The worst of it was , that as Jaqueline sat and thought and thought , she began to remember that she was back in her own country . The hills were those she used to see from her father 's palace windows when she was a child . And she remembered with horror that once a year her people used to send a beautiful girl to the Earthquaker , by way of keeping him quiet , as you shall hear presently . And now she heard light footsteps and a sound of weeping , and lo ! a great troop of pretty girls passed , sweeping in and out of the halls in a kind of procession , and looking unhappy and lost . Jaqueline ran to them . `` Where am I ? who are you ? '' she cried , in the language of her own country , which came back to her on a sudden . `` We are nurses of the Earthquaker , '' they said . `` Our duty is to sing him asleep , and every year he must have a new song ; and every year a new maiden must be sent down from earth , with a new sleepy song she has learned from the priests of Manoa , the City of the Sun . Are you the new singer ? '' `` No , I 'm not , '' said Jaqueline . `` I do n't know the priests of Manoa ; I do n't know any new sleepy song . I only want to find the way out . '' `` There is no way , or we should have found it , '' said one of the maidens ; `` and , if you are the wrong girl , by the day after to-morrow they must send the right one , otherwise the Earthquaker will waken , and shake the world , and destroy Manoa , the City of the Sun . '' Then they all wept softly in the stillness . `` Can we get anything to eat here ? '' asked poor Jaqueline , at last . She was beginning to be very hungry , and however alarmed she might be , she felt that dinner would not be unwelcome .
The tallest of the XXXXX clapped her hands , and immediately a long table was spread by unseen sprites with meringues and cold chicken , and several sorts of delicious ices .
country earth father girl hills maidens nurses people priests song