Chapter XIX: 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."...]