“What do you think about this?” asked the Princess. “If a little child—so tall”—she showed, with her hand—“follows a beautiful lady with a lantern hung on her arm, don’t you think, once in a great while, his round little head _might_ come in the way, and interfere with its light?” “It did. That was it,” said the Kitten comfortably. Then, with Lady Moon throwing leaf patterns and white light down upon them, and the whole world very still, the Princess told them a song:— “Who loves to follow wherever you roam, Lady Moon?” “Bee Baby.” “Is he happy in Starland?—so far from his home?” “He may be. “Over Milky-Way meadows Fly the bees, living gold; There he strays, blessed Lamb, Safe, with love for his fold.” “Who comes to nestle so close in your arm, Lady Moon?” “Bee Baby.” “Is he falling asleep, to a Starland lullaby’s charm?” “Hush—he may be!” VIII ANDROMEDA’S BIRTHDAY “Nine more days, And then comes a birthday,” the Kitten sang, over and over, making different tunes each time. She sang it softly, to herself, but it was loud enough to be heard. “Dear-my-soul!” said the Princess. “Whatever will happen when you’re a seven-year-longlegs, ’stead of six? Skeeters, you know.” The Kitten stopped singing and rubbed her leg where there were lumpy spots above her socks. “She’ll have stockings when they get too long,” said Pat. “And the next thing we know, she’ll begin to be a Cat! Why don’t you have birthdays like the Star People’s?” “What kind?” asked the Kitten. “Steady and reliable,” said the Princess. “Everybody is exactly the right age to begin, and then they never grow any older.” “But they are different ages,” Pat objected. “The right age for _them_,” the Princess explained. “Haven’t you noticed that they were?” The Others thought about it for a minute, and decided that they couldn’t very well be different. “But if they are always going along the same, perhaps they wouldn’t notice their birthdays,” said Phyllisy. “Indeed, they would,” said the Princess, earnestly. “They’re particularly good about remembering dates and anniversaries and times of the year. And they’d never think of letting a birthday go by without noticing it.” “Would they have a party?” asked the Kitten. “They do usually. Do you think it would help you along a little through one of those nine days, to hear about one of them?” And the Kitten seemed to think it would. “Whose birthday is it going to be?” asked Pat.