LITMIR.BIZ

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sobbing sound soughing through the silence and they knew that they were saved. Also that the Zankiwank was weeping. So with a strong effort Maude managed to call out consolingly, "Zankiwanky, dear! don't cry, come and let me comfort you."

      But the Zankiwank refused to be comforted. However, he came forward muttering an incantation of some sort, and Maude and Willie finding themselves free, rushed forward and greeted him.

      "Hush, my dears, the Nargalnannacus is afloat on the wild, wild main. We must be careful and depart, or he will turn us into something unpleasant – the last century or may be the next, as it is close at hand, and inexpensive. Follow me to the ship that is waiting in the Bay Window, and we will go and get some Floranges."

      Carefully Maudie and Willie followed the Zankiwank, each holding on by the tails of his coat, glad enough to go anywhere out of the Blackness of the Dark.

      Soon they found themselves in Window Bay, and climbing up the sides of a mighty ship with five funnels and a red-haired captain.

      "Quick," called the Captain, "the Nargalnannacus is on the lee scuppers just off the jibboom brace. Make all sail for the Straights of Ballambangjan, and mind the garden gate."

      Then the Zankiwank became the man at the wheel, and the vessel scudded before the wind as the two children went off into a trance.

      Part II

       The Fairies' Feather and

      Flower Land

      Faëry elves,

      Whose midnight revels, by a forest side

      Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,

      Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon

      Sits arbitress.

Milton.

      O then I see Queen Mab hath been with you:

      She is the fairies' midwife; and she comes

      In shape no bigger than an agate-stone

      On the fore-finger of an alderman,

      Drawn with a train of little atomies,

      Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep.

Shakespeare.

      The Fairies' Feather and

      Flower Land

      How long Maude and Willie had been rocking in the cradle of the deep they could not tell, nor how long it took them to steam through the Straits of Ballambangjan, for everything was exceptionally bleak and blank to them. By the way, if you cannot find the Straits of Ballambangjan in your Geography or on the Map, you should consult the first sailor you meet, and he will give you as much information on the subject as any boy or girl need require.

      Both children experienced that curious sensation of feeling asleep while they were wide awake, and feeling wide awake when they imagined themselves to be asleep, just as one does feel sometimes in the early morning, when the sun is beginning to peep through the blinds, and the starlings are chattering, and the sparrows are tweeting under the eaves, outside the window.

      They were no longer on the vessel that had borne them away from Fableland, and the approach of the Nargalnannacus, a fearsome creature whom nobody has yet seen, although most of us may not have heard about him.

      The obliging Zankiwank was with them, and when they looked round they found themselves in a square field festooned with the misty curtains of the Elfin Dawn.

      "Of course," said the Zankiwank, "this is Midsummer Day, and very soon it will be Midsummer Night, and you will see some wonders that will outwonder all the wonders that wonderful people have ever wondered both before and afterwards. Listen to the Flower-Fairies – not the garden flowers, but the wild-flowers; they will sing you a song, while I beat time – not that there is any real need to beat Time, because he is a most respectable person, though he always contrives to beat us."

      Both children would have liked to argue out this speech of the Zankiwank because it puzzled them, and they felt it would not parse properly. However, as just at that moment the Elfin Orchestra appeared, they sat on the grass and listened: —

      This is the Elfin Dawn,

      When ev'ry Fay and Faun,

      Trips o'er the earth with joy and mirth,

      And Pleasure takes the maun.

      Night's noon stars coyly peep,

      O'er dale and dene and deep,

      And Fairies fair float through the air,

      Love's festival to keep.

      We dance and sing in the Welkin Ring,

      While Heather Bells go Ding-dong-ding!

      To greet the Elfin Dawn.

      The Flower-fairies spread each wing,

      And trip about with mincing ging,

      Upon the magic lawn.

      And so we frisk and play,

      Like mortals, in the day;

      From acorn cup we all wake up

      Titania to obey.

      We never, never die,

      And this the reason why,

      Of Fancy's art we are the part

      That lives eternalie.

      We dance and sing in the Welkin Ring,

      While Heather Bells go Ding-dong-ding!

      To greet the Elfin Dawn.

      The Flower-fairies spread each wing,

      And trip about with mincing ging,

      Upon the magic lawn.

      "They keep very good time, don't they?" said the Zankiwank to the children, who were completely entranced with pleasure and surprise.

      "Lovely, lovely," was all they could say.

      Every wild flower they could think of, and every bird of the air, was to be seen in this beautiful place with the purling stream running down the centre, crossed by innumerable rustic bridges, while far away they could see a fountain ever sending upward its cooling sprays of crystal water.

      "I think I shall spend my honeymoon here," said the Zankiwank. "I have already bought a honeycomb for my bride. I am so impatient to have her by my side that I have dispatched the Jackarandajam and Mr Swinglebinks in a four-wheeled cab to fetch her. When the Bletherwitch arrives I will introduce you, and you shall both be bridesmaids!"

      "But I can't be a bridesmaid, you know," corrected Willie.

      "Oh yes, you can. You can be anything here you like. You only have to eat some Fern seeds and you become invisible, and nobody would know you. It is so simple, and saves a lot of argument. And you should never argue about anything unless you know nothing about it, then you are sure to win."

      "But," interrupted Maude, "how can you know nothing about anything?"

      "'Tis the easiest thing out of the world," said the Zankiwank. "What is nothing?"

      "Nothing."

      "Precisely. Nothing is nothing; but what is better than nothing?"

      "Something."

      "Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Where is your logic? Nothing is better than something! I'll prove it: —

      "Nothing is sweeter than honey,

      Nothing's more bitter than gall,

      Nothing that's comic is funny,

      Nothing is shorter than tall."

      "That is nonsense and nothing to do with the case," exclaimed Maude.

      "Nonsense? Nonsense? Did you say nonsense?"

      "Of course she did," said Willie, "and so do I."

      "Nonsense!

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