...."

"Light!" cried Mummy Tyl, laughing. "Why, of course, it's light....
Has been for ever so long!... What's the matter with you?... You look
quite blinded...."

"Mummy!... Mummy!" said Tyltyl, rubbing his eyes. "It's you!..."

"Why, of course, it's I!... Why do you stare at me in that way?... Is
my nose turned upside down, by any chance?"

Tyltyl was quite awake by this time and did not trouble to answer the
question. He was beside himself with delight! It was ages and ages
since he had seen his Mummy and he never tired of kissing her.

Mummy Tyl began to be uneasy. What could the matter be? Had her boy
lost his senses? Here he was suddenly talking of a long journey in the
company of the Fairy and Water and Milk and Sugar and Fire and Bread
and Light! He made believe that he had been away a year!...

"But you haven't left the room!" cried Mummy Tyl, who was now nearly
beside herself with fright. "I put you to bed last night and here you
are this morning! It's Christmas Day: don't you hear the bells in the
village?..."

"Of course, it's Christmas Day," said Tyltyl, obstinately, "seeing
that I went away a year ago, on Christmas Eve!... You're not angry
with me?... Did you feel very sad?... And what did Daddy say?..."

"Come, you're still asleep!" said Mummy Tyl, trying to take comfort.
"You've been dreaming!... Get up and put on your breeches and your
little jacket...."

"Hullo, I've got my shirt on!" said Tyltyl.

And, leaping up, he knelt down on the bed and began to dress, while
his mother kept on looking at him with a scared face.

The little boy rattled on:

"Ask Mytyl, if you don't believe me.... Oh, we have had such
adventures!... We saw Grandad and Granny ... yes, in the Land of
Memory ... it was on our way. They are dead, but they are quite well,
aren't they, Mytyl?"

And Mytyl, who was now beginning to wake up, joined her brother in
describing their visit to the grandparents and the fun which they had
had with their little brothers and sisters.

This was too much for Mummy Tyl. She ran to the door of the cottage
and called with all her might to her husband, who was working on the
edge of the forest:

"Oh, dear, oh, dear!" she cried. "I shall lose them as I lost the
others!... Do come!... Come quick...."

Daddy Tyl soon entered the cottage, with his axe in his hand; he
listened to his wife's lamentations, while the two Children told the
story of their adventures over again and asked him w