CHAPTER 18 The Valley of Lost Things
It was morning, and the sun shone as brightly as it had every daysince they came to Merryland; yet the stillness of the Seventh Valleywas so intense that the children became sober the moment they enteredit, and even the smile upon the little Queen's wax face lookedstrained and out of place.
"The people here are either asleep, like the dolls, or run down, likethe animals," said Dot, sinking her voice to a whisper.
"There are no people," replied the Queen.
"Then what is the Valley for?" asked the girl.
"Wait a moment and you will see," was the answer.
The boat now drew near the shore, but the banks of the river were sohigh and steep that they could see nothing above them, and Dotthought at first they would be unable to land.
Presently, however, they reached a small place where the bank slopedgently down to the water, and here the Queen stopped the boat andasked the children to step out.
"Now follow me," said Her Majesty, when they had all landed. So theywalked up the sloping bank and found themselves upon a big, circularplain as flat as a platter, which was thickly covered with thousandsand thousands of pins. There were no trees at all, but lyingscattered upon the ground were heaps and stacks of the most curiousthings.
Nearest to Dot was a great pyramid of thimbles, of all sizes and madeof many different materials. Further on were piles of buttons, of allshapes and colors imaginable, and there were also vast collections ofhairpins, rings, and many sorts of jewelry.
Tot noticed at his side a mammoth heap of lead pencils, some shortand stubby and worn, and others long and almost new.
"What does it all mean?" asked Dot, wonderingly, after she had gazedabout her.
"It is the Valley of Lost Things," answered the Queen.
"Oh!" said Dot.
"Oh!" echoed Tot.
And again they began looking with wide-open eyes.
"It is rather dangerous to walk on the pins," said the Queen; "so wemust choose some overshoes from this pile and put them on our feet.There are so many pins lost that they cover the entire Valley, andsometimes the points turn up and are liable to stick into your feet."
The pile of overshoes was quite near them, so they hunted through ituntil they found the right sizes. Of course they could not get mates,but that did not matter so much, if the soles were but thick enoughto keep the pins from sticking through.
When at last their feet were clad in lost overshoes they started towalk through the Valley, and Tot was surprised to see so many heapsof caps and coats that had been worn by boys.
"Where do they all come from?" he asked.
"Well," replied the Queen, "it seems boys in the big outside worldseldom hang up their caps and coats; so they are easily lost. Perhapsif they knew they would get to this Valley, and could never be foundagain, boys would be more careful."
"Would they?" asked Tot.
"I suppose so. Here is a big pile of pennies. I expect most of thosewere lost by children, too."
"Let's take some!" cried Tot.
"No, indeed," said Dot, "if we took them they wouldn't be lost anymore."
"Won't they ever be found?" asked the boy.
"I think not," replied the Queen. "No one has ever been here but you,and probably no stranger will ever come to this Valley again."
"It's all right for us to come," declared Tot.
"Why?" enquired the girl.
'"Cause we're lost, too!"
"So we are, Tot," said Dot, rather sadly; "but lost people areusually found again, for I don't see any others here."
They walked a little farther on and saw a mass of broken toys lyingscattered about. There were dollies, too, for suddenly Tot made apounce and grabbed up a sorry looking doll with one arm broken, oneeye out and a scratched and battered face.
"I've found her!" he cried, joyfully; "I've found Jane! An' I'm goingto keep her, too."
"Is it really your doll?" asked the Queen, with some curiosity.
"Course it is," replied Tot; "I lost her."
"Then I do not see why you should not keep her with you; for, beingfound, she doesn't belong here any more."
"Course not," said the boy, hugging the broken doll in his arms.
"There are a good many gloves and handkerchiefs lost," remarked Dot,looking at the heaps lying around.
"Yes," replied the Queen; "and over at the further side of the Valleyare many piles of pocket-books, each pile as big as a haystack.People are so careless with pocketbooks."
"Have they money in them?" asked the girl.
"Some have a great deal of money inside them, and some only a fewpennies. Others are stuffed with cards and samples and papers," saidthe Queen. "I would take you to look at them, but we should have toclimb over a hill of lost needles, and I fear our overshoes would notprotect us from their sharp points."
"It's always hard to get at money," said Tot, with a sigh.
Among other things lying near her Dot now noticed a hurdy-gurdy, suchas she had seen musicians carrying around the streets. There was nomonkey with it, and it looked quite old and battered.
"I wonder how long it has been here, she remarked, thoughtfully.
"Play it, and see," suggested the Queen.
So Dot set the hurdy-gurdy up straight and turned the crank, when itbegan playing in a jerky and wheezy manner a tune called "SilverThreads Among the Gold."
"My! But that's an old tune," said Dot.
"It's rather pretty," declared the Queen, who had never heard the airbefore. "Play another."
This time the tune was "Little Annie Rooney," and then followed"Captain Jinks" and "Two Little Girls in Blue."
"I guess this hurdy-gurdy was lost before I was born," sighed Dot."It's certainly very old."
Dot and Tot of Merryland Page 18
