Rewards and Fairies - Penn State University

Rudyard Kipling
‘Virginia?’ said the lady, and lifted them to the fringe of her ‘Oh, Burleigh, Burleigh!’ she laughed. ‘You are a courtier
mask.
too soon.’
‘Yes. They come from Virginia. Did your maid ever plant ‘But they are,’ Dan insisted. ‘As little as dolls’ shoes. Did
any?’
you really know her well?’
‘Not herself—but her men adventured all over the earth to ‘Well. She was a—woman. I’ve been at her Court all my life.
pluck or to plant flowers for her crown. They judged her Yes, I remember when she danced after the banquet at Brickwall.
worthy of them.’
They say she danced Philip of Spain out of a brand-new king-
‘And was she?’ said Dan cheerfully.
dom that day. Worth the price of a pair of old shoes—hey?’
‘Quien sabe? [who knows?] But at least, while her men toiled She thrust out one foot, and stooped forward to look at its
abroad she toiled in England, that they might find a safe home broad flashing buckle.
to come back to.’
‘You’ve heard of Philip of Spain—long-suffering Philip,’
‘And what was she called?’
she said, her eyes still on the shining stones. ‘Faith, what some
‘Gloriana—Belphoebe—Elizabeth of England.’ Her voice men will endure at some women’s hands passes belief! If I had
changed at each word.
been a man, and a woman had played with me as Elizabeth
‘You mean Queen Bess?’
played with Philip, I would have—’ She nipped off one of
The lady bowed her head a little towards Dan. ‘You name the Virginia stocks and held it up between finger and thumb.
her lightly enough, young Burleigh. What might you know ‘But for all that’ —she began to strip the leaves one by one—
of her?’ said she.
‘they say—and I am persuaded—that Philip loved her.’ She
‘Well, I—I’ve seen the little green shoes she left at Brickwall tossed her head sideways.
House—down the road, you know. They’re in a glass case— ‘I don’t quite understand,’ said Una.
awfully tiny things.’
‘The high heavens forbid that you should, wench!’ She swept
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