sa proceeded to the castle between
the two Jacks, and the king's aunt came out to meet them, and welcomed
her husband with tears of joy; for these fairies could laugh and cry
when they pleased, and they naturally considered this a great proof of
superiority.

After this a splendid feast was served under the great dome. The other
fairy feasts that Jack had seen were nothing to it. The prince and his
dame sat at one board, but Mopsa sat at the head of the great table,
with the two Jacks, one on each side of her.

Mopsa was not happy, Jack was sure of that, for she often sighed; and
he thought this strange. But he did not ask her any questions, and he,
with the boy-king, related their adventures to her: how, when the
stone gave way, they tumbled in and rolled down a sloping bank till
they found themselves at the entrance of a beautiful cave, which was
all lighted up with torches, and glittering with stars and crystals of
all the colors in the world. There was a table spread with what looked
like a splendid luncheon in this great cave, and chairs were set
round, but Jack and the boy-king felt no inclination to eat anything,
though they were hungry, for a whole nation of ants were creeping up
the honey-pots. There were snails walking about over the table-cloth,
and toads peeping out of some of the dishes.

So they turned away, and, looking for some other door to lead them
farther in, they at last found a very small one,--so small that only
one of them could pass through at a time.

They did not tell Mopsa all that had occurred on this occasion. It was
thus:

The boy-king said, "I shall go in first, of course, because of my
rank."

"Very well," said Jack, "I don't mind. I shall say to myself that
you've gone in first to find the way for me, because you're my double.
Besides, now I think of it, our Queen always goes last in a
procession; so it's grand to go last. Pass in, Jack."

"No," answered the other Jack; "now you have said that I will not. You
may go first."

So they began to quarrel and argue about this, and it is impossible to
say how long they would have gone on if they had not begun to hear a
terrible and mournful sort of moaning and groaning, which frightened
them both and instantly made them friends. They took tight hold of one
another's hand, and again there came by a loud sighing, and a noise of
all sorts of lamentation, and it seemed to reach them through the
little door.

Each of the boys would now