All of a sudden they heard the sweetest sound in the world; it was the castle clock, and it was striking twelve at noon. As it finished striking, they came out at the farther edge of a great bed of reeds, and there was the castle straight before them.
Inside the castle lived a lovely lady, and when she saw Mopsa she took her to her arms. “Who are you?” asked the lovely lady.
“I am a Queen,” said Mopsa.
“Yes, my sweet Queen,” answered the lady, “I know you are.”
“Do you promise that you will be kind to me until I grow up?” inquired Mopsa. “Will you love me and teach me how to reign? I am only ten years old, and the throne is too big for me to sit upon, but I am Queen.”
“Yes,” answered the lady, “and I will love you just as if I were your mother.”
QUEEN MOPSA
When Mopsa ran through the castle door it shut suddenly behind her, and Jack was left behind. After great difficulty he succeeded in climbing the walls, and crept through a window; and when he got inside he saw a very wonderful sight. There was Mopsa in the great audience-room, dressed superbly in a white satin gown, with a long train of crimson velvet, which was glittering with diamonds. It reached almost from one end of the gallery to the other, and had hundreds of fairies to hold it to keep it in its place; but in her hair were no jewels, only a little crown made of daisies, and on her shoulders her robe was fastened with a little golden image of a boat. These things were to show the land she had come from and the vessel she had come in. At one side of Mopsa stood the lovely lady; and on the other, to Jack’s amazement, a little boy of his own size, who looked exactly like himself.
“I will go in,” said Jack. “There is nothing to prevent me.” He set his foot on the step, and while he hesitated Mopsa came out to meet him. He looked at her earnestly, because her lovely eyes were not looking at him, but far away toward the west.
“Jack lives there,” she said, as if speaking to herself. “He will play there again, in his father’s garden.”