Page:St. Nicholas (serial) (IA stnicholasserial321dodg).pdf/53

1904 ] {{ppoem|start=follow|end=follow|
 * How, as fast as her feet could toddle
 * (Her shoes were a Chinese model),

She hurried him in, and almost turned his dear little wondering noddle.


 * “Oh, is it,” she bent to say
 * In her courteous Chinese way,

“Tn my very contemptible garden, dear, your illustrious wish to play?”
 * And when he nodded his head
 * She knew that he would have said,

“My insignificant feet are proud your honored estate to tread!”


 * Oh, then, but the garden rang
 * With laughter and joy—ting, tang!

There was never a happier spot that day in the realm of the great Ching-Wang!
 * And oh, but it waned too soon,
 * That golden afternoon,

When the princess played with her Ray of the Sun, her darling Beam of the Moon!


 * For when the shadows crept
 * Where the folded lilies slept,

Out into the garden all at once the prince her father stepped,
 * With a dignified air benign,
 * And a smile on his features fine,

And a perfectly gorgeous gown of silk embroidered with flower and vine.


 * A fan in his princely hand,
 * Which he waved with a gesture bland

(Instead of a gentleman’s walking-stick it was carried, you understand),
 * In splendor of girdle and shoe,
 * In a glitter of gold and of blue,

With the fair Su-See at his side came he, the lordly Prince Choo-Choo.


 * The princess bent her brow
 * In a truly Celestial bow,

Saluted her father with filial grace, and made him the grand kotow,
 * {For every child that 's bright
 * Knows well the rule that ’s right,

That to knock your head on the ground nine times is the way to be polite.)


 * “And, pray, what have we here?”
 * In language kind though queer

The prince observed. “It looks to me like a little boy, my dear!”
 * “Why, that ’s what it is!” in glee
 * The princess cried. “Fing-Wee—

Most Perfectly Peerless Prince-Papa, a dear little brother for me!”

<> {{FIS|file=St Nicholas-32-1-053.jpg|imgwidth=300px|talign=center|caption={{asc|Prince Choo-Choo}}}}


 * Loud laughed the Prince Choo-Choo,
 * And I fancy he said “Pooh-pooh!”

(That sounds very much like a Chinese word, and expresses his feelings, too!)
 * And the fair Su-See leaned low.
 * “My Bud of the Rose, you know

If little Fing-Wee our son should be, your honors to him must go!


 * But the princess's eyes were wet,
 * For her dear little heart was set

On having her way till she quite forgot her daughterly etiquette.}}