NINI AT CARNIVAL

This takes place at carnival, where sad Nini hasn't a costume though the other brown-skinned children are dressed as knights, jesters, spacemen, Arabs, bats, or feathered Indians--but just where in the world this takes place is not indicated. Anyway, another girl disguised as a fairy godmother soon provides Nini with a sort of sari (""It was only a piece of cloth but it fitted perfectly"") and appoints her Queen of the carnival, and ""Nini danced and danced with happiness."" Lloyd's confetti-flecked crowds of costumed revelers might make a colorful background for a real story, but they do nothing for this rudimentary banality.