a new game?" asked PrinceCharming, eagerly. 

"Hush!" whispered the Queen, anxiously. "It is what every one has tobe, --the Prime Minister, and the Head Cook, and everybody. "

"Surely, " laughed the little Prince, "if so many people are occupied inbeing serious there is no need for me to bother about it!"

"You cannot even read, " said the King, frowning. 

"No; but my Professor can, " said Prince Charming. "He can read thelongest words in the dictionary without taking breath. When any one inthe kingdom can read so beautifully as that, it would surely beimpolite to try to imitate him!"

"The poorest children in the kingdom know far more than you do, " saidthe King, who was rapidly losing patience. 

"Then there are plenty of people to tell me everything I want to know, "smiled the Prince. "What is the use of knowing just as much aseverybody else? There would be nothing left to talk about. "

The King looked at the Queen in despair. 

"It is not the boy's fault, " said the Queen soothingly; "you see, thefairies did not come to his christening. "

"And the wymps did, " sighed the King. "I suppose that is why we have astupid son without an idea in his head. "

Prince Charming took off his crown and felt his head very carefully. 

"What is an idea?" he asked. "And why have I no idea in my head? Haveyou got one in your head, father?"

The King was so angry at being asked whether he had an idea in hishead, that he sent Prince Charming straight back to the nursery. However, as that was where the Prince liked best to be, he laughed morethan ever and was not in the least bit ashamed of himself. 

Now, Prince Charming was known to be so light-hearted and so careless, that all the flowers and all the animals told him their secrets; for itis always safe to tell a secret to some one who is not taken seriouslyby other people. And the Prince, for his part, delighted in talking tothe flowers and the animals, because they never reminded him that hewas eleven years old, nor told him to stop laughing as all the otherpeople did, the people who were too clever to worry their heads aboutflowers and animals at all. So the Prince soon jumped out of thenursery window into his own little garden, where his name was writtenseveral times in mustard and cress, and where the tiger lilies foughtwith the scarlet poppies because they had been planted one on the topof the other, and where the guinea-pigs and the rabbits and the whitemice ran wild and did what they liked. He took a very largewatering-can and watered himself and a very small rose tree for thethird time since sunrise, and then sat down and looked at the mould onhis fingers. 

"How funny everything is, " said Prince Charming, laughing heartily. "Ihave done nothing but water my rose tree, and yet all my fingers arecovered with mould! Now, the Prime Minister might water fifty rosetrees and he would never get a speck of mould even on his shoe buckles. I suppose it is because the Prime Minister has learnt to be serious. Oh dear! I do wish I had an idea in my head!"

"What are you saying?" asked the rose tree, shaking off the effects ofthe Prince's overwhelming attentions. "Why do you wish to have an ideain your head?"

"Just to see what it would feel like, " answered the Prince. "I don'teven know what an idea is. Do you?"

"An idea, " replied the rose tree in a superior tone, "is what somebodyremembers to have heard somebody else say. "

"I shall never have an idea, then, " said Prince Charming; "for I neverremember what anybody says. Is there no other way of getting an idea?"

"To be sure there is, " answered the rose tree; "but very few peopleknow of it. You can go to the Red Rock Goblin, if you like, and get awhole new idea for yourself. He has quantities of ideas, piled up inheaps; but very few people succeed in getting one. "

"I shall never succeed, then, " said the Prince; "for I am the stupidestboy in the world. "

"That doesn't matter, " said the rose tree. "The Red Rock Goblin doesnot care much about clever people, I fancy. Go and try. "

"I think I will, " said the Prince. "It is sure to be amusing, at allevents. What must I do to get there?"

"It is of no use to do anything, " answered the rose tree. "If you arethe right sort of boy you will find yourself there, that's all. "

Evidently, Prince Charming was the right sort of boy; for as he lookedat the rose tree, it grew larger and larger, and redder and redder, until it was no longer a rose tree at all, but just a large, square, red rock. The little Prince was so amused at the transformation thathe burst out laughing; and when he looked round and found that thegarden and the palace had disappeared too, and that he was standing inthe middle of nothing at all, he laughed even more than before at theabsurdity of it all. 

"Hullo!" said a voice from inside the square red rock. "What are youlaughing at?"

"I am laughing at everything, " said the little Prince. "I always laughat everything; but that may be because I haven't an idea in my head. "

"I am glad to hear that, " said the voice. "Most of the people who comehere have so many ideas of their own that I take good care not to letthem steal one of mine. However, step inside, and you shall have oneof my very best ideas. "

The Prince could hardly be said to have accepted this invitation, forhe had no time to move before he found himself transported to theinterior of the rock; and there he stood in the middle of a large, square room, that hung dimly lighted by a red lantern from the roof. The Red Rock Goblin sat facing him, at a little round table. He had abushy red beard that trailed on the ground, and in his mouth was a longpipe from which rings of red smoke slowly curled up towards the roof. 

"Do you feel afraid?" asked the Goblin, blowing a particularly longthin line of red smoke into the air, which curled round and round thelittle Prince until he could hardly breathe. He could still laugh, however; and directly he did that, the red smoke cleared away again andraced up to the roof, as though it were frightened at the very sound ofthe Prince's laugh. 

"I'm not at all afraid, thank you, " said Prince Charming. "MyProfessor says that I am far too stupid to understand the meaning offear. Besides, what is there to be afraid of?"

The Red Rock Goblin waved his long, red, bony hand towards the shelvesthat covered the four walls. 

"Those shelves are packed with new ideas, " he said. "Most people areafraid of new ideas. "

"How stupid of them!" said the Prince, beginning to whistle. "A newidea must be more amusing to play with than an old one, I should think!"

"Of course it is, " answered the Goblin. "That is what new ideas arefor. However, as you don't seem afraid, I will find you a new idea toplay with. "

He put his pipe on the table, and fetched a pair of steps, and climbedup to the highest shelf of all. When he came down again, he held asmall bottle in his hand, which he uncorked; and from this he pouredsomething into a red metal bowl on the table. Immediately a delightfulsmell of pine woods and strawberry jam and sea-air and hot cakes andchrysanthemums filled the air; and the Prince drank it in and laughedwith pleasure. 

"Ah!" he cried suddenly, putting his hand to his head, as the contentsof the bottle fizzed and bubbled in the red metal bowl and the smell ofpine woods and all the other things grew stronger. "So it is allbecause the sun shone crookedly on my christening day!"

"Just so, " answered the Red Rock Goblin, looking intently into the redmetal bowl. "That is why all the gifts of Fairyland, which ought tohave been yours, were given to Little Wisdom. Now, if you were to gostraight off and find Little Wisdom--"

"That's not a bad idea!" shouted the Prince. 

"Of course it isn't, " snapped the Goblin, drawing himself upindignantly. "It is a very good idea; one of the best I have evermade. If you want a _bad_ idea, you had better go somewhere else forit. "

There was nothing for it but to apologise, and this the Prince did aspolitely as he could, saying that if he had been a little moreaccustomed to receiving ideas he would have known better how to behaveto this one. He then asked the Goblin to tell him the way to LittleWisdom's home, but the Goblin answered him just as the rose tree haddone. 

"There isn't a way, " he said. "If you are the right sort of boy youwill find yourself there, that's all. "

There was again no doubt whatever that Prince Charming was the rightsort of boy, for the walls of the square red rock fell down as flat asthe walls of a card house, and he found himself walking in a beautifulcherry orchard, with bright green grass under his feet and showers ofwhite blossoms falling softly from above, with a blue and grey skyoverhead, and the sound of bees in the air. Under the largest cherrytree sat a solemn little girl in a stiff white frock, with a large redsunshade spread over her. The Prince looked at her doubtfully. If shehad been an ordinary little girl in a pinafore, with a laugh in hervoice, he would have asked her to play with him at once; but it wasimpossible to be as friendly as that with a little girl in a stiffwhite frock. What he finally did was what he always did when he was ina difficulty--he began to laugh. The little girl only stared at himmore solemnly than before; and for the first time in his life PrinceCharming felt that laughing was a little out of place. 

"Will you come and play with me, Little Wisdom?" he said, taking offhis crown and making her his best court bow. 

"I never play, " answered the little girl, who possessed all the giftsof Fairyland. 

"That is a pity, " observed the Prince, "for it is the only thing worthdoing. What do you do all day if you don't play?"

"I think, " answered Little Wisdom, gravely. "I think about everythingin the world; and when I have come to the end I begin all over again. "

"How queer!" said the Prince. "I have never thought about anything inmy whole life. It is much better to laugh. "

"Is it?" asked Little Wisdom, and she smoothed out the folds of herstiff white frock thoughtfully. After thinking all day long for elevenyears it seemed as though it might make a change to learn to laugh. 

"Do you know, " continued the Prince, "that you have all the gifts ofFairyland? That is why I am the stupidest boy in the world. "

"I know, " said Little Wisdom without seeming at all surprised, whichwas, of course, only natural, for when one knows everything in theworld there is nothing left to be surprised at. 

"If the sun had shone straight on my christening day, " said PrinceCharming, "I should have had all the gifts of Fairyland instead of you. "

"I know, " said Little Wisdom again. It seemed to her very unnecessaryto talk so much about things that she had always known without beingtold. 

"And if I had all the gifts of Fairyland instead of you, I should havelearnt to be serious, " continued Prince Charming. 

"Perhaps you would, " said Little Wisdom. She was beginning to wonderif all stupid boys were as nice as this little Prince, who seemed totake it for granted that she wanted to go on talking to him. 

"Of course, " continued Prince Charming, "I should not think ofdepriving you of any of the gifts from Fairyland; but if you will comeback to the palace with me and teach me how to be serious I will giveyou the wymps' gift in exchange. It is not a very nice present, perhaps, " he added humbly, "because it makes everybody complain of youso much; but it is the only gift I have to offer you. "

"And what is the wymps' gift?" asked Little Wisdom. She was quiteinterested now, for here at last was something that she did not know. The Prince answered her with a peal of laughter; and Little Wisdombegan to feel decidedly odd. First of all, she felt a curious ticklingsomewhere at the back of her head, and then a widening out of thethinking lines on her forehead, and then a twitching sensation roundthe corners of her mouth, and then--but it is not difficult to guesswhat happened next. It takes all the fairies in Fairyland to make alittle girl wise when she is only eleven years old; but even a stupidlittle Prince without an idea in his head can teach her to laugh!

Now, when the peasant and his wife heard their daughter laughing in thecherry orchard, they came hurrying out to see what could be the causeof such a wonderful event. All the people in the village came runningtoo--men and women, boys and girls, one on the top of the other; andthey stood round in a ring and stared, while the merry little Princeand the wise little girl in the stiff white frock laughed at nothing atall. 

"What is the meaning of it all?" asked the good people. "Is it thefairies' doing?"

"Nothing of the sort, " answered the Prince, again taking off his crownand making them all his best court bow. "It is only because the sunshone crookedly on my christening day. That is why I have come tofetch Little Wisdom. I really hope you have no objection?"

He said this so very charmingly that everybody felt it would be mostimpolite to object; besides, Little Wisdom had taken the Prince's handand seemed to have settled the question already. As for her parents, they were overjoyed at the idea. 

"After all, " said her father, "the child will make some stir in theworld. " His wife laughed and cried at the same moment. 

"We shall lose Little Wisdom, " she said; "but, at least, she will learnto be like other children. "

Prince Charming was as usual in a great hurry, for he could neverendure to wait for anything except his lessons; so he turned to thenearest cherry tree and asked it to tell him the way home. 

"If you don't know the way home without being told, you are not at allthe right sort of boy, " answered the cherry tree. Of course, as weknow already, Prince Charming was the right sort of boy; and the verynext minute he marched once more into the royal palace, and by his sidetripped a sedate little girl in a stiff white frock. 

"I have found Little Wisdom, " he announced to his parents and the courtin general, as they sat over their afternoon tea. "She is going tostay here and play with me for ever and ever. Isn't it fun?"

"The boy will never be serious, " sighed the King, although he lookedwith approval at the solemn face of the little girl in the stiff whitefrock. 

"I will teach him to be serious, " said Little Wisdom, "because he hasalready taught me how to laugh. "

But she never did teach him to be serious, for Prince Charming didnothing but laugh to the end of his days. This did not, however, matter quite so much as might be supposed, for when one plays all daylong with some one who knows everything there is to know, one need notbe so very wise oneself. And when the time came for Prince Charming torule the country, the Queen who sat beside him on the throne was a wiseand beautiful maiden in a stiff white frock. So the Prince laughed asmuch as before, and the country was governed with all the wisdom of thefairies. 

[Transcriber's note: the HTML version of this ebook contains scans ofthe publisher's 10-page catalogue of children's books. ]