<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="MIDSUMMER-NIGHT" id="MIDSUMMER-NIGHT"></SPAN>MIDSUMMER-NIGHT.</h2>
<p>The children were very much puzzled what to
do, for it was Midsummer-night, and they
knew that there was a dream belonging to it; but
how to come across it they could not tell. They
knew that the dream had something to do with
fairies, a queen, and all manner of lovely things;
but that was all. At first they thought they would
sit up with the doors and windows open, and the
dog on the steps ready to bark if he saw anything
unusual. Then they felt sure that they could not
dream while they were wide-awake, so three of
them went to bed, and one dozed in a corner of the
porch, with her clothes on. Presently the dog
barked, and two children in their night-gowns ran
out to see, and one took off her night-cap and looked
out of window; but it was only old Nurse coming
back from a long gossip with the village blacksmith's
wife and mother-in-law. So the dog looked
foolish, and Nurse was angry, and put them all to
bed without any more ado.</p>
<p>"Oh," they cried, "but the fairies, and the queen,
and the flowers! What shall we do to see them?"</p>
<p>"Go to sleep," said Nurse, "and the dream may
come to you;—you can't go to a dream," she
added, for you see she was just a peasant woman,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</SPAN></span>
and had never travelled far, or into any land but
her own.</p>
<p>So the children shut their eyes tightly and went
to sleep, and I think that they saw something, for
their eyes were very bright next morning, and one of
them whispered to me, softly, "The queen wore a
wreath of flowers last night, dear mother, and, oh,
she was very beautiful."</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.