... I have written Mimi's last dream from the child's dictation:--[23]
--"I saw a ball," she says. "I was dreaming: I saw everybody dancing
with masks on;--I was looking at them. And all at once I saw that the
folks who were dancing were all made of pasteboard. And I saw a
commandeur: he asked me what I was doing there. I answered him: 'Why, I
saw a ball, and I came to look--what of it?' He answered me:--'Since you
are so curious to come and look at other folks' business, you will have
to stop here and dance too!' I said to him:--'No! I won't dance with
people made of pasteboard;--I am afraid of them!'... And I ran and ran
and ran,--I was so much afraid. And I ran into a big garden, where I saw
a big cherry-tree that had only leaves upon it; and I saw a man sitting
under the cherry-tree. He asked me:--'What are you doing here?' I said
to him:--'I am trying to find my way out.' He said:--'You must stay
here.' I said:--'No, no!'--and I said, in order to be able to get
away:--'Go up there!--you will see a fine ball: all pasteboard people
dancing there, and a pasteboard commandeur commanding them!'... And then
I got so frightened that I awoke."...
... "And why were you so afraid of them, Mimi?" I ask.
--"_Pace yo té toutt vide endedans!_" answers Mimi. (_Because they were
all hollow inside!_)
[Footnote 23:--"Moin té ouè yon bal;--moin rêvé: moin té ka ouè toutt
moune ka dansé masqué; moin té ka gàdé. Et toutt-à-coup moin ka ouè c'est
bonhomme-càton ka dansé. Et main ka ouè yon Commandè: y ka mandé moin
ça moin ka fai là. Moin reponne y conm ça:--'Moin ouè yon bal, moin
gàdé-coument!' Y ka réponne moin:--'Pisse ou si quirièse pou vini gàdé
baggaïe moune, faut rété là pou dansé 'tou.' Moin réponne y:--'Non! moin
pa dansé épi bonhomme-càton!--moin pè!'... Et moin ka couri, moin ka
couri, main ka couri à fòce moin te ni pè. Et moin rentré adans grand
jàdin; et moin ouè gouôs pié-cirise qui té chàgé anni feuill; et moin ka
ouè yon nhomme assise enba cirise-à. Y mandé moin:--'Ça ou ka fai là?'
Moin di y:--'Moin ka châché chimin pou moin allé.' Y di moin:--'Faut
rété içitt.' Et moin di y:--'Non!'--et pou chappé cò moin, moin di
y:--'Allé enhaut-là: ou ké ouè yon bel bal,--toutt bonhomme-càton ka
dansé, épi yon Commande-en-càton ka coumandé yo.'... Epi moin levé, à
fòce moin té pè."...]