CHAPTER 12 Prince Tot and Princess Dot
"Now," said the Queen, "you must come to my throne room and beadopted."
So she led the way and they followed her to a beautiful apartment,large and grand, with high ceilings set with precious stones. In themiddle of the room stood the Queen's magnificent throne.
Seating herself among the cushions of the throne, her Majesty toucheda bell which brought Scollops running in.
"Send to me all the people of my household, as quickly as possible,"commanded the Queen of Merryland. "I am about to perform an importantceremony, and they must all witness my act."
Scollops bowed and retired, and the Wax Doll turned to Dot and Totand remarked, "I've never adopted anyone before so I don't knowexactly the form of ceremony I ought to employ; but I shall do thebest I can, and that ought to be satisfactory to you."
"Oh, yes," said Dot. "I suppose so."
"Does it hurt?" asked Tot.
"Does what hurt?"
"To be 'dopted."
"I hope not," said the little Queen; "I shall try to be as gentle aspossible."
The members of the household now entered the room and the childrenfound there were a good many of them. All were dolls of some sort;but Dot noticed the Queen was the only wax doll in the Valley, so faras she had seen. Among the household servants the cooks were blackdolls, the chambermaids were china dolls, and the others seemedmostly made of wood, although there was one elderly doll that wasclearly papier-mache. These knelt down in a circle before the Queenand remained in this humble position during the Ceremony of Adoption.
Her Majesty began by making a speech, in which she told how thestrangers had been carried by accident into Merryland.
"It was not their fault," she said, "but when I consulted my thinkingmachine I found I must do one of two things--either turn them intodolls by means of my fairy wand, or else adopt them as my children.They seem so much bigger and prettier than dolls that I have decidedto adopt them, so I have called all my people in to witness my act."
The servants of the household loudly applauded this speech, and oneof the chambermaids clapped her hands so earnestly that she broke offone of her little fingers.
"Dot Freeland," now said the Queen, in a solemn voice, "kneel downupon my footstool."
Dot was a little frightened, for never before had she heard the Queenspeak in any voice but a laughing one; but she knelt down obediently,and the Queen placed upon her head a small golden crown with fourpoints, each point being tipped with a flashing gem. Then the Queensaid:
Thou art made a Princess now By this crown upon thy brow; All must bow to thy command, Who reside in Merryland; And my daughter thou shalt be, Living long and happily. Rise, my Princess, fair and sweet, At my right hand take thy seat.
Dot rose at once and sat on the Queen's right hand, while all thehousehold applauded again; but this time the china chambermaids weremore careful of their fingers. The girl longed to take off her prettycrown and look at it, but she felt it might not be dignified to doso; therefore she sat quietly, as a princess should, while Tot inturn knelt upon the Queen's footstool.
The fairy doll placed upon Tot's head a crown almost exactly like theone Dot wore, saying to him in her gentle voice:
By this crown I give to thee, I, the Queen, hereby decree, Thou shalt be a princeling grand In our happy Merryland. Purest joy shall be thy lot, All thy troubles be forgot; Rise, Prince Tot, for thou shalt be Loving son henceforth to me!
Tot shoved the crown to the back of his head, where he usually worehis hat, and seated himself at the Queen's left hand.
The assembled household now cheered loudly and long, and in the midstof the uproar the wooden Captain entered at the head of the pewterband, and the musicians blew upon their instruments so powerfullythat the big throne room was filled with music.
All this was decidedly pleasing to Princess Dot and Prince Tot, whofelt very proud of themselves and most grateful to the generousQueen.
Scollops and Twinkle now served lavender-colored ices to thosepresent at the Ceremony of Adoption, and the pewter band finishedplaying and marched away again. Then the Queen took Dot and Tot tothe drawing room of the palace, where the children had leisure tothank her and to admire their pretty crowns. The Wax Doll smiledsweetly upon them, and seemed quite as pleased as her adoptedchildren at the success of the ceremony.
Presently Dot asked, "Does no one live in those pretty houses in thevillage?"
"Yes, Princess," answered her Majesty; "they are full of people."
"But we have seen no one except the dolls who live in this palace,"remarked the child.
"That is true," returned the Queen, "for I have been so busy sinceyour arrival that I have not had a chance to awaken them."
"Are they all asleep?" asked Tot.
"Well, not exactly asleep," answered the Queen; "but they are dolls,like all the rest of us in this Valley, and they only move around andtalk when I bring them to life by means of my fairy wand. At one timeI kept them alive continually, but it was such a bother to managethem all that I changed my plans, and now I let them lie in theirhouses until I wish to amuse myself with their pranks. I have only towave my fairy wand three times and blow my magic whistle to arousethe whole village to activity. But then I always have my hands fulltrying to make them behave properly."
"That seems a nice way to rule," said Dot, thoughtfully. "If everyking and queen were able to do the same thing with their people,there could not be so much quarreling nor so many wars."
"True enough," laughed the Queen; "but real, live people would notlike to be treated that way. Would you like to see my village wakeup?"
"Yes, indeed!" exclaimed Dot.
"Then I will order our carriages so we may drive down to thevillage."
The Queen called Scollops and sent him for three carriages "For," shesaid to Dot and Tot, "there is just enough room in the royal carriagefor me, and as there are no bigger ones in the Valley, we must eachride in a separate carriage."
It was not long before the three carriages, each drawn by horsesstanding upon wheeled platforms, and driven by rag doll coachmendressed in the royal livery of pink and blue drew up before the gateof the palace. Dot had hard work to squeeze into the seat of hervehicle, and when she succeeded she had some fears that it would tipover, or the wheels would come off the horses. But Tot, beingsmaller, fit his carriage nicely, and being younger and a boy, he hadno fears of any accidents.
So now the drivers cracked their whips and away they rolled, theQueen first, Dot next and Tot last of all. When they reached the mainstreet of the village, the three carriages drew up near the sidewalk,all in a row, and the Queen said:
"Now I will awaken the people."
She waved the fairy wand three times around her head and blew ashrill blast upon the magic whistle.
Instantly a commotion arose all about them. Doors and windows beganto open, and from the houses flocked many dolls of all sorts andsizes. There were china, bisque, wooden, papier-mache, rag and rubberdolls, with yellow hair, red and brown and white hair, andcomplexions ranging from the daintiest pink to the deepest black.Some were finely dressed, some well dressed and some shabbilydressed; but all seemed and light-hearted, and they ran about singingand dancing chatting to each other as happily as if they had not beenasleep for so long a time by their Queen.
"I don't understand how you can make dolls act like real people,"said Dot, as she watched them with wonder.
"No, I suppose not," replied her Majesty. "But if you were a fairy,as I am, you would know all about it."
The Queen now left her seat in the carriage and entered a prettylittle cottage that stood near by. Dot followed to doorway and,peeping in, saw that this entire cottage was occupied by an enormousmusic box.
"I'll make it play," said the Queen, "for my dolls love to dance tothe music."
Thereupon she touched a spring, and at once strains of delightfulmelody came from the big music box.
Dot hastened
outside again and found the street filled with dolls,who were dancing joyously to the bewitching music. After watchingthem for a time in silence the Queen said:
"Now they have had enough fun for one day, so I will send them tosleep again."
She waved her wand once and the music stopped playing. The dollsstopped dancing and began to say good-night to one another. A secondtime the Queen waved her wand above her head, and then every dollhurried to its own home, and the doors and windows began to closeagain. But Dot and Tot could hear the dolls laughing and talking inthe houses until the Queen waved her wand for the third and lasttime, when silence fell on the village, and her Majesty turned to thechildren and said:
"Now they are fast asleep again, and will remain so until I choose toawaken them."
"They are lovely dolls," said Dot, sighing to think the entertainmentwas ended, "and I should love to play with them all day long."
"Sometimes I have kept them awake all day myself," replied the Queen;"but that is when I am lonely and need amusement. No one can be dullwhile those laughing, romping, mischievous dolls are awake. But Imust have a talk with my new Prince and Princess this evening, so Icould devote but little time to my people, and only awakened them tosatisfy your curiosity."
"Can't I have a doll to keep?" asked Tot, as they drove back to thepalace.
"Yes, my dear Prince," answered the Queen. "I'll give you Scollops.You will find him very useful and a jolly playmate."
Tot nodded his thanks, and soon they reached the palace andaccompanied the Queen to her room. When all were seated the Wax Dollsaid, "Tomorrow I must leave you here alone, for I am going upon ajourney."
"Where to?" enquired Dot, greatly surprised at this announcement.
"I shall go up the river to the end of Merryland, where you enteredthe First Valley. Since you have found a way to enter my kingdom fromthe big outside world, I have been greatly worried for fear otherswould also come here. To prevent this I must visit the Watch-Dog ofMerryland, and tell him how to keep anyone from passing the archway."
"Oh, the Watch-Dog cannot keep people out," said Dot. "He's toopolite and good-natured. When we said we would not mind him he wassorry, but he didn't try to stop us."
"Well," replied the Queen, "that is why I must make the journey. Ishall command the Watch-Dog to sit hereafter upon a rocky shelf abovethe arch, and then if people will not obey him, and try to getthrough the arch in spite of my orders, the old man must jump intothe river in front of the opening. As soon as he touches the water hewill be turned into a great rock, which will block up the archway andprevent anyone from entering my kingdom."
"Oh, I see," said Dot. "Then the Watch-Dog may be of some use, afterall."
"I hope so," declared the Queen.
"But what shall we do while you are away?" asked the girl, anxiously.
"You may amuse yourselves by running about the palace, and all myhousehold will wait upon you and obey your orders; for you are nowPrince Tot and Princess Dot of Merryland, and your power is secondonly to my own."
"That's nice," said Tot.
Twinkle now led Dot to her room and helped her prepare for bed. Thediamond coverlet was rather heavy to sleep under, so Twinkle laid itaside and covered the girl with a soft, fleecy robe.
Tot also went to his laughing chamber, accompanied by Scollops, whohelped him undress and threw over his head a pretty pink silknightgown. Tot wanted the door between his room and Dot's left openwhile they slept, so Scollops opened it and the children calledgood-night to each other.
When Dot lay down upon her bed, the fairy chorus began to sing softlyand sweetly; and when Tot lay down the invisible laughter of childishvoices rang out like chimes, keeping time to the tinkling chorus fromDot's bed. This was all so soothing and delightful that in less thana minute the children's eyes had closed, and soon they were fastasleep and dreaming sweet dreams of the wonders of Merryland.