“You can imagine how surprised all the children were when they found that a strange boy had popped up out of nowhere. They gathered around him and shouted, ‘Who are you?’
“Winfred was going to say, ‘The King’s Son,’ but Merrylip whispered in his ear, so he just said, ‘Winfred.’
“The children didn’t care very much who he was, after all. You see, Merrylip had touched his clothes with her lavender stick and they had become old and dirty just like those of the others. They decided that they would start another game: Rum-ba-loo-pum-ba-loo. The oldest of them counted out loud:
“‘Eny, meny, miny, mo. Catch a fairy by the toe. If he hollers let him go. Fairy, meny, miny, mo. O-U-T spells out, with the Old Mother Witch’s hat turned in—side—out.’ And Winfred was out.
“‘But I don’t know how to play,’ said Winfred.
“‘It’s perfectly easy!’ they shouted. ‘You know, the one who is out is It.’
“‘How can you be It if you are Out?’ asked Winfred.
“They couldn’t explain, but that was the way it was played. The one who was Out was It, and he or she was called Mrs. Rumbaloopumbaloo. She had to be the old witch and live on a stump of a tree. That was all the home she had. Then the children came up and said:
“‘Mother Rumbaloopumbaloo, what are you thinking of?’
“Rumbaloopumbaloo would say the first letter of the word. If it was ice cream, she would say ‘I’; if it was music, she would say ‘M,’ and so on. Then, if one of the children guessed right, Mother Rumbaloopumbaloo would chase them all and the one who was caught was It.