I ran to help the elf. The owl flew up in the air. I waved my arms and shouted and frightened it away.
The good elf said that I had saved his life. He led me into the woods where there were very large trees. In the side of one of the largest I saw a little door. OPEN ME AND STEP IN was written on it.
At first I was afraid to go near the door. But the good little elf told me to fear nothing. Just as I reached out my hand to open the door, I awoke.
Oral Exercise. Did Tom tell the class the same dream he told his mother? Read again what he told her. Now point out where he made it better. What did he add? Which additions do you like most?
4. Study of a Poem
Some say that one of the fairies brings the dreams. They say that it is Queen Mab, a queen of the fairies, who brings them. The following poem tells about this good fairy, who flutters down from the moon. It tells how she waves her silver wand above the heads of boys and girls when they are asleep. Then, at once, they begin to dream. They dream of the pleasantest things. They dream of delicious fruit trees and bubbling fountains. Sometimes, like Tom, they dream of an elf or a dwarf who leads them over fairy hills to fairyland itself.[9]
QUEEN MAB
A little fairy comes at night,
Her eyes are blue, her hair is brown,
With silver spots upon her wings,
And from the moon she flutters down.
She has a little silver wand,
And when a good child goes to bed,
She waves her wand from right to left
And makes a circle round its head.
And then it dreams of pleasant things,
Of fountains filled with fairy fish,
Of trees that bear delicious fruit
And bow their branches at a wish,
Of pretty dwarfs to show the ways
Through fairy hills and fairy dales.
Thomas Hood (Abridged)[10]
Oral Exercise. 1. Let us make sure that we understand this poem. Find the following words in it and tell what you think each one means:[11]