CHAPTER II.
A JOKE ON THE PRINCE.
"Perhaps we shouldn't talk so much, or we may awaken the little Prince and Princess," cautioned the fairy. "Also, they might see the light from my wand-star and wonder if somebody was taking their beautiful flowers, so we had better hurry on. It's early in the evening, yet we want to have all the fun that we can before daybreak comes. Be very quiet for just a moment and I'll call a Ramble-Along to give us a lift."
"But I don't want to go anywhere without the Prince and Princess," said Peggy Pink. "Both of them have been so kind to us. They might come out to see us and be disappointed in not finding us here."
"And we never have been able to talk to them, except in the flower language," added Peggy's cousin, Claude Carnation. "Please have our little master and mistress go with us, so that we may really talk to them."
"Why, of course, they may go with us," replied the kind fairy Moon Queen. "It's really very thoughtful of you to remember them so tenderly. It is a pity that everybody doesn't always remember and try to return a kindness, just as you Flower Folks now wish to do. Remain right where you are and I'll get the Prince and Princess."
Quicker than a flash, the fairy rose into the air and alighted upon the window ledge of Princess Patricia's room. Then she reached in and held her wand-star just above the sleeping girl's face. The Princess immediately began to rub her eyes as Moon Queen said:
- "Zickity! zickity! zat!
- Wake up, little Princess Pat,
- To your flowers, if you'll try!"
"Oh, where am I?" exclaimed the princess
"Now, don't be one bit frightened, my dear girl, for I only came to take you to your flowers," replied Moon Queen. "They are now little people and have insisted that you come and talk with them."
"Oh, isn't that just wonderful!" exclaimed the Princess, as she clapped her hands together rapturously and began to scramble out of bed. "To think that I will hear my beautiful flowers really talk to me when I speak to them - something I have always wished to do. May I look out of the window and see them?"
"No, dear, not until we have awakened your brother," answered Moon Queen. "Then we shall fly down into the garden and meet the flower folks, so follow me to Prince Philip's window and see how funny he acts when I flash my wand-star in his eyes. But don't laugh too loud, or you might awaken everybody else in Carol Castle."
The little Princess nodded her head very vigorously as a solemn promise that she wouldn't "smile out loud" too much, and then felt herself being wafted through the air. On through the window she went, floating gracefully along beside the fairy until they finally reached her brother's window. But she almost broke her promise when the wand-star was flashed just above Prince Philip's face and he leaped out of bed and began to run around the room just as if he was running a race with somebody. His mouth and eyes were wide open, but although he tried his best to yell, the only sound made was a comical sort of grunt, much like that of a pig being chased across the barnyard.
Then, suddenly, he awakened enough to recover his voice just as he caught sight of the fairy and his twin-sister laughing at his funny antics. "Ha! ha! I'm some sight, all right," he laughed, trying to join in the fun as best he could. "But what I want to know is where the joke comes in, anyway! Sis, this is only one of your tricks to scare me after I said yesterday that I wasn't afraid of anything at night. But who on earth did you get to dress up like a fairy and stick an electric light in my face?" "WHO DID I GET TO DRESS UP LIKE A FAIRY!" repeated Princess Patricia, her eyes lighting up with wondrous astonishment. "Why, Phil, you must be very careful what you say, for she happens to be a REAL fairy who wants us to come with her and then talk with our flowers that she has changed into REAL little people!"
"Ho! ho! do you ever expect me to believe that!" laughed the Prince. "Why, there is no such thing as a real fairy, so what's --"
But whatever the Prince intended to say, he didn't get any further with it before Moon Queen suddenly extended her wand toward him until the brilliant star on its end almost touched his nose, and then slowly pulled the wand toward herself. Even Princess Patricia became excited when she saw her brother continue to follow the star, just as if his nose was glued to it, and didn't stop until he stood right before the fairy. His eyes were so close to the wand-star that they blinked and sparkled like diamonds, but he didn't say a word, not even when Moon Queen began to chant:
- "Come, Prince Philip, you must go
- Where the flowers wait below;
- You shall fly and follow me!"
The prince followed the star just as if his nose was glued to it.
In less time than it takes to tell it, both the Prince and Princess found themselves being whisked through the air so rapidly that nobody with the most powerful telescopes could have seen them. As lightly as any bird, they alighted upon the green grass of the garden and were surprised to see several odd little people gathered there. They were the Flower Folks.