{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_69011/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_69011","id":"gutenberg_69011","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69011","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairy tales -- Australia"],"text":"AUSTRALIAN FAIRY TALES\n\n\n                              BY HUME COOK\n                         WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY\n                           CHRISTIAN YANDELL\n\n\n                      PUBLISHED BY J HOWLETT-ROSS\n                               MELBOURNE\n                          ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                               DEDICATED\n\n                                  TO\n\n                        Keith, Madge and Kevyn,\n\n                           whose appreciation\n                               encouraged\n                        the telling of the tales\n                                  and\n                       prompted this publication.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe Stories in this little book have been set down almost in the same\nwords in which they were told. How the telling of them came about is a\nvery simple matter. Having three children, each of whom loved a Fairy\nTale, it somehow became the fashion, on Sunday evenings, to tell them a\nstory.\n\nOn one occasion, when the youngest member was just about to be taken to\nbed, his sister said; \u201cNone of the books about Fairies ever say a word\nabout Australia! Are there any Australian Fairies, Father?\u201d\n\nSomewhat hastily, perhaps, I answered: \u201cWhy, yes, of course! Whole\ntribes of them!\u201d\n\nInstantly the order went forth: \u201cThen you will please tell us about\nthem the very next time you tell us a story!\u201d\n\n\nTHE AUTHOR.\n\n                                                             Melbourne,\n                                                             Australia,\n                                                                  1925.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD.\n\nBy the RT. HON. W. M. HUGHES, P.C., M.P.\n\nFormerly Prime Minister of Australia.\n\n\nWar and Science between them have played havoc with the old order.\nAncient landmarks have been swept away; cherished superstitions\nexposed. The World has changed, but man remains the same. His faith in\nKings may have gone, but his belief in Fairies remains. In childhood,\nhe lives to-day as he has lived throughout the ages, in a world which\nknows not change, and where the cold, hard light of science can never\npenetrate. A wonderful world, inhabited by glorious beings with\nshimmering wings and glittering diadems and wands; to whom nothing is\nimpossible; for whom neither time nor space exist, save at their will.\n\n\u201cWhere is this wonderful world?\u201d sneers Mr. Gradgrind; \u201cI cannot see\nit\u2014it does not exist!\u201d No, not for you, my dear Sir! You are one of\nthose who are not privileged to pass its magic portals. But it is a\nvery real world for all that. It may indeed turn out to be no less real\nthan this, which is the only one you deem worth knowing, and which it\nis very obvious you do not know at all.\n\nIt is the world in which the children of all the world live: the world\nof Bogies and Dragons, Fairy Princes and Princesses, Giants and Giant\nKillers. It is the world we knew so well when we, too, walked with\nfearful joy amid its mystic, thrilling groves. To dull and prosaic\nsouls it does not exist, for, lacking imagination, they walk in outer\ndarkness. Those fairy forms\u2014so real to the vivid mind\u2014are to them but\nthe shadows of trees in the flickering light of the moon.\n\nHitherto, the Fairies we have known, though very delightful beings,\nhave had their habitat in far-off lands. Thanks to the researches of\nMr. Hume Cook, we are now able to wander through the enchanted Bush\nwith real Australian Fairy Princes and Princesses; share in the thrills\nof their amazing adventures; rejoice in the triumph of virtue; and be\nglad at the downfall of vice.\n\nThe dwellers in Australian Fairy Land, although akin to those of other\nclimes, have a distinct character of their own. Even the wicked Desert\nFairies endear themselves to us. Although they do not vomit fire, as\ndid the dreadful dragon of our childhood, one feels that, given a\nsporting chance, they would make that boastful beast curl up like a\nsalted worm.\n\nAs for the other Fairies, everybody will love them. The stories are\nwell told, and the book is beautifully illustrated. Mr. Hume Cook\u2019s\nbook is, in very truth, a really and truly Fairy Story Book, which\nAustralian children of all ages will read with avid interest and take\nto their hearts.\n\n\nW. M. Hughes.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n    The Magic Well                  13\n    The Fairy City                  35\n    The Prince\u2019s Palace             53\n    The Prince\u2019s Marriage           71\n    The Skylark\u2019s Story             88\n    Gourds and Quinces              92\n    The Grape Vine\u2019s Story          94\n    When the Stork Called           97\n    The Raindrop\u2019s Story            98\n    The Door Mat\u2019s Story           104\n    Clover Perfume\u2019s Story         108\n    Music\u2019s Story                  115\n    The Moon\u2019s Garden Party        121\n\n\nCOLOURED PLATES:\n\n    Prince Waratah goes to the rescue of the Princess  Frontispiece\n    The Arrival of the Shower Fairies                           33\n    The Fairy City by Night                                     49\n    The Desert Fairies Kidnap the Princess                      79\n    The Prince and Princess before the Recorder                 85\n    The Mower and His Lady Meet the Queen                      131\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAUSTRALIAN FAIRY TALES AS TOLD TO\n\u201cBIDGYBAH,\u201d \u201cPOLLYKIM,\u201d and \u201cPINKLES.\u201d\n\nTime of Telling: Sunday Evenings.\n\nPlace: Any old spot remote from the older members of the family.\n\n\n\nDescriptive Characteristics of the Audience:\n\n\u201cBidgybah\u201d: Schoolboy; full of strange noises and a scornful contempt\nfor all things sisterly and feminine; but with such an unquenchable\nthirst for stories as to be able to keep silence whilst one is being\ntold, and to forget for the nonce to pull his sister\u2019s hair, pinch her\narm, or otherwise constitute himself a source of annoyance.\n\n\u201cPollykim\u201d: Schoolgirl; demure of manner, yet overflowing with the\nability to pointedly disregard all that a boy holds in esteem; but so\nhungry for fairy tales as to forget her airs for the time being, to sit\nstill during the telling of the tale, and to refrain from giving other\noffence.\n\n\u201cPinkles\u201d: Chubby male person, aged five, with fair flaxen curls, and a\ncomplexion remarkable for the fact that pink carnations seem to be\nforever chasing white piccotees up over his cheeks into the starry\ndepths of his grey-blue eyes. In addition, he possesses an immeasurable\nlove of stories about Fairies; and a red-gum faith of so sound a\nquality, that the white ants of doubt and disbelief have hitherto\nattacked it in vain!\n\n\n\nOrigins of the Names\n\n\u201cBidgybah\u201d: Title assumed by the present owner. Supposed to have at one\ntime belonged to an aboriginal Chief of extraordinary bravery and\nskill. Real name, Keith.\n\n\u201cPollykim\u201d: Pet name; origin shrouded in mystery. Believed to have\narisen out of an attempt to pronounce a word too difficult for a\nchildish tongue to overcome. Real name, Madge.\n\n\u201cPinkles\u201d: Descriptive appellation; bestowed at a very early age\nconsequent upon a pink and white complexion of more than ordinary\nbeauty. Real name, Kevyn.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE MAGIC WELL\n\n\n  In the centre of Australia there\u2019s a large and lovely lake,\n  And its waters gleaming golden, from the sun their glory take;\n  In the middle of the waters there\u2019s an Island, wondrous fair,\n  And the perfume of its fruit and flowers, like incense fills the air!\n  In the heart of this fair Island there\u2019s a wonder-working well,\n  By the fairy-folk enchanted; for \u2019tis there the Fairies dwell!\n\n\nMost people seem to think that the heart of Australia is nothing but a\nsandy desert. Well, that\u2019s not quite correct. As a matter of fact,\nthough not a great number know it, the very, very centre is inhabited\nby Fairies. They live there on a beautiful island in the middle of a\ngreat lake; and all they have, including their wonderful city, is all\ndue to the \u201cMagic Well\u201d!\n\nOn their splendid Island there are hills covered with trees\u2014forest\ntrees! And there are great valleys where wild-flowers grow; and springs\nand streams and waterfalls; and caves with stalactites in them; those\nfunny things that look something like sheep\u2019s tails frozen! These\nstalactites hang down from the cave-roofs, and even they are due to the\nMagic Well! That may seem strange; but the way it happens is\nthis:\u2014Little drops of water, very slowly oozing down from the top of\nthe cave, carry with them the tiniest bits of sand or limestone. The\nfirst pieces of sand or limestone just stick to the roof; and then,\nevery other little piece, after it gets through, just clings to the\npiece that got there before it, so that, by-and-by, thousands and\nthousands of them, all joined together, make a stalactite.\n\nBut of course there are many other things there beside those that hang\nin caves! For instance, there are the loveliest birds and butterflies;\nthe most beautiful beetles and moths; and, above all, the rarest lot of\nAustralian animals the eye could wish to see. Kangaroos, Wallabys and\nWoolly Bears! \u2019Possums, Platypuses, and gaily-coloured Lizards, big and\nlittle!... And then, the fern gullies! Why, there never were such ferns\nanywhere ever before! Thousands of them! Tree-ferns galore! Stag-ferns\nin plenty! Maiden-hair in bunches as large as rose bushes; larger\nindeed; and cat-heads; besides great trailing asparagus ferns, and\nevery kind that the world knows! Date palms, too; and lofty cocoanut\ntrees; with the cocoanuts on them always ready to pull; and banana\ntrees, with great yellow bunches of bananas hanging down most\ntemptingly!\n\nThen there are bread-fruit trees, as well as fruit trees of every other\ndescription; and flowers, and flowering shrubs in untold number and\nvariety. Can you imagine such a place? And all due to the Magic Well!\nFor without that Well the Island could not have come into existence;\nand, if anything were to happen to it, the Lake would disappear, and\nthe Fairies of Australia have to find a new home!\n\nStrictly speaking, it should have been said that the \u201csuperior fairies\u201d\nwould have to find a new home, for, as everybody knows, not all the\nfairies live in one place. Even those who belong to \u201cFairy Island\u201d are\nnot always there! Over and over again they are sent travelling about on\nerrands for their King and Queen; and sometimes they are given very\nimportant work to do. For example, they are constantly showing the\nrain-drops just exactly where to fall; coaxing the wind to blow more\nsoftly on the delicate flowers; pulling the dark clouds away so that\nthe sun can steadily shine upon the Earth, warming the soil, causing\nthings to grow\u2014and making everything very sweet and pleasant for\neverybody!\n\nOf course there are other tribes, such as the Mountain Fairies, the\nRiver Fairies, the Forest Fairies, and many more. But these are all\nsubject to King Waratah at Fairy Island, and have only a Governor over\nthem now. That was not always the case. Many years ago the various\ntribes were all independent of one another, and each tribe had its own\nparticular piece of country within which it lived and was supreme; and,\nnaturally, each had its own King or Queen! But a time arrived when this\nwas changed; and it came about in quite a wonderful way, and, in a\nmanner of speaking, all through the Magic Well! Some day you shall be\ntold all about it; but, for the moment, attention must be devoted to\nthe discovery of the Magic Well, and what took place as the result of\nthat happy event.\n\nNow this is how the Well came to be found.\n\nPrince Waratah, as he was then called, having come of age, was sent by\nhis father to look for a wife. It was then the custom among the\nfairies\u2014as it still is among the crowned heads of the world\u2014for the\nKing\u2019s sons and daughters to get their wives or husbands from among the\nfamilies of other Royal households. The Prince\u2019s father\u2014who was the\nhead of the Forest Fairies\u2014was called King Eucalyptus! And a very\nclever and prudent old King he was, too; though not nearly so wise as\nhis son became, as you shall learn later on! At the same time he was\nnot without a great deal of what is termed \u201cnatural shrewdness\u201d! He\ntherefore reasoned that, if he sent his son travelling from tribe to\ntribe\u2014with strict injunctions or orders not to choose a wife until he\nhad seen at least six Princesses\u2014he must indeed learn many things that\nwere unknown to his father. So off the Prince went!\n\nAs it chanced, however, his father need not have had any anxiety about\nhis making any mistake in selecting a wife; for he had very good taste,\nand was gifted with what is called discrimination, or the power to see\nfor himself the best in whatever came under his notice. So, though he\npaid many visits to many Fairy Kings, up to this time he was by no\nmeans satisfied to make a choice. His latest journey had taken him to\nstay for a while with a tribe of Fairies who lived in what is now\ncalled the \u201cNorthern Territory\u201d\u2014quite close to the Gulf of Carpentaria.\n\nThe King of those Fairies had several daughters, all very bright and\nwitty in their conversation, but, possibly owing to the heat of the\nclimate, rather sallow complexions, and not nearly beautiful enough to\nplease the Prince\u2019s fancy. He, therefore, finally resolved to make his\nway across the Continent from North to South; for, so he had heard, the\nWattle Fairies of that part of Australia that is now known as Victoria,\nwere particularly fair and lovely, and he cherished the hope that at\nlong last he would discover a Princess fit to be his wife.\n\nAs may be imagined, in the course of such an extraordinary lengthy\njourney\u2014about two thousand miles\u2014he naturally met with quite a number\nof adventures. Of these there is not time to tell; except to say, that\nthough over and over again in peril from the wicked Desert Fairies, who\nrepeatedly tried to overwhelm him in storms, he always had the good\nfortune to win safely through!\n\nWhen he had gotten exactly half way across Australia, he came upon a\nvery singular sort of hill, rising in great slopes above the otherwise\nlevel country. Interested, he stayed to closely examine it, climbing at\nlast to the top. Whilst there, night came on, and being very tired, he\nsettled himself to sleep, selecting for a pillow one of the numerous\ntussocks of grey-green grass which were growing all over the hill.\n\nOf other vegetation there was very little\u2014only a few stunted trees,\nalmost devoid of leaves. But the hill itself spread over a very wide\narea indeed; and though in many places sandy, there were other spots,\nas the Prince had seen, that were covered with what looked like\nexcellent soil; ready to grow anything if only plenty of water were\navailable. In point of fact, it was on these patches that the stunted\ntrees were growing, only saved from death, no doubt, by the falling of\nextremely rare showers of rain. There were gorges and gullies too; but\nso dry from lack of water that only the merest tuft of things were\ngrowing there. Round about the hill, as far as the eye could see, and,\nfurther, stretched miles and miles of sandy desert!\n\nJust as the sun rose in the morning, the Prince awoke. In order to pull\nhimself to a sitting posture he clutched at one of the grass tussocks\nthat grew near. To his astonishment, it came easily out of the ground.\nBut judge of his intense surprise, when, gazing steadily into the hole\nleft by the uprooted grass, he saw a tiny drop of water slowly come\nthrough the soil at the bottom. Quickly replacing the tussock, and\nfirmly bedding the loosened earth round about it, he gave himself up to\npondering on the very peculiar fact that had just come under his\nobservation.\n\nAfter a while a great thought came to him. The drop of water he had\nseen could not be there by itself. It must have come from some larger\nsupply located deeper down in the earth. If that were the case\u2014and\nthere could be no reason to doubt it\u2014then it might become possible to\ndo many things, which, in his dreamings, he had often planned to carry\nout if only the opportunity offered. Such, for example, as the building\nof a new, safe, and perfectly wonderful City, the creation of a Fairy\nNavy; or the erection of a glorious Palace greatly in advance of\nanything that had ever before been seen.\n\nAlmost all his life\u2014maybe because he had so frequently noted the\ncomparative scarcity of water in the inland portions of Australia\u2014he\nhad thought of what might be done with unlimited supplies. Here, then,\nappeared to be his golden opportunity. It was a chance not to be\nmissed!\n\nGiving up his quest of a wife, and hastening home with all speed, he\nsecretly got together a number of his more intimate friends and told\nthem of his remarkable discovery. He then persuaded them to join him in\ngoing back to the Well, in order to see what might be done with its\nwaters, and whether or not he could do some of the other things about\nwhich he had been thinking; but, for fear of failure, he did not let\nhis father know of his return or of his intentions. For the same reason\nhe did not tell his friends what was in his mind; but he resolved that\nshould the matter turn out as fortunately as he hoped, to take them\ninto his entire confidence and seek their assistance in the carrying\nout of the great enterprises he had in view. So, having provided them\nwith everything he thought might be required for the works he proposed\nto carry out, quietly and unobtrusively, off they set upon their\nmission.\n\nAfter surmounting many difficulties, in due course they arrived at the\nplace where Prince Waratah had rested a few weeks earlier. He very\neasily found the spot where he had lain down to sleep, because, quite\napart from a pile of stones he had set up to mark it\u2014the tussock he had\ndisturbed was, consequent upon its getting a little more water than it\nhad previously been able to draw from the earth, much greener than\nbefore. It was only the work of a moment to again pull it from its\nplace, and there, sure enough, in a very few minutes the tiny bubble of\nwater appeared!\n\nTo say that they all were deeply interested is to put it mildly. But\nthey were not allowed to waste much time in merely wondering from\nwhence the water came. Acting under the Prince\u2019s orders, a circle was\nfirst drawn round the opening from which the tussock had come. From\ncentre to circumference the distance was six feet, so that from edge to\nedge of the circle was exactly twelve feet. Within the circle they all\nthen set to work removing the earth, even the Prince himself digging\naway with the others.\n\nCuriously enough, as the digging advanced, they found embedded in the\nsoil several implements such as are used by the Garden Fairies in\ncultivating their lands; just exactly in the same way as people in\nEngland, in digging wells, often come across old Roman coins or other\narticles. When they had reached a depth of about twelve feet, meeting a\nlittle more moisture as they proceeded, they suddenly came upon some\nbroad flat stones. The Prince instantly ordered them all to stop\nworking until he had looked them over carefully, with a view to seeing\nhow they might best be removed. Gently stamping his foot to test the\nthickness of the stones, the Prince thought he detected a somewhat\nhollow sound coming from underneath. Listening intently, he vigorously\nstamped upon the particular stone upon which he was then standing. In\ndoing so he involuntarily stepped backwards, and, to his amazement, the\nstone immediately tip-tilted a little, and out shot a long thin stream\nof clear cold water!\n\nNaturally enough, the startlingly sudden appearance of the water caused\nthe Prince to step still further back, with the result that when his\nweight was removed the stone fell into its place again, and so shut off\nthe water. But the secret was out! They had found the entrance to a\nsubterranean spring or well! Further experiments showed that two\nstones, fitting together, formed a kind of trap-door barring the waters\nfrom coming out. To open or close the trap-door stones required very\nlittle effort once the trick was learned; and in accordance with the\nextent to which they were opened, the amount of water released could be\neasily regulated.\n\nOf course they all got very wet indeed whilst they were learning the\nSecret of the Well. But that gave them very little concern. The truth\nis, they were far too interested to bother about so small a matter, and\nthey eagerly awaited the further instructions of the Prince. These were\nbrief but effective. They were to replace the earth in the Well; and,\nhaving done so, to so cover the whole with tussocks of grass as to make\nit appear to any too enquiring eye that there were only an unusual\nnumber growing there. A further advantage of placing so many together\nwould be to serve as a distinguishing mark, on their return in\nstrength, to carry out the projects of which he would later on inform\nthem. Meantime, it was his wish that they should all return to their\nhomes, as he particularly desired to tell his father the wonderful\nnews, and to consult him as to the future.\n\nA little disappointed, perhaps, but nevertheless perfectly loyal to the\nPrince\u2019s wishes, they therefore set about returning. Arrived back, the\nPrince immediately waited upon his father, King Eucalyptus, and,\nomitting no essential detail, told him the whole story from the time\nwhen he first observed the tiny drop of water up to the actual\nunearthing of the Well and the learning of how to release its waters.\n\nVery quietly the King listened to the end, smiling occasionally as the\nnarrative proceeded. When the Prince had finished he said: \u201cThe Well\nyou have found once belonged to the Garden Fairies. It is a Magic Well;\nand it is fed by an underground stream called \u2018Fruitful River.\u2019 The\nriver will never run dry, no matter how much water is taken from it.\nThe Garden Fairies are now dispersed all over Australia; every tribe\nhaving some of their number attached to it except the Desert Fairies\nand the Ocean Fairies. It was the Desert Fairies who drove them out of\ntheir original home and scattered them among the other tribes.\n\n\u201cAll this happened hundreds of years ago, but the Golden Fairies still\ntell the tale of their lost possessions; and, though they are extremely\npeaceful and industrious, in their hearts they loathe the Desert\nFairies for the injuries done them.\n\n\u201cIt is said that the Desert Fairies, who are very vicious in their\nhabits and also very war-like, became envious of the prosperity of the\nGarden Fairies, and resolved to attack and conquer them. This they did,\nbut, to their surprise, the war lasted for years and years, the Garden\nFairies resisting with all their might the malicious onslaughts of\ntheir enemies.\n\n\u201cBut the time came when they saw they must be defeated, and, rather\nthan leave their Sacred Well (from which they gained all they had) to\nthe mercy of the Desert Fairies, they resolved to seal it up with\nstones. This they successfully accomplished, covering the seal with\nearth.\n\n\u201cThen they left, but not before they sustained another terrific siege\nfrom the Desert Fairies, who, determined to overcome them, threw\nenormous quantities of sand over the whole place. If they had not done\nthis they might afterwards have discovered just where the Well was, but\nso completely had they done their wicked work that it was almost\nimpossible to tell one spot from another.\n\n\u201cSo the place has remained these many hundreds of years, till you,\nfortunately, have had the good luck to find what the Desert Fairies\nhave looked for in vain. Having found the Magic Well, you are at\nliberty to ask me for such a favour connected with it as may be within\nmy power to bestow!\u201d\n\nFor a moment Prince Waratah was so taken aback at the unexpected\nconclusion to his father\u2019s remarks, that he could hardly find words to\nexpress himself. Quickly realising, however, that here was an opening\nthat might never occur again, he promptly asked permission to give up\nfor the time being his search for a wife, to go back to the Well, and\nto take with him such of his friends, and so many of the working\nFairies as would enable him to begin his most cherished ambition\u2014the\nbuilding of the City of his Dreams! It was of this he was thinking when\nhe had said to his friends at the Well that he would later on discuss\nwith them projects of great importance.\n\nThe King, under the circumstances, was only too delighted to give his\nconsent, and added that, if at any time the Prince found himself in any\ndifficulty and wanted advice and assistance, he was to come to him\nquite freely, and, as far as was possible, he would be willingly\nhelped. All of which goes to show that the King in his heart was proud\nto find his son so full of enthusiasm, and was really desirous that he\nshould succeed.\n\nWith so many things in his favour, it is thus easy to understand the\njoy with which Prince Waratah assembled his friends, and, taking them\ninto his confidence, went into the minutest details as to his\nproposals. But at the same time he strongly counselled them not to\nmention or discuss his plans with anyone else; for he wanted everything\nto be kept a close secret until the right time came to disclose it.\n\nThe working Fairies were soon selected (about two thousand), but of\ncourse they were not told where they were going, nor exactly what they\nwere expected to do. They could guess at things\u2014that was all! And well\nmight they exercise their minds in guessing, for never before had they\nseen such extensive preparations for work on such a gigantic scale. In\nthe course of a few weeks there were got together hundreds of fairy\nbarrows, picks and shovels. Scores and scores of fairy saws, hammers,\nchisels, planes and screw-drivers. Great quantities of timber; together\nwith all kinds of machinery for making bricks, tiles, and earthenware\npipes. Besides all these things there were any number of pots for\nholding paints, colours and varnishes, dozens and dozens of packages\ncontaining nails, screws, clips and cleats. Others again were filled\nwith catches, cords, pulleys, and all sorts of small fittings. In\naddition, there were surveyors\u2019 instruments and engineers\u2019 tools. In\nshort, there was every class and kind of thing required, or likely to\nbe needed for the immense amount of work in contemplation.\n\nAs to food, that also was carefully preserved and safely stowed in\nappropriate packages and parcels. But more marvellous than all else,\nevery machine package and parcel was given a set of fairy legs on which\nto travel. These were most ingeniously made, filled with electrical\nenergy (which the Fairies know how to extract from the air), and then\nfitted to the particular parcel or package they were to carry!\n\nWhen they were run down, just in the same way as the storage batteries\nwhich give light to tram-cars are replenished, they were recharged with\nelectricity, and off they went again! Thus, when everybody and\neverything was ready to move out upon the long trek, there was\nwitnessed a sight the like of which can only be imagined; for never\nbefore or since has such a thing been done.\n\nFirst and foremost rode the Prince, mounted on a dainty milk-white pony\nnot any larger than a sheep. Close behind, riding chestnut ponies with\nsilver manes and tails, all about the same size as the Prince\u2019s pony,\ncame his chosen friends. It is said that the horses from which these\nponies were bred came originally from Spain. A boat load of them was on\nits way to that part of Western America which is called California;\nbut, driven by storms and stress of weather, the ship was thrown out of\nits course, and eventually wrecked on the East Coast of Australia. The\nFairies rescued the horses, fed and cared for them; and during the long\nyears that followed, slowly bred them down in size. Unfortunately they\nare all dead now; but at the time that the Prince set out to build his\nFairy City, they were at their prime. Other animals landed in Australia\nhave met with better luck, and have not died out. For instance, the\nIndian buffaloes that were long ago placed on Melville Island have\nincreased in number until to-day there are thousands of them.\n\nBut to continue! After the Prince\u2019s personal friends, there followed on\nin proper order, the Fairy workmen, all astride of dappled greys. Then\ncame the surveyors\u2019 instruments and all the machinery, tools, packages\nand materials; the longest, strangest procession that ever sallied\nforth from anywhere. At the extreme rear came the fairy cooks, with all\ntheir pots and pans, and fairy fireplaces; everything spotlessly clean\nand shining in the sunlight! The cooks all rode in fairy waggons, each\nabout the size of a butter-box, and as white as snow! The waggons were\ndrawn by coal-black ponies, whose highly polished coats rippled and\nshimmered whenever the sunbeams fell upon them. Surely never before had\nthere been seen so uncommon a sight in all the world!\n\nThere is perhaps no need to mention that all the fairy folk not going\nwith the Prince turned out to see him and his retinue depart. Great was\nthe cheering as each particular section passed along; and many a one\nopenly speculated as to where they were all journeying, and what they\nwere going to do. But the secret had been well kept, and all the\nguesses were wide of the mark.\n\nWhen the Prince and his party were fairly on their way, everything\nseemed somewhat quiet after the noisy send-off that had been given\nthem. He, therefore, sent word along the line that he would like them\nto sing their new marching song. This particular song he had himself\nwritten, composed, and taught them during the time when they were\npreparing for the task upon which they had now set out. This is it:\u2014\n\n\n    Left! Right! Left! Right!\n    On we go from morn till night;\n    Heads up! Shoulders back!\n    Stepping straightly on the track!\n    Step strong! Move along!\n    Cheer the journey with a song!\n    Let the chorus roll and ring,\n    As we all together sing:\n\n      Step right! Keep bright!\n      Soon will come the cooler night!\n      Then shall all our marching cease,\n      While we rest and take our ease,\n      No one but ourselves to please,\n        Till the morning light!\n\n    Left! Right! Left! Right!\n    Forward march to meet the night!\n    Stride out! Sing and shout!\n    Put your cares to right about!\n    Step strong! Tramp along!\n    Singing still the same old song!\n    Send the words on aery wing,\n    As we once again them sing!\n\n      Step right! Keep bright!\n      Soon will come the cooler night!\n      Then shall all our marchings cease,\n      While we rest and take our ease,\n      No one but ourselves to please,\n        Till the morning light.\n\n\nNothing loath to comply with the Prince\u2019s desire, they were soon\nheartily singing the song, and much enjoyment they got from it. The\nfact is, that marching songs, as a rule, have a very brightening effect\nupon the singers. Words and music are alike intended to bring this\nabout. Knowing this to be the case, and realising that as the long day\nstretched itself out, many of his followers were certain to get very\ntired, he deliberately chose such words and sentiments for his song as\nwould tend to keep their spirits up till night time, when they could\nrest!\n\nWhen at last night did arrive, Prince Waratah and all his company found\nthemselves in a very lovely wooded valley. It was an ideal place for\ncamping. A little silver stream supplied them with plenty of water. The\ndry leaves that had fallen from the trees, and the smaller broken\nbranches that lay around supplied them with kindling and firewood; an\nextra supply of leaves also making very good bedding on which to spread\ntheir sleeping rugs.\n\nAfter supper, feeling very comfortable and happy, they fell to humming\nthe most delightful tunes imaginable, crooning tunes, such as mothers\nsing to their babies; soft and low and sweet. The effect was truly\nremarkable! In the course of fifteen or twenty minutes\u2014just as the\nstars began to peep at them through the gently swaying tree tops\u2014they\nwere all sound asleep; or, to be quite accurate, all were asleep except\nthe few guards posted at fairly distant intervals along the outer edges\nof the camp. Their duty was to watch out for any attack by possible\nenemies, such as the Mountain Fairies, who, although not really wicked,\nsometimes take it into their heads to throw down huge pieces of rock,\nor to send a giant tree hurtling over a cliff, to the great danger of\nthose who may be camped or passing below.\n\nNext morning everybody was stirring bright and early; and, after\nbreakfast and packing up, the march began again. So day followed day\nfor many a day. Sometimes they travelled up hill; sometimes down.\nOccasionally they had to make their way through timbered country; and\nnow and again a stream had to be crossed. But, like soldiers, they made\nvery light of such a passing difficulty, for they carried a certain\nnumber of pontoons with them, and, throwing them down as bridges, over\nthe river they went in perfect safety. \u201cPont,\u201d as you probably know, is\nthe French word for bridge; and \u201cpontoons\u201d are usually made of empty\nbarrels strung together to make a bridge. It was thus they crossed over\nwaterways through which they could not wade.\n\nBut the time came when they left forest and stream behind them, and had\nto travel over great stretches of land covered with coarse and stubbly\ngrasses. It was not pleasant by any means. Yet worse conditions were\nahead; for when the rough grass lands were finally crossed, they came\nto the great sandy desert. Sand, and yet more sand\u2014nothing but sand!\nLuckily they were not far from their destination. In two more days, the\nPrince told them, they would be there. As a consequence they began the\ndesert march with a certain amount of light-heartedness, buoyed up by\nthe thought that within a very little while their wanderings would\ncease. Unhappily, however, before that time arrived, they found\nthemselves engaged in a terrific struggle with the Desert Fairies.\n\nThese nomadic Fairies, possibly resentful of the coming of the others,\nor, maybe, just because they are naturally nasty, viciously and\nvigorously attacked them in force.\n\nFollowing their usual tactics, they first brought up an extremely hot\nwind, and, driving this before them full into the face of the\nwayfarers, sought to make them beat an inglorious retreat. But in spite\nof the fearful discomfort which the scorching wind brought to them,\nthey kept steadily on; absolutely determined not to be turned from\ntheir purpose by a hot wind, however fierce!\n\nSeeing, therefore, that this attack was a failure, the Desert Fairies\nresorted to their dreadful second line of attack. Picking up vast\nquantities of sand\u2014(which by this time was doubly hot from the rays of\nthe sun and the blistering wind that had passed over it)\u2014they flung it\nbefore them, seeking to choke, blind and burn the intrepid adventurers.\nEyes, ears and noses became partly filled with it. Under the strain,\nlips blackened and cracked, and parched throats ached with a pain\nalmost unendurable as the onslaught developed in intensity! Yet, still\nundaunted, on they went! Their courage and steadfastness were\nmarvellous! Well might the Prince be proud of them! As a matter of\nfact, foreseeing such a fight, he had repeatedly urged them, should it\noccur, not to be dismayed and fall back, but to stand firm, and at the\nright moment, effective help would certainly be forthcoming.\n\nAnd so it chanced! For, just when the contest seemed no longer possible\nof endurance, and despair was about to bring panic to their midst, the\nShower Fairies arrived, and, with their pellet-like raindrops beat the\nsand particles down, cleared and cooled the air, and with refreshing\nwaters restored the faint and famished Fairies. More remarkable than\nall, their late attackers, finding themselves thus bereft of their\nweapons, turned tail and fled, leaving the Prince and his faithful\nfollowers masters of the field.\n\nThis was a wonderful victory, and serves to show how very wise the\nPrince was, and with what profit he had reflected upon the things he\nhad seen in his previous travels. In particular, he had noted that the\nonly thing the Desert Fairies fear is water, especially in the form of\nraindrops. With great foresight he had, therefore, arranged that there\nshould follow on behind his company a tribe of Shower Fairies, ready to\nact should the need arise. True, they were a little late, but this is\naccounted for by the fact that each of them had to bring along a full\nsupply of raindrops, and as these are very heavy for such wee folk to\ncarry\u2014especially in the teeth of a hot driving wind\u2014they were somewhat\nlonger in coming up than they should have been. Nevertheless they were\nnot too late, and, when they did come, their work was splendidly done.\n\nThe way to the Magic Well was now clear! So, after bathing in the pools\nwhich the Shower Fairies had created\u2014(soon, alas! to disappear!)\u2014they\nrested until the next day. Then, in the highest possible spirits, they\nset about their final march, singing with the greatest gusto as they\nwent their famous marching chorus:\u2014\n\n\n    Left! Right! Left! Right!\n    Soon will come the cooler night!\n    Then shall all our marchings cease,\n    While we rest and take our ease,\n    No one but ourselves to please,\n      Till the morning light!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE FAIRY CITY\n\n\n    Where the magic well was found,\n    Peace and comfort now abound;\n    For a city, nobly planned,\n    Builded by a Fairy Band,\n    Rears itself above the hill,\n    Where a garden, formed with skill,\n    Graces every Court and Street,\n    Every path of pleasure sweet,\n    Down to where a water-ring,\n    (Lake of careful fashioning!)\n    Spreads its silver circling band,\n    Round about a Fairy land!\n\n\nIn the first story you were told how Prince Waratah, travelling in\nsearch of a wife, found, by accident, \u201cThe Magic Well!\u201d You were also\ntold how the finding of the well so inspired him, that he resolved to\nbuild a city round about it; and with this object in view, set out with\na great company of Fairies, fully equipped, to march across Australia\nto where the Well is situated.\n\nAs you will remember, they had nearly reached their destination when\nthey were savagely attacked by the Desert Fairies; but, with the timely\naid of the Shower Fairies, the enemy was successfully routed; and the\ntale concluded by telling how, rested and refreshed, they all set out\nupon their final march, singing as they went.\n\nWhen in the early afternoon they arrived at the site of the Magic Well,\na halt was called; and for a little time everybody rested. Then, taking\na company of working Fairies to the top of the hill, the Prince\ndirected them to remove the grass tussocks he and his friends had\nplanted to hide the opening to the Well from sight, and to dig down\nuntil they were told to stop.\n\nThese instructions they faithfully carried out; the Prince, meantime,\nwatching their work with the utmost interest.\n\nWhen, as he judged, they had gotten to within a few inches of the flat\nbrown stones which formed the trap-door entrance to the Well, he\nordered them to retire; and calling to those friends who on the\nprevious occasion had seen it opened, he placed them in charge pending\nfurther orders. He then instructed one of his Officers to parade the\nentire Company close to the Well upon its Eastern side. This done,\nstanding upon some of the freshly thrown out earth, he told them that\nin a few minutes they should witness a most engaging sight. In\nclear-cut language he followed this statement with a brief narrative of\nthe finding of the Well; its fascinating history as related to him by\nhis father; and an outline of his intentions with regard to the\nbuilding of the Fairy City. In this project, he added, he expected to\nreceive their willing co-operation and assistance; an expectation which\nhis confidence in them led him to believe, would be fully realised!\n\nAs might have been expected, the speech was received with vociferous\napplause, which applause almost reached a roar, when, at a wave of his\nhand, amidst the greatest curiosity and excitement, his trusty officers\nwithin the Well, opened the door, and a great stream of clear, cool,\ncrystal water shot fountain-like into the air!\n\nIf they had dared, they would at once have broken from their ranks and\nrushed pell-mell to the side of the Well to see from whence the Water\ncame; but, too thoroughly trained to break discipline, they waited the\ncommand to dismiss.\n\nBefore dismissing them, however, the Prince ordered the cooks and\nkitchen assistants to retire and prepare an extra special open air\nsupper. This, he said, was not only to indicate his pleasure at the\nfact that at last they had arrived at the scene of their future\noperations, but in token of his admiration of the way in which they had\nborne themselves throughout the trials and terrors of their long and\narduous march. They were then released from duty; and whilst the meal\nwas preparing, occupied the time in a most minute examination of the\nWell and its surroundings.\n\nJust as supper was about to be served, and when everyone was in place,\nthe Prince rose and said: \u201cBefore partaking of the dainty viands now\nbefore us, I wish you all, on this historic and maybe sacred occasion,\nto rise and drink with me, in the waters of the Magic Well, all success\nand enduring prosperity to the greatest enterprise ever initiated in\nAustral Fairy Land \u2018The Building of the Fairy City!\u2019\u201d Immediately all\nstood up, and with cheers that almost reached the sky, quaffed a fairy\nflagon of clearest water to the Prince\u2019s Toast.\n\nA \u201cFairy flagon,\u201d you should know, is made up of Gum leaves put into\nmoulds, points up, and pressed into the shape required. To hold the\nleaves together, and to make the flagon retain its shape, a kind of\ncement is used, made from an extract of black ants\u2019 milk and beeswax.\nIt is very binding, and in addition, takes on a most beautiful polish,\nthrough which the gum leaves shine as clearly as do fruits or flowers\nthat are preserved in ice.\n\nNow the waters of the Well have a very singular and happy effect upon\nall who drink of them; for though the Prince had not said a word about\nit, they contain certain life-giving properties which bring to those\nwho drink them the most enchanting results. It is because of these\npeculiar properties that the Well is a Magic Well; its waters work\nwonders in a way that cannot be seen. Thus, shortly after drinking of\nthem, the Fairies found themselves greatly stimulated and exhilarated\nin spirits. But their prime quality lies in their power to rejuvenate\nthose who partake of them. That is to say they have the effect of\nmaking one young, and strong, and active again, no matter how tired or\nworn out one may have been beforehand.\n\nBut to resume! After supper\u2014and a very fine one it was, too!\u2014as usual,\nthey sang their crooning lullaby songs until all except the sentry\nguards fell off in sleep.\n\nNext morning, their strength renewed\u2014rejuvenated, in fact\u2014just as the\ngolden lances of the sun came piercing through the fast dispersing\nclouds of night, they woke, ready and eager for any kind of work there\nmight be to do. And certainly there was no shortage of employment. As\nsoon as breakfast was over the Surveyors looked out their instruments\nand made ready to determine the limits and proportions of the intended\ncity and grounds. Very clever fellows are the Surveyors. And yet all\ntheir skill is based upon a thorough grasp of a few simple facts. They\nknow, that just as the alphabet is called the A B C, because in those\nletters are contained every line and curve that is necessary to the\nformation of any of the other twenty-three letters; so, within the\ncircle, \u25ef, the square, \u25fb, and the triangle, \u25b3, are to be found every\nline and curve, and every degree of measurement that can possibly be\nused in the laying out or building of anything in the world, from the\nPyramids to a Modern Battleship!\n\nUsing the Magic Well as a centre from which to start, they first ran a\nline two miles due East, and a second one two miles due West.\nReturning, they did the like thing two miles North and two miles South.\nThen, just as a boy uses a piece of string tied to a stick stuck in the\nground to draw a big ring in which to play marbles, so they, by means\nof a large number of pegs, made a circle exactly twelve miles in\ncircumference, right round the base of the hill. In this way there was\nenclosed an area of ground that was precisely four miles across, no\nmatter from what part of the outer edge the start was made.\n\nAs soon as the ring was clearly marked, a small army of Fairies were\nput to work all along its outer edge, digging out a trench twelve feet\nwide and four feet deep. Later on, this trench was made fifty-two feet\nwide and twelve feet deep. As the earth was taken out it was speedily\nremoved by another army of fairy workmen and deposited on different\nparts of the Hill pointed out by the Prince\u2019s Engineers, to be used\nlater on in the making of lakelets, lily-pools, waterfalls, and all\nmanner of delightful arbors, rose gardens, lavender beds, pansy plots,\ndaffodil rings, and a thousand and one other altogether beautiful\nthings meant for glorious display.\n\nIn the meantime, certain specially qualified engineers\u2014who really\nbelonged to the Cave Fairies, and therefore fully understood\nunderground tunnelling and mining\u2014having been persuaded by Prince\nWaratah to join his forces, were industriously directing the sinking of\nfour great pits close beside the Magic Well. Each of these pits was\nsituated directly under one of the lines running North, South, East and\nWest. When they were sunken thirteen feet, sloping tunnels were begun,\nwhich tunnels, following exactly beneath the lines drawn on top,\nultimately found an opening into the great trench on the rim of the\ncircle two miles away.\n\nBut, of course, none of this work went on without interruption. It was\nonly a matter of a very few days, when the Desert Fairies, impelled by\ncuriosity, came to see what was going on. The great trench, which, as\nyou will have surmised, was being digged to form a circular lake, first\nattracted their attention. And very much it puzzled them. What it all\nmeant they could not understand; but, true to their vicious instincts,\nthey soon made up their minds to try and destroy it. This they sought\nto accomplish by blowing immense quantities of loose sand into the\nexcavation; thereby making it necessary to do the work all over again.\n\nIf, for the future prevention of this wanton and dastardly outrage, no\nremedy could have been found, here was an end to the making of the\nLake. But there were brains among the Prince\u2019s Engineers, and one of\nthem very cleverly constructed a most ingenious device for\ncounteracting or stopping the flying sand. In a certain spot in one of\nthe otherwise dry and sterile gorges, watered in some way not yet\ndiscovered, he had seen a very large number of bamboos growing. They\nwere of all sizes; from the thickness of a lead pencil to the\ncircumference of a man\u2019s wrist; and being very sheltered from the wind,\nthey were all extremely tall. Getting a huge quantity of them brought\nup from the gorge, he first had them cleared of inside pith so as to\nleave a free passage from end to end. Taking the thinner ones, he had\ntiny holes bored into them about half an inch apart. This done, he\nfitted them, straight up and down, into a frame of the thickest ones,\ntwelve feet square. When a number of these squares had been so fitted,\nthey were taken to the outside edge of the Trench, and there set up by\nmeans of props or stays, also made of bamboo. A long line of bamboo\npiping was then laid to each of the squares, and duly fitted into that\nportion of the frame which touched the ground.\n\nAs can be seen, all that was now needed, was a supply of water rushing\nthrough the pipes to burst through the holes\u2014no bigger than those in a\ngas burner\u2014to make a water sprayer of astonishing value in beating down\nevery grain of sand that came against it.\n\nVery ingenious also, was the way in which this feat was accomplished!\nAn enormous basket-basin was first woven out of bamboo leaves and\nthoroughly stiffened with beeswax. It was then set upon pillars, made\nwith stones taken from the ground, right against the opening to the\nWell. In appearance it looked something like the high round tanks one\nsees at railway stations. There was this curious difference, however,\nthat through the bottom of the basin bamboo pipes came down, and these\nwere joined to the other pipes that were to take the water to the\nsquares.\n\nNow it has to be remembered, that when the trapdoor of the Magic Well\nwas opened, the water shot upwards into the air. To permit of the basin\nbeing placed in position, and for other reasons, the door had been\nclosed and the water shut off. To make it fall into the basin when it\nshould be again released, a kind of stand-pipe, surmounted by a concave\nshield something the shape of a reaping hook, was so erected as to be\nbehind and over the water as it would rise. The shield, like the basin,\nwas made of waxed bamboo leaves.\n\nIn due course, everything being ready, the trap-door was again opened,\nand, just as expected, the rising column of water struck the shield,\nand, running along its concave curve, poured downwards into the basin.\nFor a little time the water seemed to leave the basin faster than it\nwas received; but that was not really the case, for the engineer had\ncalculated the matter to such a nicety, that not until the basin was\nalmost brimming, and the weight of the water helped, did it empty as\nquickly as it was filled.\n\nAnd what a sight it was when the squares sent out their spraying,\nsparkling streams of water! No wonder the Desert Fairies drew back in\nstartled amazement. Rain they knew! A travelling water-spout they had\nseen and marvelled at! But here was something past all comprehension; a\nhundred thousand never-stopping jets of water, shooting straight at\nthem, and, more weird and awe-inspiring than anything they had ever\nheard or seen before\u2014giving out the strangest music, and the most\nbrilliant colours, as the wind and sun played in and out among them.\n\nVery soon they saw the results of the water\u2019s action. Everywhere within\nrange the sand lay flat and heavy; and try as they might, every attempt\nto fling the loose grains through the spraying water into the trench\nwas a dismal failure. They were completely worsted, and for many a day\nthereafter the Fairy Workmen were allowed to follow their pursuits in\nunmolested freedom.\n\nHaving now rid themselves of the attacks of the Desert Fairies, the\nwork of laying out the City and surroundings rapidly advanced. In\nparticular, four things were pushed ahead with all possible speed. They\nwere, the finishing of the great trench, the completion of the tunnels\nthrough which the water was to flow to fill it; the building of a very\nlarge basin and ornamental fountain over the pits and opening to the\nWell, and the construction, underneath the basin, of simple but\neffective machinery for the control and regulation of the waters of the\nWell.\n\nIn due time they were all finished, and ready to be put in use. Prince\nWaratah thereupon declared a general holiday in order that all might\ntake part in the first and most important event connected with their\nventure, namely, the turning on of the water that was to transform the\ntrench into a Lake, and, in so doing, convert what had hitherto been a\nhill in the desert, into Fairy Island!\n\nThey were therefore asked to assemble round about the Fountain, which,\nup to that day had been screened from view, what time those engaged\nupon its erection carried out their task. Now, exposed to all\nbeholders, they saw that it consisted of three parts. First, there was\nthe great black polished marble base, several feet in depth. Upon this\nbase there rested a projecting white marble basin in the shape of an\nenormous water-lily; whilst the Fountain itself\u2014made of greenish\ncoloured bronze, rising from the centre\u2014was so fashioned as to\nrepresent a glorious bunch of Waratah blooms, from the middle of which,\na good deal taller than the rest, a very prince of Waratahs appeared!\n\nWhen the Fountain was in action, from every tiniest petal of these\nmimic blossoms was meant to shoot a delicate spray of clearest water;\nwhilst the lofty central flower would send a shaft sheer into the\nsunlight! And so cleverly was everything adjusted and arranged, that\nnot a drop of water was wasted. It all fell into the basin; and by\nmeans of neatly hidden overflow pipes, ran into the pits beneath, and\nso through the tunnels into the lake!\n\nAll this, however, is anticipating the event.\n\nAt twelve o\u2019clock precisely, in accordance with the Prince\u2019s orders,\nthe levers of the machinery, out of sight beneath the basin, were\nswiftly reversed. Instantly the Fountain began to play! From the\nbunched blossoms burst a misty spray; soft, cool and altogether\ndelightful; especially when a number of gaily coloured rainbow tints\npeeked and pranced and revelled through and through it! In addition,\nhigh into the air from the central flower, shot a silver shaft of\nwater; that, breaking as it fell, seemed to tremble into unnumbered\nstrings and sprays of diamonds, zircons, tourmalines, topazes and\nopals, as the sun\u2019s rays glanced and gleamed amid the glistening drops!\nThe spectacle was both charming and delightful; and the Fairies cheered\nand cheered again at the varying effects!\n\nThen, suddenly, as often happens in a crowd, they broke into bands;\nsome to go this way, and some that. Naturally enough, by far the\ngreatest number of bands made for the Trench; for of course everybody\nwas anxious to see what was there taking place. Almost before they\narrived, however, the water came running through the tunnels; and, as\nthey stood watching, steadily began to make its way from edge to edge.\nOf course it took many and many a day to fill; but, with a never\nstopping supply of water pouring into it from North, East, West and\nSouth, fill it did; and has remained so filled ever since!\n\nNow the creation of this great Lake round about the land chosen for the\nFairy City, and its gardens and grounds, not only acted as a bar to\ncertain enemies, but so vast a quantity of cool fresh water had a\nmiraculous effect upon the atmosphere. It became more humid, more\nmoist. Trees and shrubs that could not have lived there before, no\nmatter how much water might have been given them, now flourished\namazingly. Flowers, fruits and other edibles of all kinds grew to\nperfection with astonishing rapidity. Birds of every sort and\ndescription, attracted in some mysterious way to the Lake and Hill,\ncame in hundreds and settled there permanently. Bees, Beetles,\nButterflies, and Moths, in like manner, came, as it were, out of space,\nto find a new, and possibly, a happier home than they had ever known\nbefore.\n\nIn an incredibly short space of time, therefore, the place became\nbright with the strains of feathered songsters and the glitter of their\ngaily plumaged friends.\n\nAbout the Hill Miniature Forests were planted and grew as if by magic.\n\nOn the outer edge of the Lake, partly to honour his noble Father, King\nEucalyptus; but also to act as permanent protection against the\ndetestable Desert Fairies, who, like the Bedouins of the African\ndesert, are always on the look-out to despoil and destroy, Prince\nWaratah caused to be planted a magnificent belt of Eucalypts. This\ngreat forest of truly splendid trees stretched in an unbroken line\nright round the Lake, and very soon became a joy to all beholders, and\nthe dwelling place of every Australian animal that can be named. How\nthey got there must for ever remain a mystery; but there is good reason\nto believe that Prince Waratah, who loved everything Australian, sent\nout Fairy scouts and messengers, mounted upon storks, cranes, and\nnative companions, to tell them all about the New World, so to speak,\nand to bring them there!\n\nAs to the City, that soon began to show itself!\n\nFollowing upon the general plan marked out by the Surveyors, high up on\nthe hillsides pretty fairy residences were erected, their coloured\nroofs and snow-white fronts standing sharply out amid the trees and\nshrubbery scattered round about them. How all this work was done would\ntake far too long to tell; but to give you an idea of what the City and\nsurroundings looked like after they were finished, imagine yourselves\ngoing there on a visit.\n\nHaving arrived at the great belt of Eucalyptus trees surrounding the\nLake, you would probably be directed by a Fairy Forest Ranger to one of\nthe many narrow paths leading to what is called \u201cThe Outer Causeway.\u201d\nTaking the direction indicated, on coming through the forest, there\nwould suddenly break upon your sight a gloriously beautiful Garden City\nset upon a Hill. At the foot of the Hill, running in a wide band\ncompletely round it, blue as the skies above, lie the waters of a\nserene and lovely lake. In some respects, this water circlet is not\nunlike the ring that surrounds Saturn, as pictured in the books dealing\nwith Astronomy; but this impression vanishes the nearer its margin is\napproached.\n\nWhen you reach the \u201cOuter Causeway,\u201d you discover that it is a wide\nflat pathway, made of concrete bordered with red granite; and that it\nencompasses or surrounds the whole of the lake. Where it touches the\nwater, at equal distances apart, there stand three hundred and\nsixty-five rough-cut grey granite pillars; one for every day of the\nyear, each seven feet high, to represent the days of the week. On the\ntop of each of these pillars a perfectly round lamp has been placed;\nwhilst at the foot, iron bolts and rings have been affixed. Thus the\nPillars are not only useful for lighting purposes, but they also serve\nas Moorings for Boats.\n\nGetting into one of the many Ferry Boats that cross from shore to\nshore, in due course a landing is made on the \u201cInner Causeway.\u201d Like\nits namesake, it also is a wide flat pathway; but in this case it is\nmade of White Marble bordered with polished red granite; and it\nencloses or encompasses the whole of Fairy Island. On its outer rim;\nthat is to say, on the side that touches the water, at equal distances\napart, there are placed three hundred and sixty-five pillars of plain\nburnished copper, each four feet high; and, linked to these, are a\ndouble row of brass chains, polished and lacquered to the colour of\nsunset gold.\n\nAt the proper landing places, these chains are detachable, and\nattendant Fairies are in readiness to remove them as the boats arrive.\nPassengers are thus enabled to step ashore without inconvenience or\ntrouble.\n\nThere are only four landing places; and from each of them runs a white\nmarble path that leads to one of the four City Entrance Gates.\n\nThe four gates, which are placed North, East, West and South of the\nCity, are set in a very strong wall of polished red granite, twelve\nfeet high and thirteen inches thick, representative, of course, of the\nmonths of a year. Built into, and incorporated with the wall, and made\nof the same material, at even distances apart, are fifty-two watch\ntowers, each seven feet high, one for each week of a year. These are\nsurmounted by pillars of exquisitely wrought copper, capped by\nstar-shaped electric torches that, throughout the livelong night, send\ntheir searchlight beams across the Lake.\n\nThe Entrance Gates are perfect in proportion and design. They are made\nof copper; and each bears upon its central shield, in burnished brass,\ncertain singular figures that to those who study them, are full of\nmeaning, and carry many a useful lesson. The Eastern Gate, for example,\nis ornamented with a truly life-like picture of the Sun rising from a\nslightly ruffled sea into the cloud-crossed Heavens. In popular phrase,\nthis is known as \u201cDay\u2019s Gate\u201d; but it is really meant to indicate the\nentry into life, wherein there are many clouds of ignorance and doubt,\nto be swept away by bringing to bear on them the light of education,\nthought, and reason.\n\nThe Western Gate, quite apart from its geographical position, is easily\npicked out by reason of the fact that it bears upon its face a striking\nlikeness of the Full Moon bursting through the misty vapours of the\nnight into the high unclouded skies. This is styled \u201cNight\u2019s Gate\u201d; but\nthat is but a poor attempt at imagery, for its purpose is to typify the\nway in which the pure souls of men and women rise above the mists of\ndeath and make their way to the free clear spaces far, far above the\nworld.\n\nOn the Northern Gate appears a representation of our own earth,\nseemingly buffeted about by stormy winds and lightning flashes; but\nstill steadily pursuing its appointed way. The portion of the World\nmost prominently displayed is Australia. In this case the name commonly\ngiven is \u201cEarth\u2019s Gate.\u201d It is, however, a very inadequate title, for\nit is intended to convey the idea that duty and love of country are two\nof the greatest virtues; and that the endeavour of everyone should be,\nin spite of trouble or adversity, to continue along the path believed\nto be right, and in so doing, to remember that one\u2019s native land should\never be uppermost both in private and in public effort.\n\nThe Southern Gate has emblazoned upon it a portion of what a poet has\ndescribed as \u201cThat inverted bowl we call the sky.\u201d In this instance the\n\u201cMilky Way\u201d is pictured; and prominent among the Stars beneath, the\nSouthern Cross is shown. Generally speaking this is called \u201cHeaven\u2019s\nGate,\u201d and is a much more expressive term than that which has been\napplied to any of the others. Nevertheless, the name given does not\nfully cover its inner import or meaning. As is well known, the \u201cMilky\nWay\u201d is caused by the massing, or bringing close to each other, of a\nvery great number of stars; and, as their lights mingle, there is\nproduced the strange, spilled milk effect, which gave rise to the\ndescriptive appellation. But that is by the way! What it is meant to\nconvey to those seeing it featured on the Gate, is the idea that\nHeaven\u2019s Gate is guarded by an innumerable host of Angels\u2014milk white in\ntheir purity\u2014who will not allow anyone to pass except by right! And\nonly those have the \u201cright\u201d to enter Heaven, who, by their good\nconduct, truth telling, and straightforwardness, are fit and proper\npersons to be admitted to the Kingdom of God! The Southern Cross\nbeneath, with its five glowing stars, represents Faith. Not that blind\nkind of faith which just believes a thing because someone has said that\nit is true; but one that is based on the fullest use of the five senses\nof Touch, Taste, Sight, Smell and Hearing, which have been given us as\naids to understanding and knowledge.\n\nSuch, then, is a brief description of the Gates of Fairy Land; through\none of which, to enter the City, everyone must pass. There is but one\nother remark to make concerning them. Whenever there is any reason for\nthem to be mentioned, the order in which their names are given is\nalways Northern, Eastern, Western, and Southern. This is so because the\ninitial letters when put together spell N-E-W-S; and it is in this way\nthat the Fairies contrive to give a constant reminder to everybody\ninterested that they are well informed as to what is taking place in\nthe four quarters of the Globe; without which information, they would,\nof course, be very sadly behind the times.\n\nHaving passed through one of the Entrance Gates, the first thing to\nstrike the eye is a long path covered with golden coloured gravel. On\neither side of the path there is a green grass border. One of the\nreasons for having these borders is, that gold and green are\nAustralia\u2019s National colours, and as the Fairies are very patriotic, it\nis easy to understand the significance or meaning of this delightful\narrangement.\n\nAt each of the Gates an exactly similar path may be seen. They run in\nstraight lines to the Fountain and Gardens at the top of the Hill; and\nthey are laid directly over the tunnels that carry the water from the\nMagic Well to the Lake. As a consequence, they serve more than one\npurpose. Firstly, they divide the city into four great triangles of\nexactly equal dimensions. Next, they give access from the four cardinal\npoints of the Compass to the Prince\u2019s Palace and to the Fountain\nGardens. Lastly, whilst completely hiding the tunnels from view, they\nmake them easy to get at in case of accident. To have had any buildings\nabove or across the water tunnels would have been a very great mistake;\nfor quite apart from the difficulty of making repairs, if such were\nnecessary, the weight of the erections might have brought about the\nvery trouble it was desirable to avoid.\n\nAll the other paths run in circles. There are very many of them; but\ntheir number has never been told. Facing all the paths or streets,\nFairy Houses have been built\u2014dainty little dwellings of the quaintest\npatterns imaginable; but all of them having a piece of garden ground to\nadd to the effect. The houses of the Prince\u2019s officers and the Fairy\nLeaders are on the four main straight streets; those of the other\nFairies are on what may be termed the circular streets. The Prince has\nhad reserved for his own use a very fine piece of land facing the\nFountain on the flat top of the Hill. Here his wonderful Palace is\nerected, the foundations for which were laid even before the Lake was\nmade.\n\nBut to see the City at its best, it must be viewed at night, when the\nartistic lighting arrangements show it up in all its glory.\n\nBefore attempting to describe the lights, or the perfectly entrancing\neffects they produce, it has to be stated that the streets are, by the\nFairies themselves, called the \u201cstreets of the stars.\u201d Hence it is\nquite common to hear such names as the \u201cStreet of the Southern Cross\u201d;\nthe \u201cStreet of Orion\u201d; the \u201cStreet of Canopus\u201d; or the \u201cStreet of\nMars.\u201d This arises from the fact that Stars and constellations have\nbeen used as lighting models. The constellations, or groups of stars,\nare in use for the broader streets, and at all crossing centres; whilst\nthe stars have been copied for the narrower streets and for the\nwatch-towers on the wall.\n\nAs an example of many others, the Street of the Southern Cross will do\nto illustrate the way in which the City is lighted.\n\nHere, at regular intervals apart, stand very finely made copper\nlamp-pillars. They have all been treated to what is called \u201coxidation\u201d;\nwith the result that they have an elusive sheen or polish about them\nthat is very attractive to the eye. To further enrich them, and make\nthem still more beautiful to behold, they are inlaid with burnished\nsilver in pretty trailing designs borrowed from some of Australia\u2019s\nbest known plants of a creeping or climbing habit. Among the number may\nbe seen the purple Sarsaparilla; the white Forest Queen, and Sturt\u2019s\nDesert Pea. On the head of each pillar is placed an exact model or copy\nof the Southern Cross, from whose five stars there pours a flood of\nlight from night till morning. When all the lamps in all the streets\nare thus sending forth their rays, the combined effect is positively\nglorious. The City seems, as it were, clothed in light; soft and\ndelicate; and yet so clear as to bring to richer beauty everything it\ntouches. Houses and gardens, clearly seen, are yet dream-like in their\nloveliness. Trees and Fountains; Lily ponds and Lavender beds;\nWater-falls, grottos, gorges, valleys; all are magically and\nmysteriously still, and wondrously beautiful! Viewed in this way, it is\nindeed a Fairy City, and a fit and proper setting for the crowning\njewel of all its architectural and other wonders: The Prince\u2019s Palace!\n\nBut of that Palace, and of all its marvels, time does not permit to\ntell. That is a story which must be reserved for another occasion.\nSuffice it to say, that when it was at last finished and furnished,\nmany there were who thought that it was time the Prince renewed his\nsearch for a wife; for here indeed was a Palace fit for any Princess on\nearth!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PRINCE\u2019S PALACE\n\n\n    Where once the earth was brown and bare,\n    A Prince\u2019s Palace, wondrous rare,\n      Now fronts the Fountain clear;\n    A monument to those whose skill,\n    Have made the bleak and barren hill\n      An Eden to appear!\n    And that fair Palace of the Prince,\n    The like of which, nor fore nor since\n      Has ever been achieved;\n    Was by such master craftsmen planned,\n    That nought, or in or out the land\n      Like it, has been conceived!\n    To it the rarest gifts were brought\n    From out the realms of purest thought;\n    And all the Beauty and the Art\n    That far too often stand apart\u2014\n    Were into one great glory wrought\n      To grace the Fairy Isle!\n\n\nNow the building of the Prince\u2019s Palace was the greatest piece of work\nperformed in Fairy Land.\n\nAs you know, very many wonderful things were done with regard to the\nmaking of the Lake and the construction of the Fairy City. But all\nthese suffer by comparison with what was accomplished in connection\nwith the Palace. It is built of the purest white Marble, Facing the\nFountain, on part of the flat top of the Hill, it stands amidst the\nmost spacious garden grounds, and can be seen from every part of the\nCity. It contains exactly twenty-four rooms: one for every hour of the\nday. They are divided into three equal sets. In one of these sets the\nwhole of the work of the Palace is carried out. Another set is devoted\nto pleasure and amusement; whilst above these are the rooms in which to\nrest or sleep.\n\nFrom the white marble steps leading from the balconied verandah at the\ngreat front entrance to the Palace, a broad level pathway sweeps in a\nhalf circle out to the circular path which surrounds the Fountain\ngardens. Thus the Palace and the Fountain Gardens join each other. Like\nall the other paths, it is covered with golden coloured gravel; and,\nflanking it on either side, set in the loveliest of green grass lawns,\nthere run two delightful flower-beds; forever filled with golden\nmarigolds!\n\nThe high double doors which give entry to the Palace are made of\noxidised, or slightly darkened silver, and stained glass. They are set\nin a splendid framework made of the same kind of silver; and this, and\nthe lower panels of the doors, are inlaid with delicate designs in\nburnished gold. On the framework, the design takes the form of the\ntrailing Sarsaparilla; whilst the panels are decorated with exquisitely\nexecuted bunches of flannel flowers surrounded with an oval border of\nEucalyptus leaves. The glass in the upper halves of the doors, richer\nthan any to be seen in old Cathedral windows, has had burned into it,\nin their own natural colours, Wattle blossoms and Waratah blooms. The\nWattle blossoms occupy the centre panels, and the torch-like Waratahs\nare placed at either side.\n\nThrough the doors one passes into a wide Hall, out of which rises a\nbranching stairway giving access to the rooms above. The Hall is paved\nwith gorgeous tiles and lined with \u201cfiddle-back\u201d blackwood. The Hall\nseats are made of the same beautiful wood. On one side of the Hall,\nframed in silver, there is a picture of a hive of bees; and on the\nother side, also in a silver frame, there is a picture of an Ant-Hill;\nboth indicative of work or industry.\n\nBut perhaps, before going further, you would like to know how the\nFairies make the lovely tiles which pave the Hall. It is really rather\ninteresting, and serves to show how very clever they are. Well! This is\nwhat they do!\n\nWhen the wind blows the petals from the flowers\u2014as it does every\nday\u2014the Fairies at night time go and collect them. They at once dip\nthem into a mixture made of an extract of black ants\u2019 milk, clear\nhoney, and morning dew. How they make it has never been found out; but\nit has a truly surprising effect in preserving both the shape and\ncolours of the petals. They then put them into moulds the size and\nshape of the tiles they propose to make; press them very tightly\ntogether; and lightly brushing the face of each tile so made with a\nlittle more of the mixture in order to cover it with a kind of glaze,\nset them up in the sunlight to dry. The drying finished, they put them\nthrough some kind of electrical treatment to make them hard, and they\nare then almost ready for use.\n\nBefore putting them in place however; by a secret process quite\nimpossible to discover; they make the actual outline of the flower\nitself to appear through the glaze; and, more bewildering still, they\ncause the perfume of whatever flower petals have been used, to come\nback to them. They are thus enabled to faintly scent a room or hall\nwith whatever pleasant odour they like to choose; the result of which\nis, that knowing the particular flower that one loves best, they can\npay him or her a most delicate compliment, by simply introducing the\nperfumes of his or her favourite flower to the house or rooms he or she\nis to occupy.\n\nAs it happens, the flowers used in the making of the Hall floor tiles\nwere wattle-blossoms. They were selected, partly because of the sunny\neffect to be obtained from their golden colour; and partly because\nPrince Waratah\u2014who by this time had seen Princess Wattle Blossom and\nfallen in love with her\u2014had made up his mind that some day she should\nbe his wife. How he first came to visit the father of the lovely\nPrincess, and the manner of his going, are now a matter of tradition;\nbut at the time the journey took place it was looked upon as an almost\nmiraculous performance.\n\nAs you will remember, when the Prince first found the Magic Well, he\nwas on his way to visit the Wattle Fairies, who lived in that part of\nAustralia now called Victoria. But in consequence of his important and\nprobably far-reaching discovery, he gave up his search for a wife;\nreturned to his father, King Eucalyptus, and sought and obtained\npermission to undertake the building of a new Fairy City round the\nMagic Well.\n\nWhen the City was finished, and the Palace well on the way, he began to\nthink that a Palace without a Princess would be a very poor thing\nindeed, and more or less useless. Quite naturally therefore, his\nthoughts reverted to the Wattle Fairies, of whom he had heard it said\nthat they were the most beautiful in all the World. The more he turned\nthe matter over in his mind, the more he desired to make the visit upon\nwhich he had started so long ago.\n\nBut there were difficulties in the way. To take an escort of sufficient\nstrength to resist possible enemy attacks, meant delaying the erection\nof the Palace for quite a considerable length of time. In addition, his\npersonal supervision would be lacking, and mistakes might occur.\n\nPondering over these and other matters, there one day flashed into his\nmind a rather quaint idea. Without any loss of time he sent for the\nEngineer Fairy; the one who had made the bamboo squares from which the\nwater was sprayed when the Desert Fairies tried to fill the great\nTrench with sand. And this is what he said: \u201cHail! and greeting! O\nclever Engineer!\u201d And the Engineer replied, \u201cHail! O Prince! Forever at\nyour service!\u201d \u201cEngineer,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cI would that I could take\na voyage through the air; and being seized with an idea, I have a mind\nto discuss it with thee. Listen then, O Engineer! and answer me in good\ntime! As thou wert able to fill the hollow bamboo stalks with water\u2014to\nthe great undoing of our common enemy the Desert Fairies\u2014canst thou not\nfill some others with air, and, having done so, construct me a carriage\nthat might, like a bird, fly safely overhead?\u201d\n\nAs you may well believe, so unexpected a question could not be given an\ninstant answer. It is doubtful indeed if the Prince himself expected\nany other than he got. What the Engineer Fairy said in reply was:\n\u201cPermit, O Prince, thy servant time to think, and he will answer thee\nanon!\u201d \u201cGranted, most worthy Engineer!\u201d said the Prince; \u201cnot until\nthou thyself do broach this matter again shall it be named betwixt us\ntwain.\u201d And the Prince rose in sign of dismissal.\n\nWhen the Engineer Fairy had time to think over the things the Prince\nhad said to him he was greatly pleased at having been called \u201cmost\nworthy Engineer,\u201d and he set about his novel task with the greatest\ngood-will.\n\nTaking the hint given him by Prince Waratah, he got together a goodly\nnumber of bamboo stalks, most of them no thicker than a lady\u2019s little\nfinger. Carefully removing the inside pith, he first inserted a bark\ncork into the open end, and then covered it with a seal. The seals he\nused were made of hard brown gum-nuts; and in order that the bamboo\ntubes should be perfectly air-tight, he dipped their ends into hot\nmelted beeswax before screwing on the cap-nuts. The effect was just the\nsame as when hot paraffin wax is poured on top of a jar of newly made\njam\u2014nothing could either get out or in. Having in this way effectually\nsealed one end, he then, by means of a little electrical bellows,\nproceeded to fill the tubes with air, so full that they were almost\nready to burst. But before that could happen, he deftly slipped a bark\ncork into position, swiftly dipped the unsealed end into the hot melted\nbeeswax, and without losing an instant of time, rapidly screwed on the\ncap-nut, thus sealing that end as closely as the other.\n\nAs soon as a sufficient number of various lengths and sizes had been\nfilled with air, they were put together in the shape of a chair, with a\nbox beneath the seat. The chair was then upholstered, or covered with\nfinely woven rushes over a padding of moss; thus making it a very\ncomfortable one in which to sit.\n\nTo make it easy to move, four little wheels were attached; and to\nprotect the occupant from the rain or sun a hood could be raised or\nlowered by simply moving a lever at the left side. This hood, as well\nas a rug to cover the knees, was made of spider-webs as soft as a\nbaby\u2019s hair. The late Queen Victoria had presented to her by the\nNatives of India an exceedingly fine shawl made of the same kind of\nmaterial.\n\nBut the most curious thing about the chair was its two wings, one at\neither side. They were as large as the wings of an eagle, and of the\nsame shape, and they were entirely covered with the soft green feathers\nof rosella parrots. As was seen later on, they could be folded back\nagainst the chair, or set to any angle desired, according to the way in\nwhich their controlling mechanism was turned. To the front of the chair\nfour rings were affixed, but for what purpose was not made clear until\nthey were about to be used.\n\nWhat was then disclosed was this: The chair was in reality a flying\ncarriage; the box underneath being intended to hold whatever the driver\nmight wish to take by way of food, clothes or other things. The four\nrings in the front were to be used as couplings to which to attach an\nastonishingly swift team of Blue Kingfishers, sixteen in number, who\nwere to pull the carriage through the air. The Birds\u2019 harness was made\nof light, but strong, honey coloured ropes, twisted out of strands of\nsilk taken from the spiders who spin that kind of thread. The spiders\noriginally came from Papua or New Guinea, and the threads they spin are\ncoarser than those which the silk-worms produce; but none the less very\nuseful for such a purpose as that to which they were being put.\n\nOf course it took some time to learn all these details. As a matter of\nfact, it was not until the Engineer Fairy gave his first demonstration\nthat they were all seen and understood.\n\nWhat then took place needs but a few words to describe. The Prince,\nbeing present, and everything in readiness, the Engineer sat himself in\nthe seat, lifted the silk reins, spoke to the team of Blue Kingfishers,\nand off they set at a smart run\u2014the flying carriage running on its\nwheels behind them. Presently they all rose as one bird into the air,\nand at the self-same moment the carriage also rose, and, with wings\noutspread, flashed behind the flying Kingfishers as perfectly balanced\nand as steady as a modern aeroplane.\n\nWhen in a little time the Engineer Fairy returned, he carefully\nexplained to the Prince all that was required to be done, and very\nrespectfully suggested that he should try his hand.\n\nNothing loath, apparently, Prince Waratah took the driver\u2019s seat, and\nfaithfully and implicitly obeying the instructions given him, managed\nto make a very skilful flight indeed, all things considered. Later, by\nmuch practice, he became so proficient that it was next to impossible\nfor him to come to harm.\n\nIt was then that he set out, alone, to visit the Wattle Fairies,\ncovering the distance in an extremely short space of time compared with\nwhat would have been necessary had he ridden on horseback or walked.\nMaybe you can imagine the consternation and excitement among them the\nfirst time they descried him coming through the air. When first sighted\nhe was little more than a speck in the far distance; but all Fairies\nhave very keen eyesight, and watching intently, it was not very long\nbefore they could discern the brilliant blue plumage of the\nKingfishers, the flashing of their honey-coloured harness as the\nsunbeams touched it every now and then; and, above all, the Prince\nhimself in the yellow flying carriage with the great green wings\nattached!\n\nNo wonder they felt alarmed. It was enough to strike terror into the\nheart of anyone who had never seen such a strange and unusual sight\nbefore; and had it not been for the wisdom and calmness of their King,\nit is almost certain they would have fled helter-skelter from the\nscene. But he, not knowing what else to think, boldly and confidently\nasserted that the stranger flying towards them must be a messenger from\nHeaven, and as Heaven was kind, there was really nothing to fear. \u201cOf a\ntruth,\u201d said he, \u201cit is more than possible that some great blessing is\nabout to be bestowed upon us. Let us therefore await God\u2019s messenger\ncalmly and fearlessly; and in due time we shall learn whatever is His\nWill.\u201d\n\nIt thus came about that, when the Prince made a landing, instead of\nfinding those he came to see in a state of panic, they were all drawn\nup in perfect order, and nothing, save their eyes, gave the slightest\nsign that anything out of the way was taking place.\n\nAs soon as the Prince stepped out of the carriage, however, the King\nknew him; for the fame of his person and marvellous works had\npenetrated to the remotest parts of Australia, and he would have been\nrecognised anywhere. Without the slightest hesitation, therefore, the\nKing stepped forward, offered his hand to his distinguished visitor,\nand in the kindliest manner bade him welcome!\n\nNow it so happens that there are a very great number and variety of\nWattle Fairies, and they are to be found in practically all parts of\nAustralia. But by general consent, King Acacia and his wife, Queen\nCootamundra, are recognised as being at the head of all the tribes.\nThey are an extraordinarily handsome couple; and all their children are\nvery lovely indeed, especially their eldest daughter, Princess Wattle\nBlossom! As soon as Prince Waratah saw her he vowed to himself that\nnever in all his life had he seen anyone so gloriously beautiful and\ncharming; for the fact is, that not only is she delightfully sweet to\ngaze upon, but her manners are so perfect as to make her at once the\nmost kindly and the most gracious Princess in the whole of Fairy Land.\nHer only fault, if such it can be called, is a tendency to droop her\nhead a little; but this is wholly due to a certain natural shyness, and\nentirely disappears whenever she speaks or moves. It would have been\nstrange indeed if the Prince had not instantly fallen in love with\nher\u2014as he did\u2014and had not resolved to some day make her his wedded\nwife. Nevertheless he paid her many, many visits before the courtship\nended, and the marriage actually took place.\n\nBut to return to the Palace, about which you were being informed, when\nthe Prince\u2019s desire for a wife somehow came into the story.\n\nApart from the Entrance Hall, which has already been described, there\nare several rooms that call for more than passing mention. For\ninstance, there is the Laughter Room! That may seem a strange name for\na room, but the Prince has very decided opinions on certain matters,\nand one of his fixed ideas is that, next to Sunshine, Laughter is the\nfinest thing in the World. He calls it \u201cspiritual Sunshine,\u201d because,\nhe says, whenever folks laugh, worry and trouble disappear just as\nquickly as clouds before the sun itself. And so he urges that\n\u201ceverybody, every day, should take a little time for play, to laugh and\ndrive dull care away!\u201d He also says that everybody should have a\nlaughter room in the house; by which he means, of course, that everyone\nshould be careful not to so engage themselves with serious matters,\nthat in their whole make-up there is no room for laughter. People like\nthat, he thinks, do not enjoy life properly; and in order that he and\nthose associated with him might laugh at times, he specially arranged\nfor a Laughter Room.\n\nAlready, perhaps, you are wondering what sort of things that room\ncontains? Well, not for long does it remain the same! Changes are\nconstantly taking place, for one cannot continually laugh at the same\nold joke. But to give you an idea of the kind of thing the Prince\nthinks funny, here are several that have appeared in the room at one\ntime or another.\n\nNumber One: A baby bear, up in a gum tree, has just started to nibble\nat a particularly tempting leaf when over the edge of it peeps a Daddy\nLong Legs Spider, who says, \u201cExcuse me! But I know something that you\ndon\u2019t know!\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d says the Bear, but without letting go.\n\u201cWhy!\u201d replies Daddy Long Legs, \u201cYou\u2019re biting my foot!\u201d \u201cSorry!\u201d says\nthe Bear, letting go; \u201cI hope I haven\u2019t sprained your ankle,\u201d and he\nlaughs till the tears run down his face.\n\nNumber Two: A fat little Fairy boy, having fallen into the dust, picks\nhimself up and stands crying great big teardrops, that, as they run\ndown his chest, look like the snakes that children make with treacle on\nnice white slices of bread. Sitting on a fence, watching what is going\non, are two Kookaburras, resting a little after having killed a big\nbrown snake. When they see the funny little \u201cWrigglies,\u201d running down\nthe Fairy boy\u2019s chest, they burst into such fits of laughter, that they\neach, so to speak, have to hold their sides, with the result that they\nboth fall off the fence head over heels into the dusty road; and then\nthe boy laughs till he has to sit down!\n\nNumber Three: Placed between the forked branches of a tree sits a\nbird\u2019s nest. In it are three little bare-headed baby birds, eyeing in\npuzzled astonishment a big fat grub that has fallen on the edge of the\nnest from somewhere overhead, and is doubling away as fast as ever he\ncan, saying as he goes: \u201cGood-bye, Dearies! I\u2019m so glad I saw you! But\ndon\u2019t wait for me for dinner! I\u2019ve simply got to go home at once! And,\nby the way, don\u2019t tell mother you saw me! It would make her feel sorry\nto think she missed me!\u201d\n\nNumber Four: An old Mother Crow\u2014all of whose children were as black as\ncoal\u2014was very jealous of the beauty of the Lyre Bird. Hearing one day\nthat the Stork was bringing a nice new Baby to her hated rival, she\nplaced around her neck a Lyre Bird\u2019s tail that she had stolen years\nbefore, and watched and waited for the Stork to pass, hoping against\nhope that he would give her the baby Lyre-bird for herself. But when\nthe Stork came along he saw through the poor make-believe, and though\nhe felt a little sorry for the Crow, he instantly resolved to punish\nher for stealing the Lyre Bird\u2019s tail, as well as for trying to deceive\nhim! So instead of passing by, he stopped and said, \u201cHello, Crow! Where\ndid you get the Feather Stole?\u201d And the silly Crow excitedly answered,\n\u201cStole it! No, no! I don\u2019t mean that! It\u2019s not a stole at all; it\u2019s a\nRuff! But you shouldn\u2019t call me a \u2018Crow\u2019! I\u2019m a Lyre Bird, and I\u2019m\nwaiting for the nice new baby you\u2019ve got in your basket.\u2019\u201d \u201c... Oh!\nho!\u201d retorted the Stork, \u201cyou\u2019re a Lyre Bird all right; but,\u201d he added,\n\u201cI can\u2019t give you the Lyre Bird baby I\u2019ve got in the basket, because\nit\u2019s promised to somebody else. But,\u201d said he, observing her\ndisappointment, and with a humorous glint in his eye, \u201cif you hatch out\nthe egg I\u2019ll give you, you may get a surprise!\u201d\n\nNaturally enough, the Old Mother Crow, finding herself unable to\ndeceive the Stork, and fairly burning with curiosity to find out what\nthe surprise might be, took the egg and faithfully promised to sit on\nit until it was hatched out. And she kept her word, too, sitting on it\nnight and day, with the ruff round her neck in case she might get a\nyoung Lyre Bird.\n\nAfter a number of days she suddenly felt something move, and jumping\noff her nest in a state of great excitement, looked to see what she had\ngot. To her intense mortification and disgust, she saw nothing in the\nnest but an ugly young Iguana! She was so annoyed at the trick that had\nbeen played upon her, that the tears sprang to her eyes, and she was\njust about to give vent to her outraged feelings in an angry squawk,\nwhen a number of yellow crested Cockatoos, sitting on a tree not far\nfrom her nest, seeing what had happened, laughed so loudly and\nderisively, that the Crow flew from the spot and was never seen again!\n\nThe next of the Palace rooms to call for attention is known as the\nMusic Room. In it can be seen every instrument of Fairy music that has\never been invented. And very odd some of them are, too; though they are\nall capable of giving forth the most tuneful sounds imaginable. Among\nthe many instruments are some so perfectly made that they can imitate\nCanaries, Larks and Nightingales with an accuracy that is truly fine.\nBy simply touching a tiny spring the mechanism is released, and\ninstantly one may hear a flood of melody that would cause a Lark, for\ninstance, to believe that one of his fellows was singing near! But the\ninstrument which excites the greatest wonder of them all is called a\nMelodophone! It is the outcome of so much patience and skill that by a\nlittle adjustment it can be made to produce any kind of music\u2014vocal or\ninstrumental\u2014from a single voice singing the simplest melody, up to the\ngrandest orchestral masterpieces. It really is wonderful!\n\nThe Prince is very proud of his music room, and takes an immense\ndelight in demonstrating what his collection of musical instruments can\ndo. Further, he everywhere strongly maintains that music is one of the\nfinest aids to happiness. Longfellow, the American poet, must have had\nmuch the same thought in his mind when he wrote that priceless little\npoem, entitled \u201cThe Singers,\u201d for he makes \u201cThe Great Master\u201d say of\n\u201cThe Singers\u201d:\u2014\n\n\n   \u201cI gave a various gift to each,\n    To charm, to strengthen, and to teach,\n    These are the three great cords of might,\n    And he whose ear is tuned aright,\n    Will hear no discord in the three,\n    But the most perfect harmony!\u201d\n\n\nIn like manner, you will remember how the Prince, in connection with\nthe long, long march to the Magic Well, constantly encouraged his\nfollowers to sing the Marching Song he had written for them. And how it\ncheered and strengthened them. Even when they were almost ready to drop\nwith fatigue, a little singing always seemed to take away the tired\nfeeling and put them in good humour again.\n\nApplying the same idea to matters of greater importance, he says that\nMusic stirs folks to think fine thoughts, prevents them from thinking\nbad ones, and helps to make them happy. No happy person can possibly be\nwicked! It is the unhappy who say and do the vile things! Knowing this\nto be the case, he has very wisely ordered that at least two Bands\nshall play for his people every day\u2014one in the Fountain Gardens and one\non the Lake.\n\nIn addition, seeing that all Fairies are very fond of dancing, and that\nthey always dance in circles, he has also provided for them a couple of\nFairy Rings, where they may indulge in their favourite pastime as much\nand as often as they please.\n\nLastly, there are five story-tellers, who, although they once had very\nnice names\u2014and you may be told them later on\u2014were long, long ago called\n\u201cTouch,\u201d \u201cTaste,\u201d \u201cSight,\u201d \u201cSmell\u201d and \u201cHearing,\u201d and every day they\nhave such interesting tales to tell that no one who cares to hearken\nneed ever be dull or depressed. So now you know why it is that all the\nPrince\u2019s people are so entirely happy and contented.\n\nOf the other rooms of the Palace not yet mentioned there is only time\nto describe one more on this occasion. It is sometimes called \u201cThe Hall\nof the Captive Sunbeams\u201d; but in reality, it is the Reception Room\u2014that\nis to say, it is the Room where guests or visitors are received prior\nto being entertained at dinner, or at a musical evening, or at whatever\nother form of entertainment is to be given them. The reason for its\nbeing popularly named \u201cThe Hall of the Captive Sunbeams\u201d is due to the\nfact that certain portions of the Walls appear to radiate sunlight.\nThis peculiar and striking effect has been brought out by the use of\ntiles, set like pictures in frames of brightly burnished silver. In the\ntiles themselves captured sunbeams shimmer and dance perpetually.\n\nHow this was done is difficult to say; but the story goes that when\nmaking the tiles, the Fairies set them where the Sun\u2019s rays gently\ntouched them every day; and, just as the sun was declining, they each\nday swiftly brushed the fronts of the tiles with a kind of liquid glaze\nthat kept the light beneath it. When, in this way, several thicknesses\nof light were captured, so to speak, the tiles were burned in specially\nprepared kilns, and to the very great joy of the Fairy Craftsmen it was\nfound, when finished, that one sunbeam seemed to be for ever chasing\nanother over and over the face of the tiles! There is but one other\nnotable feature about the \u201cHall of the Captive Sunbeams\u201d\u2014it is that the\nmore the place is filled with gaiety and laughter the more merrily do\nthe sunbeams seem to pour forth a running, rippling tide of light, to\nenhance and stimulate the general jollity!\n\nAnd now you have some faint conception of the beauty and the glory of\nthe Prince\u2019s Palace, some little idea of its furnishing for use and\nentertainment, and, above all, some grasp of the outstanding features\nwhich make it not only the most noticeable structure in the Fairy City,\nbut of such unequalled originality and excellence as to be without a\nrival anywhere.\n\nThere it stands, a perfectly modelled two-storied white marble building\nsurmounted by a roof of reddish sunset gold. On its front is the nobly\npillared verandah and balcony; and setting it off, like a splendid\nframe to a valuable painting, are the widespread and delightful garden\ngrounds which entirely surround it.\n\nSeeing it thus, as you now see it in your mind\u2019s eye, on the evening of\na lovely Autumn day very shortly after it was finished, Prince Waratah\ndeclared it perfect, save and except in one particular: it lacked a\nworthy mistress. That, however, was an omission which could be\nremedied; and as he had already made up his mind who was to be asked to\nfill the position, he there and then began to consider the many things\nthat must be done before the happy event. So commenced the long series\nof careful preparations which were to end in the most unique and\nentrancing experience of his life\u2014his marriage to the Princess Wattle\nBlossom!\n\nOf that marriage, and of all that took place in connection with it, you\nshall be fully informed when time and circumstances permit. Meanwhile,\nplease remember, that in the Prince\u2019s Palace of twenty-four rooms\u2014one\nfor each hour of the day\u2014some are for work, some are for pleasure, and\nsome are for sleep! With you it is just the same! There is a time for\nwork, a time for pleasure, and a time for sleep\u2014and it is sleep-time\nnow! And so\u2014good-night! Good-night!! Good-night!!!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PRINCE\u2019S MARRIAGE\n\n\n    Within a garden glorious, beside the Magic Well,\n    There stands a Palace Beautiful, wherein a Prince doth dwell!\n    And he, his dreamings over,\u2014finding all but one come true,\n    In fancy gazes forward, to a World of roseate hue!\n    And there beside him standing, in her royal robes of state,\n    In visions truly splendid, sees his soul\u2019s most beauteous mate!\n    And all her gentle charm of mind, and all her dainty grace,\n    But match the matchless beauty of her sweet and lovely face.\n    And he, enraptured at the sight, upheld by Princely pride,\n    Prepares to wed, in fitting state, his own appointed bride!\n\n\nIn concluding the story of the Prince\u2019s Palace a reference was made to\nthe Prince\u2019s marriage, and a promise made that some day you should be\ntold all about that happy event, and of all that happened in connection\nwith it.\n\nWell, listen!\n\nAs you will remember, when the Palace was finished, the Prince\npronounced it perfect save in one particular; it lacked a Mistress! To\nremedy that defect he had made up his mind to marry Princess Wattle\nBlossom; and in order that there might be no delay, he immediately set\nout in his famous flying carriage to visit King Acacia\u2014the head of the\nWattle Fairies\u2014and ask for his eldest daughter\u2019s hand in marriage.\n\nOn his arrival, the King, as always, very graciously received him, for\nhe liked him greatly, and, when he had heard his request, very\nwillingly consented to give his daughter to the Prince provided she\nherself were agreeable.\n\nThis condition the Prince very properly accepted; and as he felt that\nin the course of his previous visits he had already made a favourable\nimpression, he had little doubt but that the lovely Princess Wattle\nBlossom would agree to marry him. None the less, before presenting\nhimself with the object of putting the question to her, he very\ncarefully saw to it that in every detail of his clothing and personal\nappearance, he should look his very, very best. That, for Prince\nWaratah, was not a difficult matter, for he was really uncommonly\nhandsome. His short, curly, red hair, fine face, and graceful figure\nwould have made him a striking personality anywhere; but when clothed\nin his dark green coat, rose pink vest, and white silk knee breeches,\nhe looked exactly what he was\u2014a great and noble Prince.\n\nAs for the Princess Wattle Blossom, surely someone must have given her\na hint of the Prince\u2019s coming and of the question he was likely to ask,\nfor never before had she looked so lovely and sweet! Dressed in a\ntrailing gown of grey-green silk, embroidered and adorned with golden\ntraceries in front, she modestly stood waiting his arrival, her\nbeautiful face suffused in blushes and smiles, whilst her golden hair,\nseeming to have escaped its bounds, went sunning over her shoulders in\na perfect cascade of shimmering curls!\n\nThe Prince was enchanted! So much so, that as he stooped to kiss her\nhand, he could barely murmur his greeting. But it took him only an\ninstant to recover himself, and in a few minutes his ready wit and\nfascinating conversation held the Princess positively spellbound. Never\nbefore had he ever mentioned the Palace to her; but now, with very\ngreat art and even greater tact, he skilfully described its beauties,\nits particularly fine setting in ideal garden grounds; its splendid\nrooms, and their unique furnishings; and the charming views to be had\nfrom its pillared balcony. So enraptured was the Princess with the\npicture that he drew, that more than once she innocently ejaculated,\n\u201cOh, how I should love to live in such a glorious home!\u201d\n\nOn the last occasion upon which she so spoke, the Prince, having\nfinished his description, tenderly took her hand in his and smilingly\nreplied, \u201cAnd so you may\u2014on one condition!\u201d And the Princess, instantly\nperceiving the position in which she had unwittingly placed herself,\narchly answered back: \u201cYou mean that I must pay for the privilege, I\nsuppose!\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d retorted the prince, with rising ardour, \u201cyou must\ngive me what is worth to me more than all the World holds\u2014you must give\nme yourself! Will you marry me? Will you take me for your husband, and\nbe my own dear, dear wife?\u201d\n\nAnd the Princess, who had loved him from the very first, answered,\n\u201cYes, My Prince, for I love you truly, and will never cease to love you\nuntil the end of time!\u201d Thus the Princess Wattle Blossom became the\nPrince\u2019s promised bride; and from that day forth, many were the\npreparations made for the wedding.\n\nNow the Prince had stipulated, that contrary to usual custom, the\nwedding was to take place, not at the home of the bride\u2019s parents, but\nat the Palace. This, he explained, was in order that King Acacia, Queen\nCootamundra, and as many of their relatives and friends as cared to\naccept the invitation, might not only see the future home of the bride,\nbut the Fairy City itself\u2014that wonderland of Fairyland about which they\nhad all heard something more or less fascinating and attractive.\n\nIn consequence of this arrangement, what may be termed the \u201cCards of\nInvitation,\u201d were issued by the Prince. They were enclosed in a woven\nenvelope made of the very finest green rushes, and they consisted of\ntwo broad eucalyptus leaves fastened together with twisted cords of\nspiders\u2019 silk. On the outside of the first leaf was painted the\nPrince\u2019s Crest; a red Waratah rising above two green leaves of the\nplant on which it blooms. On the face of these leaves, in letters of\ngold, his motto was written, \u201cI live to serve!\u201d On the inside of the\nsecond leaf the actual invitation to the wedding appeared. It, also,\nwas written in golden letters. The wording of the invitation was very\nbrief, however, for the Fairies, like the ancients, generally use but\nfew words to express themselves.\n\nIn this respect they are not unlike the early peoples, who, away back\nat the beginning of things\u2014long before writing was invented, only spoke\nnouns or names. Verbs, adverbs and prepositions have all been added\nsince. But it is a singular fact that the words then used are at once\nthe most expressive, the most simple and the most beautiful in the\nlanguage. Moreover, they are all words of one syllable! Earth, Air,\nSea, Sky, Light, Cold, Heat, Sun, Moon, Day, Night, Man, God! Another\nremarkable thing about these words is that they all make an appeal to\none or more of the five senses. For this reason it is not possible to\n\u201cexplain\u201d them; the only way in which they can be comprehended or\nunderstood is by private personal experience. Thus, no one can possibly\nunderstand what light is except by seeing it, or heat or cold except by\nfeeling it. Similarly, without the sense of taste, sweet or sour has no\nmeaning, and in like manner only those who can hear know what music is,\nand only those who have a sense of smell are able to enjoy the perfume\nof a flower.\n\nTo return to the point, however, the \u201cCards of Invitation\u201d were all\nsent out on the same day\u2014a hundred or two. They were taken to those for\nwhom they were intended by a truly splendid lot of Bronze-wing pigeons.\n\nThe Fairies can teach birds to do nearly anything, and these beautiful\nBronze-wing pigeons were constantly used in much the same way as people\nuse Carrier Pigeons to take messages from place to place.\n\nIn this case, instead of wrapping the message round the bird\u2019s-leg, the\nenvelope containing the card was strung like a lady\u2019s purse around the\nBronze-wing pigeon\u2019s neck.\n\nWhen they were all ready, it was a really charming sight to see them\nrise, and, wheeling in the air, break into four groups, that, with the\nswiftness of light, sped away North, East, West and South, until they\nwere all lost to view.\n\nWhen they returned they brought the answers with them; and, as the\nPrince had expected, the refusals were very few. This was partly due to\nthe fact that with each invitation a letter was forwarded saying that,\nif it were accepted, a flying-carriage would be sent to bring the\nacceptors to the wedding and to take them home again. The possibility\nof enjoying so novel a method of travel was in itself an inducement to\naccept; though the vast majority were equally anxious to learn\nsomething of the Magic Well, or the Fairy City, about both of which\nthey had heard so many thrilling accounts.\n\nThe reason why the Prince was able to promise them all the use of\nflying carriages was because he had had his engineers at work upon\nquite a number ever since his own was made, and, as the result of many\nexperiments, it had been found possible to make a carriage that would\ncarry three, two in addition to a driver. They were not as fast as the\nsingle seaters, but they were quite safe, and with Fairies trained to\ndrive them\u2014Magpie teams for daylight travelling, and Owl teams for\nnight-work\u2014there really was no danger whatever!\n\nAfter all the answers had been received, and the Prince knew exactly\nhow many guests to expect, he himself gave instructions to the Palace\nCooks to prepare a gorgeous wedding feast. There was to be no stint of\nanything, and everything was to be carried out in the finest style\nknown to the Chefs. Fruits and sweetmeats, and dainties and delicacies\nof every class and kind under the sun were ordered to be got ready for\nthe \u201cgreat day.\u201d Flowers too! The rarest orchids and the most\ndelicately perfumed blossoms; golden wattle in particular! Music also!\nThe sweetest strains the Fairy Bands knew how to play; soft, engaging\nairs such as a bride should hear on the most eventful day of her life.\nIn short, everything that could be thought of to please, amuse and\ngratify the wedding guests, was, by the express orders of the Prince,\neither at once obtained, or the necessary steps taken to see that it\nwould be ready on the Wedding Day!\n\nAnd when, at last, the day arrived, the excitement in and around the\nFairy City was simply intense.\n\nThe day before, in the morning, came the Prince\u2019s Father and Mother,\nKing Eucalyptus and Queen Fici-folia, together with their officers and\nattendants. It was said that the Prince had been given his good looks\nby his lovely mother; she whose superb figure and soft red hair were\nthe pride of all the Eucalypts! They came thus early in order to be\nready, on behalf of the Prince, to receive and welcome all his guests.\n\nTo them were given apartments in the Eastern side of the Palace.\n\nIn the afternoon of the same day came King Acacia, Queen Cootamundra,\nPrincess Wattle Blossom and her sisters, and several officers and\nattendants of their household. They had been asked to come the day\nbefore the wedding to enable the Princess to be thoroughly rested and\nrefreshed prior to the ceremony.\n\nTo them was assigned a suite of rooms in the Western side of the\nPalace.\n\nFor some of the officers of both the Royal Households, as well as for\nthose who, coming from a great distance, could not return the same day,\nspecial sleeping rooms had been erected in the Palace Gardens.\n\nAt this stage it has to be mentioned, that in addition to their other\nimprovements, all the Prince\u2019s newest flying carriages were fitted with\nfairy wireless. This enabled any of the drivers to send a message to\nthe Prince whenever it was necessary so to do. And it was indeed\nfortunate that such was the case, for although it had been arranged\nthat the Princess Wattle Blossom was to arrive the day before the\nwedding, within about half an hour of the time that she was to have\nlanded, something happened which nearly prevented her from ever\nreaching the Fairy City at all.\n\nTo properly understand the story of what occurred, it is necessary to\ngo back a little, and to remember that the malicious Desert Fairies had\nbeen twice defeated\u2014once, when they had attacked the Prince and his\nfollowers whilst on their way to the Magic Well; and once, when they\nhad tried to stop the making of the Lake which now encircles Fairy\nIsland. They were very sore at having been thwarted in their spiteful\nefforts, and had resolved that if ever they got a chance, they would be\nrevenged upon the Prince in consequence. Thus, though they were very\nsecret about it, they were always on the lookout to do him harm.\n\nFor a very long time, nothing took place which gave them the slightest\nopening to put their wicked wishes into play. Then, by the merest\naccident, they learned that Prince Waratah was about to be married, and\n\u201cputting two and two together,\u201d they made up their minds to steal the\nPrincess Wattle Blossom, and so rob him of his intended wife. And\nstrange as it may seem, had it not been that the carriage in which she\nwas travelling had its fairy wireless set in working order, the plot\nthey laid would certainly have succeeded. Even as it was, her adventure\nwas an exciting one; and, while it lasted, very, very trying.\n\nHow the Desert Fairies came to find out that the Prince was about to be\nmarried, was, to say the least of it, somewhat peculiar.\n\nOne of the bronze-wing pigeons, carrying an invitation to a relative of\nthe Prince\u2019s Mother, who lived in Western Australia, had almost flown\nacross the desert, when, to his horror, high above his head he saw the\noutstretched hovering form of a great golden eagle. Instantly he knew\nthat he would be killed, but true to his trust, he slipped the\ninvitation over his head, and letting it fall to the ground in the hope\nthat it would be found and forwarded by another messenger, sped ahead\nas fast as his weary wings would bear him.\n\nBut in point of speed, even the freshest, swiftest bronze-wing pigeon\nis very slow compared with the mighty onrush of a powerful eagle, and\nalmost before the Prince\u2019s bird had time to try and escape, the eagle\ndropped upon his back, and with one stroke of his curved and cruel\nbeak, struck the pigeon dead, and holding him in his strong talons,\nsped away and away until he was entirely lost to sight.\n\nNow the card of invitation which the bronze-wing pigeon had let fall\nwas picked up by a passing Desert Fairy. He immediately took it to the\nhead of the tribe, who forthwith called his followers about him to\nconsider the news. Having gained such an important piece of information\nas the invitation disclosed, they were put upon their metal to discover\neverything else about the marriage that it was possible to learn. By\ndint of much spying and listening they at last got to know the whole of\nthe details. They thereupon decided to waylay the Princess on her\njourney to the Fairy City, and by all the means at their command, beat\ndown whatever escort was provided, and carry her away.\n\nIn some respects they were luckier than they could have expected to be.\nTheir great difficulty was how to bring the flying-carriage to the\nground; for if they could not stop it, they could not capture the\nPrincess.\n\nAfter a good deal of hard thinking, they finally decided to station a\ncertain number of their members at different points along the route,\nsomewhere near the places at which it was believed the birds that drew\nthe carriages would have to stop and rest.\n\nAs it chanced, at the third stopping place, the carriage that contained\nthe Princess and her father King Acacia, had somehow become separated\nfrom the others which were carrying Queen Cootamundra and her\ndaughters. This was an opportunity not to be missed, and in order to\nprevent the carriage from again rising into the air, they tried to\nblind the driver with little gusts of gritty sand. Had they succeeded\nin doing this, it was their intention to rush in, seize the Princess\nWattle Blossom, and compel her to go with them. But the driver was\nhappily able to defeat them in their object by using a fine silk\nhandkerchief to protect his eyes and face.\n\nFinding themselves foiled in this endeavour, they then sought to\noverset the carriage by bringing up a blustery wind to rush against it\nfrom the side. Again they failed. Hastily changing their tactics, just\nas the carriage was rising into the air, they sent the wind beneath it\nin a wild attempt to tip it over on its face; but as before, their\nefforts proved resultless. Very much disheartened, there was nothing\nleft for them to do but to sulkily stand and watch the flying carriage\nspeeding on its way.\n\nFrom this time onward, everything would have gone well but for\nsomething which the Princess asked the driver to do. They were then\nwithin about half an hour of the Fairy City, and getting along\nfamously. All at once the Princess espied a sight the like of which she\nhad never seen before. Looking down upon the earth she saw amid the\ndreary wastes of sand a splendid patch of green plentifully splashed\nwith red. Rather excitedly calling the driver\u2019s attention to it, she\nasked him to descend in order that she might examine it more closely.\nThis he did, stopping right beside a very large number of plants that\nare known as Sturt\u2019s Desert Pea, all in a flaming riot of glorious\nblossoms. The Princess was enchanted; and very incautiously stepping\nout of the carriage, she delightedly proceeded to gather an armful of\nthe truly beautiful flowers.\n\nMeantime, quite a number of the vicious Desert Fairies, hoping that\nsome such thing would happen, had hidden themselves among the plants.\nAs they hate the Garden Fairies and all their works, it was their\nintention to destroy the blossoms in any case; but believing that they\nwould prove attractive to the Princess, they simply bided their time.\nSeeing her walking along the edge of the desert peas, absorbed in\npicking the deep red clustering blooms, they suddenly rushed out from\ntheir hiding places, seized her by the hands and arms, and started\npushing and dragging her over the sandy desert. Her startled cries\nawoke her father, who, tired with travelling, had fallen asleep in his\nseat. The driver did not need to be wakened. Watching the Princess\nplucking the flowers, he had seen what had taken place. In a flash he\nrealised the danger she was in, and without an instant\u2019s hesitation he\nsent an S.O.S. message to the Prince at Fairy Island. And it was well\nthat he did; for the very next moment, some of the Desert Fairies who\nhad been left behind to prevent him going to the assistance of the\nPrincess, dashed a swirling, blinding cloud of dust full into his face.\nThey then retreated as fast as they could, throwing up a regular wall\nof sand and dust behind them as they went. This device prevented the\ndriver from seeing in which direction the Princess was being taken, and\nleft him almost helpless.\n\nTo make matters worse, when King Acacia realised that the Princess was\nbeing stolen, he was almost distracted, and nothing the driver could\nsay or do made any impression on his mind. He was so distraught, so\nfull of anger, that he appeared to be unable to listen, and stamped up\nand down in utter helplessness.\n\nThe driver tried to get him back into the carriage so that they might\nat least follow and attempt to rescue his daughter. But it was all to\nno purpose; and as he dared not leave the King behind, he also was\ncompelled to remain inactive and to do nothing. And all the time,\ndespite her pitiful struggles, the Princess was being taken further and\nfurther away. The situation was indeed desperate, and it wrung the\ndriver\u2019s heart to think that like a ninny he must stand about in stupid\nidleness. Oh, how he prayed that the message he had sent the Prince\nmight safely reach him!\n\nVery fortunately it did! And still more fortunately, the Prince had\ncontemplated going out to meet the Princess and her father as they\nneared the City, and so was ready with his famous team of blue\nkingfishers to make an immediate start. Pausing only to give\ninstructions for a band of Shower Fairies to follow after him as hard\nas they could, he leaped into his flying-carriage, and almost in the\ntwinkling of an eye, was off to save the Princess from an awful fate.\n\nIf ever the Kingfishers put forth their best speed they did it that\nafternoon. So swiftly did they fly that within twenty minutes after he\nhad received the wireless message, Prince Waratah, flying high above\nthe dust, had sighted the Princess and her kidnappers, and was bearing\ndown upon the group with the swiftness of a shooting star.\n\nHowling with rage and disappointment, the Desert Fairies loosed a\ntearing wind against the Prince, and filling the air with sand and\ndust, and even little pebbles, desperately strove to prevent him\ngetting near them. But what cared the Prince for such an attack! Urging\nhis obedient Kingfishers upward, he shot over the top of the flying\ndust and sand, and dashing downward with amazing speed, sprang out of\nhis carriage and rushed upon his foes. Craven cowards that they are,\nthey fled before him in all directions, just as the Shower Fairies,\nrapidly following after the Prince, sent their pelting raindrops\nhurtling after them.\n\nVery, very timely was the Shower Fairies\u2019 aid, and the Prince was very\ngrateful for it.\n\nTenderly lifting the exhausted Princess in his arms he bore her to his\ncarriage; and taking out a little phial of cordial, mixed it with some\nwater from the Magic Well, and giving it to her to drink, in a minute\nor two she was her smiling self again.\n\nShe then told him how she had come to be captured. It was because she\nhad, unthinkingly, left the carriage to get some flowers. Now, strewn\nabout the desert over which she had been dragged, they all lay dead!\n\nThe Prince at once resolved that she should have some others to take\ntheir place. After resting a little while, they, therefore, returned to\nthe spot where they could be obtained, and the Prince himself gathered\nher a giant posy. Then, seating her beside her father in the carriage\nin which she had been travelling, he placed the lovely blossoms in her\narms, contriving as he did so, to kiss the dainty hand that on the\nmorrow was to be given him in marriage.\n\nOn the wedding morning, from quite an early hour, the sky was filled\nwith flying carriages bringing in the guests.\n\nPerhaps you can imagine the curiosity and wonder with which the arrival\nof each newcomer was viewed by the Fairy Folk. No doubt the deportment\nand demeanour of all were silently admired or criticised; whilst the\nmere novelty of seeing distinguished personages whom they had never\nseen before must have been considered quite a treat!\n\nBy noon, however, the last of the wedding guests had arrived, and all\nwere happily preparing for the ceremony, which was timed to take place\nat four o\u2019clock precisely.\n\nThe ceremony arrangements were of the simplest character. On a raised\nplatform reached by steps, beneath a spreading blackwood tree, in the\nmiddle of a velvety green lawn, stood the \u201cOfficial Recorder,\u201d he who\ncauses to be recorded everything that must be kept in what are called\nthe \u201cArchives\u201d; in other words, the place in which public records and\nhistoric documents are safely stored.\n\nA little behind him, at a table, sat his clerk, ready to write down in\nletters of gold on this occasion, an official record of whatever was\nsaid or done.\n\nAt the right hand side of the \u201cOfficial Recorder,\u201d stood Prince Waratah\nand his \u201cFirst Friend,\u201d Prince Floral\u2014the last remaining member of the\nRoyal House of the Garden Fairies. It was a very nice thought on the\npart of Prince Waratah to have for his \u201cbest man,\u201d so to speak, the\nsomewhat lonely but lovable Prince of the scattered Garden Fairies, and\nwhen it became known that this was to be the case, there was not a\nGarden Fairy throughout the whole of Australia who did not feel a\nthrill of pride and joy in consequence!\n\nFacing the \u201cOfficial Recorder,\u201d to the right and left, in two great\ntriangles, sat the wedding guests. There was thus formed a middle\npathway up which the Bridal Party was to come at the appointed hour.\nWhilst waiting for that auspicious moment all were interested to note\nthe singular grace and beauty of the two noble Princes.\n\nThe Bridegroom, Prince Waratah, was naturally the first to come under\nobservation. Taller than the average, his face aglow with animation and\nhappiness, he was in truth a striking figure. He was superbly dressed!\nUpon his head\u2014above the curls of glossy red it did not try to hide\u2014he\nwore a golden coloured cap, from which there rose a splendid feather of\nthe very shade that matched his hair. His coat was of a glossy green\ncolour; the collar, edges and pockets being trimmed with a broad band\nof golden embroidery. At his throat and wrists he wore the most\nbeautiful white lace. His vest was of a rich yellow; and his\nknee-breeches and stockings were of delicate white. On his feet were\nshoes of the same colour as his vest; whilst his garters were of a\ndeep-sea blue, fastened with diamond clasps!\n\nPrince Floral was similarly attired as far as style was concerned,\nexcept that his coat was the colour of golden brown wall flowers, and\nhis vest a perfect pink.\n\nWhen the Bride appeared, leaning on her father\u2019s arm, it was seen that\nher dress was of the purest white silk, into which was worked in golden\nthread, the daintiest sprays of Golden Wattle. And very lovely did she\nlook, her face suffusing with blushes as she felt the gaze of so many\npairs of eyes.\n\nTwo of her sisters were in attendance as \u201cFirst Ladies,\u201d or\nBridesmaids. And they, too, were very beautiful in their dresses of\nhydrangea-blue, decorated and adorned with sashes and knots of faintest\npink.\n\nOn their arrival at the platform, Prince Waratah stepped swiftly down,\nand, taking the Princess by the hand, together they mounted the steps\nand stood before the \u201cOfficial Recorder.\u201d In a clear, ringing voice the\nPrince then said to that Officer: \u201cI, Prince Waratah, desire you to\nnote that I, here and now, take the Princess Wattle Blossom, to be my\nwife!\u201d The Princess immediately added: \u201cAnd I, Princess Wattle Blossom,\ndesire you to note, that I, here and now, take the Prince Waratah to be\nmy husband and my Lord.\u201d They both then turned towards the assembled\nguests, and the \u201cOfficial Recorder,\u201d standing a little to one side,\nraised his voice, and said, \u201cBe it known that, before me, this day, the\nPrince Waratah and the Princess Wattle Blossom, have become husband and\nwife. So be it! Praise be to God!\u201d And so, amidst a burst of\nacclamation and applause, the wedding ceremony ended!\n\nThen followed a long, long series of congratulations and good wishes\nere it was possible to adjourn to the great dining-room in which the\nwedding feast was spread. It must have been quite six o\u2019clock before\neveryone was in place. Any observant person, looking round the room,\nwould then have noted a curious fact. The number seated at every table\nexcept the one at which the Bride and Bridegroom sat, was exactly\nseven. At the chief table there were nine. This arrangement was in no\nwise accidental. In point of fact it was done deliberately, the\nFairies, like the ancient peoples, having the greatest regard and\nrespect for numbers and their meanings. To them, three is the perfect\nnumber\u2014and three multiplied by three, which is nine, the limit to which\nperfection can go. Never at any time therefore do they seat together\nmore than nine; and then only when they are very distinguished persons\nindeed. In like manner they look upon seven as God\u2019s own number; the\none that means rest after labour; for, as you will remember, in six\ndays God made Heaven and Earth, and on the seventh day He rested.\nFurthermore, they know that just as in the Alphabet, A, B and C,\ncontain the lines and curves of all the other letters, so in ordinary\nnumbers, 1, 2 and 3, contain all the lines and curves of all the\nothers. But what impresses them most are the following two remarkable\nfacts. Firstly, if you double over the first three numbers, you cover\nup 4, 5 and 6, and arrive at 7, the perfect number, the one that in\nitself holds the lines and curves of all the others! Secondly, if you\ndouble over the first three letters of the Alphabet you cover up D E F,\nand arrive at G, the seventh letter, the perfect letter that in itself\nembraces the lines and curves of all the others\u2014the initial letter of\nthe mightiest name in the Universe: its Creator, God!\n\nThe Fairies, however, were so used to being seated in the way\ndescribed, and so understood the reason for it, that in effect they\ntook no notice; but gave themselves up to the full enjoyment of the\nsplendid fare provided for them.\n\nAfter they had partaken of as much as they desired, the Prince, always\nalert, nodded his head to the waiting attendants, and in less time than\nit takes to tell it, the tables were cleared, and there began the\nvarious entertainments that were to grace the evening.\n\nFirst, the Band, which played a most engaging selection of soft\nharmonious airs, sweet enough to have made the stars of Heaven brighten\ncould they have heard them. Then came the first of the \u201cFive Story\nTellers\u201d\u2014the most popular persons in Fairyland.\n\nThese Story Tellers, who need never lack an audience, are the most\nancient of all the Fairies\u2014so old (though they do not look it) that\nthey seem to have existed ever since the World began. What they were\nfirst called, no one now remembers. Some think they once had names\nwhich meant Faith, Love, Truth, Knowledge and Art; but be that as it\nmay, to-day they are called \u201cTouch,\u201d \u201cTaste,\u201d \u201cSight,\u201d \u201cSmell,\u201d and\n\u201cHearing.\u201d Whenever they tell a story they always begin it in the same\nway. First they give the title of the tale, and then, as in all Fairy\nStories, they say: \u201cOnce upon a time, a long while ago,\u201d such and such\na thing happened. So, when \u201cTouch\u201d began his Tale, he being first to be\nasked, this is what he said:\u2014\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE SKYLARK\u2019S STORY\n\n\n\u201cOnce upon a time, a long while ago, I was passing over a field.\nPausing for a moment to look at a flower, a Lark fell palpitating at my\nfeet, hot and weary with singing. Taking him up in my left hand, whilst\nI gently fanned him with my right, I said, \u2018Tell me, Lark, what is your\nstory, and why do you sing?\u2019 And when he was cool again, this is the\ntale he told:\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018Once I was an egg, and I lay in a tiny nest among the grasses of the\nfield. The shell, within which I lived, was very small and somewhat\ndark, but warm! Occasionally, however, I could see just a little\nglimpse of light; and now and then I could indistinctly hear my father\ntalking or singing to my mother. But I couldn\u2019t move, and I couldn\u2019t\nspeak.\n\n\u201c\u2018Then came a day when I thought I heard an awful crash. It was so loud\nand thunderous that it seemed to me as if the sky had fallen. At the\ntime it happened I was almost asleep, I think, for I appeared to have\nwaked with such a sudden start, that I pushed my beak clean through the\nshell in which I lived; broke it in half; and there I sat, blinking and\nwinking at the sunlight in the most stupid manner conceivable.\n\n\u201c\u2018In a minute or two I saw my mother! She was looking down at me as\nproudly as if I were an eagle instead of a wee little lark\u2014almost\nnaked, and so weak, that I couldn\u2019t stand up, no matter how hard I\ntried. In fact, every time I tried, I fell back so funnily that my\nmother laughed a little, and that made me cry!\n\n\u201c\u2018When she saw me crying she said: \u201cNever mind, little one! You\u2019ll soon\ndo much more than stand up\u2014you\u2019ll fly! And now just lie down until I go\nand get you your breakfast!\u201d and off she flew! My word, she was quick!\nI hardly seemed to have lain down before she was back with it\u2014the\nqueerest little pinky-red wriggly thing you ever saw in your life; but\nso soft and juicy looking that, when she put it on my tongue, I just\npopped it down my throat and gave a little squeak for more!\n\n\u201c\u2018But that\u2019s a long while ago!\n\n\u201c\u2018As I grew and got some feathers, my mother taught me first to walk a\nlittle, then to run, and finally to fly! Very well do I remember my\nfirst little flight. I could scarcely have gone a dozen yards, when\ndown I came plop! right on my mother\u2019s back! How she got beneath me,\ngoodness only knows! But it was a good thing for me that she did, for\nwhen I saw where I should have fallen; it was right on top of an old\nspiky post in a fence\u2014and I certainly would have been hurt.\n\n\u201c\u2018One day my father came to me and said: \u201cUp you come with me, little\nladdie! You\u2019re old enough now to get into the air, and to get your\nfirst singing lesson!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018I fairly worshipped my father! He really was wonderful, for on all\nthe days when my mother was feeding me or teaching me to fly, we could\njust see him away up overhead, singing rapturously.\n\n\u201c\u2018And the songs he sang! The notes came raining down like dew-drops,\ndiamonds, rubies, sapphires. They were made of sunshine, jewels, and\nrunning water! You never heard the like of them! And my mother, who\nloved him to distraction, would often stop in her teaching and just\ngaze up at him as if he were an angel!\n\n\u201c\u2018But, as I was saying, my father came to me for my first skyward\nlesson. How I loved it! Round and up, and up and round we went, until\nwe appeared to be miles and miles above the earth!\n\n\u201c\u2018And, looking about me, at the sun, the sky, and the good green earth,\nall at once I knew what everything meant, and almost without knowing\nit, I opened my throat and sang till I dropped!\n\n\u201c\u2018Very fortunately my father, who probably guessed what would happen,\nwas watching closely, and the very instant that my wings gave way he\ncaught me on his back, and down we came in the most graceful spirals\nyou ever saw! Day after day we did the same thing, until at last,\nstrong of wing, and mellow throated as my father, he gave me the right\nto soar and sing whenever I pleased!\n\n\u201c\u2018As to why I sing, I can only say that everything in the World seems\nso good, so lovely and so bright, that I cannot help it. Besides, I\nlove to hear my own voice, it is so sweet. And I rather think that the\nAngels of Heaven, looking down as I often do at this beautiful earth,\nmust find it not only easy to sing, but must simply long for the time\nwhen they can come and teach their songs to human beings,\u2014just as my\nfather taught me his!\u2019\u201d\n\nSo concluded the story.\n\nThen someone sang a Fairy song, and everybody joined in the chorus.\n\nAfter that the Prince asked one of the Couriers\u2014one of those who are\nsent out with important letters\u2014to repeat something he once heard at a\nconcert. And this is what the Courier said:\u2014\n\n\u201cOnce upon a time, a long while ago, I stopped to listen to a\nchildren\u2019s concert, and there I heard a bright-faced boy recite this\ntale:\u2014\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n    GOURDS AND QUINCES\n\n\n    Two Beetles brown, came up to Town,\n      Beneath a load of pumpkins;\n    With Simon Strong they rode along,\n      A pair of Country Bumpkins.\n    And though \u2019twas hot they murmured not,\n      Nor thought upon the weather;\n    For their delight, both day and night,\n      Was just to be together!\n\n    And this was so, as you may know,\n      Because, by love incited,\n    Their wedding tour began the hour\n      That they were thus united!\n    And so, \u2019twould seem, a foolish dream,\n      By fate and Fortune aided,\n    Began to be a true decree,\n      When they the cart invaded.\n\n    For Beetles\u2019 tastes, whate\u2019er else wastes.\n      Run much to fruity flavours;\n    And so, mayhap, they hoped to tap\n      The best of orchard savours,\n    When in the straw they thought they saw,\u2014\n      (And this the truth evinces!)\n    Amid the heap of pumpkins cheap,\n      The gleam of golden quinces!\n\n    But hopes are vain and fraught with pain\n      When backed by judgments hasty;\n    And yellow gourds are hard as boards,\n      And not like quinces, tasty!\n    And so these twain must Town attain,\n      By love sustained, but thinner;\n    In hopes at least, that they might feast,\n      When Simon stopped for dinner!\n\n    Yet, sad to say, alack aday!\n      The journey being ended,\n    Upon their backs, on some old sacks.\n      They found themselves extended!\n    And then, instead of meat and bread,\n      Or food of more pretension,\u2014\n    They heard the squeal of pigs at meal:\n      Oh, sorry, sad declension!\n\n    For to a pen of porkers ten,\n      Old Simon tipped his pumpkins,\n    And with the load, to that abode.\n      Were thrown the Beetle-bumpkins!\n    To them, indeed, an awful meed\n      Of rude and rough requiting\u2014\n    When they had schemed and fondly dreamed\n      Of pelf, with love uniting!\n\n    And so, \u2019tis plain\u2014that those who gain\n      The World\u2019s rewards and pleasures\n    Can ne\u2019er be sure they them secure,\n      By raiding others treasures!\n    And one more fact remains intact:\n      (The doubters this convinces!)\n    That those who rise to high emprise,\n      Know yellow gourds from quinces!\n\n\nAt the conclusion of the Recitation a number of what might be termed\nthe brighter members of the audience took occasion to comment on it;\nbut, judging by what they said to each other, they had not much\nsympathy for the silly little beetles.\n\nWhen they were quite quiet again, \u201cTaste,\u201d the second of the Five Story\nTellers, began his tale as follows:\u2014\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GRAPE VINE\u2019S STORY\n\n\n\u201cOnce upon a time, a long while ago, faint and weary from the heat of\nthe day, I sheltered myself under a shady vine. When I looked up I saw\nbeautiful bunches of grapes\u2014like ladies\u2019 fingers\u2014hanging all about me.\nA bunch I took, and found them so delicious that I said to the vine,\n\u2018Tell me, Grape Vine, what is your story, and why do you grow such\ngrapes?\u2019 And this is what the Grape Vine said:\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018My story is a very simple one! When I was a little hard white pip I\nwas covered with pale, firm flesh, and my green skin was as smooth as\nsilk! As I grew older my flesh got softer, and my skin expanded to\nallow for my growth.\n\n\u201c\u2018About this time the Sun began to take notice of me; and in a playful\nway he took to patting my cheeks every time he passed. In spite of\nmyself I always blushed; and, somehow, try as I might, I never could\nget rid of the blush again. The result was, that the oftener I blushed\nthe deeper my colour became.\n\n\u201c\u2018One day he stopped to tease me about it, and I got so annoyed that I\nbecame almost red with indignation. At that very moment, a pretty\nlittle lady, passing by, evidently seeing my plight, promptly plucked\nme from my place and popped me in her mouth! For a moment or two I was\npleased to be out of the sight of the Sun; but presently I got so warm\nthat I was glad to be taken out, even if it was only to be stared at by\nmy tiny lady friend!\n\n\u201c\u2018It was then that I had time to notice that she had lovely blue eyes,\nmilk-white teeth, and the prettiest little fingers in the world! \u201cPoor\nlittle grape,\u201d said she; \u201cI don\u2019t suppose you know I\u2019m going to eat\nyou; but I am! What a pity you are so round and red! I wonder why you\ndon\u2019t grow as long as my finger? You would be far prettier if you were\nshaped like a lady\u2019s finger instead of like an owl\u2019s eye!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018And she laughed so suddenly that I nearly fell out of her hand with\nfright!\n\n\u201c\u2018Now, although she said that funny thing about me, I was so charmed\nwith the way in which she spoke, that I there and then resolved, if\never I got the chance, to try and grow in the shape she had suggested.\n\n\u201c\u2018But an instant after I thought that the end of the world had come,\nfor, with a smart little nip of her teeth she cut right into my flesh,\nand in less than a minute she had stripped me bare, and I lay in the\npalm of her hand, nearly frightened to death!\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cPoor little seed,\u201d she murmured, looking down at me strangely, \u201cI\nwonder if you know what has happened to you, and whether you\u2019ve got any\nlife left! Well, you can\u2019t say, and I don\u2019t know!\u201d And with that she\nblew me off the palm of her hand into the soft brown earth of her\nfather\u2019s orchard!\n\n\u201c\u2018There I lay for many a day, waiting for something, though what it was\nI couldn\u2019t understand.\n\n\u201c\u2018By-and-by the winter rains began to fall, and the soil about me\ntightened its grip.\n\n\u201c\u2018At first I didn\u2019t like it; but I soon found out that if I wanted to\nbe cosy and warm I had better not wriggle and struggle, as at first I\nfelt inclined. Oh, how good and kind I found the Earth to be! For quite\na long time she let me sleep, and when it was time to wake she softly\nwhispered: \u201cFeet down! Head up! Head up! Feet down!\u201d And almost without\nknowing what I was doing, I felt myself pressing downwards with two\nlittle legs, and pushing upwards with a little green head as hard as\never I could.\n\n\u201c\u2018The moment I got my head through the soil I knew that I had done the\nright thing! There was the orchard I knew so well, and there, too, the\nSun, who somehow seemed different, for instead of patting me on the\ncheeks as he used to do, he kept on saying, \u201cCome up! Climb! Climb! If\nyou want to get on in the world you must climb!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Well, as it seemed the right thing to do, climb I did; and I kept on\nclimbing, until one day my little lady\u2019s father stopped to examine me.\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cOh, ho!\u201d said Mr. Orchardist, \u201cwhat have we here? A good-looker\nright enough! I must watch you grow, my lady!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018And he did too, giving me regular attention, treatment and care,\nuntil I began to feel that the deepest wish of my heart would be\ngratified. And sure enough it was, for in my fourth year, much to my\nlittle lady\u2019s delight, I began to grow a grape she had never seen\nbefore\u2014a long and shapely grape, with just the daintiest pink flesh on\nits delicate skin!\n\n\u201c\u2018Quite unknown to her, Mr. Orchardist had also seen what was taking\nplace, and one day, to my intense joy, he said to the little lady,\n\u201cCome hither, little lady, and show me your hand!\u201d And as she held it\nout, he dropped into it my first bunch of grapes, saying, as he did so:\n\u201cAt last! At long last! Here are My Lady\u2019s Fingers!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018As to why I grow such grapes there is surely no need to say. It is to\nperpetuate the memory of the sweet little lady on whose hand I saw the\nfingers which inspired me to imitate their dainty shape.\u2019\u201d\n\nSo ended the story.\n\nThere followed a second selection by the Band; after which the Prince\nannounced that a \u201cStorks\u2019 Companion\u201d\u2014one of the Fairies who goes with a\nStork when he takes a new baby home\u2014would say what he overheard on one\nwell remembered occasion.\n\nAnd this is what the \u201cStorks\u2019 Companion\u201d said:\u2014\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWHEN THE STORK CALLED\n\n\n\u201cOnce upon a time, a long while ago, I went with a Stork to deliver a\nnew baby. Next morning, the Nurse told the baby\u2019s father and some\nfriends who had called, all about it. And this is what she said:\u2014\n\n\n    \u2018The Boy\u2019 and \u2018The Girl\u2019 were both abed,\n    Their prayers were said;\n    And each little curly silken head\n    Was laid on its own downy pillow!\n            When, sakes alive!\n            Like bees from a hive,\n    With a buzz and a boom that seemed to run\n    From the earth to the sea, and from there to the sun,\n            There came such a knock!\n            Such a sharp rat-tat!\n    That the boy woke up and said, \u2018What\u2019s that?\u2019\n    And the girl from her bed jumped out on her hat!\n    (A ridiculous place, you must all agree,\n    On the bedroom floor for a hat to be!)\n    And all the while, that rapid rat-tat,\n    Made their little hearts beat \u2018a-pity-poor-pat!\u2019\n            Then the queerest of sounds\n            On their quick ears fell!\n            It was not a cry;\n            And \u2019twas hardly a yell!\n    But they both felt sure, as they sat so still,\n    \u2019Twas the Stork had knocked with his hard long bill!\n            But oh, it was an aching time!\n    The Hall clock twice rang out its chime\n    Ere Grandma came, and to them told,\n    How the Stork had come through the night so cold!\n            Had called and said,\n            As they lay abed\u2014\n    As sound asleep as if they were dead;\n    \u2018Here\u2019s the baby for which you prayed!\n            A Baby Brother!\n            I\u2019ll leave him with mother!\n    Treat him kindly and be not afraid!\u2019\n            Then, like a star\n            That shoots afar;\n    Away he flew on pinions light,\n    Oh, so swiftly through the night;\n    Right away on aery wing,\n    Through the pale moon\u2019s Fairy Ring;\n    On to where the Babies wait,\n    Just beside God\u2019s Golden Gate!\u201d\n\n\nEverybody seemed to be pleased with the effort of the \u201cStorks\u2019\nCompanion\u201d; but not to have a break in the night\u2019s proceedings,\n\u201cSight,\u201d the third of \u201cThe Five Story Tellers,\u201d was called upon to tell\na tale.\n\nAnd this is what he said:\u2014\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE RAINDROP\u2019S STORY\n\n\n\u201cOnce upon a time, a long while ago, I stood upon a hill-top, watching\nthe rain clouds drifting past. Suddenly a raindrop fell into the palm\nof my outstretched hand, and lay there looking at me! He was so clear\nand cool, so bright-eyed and so fearless, that I said to him: \u2018Tell me,\nRaindrop, what is your story, and why do you fall?\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd this is the tale he told:\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018When I was very young, and very, very tiny, I lay upon the bosom of\nmy mother, the Ocean. And many a time when I was inclined to be\nfretful, because the wind ruffled my spray-like hair, she gently rocked\nme off to sleep.\n\n\u201c\u2018Then came a day when the sun held out his hands and arms to me in\nsuch a winning fashion, that before I knew what he was doing, he had\nlifted me up and placed me in the downy folds of a fleecy cloud.\n\n\u201c\u2018At first I felt a little frightened, especially when I peeped down at\nthe great big moving world beneath.\n\n\u201c\u2018But very soon I perceived that there were quite a number of us being\ncarried by the cloud, and as we were all in the same boat, so to speak,\nit was not long before we became quite friendly.\n\n\u201c\u2018As the days went by we often talked about the things over which we\npassed, and many a time we wondered what some of them meant.\n\n\u201c\u2018Very strangely, perhaps, the higher we were taken into the air, the\nbetter our eyesight became; until, like ocean birds, we could see right\ndown into the deepest deeps of the sea. It was, therefore, not at all\ndifficult for us to pick out all kinds of things not usually seen from\nthe surface of the water, or even from the top of a ship\u2019s mast.\n\n\u201c\u2018One of the first and most alluring sights we thus saw, was a circular\nbed of coral, all pink and glowing in the clear still depths of the\nPacific Ocean.\n\n\u201c\u2018Later on, when crossing the Caribbean Sea, we saw enormous masses of\ncoloured sea-weeds fantastically curling their hands and arms in a\nnever-ending variety of graceful movements. Almost immediately, there\ncame before our eyes dark old Spanish galleons, stuffed with stolen\ngold, sunk by British merchant-ships, or maybe privateers, all their\ncrews still stark and stiff in the deep unmoving waters. Not far\nremoved was the gallant little ship in which Sir Richard Grenville and\nhis glorious crew fought, single-handed, a fleet of Spanish Buccaneers;\nand, rather than yield, sank beside their guns. There they were, still\nresolute of pose in spite of all the years that have gone since then,\nand, seemingly, ready as ever to uphold the valour and the honour of\nthe British race.\n\n\u201c\u2018Anon came other sights and scenes. Southward over Africa we float,\npeering at the Kraals, or houses, of African negroes; the patches where\nthey grow their mealies, and the wide open spaces where their cattle\nroam. And, heavy now with our growing weight, the cloud just skims over\nthe tall tops of a far-flung forest, when, full in view upon a great\nsquare of cleared land, we see a mighty host of stalwart Zulus being\nmarshalled by their Chief in readiness for war. Without the slightest\nwarning, they give vent to a most terrifying shout. Instantly a vast\nnumber of our fellow-travellers, thoroughly startled, fall from the\ncloud to the ground, and, as it suddenly rises again, we see them\nrunning as hard as they can for the creeks and the river not far away.\n\n\u201c\u2018Turning northward, for days and days we seemed to do nothing but\ndrift and drift, the weather all the time becoming warmer and warmer.\nThen, just as if an intervening screen had been pulled suddenly and\nswiftly away, there below us lay the great Desert of Sahara. Far, far\ndown, a thin stream of camels, heavily laden, were wending their way in\nthe peculiar, tortuous, twisting fashion which is common to them. Upon\nthe camels\u2019 backs were gaily-coloured coverings fringed and tasseled\nwith red and gold. On certain of the camels, in a kind of tent, rode a\nnumber of dark-eyed ladies, dressed in the most gorgeous silks and\nsatins, their faces partly veiled, their little feet encased in dainty\nslippers, but always their flashing teeth and shining eyes to show that\nthey were happy.\n\n\u201c\u2018All at once the scene is changed. A broad line of swiftly-moving\nhorses comes, as it were, from nowhere\u2014grey horses, whose arching\nnecks, slim legs, and small round feet, show them to be Arab\nthoroughbreds. Astride these horses there are dark-browed men in\ncloak-like white burnooses, racing forward in such a way that it is\nplainly their intention to surround, and, maybe, murder, those\nconnected with the camels.\n\n\u201c\u2018But not without a struggle will they be permitted to do as they\nplease, for as soon as they are seen, the camels are drawn into a\ncircle, and the dark-eyed ladies set within its very centre. Inside the\nring, behind their animals, who have been told to lie down, are\ncrouched the grim, alert, and silent merchants. In their hands are\ntheir rifles, ready loaded. Everything is death-like in its stillness.\nEven the thudding of the horses\u2019 hoofs, at all times faint upon the\nsand, is, by the gentle breeze blown in the opposite direction.\n\n\u201c\u2018Suddenly there comes a yell from the charging horsemen, and, at the\nvery same instant, a flash of guns from the merchants. But, alas! in\nless time than it takes to describe it, the horsemen are victorious,\nthe merchants are dead or captive, the dark-eyed ladies tied with\nsilken cords, and the whole train\u2014camels, horses and human beings\u2014set\nin motion towards the desert City, wherein those of the merchants who\nare still alive will be turned into slaves, their goods and camels sold\nto the highest bidders, and their ladies taken into the harems of the\nArabs rich enough to buy them.\n\n\u201c\u2018Northward still we go, until Mount Vesuvius is reached. Oh, what a\nsmoke and heat! I nearly dropped with suffocation! Indeed, I should\nhave fallen straight into the great red yawning crater, with its awful\nfires, had it not been for the soft but strong hold by which the cloud\nupheld me. Never again do I want to see that burning place. The very\nmemory of it, even now, causes me to tremble....\n\n\u201c\u2018Then, not far from Mount Vesuvius it seemed, we barely succeeded in\npassing over such gigantic mountains that their tops are forever\ncovered in snow\u2014white, cold and unutterably still. Yet, even as we\ngazed, dumb-struck with the wonder of it all, there came the sun\u2019s\ngreat rays, and, magically, gloriously, turned the snow to gold\u2014to\ngleaming gold, mountains of gold!\n\n\u201c\u2018Southward and Eastward then we went! Over the burning plains of\nIndia, past the Taj Mahal, that mighty monument to woman\u2019s love and\nvirtue, and to the memory of a great Prince; southward to Ceylon, set\nwithin the circling seas, and then, rapidly over the ocean back to\nAustralia, where, glad to see and smell the Eucalypts again, down I\nfell to do them service!\n\n\u201c\u2018As to why I fall, it is because that is the only way in which I can\ndo my share of the things that must be done. My chief duty is to\nnurture and refresh everything that grows; and as that can best be\naccomplished by falling on or about them, therefore that is the thing I\ndo.\u2019\u201d\n\nWhen this story was completed, there suddenly broke out such a hum of\nconversation that it was quite a little time before the Prince was able\nto announce that, by special request, the Official Recorder had\nconsented to give a contribution towards the evening\u2019s entertainment.\n\nAnd this is what he said:\u2014\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE DOOR MAT\u2019S STORY\n\n\n\u201cOnce upon a time, a long while ago, I met a wandering Scribe who told\nme how he had once heard a Door Mat and a Bass Broom talking to each\nother. Strange as it may seem, they appear to have made many shrewd\nobservations, and, put into rhyme, this is the gist of what the Scribe\nsaid:\u2014\n\n\n    This is the tale of the front Door Mat,\n    And this is the pith of his learning:\n    He who aspires as a brave man should;\n    She who desires what a sweet maid would;\n    Must, ere they rise in the World\u2019s affairs,\n    Learn that the prizes they seek are theirs,\n    If they, in the struggle with carks and cares,\n            Keep Sweet!\n            Clean their feet!\n    And leave behind them the grit of the street!\n\n    This is the story he told his friend,\n    His friend, the Broom\u2014\n    The Big, Bass Broom,\n    Who never was known to enter a Room,\n            But swept and scrubbed\n            Until he was dubbed\n    The terror of Drains and Greasy Stains,\n    The Garden Paths and the Clothes Yard!\n    This is his narrative, word for word,\n    Just as he rendered it; overheard\n\n    Up near the door, where the Fairy Scribe\n    Wrote it all down for his own wee tribe;\n    And, so he said, to the Town next day\n    Took it to print; but I grieve to say\n    That not \u2019till now has it seen the light!\n    But, as you know, in the Town\u2019s poor plight,\n    Things are o\u2019erlooked both by night and day,\n    And thus, I learn, went the \u2018proofs\u2019 astray!\n    So, not till now has the tale been told:\n    Just as I give it you, true as gold!\n            Keep sweet!\n            Mind your feet!\n    And bring not in the grime of the street!\n\n            Said the Mat:\n    \u2018At the big front door I\u2019ve stood for years,\n    And I\u2019ve heard folks laugh, and seen folks\u2019 tears;\n    I have seen them gay, and seen them sad,\n    I have known some good, and met some bad;\n    But from each and all I learned a truth,\n    And of this I speak in love and ruth;\n    For the thing they taught (which all may learn),\n    Is to purchase not before you earn;\n    For the man who buys ere his wage be paid,\n    Though he live in splendour will live afraid.\n            Keep sweet!\n            Brush your feet!\n    And forget, if you can, the mire of the street!\n\n    \u2018I have seen some come with goods to sell,\n    And I\u2019ve known the truth they would not tell!\n    For if lies are used when wares are bought,\n    Then by lies be sure will sale be sought.\n    But of all such buying, sale and gain,\n    In the Book of Fate the sum\u2019s writ plain;\n    For the one who robs by word or deed,\n    Of his soul sells out in stupid greed;\n    And for such an one, when life is passed,\n    There is nought but grief for wealth amassed.\n            Keep sweet!\n            Watch your feet!\n    And step not into the filth of the street!\n\n    \u2018There were those who came with sorrow\u2019s tale,\n    Of a wife long sick, and children pale;\n    Of a daughter weak or son just dead,\n    Of a mother starved for lack of bread!\n    But in these, I knew, Love\u2019s fires were cold,\n    That their aim and hope was Pity\u2019s gold!\n    Yet, for such the gold will turn to dross,\n    And the profits all shall come to loss;\n    For the Law is this while justice lives:\n    To the man be gain who value gives!\n            Keep sweet!\n            Dust your feet\n    And stand not out in the Stour of the Street!\n\n    \u2018But I\u2019ve also seen throughout the years,\u2014\n    As the worn and weary told their fears;\n    How the smile of hope effaces pain,\n    And the listless stir to life again\n    At the kind word said or good deed done\n    As they passed along; and everyone,\n    With a new-born joy and ardour filled,\n    Has again felt moved, if God so willed,\n    To withstand the Earth\u2019s consuming fire,\n    And the nobler realms of Love aspire!\n            Keep sweet!\n            Stamp your feet!\n    And shake off the dust of the windy street!\n\n    \u2018And I\u2019ve seen a child for flowers come in,\n    With a winning smile and dimpled chin;\n    And the gift evoked within each breast,\n    An elation sweet, as of the blest!\n    For that blossom bright was sure to bloom\n    In the dullest days of doubt and gloom;\n    While the fragrance hid within its heart;\n    Of the child was soon to grow a part!\n    And the same note rings o\u2019er all earth\u2019s cries,\n    For a kindly action never dies!\n            Keep sweet!\n            Guard your feet!\n    And you need not touch the mud of the street!\u2019\n\n            Said the Broom to the Mat:\n    \u2018In the yard I\u2019ve lived most all my life,\n    And with dust and dirt I\u2019m aye at strife;\n    So I know \u2019tis true the tale you tell,\n    For have I not also learned it well?\n    And to those who happen to cross my way,\n    From the facts I\u2019ve gained, I often say:\n    If you want to win in life\u2019s great game,\n    It is well to stop when burns the flame!\n    For the one who dares with fire to play,\n    Will in burnt-out ash be swept away!\n    For the Law is this: \u2019Tis clearly writ\u2014\n    And the fate of fools all witness it:\n            Sweep hard!\n            Dirt discard!\n    Or you\u2019ll slip on the slime of your own back yard!\u2019\u201d\n\n    So these are the words of the Mat and the Broom;\n      And this is the sum of their learning:\n    \u201cAttempt not to better the style of your room,\n      Except by your own honest earning!\n    For the Liars, and Misers, and Swindlers, and Fools,\n    Are the handles and hafts of the Arch-Devil\u2019s tools!\n    And this truth, it were well, should be taught in the schools:\n            Sweep hard!\n            Dirt discard!\n    And never neglect your own back yard!\u201d\n\n\nWhen the \u201cOfficial Recorder\u201d had finished, the Prince stood up and said\nthat he had great pleasure in asking the fourth of the \u201cFive Story\nTellers\u201d to tell a tale.\n\nAnd this is the story told by \u201cSmell\u201d:\u2014\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCLOVER PERFUME\u2019S STORY\n\n\n\u201cOnce upon a time, a long while ago, I was looking for a lost baby\nFairy in a field of well-grown, rich red clover.\n\n\u201cThe day was warm, and the drowsy hum of countless bees suggested to my\nmind that, perhaps the object of my search had fallen down, and was\nsomewhere lying asleep beneath the spreading clover. Very carefully,\ntherefore, I pulled aside many and many a bunch of sweet smelling\nblossoms, hoping to discover him.\n\n\u201cJust as I found him I accidentally plucked a somewhat larger blossom\nthan the rest from off its long, green stem, and, not exactly thinking\nof what I was doing, I parted the petals; and there, in the very heart\nof the flower, I saw the sweetest little fellow in creation.\n\n\u201cIn spite of the fact that he had been disturbed in a nap\u2014for he woke\nup the very moment I espied him\u2014his face instantly wreathed itself in\nsmiles, and he waved his tiny hand at me in the friendliest greeting\nimaginable. Of a truth his whole attitude and bearing were so pleasant\nand affable that I was greatly taken with him, and felt an immediate\ndesire to have him tell me something of his history, and his work.\nIndeed, so strongly was my curiosity aroused, that, almost before I was\naware of it, I said: \u2018Who are you, and what is your story?\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd this is what he said in answer to my question:\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018My name is Clover Perfume, and I am one of a very numerous family. To\ntell you the truth, I have brothers and sisters and all manner of other\nrelatives all over the world. Everybody knows me,\u2019 he continued,\n\u2018except those who cannot smell, and they would nearly give their noses\nto make my acquaintance!\u2019\n\n\u201cHere he laughed so merrily that for the life of me I couldn\u2019t help\nlaughing too, though what it was all about I really couldn\u2019t say.\n\n\u201c\u2018But,\u2019 said he, \u2018although I am so widely known and, I think, very well\nliked, I have never before been asked to tell my story. I have just\nbeen accepted as a matter of course, and nobody has been the least\nlittle bit interested to know anything about my origin or history.\u2019\n\n\u201cHere he heaved a very great sigh, and the breath that he expelled from\nhis lungs was so divinely sweet that it filled my senses with delight.\n\n\u201cInstantly recovering himself, however, he brightly added: \u2018Still, I am\nvery, very glad that you have asked me to tell you my story, and if you\nwill listen, it will be a pleasure to let you hear it from beginning to\nend.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Go on!\u2019 said I, encouragingly; \u2018you will find in me a very patient\nlistener.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Well,\u2019 he commenced, \u2018as you are probably very well aware, when God\nfirst made man he was nothing more than a lifeless image; he could\nneither move nor speak! But having fashioned him so much like Himself,\nand being pleased with His work, God breathed into his nostrils the\nbreath of life, and man became a living soul! This was the greatest of\nall gifts. On no other created Thing was anything like so remarkable\nand wonderful a gift bestowed.\n\n\u201c\u2018But, what you do not know is that, whilst the making of man was in\nprogress, the trees and flowers were looking on\u2014silent, still, and\nbreathless with amazement and surprise. Indeed, so astonished were\nthey, so overpowered at the miracle they were privileged to see, that\nthey temporarily ceased to grow, and might easily have died.\n\n\u201c\u2018But this was not to be; for, seeing what had happened, God caused\nthem to revive, and knowing that He had already fixed for them their\nstations and their modes of life, out of His great compassion, and\nbecause of the awe and reverence with which they had looked upon His\nwork, said to them: \u201cBehold I give unto you a further gift. Beauty and\nsymmetry thou hast! In addition, take from Me all those who will, the\ngift of sweetness, that ye may forever bear witness to the airs of\nHeaven and the glory of your Creator!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018So saying, into the soft and balmy air He breathed one glorious\nbreath, which, spreading and falling, was, in the process,\ndisintegrated or broken up into a myriad marvellous atoms. These\nineffably sweet and fertilising atoms the trees and flowers immediately\nand eagerly in-breathed\u2014some more, some less, each according to its\nmode and manner, but all with rapturous delight.\n\n\u201c\u2018And one tiniest atom there was that, falling lower than the rest,\nfell upon a pale white clover blossom, who, when she drew in the\nimpregnating life-giving breath of the Almighty, blushed to rosy\nredness, and in perpetual remembrance of that great occasion, has ever\nsince retained her beauteous colouring....\n\n\u201c\u2018Later on I was born, and, even as I lay in the soft and delicate arms\nof my roseate mother, she began to whisper to me little portions of\nthis wondrous story.\n\n\u201c\u2018As I grew in strength, and my mind acquired a better grasp of things,\nI finally got to understand the meaning of it all, and to appreciate to\nthe full how remarkably lucky I was to have been blessed with so\nfortunate a mother.\n\n\u201c\u2018When, at last, she saw that I was fully awake to all these things,\nshe began to confide in me the set ambition of her life, the dearest\nwishes of her heart. And those wishes I am proud and happy to execute,\nfor they not only serve to indicate the loving and the gracious nature\nof my mother, but they are in themselves so pleasing that I have no\nother aim in life except to carry them out.\n\n\u201c\u2018As to what they are, you, perhaps, may guess.\n\n\u201c\u2018In a few words, my mother desired above all other things in the\nworld, that some portion of the boon which had been so marvellously\nbestowed upon her, might in turn be given to all her kith and kin; and\nas I had been endowed from birth with the peculiar faculty of being\nable to transfer to others some small part of the gift of sweetness she\nhad been enabled to transmit to me, she naturally and properly taught\nme how to exercise and use my talent to the utmost of my capacity.\n\n\u201c\u2018So it is then that, like a bee, I am engaged in flitting from flower\nto flower in order to place in the heart of each a tiniest drop of that\nmiraculous God-given essence which, as you have learned, was intended\nto be an eternal reminder of the fact, that, like the sweet odours of\nHeaven, the perfume of the flowers and trees is of Divine origin.\u2019\u201d\n\n\n\nAs soon as the story was over it immediately became apparent that\nsomething was about to take place which was unknown to Prince Waratah,\nand quite outside the plan that he had in mind when the evening\u2019s\namusement was begun; for, just as he was rising to intimate what the\nnext item was to be, King Acacia whispered something in his ear, and he\nsat down again.\n\nWhat had been said to the Prince nobody knew; but as afterwards\nappeared, it must have been a request to be permitted to communicate to\nthe guests a most important piece of information. That this was the\ncase found instant confirmation in the fact that with a nod to King\nEucalyptus, they both rose in their places, and King Acacia, addressing\nthe assembled company, said:\u2014\n\n\u201cWe have almost come to the end of the evening\u2019s fixture. Before the\nlast item is called, however, there is a ceremony to be performed which\nKing Eucalyptus and I have agreed should now take place. We therefore\nask the Official Recorder, who has already been secretly informed of\nwhat is to take place, whether he is ready to proceed?\u201d\n\nAnd the Official Recorder answered: \u201cReady, Your Majesties\u2014and at your\nservice!\u201d\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d said King Acacia, \u201cwe have to announce that, in recognition of\nthe almost miraculous service performed by Prince Waratah in the\nbuilding of the Fairy City, and the erection of the glorious Palace in\nwhich we are all met, as well as to fittingly mark this great occasion,\nit has been decreed and determined that from this day forth Prince\nWaratah shall be King Waratah, and Princess Wattle Blossom shall be\nQueen Wattle Blossom!\u201d\n\nThis altogether unexpected announcement naturally came as a surprise to\neverybody, the Prince included, but when the nature of it was fully\ngrasped, it was followed by cheer after cheer until the room rang with\ntheir reverberations.\n\nProceeding again, when silence was restored, King Acacia turned to the\nOfficial Recorder and said:\n\n\u201cTake notice, that we, King Acacia and King Eucalyptus, in pursuance of\nthe powers conferred upon us all by the Kings of Fairyland, do require\nyou to set down in golden letters, in the \u2018Official Archives,\u2019 the fact\nthat we, this day, in the presence of his people name the Prince\nWaratah, King! And in token of his Kingship we here and now invest him\nwith the symbols of his authority!\u201d\n\nHe then lightly touched King Waratah upon the shoulder to indicate that\nhe was to stand up, and, as he did so, King Eucalyptus placed about his\nshoulders a magnificent carmine coloured robe embroidered with gold,\nwhilst King Acacia placed upon his head a splendid crown, so fashioned\nthat it was easy to distinguish the design of Eucalyptus leaves which\nadorned the band about his brow, and the several sets of blood-red\nrubies set in the shape and form of Waratah blooms, which rose\ntherefrom.\n\nWithout an instant\u2019s pause, however, King Eucalyptus then spoke to the\nOfficial Recorder as follows:\u2014\n\n\u201cTake notice that we, King Eucalyptus and King Acacia, in pursuance of\nthe powers conferred upon us by all the Kings of Fairyland, do require\nyou to set down in letters of gold, in the \u2018Official Archives,\u2019 the\nfact that we this day, in the presence of her Lord and of his people,\nname the Princess Wattle Blossom, Queen! And in token of her queenly\nrights, subject to her husband, King Waratah, we invest her with the\nsymbols of her authority!\u201d\n\nHe then lightly touched the Queen upon the shoulder to indicate that\nshe was to stand up; and, as she did so, King Acacia placed about her\nshoulders a violet coloured robe embroidered with silver, whilst King\nEucalyptus placed upon her head a lovely crown, so fashioned that it\nwas easy to distinguish the design of wattle leaves which adorned the\nband about her brow, and the several sets of yellow topazes, set in the\nshape and form of sprays of wattle blossom, which rose therefrom.\n\nThus were both proclaimed and crowned, and the Official Recorder, in\naccordance with his duty, closed the ceremony by saying:\n\n\u201cTake notice, that I have this day officially recorded in letters of\ngold, in the Official Archives, the proclaiming and the crowning of\nKing Waratah and Queen Wattle Blossom! So be it! Praise be to God!\u201d\n\nLed by the Band, the whole company then joined in singing\u2014\n\n\n        THE FAIRIES\u2019 NATIONAL ANTHEM.\n\n        Praise to God, the King of Kings,\n        Lord of all created things!\n        Prince of Love, and Master Mind,\n        Still direct us, lest we find\n        That for lack of Thine assistance\n        Evil meet with scant resistance.\n        That in service we, to Thee,\n        May Thy gracious kindness bring\n        Back in splendid blossoming!\n        Shelter, Lord, our noble King,\n        Safely underneath Thy wing.\n        Grant him health, and strength, and skill,\n        Aye to do Thy Sovereign Will!\n\n\nWhen the last notes of the anthem had died away, at a sign from King\nWaratah everybody except himself sat down.\n\nRaising his right hand straight above his head, forefinger pointing to\nthe Heavens, he took the Fairy oath of allegiance as follows: \u201cI, King\nWaratah, in the presence of the Official Recorder, and of you all, do\nsolemnly and sincerely undertake that, to the best of my ability and\nstrength, I will justly and truly administer the affairs of my Kingdom.\nSo help me God!\u201d To which everybody added: \u201cSo be it!\u201d as the King\nresumed his seat.\n\nA moment later he smilingly said: \u201cTo bring this glorious evening\u2019s\npleasures to a close, I will now call upon the fifth of \u2018The Five Story\nTellers\u2019 to tell us a tale.\u201d\n\nIn response \u201cHearing\u201d immediately stood forth, and this is what he\nsaid:\u2014\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMUSIC\u2019S STORY\n\n\n\u201cOnce upon a time, a long while ago, I was standing on the rounded\nshore of the world, gazing into space. As I stood there, lost in\nthought, my attention was eventually called to a long, slow succession\nof sounds like sighs, infinitely sad, but inexpressibly sweet.\n\n\u201cWhilst I was wondering what these sounds might mean, and from whence\nthey came, at my feet I suddenly perceived a very extraordinary-looking\nlittle person, who appeared to be all head and no body. He was looking\nup at me with such a wistful expression on his face that I felt\nimpelled to ask him, \u2018Who are you, and what is your Story?\u2019 And by way\nof answer, in a very slow and somewhat hesitating way, this is what he\nsaid:\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018My name is Music, though my parents call me Breve. For untold ages I\nhave lived upon the outer edge of the earth with my father, Harmony,\nand my mother, Concord. Both my parents have quite an exalted opinion\nof me; but so far I have not come up to their expectations. I am very\nsorry that this should be the case, for nothing would please me better\nthan to justify their hopes.\n\n\u201c\u2018The truth is, however, that they are so wrapped up in each other and\ntheir mutual affairs, that they will not listen to what I have to say,\nand so I make no progress. I am but a single sound sighing in a\nwilderness! If by chance I could persuade them, or, for that matter,\nanyone else, to do what I know in my mind is the right thing to be\ndone, I am certain I should be a success. I know, though they do not,\nthat my head is as full of dainty melodies as a pomegranate is full of\npretty seeds, and that if only my poor tongue-tied condition were\nremedied, so that I might use that organ as it should be used, I could\nrelease an Octave, eight little fellows who beneath my tongue are now\nheld captive; but who, if they were only free, are possessed of such\nastounding and never-ending ability, as to be able to produce a\nsuccession of the most musical notes, the like of which have never\nbefore been heard.\u2019\n\n\u201cHere he sighed most mightily, and then it was that I saw he rested in\nthe opening of a shell that is called a \u2018conch.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018But,\u2019 said I, \u2018how am I to loose your tongue? I am no surgeon,\nneither have I a knife or other cutting instrument wherewith to perform\nthe operation. Besides, would you not die if such an unpractised hand\nas mine attempted so delicate a task?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Not at all!\u2019 he replied, in his soft, slow tone; \u2018I should certainly\ndie away just as an echo does when fleeing into space; but it really\nwould not hurt me, I assure you!\u2019\n\n\u201cStill feeling very puzzled, however, I sought for further information,\nand so said to him, \u2018But where and how did you become possessed of all\nthese sweet-sounding notes which you claim your Octave can produce with\nsuch never-ending brilliance and variety? And further, supposing I were\nwilling to assist you in the direction you desire, having no knife, as\nI told you before, is there any other way in which I could safely\nrender you the service that you seek?\u2019\n\n\u201cInstantly he brightened, and, speaking as fast as his poor tongue-tied\ncondition would permit, this is what he replied:\n\n\u201c\u2018These notes that I am simply yearning to release I have carefully\ngathered together over millions of years! They have come to me from the\nOcean and the Breeze, and, as they came, I classified and arranged\nthem. Over me, throughout those infinite ages, the tumbling seas have\ntossed and the careless winds have blown! But always, whenever a new\nnote I heard, I promptly seized upon it and stored it with the rest,\nand as it is tens of thousands of years since last I added to my\ncollection, I am now fully satisfied that there are no fresh notes to\nbe obtained.\n\n\u201c\u2018As to the way in which you can assist me, please hold me up to face\nthe wind, or, better still, blow upon me strongly with your breath, and\nall will be well.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo, obedient to his desire, I picked him up in my two hands, and\nholding him firmly, blew sharply and strongly upon him with my breath,\nand, true enough, just as he had predicted, out came eight little\nfellows who called themselves \u2018Semi-Breves,\u2019 dancing and jumping about\non my hands in the utmost glee!\n\n\u201cAll at once they started singing, \u2018Blow again! Blow again!\u2019 and so\namused was I with their caperings and cries that I blew upon them just\nas I had blown upon Breve, whom I thereupon let fall.\n\n\u201cIn the flash of an eye my hands filled to overflowing with any number\nof other little fellows, who called themselves \u2018Minims,\u2019 \u2018Crotchets,\u2019\n\u2018Quavers,\u2019 and \u2018Semi-Quavers,\u2019 and I know not what beside. And they\nlaughed such pretty rippling laughter that I felt constrained to join\nthem. Yet, almost before I could utter a sound, some of them popped\ninto my mouth, and to my utter astonishment, I found my hard, dry\nlaughter had become almost as musical as their own.\n\n\u201cWhilst still more or less amazed at this delightful discovery, a\nskylark and a nightingale, attracted by the sweet sounds, came up to\nlisten to what was taking place. \u2018Here,\u2019 said I, \u2018take some of these\nfor yourselves!\u2019 and I threw to each of them a few of the notes just as\nthey started to speak. Both were nearly choked as the notes went flying\ndown their throats, but when they next essayed to speak they sang\ninstead, and the music in their voices was of such a quality as to\nleave the listeners spellbound with delight.\n\n\u201cThese extraordinary happenings gave me a great idea. Calling to my aid\nthe idling Winds, I said to them, \u2018Take from me these glorious notes;\nspread them far and wide; leaving some where\u2019er you sink to rest, and\ngiving some to all who care to take them. Be swift, and see to it that\nyour task is well performed!\u2019\n\n\u201cHappily the winds were willing to obey my orders; and so, to the\nuttermost ends of the Universe there was taken a measure of Music\u2019s\nnotes. And to every class and kind of living thing was offered a share.\nA very few refused the munificent gift, and so spend their lives in\nstony silence.\n\n\u201cBut the great majority accepted, some, the singers, to improve their\nvoices; others, the players upon instruments, to add to the deftness of\ntheir fingers and the delicacy of their touch; others, again, such as\nthe Nightingale, the Bul-bul, and the Skylark, to fill the night or\nmorning with their glorious mother melodies, to the great delight of\nall who pause to hear!\u201d\n\nThus ended the Story, and so was brought to a happy conclusion the\nceremonies and the entertainments connected with the marriage\nfestivities.\n\nThe Band then struck up the Fairies\u2019 National Anthem, and as all stood\nup whilst King Waratah and Queen Wattle Blossom passed slowly and\nsmilingly down the room, there began for the Royal couple such a\nwonderful career of love and happiness that even to this day it is the\npride and joy of Austral Fairyland!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n    THE MOON\u2019S GARDEN PARTY\n\n\n    In the days before to-day,\n    Ere the Stars were made to stay\n    In the places where, since then, they shed their light!\n    They, the Children of the Sky,\n    Full of fun, but coy and shy,\n    To the Moon, their mother, came one happy summer night!\n    Came they seeking right disposal\n    Of a sweet but strange proposal;\n    Which was, that to Earth they should be taken,\n    And upon its sward so green,\n    Meet the creatures they had seen\n    The Sun, with his spears, each morning waken!\n    Thus it was, their eyes alight,\n    Round her knees they clustered tight,\u2014\n    Clamant for the new delight!\n    And the Moon, Dear Mother Moon!\n    Smilingly inclined her head,\n    And in whispers softly said:\n    \u201cWe shall go there very soon, very soon!\u201d\n    So, without a shred of doubt,\n    It was thus it came about\n    That Her Majesty, the Moon,\n    In her silver gown and shoon,\n    Held a Revel one high noon\n    In a large and lovely garden with a Lawn!\n            And such a Lawn!\n    It was wide and smooth and ordered,\n    And with shady trees \u2019twas bordered\n            All around!\n    In the centre, there were beds,\n    Full of plants; all greens and reds,\n    And a lake that mirrored them till dawn!\n    And about the lake so fair\n    There was wavy maiden-hair\n    That from out its rocky edges shyly grew!\n    But, above the mignonette,\n    Where the other blossoms met,\n    There were whisperings of apprehensions new;\n    And the flowers, bathed in light,\n    Seemed to tremble, as with fright,\n    When the straying Autumn breezes gently blew!\n    For the fingers of the wind\n    Caught them playfully behind,\n    And so doing, shook their fragrance on the air!\n    Threw it broadcast on the undulating air!\n    Out beyond the garden fences,\n    Through the paddocks, there commences\n    The unbroken bushland prime;\n    In its sheltering recesses\n    Nature nurtures and caresses\n    All that\u2019s native to this clime!\n    There, man\u2019s ruthless usurpation\n    Stops, and peaceful occupation\n            Is conceded,\n            Unimpeded,\n    To all who make it their abode or habitation!\n    Yet this spot of earth primeval,\n    With its denizens coeval,\n    Does not always peace contain;\n    And the hushed and restful stillness\n    Oft is broken by the shrillness\n    Of some cry of fear or pain!\n    Goshawks grey, or red, or white,\n    And the tense black-shouldered kite,\n    Soar and strike the livelong day!\n    And at night the marbled owl,\n    Swiftest of night\u2019s hunting fowl,\n    Swoops upon its startled prey!\n    Still, not all is black disaster;\n    Death is fleet, but life is faster,\n    And its numbers aye o\u2019ermaster\n    Death\u2019s invading arms!\n    O\u2019er a gum-tree, lightning-blasted,\u2014\n    (Where once honey-bees repasted!)\n    See the Forest Queen her creamy mantle throw;\n    Or upon a bank of rubble\n    Barely clothed with ferny stubble,\n    Watch the purple smilax dainty blossoms blow!\n    Or again, where \u201cbottle brushes,\u201d\n    Peopled are by singing thrushes,\u2014\n    From whose throats a chorus rushes,\n    Note the Forest\u2019s charms!\n    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n    Now within the garden grand\n    A great Summerhouse did stand;\n    And its doors were very wide and extra high;\n    For within it, tree-ferns tall,\n    Spread their fronds from wall to wall,\n    And so thickly, that they quite shut out the sky.\n    This, the stars banked up with flowers\u2014\n    Culled from all the aerial bowers\n    That behind the clouds are hid from mortal sight!\n    And they then with loving care\n    Decked the whole with colours rare,\n    Brought to beauty by their own resplendent light!\n    Viands, too, they brought and spread\n    On a table that with bread\n    And all delicatest dainties was agleam!\n    This they did, that guests to leave,\n    Might, ere going, each receive\n    From the hostess Queen a gift on which to dream!\n    In the meantime, there was sent\n    Through the garden\u2019s wide extent,\u2014\n    A most kindly note to all who therein delve,\n    To attend an evening Fete,\n    When the Moon, in robes of State,\n    Would receive and entertain them, just at twelve!\n    Then excitement grew intense,\n    For a problem so immense\n    Had not ever met the garden folk before!\n    How were they to meet the Queen,\n    Who, ere this, had not been seen,\n    Save above them, as a Goddess to adore?\n    Who among them all should lead?\n    What new dresses would they need?\n    Would they want an introduction, or just pass\n    Like the troops upon parade\n    When a demonstration\u2019s made,\n    And the King himself reviews them in the mass;\n    These, and nicer questions all,\n    At a Conference or Call,\n    In discussion, were determined and agreed!\n    So it fell that at long last,\n    All their worries overpast,\n    There was nought to do save gather and proceed!\n            But talk about a clatter!\n            Speak about a row!\n            Why a Black\u2019s Corroboree,\n            Or an Indian Pow-Wow\n            Are as nothing,\n            Simply nothing,\n            To the rattle and the roar\n            That all other sounds defied,\u2014\n            When the guests began to pour\n            Through the gate\n            At a rate\n    That a shepherd could not state\n    If to count them he had tried!\n    For, like little Dolly Varden,\n    All the dwellers in the garden,\n    All the beetles and the other tiny things;\n    All the spiders and the aphis,\n    With the \u201cKooka,\u201d and the Mavis,\n    Came a-hopping and a-flopping\n    On their little legs and wings!\n    And the cries that they emitted!\n    Made one think that they were fitted\n            For a Zoo,\n            Perhaps two!\u2014\n    By the way they carried on!\n    But to silence all were bidden,\n    When from out the cornflowers hidden\n    Came a Mantis, with his hands outspread and high;\n    And in tones that each could hear,\n    Full and round, yet sweet and clear,\n            Simply cried:\n            \u201cStand aside!\n    For the Mower and his Lady now draw nigh!\u201d\n    Then to places all were hurried;\n    Some were late, and so were flurried,\n    But the Marshal set them right!\n            Marshal Spider!\u2014\n            Splendid Rider!\u2014\n    Mounted on a Magpie proud;\u2014\n            Set to order,\n            Quelled disorder,\n    Closed the lines and kept the crowd!\n    For the stakes, to which the roses\n    In the Summer-time were tied;\n    With their sharp and pointed noses\n    Stood the carriage drive beside!\n    Each was held by some tall froggy,\n    Who upon a Falcon black,\n    Seemed to wish that it were foggy\n    So that he might cool his back!\n    But to duty they were bound,\n    And not e\u2019en so sweet a sound\n    As the lapping of the wavelets on the lake.\n    Could have caused them to forsake,\n    The especial posts to which they were assigned.\n    Theirs the task to guard the Drive,\n    So that each one to arrive,\n    Might not stray beyond the line\n    Of the driveway\u2019s broad incline;\n    But would join with all the rest.\n    Into proper order pressed,\n    In the way the marshal had designed!\n    When at length, in silence standing,\n    In a voice of power commanding\n    Spake the Marshal to the rapt, expectant throng:\n    \u201cLet each gallant pair be ready,\n    To advance in order, steady,\n    When the Mower and his Lady move along;\n    For the Mower is our King,\n    And behind him we will bring\n    To Her Majesty the Moon and to her Court,\n    Such a wealth of garden lore\n    As may never, never, more\n    Be attempted or projected e\u2019en in thought!\u201d\n    Scarcely had the Marshal ended\n    Ere the Mower\u2019s train extended,\n    Fell into its place and moved towards the Lawn!\n    First, of course, the Heralds Royal,\n    Clothed in all the colours loyal:\n    Gaudy Butterflies, with banner-wings outspread.\n    Next the soldier-ants, so sprightly,\n    Stepping gaily, straightly, lightly,\n    With what seemed a most determined martial tread!\n    Followed on the King\u2019s retainers:\n    Busy bees in brown and gold;\n    Then the bravos and maintainers;\n    Hardy beetles, brave and bold.\n    After these the Knights and Consuls\n    With their Ladies fair and fine:\n    All the birds that seek the garden\n    When the golden wattles shine!\n    In their midst the Mower stately,\n    King of all the garden race,\u2014\n    And his Queen the Water-sprinkler,\n    Tall and slender, full of grace,\n    But as shy and quickly startled as a fawn!\n    Thus, in order, as directed,\u2014\n    None were otherwise detected,\n    On they moved to meet the queen!\n    On the spacious, trim, and flower-surrounded Lawn!\n    And not least among the party\n    Were the Mower\u2019s henchmen hearty:\n            All the tools,\n            Which he rules\n    With a blade both swift and keen!\n    Rake and Hoe and Pick and Shovel;\n    Fork and Spade and Knife and Can;\n    Hammer, Saw, and Sieve and Level;\n    Nails and Screws all spick and span;\n    Seccateurs and Shears and Spanner;\n    Nuts and Bolts and Augers fine;\n    Each according to its manner,\u2014\n    Rule and Rod and folded line.\n    E\u2019en the old green garden barrow,\n    On whose forefront perched a sparrow,\n    Bobbed along on shaky legs!\n    Then there came the refuse-bin,\n    On whose lid of rusty tin\n    Danced a group of clothes-pegs!\n    After these the yard-broom strode,\n    Gruff and grim with seeming ire;\n    And from out his dark abode\n    Rolled a coil of fencing wire!\n    Then emerged the \u201csteps\u201d a-striding,\u2014\n    On their top a cat was riding,\u2014\n    Tail erect and back all arched!\n    Right behind, its white face gleaming,\n    From beneath its banner streaming,\u2014\n    Bravely on the flagpole marched!\n    And, not wishing to be listed\n    From a gathering so strange,\n    Came the scythe all bent and twisted,\n    With the axe, well out of range!\n    Other things were there in dozens!\n    Little folk the garden cozens,\u2014\n    Such as round the Lattice play!\n    Snails and Slugs and Red-spot Spiders!\n    Thrifty Ants (those rare providers!)\n    And the Slaters clothed in grey!\n    Churchmen, too: The green-robed Mantis,\n    Praying for the lost Atlantis,\u2014\n    Or at least they seemed to be!\n    Lawyers, clad in black and white:\n    Magpies properly bedight,\n    And the Lark of Minstrelsy!\n    Parrot politicians, too,\n    Talking, talking, as they do,\u2014\n    Of the scarcity of corn!\n    When the spring lambs should be shorn!\n    What would happen without rain\u2014\n    Would the farmers sow again?\n    But by far the rarest sight,\n    Of that wondrous Autumn night,\n    Were three lovely kittens white;\u2014\n    Who, within a basket sleeping,\n    As, \u2019twas thought, in safest keeping,\n    Woke to find that, all undone,\n    Their pink ribbons, one by one,\n    Had been knotted to their basket\n    Tightly as a sailor\u2019s gasket!\n    And, as if by Magic brought,\n    The basket to a carriage wrought!\n    \u2018Twas all so very, very queer,\n    No kitten outside Fairy-land\n    Could ever, ever understand\n    What made the basket disappear,\n    And, in the twinkling of a star,\n    Be turned into a basket car!\n    But a bright-eyed little mouse,\n    Watching from within the house,\n    Saw exactly what took place!\n    Four brown spiders spun the wheels\n    Round about four cotton reels.\n    Two red robins wove the hood\n    Out of grass and chips of wood.\n    Two jays built the driver\u2019s place\n    Jutting from the basket\u2019s face.\n    Two blue wrens, so spry and neat,\n    Fixed behind a \u201cdicky\u201d seat!\n    For the lamps, two glow-worms bright,\n    Shed their lustre on the night!\n    Two woodpeckers made the pole\n    From a slender wattle, whole!\n    Then, the basket car to draw,\n    Four white gulls, in ropes of straw,\n    To the carriage firmly tied,\n    With each other proudly vied,\n    As they paced along!\n    A whip-bird drove the willing team,\n    By the star-light\u2019s silver gleam!\n    At his side a soldier-ant,\n    (Sort of footman-Adjutant!)\n    Care-free quite of war\u2019s alarms\n    Sat with loosely folded arms!\n    Four more soldier-ants beside,\n    Lent an air of splendid pride\n    To the kittens shy inside!\n    Two to ride postillion-wise;\n    Two to guard and supervise\n    From the seat behind!\n    Thus to meet the Queen they fared;\n    Nothing wanting, nothing spared\n    To please the eye and mind!\n    But, before they reached the Queen,\n    There was quite a little scene\u2014\u2014\n    That a temporary stoppage did entail;\n    For, with not a warning note,\n    From the Rosary remote,\u2014\n    Came a sound that made the anxious Marshal quail!\n    It was due to some field crickets,\n    Who, on coming through the pickets,\n    Had been told to be quite ready\n    To play something soft and steady\n    When Her Majesty the Moon,\u2014\n    (Who conferred on them the boon!)\n    Should come forth to meet her guests upon the Lawn!\n            But the Band,\n            At its stand,\n    Should have waited the command\n    To begin the music mystic,\n    With its Summer strain artistic,\u2014\n            Ere it broke\n            At a stroke\n    Into tunings that the sleeping echoes woke!\n    So, the worried Marshal spider,\n    Sent a swallow-scout outrider\n    With most mandatory orders\n    To retire behind the borders,\n    And await the time propitious\n    To begin the strain ambitious,\n    Which should tell in martial bars\n    That the Queen and Court of stars,\n    With attendant satellites,\n    And the page boy stellar sprites\n    Were in waiting on the Lawn!\n    On the smooth and spacious Lawn!\n    When the episode was ended,\n    And a like mistake forfended,\n    Forward went the line extended\n    Down the carriage drive!\n    Turning, where the beds give entry,\n    Past a Robin Redbreast sentry,\n    Without haste, as do the gentry,\n    On the lawn did they arrive!\n    And the Moon that moment walking,\n    With her starry daughters, talking,\n    From the Summer-house came forth!\n    On the instant, came the crashing\n    Of the cricket music dashing,\n    Swift as pallid lightning flashing\n    From the far-off sombre North!\n    Stood aside the Heralds then,\n    Stepped behind attendants ten,\n    And The Mower and his Lady met the Queen!!\n    What a scene!\n    Surely ne\u2019er before was seen\n    So much majesty serene,\n    So much graciousness and light\n    As graced the lawn that autumn night!\n    For, as each made due obeisance,\n    With polite and sweet complaisance,\u2014\n            And passed on;\n    Into scattered knots and groups,\n    Into merry little troups\n            They fell;\n            And the swell\n    Of the mingled conversations,\n    And the witty observations;\n            The soft requests\n            And whispered jests,\n            With the laughter\n            That came after,\n    To the Queen and all her Court was music rare!\n    And the supper fine that followed!\n    Oh! what quantities they swallowed\n    Of the dainties and the delicacies rare!\n    Black ants\u2019 milk and box-tree honey;\n    Manna flakes, the shapes of money;\n    All the richest kinds of berries,\n    Currants, bush-grapes and wild cherries!\n    Grains and seeds and sugar-beet\n    Such as field birds love to eat!\n    Dew, in cups the gum-trees make\n    For their lovely blossoms sake.\n    These and other things galore\n    That the ants and spiders store!\n    Ev\u2019ry sort of tasty dish\n    Such fastidious folk could wish!\n    Ne\u2019er before was served such fare;\n    Full and plenty and to spare!\n    Supper over, oh, what fun,\n    Was upon the lawn begun!\n    Dances, jigs, and turkey-trots\n    Round about forget-me-nots,\u2014\n    Whose sweet eyes of tender blue\n    With amazement changed their hue,\n    When a hammer and a spanner\n    Underneath the Queen\u2019s own banner,\n    In a rather awkward manner\n    Danced a sort of highland fling!\n    And a lanky Adjutant,\u2014\n    With the red-legged Crane, his aunt,\n    Winked his eye, and said, \u201cI can\u2019t\n    Say I like this kind of thing!\u201d\n    But the Augers straight and strong,\n    With their own peculiar song\n    Drowned his voice their chords among,\u2014\n    As they sang:\n    \u201cCome along! Oh, come along!\n    Join the happy gladsome throng!\n    Games that everyone can play;\n    Now\u2019s your chance, so come away!\u201d\n    Ring-a-rosy! Twos and threes\u2014\n            Which the bees\n            \u2018Mid the trees,\n    Played with such consummate ease,\n    That the Ladybirds they chased\n    Tripped and stumbled as they raced,\n            Quite outpaced\n    By those honey-hunter bees!\n    And the sly and subtle chaffing\n    Of the Lovers, who, since quaffing\n    Each the other\u2019s health,\n    Had by stealth,\n    Sought out places where they might\n            Woo delight,\n    Free from all the tauntings light\n    Of the Merry-makers bright!\n            But, of course,\n            No resource\n    Of the sweethearts, could perforce\n    Any sort of quietude enforce.\n    So they had to just submit\n    To the things that stung or hit\n    As do lovers everywhere!\n            Here and there\n            Amid the crowd\n    Could be seen the elegant or proud;\n            Whilst some, alas,\n            (But let that pass,)\n    Were what is known as \u201cloud.\u201d\n    The Rake and Hoe, a wicked pair:\n    Knight bachelors are they,\n    With easy style, true debonair,\n    Went strolling \u2018mid the ladies fair,\n    The gayest of the gay!\n    The Spade went prinking round the lawn,\n    Miss Shears was on his arm!\n    The Hay-fork pitched about till dawn\n    Forgetful of the Farm!\n    The Fern-tubs frowned upon the scene,\n    The Lattice glared its grief;\n    The Bulbs, in pots, though quite serene,\n    Displayed a sad belief\n    That all this freakish capering\n    Must bring its own relief!\n      And so it chanced!\n    For, with scarce a warning sound,\n    Straightly stepping o\u2019er the ground\n    Where the fence was broken, found,\n    Came the bush-folk forth to greet the Queen!\n    From the Forest they came ranging,\n    All in order, never changing,\n    In a stream across the paddocks green!\n    At their head, twelve Ibis slender,\n    Hid from view a kind of Tender\n    Borne upon the backs of Iguanas strong!\n    This, first strewn with sweet wild clover,\n    Was with bush flowers covered over;\n    One fair bloom for ev\u2019ry member of the throng!\n    These, as Tribute was intended\n    For the Queen Moon great and splendid,\n    Whom to honour and to serve\n    Without question or reserve\n    Was a duty that they loved to pay!\n    And their sacred emblem-flowers,\n    Choicest of the Forest dowers,\u2014\n    Were their gracious Queen to show,\n    That among her folk below,\n    Nothing could their true allegiance sway!\n    Thus enhanced,\n    Through the garden they advanced\n    Making for the Lawn!\n    On they came!\n    The Emus stately,\n    Proudly, quietly, sedately;\n    Followed by the Herons fine!\n    Wombats, Wallabys and Dingoes;\n    Grey Companion-Flamingoes;\u2014\n    \u2018Keets and Lories line on line!\n    Woolly Bears and \u2018Possums grey;\n    Singing birds and birds of prey;\n    Platypuses; blue-tongued Lizards;\n    Mallee Hens, and Bower-Bird wizards,\u2014\n    Hiding all they find away!\n    Cockatoos, white, black and pink;\n    Kestrels, Kites and Shrikes and Bats;\n    Flying Foxes; Native Cats;\n    Plovers from the Marsh\u2019s brink!\n    Kangaroos, like tall men walking;\n    Cassowaries gravely stalking;\n    Falcons black, and Wedge-tailed Eagles,\u2014\n    Strongest of the feathered beagles!\n    And the Egrets all too rare!\n    Black-necked Storks with wings so spacious;\n    Lyre-birds beautiful and gracious,\n    And the Magpie Lark so spare!\n    Honeyeaters, Red-capped Robins;\n    (In and out like fiery bobbins!)\n    Wrens of ev\u2019ry sort and hue,\n    And the great Kingfisher blue!\n    Whipbirds, Rails and Orioles;\n    Bronzewing Pigeons; Pratincoles;\n    Every Austral bird of note,\n    From the Owl to Pardalote!\n    Soarers, perchers, coursers, waders,\n    Like an army of invaders,\n    On they came towards the Lawn!\n    The spacious, cool, green Lawn!\n    Presently, as they drew nearer,\n    Forms and faces growing clearer;\n            Silence fell,\n            Like a spell,\n    On the guests who just before\n    Had not dreamed there was in store,\n    A sight so passing strange!\n    E\u2019en the Queen herself, \u2019twas plain,\n    Looked for someone to explain,\n    At and on whose word they came!\n    But, as soon as on the Lawn\n    The new arrivals all were drawn;\n    Forward stepped a Cockatoo,\n    In his milk-white plumage new;\n    And in accents somewhat high,\n    Said they thus had ventured nigh,\n    That they might their homage yield,\n    To their Sovereign and their Shield,\n    For whose sake they\u2019d gladly die.\n    Then, without undue premise,\n    Like a statesman, very wise,\u2014\n    Craved the Queen\u2019s most sweet permission,\n    To present, without omission,\n    All the several little groups\n    That in eager anxious troupes\n    Waited on her word!\n            And the Queen,\n            It was seen,\n    Smiled so gracious a consent,\n    That they all, with one intent,\n    As in passing, down they bent,\n    Flung their flowers about her feet!\n    Ringed her round with posies sweet!\n    This fair ceremony ended,\n    Everyone who there attended,\n    As their way about they wended,\n    Met and fraternised!\n    Filling out the pleasures light\n    Of that most historic night!\n    Thus, as in a lover\u2019s passion,\n    Passed the time in wondrous fashion;\n    Full of such excitements new,\n    That the moments simply flew,\u2014\n    On, and on, towards the dawn!\n    Then,\n            Ere the sun\n            Had begun\n    To ope his golden portals,\u2014\n    Or awake were sleepy mortals;\n    All by common impulse moved,\n    Turned towards the Queen they loved,\n    And bending low, gave salutation!\n    Yet, ere moving finally away,\n    \u201cFarewell! A fair farewell!\u201d to each they say;\n    Resolved through work or play,\n    To keep that night of nights,\n    Like some green growing thing,\n    The symbol of Eternal Spring,\n    In sweet and fondest memory for aye!\n    And the Moon and starry Court,\n    That the wonderment had wrought,\n    Faded slowly out of sight\n    In a blaze of newer light;\n    So strong and bright\n    That it swept away the night,\n    And to the wakened World a new Day brought!","title":"Australian Fairy Tales","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":33559}