Now it seems that as soon as Mopsa was full grown she was destined to be
Queen herself. One day, just before dusk, she said to Jack: "Jack, will
you give me your little purse that has the silver fourpence in it?"
Now this purse was lined with a nice piece of pale green silk; and when
Jack gave it to her, she pulled the silk out and stretched it, just as
the fairy woman had done, and it became a most lovely cloak. Then she
twisted up her long hair into a coil, fastened it around her head, and
called to the fireflies, which were beginning to glitter on the trees;
and they came and alighted in a row upon the coil, and turned into
diamonds directly! So now Mopsa had a crown and a robe. She was so
beautiful that Jack thought he would never be tired of looking at her.
The next morning Jack found that his fairy boat had floated away. He
called to it, but it would not return. "Never mind," said Mopsa, "my
country is still waiting for me beyond the purple mountains. I shall
never be happy unless we go there, and we can go together on foot."
So they walked toward the purple mountains hand-in-hand. When night
came, and they were too tired to walk any further, the shooting stars
began to appear in all directions; and at Mopsa's command they brought a
little cushion, and Jack and Mopsa sat upon it, and the stars carried
the two over the paths of the mountains and half-way down the other
side. When they awoke the next morning, there spread before them the
loveliest garden one ever saw, and among the trees and woods was a most
beautiful castle.
[Illustration: QUEEN MOPSA FLIES TO HER KINGDOM
FROM A DRAWING BY FLORENCE MARY ANDERSON]
"Oh, Jack!" said Mopsa, "I am sure that castle is the place I am to live
in. I shall soon be Queen and there I shall reign."
"And I shall be King there," said Jack. "Shall I?"
"Yes, if you can," answered Mopsa; "and in Fairy-land, of course,
whatever you can do, you may do."
It was a long way to the castle; and at last Jack and Mopsa were so
tired that they sat down, and Mopsa began to cry.
"Remember," said Jack, "that you are nearly a Queen, and you can never
reach your castle by sitting still."
All of a sudden they heard the sweetest sound in the world; it was the
castle clock, and it was striking twelve at noon. As it finished
striking, they came out at the farther edge of a great bed of reeds,
and here was the castle straight before them.
Inside the castle lived a lovely lady, and when she saw Mopsa she took
her to her arms. "Who are you?" asked the lovely lady.
"I am a Queen," said Mopsa.
"Yes, my sweet Queen," answered the lady, "I know you are."
"Do you promise that you will be kind to me until I grow up?" inquired
Mopsa. "Will you love me and teach me how to reign? I am only ten years
old, and the throne is too big for me to sit upon, but I am Queen."
"Yes," answered the lady, "and I will love you just as if I were your
mother."