{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_38252/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_38252","id":"gutenberg_38252","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38252","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairies -- Juvenile fiction","Fairy tales"],"text":"Produced by Suzanne Shell, Cathy Maxam, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n_FAIRIES I HAVE MET_\n\n[Illustration: \"PLEASE,\" SHE SAID, \"I WANT TO BE A NIGHTINGALE\"]\n\n\n\n\n  _FAIRIES I HAVE MET_\n\n  _BY MRS. RODOLPH STAWELL_\n\n  _ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR BY_\n  _EDMUND DULAC_\n\n  _HODDER AND STOUGHTON_\n  _NEW YORK AND LONDON_\n\n\n\n\n_DEDICATION_\n\n\nBefore Penelope could toddle she lived far away among the oleanders. The\nsunbeams who came down to see the oleanders saw Penelope too. She sat on\nthe grass and played with them, and they loved her very much.\n\nOne day the sunbeams were sad.\n\n\"Penelope is going to England,\" they said to each other.\n\n\"I am going to England with her,\" said Sunbeam the First.\n\n\"How?\" asked the others.\n\n\"I shall hide in her hair,\" said Sunbeam the First.\n\n\"Then,\" said Sunbeam the Second, \"I shall go too. I shall hide behind\nher eyelashes.\"\n\n\"And I,\" said Sunbeam the Third, \"shall hide in her heart.\"\n\nSo Penelope went to England, with one sunbeam in her hair, and one in\nher eyes, and one in her heart.\n\nWhen she was old enough to talk she spoke to the sunbeams.\n\n\"Shall you always stay in my hair?\" she asked Sunbeam the First.\n\n\"That is more than I can say,\" he answered. \"Perhaps when you are old I\nshall be obliged to go away.\"\n\nThen Penelope asked Sunbeam the Second--\n\n\"Shall you always stay in my eyes?\"\n\n\"I hope so,\" said Sunbeam the Second; \"but perhaps if you are unhappy I\nshall be obliged to go away.\"\n\nThen the corners of Penelope's mouth began to droop a little.\n\n\"Dear Sunbeam,\" she said to Sunbeam the Third, \"shall you be always in\nmy heart?\"\n\n\"Yes, if you keep me there,\" said Sunbeam the Third.\n\n\"How can I keep you there?\" asked Penelope.\n\n\"You must love the fairies,\" said the sunbeam, \"and understand them when\nthey speak to you. If you love the fairies even when you are old, I\nshall stay in your heart always.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThese stories have been written for Penelope, so that she may love the\nfairies, and keep the sunbeam always in her heart.\n\n\n\n\n_CONTENTS_\n\n\n                                          PAGE\n\n  THE BIRD OF SHADOWS AND THE SUN-BIRD      13\n\n  THE SEA-FAIRY AND THE LAND-FAIRY, AND HOW THEY\n    QUARRELLED      21\n\n  PRINCESS ORCHID'S PARTY      31\n\n  THE CLOUD THAT HAD NO LINING      41\n\n  THE FAIRIES WHO CHANGED PLACES      51\n\n  THE MAKING OF THE OPAL      59\n\n  THE BIG SPIDER'S DIAMONDS      69\n\n  A LITTLE GIRL IN A BOOK      77\n\n  THE FAIRY WHO WAS LOOKING FOR A HOME      85\n\n  THE BOX OF DREAMS      95\n\n  THE FAIRY WHO HAD ONLY ONE WING      103\n\n  THE LITTLE BOY FROM TOWN      111\n\n\n\n\n_ILLUSTRATIONS_\n\n\n  THE BIRD OF SHADOWS AND THE SUN-BIRD\n    \"Please,\" she said, \"I want to be a nightingale\"       _Frontispiece_\n\n                                                           TO FACE PAGE\n\n  THE SEA-FAIRY AND THE LAND-FAIRY\n    He held out the little shell in the beam of coloured light      24\n\n  PRINCESS ORCHID'S PARTY\n    She smiled at him very graciously when he was introduced\n    to her                                                          36\n\n  THE CLOUD THAT HAD NO LINING\n    And because the silver of the moonshine-fairies is very\n    light he was able to carry a great deal of it                   46\n\n  THE FAIRIES WHO CHANGED PLACES\n    Drop-of-Crystal was too busy to speak                           54\n\n  THE MAKING OF THE OPAL\n    Of course the Dear Princess ... wore the great opal\n    on the day that she was married                                 68\n\n  THE BIG SPIDER'S DIAMONDS\n    The web and the diamonds and the Big Spider himself all\n    fell to the ground                                              74\n\n  A LITTLE GIRL IN A BOOK\n    The other people in the book looked at her in surprise          82\n\n\n\n\n_THE BIRD OF SHADOWS AND THE SUN-BIRD_\n\n\nLittle Agatha lived in the days when castles were as common in the land\nas cottages are now, and when there were plenty of magicians always\nready to help people out of difficulties.\n\nOne of the castles was Agatha's home. It stood on a hill and was\nsurrounded by a dark wood. Agatha was a lonely little girl: she had no\nsisters or brothers to play with. She used to stand at the narrow window\nin the castle tower and look out into the wood, and long to run about\nwith other little girls. If you had seen her you would have thought her\na very funny figure in her long gown reaching nearly to the ground, and\na close cap over her curls.\n\nIn the evening Agatha could see very little when she stood at the\nwindow, but still she stood there and looked at the dark wood. It was\nthen that the nightingale, the Bird of Shadows, sang to her; and this\nwas what she liked better than anything else. She thought the\nnightingale's voice was lovely to hear, and she wondered why it was so\nsad.\n\nEvening after evening the lonely little girl looked out through the\ntower window listening to the nightingale, till she felt that he was her\nfriend. Sometimes she spoke to him.\n\n\"How much I should like to fly out of the window and be a nightingale\ntoo!\" she said. \"Then we would play together in the wood, and I should\nhave a voice like yours--ever so sweet and ever so sad.\"\n\nSometimes she tried to sing, but she found her voice was not in the\nleast like the nightingale's.\n\nEvery day she became more anxious to be a nightingale, until at last she\nthought about it always, and yet seemed no nearer to her wish. She hoped\nsometimes that her curls might turn into feathers; but after several\nweeks of wishing she saw that the curls were still made of yellow hair.\nShe began to be afraid she would never be anything but a little girl.\n\nOne day she heard some of the maids talking together. They were speaking\nof the Wise Man, the Magician, who lived in the dark cave on the side of\nthe hill, and could do the most wonderful things. In fact, they said,\nthere was hardly anything he couldn't do; you had only to tell him what\nyou wanted most and he could manage it for you.\n\n\"Perhaps he could turn me into a nightingale,\" thought Agatha. \"I'll go\nand ask him, anyway.\"\n\nSo while the maids were still talking she slipped out of the castle, and\nthrough the wood, and down the hill, till she came to the dark cave. Her\nlong frock caught on the brambles as she went, and her hands were a good\ndeal scratched, and once she tripped and fell. But of course she did not\nmind anything of that kind, because she was thinking all the time about\nthe nightingale.\n\nAgatha walked into the cave without knocking, and found the Magician at\nhome. I dare say you know that all good Magicians have kind faces and\nlong white beards. This one was a good Magician, so he had a kind face\nand a long white beard. Agatha was not in the least afraid of him. She\ntold him at once why she had come.\n\n\"Please,\" she said, \"I want to be a nightingale.\"\n\n\"A nightingale, my dear?\" said the Wise Man. \"That is a very strange\nthing for you to want to be! Don't you know that the nightingale is the\nBird of Shadows, who sings by night and is very sad?\"\n\n\"I shouldn't mind that a bit,\" said Agatha, \"if I could only fly about\nand sing with a beautiful voice.\"\n\n\"Well, then,\" said the Wise Man, \"if you don't mind being sad, this is\nwhat you must do. Every day you must come here to see me, and each time\nyou must bring me one of the pearls from your necklace.\"\n\nAgatha clasped her hands tightly round her neck, as if to save her\npearls. She wore them in a chain, and the chain was so long that it\npassed twice round her neck and then fell in a loop that reached nearly\nto her waist.\n\n\"Oh, must it be my pearls?\" she asked eagerly. \"Would nothing else do\ninstead? I have some very nice things at home--really nice things. I\nhave some lovely toys, and a gold chain, and a pony, and--oh, lots of\nthings. Wouldn't you like some of those?\"\n\n\"No,\" said the Wise Man, \"I must have the pearls if you want to fly\nabout and sing with a beautiful voice. Nothing else will do. For every\npearl you bring me I will give you a feather from the nightingale, the\nBird of Shadows.\"\n\nAgatha went home slowly, still clasping her pearls tightly in her hands.\nShe liked them better than anything she had. She liked to watch the soft\nlights and shades on them, and to think of the wonderful sea they came\nfrom. She did not feel sure that it was worth while to give them up,\neven for the sake of being a bird and learning to sing.\n\nBut in the evening, when she stood by the tower window as usual, and\nlistened to the nightingale, she had no longer any doubts as to what she\nshould do. To be able to sing like the nightingale was more important\nthan anything else, she felt. And besides, if she were going to be\nturned into a bird, the pearls would not be of much use to her in any\ncase. She was pretty sure that nightingales never wore pearl necklaces.\n\nThe next day she slipped one of the pearls off her chain, and then she\nran out of the castle and through the wood and down the hill, till she\ncame to the dark cave.\n\nThe Wise man smiled when he saw her.\n\n\"Here is----\" she began, and then she could say no more, because of the\nlump in her throat.\n\nThe Wise Man looked rather sorry for her, but he took the pearl without\nspeaking. Then he gave her the feather he had promised her, and she went\naway again. As she climbed the hill and ran back through the wood to the\ncastle, she tried to feel glad that she had the feather instead of the\npearl.\n\nFor a long, long time the same thing happened every day. Every day\nAgatha slipped a pearl off her chain, and then ran out of the castle and\nthrough the wood and down the hill, till she came to the dark cave; and\nevery day she brought home a little feather instead of her pearl.\n\nThe long loop of the chain grew shorter and shorter. The time came when\nit was not a long loop at all, but fitted closely round Agatha's neck\nas the other loops did. By-and-by the time came when the chain would\nonly pass twice round her throat; then the time came when it would only\ngo round her throat once; then it grew too short to reach round her\nthroat at all, and she was obliged to turn it into a bracelet. Then it\nbecame too short for her wrist, and she made it into a ring. And all the\ntime her store of feathers was growing larger and larger, till it seemed\nto her that there were enough to make at least ten nightingales; but\nthis was because she did not know how many feathers a nightingale likes\nto have. When there were only two pearls left, the Wise Man said to\nher--\n\n\"When you bring me the last pearl you must bring me the feathers too;\nand after that you will be able to sing with a beautiful voice and to\nfly wherever you like.\"\n\nSo when Agatha left the gloomy old castle for the last time she was not\nable to run through the wood, because she was carrying a big bag of\nfeathers as well as the pearl.\n\nShe was feeling very much excited when she gave the bag of feathers to\nthe Wise Man.\n\nHe put the last pearl carefully away with the others; and then he took\nthe bag of feathers and emptied it over Agatha's head. As he did so he\nsaid some of the strange long words that Wise Men use.\n\nAnd then----\n\nAgatha was there no longer. There was nothing to be seen of her except a\nlittle heap of yellow curls, which the Wise Man kept to give to the next\nperson who asked him for gold.\n\nBut out of the cave there flew a happy bird. It flew far, far up into\nthe sky, singing with a beautiful voice. It flew higher up into the sky\nthan any nightingale ever flew.\n\nFor the Wise Man had done more than he had promised. The bird's\nbeautiful voice was not the voice of the nightingale, the Bird of\nShadows; but the voice of the lark, the Sun-Bird, who is never sad.\n\n\n\n\n_THE SEA-FAIRY AND THE LAND-FAIRY, AND HOW THEY QUARRELLED_\n\n\nThe sea-fairy's name was Laughing Sapphire, and he lived in a\nnautilus-shell: the land-fairy was called Sweet-of-the-Mountain, and his\nhome was a tuft of heather. One day Sweet-of-the-Mountain went for a\nstroll on the sea-shore, and there he met Laughing Sapphire, just at the\nedge of the ripples. It was then that the quarrel began.\n\n\"I am really sorry for you,\" said the sea-fairy. \"It must be very\nunpleasant to live up on that cliff. It is so dangerous too. You might\nbe blown down at any moment!\"\n\n\"Ha-ha, how very amusing!\" laughed the land-fairy. \"Unpleasant, did you\nsay? Dangerous? Not at all, not at all. Now, _your_ life is something\ntoo horrible to think of. I am glad it is not my fate to wander for ever\non the sea. And as for danger--well, every one knows that the sea is\nfull of dangers.\"\n\n\"I never heard such nonsense,\" said Laughing Sapphire indignantly. \"The\nsea is perfectly safe if you know how to manage your shell.\"\n\n\"But think of the discomfort of it,\" said Sweet-of-the-Mountain. \"You\nnever have any peace.\"\n\n\"And _you_ never have any change,\" answered Laughing Sapphire.\n\n\"There's not much change in always looking at the sea--a great dull\nstretch of water!\"\n\n\"Dull!\" cried Laughing Sapphire angrily. \"Dull, did you say? Not half so\ndull as being mewed up on a rock!\"\n\n\"Why,\" said Sweet-of-the-Mountain, \"you've no flowers, and no bees, and\nno----\"\n\n\"And you,\" interrupted Laughing Sapphire, \"have no glittering spray, and\nno forests of seaweed, and no creamy foam.\"\n\n\"You've no heather,\" said the land-fairy, as if that settled the matter.\n\n\"As for you,\" cried the sea-fairy, \"I can't think of anything you _have_\ngot! So there!\"\n\nThey went on quarrelling in this way for some time, getting more and\nmore angry. At last they agreed upon a very good way of settling the\ndispute. And this was their plan. Each of them was to go away for a\ncertain length of time. On a particular day they were to meet again on\nthe shore, at the edge of the ripples. Laughing Sapphire was to bring\nwith him three treasures of the sea; and Sweet-of-the-Mountain was to\nbring three treasures of the land. The fairy whose treasures were the\nbest would be the winner in the quarrel.\n\n\"But who will decide which are the best treasures?\" asked the\nland-fairy.\n\n\"My friend the sea-anemone lives near here,\" said Laughing Sapphire. \"As\nhe is partly on land and partly in the sea, he will be able to judge\nfairly between us. He shall decide.\"\n\n[Illustration: HE HELD OUT THE LITTLE SHELL IN THE BEAM OF COLOURED\nLIGHT]\n\nThen the sea-fairy sailed away in his nautilus-shell, and the land-fairy\nflew home to the heather on the cliff.\n\nHardly had Laughing Sapphire left the shore when he saw a huge curling\nwave rolling towards him. The hollow of the wave was like a great green\ncavern, lit up with magic light; the top of it was sparkling spray. A\nsunbeam was shining straight down through the spray, and gleaming with\nevery colour you can think of, so that it seemed as if a piece of\nrainbow had fallen from the sky.\n\nThe fairy laughed happily, and steered right into the hollow of the\nwave, for he knew that his nautilus-boat was safe. In his hand was a\nlittle shell. As his boat rode smoothly over the crest of the wave and\nthrough the rainbow, he held out the little shell in the beam of\ncoloured light. There was a wonderful change in the shell after it had\npassed through the rainbow; it was lined with mother-o'-pearl!\n\nThe fairy laughed again for joy when he saw the rainbow colours of the\nlittle shell.\n\n\"They've nothing like that on shore!\" he said.\n\nThen the nautilus-boat sailed on and on across the sea.\n\nThe next thing that Laughing Sapphire found was a glowing piece of red\nseaweed. As he pulled it, dripping, out of the sea, it looked like a bit\nof broad crimson ribbon; except that no ribbon ever had so much colour\nand so much light in it. It was so transparent that you could see the\nsunlight through it, and yet it was as strong as a rope.\n\nAs the fairy coiled it round and round he smiled.\n\n\"That should please them, I think,\" he muttered.\n\nThe third thing that Laughing Sapphire found was the best of all. To\nfind it he was obliged to leave his nautilus-boat and dive down to the\nbottom of the sea. I must not tell you now of all the wonders he saw\nthere, for it would take me too long, and it would be very difficult for\nme to stop. But when he came to the surface again he was clasping a\nsplendid pearl tightly in his hand.\n\n\"If this doesn't persuade them,\" he said, chuckling, \"that the sea is\nthe best place in the world, _nothing_ will!\"\n\nMeanwhile the land-fairy had been busy too.\n\nFirst he flew to a beautiful garden, full of roses and verbena and\neverything sweet. It was a garden he often visited, for many of the\nflower-fairies there were friends of his. So he knew exactly where to\nfind the sweetest lilies. There were great clumps of them--tall, white\nlilies with drooping heads and hearts of gold. Sweet-of-the-Mountain\ncrept into one of them, and came out with a big, heavy drop of honey.\nThe scent of it was so strong that all the fairies in the garden sniffed\njoyfully. Then Sweet-of-the-Mountain flew over the wall, and away and\naway till he came to a wood.\n\nIn the wood there was perfect silence. If you had walked there your\nfootsteps would have made no sound, for the ground was soft and springy\nwith moss. There was moss everywhere: moss on the tree-stems and on the\nstones, and carpets and cushions of moss on the ground. The fairy picked\na piece of it--a piece like a soft green feather--and flew off with it\nout of the wood.\n\nThen he went back to his own hills, where the heather grew right up to\nthe edge of the cliff; for he knew that the best thing of all was to be\nfound there. He saw the hills far away, purple and blue, with here and\nthere a streak of crimson where the sun was shining on the heather. As\nhe came nearer and nearer he grew happier and happier, for a fairy is\nalways happiest in his own country. He picked a sprig from his own tuft\nof heather; and then he flew down to the shore to meet the sea-fairy at\nthe edge of the ripples.\n\nHe found the nautilus-boat lying on the sand, and Laughing Sapphire\nsitting on a rock talking to the sea-anemone. The fairies nodded to each\nother.\n\n\"This,\" said Laughing Sapphire to the sea-anemone, \"is the fairy I was\nspeaking of. He declares that it is better to live on land than on the\nsea. Of course I know better than that! So we have each brought three\ntreasures to show you, that you may decide which of us is right.\"\n\nThe sea-anemone answered in a very sleepy, drawling voice: for when you\nspend all your life fastened to the same rock your mind moves rather\nslowly.\n\n\"Very well,\" he said, \"go on.\"\n\nThen Laughing Sapphire showed them his mother-o'-pearl shell.\n\n\"This shell,\" he said, \"is lined with a bit of rainbow.\"\n\nThe sea-anemone waved all his arms about wildly to show that he was\npleased.\n\n\"And this,\" said Laughing Sapphire, unrolling the crimson seaweed, \"is a\nbit of the ribbon that mermaids use for tying their hair.\"\n\n\"Beautiful!\" murmured the land-fairy.\n\n\"And this,\" went on the sea-fairy, showing them the pearl, \"is one of\nthe lanterns that the moonlight-fairies use when they dance on the sea.\"\n\n\"Beautiful--beautiful!\" said the sea-anemone and the land-fairy\ntogether.\n\nThen Laughing Sapphire turned to the land-fairy with an air of triumph.\n\n\"Let us see your treasures now,\" he said a little contemptuously.\n\nSweet-of-the-Mountain held out a flower-cup with the drop of honey in\nit.\n\nIt was so sweet that the sea-fairy could not help exclaiming: \"Oh, how\ndelicious!\"\n\n\"That,\" said the land-fairy, \"is the sweetness of the garden.\"\n\nThen he showed them the little green feather of moss.\n\n\"That,\" he said, \"is the quietness of the woods.\"\n\nThen he threw down the sprig of heather.\n\n\"That,\" he said, smiling, \"is the glory of the hills.\"\n\nThe two fairies looked at each other silently. Each felt certain that\nhis own treasures were the best.\n\nThe sea-anemone's arms were all waving furiously. He was very much\nexcited, because he knew that the time had come for him to decide which\nof the two fairies had brought the most beautiful things; and as I told\nyou before, he was not very quick in making up his mind.\n\n\"Well?\" said Laughing Sapphire impatiently. \"What do you think? Is it\nbest to live on the sea or on the land?\"\n\n\"I think,\" said the sea-anemone very slowly, \"that the sea is the best\nplace for a sea-fairy.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes,\" said the sea-fairy, \"of course it is!\"\n\n\"But then, you know,\" the sea-anemone went on, \"I can't help thinking\nthat the land is the best place for a land-fairy.\"\n\nThen he drew in all his arms and became a little knob of red jelly.\n\n\"It is possible,\" said Sweet-of-the-Mountain thoughtfully, \"that there\nis some sense in what he says. And yet\"--he sniffed happily at his cup\nof honey--\"and yet I don't believe you have anything at sea as sweet as\nthis.\"\n\n\"It is certainly a very nice scent,\" agreed Laughing Sapphire, \"but I do\nthink it would be improved by a little salt.\"\n\n\n\n\n_PRINCESS ORCHID'S PARTY_\n\n\nA fairy whose name was Hedgeflower once lived in a wild rose at the\ncorner of a field. One day he went out to search for adventures, for\nmost fairies have a great wish for adventures.\n\nHe wandered on for a long time, sometimes walking and sometimes flying,\nand sometimes stopping to talk to friends, for the wild-rose-fairies\nhave a great many friends. He crossed several fields in this way, and\nthen he came to a high hedge. He was just thinking of going home when he\nheard a great buzzing of voices on the other side of the hedge, and as\nthe voices were fairy-voices he was interested at once. Perhaps, he\nthought, he would find the adventure he was looking for on the other\nside of the hedge. So he spread his pink-and-white wings and flew over.\n\nIt was not surprising that he had heard a great many fairy-voices, for\nhe found himself in a beautiful garden, and all beautiful gardens are,\nas you know, full of fairies. In this garden there were not only the\nsorts of fairies that one meets every day, such as rose-fairies and\nlily-fairies and the quiet little ones that live in mignonette, but\nthere were also all kinds of smartly dressed fairies belonging to\nstrange and splendid flowers. They all seemed to be getting on very well\ntogether, for they were all talking loudly about something that\ninterested them very much.\n\nAs Hedgeflower dropped down into the middle of the group he felt a\nlittle shy. But fairies are as a rule kind and friendly, so a good many\nvoices called out Good-morning to him as he sat down under the shade of\na large purple pansy. Then a butterfly whom he had met once or twice\nbefore came rustling up to him and began to talk.\n\n\"I like this place,\" said the butterfly. \"One meets so many different\nkinds of fairies. But don't sit there. Come and let me introduce you to\nsome of my friends.\" Then as they moved away he lowered his voice and\nwent on--\n\n\"Those little pansy-fairies are good little things, but they are a bit\ntoo thoughtful for me. I find them just a trifle dull, you know. But\nhere is a cousin of yours; I must introduce you.\"\n\nHedgeflower looked round and saw that a beautiful rose-fairy was\nstanding near. She wore flowing robes of two shades of pink, and her\nappearance was full of dignity.\n\n\"Madame La France,\" said the butterfly, \"may I introduce to you a cousin\nof your own?\"\n\n\"A very distant cousin, I am afraid, Madame,\" said Hedgeflower, bowing\nlow.\n\nMadame La France smiled kindly and asked Hedgeflower if he had often\nbeen in the garden before. He told her that this was his first visit.\n\n\"Then,\" she cried, \"you must come to the party--you must certainly come\nto Princess Orchid's party. She lives over there in the glass house, and\nshe has asked all the fairies in the garden to a party this afternoon.\nWe have been talking about it all day. You must come with me; the\nPrincess will be glad to see any cousin of mine.\"\n\nHedgeflower was delighted. He thought it would be great fun to tell the\nfairies at home all about it: Meadowsweet, and that cheeky little\nEyebright, and Buttercup who stared at everything one said, and all the\nhoneysuckle-fairies, who were such friends with the wild-rose-fairies\nbecause their families had lived close together for so long. Hedgeflower\nthought that to go to a Princess's party with his beautiful cousin was a\nnicer adventure than anything he had expected when he set out for his\nwalk.\n\nMeanwhile all the fairies in the garden were making their way towards\nthe glass house.\n\n\"You must keep close to me,\" said Madame La France kindly. \"The flower\nin which the Princess lives is some way from the door, and you might be\nlost in the crowd.\"\n\nIn another moment Hedgeflower found himself in a scene of the greatest\nsplendour. The glass house was full of flowers, and every flower had of\ncourse its own special fairy, and nearly all of them were magnificently\ndressed and were quite different to any fairies that Hedgeflower knew.\nThe greatest crowd was of course round the beautiful flower in which the\nPrincess Orchid lived, and Hedgeflower and his cousin found it quite\ndifficult to get near the Princess without crushing their wings. They\nwere obliged to walk so slowly that Hedgeflower had plenty of time to\nlook about him. He saw numbers of his cousins the rose-fairies, and tall\nlily-fairies, and fern-fairies dressed all in green. The pansy-fairies\nwere there too, with their sad little faces and their splendid\npurple-and-gold dresses. Quite close to him there was a fuchsia-fairy,\ndressed in a stiff white petticoat with a pointed overskirt of scarlet;\nand standing beside her were several fairies whose crimson tunics were\nso fine that Hedgeflower asked who they were.\n\n\"They are the young Prince Begonias,\" said Madame La France. \"The\nPrincess, being a foreigner herself, has a great many foreign friends.\nThe Begonias think a good deal of themselves, but I think myself that\nour own family has more reason to be proud. But come, we can speak to\nthe Princess now.\"\n\nPrincess Orchid was standing on a drooping petal of the beautiful flower\nin which she lived. Her long robes of mauve and white swept over the\nflower as if they were themselves petals. Her hair was golden, and her\nface was the loveliest that Hedgeflower had ever seen. She smiled at him\nvery graciously when he was introduced to her, and after he had seen\nthat smile he took no interest in anything else that was going on. He\nnever glanced again at any of the fairies who had seemed to him so\nsplendid a short time before: he just sat down in a nice shady clump of\nferns and watched Princess Orchid. He had been to a great many parties\nin his own hedge where the wild-roses grew, but he had never seen a\nfairy or even a butterfly receive her guests with so much sweetness and\ngraciousness. He sat there for a long time and wished it could be for\never. Then he remembered that perhaps he would never see Princess Orchid\nagain, and that made him sad.\n\nA fairy party is never dull. Fairies are full of fun and enjoy\neverything very much. There was a great deal of talking and laughing and\nsipping of dew flavoured with sunshine, which is the drink fairies like\ninstead of tea. The fairies of the Canterbury Bells had brought their\nmusic too, and gave a great deal of pleasure. It seemed as if the party\nwere going to be a great success, when unfortunately a disaster\nhappened which was talked about for many a day afterwards.\n\n[Illustration: SHE SMILED AT HIM VERY GRACIOUSLY WHEN HE WAS INTRODUCED\nTO HER]\n\nOn the roof of the glass house, just above the Princess's head, there\nwas a large spider who was very busy spinning his web. He was so busy\nthat he did not look where he was going, and when people forget to look\nwhere they are going it is a very common thing for accidents to happen.\nThe spider came lower and lower, spinning all the time, while Princess\nOrchid was talking very kindly to a shy little violet-fairy and was not\nnoticing anything else. Lower and lower, nearer and nearer, came the\nspider.\n\nSuddenly a shrill little voice was heard to cry out--\n\n\"Take care, Princess, take care!\" and Hedgeflower, flying from his clump\nof ferns, flung himself against the great spider. He was too late.\n_Flop!_ The spider fell with all his weight upon the flower in which the\nPrincess lived!\n\nNo flower could bear the weight of such a monster, and to the horror of\nall the fairies the beautiful mauve orchid trembled and drooped, and\nthen slowly fell to pieces, petal by petal. The Princess spread her\ndainty wings and flew safely to the ground. Then she turned and looked\nsadly at the ruin of her home. It lay bruised and crushed and shapeless\non the earth, and if once a fairy's flower-home falls to pieces it can\nnever be put together again.\n\nThere was a great commotion in the glass house. All the fairies flew\nabout in a fuss, chattering angrily and trying to find the spider who\nhad done the mischief. But he had quickly climbed up the rope that he\nhad been spinning, and was hiding behind a leaf, so he was never found.\n\nNow, it is a very uncommon thing to find a fairy who is not kind and\nanxious to help other people, so all the Princess's guests crowded round\nher and begged her to come and stay with them. The fuchsia-fairies\ndeclared they knew of the loveliest little fuchsia-bud which was in want\nof some one to take care of it: it would really be a charity if the\nPrincess would live there. Prince Begonia objected to this, because, he\nsaid, a fuchsia-bud was not a fit place for the Princess to live in; the\nright home for her was in one of his magnificent palaces. The\nlily-fairies cried out that this was all nonsense, because any one could\nsee that the Princess would feel more at home in a white flower than in\na red one, after living so long in the pale orchid.\n\nWhile all this talking was going on the Princess did not seem to be\npaying very much attention to it, though of course she bowed and smiled\nand thanked the fairies very prettily, as was only right. She looked\nround several times, as if she wanted some one who was not there. At\nlast she said--\n\n\"Where is the little fairy with the kind face, who tried to save my\nhome?\"\n\nSeveral fairies pushed Hedgeflower forward. He felt and looked very shy.\n\nThe Princess smiled at him, and then she held out her hand.\n\n\"I will go with you,\" she said, \"and be a wild-rose-fairy.\"\n\nHedgeflower dropped on one knee before her.\n\n\"My home is in a common hedge,\" he said, \"and there are thorns round it.\nBut there is no glass between me and the open sky. I think, Princess,\nthat a fairy should be always under the open sky and the sunshine.\"\n\n\"That,\" said the Princess, \"is exactly what I think myself.\"\n\nSo Hedgeflower and the Princess spread their wings and took each other's\nhands and flew away out of the window of the glass house, and across the\ngarden and over the hedge. They flew on and on, across field after\nfield, till they came to the hedge with the wild roses.\n\nThere the Princess Orchid made her home, among the honeysuckles and the\nmeadowsweet. She was no longer a princess with sweeping robes, but a\nquiet little wild-rose-fairy in a pink-and-white frock. But there was no\nglass between her and the sunshine.\n\n\n\n\n_THE CLOUD THAT HAD NO LINING_\n\n\nThere was once a cloud that had no lining. You have often, I dare say,\nheard grown-up people say that every cloud has a silver lining, and so\nyou will understand that a cloud without a lining is a very uncommon\nthing.\n\nThe fairies who lived in the cloud found it very uncomfortable, because,\nyou see, it let the rain come through.\n\n\"If only our cloud had a lining,\" they said, \"the rain would not come\nthrough, and that would be very nice for us.\"\n\n\"We must really have it lined,\" said one.\n\n\"What with?\" asked another.\n\n\"Why, with silver, of course,\" said a third. \"Every one knows that a\ncloud ought to be lined with silver.\"\n\n\"But we have no silver!\"\n\n\"Then we must get some. It is ridiculous to go on living in this state\nof dampness. Other fairies have comfortable clouds over their heads, and\nwhy should we be always drenched? And all for want of a simple silver\nlining!\"\n\n\"Where does one find silver?\" asked one of the fairies.\n\n\"There are a good many kinds of silver,\" said a fairy who had been about\nthe world a great deal. \"There is the kind that is dug out of the\nearth,--but that is a common kind of stuff, and no use for lining clouds\nwith. Then there is the silver stream that you can see far below,\nwinding through the fields and shining white in the sun. That is a much\nbetter kind of silver than the other. Then, of course, moonshine makes\nbeautiful silver: you can see it glittering on the sea whenever the moon\nshines. But I really don't know what would be the best kind of silver to\nline clouds with.\"\n\n\"We must try them all, and see which is the best,\" said another fairy.\n\nThey went on talking about it for some time, because such an important\nmatter could not be settled in a hurry. At last it was arranged that\nthree of them should fly away and look for some silver to line their\ncloud with. The names of the three fairies were Pearlywing, and\nSkybright, and Mist-of-the-Morning.\n\nNow, all the time that the fairies were talking, Pearlywing was looking\ndown at the silver stream far below, winding through the meadows. It was\nso white and shining that he felt sure the silver of it would make a\nbeautiful lining for the cloud. So when he was told to fly away and look\nfor some silver, he lost no time in wondering where to go. He spread his\nwings--the soft grey wings that cloud-fairies have--and he flew down and\ndown, away from the cloud to the meadows where the silver stream was\nshining. The nearer he came to it the more it sparkled. He felt sure it\nmust be made of the very best silver.\n\nBut how could he carry it? A fairy's cap is not very large, and he had\nnothing else.\n\n\"I must just carry up a capful at a time, and empty it, and come back\nfor another. I must go on till there is enough silver to line the cloud\nwith,\" he said to himself.\n\nSo he filled his tiny cap with the silver of the stream, and flew up\nagain to his cloud, carrying the cap very carefully for fear of spilling\nthe silver. Then he went round to the back of the cloud where the lining\nought to have been, and poured the silver out of his cap.\n\nNow, as I dare say you have guessed, the silver of the stream was really\nnothing but water. So when it was poured out of the cap it fell right\nthrough the cloud, and made the fairies on the other side much wetter\nthan they had ever been before! I need not say that they were very much\nannoyed. They made so much commotion, spluttering and grumbling and\nscolding, that Pearlywing heard them through the cloud, and went round\nto see what was the matter.\n\n\"What we want,\" said one of them angrily, shaking the water off his\nwings, \"is something to keep us dry, not something to make us wet!\"\n\n\"I am so sorry!\" said Pearlywing; \"but I thought it was such good\nsilver! And now, I suppose, you don't want any more of it.\"\n\n\"Certainly not!\" said all the fairies very quickly.\n\n\"It is most unfortunate,\" said Pearlywing. \"I can't understand it at\nall. The silver looked so _very_ nice.\"\n\nHe was not a very clever fairy, I am afraid.\n\n\"I hope Skybright will have more sense,\" grumbled the wet fairies.\n\nSkybright meanwhile was waiting on the sea-shore, far below the clouds.\nHe was waiting for the moon to rise above the sea. He had to wait a\nlong time, but he did not mind that, because there are always such nice\nfairies to talk to on the sea-shore.\n\nAt last the big round moon sailed slowly up into the sky. At the same\nmoment a hundred thousand moonshine-fairies rushed out across the sea\ntowards Skybright, flying and dancing on the water, and turning it into\na sheet of silver as they came. For the moonshine-fairies carry silver\nwith them wherever they fly, and scatter it as they go.\n\nThis was the moment that Skybright had been waiting for.\n\n\"Please, pretty moonshine-fairies,\" he cried, running to the water's\nedge and holding out his arms, \"give me some of your silver to line my\ncloud with, and keep the rain from coming through!\"\n\nThen the moonshine-fairies danced towards him across the sea, with their\ntiny hands full of silver.\n\n\"Take our silver, little cloud-fairy,\" they said, \"and line your cloud\nwith it, and dip your wings in it, and scatter it over the earth as you\nfly, for everything is made more beautiful by our silver.\"\n\nThen they poured the silver out of their hands into his, and because the\nsilver of the moonshine-fairies is very light he was able to carry a\ngreat deal of it. He filled the pockets of his pretty grey coat with it,\nand he filled his cap, and took a quantity of it in his hands. And he\nsaid Good-bye to the moonshine-fairies, and flew away up to the clouds.\n\n[Illustration: AND BECAUSE THE SILVER OF THE MOONSHINE-FAIRIES IS VERY\nLIGHT HE WAS ABLE TO CARRY A GREAT DEAL OF IT]\n\nWhen the other cloud-fairies saw the beautiful silver he had brought\nwith him they were delighted. They all set to work to line the cloud\nwith it, spreading it out carefully and making it nice and tidy at the\nedges. When the lining was finished it looked lovely, and the fairies\nwere much pleased with it. They sat down under the cloud, feeling quite\nsafe from the rain.\n\nBut unfortunately their satisfaction did not last long. Presently it\nbegan to rain. The fairies smiled and nodded at each other, and agreed\nthat it was very pleasant to be safe from a wetting. Then a big heavy\ndrop fell right through the cloud and lining and all--and another--and\nanother, and soon the fairies were as wet and uncomfortable and cross as\nif the cloud had never been lined. It was really very annoying.\n\nThe truth is that the silver of the moonshine-fairies is rather\nthin--altogether too thin to keep the rain out, and of very little use\nfor lining clouds with.\n\n\"It is really too bad!\" cried the poor cloud-fairies, wringing the water\nout of their nice little grey coats. \"What are we to do? Any one would\nhave thought that such beautiful silver would keep the rain out!\"\n\n\"Perhaps,\" said one of them who liked to be cheerful,\n\"Mist-of-the-Morning may bring us a better kind of silver even than\nthis.\"\n\nSo they decided to grumble no more till Mist-of-the-Morning came home.\n\nNow, when Mist-of-the-Morning started out to look for silver he did not\nfly down to the earth at all.\n\n\"Every cloud but ours has a silver lining,\" he said to himself; \"so the\nbest way to find the right kind of silver will be to ask the fairies who\nlive in the other clouds.\"\n\nHe saw the clouds all about him, each with a bright rim round it, which\nwas the edge of its lining. He went to the nearest one and spoke to the\nfairies that lived in it.\n\n\"Brother fairies,\" he said, \"where can I find silver to make my cloud a\nlining as beautiful as yours?\"\n\nAnd the fairies answered--\n\n\"Go to the sunbeam-fairies. Their silver is the best for lining clouds\nwith.\"\n\nThen Mist-of-the-Morning went to one cloud after another, and asked all\nthe fairies that lived in them the same question. And they all\nanswered--\n\n\"Go to the sunbeam-fairies. Their silver is the very best.\"\n\nSo Mist-of-the-Morning flew away to the nearest sunbeam. It was crowded\nwith fairies, who were all hard at work, for the sunbeam-fairies have\nmore work to do than any others. As they worked they were laughing and\nsinging, for the sunbeam-fairies are always happy.\n\n\"Please, kind sunbeam-fairies,\" said Mist-of-the-Morning, \"I want some\nsilver to line my cloud with. It must be the very best silver, and every\none says that none but yours is good enough.\"\n\nThen all the sunbeam-fairies shouted out--\n\n\"Quite right, little cloud-fairy, quite right! It is waste of time to\nline a cloud with any silver but ours. Our silver is the very best!\"\n\nWhile they were speaking they all rushed to the end of the sunbeam, and\nbefore Mist-of-the-Morning knew what they were going to do, they had cut\noff a great piece of it. There it lay in a shining heap!\nMist-of-the-Morning had to shade his eyes, because its silvery\nbrightness dazzled him.\n\n\"Sunbeam silver!\" sang the fairies. \"Sunbeam silver is the best of all!\"\n\nThen Mist-of-the-Morning spread his wings and flew home, trailing the\nsunbeam after him. And all the fairies in his own cloud welcomed him\nwith shouts and singing, because they saw at once that sunbeam silver\nwas the best of all.\n\nThey made their cloud a beautiful thick lining of it, with the silver\nshining all round the edge. And the rain never came through any more.\n\nNow that I have told you this story I hope you will not forget that it\nis waste of time to line a cloud with any kind of silver except the kind\nthat sunbeams are made of.\n\n\n\n\n_THE FAIRIES WHO CHANGED PLACES_\n\n\nThis story is about something that happened long, long, and ever so long\nago, before the fairies had really settled down to their work.\n\nThere was then a little fairy called Starblossom, whose business it was\nto take care of the earliest Spring flowers; and there was also a fairy\ncalled Drop-of-Crystal, whose work it was to make snowflakes. These two\nfairies were great friends.\n\nOne day Starblossom had not very much to do. She had finished sharpening\nthe little green spikes of her flower-leaves, and had even made ready\none or two white buds. But when she saw that Drop-of-Crystal was very\nbusy making heavy drops of snow, she thought to herself that there was\nno need for her to be in a hurry about the Spring flowers. They would be\nmuch more comfortable underground if Drop-of-Crystal were going to fling\nsnowflakes all over them. So she carefully covered up her buds and went\noff to watch the snow-fairy at work.\n\nDrop-of-Crystal was too busy to speak. He was making an enormous\nquantity of snowflakes. Starblossom was silent for some time, but at\nlast she asked--\n\n\"What are they all for?\"\n\n\"For a snow-storm, of course,\" said Drop-of-Crystal shortly.\n\n\"Are they all to be used in one storm?\" asked Starblossom. \"It will be a\nvery big storm, I'm afraid.\"\n\n\"It will,\" said Drop-of-Crystal--\"very big. You'd better take care of\nthose flowers of yours, or they'll be hurt.\"\n\n\"There are not many of them above ground,\" Starblossom answered. \"I saw\nwhat you were doing. But in any case my flowers are not likely to be\nhurt by the snow-fairies so much as by the frost-fairies.\"\n\nDrop-of-Crystal said nothing to this, but went on working busily.\n\nPresently Starblossom spoke again.\n\n\"It seems to me that snowflakes are very easy to make. Your work is\nreally much easier than mine. It is very difficult to make flowers\nnicely. One has to be so particular about the shape of them.\"\n\n\"I don't agree with you at all,\" said Drop-of-Crystal rather crossly.\n\"My work is much harder than yours. I have to make thousands and\nthousands of snowflakes for the very smallest snow-storm. You can take\nquite a long time arranging the shape of your flowers, but I have to\nwork in a hurry, or the storm would run short of snowflakes. And that\nwould be very serious.\"\n\n\"Not half so serious as it would be if the Spring were to run short of\nflowers,\" said Starblossom indignantly.\n\n\"Look here,\" said Drop-of-Crystal, losing his temper, \"if you like my\nwork so much I wish you'd do it! You can set to work and make a few\nthousand snowflakes while I take a rest.\"\n\n\"I shall be delighted to do such easy work,\" said Starblossom; \"but of\ncourse if I make your snowflakes you must make my flowers. That is only\nfair.\"\n\n[Illustration: DROP-OF-CRYSTAL WAS TOO BUSY TO SPEAK]\n\n\"Very well,\" said Drop-of-Crystal, \"I don't mind. After all, work of\nthat kind is just the same as resting.\"\n\nSo he flew off to the place where Starblossom's flowers were beginning\nto show their spiky leaves above ground. He had never made a flower\nbefore, and did not know how to set about it, but he was much too proud\nto ask Starblossom how it ought to be done. So he did the best he could\nby himself.\n\nIt was a long time before he had finished a flower-bud. When the first\none was done he thought it looked rather odd.\n\n\"There is something peculiar about that flower-bud,\" he said to himself.\n\"It is really more like a big drop of snow than a flower! I suppose that\ncomes of making snowflakes for so long. I must try again.\"\n\nSo he tried again, and again, and again. But every time the flower-bud\nwas exactly like a big drop of snow.\n\n\"I can't help it,\" he said at last. \"They _will_ keep on being like\ndrops of snow. But, after all, there is no reason why a flower should\nnot be like a drop of snow. They are dear little flowers, anyway, and I\nshall go on making them like this.\"\n\nSo he went on for a long time making flowers that were like drops of\nsnow, and dear little flowers they were.\n\nIn the meantime Starblossom was hard at work making snowflakes. She knew\nno more about making snowflakes than Drop-of-Crystal knew about making\nflowers, but, like Drop-of-Crystal, she determined to do the best she\ncould without asking for help. She took a long time to make the first\nsnowflake, because she was accustomed to finish her flowers very\ncarefully, and she liked everything she made to be pretty. She laughed\nto herself as she put down the first finished snowflake.\n\n\"That is what comes of making nothing but flowers,\" she said. \"That\nsnowflake is exactly like a flower!\"\n\nShe was quite right. The snowflake was like a delicate, starry flower,\nlight as air, and clear as crystal, and glistening in the sunshine.\n\n\"I like that kind of snowflake,\" said Starblossom. \"I shall make some\nmore.\"\n\nSo she made a great number of snowflakes, and they were all like\nfeathery flowers, all different in shape, but all beautiful.\n\n\"I should like to go on making snow-flowers always,\" she said to\nherself.\n\nAt that moment Drop-of-Crystal flew up to her in a great hurry.\n\n\"Oh, do come and see my nice new flowers,\" he cried. \"They are quite a\nnew kind, and they are so pretty--just like drops of snow!\"\n\n\"And my drops of snow are just like flowers!\" cried Starblossom. \"And I\nwant to go on making them always, because they are so beautiful.\"\n\n\"Well then,\" said Drop-of-Crystal, clapping his hands, \"suppose you and\nI change places! You shall go on making snowflakes, and I'll go on\nmaking flowers!\"\n\nSo that was the way they settled it.\n\nAnd because Drop-of-Crystal was a snow-fairy, the flowers he made were\nalways like drops of snow; and because Starblossom was a flower-fairy,\nthe snowflakes she made were always like flowers.\n\nThat is the reason why, to this day, the first flowers of Spring are\nlike drops of snow, and the snowflakes are like beautiful, starry\nflowers. You must often have noticed it yourself.\n\n\n\n\n_THE MAKING OF THE OPAL_\n\n\nThe opal was the last of the precious stones to be made. And this was\nhow it happened.\n\nLong, long ago--so long ago that no one had ever seen a ruby or a\nsapphire or an emerald--there was a Princess who had a great many\nfriends among the fairies. Because they loved her they called her the\nDear Princess, and the country in which she lived was known as the\nCrystal Mountain. It was the delight of the fairies to do her bidding,\nto fly and fly over hill and dale to fetch her anything she wished to\nhave. Sometimes she wished to have very curious things, because all the\nordinary things that Princesses like to have had been brought to her\nlong ago by the fairies. If she wanted things that no one had ever heard\nof before, the fairies would set to work to make them for her. One day\nshe said--\n\n\"Oh, Fairies dear, I am going to be married. I am going to marry the\nPrince of the Far Land over the Hill, and the wedding is to be the\ngrandest ever seen. My dress is lovely: it was cut out of a rainbow on\npurpose for me, and trimmed with the edge of a sunset cloud. But what\n_am_ I to wear in my hair?\"\n\nNow, the Princess's hair hung over her in dark waves, like a long cloak.\n\n\"Flowers!\" cried the fairies. \"Quick--quick--let us fly for flowers to\ntwist in the Dear Princess's hair!\"\n\nSo they all flew away, some in one direction and some in another, while\nthe Dear Princess of the Crystal Mountain sat and waited, with her\ncloud of hair hanging round her.\n\nVery soon she saw them flying back, some from gardens and some from\norchards, and some from the hills where the heather grew, and some from\ncountry lanes where the flowers were very sweet, and some from hothouses\nwhere the flowers were very rare. Wherever they came from they were all\nladen with flowers. Some brought roses, red and white and yellow; some\nbrought heavy white lilies; some brought long trails of honeysuckle.\nSome were carrying great bundles of forget-me-nots; others had strange\nflowers from distant countries; others had bunches of golden daffodils.\nThey crowded round the Dear Princess, and laid the flowers in great\nheaps beside her.\n\n\"Wear my roses!\" cried one. \"See how the crimson of them glows in your\ndark hair!\"\n\n\"Wear my daffodils!\" cried another. \"See how they shine like gold!\"\n\n\"Wear my lilies!\" cried a third, \"for they match your lily-face!\"\n\nThen they all held up the flowers against the Princess's dark hair, to\nsee which looked the best; red, or yellow, or white. The Princess\nherself found it very hard to make up her mind, because they were all so\nbeautiful that she would have liked to wear them all. First she chose\none, and then another, and then she thought that, after all, a third\nwould look the best.\n\nThis went on for so long that at last the flowers died.\n\n\"Ah, look,\" said the Princess, \"the flowers are dead!\"\n\n\"Oh dear, oh dear!\" cried all the fairies together. \"The flowers are\ndead! What shall we do now?\"\n\nThe Princess sat down among the dead flowers, and thought.\n\n\"I must have something that will not die,\" she said at last, \"something\nstronger than flowers. In my dark hair I must have something that will\ngleam and sparkle. I must have colour that will not fade, a dewdrop that\nwill not melt, a spark of fire that will not go out.\"\n\n\"Dear me!\" said the fairies; and they said no more for some time, for\nthey were thinking that the Dear Princess wanted a good deal.\n\nAfter a time three of them began talking together all at once, as if a\nvery good idea had suddenly come into their heads.\n\nThen these three spread their wings and flew away. They flew far away\nfrom the Princess and her palace, far from the other fairies, up and up\nto the heights of the Crystal Mountain. Then each of them chipped off a\nlittle piece of the rock at the top of the mountain, and each, as he did\nit, laughed aloud gleefully. Then each little fairy tucked his chip of\nrock under his arm; and they all nodded to each other, still laughing,\nand spread their wings again, and flew off in different directions.\n\nThe first of the three, with his chip of rock under his arm, flew\nstraight to the sea-shore. On the shore, close to the shining blue sea,\nthere lived a very nice mermaid who was a great friend of the fairy's.\nSo he flew to her with the bit of crystal rock and said--\n\n\"Mermaid, mermaid, here is a chip from the Crystal Mountain. Take it\nfor me, and dip it into the darkest and deepest deep of the blue sea.\"\n\nSo the mermaid took the crystal chip and dived down with it into the\ndarkest and deepest deep of the blue sea.\n\nNow, it is well known that whatever is touched by the deepest deep of\nthe sea is changed by it for ever, and becomes itself a part of the sea.\nAnd so, when the mermaid brought the chip of crystal back to the fairy\nit had become like a chip of the sea--shining and gleaming and deep,\ndeep blue.\n\nAnd that was the first sapphire.\n\nAnd when the second fairy left the Crystal Mountain with his little bit\nof rock under his arm, he flew to the great forest where the wood-pixies\nlived.\n\n\"Pixies, pixies,\" he called to them, \"here is a chip from the Crystal\nMountain. Take it for me into the darkest and deepest deep of the green\nforest, and do not bring it back to me till the green of the forest has\nsunk into its very heart.\"\n\nOf course you must have noticed that the wood-pixies have the gift of\nmaking things green; for every one knows that in the forest where they\nlive everything is green--the trees and the grass and the soft moss. And\nthe shade under the trees is dark, dark green, and here and there where\nthe sun peeps through, the green is very bright. So the pixies took the\nchip of crystal away with them into the darkest deep of the forest and\nlaid it in the green moss where the green shadows were darkest under the\ngreen trees. And after a time the magic of the pixies began to work, and\nthe greenness of the forest sank into the very heart of the crystal.\nThen they carried it back to the fairy, and he saw that the greenness of\nthe deep shadows had sunk into the heart of the crystal, and because the\nsunshine had peeped through the trees there was a glint of light in it.\n\nAnd that was the first emerald.\n\nWhen the third fairy left the Crystal Mountain with his little bit of\nrock under his arm, he flew away to that other mountain where the\nfire-gnomes worked underground. At the top of the fire-mountain there\nwas a great hole, and when the fairy stood at the edge and looked in he\ncould see the gnomes at work, keeping the fire alight that warms the\nworld. So he called out to them--\n\n\"Fire-gnomes, fire-gnomes, here is a chip from the Crystal Mountain.\nTake it for me into the hottest and deepest deep of the fire, and keep\nit there until its heart is glowing red.\"\n\nSo the fire-gnomes took the chip of crystal and carried it down, down\ninto the deepest deep of the fire that warms the world. And the fire\nsparkled and glowed and wrapped it round. And before very long the\ncrystal began to glow too as it lay in the fire, for of course a fire\nthat is hot enough to warm the world is hot enough to warm a chip of\nrock. So the fire-gnomes picked it up again and carried it back to the\nfairy who was waiting at the edge of the great hole; and he saw that the\nheart of the crystal chip was crimson and glowing like a fire.\n\nAnd that was the first ruby.\n\nThen he flew away from the fire-mountain with the ruby safely tucked\nunder his arm, and went back to the Dear Princess. At the same moment\nthe fairy with the emerald arrived from the forest, and the fairy with\nthe sapphire came back from the sea. They flew to the feet of the Dear\nPrincess, and held out the beautiful stones to her.\n\nThe Princess clapped her hands and cried--\n\n\"Oh, how splendid, how splendid they are! The blue is like a bit of the\ndark sea, and the green is like the shade of the forest with the sun\npeeping in, and the red is like the red heart of the fire!\"\n\nThen the first fairy laid the sapphire against her dark hair.\n\n\"You must wear it on your wedding-day,\" he said.\n\nBut the second fairy held up the emerald and said--\n\n\"No, no, this is what you must wear!\"\n\nAnd the third fairy laughed and cried--\n\n\"How silly they are! Any one can see that red is the colour to wear in\nyour dark hair!\"\n\nThe Princess looked from one to the other and was puzzled. She thought\nall the stones were so beautiful that she would have liked to wear them\nall; but she did not think they would look really nice all together.\n\n\"What am I to do?\" she said, puckering up her forehead. \"How can I\nchoose when they are all so beautiful?\"\n\nThen there was a very long discussion about it. Each of the three\nfairies wished his own stone to be worn, and the Princess could not tell\nwhat to do.\n\n\"Each of them is quite beautiful,\" she said, \"but, dear fairies, I am\nobliged to say that I do _not_ like the look of them all together!\"\n\nAll this time a very small fairy had been sitting quietly in the corner,\nsaying nothing, but thinking a great deal. He came forward now and\nspoke.\n\n\"Give the stones to me,\" he said, \"and I will settle the question.\"\n\nSo he took the three stones and flew away, far up into the sky, above\nthe Princess's dark head, above the houses and the trees, above the\nCrystal Mountain even, into the misty sunshine behind the clouds.\n\nThen he called to the sun-fairies--\n\n\"Sun-fairies, sun-fairies, melt me these stones in your furnace. Melt\nthem, and mix them, and make them into one stone. And soften their\ncolours with mist of sunshine, so that my Dear Princess may wear them\nall together in her hair.\"\n\nSo the sun-fairies carried the three stones away, and melted them all\ninto one, and mixed them with mist of sunshine, and it lay over the\ncolours like a cloud. And then there was only one stone, but it was a\ngreat big one, and as beautiful as all the others put together. For, you\nsee, that was just what it was.\n\nThe small fairy took it carefully into his tiny arms and flew down again\nthrough the clouds, past the Crystal Mountain and past the tops of the\ntrees, to the feet of the Dear Princess.\n\nHe held up the great gleaming stone to her, and she thought she had\nnever seen anything so beautiful. For the blue of the sea was in it, and\nthe green shade of the forest, and the red heart of fire. And over the\ncolours the mist of sunshine lay like a veil.\n\nAnd that was the first opal.\n\nOf course the Dear Princess of the Crystal Mountain wore the great opal\non the day that she was married to the Prince of the Far Land over the\nHill. And when she was an old, old Princess, with white hair instead of\ndark, she often showed the opal to her grandchildren, and told them how\nit was made of blue sea, and green shadows, and fire, melted all\ntogether by the fairies and mixed with mist of sunshine.\n\n[Illustration: OF COURSE THE DEAR PRINCESS ... WORE THE GREAT OPAL ON\nTHE DAY THAT SHE WAS MARRIED]\n\n\n\n\n_THE BIG SPIDER'S DIAMONDS_\n\n\nThe sun-fairies were hiding behind a black cloud; but in the middle of\nthe cloud there was a hole, and through this hole the sun-fairies\npeeped.\n\nIn this way they were able to see everything that went on in the garden\nwhere the Big Spider lived. If the Big Spider had looked up at the sky\nhe could have seen the sun-fairies peeping through the hole in the black\ncloud; but he did not look up, because he was thinking of other things.\nHe was in an excited state of mind.\n\nQuite lately the Big Spider had spun a most beautiful web for himself,\nand had slung it between two tall blades of grass. He was very proud of\nit, for it was the nicest web in all the garden, being of a lovely and\ndifficult pattern, and made with great skill. And now something had\nhappened in the night to make it still more beautiful. While the Big\nSpider was asleep the dew-fairies had crept up from the grass, and had\nhung hundreds of sparkling diamonds on the strings of his web. He knew\nit must have been done by the dew-fairies, because they only keep the\nvery best diamonds.\n\n\"Dear me, this is most kind of them,\" he said to himself. \"They must\nhave noticed that my web was the best in the garden; otherwise they\nwould not have done it so much honour.\"\n\nAs a matter of fact, the dew-fairies had been hanging diamonds that\nnight on the webs of all the spiders in the garden; but the Big Spider\nwas so much occupied in admiring his own web that he had no attention\nto spare for the others.\n\n\"Good morning,\" he said pleasantly to a fly who was passing. \"Have you\nseen my diamonds? They look very well there, don't they? They show off\nthe pattern of the web. Won't you come a little closer? You can hardly\nsee them properly at that distance. One really sees them best when one\nis inside the web. Can't you come in this morning?\"\n\n\"No, thank you,\" said the fly firmly; for his mother had told him that\nthe Big Spider was not a nice friend for little flies.\n\nThen he flew away, and the Spider went on admiring his diamonds. He\nlooked at them first from the right, and then from the left, and then he\nstepped backwards and looked at them again. If you have ever seen a\nperson who paints pictures you will know exactly how he behaved.\n\nAll this time the sun-fairies had been peeping through the hole in the\nblack cloud and watching the Big Spider. They could not help laughing at\nhim.\n\n\"Ridiculous creature!\" cried one. \"Look at him admiring his web, as if\nit were the only one that had ever been hung with diamonds!\"\n\n\"If he would look about him a little bit,\" said another, \"he would see\nthat the whole garden is blazing with diamonds this morning.\"\n\n\"The very grass is all twinkly and shiny with them,\" said a third, \"but\nthe grass-fairies are not behaving in that absurd way.\"\n\n\"No fairy would be so silly,\" said a fourth.\n\nSuddenly a little sun-fairy began to clap his hands.\n\n\"I've got an idea,\" he cried.\n\nAs his ideas were generally full of mischief and very interesting, all\nthe other fairies stopped talking.\n\n\"It's a lovely idea,\" he went on, chuckling. \"This is what we'll do.\nWe'll wait till that silly old Spider goes to sleep or is busy, and then\nwe'll rush down--quick as quick--and _steal his diamonds_!\"\n\nThen all the sun-fairies laughed and clapped their hands so loudly that\nthe hole in the black cloud grew a good deal larger. They thought it was\na grand idea.\n\nThey had not long to wait. Presently the Spider became rather tired of\nadmiring his diamonds all by himself, so he set to work to send out\ninvitations for a fly-party. He asked all the flies in the neighbourhood\nto come and see how nice his web looked when it was hung with diamonds.\nAs soon as the sun-fairies saw that he was busy they took each other's\nhands, and with a little run and a big jump they all burst through the\nhole in the black cloud. Then they flew softly down to the garden where\nthe Big Spider lived.\n\n\"How nice and warm it is getting!\" thought the Spider.\n\nPresently he said to himself--\n\n\"My diamonds must be sparkling beautifully in this sunshine. I'll just\ntake a look at them.\"\n\nHe turned round, expecting to see the pattern of his web delicately\noutlined in sparks of light. You will not be surprised to hear that he\nsaw nothing of the kind. He saw his web, it is true, looking like filmy\nlace against the green of the grass; but there was not one single\ndiamond hanging upon it!\n\nThen the rage of the Big Spider was terrible to see.\n\nHe stamped with all his legs, and he rolled himself round and round, and\nhe used all the most dreadful threats in spider-language.\n\n\"I don't care who the thief is,\" he said; \"I shall think no more of\neating him than if he were a fly!\"\n\nAt that moment he heard the sweetest little laugh just behind him. This\nmade him so angry that he spent a long time in looking for the person\nwho laughed. While he was still searching the sun-fairies flew up again\nto the black clouds, carrying the diamonds with them.\n\n\"There,\" they said, as they threw the diamonds down on the cloud, \"he\nwon't find them there!\"\n\nThey had forgotten for the moment that, hidden in the black cloud, there\nwere a great number of rain-fairies. Now the rain-fairies never enjoy\nthemselves so much as when they are annoying the sun-fairies: and in the\nsame way there is nothing that pleases the sun-fairies so much as a good\nquarrel with the rain-fairies. This does not prevent them from being\nvery friendly when they are not quarrelling.\n\nThe rain-fairies had seen all that had happened. They pretended to think\nthat the sun-fairies had behaved very unkindly to the Big Spider.\n\n\"It's too bad,\" they said, \"to steal the poor thing's diamonds. It's not\nfair. Let's throw them down to him.\"\n\nThen a great fight began between the sun-fairies and the rain-fairies\nfor the diamonds, and the fight lasted a long time, and all the time\nthat it lasted the Big Spider was in a rage.\n\n[Illustration: THE WEB AND THE DIAMONDS AND THE BIG SPIDER HIMSELF ALL\nFELL TO THE GROUND]\n\nAt last the rain-fairies won the fight, and went off with the diamonds\nin their arms.\n\n\"Now we'll throw them to the Big Spider,\" they said, \"and we'll see how\nglad he is when his web is hung with diamonds as it was before.\"\n\nThey forgot that the dew-fairies, when they had trimmed the web with the\ndiamonds, had crept up softly and touched the strings with gentle\nfingers. But the rain-fairies are rather rough.\n\nThey flung out their little arms and threw the diamonds down out of the\nblack cloud. Down dropped the diamonds, and down, and down, till they\nreached the garden where the Big Spider lived, and the web that the Big\nSpider had made. But instead of hanging on the web in rows, like little\nlighted lamps, they dropped into the middle of it with a crash and a\ndash and a splash, and broke it into a great many pieces, so that the\nweb and the diamonds and the Big Spider himself all fell to the ground.\n\nAnd by the time the Big Spider was standing on all his legs again the\ndiamonds had disappeared into the grass.\n\nThe truth is that the dew-fairies had found them and had taken them\nhome. I expect they will keep them till the Big Spider has made a new\nweb.\n\n\n\n\n_A LITTLE GIRL IN A BOOK_\n\n\nChristabel was a little girl who read a great many books. She noticed\nthat the girls and boys in the books were not altogether like the girls\nand boys who played with her in the Square and came to tea with her. The\nchildren in the books were wonderfully brave and clever; and when they\nwere having their magnificent adventures they always did exactly the\nright thing at the right moment. They never had a dull minute, and they\nnever said anything silly. The girls and boys who came to tea with\nChristabel were not like this, and Christabel knew that she herself was\nnot like this. She never had any adventures, and she knew that even if\nshe ever did have one she would not behave at all bravely or cleverly.\nAnd she was often so dull that she drummed with her fingers on the\nwindow and said--\n\n\"What on earth shall I do?\"\n\nNow, Christabel had a Big Sister who wrote books.\n\nOne day she said to her Big Sister--\n\n\"How I do wish I were a little girl in a book! Nothing ever happens to\nlittle girls in real life. It is so dull!\"\n\nThe Big Sister went on writing, and said nothing.\n\n\"It's no use talking to her,\" thought Christabel, \"because she always\ngoes on writing.\"\n\nA few days after this Christabel began to feel rather strange. A kind of\nstiffness came into all her limbs, so that they would not do what she\ntold them. And sometimes she found herself saying things that she had\nnot intended to say at all. This puzzled her and made her very\nuncomfortable. She wondered if other people noticed that there was\nsomething wrong with her. She even thought of speaking to her Big Sister\nabout it, but the Big Sister was so busy writing that it was no use to\ntry and make her hear.\n\nThis went on for some time. Christabel grew stiffer and stiffer, and\nmore and more uncomfortable; and her Big Sister went on writing busily.\n\nAt last one day Christabel understood what had happened. She woke up and\nfound that everything round her had changed; the people and the place\nand everything. She was frightened at first, and then the truth suddenly\nflashed into her mind. A most remarkable and unusual and unexpected\nthing had happened: her Big Sister had put her into a book!\n\n\"So I really am a little girl in a book, after all!\" she said to\nherself.\n\nShe tried to say it aloud, but she found she couldn't. The words were\nnot in the book, you see.\n\n\"Now I am going to enjoy myself,\" she thought, \"and never be dull any\nmore.\"\n\nThere was not much chance of her being dull, for the book was full of\nadventures and narrow escapes, and other delightful things.\n\nFirst she was captured by pirates; and after having a terrible time with\nthem she was saved from them by a shipwreck. The shipwreck did not do\nher much good, however, for she at once fell into the hands of the most\ndreadful savages. So you will understand that she was not at all likely\nto be dull.\n\nChristabel was delighted to find that she behaved, like other little\ngirls in books, with the greatest courage and cleverness. Whenever an\nadventure was going on she always managed to get out of every\ndifficulty, and she saved the lives of several of the other people in\nthe book by her bravery. The strange thing was that she found it quite\neasy to be brave; while she was a little girl in real life she had not\nfound it easy at all.\n\n\"I do hope the book has a happy ending,\" she thought sometimes.\n\nShe wished very much that she could peep into the end of the book, as\nshe used to do when she was a little girl in real life. Meantime every\nchapter was more exciting than the last. Of course Christabel did not\nknow whether she would escape from the savages at all. Perhaps they were\ngoing to eat her. That would not be a happy ending to the book, she\nfelt.\n\nAfter a great many terrible dangers, she managed to escape; for a ship\nsailed into the bay at the right moment, and took her home to England.\nThis was the end of the book. The person who was reading it shut it up\nwith a bang--and Christabel went to sleep.\n\nBy-and-by, some one else took up the book and began to read it. Then\nChristabel woke up and found herself at the beginning of the story.\nAfter so many adventures she was rather tired, and did not feel inclined\nto begin them all over again. But that was just what she had to do.\nBeing captured by pirates is not nearly so exciting when you know you\ncan only escape from them by a cold, wet shipwreck; and when you are\nshipwrecked you are not very anxious to scramble ashore when you know\nthere are a large number of fierce savages waiting for you!\n\n\"This is rather tiresome,\" thought Christabel.\n\nShe was very glad when the person who was reading the book shut it up\nagain, and she was allowed to go quietly to sleep.\n\nBut her sleep was not long. Every time any one began to read the book\npoor Christabel was obliged to wake up and go through all her troubles\nagain. She soon became horribly tired of being shipwrecked.\n\n\"Have I got to spend the rest of my life with pirates and savages?\" she\nasked herself in despair.\n\nIt was especially annoying that they were always the same pirates and\nsavages, who said always exactly the same things. Christabel soon knew\nthe whole book by heart. She wished sometimes she could be one of the\npirates for a change, instead of being always a little girl.\n\n\"I suppose I shall never even be grown up,\" she thought sadly.\n\nThe most unpleasant thing of all was that she was never able to say what\nshe wished to say: she was always obliged to say what was in the book.\nSometimes she opened her mouth to say what was in her mind, and then\nfound herself speaking words that had nothing to do with her thoughts.\n\n\"It is simply hateful not to be able to say and do what one likes,\" she\nthought.\n\nShe made up her mind to try and be drowned at the very next shipwreck.\nOf course it was useless for her to try, for the book said she was saved\nby a big wave which flung her up on a rock. It was uncomfortable for her\nto be saved in this way, but she could not avoid it. The shipwreck\nhappened in the usual way, in spite of her efforts to be drowned; and\nthen, as usual, she met the savages on the Island, and soon afterwards\ncame the end of the book.\n\n[Illustration: THE OTHER PEOPLE IN THE BOOK LOOKED AT HER IN SURPRISE]\n\nNow, it happened this time that the person who was reading the book did\nnot shut it up at all, but handed it at once to some one else who wished\nto read it. This was really too much for Christabel's temper. She had\nhad no sleep, and she was determined not to begin all over again without\na rest. It suddenly struck her that this was her only chance--now,\nbefore the beginning of the first chapter.\n\nShe lost no time. She knew she ought to be standing up--the book said\nshe was standing up. Finding to her great joy that she was able to move\nof her own accord, she calmly sat down and folded her arms. The other\npeople in the book looked at her in surprise.\n\n\"It's no use looking at me like that,\" she said; \"I'm tired of this. I'm\nnot going on any more saying the same things over and over again. If\nthere's any pirate who would like to change places with me I don't mind\nbeing a pirate for a bit. But I'm not going on being the little girl.\"\n\nThen there was indeed an outcry. All the people in the book began\nspeaking at once. Just at that moment--before the beginning of the first\nchapter--they were all able to say what they chose.\n\n\"Make her stand up!\" cried one.\n\n\"I never heard such nonsense!\" said another.\n\n\"Why can't she behave as we do?\" asked a third angrily.\n\n\"The idea of wanting a change!\"\n\n\"She'll have to behave like other people in the end.\"\n\n\"So discontented!\"\n\n\"So very odd!\"\n\nSo they went on, while Christabel still sat calmly, with her arms\ncrossed.\n\n\"I'm not going to begin all over again,\" she repeated firmly.\n\n\"But that poor boy is waiting to begin the book,\" said some one; \"and we\ncan't go on while you are behaving in this silly way.\"\n\n\"I can't help that,\" said Christabel; \"I'm tired of saying things I\ndon't a bit mean.\"\n\nBefore she knew what was going to happen Christabel found herself in the\nmiddle of a terrible turmoil. All the people in the book seemed to be\nrushing at her.\n\nFar away she heard a voice saying--\n\n\"There's something very queer about this book. It seems all in a muddle,\nsomehow!\"\n\nThen there was silence, and Christabel realized that the people in the\nbook had turned her out! She was no longer a little girl in a book, but\na little girl in real life. She looked round and saw her Big Sister,\nstill writing.\n\n\"I don't want to be in a book any more,\" said Christabel. \"Real life is\nnicer. In real life one can at least say what one thinks one's self,\ninstead of always saying what other people think.\"\n\n\"Don't be too sure of that,\" said her Big Sister.\n\n\n\n\n_THE FAIRY WHO WAS LOOKING FOR A HOME_\n\n\nLittle Fairy Flitterwing had no home. Whenever he settled down in a\nplace something happened to turn him out. If he found a comfortable\nrosebud some one would come and pick it, and then it died and he was\nhomeless again. If he chose a pink-edged daisy to live in, the gardener\nwould mow the lawn at once. He grew very tired of wandering about the\ngarden, and he determined at last to go out into the world in search of\na home.\n\nIt was quite a small garden, in the middle of a town. Flitterwing felt\nrather afraid of venturing into the streets, because he knew there would\nnot be many fairies there, and not many nice places for a fairy to live\nin. So he was a little sad and anxious as he flew over the high brick\nwall of the garden and looked about him. He found himself in a queer\nlittle yard, not nearly as nice as the garden, with a pavement of round\nstones and an ugly brick house at one end of it. There never was a more\nunlikely place for a fairy to find a comfortable home. Flitterwing was\non the point of flying back again over the garden wall, when he caught\nsight of something green at the further end of the courtyard. Some grass\nhad grown up among the stones.\n\n\"The very place for me!\" said Flitterwing to himself. \"No one is likely\nto disturb me here, and I can fly across to the garden whenever I feel\nlonely.\"\n\nSo he found a cosy corner between two stones, where the grass was thick\nand soft, and there he made up his mind to stay. It was not, of course,\nthe very best kind of place for a fairy, but, after all, it was quiet\nand near his friends, and he was terribly tired of moving about from\nrose to rose and from daisy to daisy. So he thought he would make the\nbest of it.\n\nVery soon he felt quite at home in the grass-patch at the end of the\nyard. Every morning, of course, he had to attend to the grass and see\nthat it was always fresh and green, for it is the business of every\nfairy to take care of the place he lives in. He does it instead of\npaying rent. Then, after polishing his wings nicely and making them\nshine like opals, he would fly across the brick wall and have a chat\nwith the grass-fairies and flower-fairies in the garden.\n\nHis life went on in this quiet and comfortable way for some time.\n\nBut one morning poor Flitterwing received a great shock. He was very\nbusy cleaning the grass with a dewdrop, and thinking how strong and tall\nthe blades had grown since he first began to take care of them. They\nwere a good deal taller than himself now, and he was not able to see\nover them. So, when he heard a heavy footstep clattering across the\nyard, he peered between the blades of grass to see who was coming.\n\n\"Oh dear, oh dear,\" he cried, \"here's that dreadful gardener! I'm sure\nhe's going to turn me out!\"\n\nHe quickly dropped the crumpled cobweb soaked in dewdrop with which he\nwas rubbing the green blades, and folding his wings closely round him he\nhid himself in the grass, and waited to see what was going to happen.\n\nThe gardener was carrying a basket in one hand, and in the other a tool\nwith dreadful prongs. He was going to pull up the grass that had grown\namong the stones! Poor Flitterwing's nice new home was going to be\nspoilt!\n\nOne by one the tufts were dragged up by the roots, while the sharp\nprongs clinked against the stones and the gardener's fingers crumpled up\nthe blades of grass that had looked so green and fresh a few minutes\nbefore. Flitterwing was terribly frightened.\n\n\"The sooner I get out of this the better,\" he said to himself, skipping\naway from the gardener's big fingers. Then he spread his wings and flew\nup and away, over the wall and over the garden and on and on. He went on\nflying, flying, till all his friends were left far behind and he came to\nstrange streets such as he had never seen before. Still he went on\nflying, flying. You see he was extremely anxious to be very far away\nfrom the gardener with the big fingers and the terrible, sharp prongs.\n\nAt last he became dreadfully tired. It would be impossible, he felt, to\ngo on flying much longer, so he looked about him for shelter. He saw an\nopen window, and beyond it a large cool room. Here was shelter at all\nevents, so he flew straight in. There were a number of tables and chairs\nin the room, and at each table a man sat writing; but Flitterwing was\ntoo much frightened to see anything. He only wanted to find a place\nwhere he could hide and rest. A large ink-pot stood on a table, and just\ninside the ink-pot was a little ledge where a fairy might rest\ncomfortably. Flitterwing lost no time; he darted into the ink-pot and\nsat down on the ledge. In a few moments he folded his tired wings about\nhim and fell fast asleep.\n\nNow, the room into which Flitterwing had flown was a place where a great\ndeal of business was done. Every day a number of men sat there adding up\nfigures and writing letters about dull things that neither you nor I\ncould understand. If you have done many sums, you will agree with me\nthat no sensible man could really like spending all his time in adding\nup pounds, shillings, and pence. Very few of the men in this big room\nreally liked it. Some of them wanted to be playing cricket or golf, some\nwould rather have been reading books or listening to beautiful music;\nand every one of them was longing to be in the country among the flowers\nand the fairies. And there was one among them--a little man with a pale\nface and a thin coat--who wished above all things to be making poetry.\nThere were two good reasons against his doing this. In the first place,\nhe was obliged to earn money, and this is more easily done by adding up\nfigures than by making poetry; and in the second place, he did not in\nthe least know how poetry ought to be made.\n\nOn the sunny morning when Flitterwing took refuge in the ink-pot the Man\nin the Thin Coat was very busy. There were rows and rows of figures\nwaiting to be added up, so that there seemed to be no end to them. A\nlarge sheet of paper was before him on which he was doing these sums,\nand the figures were arranged in terribly long columns--and no doubt you\nknow how unpleasant that is. Suddenly something glittered in the air for\na moment and then disappeared. It was so bright that it caught his eye\nand made him lose his place. He thought it was some beautiful kind of\ninsect with the sunshine caught in its wings.\n\n\"It was like a messenger from the summer!\" he said to himself.\n\nThen he dipped his pen in the ink-pot and went back to his sums.\n\nHe had been working busily for some time when he noticed something very\ncurious. His pen was not writing figures at all! He was thinking about\nfigures, and he wished to put figures on the paper, so it was a very\nstrange thing that his pen was writing words all the time. The words\nwere arranged in short lines with a capital letter at the beginning of\neach line.\n\n\"Dear me, how annoying!\" he said to himself. \"What can I have been\nthinking of? This will never do.\"\n\nSo he took a fresh sheet and began again.\n\nHe imagined that he was copying all the figures on to the clean sheet of\npaper, for that was what he intended to do. He wrote the figures very\nquickly, as he thought, because he wanted to make up for lost time. Then\nhe glanced at what he had written--and threw down his pen angrily.\n\nThere were no figures at all on the paper; nothing but line after line\nof words. He began to think he must have got a sunstroke.\n\n\"This is really terrible!\" he muttered. \"I must pay more attention to\nwhat I am doing.\"\n\nSo he took another clean sheet of paper and began again.\n\nIt was no use; the pen refused to make a single figure.\n\nThen the Man in the Thin Coat was in despair. He pushed the paper away\nfrom him and threw himself back in his chair.\n\n\"There is something very serious the matter with me,\" he said to\nhimself. He did not notice that another man had come up to the table and\nwas gathering together the sheets of paper that lay on it. This was the\nperson who paid the Man in the Thin Coat for doing his sums for him. He\nhad a round face and a big waistcoat.\n\n\"Come, come! what's this?\" he said, looking at the sheets of paper.\n\"Poetry, I declare! So you're a poet, are you? That's all very well, but\nI don't pay you to write poetry.\"\n\nThe poor Man in the Thin Coat looked very much disturbed. When you come\nto think of it, it is a disturbing thing to find you are writing poetry\nwhen you imagine you are doing sums.\n\n\"I couldn't help it,\" he said meekly.\n\n\"Yes, yes, that's the excuse they all make,\" said the Man with the Big\nWaistcoat. Then he took up the papers and began to read. There was\nsilence in the room while he was reading the poem that the Man in the\nThin Coat had written by mistake; every one left off working, and\nwatched with great interest to see what would happen. The silence lasted\nfor some time.\n\n\"Dear me!\" said the Man with the Big Waistcoat at last. \"This is a very\nbeautiful poem!\"\n\nThen he began to read aloud.\n\nThe poem was about the summer; about the sunshine and the blue sky and\nthe singing larks that were far away from that ugly room. It seemed as\nthough the far-off fields and the glory of the sun had been really\nbrought there, to the tired men who sat listening. And to each man as he\nlistened came a dream of the thing he loved best. To one man the room\nseemed to have turned into a garden; the scent of a thousand roses was\nin the air, and the colours of a thousand flowers. Another man thought\nhe was in a field, lying under a tree and looking at the pattern of the\nleaves against the sky. And another saw the sunshine sparkling on the\ndear sea, and the little ripples running races on the sand. But the Man\nin the Thin Coat saw more things than any of them.\n\nAnd while they were all listening to the beautiful poem about the\nsummer, little Fairy Flitterwing slipped out of the ink-pot and flew off\nto play with a sunbeam on the window-sill. The sunbeam showed him a very\ncomfortable scarlet geranium that was growing in a window not far off,\nso Flitterwing went to live in it, and found a safe home at last.\n\nAnd the Man in the Thin Coat went back to his sums. He was happier than\nhe had ever been before, because he had written a beautiful poem. He was\nnever able to write any more poetry, and he thought this was rather odd\nuntil, years afterwards, his little daughter guessed the truth. He had\njust finished reading to her his poem about the summer.\n\n\"Why, Daddy,\" she said, \"there must have been a fairy in your ink-pot\nwhen you wrote that!\"\n\n\n\n\n_THE BOX OF DREAMS_\n\n\nLong ago there lived in a far country a little girl called Gretel, whose\nmother was dying. Before she died she said to Gretel--\n\n\"I am very poor, and I have no money to leave for you after I am gone. I\nhave nothing to give you but this box. It was given to me when I was a\nchild by some one who was wise and good. You must be very careful of it,\nfor it is full of Dreams, and they are hard to keep safely. You must\nnever open the box except when you are alone, or the Dreams will fly\naway. But keep them safely till your hair is grey, and something will\nhappen to surprise you.\"\n\nGretel took the box and hid it safely, and said nothing about it to any\none. Her mother died a few days afterwards, and then Gretel was sent\naway to be a little servant, and to work very hard. She had to get up\nearly, and light the fire, and feed the pigs, and she had to wash the\ndishes and scrub the floor, and do a great many other things, so that\nthere was very little time for anything but work. All the time her box\nof Dreams was hidden away upstairs in her little trunk, underneath her\nSunday frock. Often, when she was working in the kitchen, or in the\nfarmyard among the hens, she was thinking of her box of Dreams; and\nsometimes when she was quite alone she would open it and look inside.\nThe first time she opened the box she felt a little bit frightened, for\nshe had never seen any Dreams before, and she was not sure what they\nwere like; but when she saw them, soft and pink and downy, like lovely\nsleeping birds, she was not frightened any more.\n\n\"Oh, but they are pretty things!\" she said to herself. \"How I hope I\nshall be able to keep them safely till my hair is grey! They look as if\na breath would blow them away, out of the window and over the hill!\"\n\nFor a long time she was very careful not to let any one see her pretty\nrosy Dreams. Indeed, she never spoke of them; and the old farmer's wife,\nwhose servant she was, little guessed that anything so strange as a box\nof Dreams was hidden upstairs in the garret, underneath Gretel's Sunday\nfrock.\n\nThe farmer and his wife had a son about the same age as Gretel. His name\nwas Eitel. He was a big, clumsy sort of boy, and not very clever; but\nGretel had very few friends, so when Eitel was kind to her and talked to\nher over the fire in the evenings she was very glad. Sometimes he\ncarried the big bucket for her when she went out to feed the pigs, and\nsometimes in the summer they made hay together in the field on the\nhillside. In this way they became great friends. Gretel told Eitel\neverything that had happened to her since she was a little child; and\none day she told him about her box of Dreams.\n\n\"Let me see them, Gretel dear,\" said Eitel.\n\n\"Oh, but I mustn't!\" said Gretel. \"No one must see them till my hair is\ngrey. If any one sees them they will fly away, out of the window and\nover the hill.\"\n\n\"What are they like?\" asked Eitel. \"And what are they for?\"\n\n\"They are lovely,\" said Gretel, \"but I don't know yet what they are\nfor.\"\n\n\"Come, let me see them,\" said Eitel coaxingly. \"I believe I see a grey\nhair on your head, Gretel.\"\n\nIt was really a bit of white thread, but Gretel thought her hair must be\ngrowing grey, so she ran upstairs and fetched the box of Dreams down to\nthe kitchen. She opened the box very carefully, and Eitel peeped in.\n\n_Pouf! Pouf!_ Half-a-dozen soft rosy Dreams fluttered out from under the\nlid, and hovered in the air for a moment like wisps of pink mist. Gretel\nshut the box with a snap, and tried to catch the floating Dreams with\nher fingers. But it was too late. They floated higher and higher,\nfarther and farther, out of the window and over the hill.\n\n\"Oh, Eitel,\" cried Gretel, sobbing, \"I have lost my Dreams--so many of\nthem--so many of them!\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Eitel, \"I don't see that there's much to cry about. They\nwere only pink fluff after all! I wouldn't cry about pink fluff if I\nwere you!\"\n\nSo Eitel went out of the house whistling, and thinking that girls were\nsometimes very silly; while Gretel carried her box upstairs, crying, and\nthinking that boys were often very unkind. As soon as she was in her\nroom she opened her box again, and found to her great joy that it was\nstill half full of beautiful Dreams.\n\nShe soon made friends with Eitel again, but she never spoke to him any\nmore about her box of Dreams.\n\nAs the years went by Gretel became first a big girl and then a grown-up\nwoman, and still she had to work for her living. She lived in a good\nmany different places, sometimes with nice people and sometimes with\npeople who were not kind to her; but wherever she lived she had to scrub\nand sweep, and get up early and go to bed late. She still kept her box\nof Dreams safely in her little trunk, hidden under her Sunday frock.\nSince the time that she had lost so many of her Dreams she had never\nopened the box except when she was alone. She was afraid of losing some\nmore; and, besides, she did not like it when Eitel laughed at her and\ncalled her pretty Dreams \"nothing but pink fluff.\" So she made up her\nmind to wait till her hair was really grey.\n\nIt seemed to her sometimes that this would never happen! Her hair was\nbrowner than other people's, she thought, and was not going to turn grey\nat all. But though the time seemed so long to her, she was as a matter\nof fact still a young woman when she discovered that there were two grey\nhairs growing among the brown ones. She was combing her hair at the\ntime, and the moment she saw the grey hairs she dropped the comb, and\nclapping her hands for joy ran quickly to get her box of Dreams out of\nher little trunk. She was so much excited that her trembling fingers\ncould hardly undo the fastenings of the box.\n\nWhen the box was at last open she was still more excited. Her mother had\npromised that she should be surprised, but she had not expected such a\nstrange and delightful and altogether wonderful surprise as this! You\ncould never guess what had happened! Her pretty rosy Dreams had all\nturned into jewels more splendid than any you ever saw or heard about!\nEvery kind of precious stone was there--emeralds and pearls and fiery\nopals, glowing rubies and sea-blue sapphires, besides a great many\nstrange stones whose names you have never heard.\n\nGretel gasped.\n\nShe sat on the floor beside the box, and stared and stared. She could\nhardly believe that the glittering things were real, and she could not\nbelieve at all that they belonged to her. At first she expected every\nminute that they would disappear, and she was afraid to touch them; but\npresently she took courage and lifted them out of the box one by one.\nThen she took them to the light, and they looked still more beautiful\nthan before.\n\nAs Gretel sat on the floor near the window, with the many-coloured\njewels glimmering and shimmering in her lap, she came gradually to\nunderstand that when her mother gave her the box of Dreams she gave her\ngreat riches.\n\nGretel lived to be very old, but she never lost her jewels. She was able\nnow to show them to all the world without any danger of their flying\naway, and as time went on the people flocked to see her and her jewels.\nEitel admired them as much as any one, but he could never be persuaded\nthat the fluffy pink things he had once seen had really turned into\nthese shining and wonderful stones.\n\n\n\n\n_THE FAIRY WHO HAD ONLY ONE WING_\n\n\nI am going to tell you now about a fairy who lost one of his wings. His\nhome was in a white rosebud, which one would imagine to be a nice, safe,\ncomfortable home for a fairy to have. And yet it was while he was in the\nwhite rosebud that the terrible accident happened which left him with\nonly one wing.\n\nAll would have been well if he had stayed in the country. But one day a\nman came with scissors and snipped the white rosebud off the tree, and\npacked it in cotton-wool, and sent it off to London. Of course the fairy\nhad to go too, and a very uncomfortable journey he had. There were a\nnumber of other flowers packed in the same box, and in each flower there\nwas a fairy; so they were all able to grumble together. But you can't\ngrumble with any real comfort when you are packed very tightly, and have\nto talk through a good deal of cotton-wool.\n\nAt last the journey was over, and the rosebud was taken out of the\ncotton-wool and put in water. Then the fairy crept up from the heart of\nthe rosebud, and put his head over the edge of the petals and looked\nabout him.\n\nThere were flowers all round him: flowers in pots, flowers in glasses,\nflowers lying on the table, flowers in baskets, and great bunches of\nflowers in the big window. The truth was that the rosebud was in a\nflower-shop, but he did not know this. He only knew that it was very\npleasant to be again in a place that was full of flowers and fairies.\n\nHe thought he was going to enjoy himself; but that was because he did\nnot know how cruelly fairies are sometimes treated in flower-shops. The\npeople who arrange the flowers have a horrible way of trying to kill the\nfairies; and this is what they do. They take a dreadful, sharp piece of\nwire and poke it through the very heart of the flower, and then fasten\nit tightly round the stem! You will see at once that nothing is more\nlikely to hurt a fairy than this. Indeed, he would certainly be killed,\nif it were not almost impossible to kill a fairy.\n\nThe little rosebud-fairy was lying comfortably curled up, deep down\namong the white petals of the rose, when suddenly he saw coming through\nthe walls of his home a sharp glittering point!\n\n\"Oh dear!\" he cried, trying to scramble out of the way.\n\nBut that was no use, the glittering point came nearer and nearer.\n\n\"Oh dear--oh dear!\" he cried again. \"Where is it coming to? Oh--it's\ncoming this way--the horrible thing. _Oh--oh--oh!_\"\n\nIt was no wonder that he cried out. The dreadful wire had caught one of\nhis beautiful gossamer wings, and dragged it, and torn it, till there\nwas nothing left of it but some little shreds of fluttering gauze.\n\n\"What shall I do?\" he wailed. \"How can I fly with only one wing, and\nwhat is the use of a fairy that can't fly? What shall I do?\"\n\nHe picked up the torn pieces of his wing and wondered if he could mend\nthem. But he soon saw that it was impossible, so he folded them up\ncarefully and laid them inside the rose-petals; and ever afterwards\nthere was a faint tinge of pink deep down in the heart of the rosebud.\n\nFor a long time, long after the rosebud had been tied up with a sprig of\nfern and put in the window, the poor little fairy went on moaning and\nsighing over the loss of his wing. He was still sighing when a little\ngirl came into the shop. If the fairy had not been hiding among the\npetals of his rosebud he would have seen at once that she was the kind\nof little girl that the fairies always love; a little girl with bright\neyes and a laughing face--altogether a very nice little girl. She\npointed to the white rosebud and said--\n\n\"I want to buy that rosebud, please, for Granny's birthday.\"\n\nIn another minute she was walking along the street with the rosebud in\nher fat hand.\n\nThen the fairy crept up from the heart of the rose and looked over the\nedge of the petals. The little girl saw him at once and was not at all\nsurprised.\n\n\"There you are!\" she said. \"I wondered when you would look out. Of\ncourse I knew there was a fairy in the rosebud, or I wouldn't have\nbought it. It would have been no use, you see.\"\n\n\"What a very nice little girl!\" thought the fairy. \"She seems to have a\ngreat deal of sense.\"\n\nThe little girl went on: \"Poor thing, I see your wing has been torn off.\nThat nearly always happens to the fairies that come from flower-shops.\nBut I dare say Granny won't mind. She sees very few fairies. I am going\nto leave you at Granny's house because it is her birthday. Now remember,\nyou're to be very nice to Granny, because she sees so few fairies.\"\n\nBy this time they had reached Granny's house. Granny lived all alone in\na very splendid house in a great square. The house had a great many fine\nthings in it: handsome furniture and valuable china and grand silks and\nbrocades. But there was not a single fairy in it, and a house that has\nno fairies in it is a very dull place.\n\nGranny was sitting alone on her birthday. She looked round the great\ndrawing-room and thought there were a number of empty chairs and sofas\nin it. That made her feel very lonely. No one had been to see her on her\nbirthday; she had had no presents or letters; no one had noticed her\nbirthday at all. If there had been any fairies in the house Granny would\nnot have felt so lonely, because the fairies are always good company.\nBut poor Granny had quite forgotten all about the fairies; it was so\nlong since she had seen any.\n\nThen a footman brought the white rosebud into the room, with a message\nfrom the little girl with the bright eyes and the nice laughing face.\n\nGranny sat for a long time with the white rosebud on her knee. She felt\nhappier than she had been all day. She sat so still that the fairy\nthought he might safely peep out and see what was going on. To his great\nsurprise Granny noticed him at once; he had not thought it at all likely\nthat she would see him, for she was not the kind of person who often\nsees fairies. Probably she would not have seen him if she had not been\nso sad and lonely.\n\n\"Why,\" she said, \"it's a fairy! It is years since I saw a fairy. I\nthought I should never see one again.\"\n\nWhen the fairy saw that Granny was glad to see him, he crept out of the\nrosebud and sat on her wrinkled hand, and talked to her.\n\n\"Poor little thing,\" said Granny, \"you have lost one of your wings.\nWell, it was not likely that any but a one-winged fairy would find his\nway in here.\"\n\nThen she sighed. So the fairy, to cheer her up, told her all about the\nlovely garden he had left behind him in the country--the garden where he\nhad lived before the man with the scissors came to cut the rosebud. He\ntold her about the other roses and the fairies that lived in them, and\nthe tall hollyhocks whose fairies were so prim and old-fashioned, and\nthe sweet, shy love-in-a-mist whose fairies always wore veils when they\nwent out, and the sunflower-fairies who had never been taught that it\nwas rude to stare, and the dear unselfish verbena fairies who made the\nworld so sweet for other people and never thought of themselves. Then\nGranny remembered all sorts of things that she had forgotten for\nyears--fairies she used to know when she was a little girl, and the\nstories they used to tell her. She told some of the stories to the\nrosebud fairy, and they talked together for a long time. Granny was\nhappier that evening than she had been for a great many evenings. She\nsaid to herself that her birthday had been a very nice one after all.\n\n\"Won't you come and live with me?\" she said.\n\nThe fairy looked round the room.\n\n\"Well,\" he said, \"I should like to stay very much, but I really don't\nsee any place here for me to live. My rosebud will soon die and be\nthrown away.\"\n\n\"But if I were to keep the rosebud always, even when it was dead? Would\nyou stay then?\"\n\nThe fairy thought for a moment.\n\n\"I tell you plainly,\" he said, \"that I don't like the idea of living in\na dead rosebud. But I know it's done sometimes, and one mustn't be too\nparticular when one has only one wing.\"\n\n\"I'll ask the little girl who brought you here to come and see you\noften,\" said Granny, \"and you and I will go out to-morrow and buy some\npicture-books for her, and some chocolates, and then we shall all three\nenjoy ourselves together.\"\n\nThe fairy nodded happily.\n\n\"That settles it,\" he said. \"I'll stay.\"\n\n\n\n\n_THE LITTLE BOY FROM TOWN_\n\n\nIf you spend all the year in a big town it is a fine thing to have a\nsummer holiday near the sea. Otherwise you never have a chance of making\nfriends with the sea-fairies or the mermaids, who are the most\ndelightful playmates in the world. You may know all kinds of other\nfairies, and be quite intimate with them, but as long as you live\nnothing can ever make up to you for not knowing the sea-fairies.\n\nLittle Michael was eight years old, and he had never met a sea-fairy,\nfor he lived in a great town. Then at last his father and mother and he\nwent off for a whole month to the seaside. There were sands there, very\nhard and yellow and good to make castles with; and there were lonely\ncaves with dripping walls; and there were heaps of slimy, green seaweed,\nand shells, and rocks for climbing on. Best of all, there were plenty of\nfairies. Michael made friends with all the fairies of the sea and shore;\nbut his greatest and best friend was a Mermaid who lived in a cave.\n\nThe roof of the cave was wet and green, and its floor was pebbly, with\nhere and there a rock. Every day Michael came and sat on one of the\nrocks and listened to the Mermaid's stories, and to the soft, lapping\nsound of the little waves. The Mermaid told him such stories as he had\nnever heard before, for she had not always been in that cave, but had\nswum in deep seas and lived on many shores. She told Michael of places\nwhere the sea was warm and green, and the rocks were made of coral, and\npalm-trees shaded the mermaids when they played upon the sands. She\ntold him too of bitter seas that were made of ice, so that no mermaid\ncould swim in them; and of towering icebergs shining in the sun; and of\nwhite mist-fairies, who turned the hair of mermaids into a shower of\nicicles. Then she told him of sailors who had been her friends, and how\nsome of them were sailing far away, and some of them were drowned, and\nhow all of them were good playmates.\n\nWhile Michael listened to these stories his eyes were very round and\nwide open, and often his mouth was open too. He had never enjoyed\nanything so much before, and he thought it would be dreadful when the\nday came for him to leave the dancing sea-fairies and the Mermaid's\ncave, and go back to the big town where he hardly ever saw any fairies\nat all. One day he said--\n\n\"Mermaid dear, I want something to take back to town with me; something\nto make me remember the sea-fairies and you, and to make me think of the\nsea for ever and ever.\"\n\n\"Tell me what you want,\" said the Mermaid, smiling; \"and if I can get it\nfor you, I will.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Michael, \"it's rather a big thing I was thinking of.\nPerhaps it's too big to ask for. But you see the Bay is full of\nwhite-horses to-day. Do you think you could possibly catch one for me? I\nthink if I could take home a white-horse from the Bay, I should remember\nthe sea for ever and ever.\"\n\nThe Mermaid slipped off her rock and dived into the deep water. A few\nmoments afterwards Michael saw her far out in the Bay, with her hair\nfloating in the wind, and her tail glittering under the waves. There\nwere a great many wind-fairies playing about that morning, and that was\nthe reason that the Bay was full of white-horses, for when the\nwind-fairies are playing on the sea they always ride white-horses.\n\nMichael climbed a high rock and stood on the very top of it, and watched\nthe Mermaid. It was grand to see her gliding through the water, chasing\nfirst one white-horse and then another, diving and darting and dodging,\nand enjoying herself all the time.\n\n\"Quick, quick!\" cried Michael. \"You nearly had him that time!\"\n\nBut she was not quick enough, for the white-horse was far out of reach\neven as she threw out her white arms to catch his mane.\n\nThe chase lasted a long time, for though mermaids can swim better than\nmost people, a white-horse on the sea is one of the hardest things to\ncatch. At last, however, Michael clapped his hands and shouted--\n\n\"She's got him, she's got him! Hurrah--now I shall have a white-horse to\ntake home with me, and to make me think of the sea for ever and ever!\"\n\nIf it had been a fine sight to see the Mermaid chasing the white-horse\nacross the Bay, it was far finer to see them come prancing back again.\nThe Mermaid was not swimming this time, but riding on the back of the\nangry white-horse, who plunged and galloped across the Bay, tossing his\nlong mane. And the Mermaid tossed her golden hair and laughed, because\nshe was enjoying her ride. Michael laughed aloud too, because when the\nwhite mane and the golden hair streamed up together upon the wind they\nwere very beautiful to see.\n\nAnd now a very curious and unfortunate thing happened. The wind-fairies\nsuddenly grew tired and went to sleep, every one of them. Now when the\nwind-fairies go to sleep, the white-horses always dive down below the\nsea and go to sleep too. Before the Mermaid had reached the shore she\nwas swimming again, for her white-horse had suddenly disappeared and\nleft her with nothing to ride. He had gone to sleep below the sea until\nthe next time the wind-fairies wanted to play.\n\n\"Oh, Mermaid dear,\" cried Michael, \"what have you done with my nice new\nhorse?\"\n\n\"I am very sorry to tell you,\" said the Mermaid, lying down on the sand\nto rest herself, \"that he has gone below the sea to sleep. It is really\nmost unfortunate, but when a white-horse wants to sleep you can't stop\nhim.\"\n\n\"Oh dear, oh dear,\" said Michael piteously, for it was a great\ndisappointment. \"I did so much want to have a white-horse to make me\nthink of the sea for ever and ever.\"\n\n\"Wouldn't anything else do instead?\" asked the Mermaid, who was very\nkind.\n\nThen Michael noticed that every time a little wave reached the shore it\nbroke on the rocks in a shower of coloured jewels. He pointed to them.\n\n\"Bring me some of those, please, Mermaid dear,\" he said.\n\nSo the Mermaid took a large shell, shaped like a saucer, and waited on a\nrock till a little wave came in and sprinkled the rock with jewels. She\nheld out her shell to catch the jewels, but as soon as they touched the\nshell they changed into water.\n\n\"Look,\" she said to Michael, \"the jewels have melted.\"\n\n\"Oh dear,\" said Michael, \"what am I to do? I am going back to town\nto-morrow, and I have nothing to remind me of the sea!\"\n\n\"Do you really and truly wish to think of the sea for ever and ever?\"\nasked the Mermaid.\n\n\"Of course I do,\" said Michael.\n\n\"Then I will sing you the Sea Song,\" said the Mermaid, \"and after that\nthere will be nothing that can make you forget the sea.\"\n\nSo while Michael sat on the rock and looked at the sea, the Mermaid sang\nhim the Sea Song, which mermaids have sung to sailors ever since the\nfirst ship was built. It is a song that no one ever forgets. It is like\nthe voice of the sea calling, calling; and there are many people who\nhear it always, even in their dreams. If they are people who have to\nlive in towns, or in country places far from the sea, they are not very\nhappy.\n\nWhen the Mermaid had finished singing, she said--\n\n\"Now I have given you something that will make you think of the sea for\never and ever.\"\n\nThe next day Michael went back to town. He took with him the sound of\nthe Sea Song; and for ever afterwards he heard the voice of the sea\ncalling, calling, even in his dreams.\n\nThat was why he became a sailor when he was old enough.\n\n\n\n\n  The Gresham Press,\n  UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED,\n  WOKING AND LONDON.\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:\n\nIllustrations have been moved to the nearest paragraph break.\n\nTwo printer errors have been corrected:\n\n    1. On page 26 a missing hyphen was added in the phrase:\n    \"Sweet-of-the-Mountain.\"\n\n    2. On page 48 a missing hyphen was added in the phrase: \"Then all\n    the sunbeam-fairies shouted....\"\n\nIn all other cases, the author's original spelling and\npunctuation have been left intact.","title":"Fairies I Have Met","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":19911}