Part 25 (2/2)

But here _Bruno's_ song came to a sudden end and was never finished.

Fairies have the oddest ways of doing things, but then _Sylvie_ was coming through the long gra.s.s, that charming woodland child that little _Bruno_ loved and teased.

The artist put all his skill into the drawing of this tiny maiden, skill a.s.sisted by Lewis Carroll's own ideas of what a fairy-girl should look like, and the fact that Mr. Furniss took _seven years_ to ill.u.s.trate this book to the author's satisfaction and his own, shows how very particular both were to get at the spirit of the story.

Indeed, the great trouble with the story is that it is all spirit; there is no _real_ story to it, and this the keen scent of everyday children soon discovered.

But in one thing it excels: the verses are every bit as charming as either the Wonderland or Looking-Gla.s.s verses, with all the old-time delicious nonsense. Take, for instance--

THE GARDENER'S SONG.

He thought he saw an Albatross That fluttered round the lamp; He looked again, and found it was A Penny-Postage-Stamp.

”You'd best be getting home,” he said: ”The nights are very damp!”

He thought he saw an Argument That proved he was the Pope; He looked again, and found it was A Bar-of-Mottled-Soap.

”A fact so dread,” he faintly said, ”Extinguishes all hope!”

He thought he saw a Banker's-Clerk Descending from the Bus; He looked again, and found it was A Hippopotamus.

”If this should stay to dine,” he said, ”There won't be much for us!”

He thought he saw a Buffalo Upon the chimney-piece; He looked again, and found it was His Sister's-Husband's-Niece.

”Unless you leave this house,” he said, ”I'll send for the police!”

He thought he saw a Coach-and-Four That stood beside his bed; He looked again, and found it was A Bear without a head.

”Poor thing!” he said, ”poor, silly thing!

It's waiting to be fed!”

He thought he saw a Garden-Door That opened with a key; He looked again, and found it was A Double-Rule-of-Three.

”And all its mystery,” he said, ”Is clear as day to me!”

He thought he saw a Kangaroo That worked a coffee-mill; He looked again, and found it was A Vegetable-Pill.

”Were I to swallow this,” he said, ”I should be very ill!”

He thought he saw a Rattlesnake That questioned him in Greek; He looked again, and found it was The Middle-of-Next-Week.

”The one thing I regret,” he said, ”Is that it cannot speak!”

The gardener was a very remarkable person, whose time was spent raking the beds and making up extra verses to this beautiful poem; the last one ran:

He thought he saw an Elephant That practiced on a fife; He looked again, and found it was A letter from his wife.

”At length I realize,” he said, ”The bitterness of Life!”

”What a wild being it was who sung these wild words! A gardener he seemed to be, yet surely a mad one by the way he brandished his rake, madder by the way he broke ever and anon into a frantic jig, maddest of all by the shriek in which he brought out the last words of the stanza.

”It was so far a description of himself that he had the _feet_ of an elephant, but the rest of him was skin and bone; and the wisps of loose straw that bristled all about him suggested that he had been originally stuffed with it, and that nearly all the stuffing had come out.”

In ”Sylvie and Bruno,” probably to a greater extent than in all his other books, are some clever caricatures of well-known people. The two professors are certainly taken from life, probably from Oxford. One is called ”The Professor” and one ”The Other Professor.” The _Baron_, the _Vice-Warden_ and _my Lady_ were all too real, and as for the fat _Prince Uggug_, well, any kind feeling Lewis Carroll may have had toward boys when he fas.h.i.+oned _Bruno_ had entirely vanished when _Prince Uggug_ came upon the scene. All the ugly, rough, ill-mannered, bad boys Lewis Carroll had ever heard of were rolled into this wretched, fat, pig of a prince; but the story of this prince proved fascinating to the _real_ little royalties to whom he told it during one Christmas week at Lord Salisbury's. Most likely he selected this story with an object, in order to show how necessary it was that those of royal blood should behave like true princes and princesses if they would be truly loved. Our good ”don” was fond of pointing a moral now and then. _Uggug_, with all his badness, somehow appeals to the human child, far more than _Bruno_, with his baby talk and his old-man wisdom and his odd little ”fay” ways. _Sylvie_ was much more natural. _Bruno_, however, was a sweet little songster; it needed no urging to set him to music, and he always sang quite plainly when he had real rhymes to tackle. One of his favorites was called:

<script>