"I have told you that my mother is a mighty queen," the Stranger Child
said; "and you know that queens, like kings, have courts and ministers
belonging to them."

"Yes, yes," said Felix. "My own uncle, the count, is one of those
ministers, and wears a star on his breast. Do your mother's ministers
wear stars like him?"

"No," the Stranger Child said; "not exactly that; for most of them are
shining stars themselves, and others of them do not wear any coats on
which they could stick things of the sort. I must tell you that my
mother's ministers are all powerful spirits, either hovering in the
sky, or dwelling in the waters, doing, and carrying out everywhere what
my mother orders them to do. Once, a long while ago, there came amongst
us a stranger, who called himself Pepasilio, who said he was very
learned, and could do more, and accomplish greater things, than all the
others of us. My mother took him in amongst the ranks of her other
ministers; but his natural spite and wickedness very soon developed
themselves and came to light, Not only did he strive to undo all that
the other ministers did, but he set himself specially to spoil all the
happy enjoyments of children. He had pretended to the queen that he, of
all others, was the very spirit who could make children glad, and
happy, and clever; but instead of that, he hung himself with a weight
of lead on to the tails of the pheasants, so that they could not fly
aloft any more; and when the children climbed up the rose-trees, he
would drag them down by the legs, so that they knocked their noses on
the ground and made them bleed; and any that were jumping and dancing
he dashed down to the ground, to go crawling wretchedly about there
with downcast heads. Those who were singing he crammed all sorts of
nasty stuff into the mouths of, so that they had to stop; for singing
he could not abide. As for the poor tame beasts, he always wanted to
eat them, instead of playing with them, for he said that was what they
were meant for. The worst was, that with the help of his followers, he
had a way of smearing all the beautiful, sparkling precious stones of
the palace, the many-tinted glowing flowers, the roses and lilies, and
even the shining rainbows, with a horrible black juice, so that all the
glory and the beauty of them was gone, and everything became sorrowful
and dead. And when he had accomplished this, he would out with a loud
ringing laugh, and say that everything was now ju