“So she began to sing.”
CHAPTER XII
THEY RUN AWAY FROM OLD MOTHER FATE
“A land that living warmth disowns,
It meets my wondering ken;
A land where all the men are stones,
Or all the stones are men.”
Before the apple-woman had finished, Jack and Mopsa saw the Queen coming in great state, followed by thousands of the one-foot-one fairies, and leading by a ribbon round its neck a beautiful brown doe. A great many pretty fawns were walking among the fairies.
“Here’s the deputation,” said the apple-woman; but as the Guinea-fowl rose like a cloud at the approach of the Queen, and the fairies and fawns pressed forward, there was a good deal of noise and confusion, during which Mopsa stepped up close to Jack and whispered in his ear, “Remember, Jack, whatever you can do you may do.”
Then the brown doe laid down at Mopsa’s feet, and the Queen began: