How the crowd cheered and leapt ! Trumpets brayed , the moon came out , and immediately a thousand couples seized hold of its rays as if they were ribbons in a May dance and waltzed in wild abandon round the fairy ring . Most gladsome sight of all , the Cupids plucked the hated fools ' caps from their heads and cast them high in the air . And then Maimie went and spoiled everything . She could n't help it . She was crazy with delight over her little friend 's good fortune , so she took several steps forward and cried in an ecstasy , `` Oh , Brownie , how splendid ! '' Everybody stood still , the music ceased , the lights went out , and all in the time you may take to say `` Oh dear ! '' An awful sense of her peril came upon Maimie , too late she remembered that she was a lost child in a place where no human must be between the locking and the opening of the gates , she heard the murmur of an angry multitude , she saw a thousand swords flashing for her blood , and she uttered a cry of terror and fled . How she ran ! and all the time her eyes were starting out of her head . Many times she lay down , and then quickly jumped up and ran on again . Her little mind was so entangled in terrors that she no longer knew she was in the Gardens . The one thing she was sure of was that she must never cease to run , and she thought she was still running long after she had dropped in the Figs and gone to sleep . She thought the snowflakes falling on her face were her mother kissing her good-night . She thought her coverlet of snow was a warm blanket , and tried to pull it over her head . And when she heard talking through her dreams she thought it was mother bringing father to the nursery door to look at her as she slept . But it was the fairies . I am very glad to be able to say that they no longer desired to mischief her . When she rushed away they had rent the air with such cries as `` Slay her ! '' `` Turn her into something extremely unpleasant ! ''
and so on , but the pursuit was delayed while they discussed who should march in front , and this gave Duchess XXXXX time to cast herself before the Queen and demand a boon .
Brownie Cupids Everybody Figs Gardens Maimie head mind something terrors