“Oh, yes, come again!” called all the Story People. “For we love you! The Story People love all children. Take our love to all you can, and good-by! Good-by! Good-by!”

“Good-by, dear, dear friends!” called Mary Frances, as the little boat sailed away. “Good-by, and thank you!”

She watched until the island was too far away for her to make out the forms of the people at the castle windows. Then she wished aloud, “Home! Take me to my mother and father and my brother, little fairy sail-boat!”

And the wind blew and filled the sails and the sun warmed and cheered her, and the waves danced about the boat, making little lapping sounds which were like music—and the next thing she knew she was running up the garden walk into her mother’s open arms.

“The stories are not yours, dear; they belong to all children,” said her mother, when Mary Frances emptied her story satchel, and told of her wonderful adventures among the Story People. “Let us make enough copies for them all.”

And so they wrote this book.

Transcriber’s Note:

Punctuation has been standardized. Variations in hyphenation have been retained as published. Changes have been made as follows: