The story
“The rich little boy was seven years old and his kind mama gave him a birthday party. A number of children were invited to wish him happy returns of the day, and it promised to be a wonderful event in the child’s life. There was one unpleasant feature, however. The host’s cousin, who was a boy of 12, therefore almost venerable, was a guest, and the prettiest little girl of the party soon became this ‘old man’s darling.’ As the rich little boy had favored her with his attention it angered him to find that he had a rival in his elderly relative. Trying to make this clear only caused the elder boy to laugh, and brought down on the host a severe reproof from his nurse, and even threats of punishment. Among the presents given to the birthday boy was a book of fairy stories from the girl of his heart. His mother, at his earnest request, read them to him that night in bed, after the guests had departed, and they made a deep impression upon him. No wonder that the story ran through his sleepy head as he dropped into slumber.
“He saw himself as the gallant knight, wandering through a strange kingdom and halting when he saw a sign announcing that the king had determined to give his daughter to any brave noble who would slay a terrible dragon. Did our young hero see the beautiful princess, and was she the ‘old man’s darling’ at the birthday party? He did, and she was. Also, they fell desperately in love at first sight, much to the anger of ‘The Black Duke,’ who strangely resembled the big cousin and who loved the princess despite the disparity of their years. The dream knight killed the dragon, but the dastardly dark duke managed to induce the king not to pay the promised reward. The claims of the knight were ignored and the tears of the princess disregarded. In fact, she was locked up in her room for daring to think of the stranger.
“Now what could a brave knight do under the circumstances? The only knightly thing was to enter the castle, rescue the princess, and put to the sword all who dared to interfere with them. So this is exactly what our little noble did. He displayed surprising ability as a swordsman, killing everybody in sight, and carried the girl away in triumph. Then something happened. Nursie appeared. Now, a boy of seven may be very brave, indeed, and able to fight dragons and knights and defy kings and dastard dukes, but when Nursie says ‘Jump through this,’ he jumps. So when Nursie blundered into the dream the knights and castles and the romantic surroundings speedily faded away, and all that was left was a sleepy little boy, in his pajamas and in his crib, blinking solemnly and wondering what had really happened. Then he turned over and went to sleep again, and this time he did not dream at all.”
Summary from The Moving Picture World · 6 July 1912
