RETOLD FROM JEAN INGELOW

“For he that hath his own world
Hath many worlds more.”

A boy, whom I knew very well, was once going through a meadow which was full of buttercups. He sat down by an old hawthorn hedge which was covered with blossoms, and took out a slice of plum-cake for his lunch. While the boy was eating, he observed that this hedge was very high and thick, and that there was a great hollow in the trunk of the old thorn-tree, and he heard a twittering as if there was a nest somewhere inside. So he thrust his head in, twisted himself around, and looked up. After getting used to the dim light in the hollow of the tree, he saw, a good way above his head, a curious nest. It was about three times as large as a goldfinch’s. Just then he thought he heard some little voices cry, “Jack, Jack!”

“I must get near,” said the boy. So he began to wriggle and twist himself up, and just as he reached the top three heads which had been peeking over the edge of the nest suddenly popped down again.

“Those heads had no beaks, and the things have no feathers,” said Jack, as he stood on tip-toe and poked in one of his fingers.

When he snatched one of them out of the nest, it gave a loud squeak, and Jack was so frightened that he lost his footing, dropped it, and slipped down himself. Luckily, he was not hurt, nor the “thing” either. It was creeping about like an old baby, and had on a little frock and pinafore.

THE FAIRY BABY’S LUNCH

“It’s a fairy!” exclaimed Jack, “and this must be a fairies’ nest.”

The young Fairy climbed up the side of the hollow and scrambled again into her nest, and Jack followed. Upon which all the nestlings popped up their heads, and showing their pretty white teeth pointed at the slice of cake.

“It’s a small piece, and I may not have anything more to eat for a long time,” said Jack; “but your mouths are very small, so you shall each have a piece.”

The young fairies were a long time munching the cake, and before they had finished it began to be rather dark, because a thunder-storm was coming up. The wind rose and made the old tree rock, and creak, and tremble. The little Fairies were so frightened that they got out of the nest and crept into Jack’s pockets.

After the storm was over, Jack pulled one of the Fairies out of his waistcoat pocket and said to her: “It is time for supper. Where are we going to get it?” Then in the light of the moon he looked at her very attentively. “When I first saw you in the nest,” said he, “you had a pinafore on, and now you have a smart little apron with lace around it.”

“That is because I am much older now,” said the Fairy. “We never take such a long time to grow up as you do. Put me into your pocket again, and whistle as loudly as you can.”

THE GREAT WHITE BIRD

So Jack whistled loudly; and suddenly without hearing anything, he felt something take hold of his legs and give him a jerk which hoisted him on to its back, where he sat astride. It was a large white bird, and presently he found that they were rising up through the trees and out into the moonlight, with Jack on the bird’s back and all the fairies in his pockets.

“And so we are going to Fairy-land,” exclaimed Jack; “how delightful!”

As the evening grew dark the great white bird began to light up. She did it in this way. First, one of her eyes began to beam with a beautiful green light, and then when it was as bright as a lamp, the other eye began to shine, and the light of that eye was red. So they sailed through the darkness, Jack reminding the bird once in a while that he was very hungry.

TO THE FAIR CITY

They were sailing over the ocean by this time, and there were boats and vessels. The great white bird hovered among them, making choice of one to take Jack and the Fairies up the wonderful river which leads to Fairy-land. Finally she set him down in a beautiful little open boat, with a great carved figure-head to it. The bird said: “Lie down in the bottom of the boat and go to sleep. You will dream that you have some roast fowl, some new potatoes, and an apple pie. Mind you, don’t eat too much in your dream, or you will be sorry for it when you wake.” Jack put his arms around the neck of the bird and hugged her; then she spread her wings and sailed slowly away. Then Jack fell asleep in the rocking boat, and dreamed as the bird promised, and when he woke up he was not hungry any more!

Morning came, and the Fairies were still asleep in his pocket. The boat moved on through the night, and now he found himself in the outlet of the wonderful river, the shores of which were guarded, not by real soldiers, but by rose-colored flamingoes.

Now that he had fairies in his pockets, he could understand bird talk, and so he heard many wise words from the birds of that country which guided him on his way.

It was not long before he came to the city that was the capital. It was a fair day, and the city square was full of white canopies, lined with splendid flutings of pink. It was impossible to be sure whether they were real tents, or gigantic mushrooms. Each one of the people who sold in these tents had a little high cap on his head shaped just like a bee-hive made of straw. In fact, Jack soon saw bees flying in and out, and it was evident that these folks had their honey made on the premises.

THE LITTLE OLD FAIRY WOMAN

After Jack had visited the fairy city, he went back to the river. The water was so delightfully clear that he thought he would have a swim, so he took off his clothes and folded them very carefully so as not to hurt the Fairies, and laid them beside a hay-cock. When he came out he saw a little old woman with spectacles on, knitting beside his clothes. She smiled upon him pleasantly.

“I will give you some breakfast out of my basket,” said she. So she took out a saucerful of honey, a roll of bread, and a cup of milk.

“Thank you,” said Jack, “but I am not a beggar boy, so I can buy this breakfast. You look very poor.”

It seems that the old woman was very poor; in fact, she was a slave, and on that very day they were about to sell her in the slave market in the city square. So Jack went along into the city again with her, and when she was put up for sale, he bought her from her cruel master, although it took a half-crown, the biggest piece of money that he had. His next largest piece he gave to the little woman, and told her to buy some clothes with it. She came back to the boat where Jack was, with her hands empty, but her face full of satisfaction.

THE WONDERFUL PURPLE ROBE

“Why, you have not bought any new clothes,” said Jack.

“I have bought what I wanted,” said the Fairy Woman; and she took out of her pocket a little tiny piece of purple ribbon, with a gold-colored satin edge, and a very small tortoise-shell comb.

She took the piece of ribbon and pulled and pulled it until it was as large as a handkerchief. Then she pulled and pulled it again, and the silk stretched until it nearly filled the boat. Next, the little old woman pulled off her ragged gown and put on the silk. It was now a most beautiful robe of purple, with a gold border, and it just fitted her. Then she took out the little tortoise-shell comb, pulled off her cap and threw it into the river. As she combed her hair, it grew much longer and thicker, until it fell in waves all about her body. It all turned gold color, and she was so covered with it that you could not see one bit of her except her eyes, which peeped out and were very bright.

Then she began to gather up her lovely locks and said: “Master, look at me now!” So she threw back the hair from her face, and it was a beautiful young face, and she looked so happy that Jack was glad he had bought her with his half-crown.

THE MAGIC KISS

Then instantly the little Fairies awoke and sprang out of Jack’s pockets. One of them had a green velvet cap and sword; the second had a white spangled robe, and lovely rubies and emeralds around her neck; but the third one, who sat down on Jack’s knee, had a white frock and a blue sash, was very little, and she had a face just like that of a sweet little child.

“How comes it that you are not like the others?” asked Jack. She answered: “It is because you kissed me.”

“Somehow,” Jack explained to the former Fairy Slave, “she was my favorite.”

“Then you will have to let her sit on your knee, master, sometimes,” she explained; “and you must take special care of her, for she cannot now take the same care of herself that others can. The love of a mortal works changes indeed to the life of a fairy.”

“I don’t want to have a slave,” said Jack to the little lady. “Can’t you find some way to be wholly free again?”

“Yes, master, I can be free if you can think of anything that you really like better than the half-crown that you paid for me.”

“I would like going up this river to Fairy-land much better,” said Jack. So suddenly the river became full of thousands of little people coming down the stream in rafts. They had come to take the Fairy Woman away with them.

THE FAIRY WOMAN’S PARTING GIFT

“What gift may I give you before I go?” she asked.

“I should like,” said Jack, “to have a little tiny bit of that purple gown of yours with the gold border.”

So she told Jack to lend her his knife, and with it she cut off a very small piece of the skirt of her robe and gave it to him. “Now I advise you,” she said, “never to stretch this unless you want to make something particular out of it.”

“Will ye step aboard, my dearest?” sang the Fairy Woman as she sailed away.

“Will ye step aboard, my dearest? for the high seas lie before us.
So I sailed adown the river in those days without alloy.
We are launched! But when, I wonder, shall a sweeter sound float o’er us
Than yon ‘pull’e haul’e, pull’e haul’e, yoy! heave, hoy!’”

All Jack had to do to make his magic boat go wherever he wished was to give it a command, so he ordered it to float up the river to Fairy-land.

It was not long before the towers of the castle of the Queen of Fairy-land could be seen in the distance; and soon the castle, with its beautiful gardens, was close beside them along the river bank. But Jack did not dare to enter the castle until he was sure of a shelter of his own. So he pulled and pulled at the piece of purple silk, until it became large enough to make a splendid canopy like a tent. It roofed in all the after-part of the boat, so now he had a delightful little home of his own, and there was no fear of its being blown away, for no wind ever blows in Fairy-land.

TO THE PALACE

When the Fairy Woman went back to her people she took all of the fairy children with her, and left only Mopsa with Jack. Now, Jack carefully washed her face, and put a beautiful clean white frock on her.

“We will go into the Queen’s palace together,” said he.

The Queen greeted Mopsa and Jack very kindly; and every day they went up to the palace, and every night back again to the tent on the little boat.

One song which they liked to sing made Jack rather uncomfortable:

“And all the knights shall woo again,
And all the doves shall coo again,
And all the dreams come true again,
And Jack shall go home.”

Every evening Jack noticed that Mopsa was a little taller, and had grown-up to a higher button on his coat. She looked much wiser, too. “You must learn to read,” said he; and as she made no objection, he arranged daisies and buttercups into the forms of the letters, and she learned nearly all of them in one evening, while crowds of the fairies from the castle looked on, hanging from the boughs and shouting out the names of the letters as Mopsa said them. They were very polite to Jack, for they gathered up all the flowers for him, and emptied them from their little caps at his feet as fast as he wanted them.

MOPSA IS TO BE A QUEEN

Now it seems that as soon as Mopsa was full grown she was destined to be Queen herself. One day, just before dusk, she said to Jack: “Jack, will you give me your little purse that has the silver fourpence in it?”

Now this purse was lined with a nice piece of pale green silk; and when Jack gave it to her, she pulled the silk out and stretched it, just as the fairy woman had done, and it became a most lovely cloak. Then she twisted up her long hair into a coil, fastened it around her head, and called to the fireflies, which were beginning to glitter on the trees; and they came and alighted in a row upon the coil, and turned into diamonds directly! So now Mopsa had a crown and a robe. She was so beautiful that Jack thought he would never be tired of looking at her.

The next morning Jack found that his fairy boat had floated away. He called to it, but it would not return. “Never mind,” said Mopsa, “my country is still waiting for me beyond the purple mountains. I shall never be happy unless we go there, and we can go together on foot.”

So they walked toward the purple mountains hand-in-hand. When night came, and they were too tired to walk any further, the shooting stars began to appear in all directions; and at Mopsa’s command they brought a little cushion, and Jack and Mopsa sat upon it, and the stars carried the two over the paths of the mountains and half-way down the other side. When they awoke the next morning, there spread before them the loveliest garden one ever saw, and among the trees and woods was a most beautiful castle.

“Oh, Jack!” said Mopsa, “I am sure that castle is the place I am to live in. I shall soon be Queen and there I shall reign.”

“And I shall be King there,” said Jack. “Shall I?”

“Yes, if you can,” answered Mopsa; “and in Fairy-land, of course, whatever you can do, you may do.”

It was a long way to the castle; and at last Jack and Mopsa were so tired that they sat down, and Mopsa began to cry.

“Remember,” said Jack, “that you are nearly a Queen, and you can never reach your castle by sitting still.”

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.”

Then she brought her eyes down slowly from the rose-flush in the cloud and looked at him and said, “Jack.”

“Yes,” said Jack, “here I am. What is it that you wish to say?”

She answered, “I am come to give you back your kiss.”

GOOD-BY TO MOPSA

So she stooped forward as she stood on her step and kissed him, and her tears fell on his cheek.

“Farewell,” she said; and she turned and went up the steps into the great hall. Jack gazed at her as she entered, and would fain have followed, but could not stir, the great doors closed together again, and he was left outside. Then he knew, without having been told, that he should never enter them any more.

Suddenly he perceived that reeds were growing up between him and the great doors, and he walked on among them toward the west. Then, as the rosy sky turned gold color, all on a sudden he came to the edge of the reed-bed and walked out upon a rising ground. Jack ran up it, looking for the castle. At last he saw it, lying so far, so very far off that all its clear outlines were lost; and very soon, as it grew dark, they seemed to mingle with the shapes of the hill and the forest.

He looked up into the rosy sky, and held out his arms, and called: “Come! Oh, come!” In a minute or two he saw a little black mark overhead, a small speck, that grew larger and larger. In another instant he saw a red light and a green light; then he heard the winnowing noise of a bird’s great wings, and suddenly the great white bird alighted at his feet and said: “Here I am.”

“I wish to go home,” said Jack.

“That is well,” answered the bird.

As Jack flew through the darkness he thought once again of the little boy who looked just like himself, who lived in the far castle; and he did not feel sure whether he himself was upon the back of the bird or within the castle with Queen Mopsa. Then he fell asleep, and did not dream at all, nor know anything more until the great bird woke him.

“Wake up, now, Jack,” she said, “we are at home.”

As they flew toward the earth Jack saw the church, and the wood, and his father’s house, which seemed to be starting up to meet him. In two seconds he stepped down into the deep grass of his father’s meadow.

“Good-by,” said the great bird. “Make haste and run in, for the dews are falling.” And before he could ask her one question, or even thank her, she made a wide sweep over the grass, beat her magnificent wings and soared away.

JACK COMES HOME

Jack opened the little gate that led into the garden, stole through the shrubbery and came up to the drawing-room window and peeped in. His father and mother were sitting there, his mother sat with her back to the open window, but a candle was burning, and she was reading aloud about a Shepherd Lady and a Lord.

At last his father noticed him, and beckoned him to come in. So Jack did, and got upon his father’s knee, and laid his head on his father’s waistcoat, and wondered what he would think if he should tell him about the fairies that had been in somebody else’s waistcoat pocket. He thought, besides, what a great thing a man is. He had never seen anything so large in Fairy-land, nor so important; so, on the whole, he was glad that he had come back and felt very happy.

“I think,” said his father, “it must be time this man of ours was in bed.”

So his mother kissed him good-night, and he went up into his own room and said his prayers. He got into his little white bed and comfortably fell asleep.