The Kangaroo seemed overcome with a nervousness; his smiling face creased itself into a thousand little lines of distress, his eyes looked vacant, his manner became flustered. Evidently he was struggling with his emotion. When he had sufficiently recovered he planted his long feet more firmly on their scarlet pattens, and, taking a deep breath, chanted as follows: "With jam I build the walls, And with jam I fill the tarts, With honey-cake I tile the roofs Which crest the pastry towers. The chairs are made of barley-sugar And the tables and napkins are not of custard, Nor of mustard nor of treacle, But I weave them of thin macaroni. "I am the Builder Architect, Who makes the cottages and the tarts, Who knows all about chairs and farms, Who makes the castles and the biscuits With chocolate and nice cornflour. "Where I am--honey, tea, and sugar! Where you are, pepper, ginger, and allspice!" But, since the word "allspice" continued to reverberate through the air, the Confectioner shut his mouth smartly with his finger and thumb. CHAPTER II Smaly installs himself upon one of the Kangaroo's paws: The two little people see some of the inhabitants of this peculiar country: They meet some sugar horses, and they see also a fish which flies and some sponges which walk: The Wigs imagine that Smaly is made of suet: The ebony and crystal spectacles: The Mother of the Crow. Smaly saw that there was no reason to be afraid of this strange creature so he crawled in through the grille of the gate and sat down upon one of the Confectioner's enormous paws. Redy made haste to follow him. No sooner was she settled than a number of strange little beings appeared as though from nowhere and clustered around her, pointing curious fingers at her while they chatted amongst themselves. These little beings were the inhabitants of this strange new country. They nearly all wore gigantic wigs, and sometimes these wigs were so long that they needed a page to carry the last curl as though it were the end of a train. The more Redy looked at these funny little people the greater was the amazement that appeared upon her face. Smaly also was astonished; but he would have died sooner than let his astonishment appear. [Illustration: TO CARRY THE LAST CURL AS THOUGH IT WERE THE END OF A TRAIN]