[Ill.u.s.tration: The Dragon again reared and rattled its long body _Page 110_]
"I am very happy here, indeed," said Lulu, "and I can"t think of another thing to wish. I feel a little thirsty from eating so much cake."
The Queen smiled again. "There is no need to wish for a drink," said she, "for if you will only take a cup and step to the spring, I think you will find that it is made of very good lemonade."
So Lulu took her cup, stepped to the spring, and to her great surprise she dipped up a cup of what proved to be the very best lemonade she had ever tasted in all her life.
"Now," said the Queen, "suppose we walk farther into the island, and see what we call our Candy Land."
So they walked on deeper into the wood, and as they did so they looked all about them, and behold! all the trees were Christmas trees, hung full of shining things--toys and books and parcels, everything most inviting in appearance. Not one Christmas tree was there, but hundreds, and every way they looked they saw still more Christmas trees, so many they could hardly count them in a day, had they done nothing else but count.
"This," said the Queen, "is what we call the Christmas tree forest. It is here that Santa Claus, one of my best friends, gets all the Christmas trees which he uses in the winter-time. They grow here in hundreds, and of just the right size. But that is only a part of what I was going to show you."
Now they came to a long row of houses like shops, in two rows like the shops in what is called an Arcade; but to their great surprise everything they saw here was made of candy. The houses, the people and everything in the shops proved to be made of candy. There was nothing in the world one could have thought of which was not there, and one might have furnished a large house from top to bottom; but every article was made of candy--candy rocking-chairs and tables and pianos, and knives and forks, and everything else, so that Lulu and Zuzu hardly knew what to do, it all seemed so strange to them.
"These things are not so durable as though made of gold or gems," said the Fairy Queen, "because one is always tempted to eat off the arm of a chair or to bite a piece out of the table or the clock. But you need not mind about that; bite all you please, for there are plenty more of these things. The good Candy Man will bring more, I am sure, for that is why we have him here."
So Lulu and Zuzu sat down in candy chairs at a candy table, and soon there came up to them a quaint looking little man whom they knew to be the Candy Man. He smiled and smiled as he approached. "You will excuse me, my good young friends," said he, "if I do not come and sit down with you, but you see I am made of candy, and if I get too near the fire my face melts, so I have to be very careful. But if you see anything here, help yourselves, and I will get some more for you, if you like."
As they looked at the Candy Man, the Twins observed to their surprise that he had only one arm. "Oh! poor man," said Lulu, "you have only one arm. That"s too bad. Will you tell us how you happened to lose your arm? Did you fall down and break it?"
"No," said the Candy Man, "I did not break it, but lost it; and yet though I lost it, I still have it, so that though I miss it, I do not regret it."
"Why, how can that be?" inquired Lulu.
"Well, the truth is," said the Candy Man, "I ate it."
"How awfully sad!" exclaimed Lulu.
"Not in the least, my dear," the Candy Man said. "Such events are not unusual in this country. If you think I am badly off, you ought to see my brother. Did you never hear the story about when he was a boy? Ask the Banjo."
So the Banjo told them the story.
THE CANDY BOY
Oh, list to the tale of the Candy Boy-- The boy that turned to candy.
He was his mamma"s pride and joy, And sweet things were too handy.
He ate and ate and ate and ate Mint sticks and peanut brittles-- Just candy, it is sad to state, Made all of this boy"s victuals.
One day he noticed that his hair In taffy drips was streaming, And that upon his fingers there Were bright red stripes a-gleaming.
He bit his finger, and he found That it was flavored sweetly From having candy all around He"d turned to it completely!
Oh, dear! Oh, dear! This tearful tale I really should not finish.
He ate his arms without a wail At seeing them diminish.
From eating so much candy, see How things resulted direly: That boy is no more here, for he Ate up himself entirely!
"Is there anything more that you would like?" asked the Fairy Queen after this entertaining story.
"No," said Lulu, sighing and hugging tight her new-old doll. "I am so happy and contented that I can not think of anything else to wish for myself; but I was just thinking how badly the poor King must be feeling all this time without his shadow, while here are we, to whom he gave these Fairy Wishing Wands, having so good a time. I wish he could be happy and contented, too."
"Ah, so do I," said the Fairy Queen Zulena. "I have wished that for many years."
The Twins looked at her and for the first time they saw a shade of sorrow cross her sweet face. "The truth is, my children," said the Fairy Queen, "I have often wanted again to see the King. Once, very long ago, we were children here together in this country, until he fell partly under the influence of Wicked Fairies and began to care more for gold and jewels and the like than for anything else. It was the Wicked Fairies who changed his nature; but I am always hoping that he will grow to be a great and good king even yet, so that we may together rule over the same land."
"Why," said Zuzu, "that is precisely what the King has said to us very many times!"
The face of the Fairy Queen flushed a little at this, but she sighed.
"Alas, I think that can not be," she said. "True, I aid him as I can, and whenever he telephones to me for gold, I give it to him, because certainly we have more gold than we can use, and many gems as well; but I can not go up to the Island to meet him, and so can only telephone, which I do not find wholly satisfactory. Against certain Wicked Fairies not even I, the Queen, can prevail in all cases. Thus, I am sad to say, I could not even secure the King"s shadow from the Wicked Fairy Gobo, if it be true that he has taken it and hidden it at his cave in the mountain. That could only be done by a good child who wished it very hard, and who used the Wishing Wand which is proper for the Island of Gee-Whiz, where the shadow came from."
"Ah!" cried Zuzu, "then that is precisely what I shall wish next." So he rubbed his own Wishing Wand very hard, and besought that the King should have back his shadow again, and never more lose it.
"That," said the Queen, smiling now happily, "is very kind of you, and I am sure if only we can find the shadow here in the valley, the Wicked Fairy will be obliged to let it go. It is quite likely that he has also taken the White Cricket of the King. If we could restore both of these to the rightful owner, I should be very happy and contented myself."
"But what shall we do to-morrow?" asked the Queen of the Twins as she arose and started out from the Candy Man"s place.
"I should above all things like to see the place where the Fairies find all the gold," said Zuzu.
"Very well," said the Queen, "we will go to-morrow, and I will show you where all the gold comes from; but now let us go back to the palace, and go to sleep for the night."
As she spoke, she again touched a little bell, and soon there came a little Fairy, smiling and bowing before her.
"Dimi," said the Queen, "please to have the wind changed so that it shall blow back toward the city, instead of in this direction. We must be going home now, and I do not wish my oarsmen to become at all weary."
Dimi bowed and smiled, with his hands spread wide apart, and as the Twins and the Fairy Queen now walked down toward the Fairy-boat, to their great surprise Lulu and Zuzu saw that the wind was beginning to blow gently and softly in the opposite direction. Soon they were gliding silently and steadily over the crystal waves of the Fairy sea.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
CHAPTER XXVII
THE VALLEY OF GOLD
That night Zuzu and Lulu slept in golden beds with silken curtains, with pillows made of thistle-down, very light and soft. Naturally they slept very soundly, so it was morning almost before they knew it. When they arose they saw standing near by golden basins filled with clear shining water, and after they were bathed and dressed they saw standing near a little Fairy with a dainty breakfast-tray. They ate heartily, and presently hastened away to see the good Queen Zulena and to remind her of her promise to show them the Valley of Gold.
"Come then, my dears," said the Queen, "bring with you the Enchanted Banjo and we will take the b.u.mblebee Express, and travel beyond the forest, toward yonder mountains."
In a few minutes they heard the tinkle of the golden harness and the stamp of the b.u.mblebees on the pavement, eager to be off. Then, taking their seats as before, off they went through the air, flying as straight and fast as the strongest b.u.mblebees can go.
"Let me tell you one thing, my children," said the Fairy Queen, "and it is this: No matter what you see, you must not tell any person where the Valley of Gold is to be found. That is a secret which we Fairies have guarded for thousands of years, and you must by no means tell of it."
So both Zuzu and Lulu promised, and ever since they have kept their word; and what is told here is told only that you may know how wonderful a place it is, and what strange things are to be seen there; but no one can tell you how to get there unless you may be fortunate enough to find a White Cricket and ask of it the way. And, as White Crickets are very few and hard to find, so there are very few children who ever really see Fairy-land, and most children are obliged only to read about it in the stories of those who have really been there.
"When we telephoned," said Zuzu, "we got the wrong kind of Cricket, and had it not been that we had the Enchanted Banjo with us, we might have met all sorts of trouble. We thank you, good Queen, for not punishing us; but we should like to know how the really-truly Fairy Telephone would be."
"Good Banjo," said the Fairy Queen, "can you not tell these dear young people how the really-truly Fairy Telephone goes?"