"The Queen! Kneel to the Queen, little boy," cried others.
Then many others in the company began crying out together, "The Queen! lie down flat on the ground, little boy."
"The Queen! Shut your eyes and open your mouth, little boy."
"The Queen! Run away as fast as you can, little boy."
"Stand on your head to the Queen, little boy!"
"Crow like a cock and bark like a dog, little boy!"
Trying to obey all these conflicting commands at one and the same time, poor Martin made strange noises and tumbled about this way and that and set them all laughing at him.
"The Queen wishes to speak to you—stand up, little boy," said one of the brightest beings, touching Martin on the cheek.
There before him, surrounded by all that beautiful company, stood the horses that drew her—great milk-white horses impatiently pawing the dusty ground with their hoofs and proudly champing their gold bridles, tossing the white froth from their mouths. But when he lifted his eyes timidly to the majestic being seated in her chariot before him he was dazzled and overcome with the sight. Her face had a brightness that was like that of the Mirage at noon, and the eyes that gazed on him were like two great opals; she appeared clothed in a white shining mist, and her hair spread wide on her shoulders looked white—whiter than a lamb's fleece, and powdered with fine gold that sparkled and quivered and ran through it like sparks of yellow fire: and on her head she wore a crown that was like a diamond seen by candle-light, or like a dewdrop in the sun, and every moment it changed its colour, and by turns was a red flame, then a green, then a yellow, then a violet.
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