The Zankiwank and The Bletherwitch Part 2

"It isn't you! It isn't you!

We none of us know what to do,"

in a very serio-comic manner. Then the Storks and the Cranes and the Geese and the Ganders were standing in a circle singing:--

Sally, Sally Waters, Sitting in the Moon, With the camel's daughters, All through the afternoon!

Oh Sally! Bo Sally!

Where's your dusting pan; My Sally! Fie Sally!

Here is your young man!

In another part the Crabs, the Sheep, and the Fox, were vowing that London Bridge was Broken Down, because they had not half-a-crown, which seemed a curious reason. Then all the rest of the wild creatures, Birds, Beasts, and Fishes, commenced an extraordinary dance, singing, croaking, flapping their fins and spreading their wings, to these words:--

We are a crowd of jolly boys, All romping on the lea; We always make this merry noise, When we return from sea.

So we go round and round and round, Because we've come ash.o.r.e; For Topsy Turvey we are bound, So round again once more.

Go in and out of the coppice, Go in and out at the door; And do not wake the poppies, Who want to have a snore.

It was too ridiculous; they could recognise every animal they had read about in aesop, and they were all behaving in a manner they little dreamed could be possible, out of a Night-mare. But it certainly was not a Night-mare, though they could distinguish several horses and ponies.

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They never seemed to stop in their games, and even the Ants and the Gnats were playing--and above all a game of football,--though as some played according to a.s.sociation and some to Rugby rules, of course it was rather perplexing to the on-lookers. When they grew tired of watching the Animal World enjoying their holiday, they turned to consult King aesop, but to their astonishment, he was not near them--he had vanished! And when they turned round the other way the Animals had vanished too, and they were quite alone. Indeed everything seemed to disappear, even the light that had been their guide so long, and they began to tremble with fear and apprehension.

Not a sound was to be heard, and darkness gradually fell around them.

They held each other by the hand, and determined to go forward, but to their dismay they could not move! They were glued to the earth. They tried to speak, but their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths, and they were in great distress. "Where, Oh where was the Zankiw.a.n.k?"

they wondered in their thoughts. And a buzzing in their ears took up the refrain:--

The Zankiw.a.n.k, the Zankiw.a.n.k, Oh where, Oh where is the Zankiw.a.n.k?

He brought us here, and much we fear His conduct's far from Franky-w.a.n.k!

The Zankiw.a.n.k, the Zankiw.a.n.k, He has gone to seek the Bletherwitch, Oh the Zankiw.a.n.k, 'tis a panky prank To leave us here to die in a ditch.

"A telegram, did you say? For me, of course, what an age you have been.

How is my blus.h.i.+ng bride? Let me see--

'_From the Bletherwitch, Nonsuch Street, To the Zankiw.a.n.k, Nodland._

Forgot my new shoes, and the housemaid's killed the parrot. Put the kettle on.'"

Then the children heard some sobbing sound soughing through the silence and they knew that they were saved. Also that the Zankiw.a.n.k was weeping.

So with a strong effort Maude managed to call out consolingly, "Zankiw.a.n.ky, dear! don't cry, come and let me comfort you."

But the Zankiw.a.n.k refused to be comforted. However, he came forward muttering an incantation of some sort, and Maude and Willie finding themselves free, rushed forward and greeted him.

"Hush, my dears, the Nargalnannacus is afloat on the wild, wild main. We must be careful and depart, or he will turn us into something unpleasant--the last century or may be the next, as it is close at hand, and inexpensive. Follow me to the s.h.i.+p that is waiting in the Bay Window, and we will go and get some Floranges."

Carefully Maudie and Willie followed the Zankiw.a.n.k, each holding on by the tails of his coat, glad enough to go anywhere out of the Blackness of the Dark.

Soon they found themselves in Window Bay, and climbing up the sides of a mighty s.h.i.+p with five funnels and a red-haired captain.

"Quick," called the Captain, "the Nargalnannacus is on the lee scuppers just off the jibboom brace. Make all sail for the Straights of Ballambangjan, and mind the garden gate."

Then the Zankiw.a.n.k became the man at the wheel, and the vessel scudded before the wind as the two children went off into a trance.

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Part II

The Fairies' Feather and Flower Land

_Faery elves, Whose midnight revels, by a forest side Or fountain, some belated peasant sees, Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon Sits arbitress._ MILTON.

_O then I see Queen Mab hath been with you: She is the fairies' midwife; and she comes In shape no bigger than an agate-stone On the fore-finger of an alderman, Drawn with a train of little atomies, Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep._ SHAKESPEARE.

The Fairies' Feather and Flower Land

How long Maude and Willie had been rocking in the cradle of the deep they could not tell, nor how long it took them to steam through the Straits of Ballambangjan, for everything was exceptionally bleak and blank to them. By the way, if you cannot find the Straits of Ballambangjan in your Geography or on the Map, you should consult the first sailor you meet, and he will give you as much information on the subject as any boy or girl need require.

Both children experienced that curious sensation of feeling asleep while they were wide awake, and feeling wide awake when they imagined themselves to be asleep, just as one does feel sometimes in the early morning, when the sun is beginning to peep through the blinds, and the starlings are chattering, and the sparrows are tweeting under the eaves, outside the window.

They were no longer on the vessel that had borne them away from Fableland, and the approach of the Nargalnannacus, a fearsome creature whom n.o.body has yet seen, although most of us may not have heard about him.

The obliging Zankiw.a.n.k was with them, and when they looked round they found themselves in a square field festooned with the misty curtains of the Elfin Dawn.

"Of course," said the Zankiw.a.n.k, "this is Midsummer Day, and very soon it will be Midsummer Night, and you will see some wonders that will outwonder all the wonders that wonderful people have ever wondered both before and afterwards. Listen to the Flower-Fairies--not the garden flowers, but the wild-flowers; they will sing you a song, while I beat time--not that there is any real need to beat Time, because he is a most respectable person, though he always contrives to beat us."

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Both children would have liked to argue out this speech of the Zankiw.a.n.k because it puzzled them, and they felt it would not pa.r.s.e properly.

However, as just at that moment the Elfin Orchestra appeared, they sat on the gra.s.s and listened:--

THE ELFIN DAWN.

This is the Elfin Dawn, When ev'ry Fay and Faun, Trips o'er the earth with joy and mirth, And Pleasure takes the maun.

Night's noon stars coyly peep, O'er dale and dene and deep, And Fairies fair float through the air, Love's festival to keep.

We dance and sing in the Welkin Ring, While Heather Bells go Ding-dong-ding!

To greet the Elfin Dawn.

The Flower-fairies spread each wing, And trip about with mincing ging, Upon the magic lawn.