how they squeaked to one another, and how
they had little hooks in their wings, with which they held the large
wing that we sat on."

"But I saw something," said Mopsa. "Just as the sun rose I looked
down, and in the loveliest garden I ever saw, and all among trees and
woods, I saw a most beautiful castle. O, Jack! I am sure that castle
is the place I am to live in, and now we have nothing to do but to
find it. I shall soon be a queen, and there I shall reign."

"Then I shall be king there," said Jack; "shall I?"

"Yes, if you can," answered Mopsa. "Of course, whatever you can do
you may do. And, Jack, this is a much better fairy country than either
the stony land or the other that we first came to, for this castle is
a real place! It will not melt away. There the people can work, they
know how to love each other: common fairies cannot do that, I know.
They can laugh and cry, and I shall teach them several things that
they do not know yet. Oh! do let us make haste and find the castle."

So they arose; but they turned the wrong way, and by mistake walked
farther and farther in among the reeds, whose feathery heads puffed
into Mopsa's face, and Jack's coat was all covered with the fluffy
seed.

"This is very odd," said Jack. "I thought this was only a small bed of
reeds when we stepped into it; but really we must have walked a mile
already."

But they walked on and on, till Mopsa grew quite faint, and her sweet
face became very pale, for she knew that the beds of reeds were
spreading faster than they walked, and then they shot up so high that
it was impossible to see over their heads; so at last Jack and Mopsa
were so tired that they sat down, and Mopsa began to cry.

However, Jack was the braver of the two this time, and he comforted
Mopsa, and told her that she was nearly a queen, and would never reach
her castle by sitting still. So she got up and took his hand, and he
went on before, parting the reeds and pulling her after him, till all
on a sudden they heard the sweetest sound in the world; it was like a
bell, and it sounded again and again.

It was the castle clock, and it was striking twelve at noon.

As it finished striking they came out at the farther edge of the great
bed of reeds, and there was the castle straight before them,--a
beautiful castle, standing on the slope of a hill. The grass all about
it was covered with beautiful flowers; two of the taller turrets were
overgrown with ivy, and a flag w