‘I had hoped so, too, cheeld,’ said the kind old woman. ‘Never mind, I’ll ask the Piskeys to come in and order you a little dream-cake an’ a little dream-bird.’
‘What is a little dream-cake, Grannie, and a little dream-bird?’ asked the child.
‘The Piskeys used to come in through the keyhole to pass over the bridges of children’s noses, when I was a little maid like you, to order their dreams. It would be ever so nice if they passed over the bridge of your nose and ordered you a little dream-cake and a little dream-bird.’
‘But you can’t eat cakes in your dreams,’ said little Phillida, ‘and you can’t hold little dream-birds in your hands.’
‘Can’t you?’ cried Grannie. ‘That’s all you know about it. I will ask the Dinky Men to come through our keyhole to order your dreams the very next time they are outside our cottage.’
‘They are outside now,’ said Phillida. ‘I hear them laughing. Listen, Grannie!’ And the old woman listened, and she knew that the child was right, and that the Piskeys were outside their window, for she too heard their laughter.
‘The Dinky Men be there right enough,’ said Tamsin, ‘an’ they are tickled about something, by the way they are laughing.’
‘P’raps they heard what you said about asking them to come in and order me a little dream-cake and a little dream-bird,’ suggested the little maid.
‘I shouldn’t wonder,’ laughed Grannie; ‘an’ I’m sure they’ll be willing. I’ll ask them now;’ and getting up from her wooden arm-chair, she went to the door and called softly: ‘Little Piskeys, are you there?’
But the Piskeys made no response to the old woman’s question save by a gay little laugh.