She inspires their dreams, when these
are born in their brains."
The talk now turned on Puck, who was to be the president of the
meeting. They were expected to show much dignity in his presence, but
some feared he would, as usual, play his pranks. Before he arrived in
his chariot, which was drawn by dragon flies, some of his neighbors
that lived in the valley near by chatted about him, until the gossip
became quite personal. Just for the fun of it, and the amusement of
the crowd, they wanted Puck to give an exhibition, off-hand, of all
his very varied accomplishments for he could beat all rivals in his
special variety, or as musicians say, his repertoire.
"No. 'Twould be too much like a Merry Andrew's or a Buffoon's
sideshow, where the freaks of all sorts are gathered, such as they
have at those county fairs, which the mortals get up, to which are
gathered great crowds. The charge of admission is a sixpence. I vote
'no.'"
"Well, for the very reason that Puck can beat the rest of us at spells
and transformations, I should like to see him do for us as many stunts
as he can. I've heard from a mortal, named Shakespeare, that, in one
performance, Puck could be a horse, a hound, a hog, a bear without any
head, and even kindle himself into a fire; while his vocal powers, as
we know, are endless.
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