Fanchon and Frederic seemed to be in a dream, and could not make out how they suddenly came to find themselves with their father and mother.
THE PALACE OF THE FAIRY QUEEN
It was the next day. In the most beautiful part of the wood beside the brook, between whispering bushes, the Stranger Child had set up a glorious tent made of tall slender lilies, glowing roses, and tulips of every hue. And beneath this tent, Fanchon and Frederic were seated with the Stranger Child, listening to the forest brook as it whirled, and rippled, and sang its wonderful stories.
“Tell us,” said Fanchon, “darling Shining Child, where your home is, and all about your father and mother.”
The Stranger Child looked sorrowfully at the sky. “Ah, my dear,” it said with a sigh, “is it not enough that I come to you each day? Why must you then ask about my home? Though you were to travel day after day, forever and ever, even to beyond the utmost range of the purple hills, you could not reach it!”
“Ah me!” sighed Fanchon. “Then you must live hundreds and hundreds of miles away from us! Is it only on a visit that you are here?”
“Fanchon, beloved,” said the Stranger Child, “whenever you long for me with all your heart, I am with you immediately, bringing you all those plays and wonders. Is that not as good as being in my home?”
“Not at all,” said Frederic, “for I believe that you live in a most glorious place. I do not care how hard the road is to your home, I mean to set out this minute for it.”
“And so you shall!” said the Stranger Child smiling; “for when you see all this so clearly before you, and make up your mind to be there, it is as good as done! The land where I live, in truth, is so beautiful and glorious that I can give you no description of it. It is my mother who reigns over that land,—all glory and loveliness—as Queen.”
“Ah! you are a Prince!” cried Frederic.