More about Mary Poppins / И снова о Мэри Поппинз

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And she went on dancing, and thoroughly enjoying herself. At last, however, she grew tired and decided that she had danced enough and that she would go to sleep. But, to her great surprise, she found that she could not stop dancing. When she went to lie down beside the Red Calf, her legs would not let her. They went on capering* and prancing* and, of course, carrying her with them. Round and round the field she went, leaping* and waltzing and stepping on tip-toe.

“Dear me!” she murmured at intervals with a ladylike accent.

“How very peculiar!” But she couldn’t stop.

In the morning she was still dancing and the Red Calf had to take its breakfast of dandelions all by itself because the Red Cow could not remain still enough to eat.

All through the day she danced, up and down the meadow and round and round the meadow, with the Red Calf mooing piteously behind her. When the second night came, and she was still at it* and still could not stop, she grew very worried. And at the end of a week of dancing she was nearly distracted.

“I must go and see the King about it,” she decided, shaking her head.

So she kissed her Red Calf and told it to be good. Then she turned and danced out of the meadow and went to tell the King.

She danced all the way, snatching little sprays of green food from the hedges as she went, and every eye that saw her stared with astonishment. But none of them were more astonished than the Red Cow herself.

At last she came to the Palace where the King lived.

She pulled the bell-rope with her mouth, and when the gate opened she danced through it and up the broad garden path till she came to the flight of steps that led to the King’s throne.

Upon this the King was sitting, busily making a new set of Laws. His Secretary was writing them down in a little red note-book, one after another, as the King thought of them. There were Courtiers and Ladies-in-Waiting everywhere, all very gorgeously dressed and all talking at once.

“How many have I made today?” asked the King, turning to the Secretary. The Secretary counted the Laws he had written down in the red note-book.

“Seventy-two, your Majesty,” he said, bowing low and taking care not to trip over his quill pen, which was a very large one.

“H’m. Not bad for an hour’s work,” said the King, looking very pleased with himself. “That’s enough for today.” He stood up and arranged his ermine cloak very tastefully.