“The same, your Majesty,” answered the fairy next to Thumb, and as she spoke she made a most curious bow with her whole body bent over from the ankles, so that she looked like a finger pointing straight and stern. “And Middleman?” asked the fairy queen, addressing the tallest of the five. “Most excellently, your Majesty,” replied Middleman. He was so tall and dignified he scarcely bowed at all. “Circlet next,” said the queen, and the fourth little fairy made a correct bow from the waist, like a polite gentleman at a ball. “Delightfully, your Majesty,” he said. “And how did your day go, Little One?” said the queen, turning to the smallest of the fairies. [Illustration: 8041] “It was a beautiful day, your Majesty,” she replied, and made a little curly looking bow so that her hair touched the floor. “Ah, then,” said the queen, “let us refresh ourselves.” So they all gathered around the table and the bees and butterflies began to serve them--all but Bobbie; for the bubble was still as smooth as glass. He remembered how he had tried to get a drink in the Milky Way, and looked at the queen questioningly. She turned to him. “You cannot leave your fairy balloon, Bobbie,” she said, “unless you will stay with us a hundred years. But you need only wish for whatever you would like to eat, and you will find it in your hand.” [Illustration: 0043] So Bobbie wished for one delicious thing after another, and each tasted better than the last. As the sun went down, fireflies danced into the bower and lighted it with their tiny candles until the moon spread its soft white light over all the land. Then, the fairy banquet finished, the queen rose from the table. “Now for a frolic,” she said to Bobbie, and as the Right-hand Fairies circled about them she led the way to where all the fairies of Flowerland were dancing on the green. Bobbie, of course, could not dance, shut up in the bubble, but Bobbie wished for one delicious thing after another he was so interested in watching the fairies' graceful, fantastic figures and mischievous pranks, he never thought of dancing himself; and when at cockcrow the fairies suddenly slipped out of sight in the flowers, he could scarcely believe it was day. [Illustration: 0044] Back to the bower floated the bubble, and Bobbie slept until the sun was high in the morning sky. Then the fairy queen called him, and he awoke to see the Rainbow Fairies just outside. They were seated on brilliant butterflies which were harnessed to a spiderweb net. “To-day you shall visit the Rainbow,” said the queen. “And see the pot of gold?” asked Bobbie. “Yes,” answered the fairy, “and all the countless treasures the Rainbow Dwarf guards there.” [Ill 945] Then the Rainbow Fairies slipped down from the butterflies and threw the silken strands of the spiderweb net over the bubble. The fairy queen mounted her own golden butterfly, and away they flew. [Illustration: 0047]