Farewell, Fairies, one and all—
Some day we shall come and call
To you from the border-land
In the speech you understand—
So and so, and thus and thus—
Then you will remember us.
But to-day we may but sigh
Now that we must say good-by.
Then the Queen bent over each little pillow and spoke softly:
"Before you fall asleep I shall kiss you each good night and good-by; for when you awaken you will be far away."
As she kissed Zuzu and Lulu, they began to feel very drowsy, but before they had time to reason it out to themselves, they were both fast asleep. The last thing they knew was the soft kiss of the Fairy Queen; and the last thing they saw was the room of the fairy palace, very beautiful, seeming to fade away and become more distant and indistinct.
CHAPTER XXXII
THE RETURN TO THE ISLAND
When they awoke, Zuzu and Lulu rubbed their eyes very hard, and looked around them in wonder; as, indeed, well they might. They were now not in the fairy palace at all, but once more alone, and at the top of the Golden Ladder, whose long lines they could see far, far below them, shining like the beams of the sun at evening or morning. Near by them rose the walls of the rocky pass in which lived Jankow, the Dragon, and near them was the end of the tail of the Dragon. They could hear its harsh voice coming to their ears very plainly.