Chapter XVIII: At Last

And then Mother Goose called them to the table, where supper was already waiting, and they began to eat. The children were very hungry, and it seemed to them that they had never had such good things to eat in all their lives. But afterward when they tried to remember what they had had, they found that was a misty blank.

Then after supper they sat around the fire, and Mother Goose got out her spinning-wheel and sang to them all the dear, wonderful, foolish songs that every child knows—or ought to know.

And she made a song about the rescue of Humpty Dumpty. You have all heard it, but don’t you wish you could have heard it when it was first made up, as Bab and Meg and Dick did, by the cheerful little fire in Mother Goose’s cottage?

This is the way it went, and she spun as she sang:

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall;
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!
Not all the King’s horses, nor all the King’s men
Could ever put Humpty Dumpty together again!

—I’m glad to say,” she added, smiling.

“Mother Goose,” said Dick, rather shyly, “do—do you think that we could be pardoned now for—for not believing in—in—Make Believe things?”

“I’m sure of it,” answered Mother Goose. “You are no longer stupid little unbelieving children, with dull eyes and deaf ears,—you have learned to believe in the most wonderful things in any world—which are the Make Believe things,—and you will be thankful all your lives. And do you know whom you have to thank for all this?”

“You,” said Dick.

“Santa Claus!” suggested Bab.

“The Fairy Queen?” questioned Meg.

Mother Goose shook her head.

“In Make Believe Land,” she said, “there are many kingdoms, and we are all rulers in our own way. But over us all is placed a great and wonderful Queen. She is the real ruler of Make Believe Land.”

“Oh, who is she?” cried all three children. “Can’t we see her before we go?”

“You have all seen her,” replied Mother Goose. “Guess, if you can, who she is!”

They thought hard for a moment.

“The Idle Princess!” exclaimed Bab.

“Dreams-Come-True!” cried Meg.

“The Fairy of Fancy!” guessed Dick.

Mother Goose smiled approvingly at them.

“Well guessed!” she said. “For you are every one of you right!”

“Why—what—how—” gasped the three. “Is she—”

“You must have guessed that she was the lady who appeared to all of you,” said Mother Goose. “You all saw her when you were in Santa Claus’s sleigh.”

“We had forgotten!” they declared. “We were so excited! Oh, Mother Goose, was _she_ the—”

“She takes a great many shapes, this great Queen of ours,” said Mother Goose. “Indeed, she says that no one knows, nor ever will know, her real name. Sometimes she wears a ragged dress, and often she forgets her crown and leaves it at home; but whether she is an Idle Princess, or a Lady of Dreams-Come-True, or a Fairy of Fancy,—she is always our beloved lady,—whom I hope you will know and love, too, all your lives long,—the dear, immortal, young, ancient girl-queen of Make Believe Land.”

“Shall we see her again?” they asked in low voices.

“That,” said Mother Goose, with a little smile, “depends upon yourselves. To those who love her she is always ready to come. But from those who forget her, or slight her, or try to live without her, she is careful to keep away. When you want her, she will be with you. Your eyes have been opened by your stay here, so that you will always be able to recognise her. Many people in the Real World meet her face to face, but do not know who she is. But in all times of great happiness or trouble, in all summer nights or snowstorms, and in all your dreams and hopes, and later in whatever romance life may have thrown your lots,—you will see her in her green gown smiling at you from under her little crown of stars.”

“Mother,” interrupted Bizzybuzz, respectfully, “are the mortal children to go home, now that their work is done?”

“Yes,” said Mother Goose, and looked just a wee bit sad,—“yes, yes! Of course they must go home! Come, my children, come and kiss me good-bye!”

She drew them all three into her arms, and kissed them, one by one. Then Humpty Dumpty and the Princess said good-bye, and Star cried a little.

“Oh, dear!” sighed Bab. “Shall we never come back to Make Believe Land any more?”

“My dears,” said Mother Goose, “I am going to tell you something which you may not understand for a great many years. But it is true all the same. The Real World, as it is called, is nothing at all but a very small corner of Make Believe Land!”

Then she drew them once more into her arms, and held them close, and they felt themselves growing sleepier and sleepier, and the warm comfort of her arms seemed to wrap them round closely and happily. They felt as though they were in their mother’s arms at home, and they knew suddenly that they had become nothing but little, little babies, and that their heads were nodding against Mother Goose’s breast.

And as they lay so in her arms, she began to rock them softly to and fro, and croon the queerest, quaintest little lullaby to them. They did not know in the least what it was all about, but it was drowsy and motherly, and made them think of night-lights, and bath-tubs, and coverlids pulled up close and warm on winter nights. And then they knew that, whatever it was, it was what they always seemed to hear when their mother used to creep into their room during a thunder-storm, “just to see that they were all right and not frightened!”

Held so in Mother Goose’s arms, they all dreamed—for they were almost asleep, you know—that they saw a nightgowned figure, stealing close and closer, lowering the light, and softly mending the fire; and a dear dream voice whispered: “Hush, darling, hush! It’s only Mamma. Go to sleep.” And then came a kiss as light as a breath. Their minds seemed confused; was it their own mother or Mother Goose? They never knew, for the next moment, and before they had time to decide, they were all three fast asleep.

* * * * *

When they opened their eyes,—it seemed but one dreamy minute later,—they were all three back on the nursery hearth-rug. The fire was almost out, and Nurse was just coming in.

“Bedtime, dearies,” she said. “Have you been asleep already?”

The children looked at each other.

Was it only fancy, or did they hear the faint whirr of Bizzybuzz’s wings as he flew away?

Transcribers Notes

Spelling isn’t always consistent. For some words several variants can be encountered e.g. “sword-fish” and “swordfish”. Principally no corrections have been made. However, there are some rather obvious printing errors that have been corrected. These are listed below.

Corrections:

Frontispiece: “Page 26” changed to “Page 34” to correspond with the list of illustrations Page 53 “fox terrier” changed to “fox-terrier” Page 66 Single quote changed to double quote Page 69 Period inserted between “forest” and “She” Page 76 “shapened” changed to “sharpened” Page 142 “really” changed to “real” Pages 148 and 149 “Moon Eyes” changed to “Moon-Eyes” Page 169 “Moon-eyes” changed to “Moon-Eyes”

The text contains formatting. The following conventions are used: _word_ means that “word” is in italics; +word+ means that “word” is in small caps.