“Come along then,” replied Ah Lee, stepping down from the teapot and the two great birds with him. He jumped on the back of one of the birds and said to Ray, “Follow me,” and almost before he knew it, Ray was on the back of the other bird flying through the air behind the teapot boy. They flew over houses and high church steeples, over the tree-tops and telegraph poles, over deep woods and open green meadows. At last they came to a very large lake.
“Let us fly down here and water our birds,” said Ah Lee, beginning to descend on his great bird. Ray did the same, and when they were near enough to the water the birds put their long bills into it and took a deep drink. Then they rose into the air again and continued their journey over the land and over the sea.
“Is it very far?” asked Ray, as they flew along faster and faster all the time.
“We are almost there,” answered Ah Lee, and in a very few minutes they began to descend down, down, down, until they touched the ground.
The boys got off the birds and Ray looked about him. He had never seen such queer sights before. The people around him looked just like Ah Lee.
Almost before he knew it, Ray was on the back of the other bird flying through the air behind the teapot boy.—Page 32. Little Miss Dorothy.
They were dressed in soft, bright-colored silks and had long braids of straight black hair.
Ah Lee took Ray’s hand and they walked along till they came to a queer little house with a garden.
“Now you sit here and wait for me,” whispered Ah Lee, and he went into the house while Ray waited on a small black stool. He thought the flowers were very pretty about him, and he was just going to take one when a voice called out, “The Princess comes to the garden!” Ray turned to see who had spoken and beheld a little girl, who smiled at him and held a fan behind her ear. She asked him who he was and whence he came and when he had told his story she said: