"Not in the least," said the Private Secretary. "We are five hundred feet beneath the surface of the sea at this present moment, and if we were going to be drowned we should have begun to feel strange long ago. Evidently, madam, you forgot the glass which covers us over. We can see through it distinctly, but it won't let any water in. I am sure we shall enjoy our voyage very much. Moreover, we have with us the Enchanted Banjo, and it will play for us whenever the Royal Heirs are so good as to assist it."
The Banjo seemed to be in a jolly mood as well as the Royal Heirs, for as soon as the Twins grasped it together it rattled off at once into the following jingle:
Once I was but a banjo of the ordinary sort
Until a minstrel played me for the pleasure of the court,
And quite by accident he struck the sweet and simple tune
The Fairies love the dearest when they dance beneath the moon.
Oh, it was most amazing, when to every one's surprise
The Queen of all the Fairies came to view before their eyes!
They gazed upon the Fairy Queen, and she smiled back at them
She wore a robe of woven gold, with silver on the hem,
Her wings were set with diamonds and made of golden gauze,
And she was quite the finest Fairy Queen that ever was.
She stopped before the royal court and held her place alone,
Then bowed and gracefully sat down before the Royal Throne.
The Fairy Queen then waved her wand; the minstrel stepped away,
And I, suspended in the air, at once began to play;
I played them all the Fairy tunes that ever have been made,
And everybody knew the words to everything I played.
I played before the Fairy Queen, and did my best, you see—
And therefore I enchanted her, then she enchanted me.
"Now let's play we are pirates!" cried Zuzu.
"Very well," said the Private Secretary. "The Banjo knows that a great many people feel like playing pirate, so perhaps it will sing of one or two." The Banjo then played for them the following melody:
A June-bug once went out to sea—
Yo-ho, my lads, yo-ho!—
With sails aspread and helm alee—
Yo-ho, my lads, yo-ho!
He had a long, low, rakish boat;
He wore a shining overcoat;
He hummed and grumbled in his throat—
Yo-ho! the wild winds blow!