Whereon Prince Marvel Encountered
           the High Ki
         of Twi
           and Other Surprising People
 
  1. "Once on a Time"

    I am going
          to tell a story,
           one of
               those tales of astonishing adventures
             that happened years
                   and years
                 and years ago.

    Perhaps you wonder
         why it is
             that so many stories
                are told of
         "once on a time",
               and so
                   few of these days
                 in which we live;
            but that is easily explained.

    In the old days,
           when the world was young,
         there were no automobiles
              nor flying-machines
            to make one wonder;
        nor were there railway trains,
           nor telephones,
         nor mechanical inventions of
               any sort
             to keep
             people keyed
                   up to
                       a high pitch of excitement.

    Men and women
          lived simply and quietly.

    They were Nature's children,
           and breathed fresh air
               into their lungs
              instead of smoke
                   and coal gas;
        and tramped
               through green meadows
                   and deep forests
              instead of riding
                   in street cars;
        and went to bed
             when it
                grew dark and rose
                       with the sun
          --which is vastly different
               from the present custom.

    Having no books to read
         they told their adventures
               to one another and
             to their little ones;
        and the stories
            were handed
                   down from generation
                       to generation and reverently believed.

    Those who peopled
           the world
               in the old days,
           having nothing
             but their hands
                   to depend on,
         were to
               a certain extent helpless,
           and so the fairies
            were sorry for them and
                  ministered to their wants patiently
                       and frankly,
         often showing themselves
               to those they befriended.

    So people
        knew fairies in those days,
           my dear,
         and loved them,
           together with all the ryls
               and knooks
             and pixies
                   and nymphs
                 and other beings
             that belong
                   to the hordes of immortals.

    And a fairy tale
        was a thing to be
             wondered at and
                  spoken of in awed whispers;
        for no one
              thought of doubting its truth.

    To-day the fairies are shy;
        for so
               many curious inventions of men
              have come into use
             that the wonders of Fairyland
                are somewhat tame beside them,
           and even the boys
               and girls
            can not
                  be so easily
                      interested or surprised
                           as in the old days.

    So the sweet
           and gentle little immortals
          perform their tasks unseen
               and unknown,
           and live mostly
               in their own beautiful realms,
         where they
            are almost unthought of
                   by our busy,
           bustling world.

    Yet when
         we come
               to story-telling the marvels
                   of our own
               age shrink into insignificance
                   beside the brave deeds
                       and absorbing
                   experiences of the days
         when fairies were better known;
        and so
             we go back to
         "once on a time"
            for the tales
             that we most love
          --and that children
              have ever loved
             since mankind knew
                 that fairies exist.
 
  2. The Enchanted Isle

    Once there was
           an enchanted island
         in the middle
               of the sea.

    It was
          called the Isle of Yew.

    And in it
        were five important kingdoms
              ruled by men,
           and many woodland dells
               and forest glades
             and pleasant meadows
                   and grim mountains
              inhabited by fairies.

    From the fairies
           some of the men
        had learned wonderful secrets,
           and had
              become magicians and sorcerers,
         with powers so great
             that the entire island
                was reputed
                      to be one of enchantments.

    Who these men
        were the common people
           did not always know;
        for while some
            were kings and rulers,
           others lived quietly
              hidden away in forests
                  or mountains,
         and seldom or never
              showed themselves.

    Indeed,
           there were
               not so
                   many of these magicians
               as people thought,
         only it
            was so hard
                  to tell them
                       from common folk