Good Times with the Juniors

by Lilian M. Heath

Queen of the Cosey Corner, let us in, we plead,
We’ve come to ask your counsel, for we’ve dire distress, indeed!
We know you help the troubled, and we’ve come to tell our need,
O Fairy, hear our call.
’Tis the Brownies and the children,
’Tis the Brownies and the children,
’Tis the Brownies and the children,
O Fairy, heed our call.

(Curtains slowly part at the corner of the stage, right, displaying a “cosey corner” where the Queen is seated in state. She rises and comes forward.)

Queen. You poor children! I know your trouble before you tell it. You wish to get rid of Dismal Dumps and the Bugaboo Man; you want the key to this dear little girl’s treasure-box, so you can let the Sunshine Fairies out. Is that it?

Children. Yes, and so Dorothy Dot can grow.

Queen. That is right. Be seated, all. Now, for a few moments keep perfectly still. (Children seat themselves on stumps, etc.) I cannot give you the key at once, but I will call my chief counsellor, Fairy Bright-Thought, and then I shall be able to advise you. Keep very quiet, now, or she cannot come. Brownies, see if you can keep still for two whole minutes. It will be good practice for you. (The Queen resumes her seat. The Brownies give a final excited caper; then seat themselves on the treasure-box. All are silent. Soft music for three or four minutes; then Fairy Bright-Thought emerges from behind the draperies of Cosey Corner, and whispers in the ear of the Queen. The children start up, but seat themselves again. After a moment, Fairy Bright-Thought disappears again behind the draperies. Music stops.) Listen, children and Brownies! I have a secret for you. The spell is already partly broken, for—just think!—Dismal Dumps and the Bugaboo Man have lost the key! Now Dorothy Dot can grow! (The children begin dancing and the Brownies capering with delight.) But wait! (All stop.) It is true, Dorothy Dot can grow, and so can her treasure-box; but until she has the key the Sunshine Fairies must still be prisoners, and you are not yet rid of Dismal Dumps and his Bugaboo Man. Now, this is what you must all do. Search for the key everywhere. As for Dorothy, she can go away for a while with the kind West Wind, to a beautiful home on the prairies, where she will not be troubled by Dismal Dumps and the Bugaboo Man. Then she can grow all the faster, and meanwhile you can all be looking for the key. But, mind you, the key will be found at some moment when you are doing a kind act; and, when you want Dorothy, you must call her. Now away with you! Good-by! (Retires into Cosey Corner, with curtains drawn together.)

Children. Good-by! Thank you! Good-by!

(Enter West Wind, who approaches Dorothy slowly, singing; tune, “Wind of the Western Sea.”)

Breathe and grow, breathe and grow,
Child of the Sunshine Land!
Grow, grow, breathe and grow;
Life is for thee most grand!
Over the prairies wide and free,
List to the West Wind’s call to thee,
Child of the Sunshine Land!
Come, my little one; come, my pretty one, come!