Once upon a Nursery Rhyme

Queen of Hearts

The Queen of Hearts
She made some tarts
All on a summer's day,
The Knave of Hearts
He stole those tarts
And took them right away.
The King of Hearts
Called for the tarts
And beat the Knave full sore
The Knave of Hearts
Brought back those tarts
And vowed he'd steal no more.

Connie came home from pre school waving an envelope, it was an invite to the end of pre school party. Connie was starting school proper in September and she was very excited about it.

Connie was looking forward to the party, at first she wanted to wear her teddy bear costume but we finally settled on her princess party dress..... lots of sparkles.

"Shall we make Jam tarts or cupcakes for the party?" I asked her as she danced around the room she sang

"Tarts, Tarts, tarts"

The day  before the party, Connie was bouncing off the walls she was so excited, so I wasn't surprised when she crashed straight after lunch, I assumed she would be too tired to dream.

I was wrong.

Dreamland was almost as hyper as Connie (was it contagious? Had Connie  passed it on? ) there was a lot of frantic activity. I found Mary Mary and asked her what all the excitement was about.

"We have all been invited to a garden party up at the palace,"

In all my visits to Dreamland,  I had not noticed the Palace standing proudly overlooking the sea of lullabies,  best not to mention that to the king or queen.

"Absolutely everyone is invited, they have even sent invites to the grumpy village! Goodness knows why?, it is just so exciting, you'll never guess so I will tell you,  I have been asked to do the flowers,  they have heard about my garden, it is such an honour, and.......the King and Queen have commissioned Bo to do their portraits , her pops not too happy but it is by royal appointment so he can't say anything. Bo is over the moon, maybe this will be the start of a new career for her" she paused for breath,

"It has been so long since there has been a party at the palace, I was little last time it happened, everyone is in a whirl, and I heard a whisper that the Queen is going to be making her speciality "

"Let me guess..........Jam Tarts? " I felt confident in my answer, Mary Mary gave me a strange look

" er, no, she makes the most fantastic salmon quiche, or so I've been told, the recipe has been passed down through her family,  she won't give anyone the recipe no matter what"

Great, not only am I dealing with party mania at home but here in Dreamland as well, if I am honest I was quite excited about going to the palace, I have never been to a palace before so it would be a new experience.  Mary Mary lent me a dress.

The villagers walked through the woods up to the palace, it was like a fairytale castle, everyone was in their finery and on their best behaviour, as they walked, they pointed out and gasped with delight at everything , the beautiful flowers lining the path, the candles lighting up the woodland and balloons hanging from the trees, the children tried to reach the balloons without getting into trouble, not an easy task.

I walked with my friends, Mary Mary,  Bo and Mary, Connie ran ahead with the other children. Casually I mentioned Clara's disastrous visit to Mary Mary to Bo and Mary

"Had you heard about that? Did Mary Mary mention it to you?"

"No Mary Mary never said but the rumours our around the village is that she made a right mess, I think I may have seen Clara? Is that what you called her?, it was in the distance she seemed to be keeping her distance, but I haven't seen her recently" said Bo, Mary added