“Fairies are afraid of nothing but of other fairies, and we did not think this tower was fairywork, so we left our ship and went up the rock and into the tower, to see what it was like; but just as we had descended into the dungeon keep, we heard the gurgling of water overhead, and down came the tower. It was nothing but water enchanted into the likeness of stone, and we all fell down with it into the very bed of the river.
“Of course we were not drowned, but there we were obliged to lie, for we have no power out of our own element; and the next day the townspeople came down with a net and dragged the river, picked us all out of the meshes, and made us slaves. The one-foot-one fairies got away shortly; but from that day to this, in sorrow and distress, I have had to serve my masters. Luckily, my crown had fallen off in the water, so I was not known to be the Queen; but till you came, Jack, I had almost forgotten that I had ever been happy and free, and I had hardly any hope of getting away.”
“How sorry your people must have been,” said Jack, “when they found you did not come home again.”
“No,” said the Queen; “they only went to sleep, and they will not wake till to-morrow morning, when I pass in again. They will think I have been absent for a day, and so will the apple-woman. You must not undeceive them; if you do, they will be very angry.”
“And who is the apple-woman?” inquired Jack; but the Queen blushed, and pretended not to hear the question, so he repeated:
“Queen, who is the apple-woman?”
“I’ve only had her for a very little while,” said the Queen, evasively.
“And how long do you think you have been a slave, Queen?” asked Jack.
“I don’t know,” said the Queen. “I have never been able to make up my mind about that.”
And now all the moons began to shine, and all the trees lighted themselves up, for almost every leaf had a glowworm or a firefly on it, and the water was full of fishes that had shining eyes. And now they were close to the steep mountain side; and Jack looked and saw an opening in it, into which the river ran. It was a kind of cave, something like a long, long church with a vaulted roof, only the pavement of it was that magic river, and a narrow towing-path ran on either side.