“You don’t want to know where that is, of course. I am now going to take a little run around the world. Pretend I’m a top spinning, and the spot where I stop and twirl will be where my relatives live. When it’s time to twirl I’ll squeak and you can then close your eyes for the moment, so you won’t add anything to your store of knowledge.
“For my part, I would feel quite pleased if I were sailing around the world and could say, ‘Oh, Mr. Captain, just stop a few moments in Mediterranean Spain. I want a pocket full of raisins to eat; the layer kind, big fat juicy ones’; or if I were pudding hungry I’d wheedle him a little. I’d say, ‘Now, Captain dear, I’d just like to run into Valencia. We need a few pudding raisins. We’ll have a pudding that’ll melt in your mouth if we can go there.’
“I think that’s much better than to stand around with my mouth open, and when we steam into these places be wondering what grows there, and why we stopped.”
That was a new idea. Journeys on ships were fun, and how proud one would feel to be able to show the Captain just where to go for certain things.
“Mother,” whispered Jack, “let’s watch where he twirls. Maybe a captain might even beg us to go and show him where raisins grow, so he can bring back a shipload of them!”
The Raisin Doll now skipped gaily along as though he were going to the corner grocery for a stick of candy.
The audience gazed fascinated, and instead of closing eyes as he squeaked, they hardly dared wink for fear they might miss some of that raisin country.
“Where is he now?” one and another whispered as he paused and twirled, crying:
“There! There is the very spot where many of my cousins live, and because they live there instead of in California they are much sweeter.”