By Coach by Sarah Noble Ives
Three children—Jimmy, Alice, and the speaker—imagine themselves racing along a "Shining Way" in a royal coach drawn by three horses, hurrying past weary travelers trudging through the dust their wheels kick up. Fields and forests blur by as they press on, intending to travel until they reach the gates of Fairy Land. But the poem turns playfully to reveal the truth behind the fantasy: the grand coach is only a dump-cart, and the "foaming three" are simply Jimmy, Alice, and the speaker themselves, pulling or pushing it along in their game of make-believe.
By Sarah Noble Ives · Genre: Children's Literature, Fantasy, Adventure · 160 words
First lines
We're traveling hard and fast to-day,- / Jimmy and Alice and me- / Bowling along on the Shining Way, / With a royal coach and three.
We laugh at the folk who are passing by, / Dragging their weary feet / Deep in the dust that our whizzing wheels / Have raised in the flying street.
Fields and forests flit out of sight; / And if all goes just as we planned / We'll travel on till we reach the bars / At the entrance to Fairy Land.
And what is the coach on our lordly quest? / And where are the foaming three? / Why, the coach is the dump-cart, and the rest- / Just Jimmy and Alice and me.
Similar titles
- Doll Time by Gelett Burgess
- A Make Believe by George Macdonald
- An Early Start by Sarah Noble Ives
- Hobby Horse by Amy Ella Blanchard
- Envoy For A Childs Garden Of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
- The Merchant Ship by Sarah Noble Ives
Genres
- Children's Literature — The poem features child protagonists (Jimmy, Alice, and the narrator) and celebrates imaginative play and carefree joy, making it quintessentially children's literature.
- Fantasy — The narrative centers on a fantastical journey to Fairy Land and features magical transformation of a dump-cart into a royal coach, core fantasy elements.
- Adventure — The poem depicts a traveling quest with protagonists moving rapidly toward a destination, capturing the essential spirit of adventure narrative.
- Poetry — The work is composed in verse form with regular rhyme scheme (AABB) and meter, functioning as narrative poetry told through poetic devices and rhythm.
Tags
childhood · imagination · play · fantasy · make-believe · fairy tales · adventure · journey · innocence · wonder · magical thinking · whimsical
What this Textopian page supports
By Coach is listed on Textopian as a short story by Sarah Noble Ives, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Sarah Noble Ives
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Children's Literature, Fantasy, Adventure, Poetry, Humorous Fiction
- Length: 160 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for By Coach by Sarah Noble Ives
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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