Toyland

There's a story no one knows, But myself, about a rose And a fairy and a star Where the Toyland people are. Once when I had gone to bed, Mother said it was a dream, From a rose above my head, Growing by the window-beam, Out there popped a fairy's head. II. And he nodded at me: smiled: Said, 'You're fond of stories, eh? Well, I know a star each child Ought to know. It's far away Foryour kind, but not for me. I will take you to that star, Where you'll hear new stories; see? Close your eyes. It is n't far That is, 't is n't far for me.' III. And he'd hardly spoken when From the rose there came a moth; And before you'd counted ten We were on it, and were both Flying to that star that made Silver sparkles in the air. And, though I was not afraid, I was glad when we were there, And the moth was stabled white In a lily-bud, and we Went to find the fay or sprite Who, he said, would welcome me. IV. And we found her.'T was n't long Till we heard a twittering song, And a toy-bird with white eyes Flew before us from the skies, Like those in my Noah's Ark, And we followed it; and came To the strangest land: our park Is just like it, just the same. Toy-trees, squirrels, birds and brooks, And a castle on the hill, Just like those in story-books; And upon its windowsill Leaned a lovely Princess. She Smiled at me, and that was all, As a doll smiles; and to me She was like a great big doll. V. Then, before I knew it, I Was inside her palace, there In the room; and everywhere Dolls and story-books and, my! All the dolls began to sing Rhymes, or read; and others told Stories just like everything: Better stories than the old Ones my father reads me in Mother Goose and books like Grimm, That he hates so to begin: Tales for which I bother him, Since, he says, both tales and rhymes He has read a thousand times. VI. Blue Beard and the Yellow Dwarf, And the lovely Rapunzel, She whose hair was once a scarf For a prince to climb by; Nell, Little Nell, or else her twin, Who, somehow, had happened in, And the Sleeping Beauty, who Seemed asleep and sat there dumb; Hansel and sweet Grethel too, Snow-dropp and Hop-o'-my-Thumb; Rumpelstiltzkin, Riding Hood, And the Babes-lost-in-the-Wood, Met around a little table, Where I sat beside a Queen, Queen of Hearts, and, dressed in green, Robin Hood, a-eating tarts, While old Æsop told a fable, Sitting by the King of Hearts. VII. And the waiters were Bo Peep, Knave of Hearts and Marjory Daw; Boy Blue, slow as if asleep, And the Woman who slept on Straw. And the little dishes all, Though they seemed so, were not small; Painted blue and green and gold With the stories I'd heard told, Pictures forming of themselves, Of the Elf Queen and the Elves. Never, never have I seen Service like it. Then the talk! All about the Fairy Queen And the Land of Tarts and Pies, Where those three fat brothers go, Greedygut, with tiny eyes Like a pig's; and Sleepyhead, With his candle, going to bed; And old creepy-footed Slow. Of these three they made great talk, And that Land where Scarecrows stalk, And the Jack-o'-Lanterns grow, Row on glaring goblin row. VIII. Suddenly, among them there, At my back, above my chair, Cried a Cuckoo Clock, and why! There I was back home; and I Was n't nowhere but in bed And my mother standing by Smiling at me. I could cry When I think the things they said That I can'tremember now Though I try and try and try. But I knowthis anyhow: I was in that star, I know, And in Toyland. Does n't seem Anything but true, although Mother says it was a dream.