they left wooden’s aunt in the saloon and went on deck again, and seated themselves in the comfortable chairs under the awning, from which they could observe the scenery. this was very beautiful.
they were now going through a mountain gorge. the river was narrow here, but deep. the mountains came steeply down into the water, and on one side of the river was a road cut in the rock, along which all the animals were walking two by two, pulling the ark at a smart pace. perched up on the mountains here and there were pretty wooden swiss chalets, large and small; and numberless clean wooden cows, with bells round their necks, were browsing in the mountain pastures, which were gay with flowers. the wooden peasants who were looking after them showed great interest in the progress of the ark. they came running down the steep paths to see who was on board, and shouted and waved their hats in their excitement.
by-and-by they had passed through the mountains,[pg 48] and had come to a perfectly flat country, planted with wooden poplars of a vivid green. here and there were farms—dear little wooden houses with doll-farmers living in them, and taking care of more wooden animals, cows and horses, and sheep and pigs. after a time they came to a small town consisting of streets of dolls’ houses, with a church built of toy bricks.
“oh, i would like to go into one of those dear little houses,” said peggy. “can’t we stop here, wooden?”
“we shall see much better dolls’ houses than those when we get to dolltown,” said wooden. “i have got a very nice dolls’ house myself, bigger than any of those. i shall take you there, dear, and you will occupy the spare room. and i will show you the queen’s palace, which is finer than any of them.”
at this moment mrs. noah came forward, and stood by them smiling, as if she would like a little conversation.
“won’t you sit down, mrs. noah?” said lady grace politely; and mrs. noah thanked her and sat down.
mrs. noah was a large smiling woman who liked to make friends. she smiled at lady grace, and wooden, and wooden’s mother, and peggy, and then said suddenly, “i thought you’d like to know how it all was.”
of course they would like to know how it all was,[pg 49] though they didn’t quite know what she meant. so they smiled back at her, and then she began.
“of course he is wood,” she said, “begging your pardon, lady grace, and i ought to like him on that account. but the truth is that i don’t, and can’t.”
there was a little pause, and then wooden’s mother said, nodding her head wisely, “ah, i know who you mean, and i don’t much like him either. i suppose because he’s a foreigner.”
wooden shook her head, but said nothing. lady grace said, “i hate him; but then i’m wax, you see.”
peggy wondered who they were talking about, but just as she was going to ask wooden, mrs. noah looked at her, and said, “why, bless me! the little lady must be thinking that we’re talking in riddles.”
and then she told the following story:—
some time before, a ship had been wrecked on the coast of toyland, and all its passengers drowned except king selim. he had been brought to dolltown, and, because he was a king, queen rosebud had given him a set of rooms in her palace, where he had lived very comfortably ever since.
“what was he king of?” asked peggy.
mrs. noah hesitated. “i really don’t know, dear,” she said. “do you know, wooden?”
[pg 50]
“no,” said wooden. “i never thought of asking.”
it seemed that nobody else had ever thought of asking either. they knew he must be a king because he said he was. besides, he wore a crown. everybody was very sorry for him, because his queen had been drowned when the ship had been wrecked, but when some time had passed and he had got over that, he had become rather interfering, and he was not so much liked now as he had been, especially by the waxes. for although all the dolls in toyland generally lived happily together, still there was always apt to be a little feeling between the waxes and the woodens. the waxes thought the woodens were rather common, and the woodens thought the waxes were rather stuck up.
“of course, speaking for myself,” said mrs. noah, “i’ve never had no quarrel with a wax in my life, and, if i may say so, have as many friends among the waxes as i have among the woodens.”
she looked at lady grace, who said, “the queen has always disliked having anything said against the woodens, and has often told me that if she had not been born wax she would have liked to be born wood.”
there were murmurs of approbation at this speech, and wooden’s mother said, “wax is as wax does, i[pg 51] always say. if all was as polite as the queen, there wouldn’t be no trouble at all. but you haven’t told us about the queen’s health yet, mrs. noah.”
“well,” said mrs. noah, “it’s my belief that the queen is dead.”
“dear, dear!” said wooden’s mother. “and such a nice lady as she was, too.”
“what makes you think that, mrs. noah?” asked lady grace. “surely i should have heard of it if it had been true.”
“well, perhaps you would, lady grace,” said mrs. noah. “anyhow, she is alarmingly ill, and has appointed king selim regent, to act in her place until she gets better. and if she dies, king selim is to reign in her place. you see, the queen having no children, naturally the only other royal person in toyland has to reign instead of her.”
“is that the law in toyland?” asked peggy.
mrs. noah looked at her affectionately. “bless your pretty face, what questions you do ask, dear,” she said. “i don’t know nothing about the law, but it’s what king selim says, and of course he knows, or else he wouldn’t say it.”
“oh, no,” said wooden decisively. “some people don’t like him, but he isn’t as bad as that. was it him[pg 52] that ordered the royal barge to meet us, mrs. noah?”
“yes, it was,” said mrs. noah. “now i must be getting back to my old man. he says there ain’t no flavour in his pipe unless i fill it for him.”
“i hope the queen isn’t really dead,” said wooden, when mrs. noah had left them. “that would indeed be a sad pity. look, dear, you can see dolltown now. it won’t be long before we are there now.”
the ark had turned a bend in the river, and peggy could see across the flat plains a large town with an enormous tower standing in the middle of it.
“that is the house of cards,” said wooden, in answer to her question. “it stands in the middle of the market-place, and is thirteen stories high.”
“what is it used for?” asked peggy.
“it is used for going to the top of, dear,” replied wooden. “you get a magnificent view of the surrounding country, and when you have looked at it you come down again.”
it was not long before they reached the outskirts of dolltown. on either side of the river were rows of houses in which the poorer dolls, mostly wooden and rag, lived. the weather was warm, and many of the fronts of the houses stood wide open, showing the inside[pg 53] of the four rooms into which each of them was divided. there were generally a kitchen and a dining-room on the ground floor, and a drawing-room and a bedroom above. none of these houses had staircases, and it was puzzling to think how the dolls could get into the upstairs rooms. wooden explained, when peggy asked her, that the dolls either climbed in through the windows, or, if the house-front was open, put a kitchen chair on the kitchen table, and scrambled up somehow. those who were not strong enough to do so had to spend the night sitting on chairs in the kitchen or dining-room.
“isn’t that rather uncomfortable for them?” asked peggy.
“well, dear, perhaps it is rather,” said wooden. “but, you see, we’re not so particular as you are, so we don’t feel it so much.”
“but didn’t you say there wasn’t any night in toyland?” asked peggy.
“perhaps, i did, dear. i say so many things in the course of time that i can’t possibly remember all of them. but there is one thing i should never do, and that is tell a lie.”
peggy looked at her quickly, fearing that she might be offended, but her face still wore its amiable sweet-tempered[pg 54] expression, and when peggy gave her a kiss, just in case she might have said something to hurt her, she kissed her back, and called her a precious lamb.
some of the dolls’ houses that they were passing were quite well furnished. others had furniture a good deal too large for the rooms, but the dolls seemed all to be of one size, and wooden told peggy that, however large or small a doll might be in the nursery, when it got home to toyland it became as large as life.
all the inhabitants of these small houses came thronging down to the banks of the river to see the procession of animals, and to cheer the royal ark as it passed along. peggy noticed that the wooden dolls cheered more heartily than the wax dolls and china dolls and composition dolls. in fact one party of dutch dolls became so excited as the ark passed that they all fell into the river, and had to be rescued by mr. noah’s youngest son, who was attending to the elephants. all were got safely to land, except the father of the dutch doll family, who swam out and clung to the ark, and was dragged on board by mr. noah himself.
just at the moment when this was happening wooden’s aunt came out of the saloon, and seemed highly delighted at the scene. she bent down and[pg 55] slapped her knees with both her hands, and then threw her head back and roared with laughter.
“lawks! i wouldn’t have missed that for anything,” she said, when the dutch doll had been led below. “well, i’ve had a nice little nap, girls, and now i’ve come to cheer you all up a bit.”
“then behave yourself, do, polly,” said wooden’s mother severely, “and don’t let’s have any more of your carryings on.”
when the dutch doll was quite dry he insisted upon being led into the presence of “the company.” mr. noah had lent him his second-best yellow robe, in which he looked rather funny, as it was too long for him. he[pg 56] came up the steps from the saloon, and, tripping over the skirt of the robe, fell flat at the feet of wooden’s aunt, who roared with laughter at him again.
so far from getting up again as quickly as possible, the dutch doll remained where he was, rubbing his forehead on the deck of the ark.
“get up, man,” said wooden’s mother sharply, “and don’t stop lying there like a silly.”
the dutch doll got up, looking foolish, and bowed low to wooden’s aunt. “i hope your majesty is quite well,” he said. “i am very pleased to see your majesty.”
“lawks! he calls me ‘your majesty!’” said wooden’s aunt. “well, i never! i shall die of laughing if this goes on.” and indeed it seemed likely that she would.
“the man’s silly,” said wooden’s mother. “his ducking has turned his head. the queen isn’t here. we’re only the party that the royal ark has been sent down for.”
but still the dutch doll kept on bowing to wooden’s aunt, and calling her your majesty; and wooden’s aunt enjoyed it.
lady grace intervened in her polite and aristocratic manner. “don’t you know queen rosebud by sight?”[pg 57] she asked. “in calling this lady your majesty you are coming very near to telling a story.”
“oh, i wouldn’t do that, my lady,” said the dutch doll, much shocked. “queen rosebud is dead, you know.”
“i feared it,” said wooden. “it is very sad.”
lady grace turned pale. “she was a loving mistress and a great queen,” she said.
wooden’s mother said, “yes, she was. but crying out about it won’t bring her to life again, poor thing!” and wooden’s aunt had the grace to leave off with her nonsense, and say, “i’m sure i’m sorry to hear the news. then who is going to be queen now?”
“you are, your majesty,” said the dutch doll, bowing to her again. “king selim is going to marry you.”
“what, marry me!” exclaimed wooden’s aunt, forgetting to be vulgar for once, in her surprise. “well, i never! why, i hardly know the gentleman.”
“surely you are making some mistake,” said lady grace.
the dutch doll looked offended. “do you think i’d tell you a lie?” he asked.
“oh, no, of course he wouldn’t do that,” said[pg 58] wooden hastily. “if he says so, of course it is so. but you’re not queen yet, aunt.”
“no, nor never will be, if you don’t learn to behave proper,” said wooden’s mother. “if i was you i should keep quiet till the wedding ceremony.”
wooden’s aunt seemed to think this was good advice, for she gave no more trouble till the ark drew up at the royal quay in the middle of dolltown.
