"But," said Lulu, who also wept at seeing the good Queen in trouble,
"why can we not find this Wicked Fairy and ask whether he has these
things? Perhaps we can get them back again. I could carry the White
Cricket in my pocket, and Zuzu could carry the shadow, if it were not
too large, and so we could manage in some way to get back up the Golden
Ladder, even if your Majesty could not send us in the Bumblebee
Express."
"Could you do that, my dears?" said the Fairy Queen, "would you be so
good as to do these kind things for me?"
"Certainly," said Lulu, "we should be glad to. We do not want to go away
from you, for this is the loveliest place we have ever seen in all our
lives, but mamma will be anxious about us before long; and since you,
too, would like the poor King to have back his shadow again, perhaps you
would not mind if we go back for a time. We will come again whenever you
telephone and ask us to do so; for you must know that we have thrones
near the King, and he tells us everything he does. We should like you to
get us past the Dragon, for we might not be able to get off the Dragon's
leg so easily the next time; and if we did not, there might be all sorts
of trouble."
"But what shall I do without you, my dears?" said the Fairy Queen. "I
wanted you to join my dear little pages, Fofo and Fifi, at my throne;
then I should have had four pages--two boys and two girls--and with the
most beautiful hair in all the world. I love you so much, my dears, that
I can not bear to have you go away."
"In my opinion," said Zuzu thoughtfully, "the best way would be for you
and the King to make some sort of arrangement about the Dragon and the
Golden Ladder. In that case it might be easy to turn the two kingdoms
into one. And what is the use of having two thrones, one here and one
there, if one will do quite as well?"
As she heard these words the face of the Fairy Queen was wreathed in
smiles. "How I love you, my dear boy!" said she. "But, alas!" she added
with a sigh, "that is impossible, I fear. Although I can give wishes to
others outside my kingdom, when I wish anything for myself outside my
kingdom, I have no power."
"But," cried Lulu gleefully, "here are our two Wishing Wands, given us
by the King, and each of them has a wish left unwished. Will not these
two wishes be enough? See, we shall wish just as you wish, because you
have been so good to us."
"Ah! my children," said the Fairy Queen, trembling with eagerness, "be
careful what you say. Pray do not wish for anything until I have had
time to think! Tell me, my dears, when you are back in the country of
the King whence you came hither, will you then wish the wish which I
wish also?"
"Truly we will!" they both said in reply.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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