When the Fairy Woman went back to her people she took all of the fairy
children with her, and left only Mopsa with Jack. Now, Jack carefully
washed her face, and put a beautiful clean white frock on her.
"We will go into the Queen's palace together," said he.
The Queen greeted Mopsa and Jack very kindly; and every day they went up
to the palace, and every night back again to the tent on the little
boat.
One song which they liked to sing made Jack rather uncomfortable:
"And all the knights shall woo again,
And all the doves shall coo again,
And all the dreams come true again,
And Jack shall go home."
Every evening Jack noticed that Mopsa was a little taller, and had
grown-up to a higher button on his coat. She looked much wiser, too.
"You must learn to read," said he; and as she made no objection, he
arranged daisies and buttercups into the forms of the letters, and she
learned nearly all of them in one evening, while crowds of the fairies
from the castle looked on, hanging from the boughs and shouting out the
names of the letters as Mopsa said them. They were very polite to Jack,
for they gathered up all the flowers for him, and emptied them from
their little caps at his feet as fast as he wanted them.