on the night of april fool’s day kenneth had a strange adventure. it was kenneth’s way to direct his dreamland journey toward fairyland, where, if he but knows the secret how, a child can have the pleasantest possible times. on this particular night kenneth shut his eyes tight and said the magic words which are the ticket on the fairy railroad; and presto! as usual, he found himself spinning through space into the realm where he would be. he kept his eyes shut tight, however, for every wise child knows that he must not peep during that wonderful journey, nor try to find out how it is done, or he will never be able to go again. it was only when a soft little jounce told him that the trip was over that kenneth opened his eyes and ventured to look around.
[29]yes, there he was, sure enough! he remembered the glittering christmas-tree avenue which led up from the station. he remembered the beautiful flower beds on either side of the path—fairy beds where the flowers could talk prettily, and answer any questions which a child might ask. he remembered the white marble palace which gleamed beyond the christmas trees, a palace full of wonder and delight. he hastened toward it up the hill. yes, this was certainly the fairyland of his dreams, where he always had such a lovely, lovely time; where all that he wished came true in the most marvelous way, and where delightful surprises were continually happening to give him pleasure. kenneth smacked his lips already at thought of the goodies he would have to eat, and his fingers wriggled eagerly, longing to clutch the wonder-toys which he knew were growing somewhere about for him, when he had time to look for them.
now there was no one to meet him at the[30] station, and kenneth thought this strange. for he had expected to find his usual guide, a pretty little gauze fairy in spangled white, with a wand and crown and all the dainty ornaments which fairies wear. kenneth was not greatly troubled, however, for he had been to fairyland so often that he knew the country very well indeed, and he was not at all bashful nor afraid to help himself if he should see anything which pleased him.
he began briskly to walk up the avenue, on either side of which the flowers nodded and smiled at him, saying, “good evening, kenneth. how are you to-night?”
kenneth laughed and nodded back, thinking to himself, “how very pretty they look! i never before saw them so gorgeous and beautiful. they must be perfumed with extra sweetness; i will go and see.” and, stepping up to a great bed of lilies, he bent over them, giving a deep, deep sniff; for kenneth loved dearly the fragrance of flowers.
“achoo! achoo! achoo!” kenneth[31] sneezed, and sneezed again, so that his head almost fell off. “achoo! achoo! achoo!” he reeled and staggered as he turned away. and all the flowers laughed so that they nearly snapped their slender stalks. they seemed to find it a great joke.
“you dreadful flowers! you are full of snuff! achoo!” he cried indignantly.
“aha! aha! you know all about it!” cried the flowers. “the trick is not new to you; but is it not funny? aha! aha!”
kenneth did not think it at all funny as he ran on up the pathway, sneezing painfully at every step. at last he paused to wipe his eyes. “achoo! achoo!” poor boy! he was fairly weak with his efforts, and spying a little seat near by under a tree, thought he would sit down to rest a minute and get his breath before going on his way. it was a funny little seat, like a great toadstool, and it looked very comfortable. but no sooner had kenneth seated himself, than the wretched thing sank down into the ground, leaving[32] him with a bump on the gravel of the avenue.
“aha! aha!” cried the flowers, tittering foolishly when they saw kenneth sprawling. “oh, how funny you do look! what a good joke! how clever! we shall die laughing!”
“you are very silly flowers,” said kenneth, pouting. “you laugh at nothing at all. i never knew you to be so disagreeable.” and, trying to look very dignified in spite of his dusty jacket, he jumped up and strode down the avenue. the inviting little round seats seemed to have sprung up everywhere like mushrooms since his last visit, but he was too cautious to sit down again, although he was very tired.
kenneth walked so fast to escape the mortifying laughter which rang from the flower-bells, that he had almost passed the last christmas tree before he remembered the magic fruit which they always bore for him.
“hello!” he cried. “i meant to look for a new jack-knife. i always find just what i[33] want on these trees. why, yes—there is one now, right over my head. oh, what a beauty!” he reached up to grasp it as it swung about a foot above his nose. but at the very moment when kenneth stretched out his hand, the tree gave a sudden jerk and up flew the knife quite out of reach.
“oh!” cried kenneth, stamping his foot angrily. “what made it do that?”
“ha, ha!” snickered the flowers, who had been peeping at him from a distance. “what a joke! try again, kenneth.” and kenneth tried again and again, jumping after the knife more frantically each time. but it was of no use. a malicious breeze, or some other cause, seemed to bend the tree away from him whenever he reached toward it. and at last he gave up in disgust.
“i wanted a fountain pen, too,” he said to himself. “there ought to be one on another tree. yes, here it is.” and once more kenneth reached eagerly for the shining black thing that dangled close by his hand.
[34]pop! kenneth was half blinded by a stream of water that spurted into his eye. it was no fountain pen, but a fountain pop-gun that had gone off when he touched it.
“ha, ha!” shrieked the flowers, in a perfect madness of delight. kenneth sat down on the grass to wipe his eyes and dry the little river that was running most uncomfortably up his coat sleeve. but my! how quickly he sprang up again! the grass that looked so tempting and soft was a cruel snare. for some one had wickedly planted it with pins or needles. poor kenneth! this was too much.
it is no fun to find one’s self a human pincushion. he began to cry, and even then he heard the voices of the flowers sounding faintly, and they were laughing still. he glanced toward them angrily, then tucked his hands into his pockets and resolved not to let them see him cry. he marched away up the avenue without a glance into the christmas trees, although they dangled the most interesting[35] bundles before his face and seemed trying to tempt him to pluck their magic fruit. he also kept off the grass more carefully than if there had been a staring signboard to warn him.
now just outside the palace grew a thicket of magic nut bushes. here kenneth always stopped on his way to the greater wonders inside, to crack a nut and to have a pleasant surprise. yes, there at the foot of the marble steps was the thicket, green as usual, and full of brown nuts, mysteriously knobby and promising. kenneth picked one and knelt down on the gravel to crack it with a stone. but instead of the beautiful velvet cloak, magically folded into a tiny parcel, or a dwarf pony which would quickly grow full-sized, or a picture-book with moving figures on its pages, such as he had found at other times, the nut was stuffed with dusty cobwebs, which were of no use to any one, least of all to kenneth.
“oh!” said kenneth, in disappointment, and then he distinctly heard a queer voice[36] cry, “april fool!” he looked up and around, but there was no one to be seen.
“april fool!” cried the voice again. “ha, ha! kenneth has such a sense of fun! he is a great joker himself; ha, ha!” kenneth thought it must be one of the flowers, though the voice sounded different. he wished the good fairy would come to him. his chin began to quiver, when he heard the same queer voice tittering behind the thicket of nut bushes. there was a little summer-house close by, and into this kenneth ran to hide the tears which would come into his eyes. what a disagreeable country it was, this fairyland which he had loved so well! he came here to be happy; but all these ugly tricks fairly spoiled the pretty place. he said to himself that he would never come again. just then he spied a large, square envelope fastened to the side of the summer-house by a thorn. it was addressed, “for kenneth.”
“why, that means me,” he cried, very much surprised. “perhaps it is a letter from[37] my good fairy to explain why she has not come to meet me.” and he tore it open eagerly.
it was a fat, bulky letter of several sheets. this was very exciting, for kenneth had not received many letters in his short life. he unfolded the first sheet. from the middle of the page stared at him these words printed in huge red letters:—
april fool!
