Upon this dais stood a chair—­a throne of some kind, Griselda supposed it to be—­and upon this was seated the grandest and gravest personage she had yet seen.

“Is he the king of the mandarins?” she whispered.  But the cuckoo did not reply; and before she had time to repeat the question, the very grand and grave person got down from his seat, and coming towards her, offered her his hand, at the same time nodding—­first once, then two or three times together, then once again.  Griselda seemed to know what he meant.  He was asking her to dance.

“Thank you,” she said.  “I can’t dance very well, but perhaps you won’t mind.”

The king, if that was his title, took not the slightest notice of her reply, but nodded again—­once, then two or three times together, then once alone, just as before.  Griselda did not know what to do, when suddenly she felt something poking her head.  It was the cuckoo—­he had lifted his claw, and was tapping her head to make her nod.  So she nodded—­once, twice together, then once—­that appeared to be enough.  The king nodded once again; an invisible band suddenly struck up the loveliest music, and off they set to the places of honour reserved for them in the centre of the room, where all the mandarins were assembling.

What a dance that was!  It began like a minuet and ended something like the hay-makers.  Griselda had not the least idea what the figures or steps were, but it did not matter.  If she did not know, her shoes or something about her did; for she got on famously.  The music was lovely—­“so the mandarins can’t be deaf, though they are dumb,” thought Griselda, “which is one good thing about them.”  The king seemed to enjoy it as much as she did, though he never smiled or laughed; any one could have seen he liked it by the way he whirled and twirled himself about.  And between the figures, when they stopped to rest for a little, Griselda got on very well too.  There was no conversation, or rather, if there was, it was all nodding.

So Griselda nodded too, and though she did not know what her nods meant, the king seemed to understand and be quite pleased; and when they had nodded enough, the music struck up again, and off they set, harder than before.

And every now and then tiny little mandariny boys appeared with trays filled with the most delicious fruits and sweetmeats.  Griselda was not a greedy child, but for once in her life she really did feel rather so.  I cannot possibly describe these delicious things; just think of whatever in all your life was the most “lovely” thing you ever eat, and you may be sure they tasted like that.  Only the cuckoo would not eat any, which rather distressed Griselda.  He walked about among the dancers, apparently quite at home; and the mandarins did not seem at all surprised to see him, though he did look rather odd, being nearly, if not quite, as big as any of them.  Griselda hoped he was enjoying himself, considering that she had to thank him for all the fun she was having, but she felt a little conscience-stricken when she saw that he wouldn’t eat anything.