The Road to Sleepy-Town

Little Boy Blue went to visit Uncle Phil on the farm and when night came he lay all alone in a big bed upstairs.

He was so tired he wanted to weep,But still he could not go to sleep.

He was so tired he wanted to weep,

But still he could not go to sleep.

He missed his mother’s tucking in and good night kiss.

He thought of all the sleepy things mother had told him to think about. He tried counting sheep going over a fence. He hummed a lullaby song, but his eyes were still wide open when Fairy Moonlight peeped in and sang:

“Hello, little boy in the white night gown,Are you on the road to Sleepy-Town?”

“Hello, little boy in the white night gown,

Are you on the road to Sleepy-Town?”

Little Boy Blue answered in a sing-song kind of way:

“The harder I try to go to sleep,The wider awake my eyes will peep.”

“The harder I try to go to sleep,

The wider awake my eyes will peep.”

Fairy moonlight danced right into the room at that, and danced beside a picture that hung on the wall, as she sang:

“Some go up, and some go down,On the road to Sleepy-Town.”

“Some go up, and some go down,

On the road to Sleepy-Town.”

The picture showed a long road with houses on each side.

Fairy Moonlight Danced Beside a Picture That Hung on a Wall

Suddenly the most surprising thing happened!

Stars shone out in the sky in the picture, and began to twinkle, twinkle, twinkle.

Lights came out in the windows of the houses; they began to twinkle, twinkle, twinkle.

Fairy Moonlight said:

“Little Boy, though I do not know your name,Let us just step over the picture frame.”

“Little Boy, though I do not know your name,

Let us just step over the picture frame.”

No sooner said than done.

They were on the road to Sleepy Town.

As Little Boy Blue looked back one hundred and six children also stepped over the picture frame and he saw all his little friends following him.

There was Betty with her new doll snuggled up close and Bobby with his Teddy Bear, Little Mary came drawing her cart behind her.

A sleepy old man was lighting lamps all along the road singing:

“Right foot, left foot up and down,Thus we march to Sleepy-Town.”

“Right foot, left foot up and down,

Thus we march to Sleepy-Town.”

They saw a sleepy old wind-mill turning round and round, round and round, and the wind-mill sang:

“Here they come with smiles and frown,On the road to Sleepy-Town.”

“Here they come with smiles and frown,

On the road to Sleepy-Town.”

At that very minute Betty sat down and fell asleep under the wind-mill.

All the rest of the children trooped on. They could see the lights of Sleepy-Town twinkle, twinkle, twinkle in the distance.

They heard the sleepy little birds twittering in the trees.

“Here comes a boy much like a clown,He often visits Sleepy-Town.”

“Here comes a boy much like a clown,

He often visits Sleepy-Town.”

At that very minute Billy sat down under the trees and fell asleep, while the other children went hurrying on.

They passed by a sleepy little brook that went singing over the stones:

“Hurrah, hurrah for your little night gown,You’ll need it soon in Sleepy-Town.”

“Hurrah, hurrah for your little night gown,

You’ll need it soon in Sleepy-Town.”

At that, all the children but Little Boy Blue sat down and began to throw pebbles into the brook and soon their heads went nid-nid nodding and they were fast asleep.

Fairy Moonlight sang:

“The hours come, the hours go,The Sandman’s rocking to and fro.”

“The hours come, the hours go,

The Sandman’s rocking to and fro.”

Sure enough, there was the sleepy old Sandman rocking to and fro in a hammock.

So He Fell Asleep

Little Boy Blue was so tired he crept in beside him and so he fell asleep right there on the road to Sleepy-Town.

The lights went out in the streets and houses one by one, and every one went nid-nid nodding.

“Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,” rang a bell and Little Boy Blue looked about. The Sandman was gone. Fairy Sunshine cried:

“You wake up happy now, it seemsYou came back from the land of dreams!”

“You wake up happy now, it seems

You came back from the land of dreams!”

Little Boy Blue woke up sure enough in the great big bed, and soon he ran down stairs with a hop and skip and bound.

Uncle Phil said:

“Good morning, how fast you did come down.”

Little Boy Blue replied:

“I just got back from Sleepy-Town.”

The most surprising part of the most surprising part of the story is still to come.

When Uncle Phil took Boy Blue home that evening in the old buggy he put a mysterious box with a mysterious paper and string covering it, into the old buggy.

When they arrived he handed Boy Blue the box.

In the box were little paper houses, and little paper street lamps, and windmills, and trees, and under one tree was a hammock for the Sandman.

It took Boy Blue exactly one hour to set the little town up, and Uncle Phil attached a cord and Boy Blue cried out with delight as from every house and every street lamp there shone alight that twinkled, twinkled, twinkled.

Uncle Phil said:

“You’re a good little boy with never a frown,And so I bought you this Sleepy-Town.”

“You’re a good little boy with never a frown,

And so I bought you this Sleepy-Town.”

Boy Blue thanked Uncle Phil and had many happy hours playing with his new toy town.

Fairy Moonlight peeped in the window and sang as she watched Boy Blue at play:

“Every child in his little gownIs on the road to Sleepy-Town.”

“Every child in his little gown

Is on the road to Sleepy-Town.”

Her voice was so sleepy, sleepy, sleepy as she sang that even Uncle Phil, who was telling this story, fell asleep, and

All the fairies looking downSaid, “They’re on the road toSleepy-Town!”

All the fairies looking down

Said, “They’re on the road toSleepy-Town!”

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