was in full leaf and loaded with plums, and it flashed
across his mind that the winter had disappeared very suddenly, and that
he had fallen into a place where it was broad daylight.

The plum-tree was the most beautiful and wonderful thing he had ever
seen, for the leaves were perfectly white, and the plums, which looked
extremely delicious, were of every imaginable color.

Now, it immediately occurred to Davy that he had never in his whole life
had all the plums he wanted at any one time. Here was a rare chance for
a feast, and he carefully selected the largest and most luscious-looking
plum he could find, to begin with. To his disappointment it proved to be
quite hard, and as solid and heavy as a stone. He was looking at it in
great perplexity, and punching it with his thumbs in the hope of finding
a soft place in it, when he heard a rustling sound among the leaves,
and, looking up, he saw the Cockalorum perched upon the bough beside
him. He was gazing sadly at the plum, and his feathers were more rumpled
than ever. Presently he gave a long sigh and said, in his low, murmuring
voice, "Perhaps it's a sugar-plum," and then flew clumsily away as
before.

"Perhaps it is!" exclaimed Davy, joyfully, taking a great bite of the
plum. To his surprise and disgust he found his mouth full of very
bad-tasting soap, and at the same moment the white leaves of the
plum-tree suddenly turned over and showed the words "APRIL FOOL" printed
very distinctly on their under sides. To make the matter worse, the
Cockalorum came back and flew slowly around the branches, laughing
softly to himself with a sort of a chuckling sound, until Davy, almost
crying with disappointment and mortification, scrambled down from the
tree to the ground.

He found himself in a large garden planted with plum-trees, like the one
he had fallen into, and with walks winding about among them in every
direction. These walks were beautifully paved with sugar-almonds and
bordered by long rows of many-colored motto-papers neatly planted in the
ground. He was too much distressed, however, by what had happened in the
plum-tree to be interested or pleased with this discovery, and was about
walking away, along one of the paths, in the hope of finding his way out
of the garden, when he suddenly caught sight of a small figure standing
a little distance from him.

He was the strangest-looking creature Davy had ever seen, not even
excepting the Goblin. In the first place h