And, too, he must become reconciled to seeing Juffrouw Pieterse without a train on her dress. Fancy said it couldn’t be helped.
This “Fancy” must have been some lady at his mother’s court, who visited him in his exile to comfort and encourage him, so that he wouldn’t think they were punishing him because they were angry with him.
She promised to visit him from time to time. “But,” asked Walter, “how is my little sister getting along?”
“She’s being punished, too. You know the law. She is patient with it all and promises to improve. At first she was a fire-ball; but she behaved so nicely that she was soon changed to a moon-beam; and also in this state there was nothing against her. It seemed to be a pleasure for her; and it was all her mother could do to keep from shortening the punishment. She was soon turned into vapor, and stood the test well; for she filled the universe. That was about the time you began to eat grass. Soon she was a butterfly. But your mother did not consider this suitable for a girl and had her changed into a constellation. There she stands before us now.”
It often happens that we do not see a thing because it is too big.
“Look,” said Fancy. “There—to the right! No, further—there, there—the north star! That is her left eye. You can’t see her right, because she is bending over towards Orion, the doll which she holds in her lap and caresses.”
Walter saw it plainly enough and cried: “Omicron, Omicron!”
“No, no, prince,” said the lady of the court, “that will not do. Each must undergo his punishment alone. It’s already a great concession that you two are imprisoned in the same universe. Recently, when your little brothers flooded the milky way with sin, they were separated completely.”
Walter was sad. How gladly would he have kissed his little sister!—that group of stars nursing the doll.
“Ah, Fancy, let me be with Omicron.”