All the Way to Fairyland

Fairy Stories

BY

EVELYN SHARP

AUTHOR OF "WYMPS"

WITH EIGHT COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS
AND A COVER BY MRS. PERCY DEARMER

JOHN LANE

THE BODLEY HEAD
LONDON AND NEW YORK
1898

COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY
JOHN LANE.

FIRST EDITION

University Press:
JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.

By the Same author:

WYMPS: FAIRY TALES. With eight coloured illustrations by Mrs. Percy Dearmer.
THE MAKING OF A SCHOOLGIRL.
AT THE RELTON ARMS.
THE MAKING OF A PRIG.

THESE STORIES
ARE FOR
GEOFFREY AND CHRISTOPHER
TRISTAN AND ISEULT
MARGARET AND BOY
AND
EVERARD
AND ALL THE OTHER CHILDREN
WHO WOULD LIKE TO GO
ALL THE WAY TO FAIRYLAND

Contents

List of Illustrations

BY MRS. PERCY DEARMER

The Country Called Nonamia

Ever so long ago, in the wonderful country of Nonamia, there lived an absent-minded magician. It is not usual, of course, for a magician to be absent-minded; but then, if it were usual it would not have happened in Nonamia. Nobody knew very much about this particular magician, for he lived in his castle in the air, and it is not easy to visit any one who lives in the air. He did not want to be visited, however; visitors always meant conversation, and he could not endure conversation. This, by the way, was not surprising, for he was so absent-minded that he always forgot the end of his sentence before he was half-way through the beginning of it; and as for his visitors' remarks—well, if he had had any visitors, he would never have heard their remarks at all. So, when some one did call on him, one day,—and that was when he had been living in his castle in the air for seven hundred and seventy-seven years and had almost forgotten who he was and why he was there,—the magician was so astonished that he could not think of anything to say.

"How did you get here?" he asked at last; for even an absent-minded magician cannot remain altogether silent, when he looks out of his castle in the air and sees a Princess in a gold and silver frock, with a bright little crown on her head, floating about on a soft white cloud.

"Well, I just came, that's all," answered the Princess, with a particularly friendly smile. "You see, I have never been able to find my own castle in the air, so when the West Wind told me about yours I asked him to blow me here. May I come in and see what it is like?"

"Certainly not," said the magician, hastily.