with it she cut off a very
small piece of the skirt of her robe and gave it to him. "Now I advise
you," she said, "never to stretch this unless you want to make something
particular out of it."

"Will ye step aboard, my dearest?" sang the Fairy Woman as she sailed
away.

"Will ye step aboard, my dearest? for the high seas lie
before us.
So I sailed adown the river in those days without alloy.
We are launched! But when, I wonder, shall a sweeter sound
float o'er us
Than yon 'pull'e haul'e, pull'e haul'e, yoy! heave, hoy!'"

All Jack had to do to make his magic boat go wherever he wished was to
give it a command, so he ordered it to float up the river to Fairy-land.

It was not long before the towers of the castle of the Queen of
Fairy-land could be seen in the distance; and soon the castle, with its
beautiful gardens, was close beside them along the river bank. But Jack
did not dare to enter the castle until he was sure of a shelter of his
own. So he pulled and pulled at the piece of purple silk, until it
became large enough to make a splendid canopy like a tent. It roofed in
all the after-part of the boat, so now he had a delightful little home
of his own, and there was no fear of its being blown away, for no wind
ever blows in Fairy-land.

TO THE PALACE

When the Fairy Woman went back to her people she took all of the fairy
children with her, and left only Mopsa with Jack. Now, Jack carefully
washed her face, and put a beautiful clean white frock on her.

"We will go into the Queen's palace together," said he.

The Queen greeted Mopsa and Jack very kindly; and every day they went up
to the palace, and every night back again to the tent on the little
boat.

One song which they liked to sing made Jack rather uncomfortable:

"And all the knights shall woo again,
And all the doves shall coo again,
And all the dreams come true again,
And Jack shall go home."

Every evening Jack noticed that Mopsa was a little taller, and had
grown-up to a higher button on his coat. She looked much wiser, too.
"You must learn to read," said he; and as she made no objection, he
arranged daisies and buttercups into the forms of the letters, and she
learned nearly all of them in one evening, while crowds of the fairies
from the castle looked on, hanging from the boughs and shouting out the
names of the letters as Mopsa said them. They were very polite to Jack,