A Little Boy Lost

  "I forgive him everything," said the Queen very graciously, when thesong ended, at which they all laughed. "And now let two of you speakand each bestow a gift on him. He deserves to be rewarded forrunning so far after us."

  Then one of those bright beautiful beings came forward and cried out:"He loves wandering; let him have his will and be a wanderer all hisdays on the face of the earth."

  "Well spoken!" cried the Queen.

  "A wanderer he is to be," said another: "let the sea do him noharm--that is my gift."

  "So be it," said the Queen; "and to your two gifts I shall add athird. Let all men love him. Go now, Martin, you are well equipped,and satisfy your heart with the sight of all the strange andbeautiful things the world contains."

  "Kneel and thank the Queen for her gifts," said a voice to Martin.

  He dropped on to his knees, but could speak no word; when he raisedhis eyes again the whole glorious company had vanished.

  ]

  The air was cool and fragrant, the earth moist as if a shower hadjust fallen. He got up and slowly walked onward until near sunset,thinking of nothing but the beautiful people of the Mirage. He hadleft the barren salt plain behind by now; the earth was covered withyellow grass, and he found and ate some sweet roots and berries.Then feeling very tired, he stretched himself out on his back andbegan to wonder if what he had seen was nothing but a dream. Yes, itwas surely a dream, but then--in his life dreams and realities wereso mixed--how was he always to know one from the other? Which wasmost strange, the Mirage that glittered and quivered round him andflew mockingly before him, or the people of the Mirage he had seen?

  If you are lying quite still with your eyes shut and some one comessoftly up and stands over you, somehow you know it, and open youreyes to see who it is. Just in that way Martin knew that some onehad come and was standing over him. Still he kept his eyes shut,feeling sure that it was one of those bright and beautiful beings hehad lately seen, perhaps the Queen herself, and that the sight ofher shining countenance would dazzle his eyes. Then all at once hethought that it might be old Jacob, who would punish him for runningaway. He opened his eyes very quickly then. What do you think he saw?An ostrich--that same big ostrich he had seen and startled early inthe day! It was standing over him, staring down with its greatvacant eyes. Gradually its head came lower and lower down, until atlast it made a sudden peck at a metal button on his jacket, and gavesuch a vigorous tug at it that Martin was almost lifted off theground. He screamed and gave a jump; but it was nothing to the jumpthe ostrich gave when he discovered that the button belonged to aliving boy. He jumped six feet high into the air and came down witha great flop; then feeling rather ashamed of himself for beingfrightened at such an insignificant thing as Martin, he stalkedmajestically away, glancing back, first over one shoulder then theother, and kicking up his heels behind him in a somewhat disdainfulmanner.

  Martin laughed, and in the middle of his laugh he fell asleep.