LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

“The boy gave a low call and a soft rush of wings was heard” Frontispiece

“’You have your choice—­to remain here quietly, alive, or to remain permanently, dead’”

“‘How now, Master Stephen!  What foolery is this?’”

“It was the first time Padraig had seen anyone write”

“‘Every inch of this linen will be covered with embroidery’” (in colors)

“‘’Tis the brat of a scatter-brained woman’”

“Directly in front sounded the unmistakable snarl of a wolf”

“An immense boar stumbled out and charged at Eleanor’s horse”

“‘Belike he got it where he’s been—­in the Holy Land’” (in colors)

“‘I know all about your search for treasure’”

“‘He called me his mouse and if I kept still I had cheese for my dinner’”

“Nothing would do but that they all should go immediately to see what had come to light”

“Andrea was at work upon the carving of the doorway”

“A siffle of indrawn breath was heard in the crowd as he carried it to the fire” (in colors)

“There was shouting and laughter in the courtyard”

DEDICATION

TO DOROTHY

 O little girl who used to be,
 Come down the Old World road with me,
 And watch the galleons leaping home
 Deep-laden, through the rainbow foam,
 And the far-glimmering lances reel
 Where clashes battle-axe on steel,
 When the long shouts of triumph ring
 Around the banner of the King!

     To elfin harps those minstrels rime
     Who live in Once-upon-a-Time!

 In that far land of Used-to-Be,
 Strange folk were known to you and me,—­
 Mowgh and Puck, and all their kin,
 Launcelot, and Huckleberry Finn,
 Wise Talleyrand, brave Ivanhoe,
 Juliet, and Lear, and Prospero,
 Alleyne and his White Company,
 And trooping folk of Faerie!

     People of every race and clime
     Are found in Once-upon-a-Time!

 And in those days that used to be
 The gypsy wind that raced the sea
 Came singing of enchanted lands,
 Of sapphire waves on golden sands,
 Of wind-borne fleets that race the swallow,
 Of Squirrel-fairy in her hollow,
 Of brooklets full of scattered stars,
 And odorous herbs by pasture-bars

     Where to the cow-bells’ tinkling chime
     Come dreams of Once-upon-a-Time!

 O little girl who used to be,
 The days are long in Faerie,—­
 Their garnered sunshine’s wealth of gold
 No royal treasure-vault may hold. 
 And now, as if our earth possessed
 Alchemy’s fabled Alkahest,
 Our harbors blaze with jewelled light,
 Our air-ships wing their circling flight,

     And we ourselves are in the rime
     That sings of Once-upon-a-Time!