¥M 
 
k'T^i 
 
i^^^^- 
 
 
 i^ 
 
 
 ^^f 
 
 
 
 ii^ 
 
 
 Wk 
 
 ' .-^s^ ■■ 
 
 ■^^ 
 
 ^, 
 
 *r\^ 
 
 yj 
 
 *^^^;i^ 
 
 tf^\ 
 

'The Princess soon found out the Pearl Fountnin, and saw the Fairy and the Wren 
 playing together." — Page 16. 
 
nil-: PEARL FOUNT 
 
 AIN 
 
 AND 
 
 
 (Dtl)er i'airij vtalcs 
 
 
 nv 
 
 
 in>^IDGI-T AXI) JULIA KAVAXAGII 
 
 wrrir ti/irtv n.LrsTRATioxs 
 
 
 I!V 
 
 
 J. MOYR SMITH 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 NF.W YORK 
 
 ni:.\R\- HOI.T AND COM I' AN N' 
 
 1876 
 
 
nuiR»- 
 
 
 WFTOP 
 
 I 
 
 J..11N F. Trow .-t Son. Pkinters. 
 05-213 Kast 12TH St., Nkw York. 
 
 iri^HM tJ a^HitMW^^rf— ^1 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 TACS 
 
 THE PEARL FOUNTAIN . . - I 
 
 THE SILVER FISH . • , 3 * « » • • • 2i5 
 
 THE GOLDEM HEN . •••...• 47 
 
 SUNBEAM AND HER WHITE RABBIT .... 67 
 redcap's ADVENTURES IN FAIRYLAND ... .87 
 
 FIRE AND WATER .,•...••• I03 
 
 TIPSV'S SILVER BELL 119 
 
 PRINCE DORAN 147 
 
 FAIRIE AND BROWNIE 165 
 
 BATTY 197 
 
 FEATHER HEAD 219 
 
 B92320 
 
yiirf Fiiifiii, 
 
 
 LONG time a^^o the Fain' Ouccn 
 thought she woul-cr 'go about to see how 
 all the fairies '.vho liVe' in 'i'lood?,. rivers, 
 streams, and fountains were getting on 
 since the last hundred years, for it is 
 only once in a century that her Majesty 
 can take such a survey of her subjects. 
 After travelling a long time, scolding 
 some fairies who had got into mischief, 
 
2 THE PEARL FOUNTAIN. 
 
 and praising others who had behaved well, the Queen 
 came at length to an old, old forest which grew on the 
 very top of a rocky mountain, and where the trees were 
 so large and the shade was so thick that it was all green 
 within. Indeed it was so green a place, so dark and 
 so cool, that people were afraid of it, and kept aloof 
 But the Fairy Queen was afraid of nothing ; moreover 
 she had particular business in that forest. She wanted 
 to see a little fairy who was only three days old, and to 
 whom the fountain of the forest had been given by her 
 mother. The Queen found the little Fairy all alone 
 by her fountain. It was a beautiful fountain ; the 
 water was as clear as clear could be ; it came sparkling 
 out of a rock, leaped down other rocks, then ran away 
 and hid itself in the moss. It looked quite a merry 
 sort of fountain, and the little Fairy to whom it be- 
 longed looked every bit as merry ; for when the Queen 
 cafr,e upcn. her, she v/as dancing in the shade and 
 singing to herself in a sweet clear voice, because you 
 see fairies can talk, just as they can run about, as 
 soon as they are born. 
 
 The Queen of the Fairies has no children of her own. 
 but she is very fond of little children, and she always 
 
THE PEARL FOUNTAIN. 3 
 
 thinks the last baby she sees the prettiest. She thought 
 so of this young Fairy, who was really a pretty crea- 
 ture, for she had golden hair, blue eyes, and ros\- cheeks, 
 and her mother* knowing the Queen was coming, had 
 dressed her out in a little frock of silver tissue, shot 
 with green and blue. 
 
 •'Well, my dear," graciously said the Queen of the 
 Fairies to this young thing, "do you know who I am ?" 
 
 "Oh yes," answered the little Fairy, "you are her 
 Majesty." 
 
 '•What a clever child you are," said the Queen, quite 
 pleased ; " and who are you .^ " 
 
 "Please your Majesty, I am the little Fairy of the 
 little Fountain." 
 
 "My dear, you could not have answered me better; 
 and now what gift will you have from me, my love?" 
 
 " Pearls," answered the little Fairy. 
 
 •'Then pearls you shall have," said the Queen, "as 
 many as ever you can wish for. Your fountain shall 
 be all pearls, and you may do what you lik^vith them ; 
 but you will have to count them, every one." 
 
 "I shall like that," answered the little Fairy, "for no 
 one must ever take so much as one of my pearls." 
 
4 THE PEARL FOUNTAIN. 
 
 "Well," said the Queen, "if you mean to keep your 
 pearls to yourself, you must live here all alone, and 
 never go out." 
 
 " I shall like that, too," said the little Fairy, " for I 
 shall sing to myself, and play with my pearls ; and, 
 please your Majesty, may I be called the Fairy of the 
 Pearl Fountain." 
 
 The Queen let her have that also, then went her 
 way. The Fairy of the Pearl Fountain remained in the 
 forest, and lived there till she grew up to be the loveliest 
 young Fairy that had ever been seen. She had a white 
 marble basin, made for the water of her fountain to fall 
 into, and the most beautiful wild flowers set in the green 
 moss around it. The water sprang up in a jet from the 
 centre of the basin, and the delight of the Fairy was to 
 stand in the very middle of it, clothed in her robe of 
 silver tissue, shot with green and blue, for it was not a 
 frock now that she was grown up, and to throw the water 
 up ever so high, till it reached the sunshine ; and every 
 drop of wPlr she threw up was a pearl when it came 
 down again— a beautiful white pearl. Some were big 
 pearls and some were little ones, and the bottom of the 
 marble basin was covered with them. Indeed, there 
 
THE PEARL FOUNTAIN. 5 
 
 were so many that the Fairy was oblijjcd to let the 
 smallest trickle away every night through a little slit in 
 the basin ; for if she had not done so, it would have 
 overflowed. So the pearls slipped away, and rolled 
 down the rocks on the mountain-side, but no one 
 minded them, or if some passer-by did see them by 
 chance, why he thought he saw drops of water and no 
 more. Though she had so many pearls the young Fairy 
 never thought she had too many, and all her delight 
 was to adorn herself with them. She strung the largest 
 and the clearest on a thread of gold, and mixed it up in 
 her hair, and she made a necklace of more, and brace- 
 lets for her wrists, and a waist-band, and the hem of her 
 silver tissue robe was all studded with pearls; and there 
 was not another fairy who had so many. She counted 
 them every one as the Queen had ordered her, and when 
 she laid herself down on the moss at night she still 
 counted them in her sleep. Indeed, she was so fond of 
 her pearls, and so jealous of them, that she never left 
 her fountain lest any one should come aneHpeal them 
 whilst she was away. 
 
 This lasted a long time ; till one day the Fair)-, 
 finding that no one ever came near the place, and wish- 
 
6 THE PEARL FOUNTAIN. 
 
 ing to go and see her sister, who Hved outside the forest 
 in a crystal turret on a rock, and was indeed no less 
 than the Fairy of the Waterfall, put on her best pearls 
 and left her fountain for the first time. Being a fairy, 
 she could go on counting the pearls of the fountain 
 all the same. Well, the Fairy was glad to see her sister, 
 and pleased to climb up to the very top of the crystal 
 turret, and look down at the world below, for she had 
 never been out before, and she was enjoying herself very 
 much, when all of a sudden she cried out : " I must go ; 
 I miss a pearl ; no, it is not one, but two. I declare 
 three pearls are gone." 
 
 " What matter about three pearls," said her sister ; 
 " have you not got enough .''" 
 
 But the Fairy of the Pearl Fountain declared there 
 was no misfortune like that of losing one's pearls, and 
 went away in a great hurry. She missed two more 
 pearls as she walked through the forest, for she was not 
 one of those fairies who have only to wish themselves in 
 a place to^e in it ; and on reaching the fountain, she 
 looked at once for the thief; but she only saw a little 
 wren, perched on the edge of the marble basin, and 
 catching a drop of the spray in her bill as it fell. 
 
THE pi'.ARL ror.VTAiy. 7 
 
 " You little robber," cried the Fairy in a raje ; " i? it 
 you who have been stealing my pearls ?" 
 
 " Please, ma'am," replied the Wren, quite frightened at 
 seeing her so angry, " I am only drinking a drop ot 
 water." 
 
 " A drop of water ! don't you know, you dishonest 
 bird, that what was only a drop of water when you 
 drank it, would have turned into a beautiful pearl if it 
 had fallen into the basin. Look down at the bottom 
 and see. All these pearls were drops of water once." 
 
 " I protest, ma'am, I knew nothing of the kind," 
 answered the little Wren, speaking very humbly, for she 
 had never seen so grand a lady as the Fairy of the 
 Pearl Fountain, with her beautiful hair and her pearls; 
 " I saw water," continued the Wren, *' I was very thirsty, 
 and I made bold to drink. Surely, I thought, the good 
 Fairy who owns this lovely fountain will never be angry 
 with me for taking a drop of water ; and I can assure 
 you, ma'am," added the Wren, dropping the Fairy a 
 curtsey, " that it was the very sweetest water I ever 
 tasted, and I do hope \'0u will forgive me." The Fairy 
 of the Pearl Fountain had a hasty temper, but she was 
 not hard-hearted ; she looked kindly down on the little 
 
8 THE PEARL FOUNTAIN. 
 
 Wren, and said, "You are a silly bird, and I daresay 
 did not know pearls from water. I suppose I must 
 forgive you this once, but mind you never do such a 
 thing again." 
 
 " Oh no, ma'am, never," answered the Wren very 
 earnestly. " And please, ma'am, may I go home to 
 the palace now .'* " 
 
 " Home to the palace } " repeated the Fairy. "What 
 do you mean .-* " 
 
 Now every one, big or little, has a story; and the 
 story of the Wren was this: — She had built her nest 
 in the garden of the King's palace, and was making 
 herself comfortable there, when the young Prince 
 found her out, caught her, and would have killed her, 
 if his sister had not come up in time to save her life. 
 The Princess did more ; for she took the poor little 
 VWen, who was frightened to death, to her own room, 
 and gave her a beautiful cage to live in, and keep 
 her out of danger; but as the Wren is fond of going 
 about, she let her have a fly every day, and kept a 
 window in her room alwa\-s open, so that she might 
 have no trouble in getting in or out. All this the 
 Wren told the Fairv, not in a few words, but in a 
 
THE PEARL rOU.\TAlN. 9 
 
 good many ; for she is a chatterbox if ever there was 
 one, and can talk by the hour. The Fairy, however, 
 did not mind letting her have her say ; for she had 
 got into the fountain again, and was throwing up the 
 water ever so high, and trying to catch the beautiful 
 pearls as they fell back. She missed a good many, for 
 some rolled down her neck and shoulders, and others 
 got in her hair and stayed there ; and others, again, 
 slipped through her fingers and fell into the basin. 
 
 "Oh! ma'am, how beautiful \'ou are!" the W'icn 
 could not help saying; "and how prett}- it is to see 
 you playing with those lovely pearls." 
 
 "You have a great deal of sense," said the Fairy. 
 " B}- the way, what is x-our name .-'" 
 
 " Jenny, ma'am," answered the Wren, dropping her 
 another curtsey. " The Princess alwa\-s calls me 
 Jenny." 
 
 " Never mind the Princess," said the Fairy a little 
 tartly; "but mind what I say. Well, then, Jenn\-, 
 suppose that you and I have a game together with 
 my pearls. I shall throw them, and you shall catcii 
 them again and drop them into the basin ; and when 
 we have done, I do not mind letting you have a drop 
 
lo THE PEARL FOONTAIN. 
 
 of water to drink. You are a very little bird, and a 
 little drop of water will do you." 
 
 The Wren asked no better than to play with the 
 Fairy ; so the game began. The Fairy caught the 
 drops of water as they fell, and threw them to the 
 Wren, who caught them in her bill — one after another, 
 of course — then dropped them into the basin. The 
 Wren was a clever bird, and played so well that she 
 only missed three times. The Fairy was delighted 
 and declared she had never had such fun. In short, 
 they played till they were both tired, when the Fairy 
 said, " There, Jenny ; that will do for to-da}'. Drink 
 your drop of water, and go home to the palace. You 
 may come again to-morrow and have another game 
 with me, but mind that you tell no one about my 
 Pearl Fountain." 
 
 " May I not tell the Princess } " asked the Wren. 
 
 "Certainly not," said the Fairy ; " if \'ou do, I shall 
 never forgive you ; besides, I am a fairy, and I shall 
 find it out and punish you at once." 
 
 The Wren promised not to say a word, and flew 
 home to her cage in the palace. She was afraid lest 
 the Princess should ask her where she had been, as 
 
THE PEAKL FOUNTAIN. 1 1 
 
 she often did ; but she had just been told by her 
 father that he had promised her in marriage to the 
 King of the Diamond Isles, and she was so full of 
 that, and of all the diamonds she was to have, that 
 she never even saw when the Wren flew in through 
 the window. The Wren made as little noise as she 
 could, and pecked her supper quietly, though she had 
 never been so hungry in her life. Water may turn into 
 pearls, but it is not the thing to satisfy one's appetite. 
 
 Well the next day the Wren flew to the Pearl Foun- 
 tain, and the Fairy threw the pearls at her, and the 
 Wren caught them in her bill and dropped them into 
 the basin. When she was tired she had her drop of 
 water, but though she asked to be allowed to bathe 
 in the fountain, the Fair\' would not hear of it, and 
 was very cross with her for so much as thinking of such 
 a thing. The Princess was not in her room when the 
 Wren flew back to her cage that day, and when she 
 came in the Wren had her head under her wing and 
 was fast asleep. 
 
 Matters went on so for a good while. Every day the 
 Wren flew to the Pearl Fountain, and played at catch- 
 ing the pearls with the Fairy, and every evening siie 
 
12 THE PEARL FOUNTAIN. 
 
 flew home to her cage in the room of the Princess, who 
 was so taken up with her wedding clothes that she 
 never thought of asking her where she had been. 
 
 The Fairy became so fond of the Wren that she 
 thought she would leave her in charge of the fountain, 
 whilst she went to see her sister again. The Wren 
 did not like being left alone, but the Fairy promised not 
 to be long away. " I shall be back before sunset," she 
 said, " and you can play as much as you like with my 
 pearls, and even drink three drops of water, and all I 
 want you to do is to stay and watch by the fountain, 
 and if any one should come nigh it to call me three 
 times. I shall hear you and come at once." 
 
 The Wren agreed to this, and stayed by the fountain 
 whilst the Fairy went to see her sister. She played 
 with the pearls till she was tired, then she drank three 
 drops of water, then she stood on the edge of the 
 basin, and thought how nice and cool a bath would be. 
 The day was a hot one, the Fairy was away. "She will 
 never know anything about it," said the Wren to herself 
 She spread out her wings, fluttered over the water, and 
 had the most delightful bath she had ever had in her 
 life. She was enjoying herself to her heart's content, 
 
THE PEARL FOUNTAIN. 13 
 
 and had just begun drying herself in the sun. when 
 there came a great rushing noise which filled the whole 
 forest. It was the King of the Fairies driving by, but 
 the Wren knew nothing about that. She was fri'^htened 
 out of her wits. Indeed she lost her head entirely, and 
 instead of calling the Fairy as she had promised to do 
 in case of danger, she flew home to the palace as fast 
 as ever her wings would take her, and never thought 
 herself safe till she lay panting in the bottom of her 
 cage. It unluckily happened that the Princess was in 
 her room just then, trying on her wedding-dress. 
 
 "Why, Jenny," she cried, "what is the matter with 
 you .•*" 
 
 " I was bathing in the forest," answered the Wren, 
 "when there came a great noise that frightened me, so 
 I flew home. See, I am not dry yet." She shook 
 her wings and a beautiful pearl rolled down on the 
 bottom of the cage. 
 
 " I declare that is a pearl," said the Princess, all 
 amazed. " Why, Jenny, where have you been bathing, 
 and where did you get that lovely pearl V 
 
 "A pearl 1" repeated the Wren, who did not know 
 wliat to say. 
 
14 THE PEARL FOUNTAIN. 
 
 "Yes, a pearl," said the Princess, who had picked 
 it up and was looking at it, "the biggest, whitest, 
 loveliest pearl I ever saw. Where did you get it ?" 
 
 The Wren tried not to answer this, but the Princess 
 insisted upon knowing how she had got the pearl, and 
 the Wren did not dare to deny her. So having first 
 made her promise that she would not mention it again, 
 she told her all about the Fairy and the Pearl Foun- 
 tain. When the Princess heard about a fountain in 
 which every drop of water became a pearl she nearly 
 went crazy, so eager was she to get at it. She wanted 
 the Wren to take her to it at once, but that the Wren 
 would not do ; then she tried to coax her into stealing 
 some of the pearls and bringing them home to her, but 
 the Wren would not hear of such a thing. 
 
 "Well, at least I shall keep that pearl," said the 
 Princess, and the Wren, who could not take it from her, 
 said, yes, she might. When the Wren flew to the Pearl 
 Fountain the next day, the Fairy gave her an angry look. 
 
 " Why did you leave my fountain yesterday before I 
 came home .^" she asked. 
 
 " I heard a great noise and I got frightened," 
 answered the Wren. 
 
IHE PEARL FOUXTAIN. 1 5 
 
 •* Why did you not call me ? " asked the Faiiy. 
 
 *• I forgot it," replied the Wren. 
 
 "I miss a pearl," said the Fairy; "what have you 
 done with it ? " 
 
 The Wren was afraid to say the truth, so she 
 answered, ** I was playing with the pearls, when one 
 rolled out and fell in the grass, and I could not find it 
 again." 
 
 The Fairy could have known the truth by looking in 
 her book, but she kept it under a stone in the bottom of 
 her basin, and there were so many pearls on the top of 
 it that she did not like to disturb them. 
 
 " Well, ' she said to the Wren, " you have behcived 
 very badly, and I am very angry with \-ou ; but if I 
 forgive you this time will you do it again ?" 
 
 " Oh no, indeed ! " answered the Wren. So the\- 
 made it up, and had a game, and were as happy to- 
 gether as they had ever been. 
 
 As soon as she took the pearl from the Wren, the 
 Princess sent for the Court jeweller, and gave it*to him 
 to set, for she meant to wear it on her wedding-day. 
 The jeweller declared that the pearl was the finest he 
 had ever seen, upon w hich the Princess, instead of being 
 
i6 THE PEARL FOUNTAIN. 
 
 glad that she had it, only thought of all the pearls in 
 the fountain which she had not. She lay awake the 
 whole of that night, thinking of them still ; and one 
 thing she was resolved upon when she got up in the 
 morning, and that was to find out the Pearl Fountain, 
 and to take some of the Fairy's pearls. " She has 
 so many of them," thought the Princess, " that she 
 ought not to mind my having a few ; and then what 
 a fine thing it will be for me to be spoken of as the 
 Princess who had so many pearls, and who married 
 the King of the Diamond Isles ! " 
 
 The Wren was in no hurry to meet the Fairy that 
 day. She took her fl}' rather late ; but the Princess, 
 who had been watching her since the morning, followed 
 her at a distance, entered the forest after her, and 
 stealing behind the trees, soon found out the Pearl 
 Fountain, and saw the Fairy and the Wren playing 
 together. At last the Wren flew away, and the Fairy, 
 who was tired, laid herself down on the moss to sleep. 
 The Princess waited a while, then she stole softly on 
 tip-toe to the edge of the marble basin, and holding 
 up both her hands, she caught the pearls as fast as 
 ihey fell. When her hands were full, she dropped the 
 
THE PEARL FOCNTAIN. 17 
 
 pearls down on the moss, and thought to begin again 
 and have quite a heap of tliem. But the Fairy, wlio 
 had been counting them in her sleep all the time, now 
 missed them, and starting up, said angrily, " Who steals 
 my pearls ? " 
 
 The Princess was so frightened that she had not a 
 word to say for herself, and the Fairy said again in the 
 same angry voice : 
 
 " What brought you here ? " 
 
 " I wanted some pearls from the Pearl Fountain," 
 replied the Princess. 
 
 "And who told you about the Pearl Fountain?" 
 asked the Fairy. 
 
 " The Wren told me," answered the Princess. 
 
 " And who are you ? " inquired the Fairy. 
 
 " I am the King's daughter," said the Princess, " and I 
 am going to marry the King of the Diamond Isles, and 
 as }'our fountain is in my father's kingdom, I think you 
 might give me some pearls for a wedding present." 
 
 " You shall not have one pearl from my fountain," 
 said the Fairy ; " I keep all these for myself, but go back 
 the way you came, and stand at the foot of the rock on 
 your right hand as you leave the forest. You will see 
 
iS THE PEARL FOUNTAIN. 
 
 pearls rolling down its sides. These you may pick up. 
 They are small, and I do not mind letting you have 
 them." 
 
 " May I have them all ,^" asked the Princess. 
 
 " Every one," replied the Fairy, " but mind it is only 
 for this once ; and though you may stay as long as you 
 please, and take away as many pearls as you can pick 
 up, you need never come again, for not another pearl of 
 mine shall you get." 
 
 Though the Princess thought the Fairy very stingy 
 not to let her have a few big pearls, she also thought 
 that little pearls were better than none, so she thanked 
 her, and went back the way she had come. She found 
 the rock to her right just outside the forest, and, sure 
 enough, there were the beautiful pearls rolling down its 
 sides, and looking so white and clear in the moonlight. 
 The Princess began picking them up as fast as she could. 
 " I must have a necklace," she thought, " and as the 
 pearls are small it will take a good many," Then when 
 she really had enough for a necklace she wanted some 
 for a tiara, after that she wanted bracelets, and after 
 bracelets a waistband like the fairy's, then a trimming 
 for her wedding dress, then pearls for rings, ear-rings, 
 
THE PEARL FOUXTMX. 19 
 
 and brooches, then more pearls for double sets of every- 
 thing-, then pearls to give away to her ladies, then pearls 
 for herself to keep; in short, though she spent the night 
 gathering pearls, she had not got half enough by da\-- 
 break. She was very tired, but since she could have 
 pearls only this once, she thought it would be the 
 greatest pity in the world to ^o away without taking 
 as many as she could. So the pearls rolled down the 
 rocks, and the Princess picked them up, and the more 
 she had, the more she wished to have. 
 
 When the King heard that the Princess was missing 
 he was in a sad way. He asked the Wren about her, 
 but all the Wren knew was, that the Princess was in her 
 room when she went out to have her fly, and that she 
 was no longer there when she came back. No one else 
 knew anything, and only one thing was certain, that the 
 Princess had not spent the night in the palace. The 
 King, her father, was distracted with grief, and the King 
 of the Diamond Isles, who had just arrived in order to 
 marr\- the Princess, lost his appetite at once, he felt in 
 such trouble. The King sent messengers to look for his 
 daughter in every direction. They scoured the country, 
 and found her at length very tired and rather hungry, 
 
20 THE PEARL FOUNTAIN. 
 
 but still picking up pearls. When they wanted to take 
 her back to the palace, she said it was out of the ques- 
 tion, and they were to tell the King that she had still 
 ever so many pearls to gather before she could leave the 
 spot. The king was very much amazed when the mes- 
 sengers came back without the Princess, and told liim 
 where they had found her, what she was doing, and 
 what she had said. 
 
 "Pearls," said the King; "and what can she want 
 with pearls when she is going to marry the King of the 
 Diamond Isles to-morrow 1 I must go and see about 
 all that myself." 
 
 But when the King went and found the Princess, and 
 saw all the pearls she had gathered, and those she 
 was gathering still, and when she told him that if she 
 once left this spot she could never have any pearls 
 again, he began to think what a pity it would be not to 
 let her get as many as she could. 
 
 "Well, my dear," he said to his daughter, "I shall 
 ask the King of the Diamond Isles to wait a day or two, 
 and in the meanwhile you may go on gathering pearls. 
 And suppose that for fear of accidents I should take 
 away these and keep them for you under lock and key." 
 
THE FEARL FOUNT A IX. 21 
 
 The Princess agreed to this. Tlic Kiiv^ took a\va\' 
 all the pearls she had picked up, and there was quite 
 a heap of them, and stowed them awa\' in great 
 chests in the palace. He also asked the King of the 
 Diamond Isles, who recovered his appetite directly on 
 learning that the Princess was safe, to wait a few da}'s 
 for her. The King of the Diamond Isles grumbled 
 a little, but to please his father-in-law that was to be, 
 he said he would wait seven days for the Princess. 
 
 But when the seven days were out, the Princess said 
 she had not yet got pearls enough, and her father 
 persuaded the King of the Diamond Isles to wait 
 seven days more. And so matters went on from one 
 seven days to another, the Princess still gathering 
 pearls, and the King her father taking them away, and 
 locking them up, and neither thinking they had enough, 
 till the King of the Diamond Isles got tired waiting, 
 and went off one morning without so much as ever saj-- 
 ing good-bye. Indeed he went straight off to the 
 Queea of Emeralds, whose daughter he married that 
 afternoon. The King was vexed and the Princess felt 
 rather sorry, but she thought she must only gather 
 more pearls to make up for all the diamonds she had 
 
22 THE PEARL FOUNTAIN. 
 
 missed. So she went on picking- them up, and when 
 she had a heap her father took it away in a great sack, 
 and locked it up, till at length all his chests were full, 
 and he thought one day he must see how many thou- 
 sand pearls he had got. He unlocked one chest and 
 opened a sack, and out came ever so many drops of 
 water, that rolled all over the floor. 
 
 " My goodness ! " cried the King, " there's some mis- 
 take." 
 
 He opened the next sack; out came more drops of 
 water. Then the next and the next again, and all 
 the sacks, and all the chests were full of drops of 
 water, and in the whole of them there was not so much 
 as one pearl. For the pearls were pearls for the Prin- 
 cess only, and for nobody else. When the King saw 
 this, and what a mistake he had made, he got into 
 such a rage that he had a fit, of which he died the 
 next day. The Princess was very sorry for her father's 
 death, but she said the pearls were pearls indeed, 
 and she went on gathering them at the foot of the 
 rock. There she stands to this day picking them up 
 as fast as she can, and never thinking she has enough. 
 
 When the Wren flew to the forest again, the Fairy 
 
' When she had a heaj', her father took it nw.iy in .1 great 5.ick "— /'.i^«- aa 
 
THE PEARL FOUNTAIN. 
 
 23 
 
 was ever so angn' with her for having told tlic Princess 
 about the Pearl Fountain, but the Wren begged so 
 hard for forgiveness, and fluttered so prettily about 
 her feet, that the Fairy said : 
 
 " Well, I shall forgive you once more, but lest you 
 should tell tales again, you shall stay for ever in the 
 forest with me." 
 
 So whilst the Princess is gathering pearls at the foot 
 of the rock, the Fairy and the Wren are playing at 
 their game with the pearls of the Pearl Fountain ; and 
 no one has ever found out in what forest that fountain 
 is, nor on what mountain that forest grows, nor in what 
 part of the world that mountain lies. 
 
f^^"~,-j_ i HERE was a palace once, and in the 
 ---Trr— _ , palace there lived a queen, who was 
 called the Queen of t^mcralds, she had so many of 
 them. In front of the palace there w'as a large pond, 
 and the Queen, thinking what a pity it would be to 
 keep it empty, had it stocked with gold and silver 
 fishes. E/ery oiie said how clever that was of the 
 Queen, and every one \va.s pleased save the frogs who 
 lived in an old well in the garden behind the palace. 
 
26 THE SILVER FISH. 
 
 They were very angry, indeed, that the Queen had not 
 put them into the pond. 
 
 "What can the Queen want with gold and silver 
 fishes?" said a frog called Jumper. "Can they jump 
 in and out of the water as I do ?" 
 
 "Besides, they are dumb," said Croaker; "and I 
 have a lovely voice." 
 
 "Jumping and singing are all very well," said Bul- 
 rush, the oldest of the frogs ; " but what I do not like 
 is, that the water goes from our well to feed that 
 pond. We shall be left dry some day unless I put a 
 stop to it." 
 
 ."We wish you would. Bulrush," said all the other 
 frogs ; " 3'ou are so clever, you know." 
 
 " I know I am," answered Bulrush stiffly. " Well, 
 don't make a noise, you young frogs ; I want to think 
 it over." 
 
 Bulrush went among the reeds and had a nap there, 
 and when he woke, he prowled about the well till he 
 found where the water was conveyed from it to the 
 pond along a dark leaden tube. Bulrush was a bold 
 frog ; he floated bravely down the great rush of water, 
 and never stopped till he came to an iron grating. The 
 
THE SILVER I- IS II. 27 
 
 bars were too close for him to get in through, but 
 he peeped between them, and saw gold and silver 
 fishes swimming about in the pond. He stared at 
 them with his big eyes till one of the young gold 
 fishes saw him, and tumbled over on his back with 
 fright. 
 
 " Idiot 1 " croaked Bulrush ; but he swam back to 
 the well, and as he had to go against the stream, 
 he was very much out of breath by the time he got 
 there. 
 
 "Well," said all the frogs, crowding round him; 
 "what have you found out, Bulrush.'" 
 
 " I have found out that there is nothing uglier than 
 a gold fish," answered Bulrush, " unless it be a silver 
 one," 
 
 "Dear me!" said the frogs; "are they so hideous 
 as all that.-* But what about our business.'* When 
 will you begin, Bulrush .-* " 
 
 " Begin what ? " he asked crossly. 
 
 " Begin preventing the water from leaving our well, 
 to be sure," said Juniper. 
 
 "Indeed!" sneered Bulrush; "and how would you 
 do that, if you please?" 
 
28 THE SIL VER FISH. 
 
 " Why," said Jumper, " I should stop the hole, of 
 course." 
 
 " And the Queen would get it unstopped, and turn 
 us all out of the well," answered Bulrush. " No, 
 Jumper, that will not do. And now, don't make a 
 noise ; I want to think it over." 
 
 Upon which Bulrush went into the reeds, and took 
 a very long nap there. Some busybody went and 
 told the Queen how angry and jealous the frogs were ; 
 but the Queen only laughed, and said : 
 
 " Let them be angry ; I shall do as I please." 
 
 Every day she had a large cake baked for the gold 
 and silver fishes, and every morning she went and fed 
 them with her own hand. When they saw the Queen 
 standing on the edge of the pond with the cake in a 
 basket, all the gold and silver fishes swam towards 
 her, seven rows deep ; and one little Silver Fish, the 
 smallest of them, swam at their head and kept them 
 in order. He hindered the big ones from pushing 
 the little ones about ; and when the little ones got 
 rude or too frolicsome, he would just go and give 
 them such a whisk of his tail that they were glad to 
 dive down and hide their heads for shame. The 
 
rilE SILVER FISIf. 29 
 
 Oucen was so pleased with this, that she said to iiini 
 one day : 
 
 " Little Silver Fish, I am going to make you King 
 of the other fishes." 
 
 " May it please your Majcst}-," said the little Silver 
 Fish, very uneasy, " I would rather remain as I am ; 
 besides, the other fishes will never acknowledge me as 
 their King." 
 
 "But they must," said the Queen; "and to show 
 them that you are their King and Sovereign, I shall 
 give you one of my own emeralds, and you shall 
 wear it." 
 
 " Oh ! may it please your Majesty," said the little 
 Silver Fish, more uneasy than ever, "if the other fishes 
 see me with an emerald and they get none, they 
 will hate me, and perhaps take it from me." 
 
 But the Queen would have her way. She bade her 
 jeweller measure the neck of the Silver Fish, and make 
 him a little collar of gold thread with one of her 
 emeralds set in it ; and when the collar was made, 
 she put it herself round the neck of the Silver Fish, 
 and told all the other gold and silver fishes that 
 they were to obey him, for now he was their King. 
 
30 THE SILVER FISH. 
 
 Whatever they thought about this, the gold and silver 
 fishes were too much afraid of the Queen, and too 
 fond of cake, to say a word against anything she 
 might do. They cried : " Long live Silver Fish ! " and 
 bobbed before him ; and matters went on just as 
 they had gone on before. The only difference was, 
 that the little Silver Fish wore his gold collar with 
 the emerald at the back, for all the other fishes to 
 know him by ; and it certainly was the prettiest thing 
 in the world to see him swimming about with that 
 thread of gold round his little neck, and the beautiful 
 emerald shining in the water. 
 
 The Silver Fish had been king a year wanting a 
 day, when the Queen came one evening to the edge 
 of the pond and said to the fishes : 
 
 '* I am going away to-morrow morning early. I 
 want to see my daughter who is married to the King 
 of the Diamond Isles, as you know ; but I have left 
 orders to the cook to make and bake your cake every 
 day, and to my prime minister to come and feed you 
 every morning with his own hand." 
 
 "Long live your Majesty! " cried the gold and silver 
 fishes. 
 
THE SILVER FISH. 31 
 
 "Will you be good whilst I am awa)- ? " said the 
 Oiieen. 
 
 " Oh 1 so good ! " 
 
 " And not push forward and fight for the largest bits ?" 
 
 " Oh ! never ! " 
 
 "And above all things will you obey little Silver 
 Fish ? " 
 
 Obey him ! why the gold and silver fishes all pro- 
 tested that they would die for him, nay, if he liked it, 
 they would carry him on their backs, so that he need 
 swim no more. 
 
 "No need for that," said the Queen; "but mind 
 you obey Silver Fish. He is your King, and whilst 
 he wears the gold collar with the emerald in it, the 
 water will never leave your pond ; but if any of you 
 should try to take that collar off, the pond will run 
 dry in no time." With that the Queen went away. 
 
 Well, the cook made and baked the cake every 
 day, and the prime minister went and fed the fishes 
 every morning for a week ; but on the morning of the 
 seventh day after the Queen was gone, the prime 
 minister, instead of getting up early, said to his 
 wife: 
 
32 THE SILVER FISH. 
 
 "I really do not see why the Queen has set me to 
 feed fishes." 
 
 "You are a great deal too clever for it, my dear," 
 answered his wife, 
 
 " Well, I think I am," said the prime minister ; 
 "besides, the Queen works me so hard when she is 
 at home, that I feel I ought to have a holiday now 
 that she is away. I want to lie in bed a little in the 
 morning." 
 
 " Of course you do," answered his wife; "send your 
 page Jeremy, and do not get up before eleven." 
 
 When the cook saw that it was Jeremy and not 
 his master who fed the fishes, she thought : 
 
 " Why should these fishes have cake } bread is good 
 enough for them ; besides, I daresay that big boy eats 
 half of it, and I am really tired making and baking 
 a cake every day. Bread they shall have, and if they 
 will not eat it — why they may leave it." 
 
 Accordingly, when Jeremy came the next morning 
 the cook gave him a loaf of bread and no cake. The 
 boy took the loaf to the pond and threw it in big 
 lumps to the fishes, who were there as usual, seven 
 rows deep, with Silver Fish at their head. 
 
THE SILVER FISH. 33 
 
 "I am afraid there is something wrong with our 
 poor Queen," said Silver Fish ; "this is bread and not 
 cake — still bread is good, and we must be glad to 
 get it." 
 
 "Bread and not cake," cried all the fishes; "we will 
 not touch it, we will starve first." 
 
 Silver Fish tried to argue with them, and said that 
 may be the Queen could afi'ord cake no longer, and 
 that bread was very good, and so on. Tl.ey would not 
 even listen to him, but all declared in a breath that 
 they would die rather than eat bread. Jeremy went 
 back to his master and said : 
 
 " Please, sir, the fishes will not eat. They made a 
 great hubbub over what I threw to them ; and the 
 meaning of it all was, that they would not eat whilst 
 the Queen was away." 
 
 "Very well," said the prime minister, who was still 
 half asleep ; " go and tell the cook that the fishes 
 will not eat whilst the Queen is away, and that she 
 need bake nothing for them till her Majesty comes 
 back." 
 
 Well, when the hour at which the fishes were fed 
 
 came round the next morning, they all swam to the 
 
 c 
 
34 THE SILVER FISH. 
 
 edge of the pond seven rows deep, and waited for 
 their cake, but no cake did they get. 
 
 " I suppose we must eat bread," grumbled the 
 older and the wiser ones, shaking- their heads at the 
 thought. But though they waited, telling each other 
 of the good old times when fishes had cake every 
 morning, and there was no talk of bread, neither 
 bread nor cake did there come to them that morn- 
 ing. When they were tired with waiting, the fishes 
 swam away, and when they got too hungry they 
 swam back ; and nibbled at the bread that still 
 floated about the pond. They nibbled so well that 
 only one piece Avas left, and the biggest of the gold 
 fishes and the biggest of the silver fishes had a set 
 battle over that last piece, whilst the other fishes 
 looked on, and the more daring ones kept darting at 
 it in the hope of getting a i^w crumbs. Silver Fish 
 tried to keep the peace, but no one would mind him. 
 
 " Who are you, sir, to dictate to us } " asked a big 
 fellow, giving him a push. 
 
 •' Yes, who are you .^ " said another, swimming up 
 to his very nose, and bobbing his big head up and 
 down at him. 
 
THE SILVER FISH. 35 
 
 Silver Fish modestly replied that he was their 
 Kin^, upon whieh the two big fishes burst out laui^h- 
 ing. It was no use reminding them that thc>' had 
 promised the Queen to obey him. One fish found out 
 that it would have been all right if Silver Fish had 
 been King a \-ear ; but as there wanted a tla)^ to 
 the year when the Queen went away, he could be no 
 King at all : and another fish said quite loud, that 
 the best of all reasons for not minding a word Silver 
 Fish could say was, that if their cake had been 
 stopped, it was because he was in a league with the 
 cook. In short, every fish in the pond quarrelled 
 with another fish, and there was only one thing the 
 fishes agreed upon, and it was that Silver Fish had 
 done all the mischief. 
 
 "Hang him!" said some. 
 
 "Put him in prison," said others. 
 
 " Don't touch him," said a clever fellow, " whilst 
 he wears the Queen's emerald. If you do she will 
 hang us all like so many herrings." 
 
 This frightened them all. The\' knew the Queen 
 was very strict, and no fish likes to be hung. No 
 one dared to touch Silver Fish after that ; and, in- 
 
36 THE SILVER FISH. 
 
 deed, as it was getting late the fishes gave up quar- 
 relling for that day, and went to bed feeling both 
 sulky and hungry. 
 
 Bulrush, who was very cunning, made no attempt 
 against the gold and silver fishes, whilst the Queen 
 of Emeralds stayed at home ; but he set all the 
 young frogs to gather him fine strong grasses, and 
 when he had enough of them he made a large net. 
 This net was just finished when the Queen went away, 
 and Bulrush at once set to mischief. He picked up 
 an acquaintance with that same young Gold Fish 
 whom he had so frightened once, but who was not 
 at all afraid of him now. They met at midnight at 
 the grating when all the other fishes were asleep, and 
 they plotted together against Silver Fish. The young 
 Gold Fish told Bulrush how their cake first, then their 
 bread had been stopped ; how they were starving every 
 fish of them ; and how Silver Fish was the cause of 
 it all. 
 
 "And what business has he to be our King.?" said the 
 young Gold Fish; "he is only silver after all, and the 
 only gold about him is in that collar which the Queen 
 gave him." 
 
THE SILVER PIS IF. 37 
 
 "If you had a bit of spirit, you would take that 
 coHar off," said Bidrush. 
 
 " \Vc dare not," rephed the young Gold Fish ; "it is a 
 gold collar, and it has one of the Queen's emeralds, 
 and if we were to take it off, all the water would 
 run out of our pond." 
 
 " Well," said Bulrush, " I shall tell you what to do, 
 my friend ; help me to catch Silver Fish, and I will 
 take him away to a well, and keep him there." 
 
 "You will not hurt him!" saia the young Gold 
 Fish. 
 
 "No, no, never fear," replied Bulrush. 
 
 "And \-ou will not take his collar off," said the 
 young Gold Fish. 
 
 " Of course not," answered Bulrush. 
 
 " And what shall I have for giving him up to you .' " 
 asked the traitor. 
 
 "You shall have the Queen's emerald," said Bulrush. 
 "I was prenticed to a jeweller, and can take it out 
 quite easily." 
 
 The bargain was struck, and the next thing was to 
 know how they were to catch Silver Fish. Well, it 
 was agreed that Bulrush should come with his net to 
 
§8 THE SILVER FISH. 
 
 the edge of the pond that very night, and that when 
 he had thrown it into the water, the young Gold Fish 
 should beguile Silver Fish into it. They parted very 
 well pleased with each other, for the }-oung Gold Fish 
 had a silver collar, which was an heirloom in his 
 family, and he thought how he could put the emerald 
 into it, and perhaps be King ; and Bulrush laughed 
 in his sleeve, to think what faces the fishes would 
 make when he took off Silver Fish's collar, and all 
 the water ran out of the pond. 
 
 "Well, our time is come at last," said Bulrush to 
 the other frogs when he got home ; " I have found 
 it all out," 
 
 "What have you found out. Bulrush.'" cried the 
 frogs. 
 
 "Why, that there is a Silver Fish in the pond, 
 who wears a collar of gold with the Queen's emerald 
 in it, and that if we can get this collar off his neck, 
 all the water will run out of the pond." 
 
 "Will it.^" cried the frogs. "What a good thing; 
 and how clever you are. Bulrush." 
 
 "I know I am," said Bulrush; "and now listen to 
 me." Then Bulrush told the frogs about his net, 
 
THE SILVER FISH. 39 
 
 and liow the j'oung Gold Fish was to drive Silver 
 Fish into it. 
 
 "Siiver Fish," said Jumper; "how do you know 
 he is the right one ? pcihaps he is called Silver Fish 
 because he is gold, and not silver. I say, drag the 
 pond, and get all the fishes out." 
 
 "Yes," cried the frogs; "drag the pond, and get 
 all the fishes out. The upstarts have been in it long 
 enough." 
 
 "Hold your tongue," said Bulrush very sharply; 
 **let us get Silver Fish out first, then we will drag 
 the pond after that if you like." 
 
 All the frogs now harnessed themselves to the 
 net, and dragged it from the well across the garden 
 to the pond, in front of the palace. Bulrush then 
 gave the signal he had agreed upon with the traitor, 
 three croaks, each a little louder than the last, and 
 immediately the young Gold Fish, who was on the 
 watch, put his head out of the water. It was a clear 
 moonlight night, and he saw Bulrush and the other 
 frogs all standing in a row on the o.'X'gQ. of the pond. 
 
 "Dear me, Bulrush," he whispered, "how many of 
 you there are." 
 
40 THE SILVER FISH. 
 
 "The net is heavy," answered Bulrush; "so my 
 friends have helped me to carry it." 
 
 " Dear me ! " said the young Gold Fish, who began 
 to feel uneasy ; " what a large net to catch only one 
 fish ! " 
 
 " Come, no nonsense," said Bulrush ; " where is Silver 
 Fish ? " 
 
 " I think I would rather not tell you," answered the 
 young Gold Fish, diving down. 
 
 He thought to hide in a hole, and be sat;: there ; 
 but it was too late, 
 
 "Cast the net," cried Bulrush, in a rage, '-that 
 fish is a traitor ! " 
 
 Jumper, who was on the other side of the pond, 
 set his frogs to work, and Bulrush set his ; and the 
 net was thrown, and the pond was dragged, and the 
 fishes, who woke up in a fright, tried to hide and 
 could not ; and they were all taken out and caught 
 by the frogs, and thrown in a heap on the sand and 
 gravel. 
 
 "Now," said Jumper, with a croaking laugh, "let 
 us go home and leave these fine fellows there." 
 
 "No," said Bulrush, "that will never do; the Queen 
 
THE SILVER PIS If. 41 
 
 voukl know what wc liavc been about, and punish 
 us, for \-ou know she is very strict. W'e must throw 
 all these fishes back ajain into the water, exceptiiv^ 
 Silver Fish. He is a little fish with a gold collar 
 and an emerald in it : you will know him quite 
 easily. Bring him to me when you find him. I 
 wish to take his collar ofi" with m\' own hands, and 
 to see the water run out of the pond. I think, too, 
 we shall leave Silver Fish out. He will die, of course ; 
 but then the Queen will think the other fishes have 
 done it, and, at all events, she cannot give him 
 another collar if he is dead, you know." 
 
 The frogs would rather have left all the fishes out 
 of the water, and killed every one of them ; but they 
 were afraid of the Queen. They did as Bulrush told 
 them, and began tumbling the fishes about and look- 
 ing for little Silver Fish. Now, just fancy what Silver 
 Fish felt when he heard Bulrush. He was lying 
 under a heap of other fishes all panting, all full of 
 gravel, all feeling just ready to die, and all thinking 
 that the end of the world had surely come, when 
 gold and silver fishes could be so treated. Some 
 shed tears, some begged for merc\', some abused the 
 
42 THE SILVER FISH. 
 
 frogs, and some called on Silver Fish to help them. 
 But Silver Fish said never a word. He covered him- 
 self with earth as well as he could, so that he was 
 all black with mud, and that you could see nothing 
 of his gold collar ; he got on his back to hide his 
 emerald, then he shut his eyes and stiffened him- 
 self out as if he were dead, and lay quite still. All 
 this time the frogs were pulling the poor fishes 
 about, looking for Silver Fish with his gold collar 
 and his emerald, and sneering at every fish they 
 handled. 
 
 " Go and clean yourself, my fine fellow," they said 
 to one, as they threw him back- into the water. 
 
 " Where is your gold .'' " they said to another, who 
 was all gritty with sand. 
 
 "Stop," said Jumper, as he saw the young Gold 
 Fish, who had put his silver collar on just ready for 
 the emerald, as he thought — "stop, I say; do not 
 throw Jivn back, if you please. A gold fish with a 
 silver collar ! Here is our man," 
 
 " No, Jumper," said Bulrush ; " we want a silver 
 fish with a gold collar." 
 
 "Nonsense!" said Jumper; "they called him silver, 
 
7 HE SILVER El SIT. 43 
 
 because he was gold ; and they said his collar was 
 gold, because it was silver." 
 
 "Jumper, I am amazed at you," said Bulrush. "Do 
 you not sec that this fish has got no emerald V 
 
 "Well, I suppose it fell out," answered Juniper, who 
 always would have the last word. 
 
 Now whilst Bulrush and Jumper were arguing, the 
 other frogs had thrown back all the gold and silver 
 fishes into the water save little Silver Fish. He was 
 so dirty, poor fellow, that there was no knowing now 
 whether he was gold or silver ; not a sign of his 
 collar could the frogs see for the mud ; and, as he 
 lay on his back, his emerald was hiJden. The frogs 
 could have seen it if tiiey had turned him over ; but, 
 somehow or other, they never thought about that. 
 
 " He has no gold collar," said a frog. 
 
 " He has no emerald," said another. 
 
 " He is dead," said a third, " let us throw him in to 
 his friends. Since they are so hungry they had better 
 eat him." 
 
 All the frogs laughed and nudged each other, and 
 one winked and said, "Don't hurt his feelings!" 
 
 With that they tossed Silver Fish into the water, 
 
44 THE SILVER FISH. 
 
 and stood to see him float, since that is the way of all 
 dead fishes. But Silver Fish was not dead, and he 
 did not float. No sooner was he in the water than 
 he became quite lively, and swam about to clean him- 
 self. Presently his little silver coat shone as bright 
 as bright could be, and lo ! there was the collar of 
 gold round his neck, and the beautiful emerald in it, 
 so bright and sparkling, for it was such a lovely 
 moonlight night that all the frogs could see it quite 
 plainly. Well, when the frogs saw that the dead fish 
 was a live fish, and that he was Silver Fish with the 
 collar of gold, and the emerald in it, they were in 
 such a rage as frogs never were in before, but the 
 angriest frog of all was Bulrush. 
 
 " Now, you idiot ! " he cried, shaking his fist at 
 Jumper, and giving the young Gold Fish a kick, "is 
 that Silver Fish ! Come," he added, turning to the 
 other frogs, "let us throw in the net again, and catch 
 him ! " 
 
 "Yes, yes," cried the frogs, "let us catch him, the 
 traitor, who was alive and pretended to be dead 1 " 
 
 "More easily said than done!" laughed Silver Fish, 
 diving down. And, indeed it could not be done at 
 
THE SILVER FISH. 43 
 
 all, for when the frogs thought to throw tlicir net 
 again, they found that the weight of the fishes had 
 made a great big hole in it, and that it was worth- 
 less. 
 
 "Bulrush, what shall we do with this fish?" said 
 Jumper, pointing to the young Gold Fish. 
 
 "Let him lie there and die!" croaked Bulrush, in 
 his deepest voice. 
 
 "Bulrush, what shall we do with ourselves?" asked 
 Jumper, scratching his head. 
 
 "Go home," snarled Bulrush ; and home all the frogs 
 went, leaving the young Gold Fish on the edge of the 
 pond, with his silver collar round his neck. 
 
 And now the gold and silver fishes had got a lesson, 
 and they begged little Silver Fish to forgive them ; he 
 did so willingl}-; but that gave them back neither bread 
 nor cake, and they might have starved if the Queen 
 had not luckily come home in time to set matters 
 right. When she went to the pond, she found the 
 j'oung Gold Fish lying there in a d\-ing state. Though 
 much exhausted, he could still speak, and had breath 
 enough left to tell the Queen of his treason, and of the 
 misdeeds of Bulrush and the frogs. The Queen turned 
 
46 
 
 THE SILVER FISH. 
 
 out her prime minister at once for having been too fond 
 of h'ing in bed, gave the cook warning for not having 
 obeyed her orders, and had the well stopped up, so 
 that the frogs could never get out again, and make 
 mischief Bulrush died with spite, but Silver Fish was 
 ^ing all the days of his life. 
 
"The Queen lurned out her Prime MiiiUicr at unce, and gave ihe cook waniing ' 
 —Pa^' 46. 
 
'old F.N HEN lived in Fairyland 
 with the Silver Peacock and the famous Blue Bird, 
 whom every one has heard of. These two had been 
 in the world, but the Golden Hen had never left home. 
 She got tired of living in Fairyland all the days of 
 her life, and one day she said to her friends : 
 
 " I too must go out into the world. I find it dull 
 to waken in Fairyland, to eat in Fair^-land, and to 
 sleep in Fairyland. I must have a change." 
 
4S THE GOLDEN HEN. 
 
 - " Take care," said the Silver Peacock ; " I went Into 
 the world and I repented it." 
 
 " And you know," put in the Blue Bird, " that if you 
 <^o go, you cannot come back for a year and a day." 
 
 But the Golden Hen would not be advised. She flew 
 awa}' out of Fairyland, and fleW and flew until she came 
 to the world at last. It was a long journey, and the 
 Golden Hen felt very tired when she alighted upon a 
 corn-stack. She was very hungry too and began to peck 
 at the corn. Some hens from a neighbouring farm 
 had been let o\it into the field, and the Golden Hen, 
 who liked company, thought she would join them. 
 After a while she flew down and pecked with the 
 other hens, and as no one seemed to mind her, she 
 went home with them in the evening. When the far- 
 mer's wife came out with her apron full of corn to feed 
 the fowls, she saw this beautiful hen, and wondered 
 where she came from ; but she did not drive her away, 
 for she thought, " She has got astray, but I shall keep 
 her. She is a wonderful creature and shines like real 
 gold." So the Golden Hen roosted with the other 
 hens that night, and went out with them the next 
 morninfT. 
 
THE GOLDEN I/EN. 49 
 
 Fairy birds never lose their feathers in Fairyland, 
 but when they leave it and choose to travel, they fare 
 just like other birds. As the farmer's wife was look- 
 ing for new-laid eggs the next morning, she saw three 
 yellow feathers, that shone and glittered like gold, lying 
 in the straw. She picked them up and found that 
 they were gold indeed, and so fine and so pure that 
 she had never seen any to compare with it. Now this 
 woman was a great miser. She threw down her eggs 
 for fear the Golden Hen should escape; she ran after 
 her, caught her, and began plucking her as, fast as 
 she could and as much as she dared without killing 
 her outright. The Golden Hen screamed and strug- 
 gled, but it did not help her a bit ; the farmer's wife 
 would not let her go till she was all torn and bleed- 
 ing. 
 
 " Ah ! " thought the Golden Hen, " I wish I had 
 minded the advice of the Silver Peacock, for what is 
 to become of me, if, as the Blue Bird says, I must 
 remain a year and a day in a world where I have 
 already been used so ill." 
 
 After a while, however, the Golden Hen began to 
 
 think that every one might not be so cruel to her as 
 
 D 
 
so THE GOLDEN HEN. 
 
 the farmer's wife had been, and that she might fare 
 better if she went farther. So whilst the other hens 
 were pecking in the stubble, she slipped away into a 
 little wood hard by and hid there ; and at night, instead 
 of going back to the farm, she went up to roost alone in 
 a tree, where she remained nearly the whole of the 
 next day. The farmer's wife came to seek for her in 
 the morning, threw corn about and called her ever so 
 coaxingly, but the Golden Hen was not to be caught 
 again. She stayed safely hidden till her enemy had 
 long been gone. Then she came down and pecked a 
 little corn and flew up again on the least noise. 
 
 The farmer's wife came again to the wood the next 
 day, and the Golden Hen up in her tree thought : " Ah ! 
 well, I shall be caught this time." But she need not 
 have been so frightened. The woman only picked up' 
 the corn which she had scattered, and neither called 
 the Golden Hen nor tried to find her, for on looking 
 that morning at the feathers which she had plucked 
 from her, she had found that three only, and they 
 were not large ones, were gold, whilst the others were 
 common yellow quills. When the Golden Hen sheds 
 her feathers they are real gold, but when any one 
 
THE GOLDEN- HEN. 51 
 
 robs her of them, they are just yellow feathers and no 
 more. 
 
 The corn being gone, the Golden Hen was nearly 
 starved that day ; she also felt rather dull, for she hatl 
 always been used to company. " I cannot bear this 
 life any longer," she thought, " I must eat and I must 
 have society." She left the wood at once and went 
 pecking on the way, until in the evening she came to 
 a large farm, twice as large as the first. There were 
 more hens than you could count in the yard of that 
 farm, and the Golden Hen, peeping in at them through 
 the bars of the wooden gate, thought to herself; " There 
 are so many hens here, that if I can once get in 
 amongst them no one will ever find me out." She 
 waited till the henwife's back was turned, then slipped 
 in unseen. The other hens, seeing how ill she was, 
 were kind to her. They let her in amongst them, 
 allowed her to feed and roost with them that night, 
 and to go out with them the next morning. 
 
 For six days the Golden Hen remained on the farm, 
 and no one save the other hens was the wiser for it ; 
 but on the morning of the seventh day, as the farmer 
 watched the henwife counting the eggs, he overheard 
 
SZ THE GOLDEN HEN. 
 
 a little white hen saying: "And so you really are the 
 Golden Hen, and your feathers are real gold. Well, to 
 be sure, how wonderful I " 
 
 " Hush ! " said a black hen, " the master is there, 
 and you know he understands all we say." 
 
 Unfortunately for the Golden Hen, this was too true. 
 The farmer had both heard and understood what the 
 little white hen said, and on learning that the Golden 
 Hen was actually on his farm, he had all the gates 
 and doors shut, and the hens driven into a corner of 
 the yard. He soon spied out the Golden Hen, though 
 she tried hard to hide behind the others, and having 
 caught her, he carried her to a room upstairs, where he 
 began plucking her. 
 
 " Some one has been at you before me," said he, as 
 he pulled out her quills ; " but if you escaped once, my 
 pretty hen, I shall take care that you do not escape 
 again." 
 
 When he had plucked the poor hen almost bare, he 
 locked her up in the room and put the key of the 
 door in his -pocket. 
 
 This farmer had a servant lad called Robin, who 
 was both inquisitive and cunning. He had seen 
 
THE GOLDEN HEN. 53 
 
 his master catch the Golden Hen, take her upstairs, 
 -and come down again without her. It so happened 
 that Robin had a rusty old key that opened the door 
 of the room in which the hen was locked up. As soon 
 as his master's back was turned he crept upstairs, 
 opened the door, and peeped in. In a moment the 
 Golden Hen slipped out between his legs, and flew 
 away through an open window. Robin could have 
 caught her again, but if he had tried to do so, his 
 master would have found out all about the key. He 
 therefore locked the door, crept downstairs very softly, 
 and let the Golden Hen get off. She made her way 
 out of the farm through a hole in the hedge, and 
 was far away when the farmer came in to feed her. 
 He was as mad as mad could be on finding that 
 she had escaped ; but it was some comfort to him 
 to remember all the golden feathers he had taken 
 from her. He went to look at them at once, and 
 instead of a heap of treasure he found ever so many 
 yellow quills that were worth nothing at all. 
 
 The Golden Hen had enough of the world by this, 
 and would have given anything to go back again to 
 Fairyland ; but as she could not do so till the year 
 
54 THE GOLDEN HEN. 
 
 and the day were out, all she thought of was to 
 get away from farms and farmers and farmers' wives. 
 She crept for a while along the hedge through which 
 she had escaped, then seeing that no one was by, she 
 got into a green field where a cow was grazing, and 
 from that again to other fields, till she came to one 
 where two little boys were gleaning. The Golden 
 Hen kept in the furrows so that they should not see 
 her, and stayed hiding there till it was evening time 
 and the children were gone. 
 
 These two boys were the orphan grandchildren 
 of a poor old widow who lived hard by, and early 
 the next morning they came to glean again. At noon 
 they sat down under a hedge, and began to eat 
 some dry bread. Each had a piece, a very little one, 
 for their grandmother was poor, and could give them 
 no more. The Golden Hen, who was hiding close 
 by, peeped at them through the hedge, and listened 
 to every word they were saying. They were talking 
 about the little sheaf of corn they had gleaned, and 
 rejoicing over it. They knew how glad their grand- 
 mother would be to get it, and they also hoped that 
 she would make them a cake with the flour. 
 
THE GOLDEN HEN. 55 
 
 "They are very poor," thought the Golden Hen. 
 "I fear they will not give me any of their corn ; and 
 they have so gleaned that there is none left ; but then 
 they are also very little. I scarcely think they will 
 hurt nie, and if they attempt it I can hide from 
 them." She came out of the hedge, and showed her- 
 self to the two children, but prudently kept at a little 
 distance. 
 
 " Oh ! what a pretty hen ! " cried the younger boy. 
 
 " The poor hen," said the elder one, " see how torn 
 and bare she is." 
 
 He threw her a piece of bread, but it was too near, 
 and the Golden Hen, who was getting mistrustful, did 
 not dare to come and take it. He then threw her 
 another piece farther away, and this she ate greedily, 
 for she was starving. Then the younger boy took an 
 ear of corn, and shelling it in his hand, he scattered the 
 grains, and the Golden Hen, getting bolder as she saw 
 how kind the children were, drew near and pecked it 
 before them. So they fed her till they had eaten all 
 their bread, and then they went away to glean in other 
 fields. The Golden Hen followed them at a distance, 
 and picked up a little corn on her way. When even- 
 
56 THE GOLDEN HEN. 
 
 iiig came the boys went home, and the Golden Hen 
 hid in a hedge, and stayed there all night. 
 
 The two boys came to glean again the next morn- 
 ing, and as soon as she saw them, the Golden Hen 
 joined them. They gave her some of their bread 
 again at noon, and this time she eat it quite tamely, 
 pecking it out of their hands, and when they went 
 home that evening the Golden Hen followed them. 
 When the grandmother of the two boys saw the state 
 the poor little hen was in, she was very sorry for her. 
 She gave her corn to eat, and water to drink, then she 
 stroked her softly, and having washed the clots of 
 blood from her feathers, she gently rubbed her with a 
 little butter, and as it was night now, and she knew 
 that the hen would want to roost, she settled a perch 
 for her in a corner of the cottage. 
 
 "Ah, well," thought the Golden Hen, as she flew 
 up on the perch and roosted, " I have met with kind 
 people at last." 
 
 Poor though the old woman was, she would not turn 
 out the little hen, but kept her for charity's sake. *' I 
 shall not miss the creature's corn," she said ; " besides, 
 how can I let her wander about and seek for a home "i 
 
THE GOLDEN HEN. 57 
 
 She is SO ill, poor thing, that no one would have 
 her." 
 
 " I see that I have found a home," thought the 
 Golden Hen, who heard her. " I shall stay here till the 
 year and the day are out, and then I can go back to 
 Fair\-land." 
 
 The Golden Hen took a long time to get well, but 
 at length her pretty feathers all came back, and she 
 shone so that the old woman and her two grandchil- 
 dren declared there had never been a bird like this. 
 She was a great pet with them, and never went out 
 for fear of falling into evil hands. She did not get 
 much to eat, for they were very poor ; but she knew 
 they did their best, and never grumbled. She had 
 been three weeks with them when the younger boy 
 found one of her feathers in the little yard where she 
 used to peck alone. He showed it to his brother, who 
 found another feather the next day. Their grand- 
 mother, not knowing that these feathers were gold, 
 left them to the children to play with. 
 
 It so happened that as the two brothers were play- 
 ing with their feathers one afternoon, a pedlar looked 
 over the hedge and saw them. He pushed the little 
 
58 THE GOLDEN HEN. 
 
 wicket door open, and called out to the old woman to 
 come and see his wares ; but he was looking at the 
 golden feathers all the time. 
 
 " I can buy nothing," said the old woman, coming 
 out, and wiping her hands in her apron, for she had 
 been washing; "I want nothing just now; besides, I 
 have no money." 
 
 The pedlar pressed her to no purpose, then after a 
 while he said : " Let me have these little yellow things 
 that your boys are playing with, and I will give them 
 some pretty toys instead." 
 
 As the boys asked no better, their grandmother con- 
 sented to the exchange. To one the pedlar gave a 
 drum, and to the other a horse and car for the two 
 feathers. 
 
 "Have you got any more of them?" he asked, as 
 he put them by. 
 
 The widow had saved up the feathers dropped by 
 the Golden Hen. She did not know their value, but 
 she thought them pretty. She replied that she had 
 seven more, and as the pedlar asked to see them she 
 went and fetched them at once. He was so anxious 
 to get them, that he offered her a gown for herself and 
 
THE GOLDEN HEN. 59 
 
 a cap for each of the boys in exchange for the seven 
 feathers. She gladly agreed to this, and was as 
 pleased with her bargain as the pedlar was with his. 
 From that day forth the widow and her grandchildren 
 saved up the feathers of the Golden Hen very care- 
 fully, and they had quite a heap of them by the time 
 the pedlar came again. This time they all got an 
 outfit for the winter, and a little money besides, for 
 the roof of their cottage wanted mending sadly. 
 
 Perhaps the Golden Hen did it on purpose, but she 
 certainly dropped so many feathers about this time 
 that it was quite amazing, and the next time the 
 pedlar came, the widow would take nothing but money 
 in exchange for her little treasure. With that money 
 she bought a cow, and rented some land, and hired a 
 stout .servant boy to till it. And still the Golden Hen 
 dropped her featliers, and the pedlar came and bought 
 them, and paid dearer for them every time he came, 
 for the widow, as she wanted money less, raised her 
 terms, and sold her feathers dearer and dearer. Well, 
 to make a long story short, by the time summer came 
 round again, the widow was a prosperous woman, and 
 had begun to build a house, and she had two cows 
 
6o THE GOLDEN HEN. 
 
 and a horse now, and hens and geese, and turkey- 
 cocks, but none of these were allowed to interfere with 
 the Golden Hen, who still had her perch in the corner 
 of the cottage, and roosted there alone every night. 
 
 The year and a day had been out a week, the 
 Golden Hen was now free to fly back to Fairyland, 
 but she liked her friends so well, that she could not 
 make up her mind to leave them. " I shall go to- 
 morrow," she used to say to herself, but when the 
 morrow came, she put it off for the next day again, 
 and so a whole week went by, and she could not find 
 it in her heart to go. "They want some of my 
 feathers still," thought the good little hen. "I shall 
 leave them when the house is built." 
 
 Now, as the widow and her two grandsons were 
 eating their dinner one hot summer's noon, the pedlar 
 suddenly looked in at them through the open window. 
 
 "Good-day to you, ma'am," says he. 
 
 " Good-day, master," answered the widow. " I have 
 got more feathers for you, if you want them." 
 
 " My good woman, I do not want feathers. I want 
 your bird." 
 
 " My bird ! " 
 
THE GOLDEN HEN. 6 1 
 
 "Yes, your hen. I want her, and you must sell 
 her to me." 
 
 The widow and the two boys cried out in a breath 
 that the hen was not to be sold. 
 
 "Well, it is no use hiding or mincing the matter," 
 said the pedlar; "but the fact is, that the goldsmith 
 to whom I sold the feathers, sold them to the Queen, 
 who made a necklace of them, then a crown, and who 
 now wants the bird, so just name your price." 
 
 The widow declared that nothing could tempt her 
 to sell the Golden Hen, but the pedlar assured her 
 that the Queen was bent on having her, and again 
 bade her name her price. 
 
 "If the Queen will take my hen from me, I cannot 
 prevent her," said the poor widow, crying, " but no- 
 thing shall ever make me sell my dear little hen." 
 
 The pedlar went away much displeased, and the 
 widow and her two grandsons could eat no dinner, 
 they were in such trouble. They could think and 
 speak of nothing but the Queen and their hen, and 
 they talked the matter over that same evening, whilst 
 the hen was roosting. 
 
 "Grandmother," said the elder of the two boys, "let 
 
62 THE GOLDEN HEN. 
 
 US put the hen in a basket and go away with her, so 
 far, so far that the Queen cannot overtake us." 
 
 " No," said his brother, " let us stay at home, and 
 give the Queen a feather a day if she will only leave 
 us our little hen." 
 
 The poor grandmother shook her head at all this. 
 She knew there is no bribing a queen, and no running 
 away from her. She also knew that queens will have 
 their own way, and she sadly feared that the Golden 
 Hen must be given up to her Majesty. Well, they 
 heard no more of the pedlar. He did not come the 
 next day, nor the next again, and on the third day 
 the widow and her two grandsons were beginning to 
 take heart, and to hope for the best, when the 
 younger boy cried : " Mother, I hear a great beating 
 of drums ! " 
 
 " And, mother," said the elder one, " I hear a great 
 galloping of horses." 
 
 " Ah 1 " said the grandmother, "the Queen is coming 
 for my Golden Hen." 
 
 And so she was. The Queen herself was coming to 
 take the Golden Hen away. Presently the drums left 
 off beating, and the tramp of the horses ceased, and 
 
THE GOLDE.\ HEN. 63 
 
 a gilt carrlac^c, drawn by eii^ht milk-white steeds, 
 stopped at the widow's door, whilst the Queen herself 
 alighted. She was dressed in blue satin, and had a 
 gold necklace round her neck, and a gold crown on 
 her head, and both were made out of the feathers of 
 the Golden Hen, 
 
 " My good woman," said the Queen, looking very 
 grand, " I hear that you have got the Golden Hen, 
 and I have come for her. Where is she .'* " 
 
 " May it please your Majesty," answered the widow, 
 dropping the Queen a curtsey, " I cannot part with my 
 hen. The children will break their hearts if they lose 
 her." 
 
 "Now do not, there is a good soul, do not go on 
 with such nonsense," said the Queen, "but just let me 
 see that hen of yours." 
 
 Even as she said the words, the Golden Hen, who 
 was in the yard all the time, flew up into an apple- 
 tree, and began flapping her wings, so that a shower 
 of golden feathers fell down on the grass below. 
 
 "Now, that is beautiful," cried the Queen, clapping 
 her hands, she was so pleased ; " I shall die unless I 
 get that hen. Page, go and catch her directly." 
 
64 THE GOLDEN HEN. 
 
 Page did as he was bid, and began climbing up 
 the apple-tree, where the Golden Hen was flapping 
 her wings and shedding her feathers all the time ; but 
 just as he stretched out his hand to seize her, the 
 Golden Hen flew away, high up into the air, where 
 the Queen and all the courtiers saw her soaring and 
 shining like a speck of gold in the light of the sun, 
 until she vanished entirely. 
 
 The Queen was so vexed at not getting the hen, that 
 she stepped back into her carriage and rode away with- 
 out saying a word ; and when the drums began to beat, 
 she made a sign with her hand that they should not. 
 
 When the widow and her grandsons were alone 
 they picked up the feathers which the good little hen 
 had shed, and there was quite a heap of them. The 
 two boys were ever so glad that their hen had escaped 
 from the Queen, and made sure that she would come 
 back to them in time ; but their grandmother guessed, 
 from all the feathers she had dropped before going, 
 that the Golden Hen did not mean to return ; and 
 she never did. On leaving the apple-tree she flew 
 away straight to Fairyland, where she has remained 
 ever since. 
 
Th.- GL.ldcii Hen began flapping lic-r wings so that a shower of guide 
 (ioHii on l!ic grass below." — J'a^i 6j. 
 
THE GOLDEN HEX. 
 
 65 
 
 The boys wore very sorry for tlie loss of the Gokieii 
 Hon, but they were comforted in time, and, thanks to 
 her partin;^ y;ift — for the Oneen bouL^ht all the feathers, 
 and paid handsomely for them— they were rich far- 
 mers when they grew up. 
 
63 SUNBEAM AND HER WHITE RABBIT. 
 
 made it as bright as the sun on a summer morning. No 
 one could see her and not feel glad, and when she went 
 to the village on an errand for her father and mother, who 
 lived a little way off, ever}' one welcomed her ; and it 
 was: "Good-morning to you, Sunbeam." "How are \'ou, 
 Sunbeam ? " or, " I am so glad to see you. Sunbeam." 
 And yet Sunbeam was only a poor man's child. 
 
 Her parents lived in a little cottage in a wild waste 
 place, almost surrounded by rocks. Sunbeam was fond 
 of climbing up there, and as she sat amongst the wild 
 flowers, she liked to watch the bees looking for honey. 
 She was not afraid of them, and they knew her quite 
 well, and liked to see her there. Sunbeam was sitting 
 thus one day with the bees around her, when a Big Bee 
 said to her, — 
 
 "Would you not like to stay with us, Sunbeam } It 
 is very pleasant up here with the wild th}'me and the 
 blue bells, and all that." 
 
 "Yes, it must be nice," replied Sunbeam ; "but you 
 see I must go home to father and mother." 
 
 " Well, I suppose you must," said the Bee, after con- 
 sidering a while. " I don't remember my father myself, 
 but I was very fond of my mother, as nice an old bee as 
 
SUNB/-^.V AXD IIER WHITE RABBIT. r>9 
 
 ever you saw, Sunbeam, and tlie best mother in the 
 vorld. But as I said, it is very pleasant up here, and 
 we have a very good hive in that old oak, and plenty of 
 lioney in it, I can tell }'ou." 
 
 "Yes, it must be pleasant in the old oak-tree," 
 answered Sunbeam ; "but then how could I get in ?" 
 
 " I am afraid you are too large," answered the Bee, 
 after looking at Sunbeam. " Well, never mind, my dear, 
 it is no sin to be big, and we like you all the same." 
 
 " Thank you," said Sunbeam ; " but what noise is 
 that which I hear below } " 
 
 "Oh! that is the Giant hunting. He is a dreadful 
 man — he spoils all our flowers with his hounds and 
 horses. I cannot endure the sight of him." 
 
 So saying, the Bee flew away in a pet. Sunbeam 
 looked down in the plain below her, and watched the 
 Giant riding by on his big black horse. He looked so 
 terrible, and he was so tall, that Sunbeam felt quite 
 afraid of him, and hid low among the rocks lest he 
 .should see her. But he did not, for the Giant, the hunts- 
 men, and the hounds were all pursuing a poor grey 
 rabbit and her young one, who was white as milk. The 
 grey rabbit flew across the plain and was caught and 
 
70 SUNBEAM AND HER WHITE RABBIT. 
 
 killed; but the little White Rabbit climbed up the rocks 
 and jumped right into Sunbeam's lap. She took him 
 in her arms and ran home with him, and the Giant, the 
 huntsmen, and the hounds were so glad to have caught 
 the grey rabbit that they never missed the white one. 
 
 Sunbeam was very fond of her White Rabbit. She 
 niade him a bed of moss and fern, and worked him a 
 pretty red collar and a pair of red garters, which she 
 put on him every morning. She took him with her 
 whenever she went to sit among the bees in the rocks. 
 Indeed, the bees and the White Rabbit became very 
 good friends. They did not mind his skipping about, 
 and kindly gave him up the wild thyme to nibble when 
 they had sucked and done with it. When Sunbeam 
 went to the village, the White Rabbit followed her, 
 walking very nicely on his hind legs, and "Sunbeam 
 and her White Rabbit " became a byword, for you 
 never saw the one without also seeing the other. So 
 sure as Sunbeam appeared with her golden hair, so 
 sure the White Rabbit was behind her. 
 
 Now it so happened that the Giant, who was getting 
 old, could not go out hunting any more, and lell into 
 very low spirits. He had heard of Sunbeam and her 
 
SUXBEAM AXD HEK WHITE RABBIT. 71 
 
 Wliitc Rabbit, and he thou^'ht he would Hke to have 
 her. 
 
 " I find that this castle of mine is getting very dark," 
 lie said to his wife; "go and fetch me Sunbeam. I 
 am sure she will make it quite bright again with her 
 golden hair. I shall also like to put my hands throu^^h 
 it, and see if it is gold. Besides, she has got a White 
 Rabbit, who will skip about the room and make me 
 laugh, for I have heard that he walks on his hind legs, 
 and he can dance, I daresay; and when I am tired 
 of him I can have him dished up for my supper. ' 
 
 The Giant's wife was a good woman, but she was 
 mortally afraid of her husband, and would not have 
 disobeyed him for the world. She went at once to 
 the little cottage in which Sunbeam's parents lived, 
 and she said to them quite politely, for she was a 
 very civil lady — 
 
 " If you please, where is Sunbeam .'" 
 
 "May it please your ladyship, Sunbeam is out," 
 answered Sunbeam's father. 
 
 "Ah, well," said the Giant's wife, "send her round 
 to me as soon as she comes home. My husband 
 finds that his castle is getting very dark, and he is 
 
72 SUNBEAM AND HER WHITE RABBIT. 
 
 sure Sunbeam will make it quite bright again with 
 her golden hair. He will also like to put his hands 
 through it, and see if it is gold. Besides, Sunbeam 
 has got a White Rabbit, who will skip about the room 
 and make him laugh, for he has heard that he walks 
 on his hind legs, and he can dance, I daresay," 
 
 But the Giant's wife said nothing about haying the 
 White Rabbit dished up for the Giant's supper. The 
 parents of Sunbeam were in sad distress at having 
 to give her up to the Giant ; but they did not dare 
 to say no. They knew besides that it would be of 
 no use, for if the Giant had set his mind on having 
 Sunbeam, why have her he would. They promised 
 to send her up to the castle when she came home, 
 and on that promise the Giant's wife left them. 
 
 When Sunbeam came home that evening her mother 
 had not the heart to send her to the castle. 
 
 "Let us keep her this one night more," she said 
 to her husband ; and he answered, " Yes, let us keep 
 her this one night more." 
 
 ".Sunbeam," .said her mother to her, "you must 
 get up early to-morrow. The Giant is ill, and you 
 will have to take some new-laid eggs to the castle." 
 
SUXBEAM AXD HER WHITE RADDIT. 73 
 
 " Vcr\' well, mother," answered Sunbeam. She did 
 not mind going- to the castle if the Giant was ill, for 
 she made sure that she should not see him. Sun- 
 beam slept in a little cot, and the White Rabbit's 
 bed of moss and fern was close to it. They both 
 went to bed as usual, and Sunbeam soon fell fast 
 asleep, but the White Rabbit did not. Towards mid- 
 night, when everything was very quiet in the cottage, 
 he got up on Sunbeam's bed, and gently scratched 
 her face with his paw. Sunbeam woke at once, and 
 saw him in the moonlight, which was shining brightly 
 through the window. 
 
 "Well," said Sunbeam, "what is it? Are you 
 thirsty.-* Shall I give you a drink.-*" 
 
 " I am not thirsty, thank you," answered the WMiite 
 Rabbit; "but don't talk so loud, Sunbeam, for I have 
 got something to tell you. If you take new-laid eggs 
 to the Giant's castle to-morrow, the Giant will keep 
 you. He finds his castle getting very dark, and he 
 is sure you will make it quite bright again with your 
 golden hair. He will also like to put his hands 
 through it, and see if it is gold. He wants me to 
 skip about the room and make him laugh, for he ha.s 
 
74 SUNBEAM AND HER WHITE RABBIT. 
 
 heard that I can walk on my hind le.c^s, and he fancies 
 I can dance ; and when he is tired of me he can have 
 me dished up for his supper." For the Wiiite Rabbit 
 could not merely talk, he also knew everything. 
 
 " Oh, what shall we do ! " said poor Sunbeam, who 
 began to cry. " I shall die witli fright if the Giant 
 puts his hands through my hair to see if it is gold, 
 and I shall break my heart if he has you dished up 
 for his supper." 
 
 " Don't cr}', Sunbeam," said the White Rabbit, "but 
 do as I bid }-ou. Get up as soon as it is dawn, and 
 open the door as softly as you can. We will go to 
 •the rocks and hide there, and take my word for it 
 the Giant shall not find us." 
 
 Sunbeam did as the White Rabbit told her. She 
 got up as soon as it was dawn, dressed herself, put 
 the White Rabbit's red collar and garters upon him, 
 then opened the door as softly as she could. Neither 
 Sunbeam's father nor her mother heard her, and Sun- 
 beam and the White Rabbit went up to the rocks 
 together, and hid there with the bees. Sunbeam 
 told them her trouble, and asked them to hide her 
 and the White Rabbit, but the Big Bee answered — 
 
SUNBEAM A\D HER WHITE RABBIT. 75 
 
 "We would liido }-ou if \vc could, Sunbeam, for 
 we like }'ou ; but \ou are too large to get into our 
 liive in the oak, }0u know." 
 
 "That is very true," said poor Sunbeam, cr) ing ; "I 
 wish I were not so big." 
 
 " Don't cry. Sunbeam," said the White Rabbit, " it 
 will all end well ; take my word for it." 
 
 Well, when the father and mother of Sunbeam 
 awoke, and found that Sunbeam and her White Rabbit 
 were gone, they were in sad trouble, for they thought 
 how angry the Giant would be. And he was in a fine 
 wa\' indeed, and sent all his dogs and all his men to 
 fetch Sunbeam. "Mind you bring me back Sunbeam," 
 growled the Giant, as he sent them, "and her White 
 Rabbit as well. I want to hang him with one of his 
 own red garters." 
 
 Neither the dogs nor the men could find Sunbeam 
 and her White Rabbit at the cottage. 
 
 "They are with the bees," said one man, "let us go 
 and look for them up in the rooks." 
 
 Now when Sunbeam heard the dogs, and saw the 
 men coming for her, «he wrung her hands, and cried 
 bitterly. 
 
76 sUjYBEam and her white rabbit. 
 
 "Oh! what shall I do if they get me," sobbed poor 
 Sunbeam, " I would rather be that bee than go to that 
 \vicked Giant's castle, and have him putting his hands 
 through my hair to see if it was gold." 
 
 "Would you," said the White Rabbit, "and what 
 should I be then ?" 
 
 " Why, you could be that pretty little ant close 
 by." 
 
 Well, the dogs now smelt the White Rabbit, and 
 began to bark, and the men saw Sunbeam, and cried 
 out to one another : " There she is," " We have got 
 her." But when they came up to the spot where 
 Sunbeam had been, the child was gone, and all they 
 saw was a little golden bee humming above the wild 
 thyme. 
 
 "I'll kill that bee," said one of the men in a rage; 
 but just as he was going to fling his cap at the poor 
 little bee, an ant stung his foot, so that he screamed 
 with pain. Up and down among the rocks went the 
 dogs and the men, but neither Sunbeam nor her White 
 Rabbit did they find, and the Giant had to do without 
 them. 
 
 The father and mother of Sunbeam were very glad 
 
SUNBEAM AXD HER WIinE RABBIT. 77 
 
 that she had escaped, but the\' wondered what had 
 become of her. They were afraid she was hungry, 
 and they went and looked for her among tlie rocks 
 with some bread and milk in a basket, which Sun- 
 beam's mother carried, but no Sunbeam wiih her White 
 Rabbit did they see, and when they called her no 
 answer did they get. Then Sunbeam's mother began 
 to cry. '• I am afraid our little Sunbeam is lost," said 
 she. 
 
 " I am afraid she is," answered her husband ; " yet 
 let us hope, wife. The White Rabbit is very clever; 
 he will take care of her." 
 
 When they were tired looking they went home and 
 went to bed, for it was night, and each dreamed of 
 Sunbeam that night. 
 
 "Wife," said Sunbeam's father, when he woke the 
 next morning, " I dreamed that I saw our Sunbeam 
 among the rocks, sucking the wild flowers, and the 
 White Rabbit was with her." 
 
 "Yes," said his wife, "and she was saving, 'I wish 
 I had some honeysuckle,' and the White Rabbit an- 
 swered : ' Tell your father to get you some."* 
 
 "Then I will," said Sunbeam's father. 
 
78 SUNBEAM AND HER WHITE RABBIT. 
 
 He toolc some 'iioneysuckle from his little garden, 
 and set it among the rocks, and the next night both 
 he and his wife dreamed of Sunbeam, and they saw 
 her sucking the honeysuckle, and laughing, and look- 
 ing as bright as ever. 
 
 Well, days, weeks, and months passed, and nothing 
 was seen or heard of Sunbeam. 
 
 Her father and her mother dreamed of her every 
 night, and she looked so happy that they became 
 comforted, the more so that the Giant was always 
 sending his wife to know if Sunbeam had come back, 
 because he found his castle getting darker and darker, 
 and he wanted Sunbeam more than ever. 
 
 " Better have our Sunbeam anywhere than with the 
 Giant," sa'd Sunbeam's father. 
 
 "A}-, better indeed !" said his wife. 
 
 They both died when Sunbeam, had been gone 
 seven years. The Giant's wife died too, and the Giant, 
 who was more wicked than ever, was left alone with 
 his grandson the Prince. He was called the Prince 
 i;,^ because his mother had been a princess. He was a 
 very handsome young man, rather tall, but not a giant, 
 and as good as his grandfather was wicked. The 
 
SLWHEAM AND HER WHITE RABBIT. 79 
 
 Giant, not having]: been able to ^cl Sunbeam with her 
 golden hair, had ^ot together all the gold he conld lay 
 his hands on instead. But thoui,di he had so much 
 gold that his castle was almost full, he found it getting 
 darker and darker every day. 
 
 "I have not gold enough," said the Giant; "but how 
 am I to get more.-' I am too old to fight now, and 
 the Giantess, who has twice as much gold as I have, 
 would not marry me. Perhaps she would marry 
 Prince, and come and live here, and bring all her gold 
 with her." 
 
 The Giant went and asked the Giantess, who was 
 his fifth cousin, if she would marry his grandson, and 
 bring her gold with her. The Giantess lived in a castle 
 hard by, and received her cousin very kindly. She 
 agreed to marry Prince, though she found him rather 
 short. "But then," said she, "we can put him upon 
 stilts!" 
 
 "And }'ou will bring all your gold," said the Giant. 
 
 '* To be sure I will," replied the Giantess, " and tell 
 Prince to get a pair of stilts and practice walking 
 with them, so that he may be quite steady on the 
 wedding-day." 
 
So SUNBEAM AND HER WHITE RABBIT. 
 
 The Giant went home and asked for Prince, but the 
 young man was out. 
 
 " Where is he," growled the Giant. 
 
 " May it please your Giantship," answered one of 
 his men, " Prince is up in the rocks. Prince goes there 
 every da}-." 
 
 " Does he," said the Giant, with a big frown, " well, 
 tell him to come and speak to me as soon as he 
 comes in." 
 
 Prince was up in the rocks, as the man had told 
 the Giant. He liked nothing so well as being there, 
 for as he sat resting there one day, he had amused 
 himself with watching a little yellow Bee, as bright as 
 gold, and very pretty, that went about humming 
 among the flowers, and what struck Prince much, 
 was that wherever the Bee went a little brown ant 
 followed and went too. When he came again to 
 the rocks, a few days after this, Prince saw the golden 
 Bee and its little brown ant again, and, indeed, day 
 after day he saw these two, and they knew him 
 as well as he knew them. One morning the Bee 
 was humming around his head when Prince said 
 to it: 
 
SUNBEAM AND HER WHITE RABBIT. 8i 
 
 " Come on m\' hand, Bee." 
 
 Immediately the little golden Bee alighted on his 
 finger, whilst the ant stood still under a blade of 
 grass, and waited. Prince was very much pleased to 
 see the Bee so friendly. 
 
 "I wish you could talk, Bee," he said, "and tell me 
 what I could do to please you." 
 
 But the Bee only gave a little hum, and after a 
 while flew away. Immediately the ant moved on, 
 and soon the two were gone. Now, this happened the 
 very same day on which the Giant went to see the 
 Giantess. 
 
 "Where have you been," growled the Giant, as soon 
 as the Prince came in. 
 
 " I have been to the rocks," answered Prince. 
 
 "Well, then, you will not go there to-morrow," 
 growled the Giant again. "You will have to go and 
 court the Giantess, whom you are going to marr\', and 
 mind you get a nice pair of stilts in order not to be 
 too short for her." 
 
 " Marry the Giantess," cried Prince, in a rage at the 
 
 thought ; " never." 
 
 " And I say you shall marry her," growled the 
 
 F 
 
tf2 SUNBEAM AND HER WHITE RABBIT. 
 
 Giant : he was always growling since he had lost his 
 teeth. 
 
 " Rut why should I marry her ?" asked Prince, 
 
 " Because she has ever so much gold, and that I 
 want gold," answered the Giant. " Gold is yellow, 
 and I like it.'' 
 
 " And I saw a yellow Bee to-day in the rocks," an- 
 swered Prince; "it was as yellow as gold, and I like it." 
 
 " A Bee," sneered the Giant ; " perhaps you want to 
 marry that Bee." 
 
 " I would rather marry her any day than the 
 Giantess," answered Prince, quite angry. 
 
 "A Bee is it.''" cried the Giant, in a passion; "well, 
 then, you shall marry that Bee, and Sunbeam's White 
 Rabbit shall be your bridesman." 
 
 What put Sunbeam's White Rabbit into his head just 
 then was more than any one could imagine. Perhaps 
 it was because Prince had come from the rocks where 
 Sunbeam and her White Rabbit had been so fond cf 
 going formerly. 
 
 " Marry the pretty little Bee I saw to-day," answered 
 Prince, laughing; "well, I ask no better, and I .shall 
 be jrlad to see a White Rabbit." 
 
SUNBEAM AND HER WHITE RABBIT. 83 
 
 The Giant stamped his foot and shook his fist, but 
 Prince would not marry the Giantess — they were a 
 stubborn family — and the long and the short of it was 
 tiiat the Giant said Prince should marry the Bee, and 
 that Prince answered, he asked no belter. 
 
 In order to scorn his grandson the more, the Giant 
 had a day appointed for the wedding of Prince and 
 the Bee. He sent out a great many invitations, and 
 they were all accepted, for every one wanted to see 
 a Bee married. The Giantess, however, was too much 
 affronted to come, tiiough she only pretended to laugh, 
 and asked if Prince meant to wear the Bee in his 
 bonnet. The Giant also had presents prepared for 
 the bride, a gold crown and necklace, and wedding 
 clothes made for a good sized Bee; the wedding dress 
 was gold brocade, as stiff as stiff could be. The mar- 
 riage was to take place up in the rocks, and there, on 
 the wedding morning, the Giant went with Prince, who 
 looked very handsome in white satin, and forty fiddlers 
 walked behind them, all playing, and as many lords 
 and ladies as could be got together, and all so 
 beautifully dressed that every one agreed there had 
 never been a wedding so grand as was this. Prince 
 
84 SUNBEAM AND HER WHITE RABBIT. 
 
 walked first, and as soon as he got up in the rocks, 
 the little golden bee came towards him, and lit on his 
 finger. 
 
 " Oh ! that is the Bee, is it ? " said the Giant. 
 
 " Yes," answered Prince, "that is the Bee." 
 
 " And what White Rabbit is that behind you } " asked 
 the Giant. 
 
 The Prince turned round and saw a White Rabbit in 
 a gold collar and garters. 
 
 " That is my bridesman," he answered. 
 
 "Well, then," said the Giant, "will you marry that 
 Bee } " 
 
 " Yes," answered Prince, " I will." 
 
 "And you. Bee, will you marry Prince.^" asked the 
 Giant. 
 
 " Yes," answered the Bee, " I will." 
 
 And scarcely were the words spoken when Sunbeam 
 appeared before them in the stiff gold brocade dress, 
 and with the gold necklace and the crown of gold 
 on her beautiful sunny hair, 
 
 Eveiy one was amazed and every one was glad. 
 The forty fiddlers began to pla\', and Prince took Sun- 
 beam straight home to the castle, with the White Rabbit 
 
^^^^sl^ 
 
 The forty fiddlers began to play, and Prince look Sunbeam straight liuine to the castle.' 
 —Pane 84- 
 
SUNBEAM AND HER WHITE RABBIT. 85 
 
 walking on his hind legs behind them, and a swarm 
 of bees went with them as far as the castle gate, but 
 would not go in for fear of accidents, though Sunbeam, 
 who was grateful for the kindness they had shown her 
 so long, pressed them ever so much. 
 
 "Thank you, Sunbeam," said the Big Bee; "but our 
 oak-tree was too small for you formerly, and your castle 
 is too large for us now. So good-bye, and come and 
 see us," With which the Big Bee flew away with all 
 the other bees after her. 
 
 The Giant was so pleased to have Sunbeam at last, 
 that he declared he did not care for the Giantess 
 and her gold now that he had Sunbeam and her 
 golden hair. Sunbeam agreed to let him look at it as 
 much as he hked, provided he did not put his hands 
 through it 
 
 The Giant promised that he never would, but made it 
 a condition that the White Rabbit should wear his gold 
 collar and garters and dance for him every evening. 
 This the W^hite Rabbit agreed to ; but he made it a con- 
 dition that the Giant should never have him dished up 
 for supper. When all this was settled the wedding 
 went on quite merrily, and every one was as good and 
 
86 
 
 SUNBEAM AND HER WHITE RABBIT. 
 
 as happy as every one could be for ever after, especially 
 Prince and Sunbeam ; and Sunbeam never forgot how- 
 kind the bees had been to her, but often went to sec 
 them with her White Rabbit behind her. 
 
MM 
 
 ^^EDCAP was the only 
 child of a widow who Hved by sifting the corn which 
 the farmers brought to her. She threw away the bad 
 seeds outside of her door, and they fell in the earth 
 and grew there, so that after a time her little house 
 was almost hidden in a grove of blue, red, white, and 
 
S8 REDCAP'S AD VENTURES IN FAIR YLAND. 
 
 )-ello\v flowers that smelt so sweet and were so pretty 
 to look at, that it was quite a pleasure to see them. 
 Redcap liked the red flowers best, and he always stuck 
 one or two in his cap, and that was how he came to 
 be called Redcap. All these flowers bore so much 
 seed that birds flocked to the place and built their 
 nests near it. They sang all the day long in spring, 
 and chattered all the year round, and there was 
 nothing Redcap liked so much as looking at the 
 flowers and listening to the birds. He only wished 
 he could know what they said when they talked to 
 each other ; and at length he asked the Magpie, who 
 was the greatest chatterer of all, and was always going 
 from one bird to another with his head on one side, 
 and ever such a knowing look. 
 
 " Dear me," answered Magpie, " I wonder you don't 
 understand them, Redcap ; it is as plain as A B C, 
 and they are all talking to you. ' Go to the Queen,' 
 they say. ' Go to the Queen, Redcap.' " 
 
 " Do they," said Redcap — " Then, Magpie, I see 
 what it is, I am to be a general — I always liked red — 
 and I must go to the Queen and tell her so." 
 
 " Then I shall present you," said Magpie ; " the Queen 
 
REDCAP'S ADVENTURES IX FAIRYLAXD. 89 
 
 is a ver\- intimate friend of mine, a good soul, a very 
 good soul is the Queen." 
 
 " Magpie," answered Redcap, " you shall stay at 
 home, if you please. What has a bird like you to do 
 with queens and generals ! " 
 
 " Oh, ho, my fine fellow," cried Magpie, " do you 
 think you can prevent me from going to see the Queen. 
 Mind my words. Redcap, I shall be at court as soon as 
 you are." 
 
 He flew aw^ay, and getting all the other birds around 
 him, he told them how Redcap was going to court in 
 order to become a general, and how he, Magpie, would 
 present him to his friend the Queen. 
 
 Redcap got up very early the next morning to go to 
 the palace, which was a long way off. He put three 
 red flowers in his cap out of compliment to the Queen, 
 and he stole so softly out of his mother's little house, 
 that he made sure Magpie could not see him. When 
 he got to the palace and asked to speak to the Quee:i, 
 the porter at the gate inquired into his business. 
 
 " I want to become one of her Majesty's generals," 
 answered Redcap. 
 
 The porter laughed, and calling an usher, he told 
 
90 REDCAP'S ADVENTURES IN FAIRYLAND. 
 
 him what was Redcap's errand. The usher laughed, 
 and went and told the Queen that there was a little boy 
 at the gate of the palace with three red flowers in his 
 cap, who wanted to become one of her generals. 
 
 The Queen laughed, and said, " Show him in." 
 
 As Redcap entered the room where the Queen sat 
 on her throne, Magpie alighted on his shoulder, and 
 perching there, said in his ear : 
 
 " Don't be afraid, Redcap, I shall talk to the Queen. 
 May it please your Majesty," he began. 
 
 " Let the boy talk, Magpie," said the Queen. 
 
 " May it please your Majesty," said Redcap, " I 
 always liked red, and I want to become one of your 
 Majesty's generals." 
 
 " I am very much obliged to you," answered the 
 Queen, "and I am sure you will make a very great 
 general indeed, but you must wait till a vacancy 
 occurs. Good-bye, Redcap." 
 
 With that she nodded to him, and told the usher to 
 show him out, and give him some lollypops. Redcap 
 went home with Magpie on his shoulder, talking all 
 the way. 
 
 *' Well, Redcap," said he, " I told you that I would 
 
REDCAP'S ADVEXTURES JN FAIRYLAND. 91 
 
 present you to the Queen, and you see all that has come 
 of it. You arc to become a general, and, in the mean- 
 while, you have got a lot of loll}-pops." 
 
 " Do you mean to say that you had anything to do 
 with it ?" cried Redcap. 
 
 " Now, Redcap," said Magpie, " you know she was 
 looking at me all the time !" 
 
 "She was looking at the red flowers in my cap," 
 answered Redcap, "and I don't think she even saw 
 
 n 
 
 you. 
 
 "You are very saucy," said Magpie, "and very 
 ungrateful; but never mind, I shall be kind to you for 
 all that." 
 
 With that he flew away, and getting the other birds 
 around him, he told them what fine things he had been 
 doing for Redcap, with the Queen. 
 
 Redcap thought to be appointed a general the next 
 morning or so, but when a whole week passed, and he 
 heard nothing about a vacancy, he could not help say- 
 ing to Magpie, with whom he had made it up: "The 
 Queen is not making a general of me, are you sure .t 
 was 'Go to the Queen' that the birds were saying.?" 
 
 "Of course it was," answered Magpie, "and they are 
 
92 REDCAP'S ADVENTURES IN FAIRYLAND. 
 
 saying it still ; but there are more queens than one, and, 
 between ourselves, I think they must have meant the 
 Queen of the Fairies. I have never seen her, but I know," 
 said Magpie, winking knowingly at Redcap, " that 
 she is dying to see me, and so I will present you, as a 
 matter of course, and show you the way to Fairyland." 
 
 " Thank you," said Redcap, " but I shall present myself 
 to the Queen ; and as to the road, I know very well that 
 Fairyland lies beyond a mountain which grows close to 
 my mother's house, and I shall get in somehow." 
 
 " Oh ! ho ! " cried Magpie, " you think you can do 
 without me, do you ? But I can fly, and you cannot ; 
 and I shall be in Fairyland as soon as you are. Good 
 night. Redcap. So there is a mountain which grows 
 close to your mother's house, is there } Well, I never 
 heard of mountains growing before." And Magpie 
 laughed as he flew away. 
 
 Early the next morning, long before daylight, Red- 
 cap got up, and stole out of his mother's house, making 
 sure that Magpie could not see him. But though he 
 went round and round the mountain, not a cranny 
 through which he might get in could Redcap find. At 
 length, when it was day, he climbed up in a tree which 
 
REDCAP'S ADVENTURES IN E AIRY LAND 93 
 
 grew high up in the mountain-side, and when he got up 
 on the very topmost bough, he saw Fairyland all below 
 him. He also saw the Queen, who was going out hunt- 
 ing, riding on a white horse, with all her gentlemen and 
 ladies about her, and Redcap thought he had never 
 seen such a fine sight. 
 
 "That's the Queen," said Magpie. "Bless her 
 Majesty, how well she looks 1 " 
 
 Redcap looked up, and there was Magpie perched 
 on his cap, and flapping his wings at the Queen of the 
 Fairies. Redcap tried to get him off, but he thereby 
 loosened his hold of the tree, and down he tumbled 
 straight into Fairyland. 
 
 "There ! " said Magpie, when he got up, " I told you 
 I should show you the way to Fairyland. This way, 
 Redcap," he added, strutting on before him, "shake 
 the dust off you, my boy, and don't be afraid. I shall 
 present you to the Queen, and do all the talking." 
 
 "May it please your Majesty," he began, going up to 
 the Queen of the Fairies. 
 
 " Let the boy speak, Magpie," said the Queen ; 
 "what do you want. Redcap .''" 
 
 " May it please your Majesty," said Redcap, •' I 
 
94 REDCAP'S AD VENTURES IN FAIR YLAND. 
 
 always liked red ; and I want to be one of your 
 Majesty's generals." 
 
 "Oh ! by all means," answered the Queen; "but you 
 must first change your cap. Give Redcap a cap," 
 added the Queen, addressing the fairy on her right ; 
 " and take him to the stables," said she to the fairy on 
 her left, "and let him choose a horse to his liking. For 
 before I make a general of you, Redcap," said the 
 Queen, " you must follow the hunt with me:" 
 
 So one fairy gave Redcap a cap that fitted him 
 beautifully, and the other took him to the royal stables 
 where Redcap chose a little black horse, called Swift. 
 The fairy warned him that Swift was rather dangerous, 
 but Redcap answered that he liked a horse of spirit, 
 and had him brought out at once. When he got into 
 the saddle. Magpie perched on his shoulder, and said, 
 quite loud : 
 
 '' Don't be afraid. Redcap. If that little fairy horse 
 should be vicious, I shall tell you how to manage him/* 
 
 Swift, on hearing this, was very much affronted, and 
 snorted and tossed his head angrily. 
 
 " Let him feel your spurs," said Magpie. 
 
 Redcap did as he was bid, and oft" went the little 
 
REDC^T'S ADV/-:\TL'KES LV FAIRYLAXD. 95 
 
 fairy horse with Redcap on liis back, aiul Ma^j^pic on 
 Redcap's shoulders. Swift went like the wind, and 
 Redcap was rather afraid, but Magpie flapped his 
 wings, and screamed with pleasure, and cried out : 
 
 " Faster ! faster ! I say. Keep up with the Queen, 
 Redcap I Don't let any one get ahead of you. Let 
 Swift feel your spurs, I say." 
 
 Redcap spurred Swift, who went faster and faster, 
 but who, instead of following tlie Queen, galloped with 
 all his might towards a large pond ; and when he 
 reached it stood still. The pond was full of golden 
 fishes, who all put up their heads and looked out of 
 the water to see Swift, Redcap, and Magpie. 
 
 " Don't be afraid. Redcap," said Magpie, " I shall 
 manage him. Come, my fine fellow," he added, alight- 
 ing on Swift's head, " I shall let you see who is master! 
 Clear that pond, I say." 
 
 Swift on hearing this kicked up his heels, and flung 
 Magpie off his head, and Redcap off his back. Mag- 
 pie .flew away, but Redcap fell right into the water. 
 His cap got off his head and floated, and Redcap 
 jumped into it at once, for the cap being a fairy cap 
 was as good as a boat. On seeing him in his cap, all 
 
96 REDCAP'S ADVENTURES IN FAIRYLAND. 
 
 the gold fishes burst out laughing, and called out 
 "Redcap! Redcap !" 
 
 " Never mind, Redcap," said Magpie, who had 
 perched on a tree ; " we shall pay these fairies out yet." 
 
 When the gold fishes heard this, they set up a great 
 cry, and went and complained to the Queen that Mag- 
 pie had threatened them. 
 
 " Did he ?" said the Queen ; " then turn him out." 
 
 Magpie was accordingly turned out of Fairyland at 
 once. He went back to the other birds, and told them 
 that the Queen of the Fairies had consented to make 
 Redcap one of her generals on his recommendation, 
 and that she had appointed him her ambassador, and 
 that he had so much to do, that he should never get 
 through it. Redcap was very glad to be rid of Mag- 
 pie, and he asked the Queen to let him mount Swift 
 again, and follow her. The Queen said yes, and gave 
 him a little whip, 
 
 " Just touch Swift with that," said she, " and he 
 will carry you safely ; and now let us all be ofif again." 
 
 So away went the Queen, and all her ladies and 
 gentlemen after her, and Redcap with the rest. But 
 though Swift seemed to behave very well, he owed 
 
REDCAP'S ADVENTURES I.V I- AIR VIA. WD. 97 
 
 R ';.\ip a grudge on account of Magpie, and as he 
 ran he asked all the fairies on his way to rid him of 
 that nuisance on his back. They were willing enough, 
 for thev saw how much the Queen was taken with him 
 and his red cap, and they were already jealous of him. 
 Swift, who was full of tricks, pretended to be taking 
 Redcap to the pond again, but Redcap said very 
 sternly, "Not there, if }-ou please, sir." 
 
 Upon which Swift turned right round, and what 
 should Redcap see before him, and between the 
 Queen and the hunt, but a field full of eggs white as 
 snow, and lying as thick as thick could be. Redcap 
 reined in, for he did not know what to do. If he rode 
 through the eggs what a mess he would be in, and if 
 he did not, how could he keep up with the Queen ? 
 Swift, on seeing him puzzled, was so glad that he 
 threw back his ears and laughed. 
 
 "Oh! ho!" says Redcap, "is that it .-^ then go on, 
 sir, and eggs or no eggs, follow the hunt, I say." He 
 gave him a touch of his whip. Swift stooped his head 
 and dashed through the Q^g?, and in a moment every 
 e.gg got a pair of wings and flew away, calling out — 
 " Redcap ! Redcap 1 '' 
 
98 REDCAP'S AD VENTURES IN FAIR YLAND. 
 
 "Well, Redcap," said the Queen when he came up to 
 her, "how are you getting on ?" 
 
 "May it please your Majesty," said he, "all the 
 fairies turned themselves into eggs to prevent me 
 from keeping up with your Majest}', and when I rode 
 through them, they flew away and called me Redcap." 
 
 " Dear me," said the Queen, " I see you have got 
 enemies. Take this sword, and when you are attacked, 
 defend yourself with it. And now let us be off again." 
 
 Away rode the Queen and Redcap after her. He 
 did not spare Swift, but made him keep up with the 
 Queen, and Swift was more angry than ever, and told 
 all the fairies on his way to rid him of Redcap. But 
 Redcap was so brave that the fairies did not know 
 what to do against him. They put their heads to- 
 gether, however, and presently Swift took Redcap 
 through a field full of beautiful red flowers. Redcap 
 was sadly tempted to get down and pick some, but he 
 thought better of it, and only made Swift go faster. 
 Then all at once a bee flew out of every flower until 
 the air was thick with bees. Turn where he would, 
 Redcap met nothing but bees. They buzzed so, that 
 he was almost deaf, and they shed such a yellow dust 
 
REDCAP'S ADVE.XJUKES IN FAIRYLAXD. 99 
 
 that ho was ahnost blinded. Swift, scciii;^^ him so 
 puzzled, threw back his ears and laughed. 
 
 •' Oh ! ho 1 " said Redcap ; " these must be the 
 enemies against whom the Queen has warned me." 
 
 He took out his sword and cut right and left around 
 him, upon which all the bees kissed their hands to him 
 and flew away, calling out — " Redcap ! Redcap !" 
 
 When Redcap got up to the Queen the hunt was 
 over, and the Queen asked him why he had not kci)t 
 up with her. 
 
 " May it please your Majesty," he answered, " I was 
 beset with fairies under the shape of bees, who buzzed 
 at me and shed their dust upon me, and when I cut 
 through them with the sword your Majesty had given 
 me, they flew away calling out Redcap." 
 
 " Well, Redcap," said the Queen, " I see you have 
 too many enemies to stay here. You must go home 
 for seven years, and then come back to me. Swift 
 shall take you to the borders of Fairyland. Mind you 
 do not lose your cap, your whip, or your sword. Good- 
 bye, Redcap." 
 
 The Queen gave him a nod and rode away, and 
 Swift took him at once to the borders of Fairvland 
 
loo REDCAP'S ADVENTURES IN FAIRYLAND. 
 
 When they came within view of the tree from which 
 Redcap had tumbled, there arose a great wind. 
 
 " Take care, Redcap," cried Magpie, who was perched 
 on the tree watching for him ; " you will lose your cap 
 if you don't mind." 
 
 When Redcap looked up and saw Magpie flapping 
 his wings at him, he was so enraged that he took out 
 his sword and threatened him with it ; but unluckily 
 in taking out his sword he dropped his whip, and in 
 stooping to pick up his whip with the point of his 
 sword, he let his cap fall off his head. He jumped 
 down to get it back again, but no sooner did Swift feel 
 him off his back than he snorted, kicked up his heels, 
 and galloped away, carrying off the sword, of which the 
 hilt had caught in his bridle. Redcap ran after him, 
 but there was no overtaking Swift, who only laughed 
 and called out "Redcap!" So Redcap turned back 
 to get at least the cap and whip, but they too were 
 gone. 
 
 "The fairies came and took them away," said 
 Magpie from the tree. "I screamed at them, and I 
 flapped my wings, but they took them all the same. 
 If you had minded me you would not have lost your 
 
REDCAP'S ADVENTURES IN FAIRYLAND. loi 
 
 cap! Well, well, better luck .next .time, and another 
 time too, do mind me, Redcap". 
 
 With that Magpie flevv'.a'svay,:^i3(j*\\'eflt'«a*n*e? "t^^ all 
 the birds how Redcap had come back from Fairy- 
 land without his cap, his sword, or his whip, and all 
 that because he would not mind him. 
 
 The first thing Redcap did when he got home was 
 to get another cap, and the next, to try and hunt 
 away Magpie ; but Magpie would not be driven away. 
 He was fond of Redcap, he said, and would be kind 
 to him all the same. So he came year after year, 
 chattering with the other birds, and telling them all 
 the grand things he had done for Redcap. 
 
 Although he had lost the cap, whip, and sword, 
 which the Queen had given him. Redcap greatly 
 wished to go back to Fairyland. He went to the 
 mountain and climbed up the tree, and looked down, 
 but though he saw Fairyland very plainly, it seemed 
 further away than the first time, and he did not dare 
 to drop into it Indeed, every time he went and 
 looked at it, Fairyland got to be farther and farther, 
 and at last it was so far that Redcap went no more, 
 but was content to sift corn with his mother. He 
 
I02 REDCAP'S ADVENTVRLS IX FAIKYLAAD. 
 
 would have beep .quite happy with the flowers and 
 the birds it it had noc been for Magpie. When he 
 grew I'.p, hf; biiik. •vm^clf ,a big house, and stayed 
 almost al\va\s within it, in order to have nothing to 
 do with Magpie; but it was no use, Magpie peeped in 
 at him through the windows, and screamed and flapped 
 his wings, and called out " Redcap." 
 
 So Redcap had to bear with Magpie after all, and 
 after a time he did not mind it. 
 
 \ 
 
fm mh Mifm 
 
 
 l-'RN had two brothers, Fire and Water. 
 
 She was reared with Water and loved 
 
 ^ MM^/ ^V'' '^'"^ dearly, for he was frolicsome, and 
 
 leaped about her, and laugfhed, and sancj- 
 
 w%. 
 
I04 FIRE AND WATER. 
 
 and Fern, who was always in a sort of dream, sat in 
 the shade, and listened to him, and looked at him 
 through her half- shut eyes, and thought him, in his 
 blue coat shot with green and trimmed with silver, 
 the handsomest lad that had ever been. But Fire had 
 been reared by his uncle. Sultan Sol, at the other end 
 of the world, and Fern was grown up when she saw 
 him first. She thought she must have fainted at his 
 appearance, she was so frightened, for Fire had red 
 hair to begin with, and the most angry -looking e\es. 
 
 " Oh ! don't come near nie ; pray don't I " cried poor 
 Fern, "or I shall die." 
 
 " Wait, my dear," said Fire, taking a pair of blue 
 spectacles out of his pocket and putting them on ; " my 
 uncle Sultan Sol gave me these for fear of accidents." 
 
 "Yes; but don't come near me," still cried Fern, 
 shrinking in horror. "You wear a scarlet coat, and 
 scarlet is a colour I never could bear." 
 
 Fire did wear a scarlet coat lined with gold, and he 
 thought it very fine ; but he wished to please Fern, so 
 he said again : 
 
 "Wait, my dear, my uncle Sultan Sol gave me a 
 cloak, that is the very thing. Just see." 
 
 So saying, he took a brown cloak out of his pocket ; 
 for it was so soft and so fine that he could make it 
 
FIRE AXD WATER. 105 
 
 up ever so small, and spreading it out, he put it 
 around him. 
 
 "That is my smoke cloak," he said ; " but to tell you 
 the truth I only put it on when I am out of temper. 
 So pray do not ask me to wear it often. Well, now 
 that it is on, you do not see my scarlet coat, do you t" 
 
 " Oh ! yes, yes, I do," replied Fern, shuddering, 
 "pray get another cloak, this is too thin." 
 
 " Oh ! I can make it as thick as I like," replied 
 Fire ; " only, the thicker it is, the more ill-tempered I 
 feel." 
 
 " Never mind," said Fern, " I cannot bear the sight 
 of scarlet." 
 
 Fire frowned and looked quite angry ; but he did 
 thicken his cloak, and so it thickened and thickened 
 till it looked almost black. 
 
 "Well, I suppose you will let me kiss you now," saiil 
 he, going up to Fern. But she uttered a little cr\'. 
 
 "Kiss mel"shesaid; "do you mean to scorch me up.'" 
 
 Fire, who was always ill-tempered when he had his 
 brown smoke cloak on, did not mind her a bit, and was 
 going to take her up in his arms and kiss her, when 
 Water leaped on his back, — he liked a practical joke, — 
 and clapped his arms around his neck. Now, Water 
 was always cool, and if there was a thing Fire hated. 
 
lo6 . FIRE AND WATER. 
 
 it was cold, besides people so rarely took liberties with 
 liim that he now got angry with his own brother. 
 
 "Let me go, will \'ou," he cried, foaming and hissing 
 with rage, " let me go, or I shall make you repent it." 
 
 "I am not afraid of you, old fellow," said Water, 
 laughing, and giving him a sly kick in the ribs. "You 
 cannot do anything to me, you know." 
 
 Fire tried to shake him off, but he could not; then he 
 thought to take off his spectacles and burn him up with 
 his angry eyes ; but Water had a little squirt ready for 
 him, and Fire put his spectacles on again in a hurry. 
 Then he attempted to pull off his cloak, but Water 
 breathed upon it so that the cloak grew thicker and 
 thicker, and Fire had scarcely breath left to cry out : 
 
 " I say, do you mean to smother me "i " 
 
 This sobered Water, who let Fire go, and declared 
 he meant it all as fun. The brothers became friends 
 again, but Fern would not let Fire come near her, 
 and though she agreed to love him, she informed him 
 that it must be at a distance. 
 
 "Well, then," said Fire, "I think I shall travel, and 
 see the world a bit." 
 
 "So will 1" said Water. "You will not mind my 
 leaving you, Fern, will you.''" 
 
 " Oh no," answered Fern, " I shall not." To say 
 
FIRE AiVD WATER. 107 
 
 the trutli, she was rather pleased that both her brotliers 
 should go away for a while. She could not help being 
 afraid of Fire in her heart, and Water had become 
 troublesome o{ late, he had such high spirits. 
 
 The two brothers agreed to travel together, and 
 Fern, still sitting in the shade, wished them a liapp\- 
 journey, and promised to wait for them there, and 
 not marry till they came back. 
 
 " Suppose we get you a husband. Fern," said Fire, 
 who was good-natured, and liked his sister, " a fine 
 bright young fellow, ever so lively .'*" 
 
 *' No, no," said Water ; " Fern wants a cool, steady 
 man ; don't you, Fern ? " 
 
 "You know nothing about it, either of you," said 
 Fern saucily ; " I want the Wise Man." 
 
 "What makes you want him, Fern ">." asked Water. 
 
 " Well, I want him because he is wise, and I am 
 foolish," replied Fern ; " besides, I have heard that 
 he lives in a wonderful place, and I have a fancy for 
 a house of my own. It is very pleasant, no doubt, 
 to live as I do ; but I should like shelter in winter, 
 and shade in summer." 
 
 " And when we have got the Wise Man, Fern," said 
 Fire, " are we to bring him to you, or to take you 
 to him .'" 
 
loS FIRE AND WATER. 
 
 " I don't know," answered Fern ; " but I do know 
 that I shall not stir. I have never walked one step, 
 and I am not going to begin now, am I ? I was born 
 sitting, sitting I will live, and sitting I will die." 
 
 Well, Fire and Water again bade Fern good-bye, 
 and went on their way. They promised Fern that 
 they would look for the Wise Man, also that they 
 would not quarrel ; but the brothers had not walked 
 half a mile when they began to disagree. It was 
 all about the Wise Man, and where he was to be 
 found. 
 
 " 1 know," said Fire ; " my uncle. Sultan Sol, has 
 a brass palace on the top of a burning mountain, 
 and I feel pretty sure the Wise Man lives there. Let 
 us go to it, and take this path to the right." 
 
 " No, no," said Water, " he lives in a clear glass 
 house on a green island. I have seen the place 
 again and again, and this road to the left will take 
 us to it in no time." 
 
 "As if a Wise Man would live in a glass house," 
 sneered Fire. 
 
 " Why not as well as in a brass palace on the top 
 of a burning mountain ?" asked Water, getting angry. 
 
 In short, the brothers had a quarrel, and only agreed 
 in one thing, and that was to part company. Fire 
 
FIRE AND WATER. 109 
 
 took the path to the rij^ht, and Water the road to 
 the left, and each turned his back on the other. 
 
 "Don't f;;et into trouble," said Water, noddinf^ over 
 his shoulder at Fire as he walked away. "You arc 
 a very mischievous fellow, you know, Fire." 
 
 " Not half so mischievous as you, with your sly, 
 quiet ways," answered Fire, blazing up ; " so don't 
 you get into trouble, brother Water." 
 
 " No fear of that," replied Water ; " I do good." 
 
 "And so do I," retorted Fire; and so they went 
 on quarrelling until they were out of sight and 
 hearing. 
 
 Well, they did get into trouble, both of them, for they 
 were mischievous when they meddled, and this was the 
 way of it. Fire walked on until towards night (and a 
 very cold night it was), he came to an old tumble-down 
 house just outside a town — for Fire likes town much 
 better than country. This house belonged to a Miser, 
 who lived in it alone with his little grandchild. Fire 
 pushed the door open, and walked into the kitchen. 
 He found the Miser there sitting staring at the grate 
 where two or three bits of coal were just going out, and 
 his grandchild crouched in a corner, and crying with 
 the cold. 
 
 " What is that child crying for .' " asked Fire. 
 
no FIRE AND WATER. 
 
 " Children are always crying," answered the Miser. 
 
 " That child cries because it is cold," said Fire, 
 
 "How can I help its being cold?" answered the 
 Miser. 
 
 "Make those coals burn," said Fire. 
 
 "I can't," said the Miser; "the bellows wants mend- 
 ing." 
 
 But it was not true, he only wanted to spare the 
 coals. 
 
 " I shall make them burn for you," said Fire. He 
 opened his mouth, and there shot up such a blaze as 
 you never did see, and Fire got into the blaze, and 
 roared up the chimney, shouting Hurrah 1 He got out 
 at the top, and leaped about the roof; and presently 
 the house, which was old, began to burn. Fire laughed 
 to hear it crackle and to see it shrivel up, and he never 
 thought of the child. He only thought what rare fun 
 this was. He soon found out, however, that fun gets 
 people into mischief. The Miser's house kindled the 
 house next it, and that lit another house, and so on ; 
 and though the Miser's house was the only one that was 
 burned down, all the people of the town agreed that 
 Fire was a mischievous fellow, and turned him out, 
 warning him never to show his face there again. 
 
 For a long time after parting from his brother, Water 
 
FIRE AND IV A TER. 1 1 1 
 
 met no one. and he felt rather dull ; but at length, 
 as he was walking b\' a little stream, he saw a Bride- 
 groom who was going to fetch his bride. " Good-morn- 
 ing," ."^aid Water, "we are walking the same wa}-, I 
 believe. I shall be glad of }-our company, master." 
 
 " I daresay you will, if you get it," answered the 
 Bridegroom, "but I want none of yours; I am going to 
 fetch my bride." 
 
 " Oh ! then I must go with \'ou," said Water ; " I 
 want to see the bride." 
 
 The Bridegroom laughed, and looked quite scornful. 
 See his bride indeed ! 
 
 " Why, surely," remarked Water, " a cat may look 
 at a king ! " 
 
 "As to that," replied the Bridegroom, sneering, "we 
 shall pass by here on our way home from church, so 
 if you will wait till we come back, you may look at 
 the bride, and welcome ; but you shall not come with 
 me." 
 
 Water was ver\- much affronted, but he did not 
 pretend to be so, and merely saying he would wait, he 
 sat down on a big stone ni;^di the little stream, whilst 
 the Bridegroom got into a boat, and rowed himself 
 across. At the end of an hour or so, there was a 
 great sound of music, sincriiTj-, and laughing, and 
 
1 1 2 FIRE AND WA TER. 
 
 Water snw the bridal party on the other side of the 
 stream. The bride was beautifully dressed, with a 
 wreath of flowers on her head, and the Bridegroom 
 walked by her side, as vain as a peacock. When he 
 saw Water he nodded and laughed. 
 
 " You may look at the bride now," said he. 
 
 " Thank you," answered Water. 
 
 The Bridegroom handed the bride into the boat, and 
 she sat down ; but just as he was going to get in and 
 sit down by her, the stream swelled and swelled until 
 it became a river, and the boat, with the bride in it, 
 went sailing down, and was soon out of reach. The 
 Bridegroom stamped, and tore his hair. The brides- 
 maids screamed, and every one ran up and down shout- 
 ing, and still the bride and the boat went floating down 
 till they came to a mill, and were stopped by the miller. 
 The stream was so swollen, however, that the Bride- 
 groom had to go down ever so far before he could find 
 a bridge, and join his bride. He shook his fist at 
 Water, he was in such a rage, but " Good-bye," said 
 Water, and he went away laughing. 
 
 Fire and Water had a good many other adventures of 
 the same kind whilst they were looking for the Wise 
 Man. They meant no harm, yet they always got into 
 mischief, and the last trouble thev had was the worst oi 
 
FIRE AXD WATER. 113 
 
 all. It SO happened, that after going round the world, 
 the two brothers came back to the very sput where they 
 had Darted, and that whilst Fire entered a forest at one 
 end, Water got into it at the other. Fire had not 
 walked long before he met a hare running for her life. 
 
 " What is the matter t " asked Fire. 
 
 " The Deer is hunting me," said the Hare, and she 
 was gone. 
 
 Presently the Deer came running bj', and Fire asked 
 him what was the matter. 
 
 " I am hunting the Hare," answered the Deer; " and 
 the Fox is hunting me." 
 
 After another while the Fox went past. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " asked Fire. 
 
 "I am hunting the Deer," said the Fox; "and the 
 hounds and the huntsmen are hunting me. ' 
 
 And he, too, was gone. 
 
 Then came the hounds and the huntsmen ; and when 
 Fire asked them what was the matter, " We are hunting 
 the Hare, the Deer, and the Fox," said they. 
 
 "Then I shall hunt them with >-ou," said Fire. 
 " Look, and see what I can do ! " 
 
 With that he opened his mouth and breathed, and 
 he shook his hair, and presently the branches of the 
 
 H 
 
114 FIRE AND WATER. 
 
 trees began to kindle, and after a while the forest was 
 in a blaze. 
 
 Now Water, after resting some time near an 
 aqueduct which crossed the forest, was going on again 
 when he heard a great uproar. 
 
 He looked, and saw the Hare running and panting. 
 
 "What ails you .^ " said he. 
 
 "Oh!" answered the Hare, "the Deer was hunting 
 me when Fire came and set all the forest in a blaze, 
 and now we shall all be burned to death." 
 
 Then the Deer came up with the tears running down 
 his cheeks. 
 
 "We must all die," said he; "it is no use going 
 away." And he laid himself down. 
 
 Then came the Fox. 
 
 " We shall be burned alive," said he. " I do not 
 care for the hounds now." 
 
 Then the hounds and the huntsmen, barking, shout- 
 ing, all came on together, and all gathered in one spot, 
 because there was no going any further through Fire 
 having hemmed them in, 
 
 '' Oh ho ! " said Water ; *' you are at your tricks, are 
 }'ou. my lad .'' Wait a bit ! " 
 
 With that he got on the aqueduct, and opened it 
 everywhere, till the river that was within came out 
 
FIKE AND WATER. 115 
 
 and spread over all the forest, and Fire had to put his 
 smoke- cloak on as fast as he could. But as the river 
 spread and spread and got hij;her and luL^her, tlie Hare, 
 the Deer, the Fox, the hounds, and the luintsmen all 
 cried out, " We shall be drowned. You are worse 
 than Fire. Let us out — let us out ! " 
 
 But Water only said, "Don't be afraid!" and he 
 walked away. 
 
 He had not walked far before he met Fire, and said 
 to him, *' Well, old fellow, you have been at your tricks 
 again ; but I have settled you." 
 
 " You have settled the Hare, the Deer, the Fox, the 
 hounds, and the huntsmen," answered Fire, " and you 
 ought to be ashamed of \-ourself" 
 
 Uj)on that they had another quarrel, and they only 
 made it up when they heard a great hue and cry 
 behind them. They looked, and saw the Hare, the 
 Deer, the Fox, the hounds, and the huntsmen all 
 pursuing them, for they had escaped somehow, and 
 they had agreed to hunt Fire and Water and kill them 
 if they could. Fire and Water had now to run for life, 
 and they ran till they were far out of the forest, and 
 they came to a cavern, where they got in to hide. At 
 first they saw nothing, it was so dark, but after a 
 while they were aware of a little man who sat on a 
 
ii6 FIRE AND WATER. 
 
 Stone with a big black dragon at his feet. They 
 were so frightened at the sight of the Dragon that 
 they wanted to run away, but the httle man called 
 them back. 
 
 " Who are you ? " he asked. 
 
 " We are Fire and Water," they answered. " And 
 who are you .'' " 
 
 " I am the Wise Man." 
 
 Fire and Water were very glad to have found the 
 Wise Man at last ; but they did not dare to go nearer 
 to him on account of the Dragon. 
 
 " Don't be afraid of him," said the Wise Man ; " I 
 have only just finished him, and he will not stir hand 
 or foot. He is the finest Dragon that ever was, but 
 he is also the laziest. I have coaxed him, I have 
 threatened him, I have just given him a whipping, and 
 he will not stir. I wanted him to take me about, for 
 I am tired of being here, and as you see, I harnessed 
 him to a nice little car, in which I was to sit, but if he 
 will not go, what am 1 to do ?" 
 
 "Does he bite V asked Water. 
 
 " Bite 1 I tell you he will not stir." 
 
 *' I shall make him stir," said Water. 
 
 "Yes," said Fire, " I think we can make your Dragon 
 gallop if we set about it." 
 
"'^m^^:^:^;^^''^^ 
 
 'They were no iri^i 
 
 ihcy waiKed to run away.' 
 
FIRE AXD WATER. 117 
 
 Water went and opened the Dragon's back, and 
 got inside of the beast, and shut himself up again. 
 Then Fire leaped on the Dragon's neck, and taking 
 liold of Ills horns he urged him to go. At first the 
 Dragon wouUi not stir, but looked blacker and more 
 suiky than ever. Then when he felt Water within him, 
 and Fire on his back, he got angry. His big eyes 
 glowed like two coals, and he bubbled and hissed and 
 spluttered till even the Wise Man kept at a distance from 
 him ; but neither Fire nor Water were afraid. Water 
 stayed within him, and Fire worked his horns, till the 
 Dragon could bear it no longer, and with a great snort, 
 and the smoke and steam coming out of his nostrils, 
 darted out of the cavern. 
 
 "Stop, stop," cried the Wise Man, "don't go without 
 me." 
 
 He had only time to jump into his little car, for once 
 the Dragon was off neither Fire nor Water could stop 
 him, when they were out scouring through the country. 
 As the}' fiew along they met the hunt still in pursuit of 
 the two brothers. On seeing Fire, the huntsmen raised 
 a great cry, and urged their horses ; but Fire gave the 
 alarm to Water, and the two managed the Dragon so 
 well that the Hare, the Deer, the Fox, the hound.s, and 
 the huntsmen were out of sight in no time. 
 
Ii8 FIRE AND WATER. 
 
 Fern was terribly frightened when she saw the black 
 Dragon, and Fire getting off his back, and Water coming 
 out of his inside; but when the Wise Man stepped out 
 of his litt'.e car and praised her brothers for the clever 
 way in which they had managed his big black Dragon, 
 Fern was better pleased. Still she could not agree to 
 marry the Wise Man till he had promised to build her 
 a beautiful palace all of glass, which he did without 
 loss of time. When the palace was built the Wise Man 
 put Fern in it, and took her away in his little car. 
 Water got inside the Dragon, and Fire on his back, and 
 off they went again, and from that time forward Fire 
 and Water agreed. 
 
•• He had promised to build her a beautiful palace all of gla^s."-- ''-iT' "8 
 
f'LRE was once 
 
 upon a time a 
 
 poor widow who 
 
 liad tiircc little 
 
 boys. Their names were Dick, Jack, and Bill. Ihcy 
 
 were all born on the same day, and were very much 
 
 alike, for they all had curly brown hair, blue eyes, and 
 
I20 TIPSY'S SILVER BELL. 
 
 round rosy faces. They lived with their mother in a 
 poor little house, which was the very last in all the 
 town ; but which the widow kept so neat and clean 
 that it was a pleasure to see it. There were plenty of 
 fairies in those daj's, and they liked best such people 
 as were tidy in their ways. The widow knew this and 
 did not let her boys forget it. 
 
 " Keep )'ourselves nice," said she to Dick, Jack, 
 and Bill, " and the fairies will surely be kind to 
 you." 
 
 The widow lived by sewing ; but though she rose 
 early, worked hard all day, and went to bed late, she 
 found it so hard to make both ends meet that, when 
 her boys were only six years old, she prenticed them 
 all three — Dick to a tailor, Jack to a shoemaker, 
 and Bill to a saddler. The boys slept at home, but 
 went together every morning to their masters, wlio 
 lived in the same street, and were next-door neigh- 
 bours. Every one wondered at the widow for setting 
 her boys to work whilst they were still so young, and 
 everybody laughed at her as well ; for, as these wise 
 people said ; " Who ever heard of prenticing boys of 
 six ? " 
 
r/rsv's SILVER bell. 121 
 
 But thouj^h they were very young, the widow's boys 
 were quick; and before the first year of their appren- 
 ticesiiip was out, Dick liad made a little coat about the 
 size of n-.y hand, and Jack and Bill a pair of shoes 
 and a saddle to match. The widow was so pleased, 
 and so proud as well, of this coat, pair of shoes, and 
 saddle, that she hunj them up in her window so that 
 every one who went by might see them. Many 
 people stopped to look at them, they were so pretty ; 
 but every one agreed that the coat and the pair of 
 shoes would fit none but fairies, and that none save 
 a 'fairy horse could ever wear that saddle. Even 
 the masters of the boys grumbled so at these little 
 things, saying they were only nonsense, that the 
 widow took them down and hid them away out of 
 sight. 
 
 The day that she put them by was a half holiday, 
 and the three brothers spent it at home. They made 
 a large kite, and asked their mother if they might 
 not go and let it fly in some fields just beyond their 
 house. She said they might, provided they did not 
 attempt to enter the forest. That forest had a bad 
 name in the town, and these boys were afraid of it. 
 
122 TIPSY' S SILVER BELL. 
 
 They promised not to go near it, and went off to fly 
 their kite. At first it would not rise, because there 
 was no wind at all; but presently there came a strong 
 breeze, and the kite went up, up, till all of a sudden 
 the breeze became a gale, which snapped the cord 
 out of the hand of Bill, who held it. Away flew the 
 kite, and away ran the three brothers after it. The 
 kite, however, rose higher and higher, until at length 
 it entered the forest ; and before the bo\-s had thought 
 about it, they were in it too. 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " said Dick, " we had promised mother 
 not to do it." 
 
 " We did not mean it," said Jack. 
 
 "Yes," said Bill; "and since we are in, and are sure 
 to be scolded, let us get the kite if we can." So they 
 followed the kite, which went sailing along between 
 the trees, till it got caught in the topmost bough of 
 an old oak that grew close to a large pool of water. 
 There was no getting at the kite there, and the 
 forest looked so dark and wild that the three brothers, 
 who felt afraid, were thinking of going home at once, 
 when they heard the sound of a little bell in the dis- 
 tance. It came nearer and nearer, and presently they 
 
77.^^ y 'S SIL VEK BELL. 123 
 
 saw ruimin;:^ towards them a little gre\'hound white 
 as milk, and who was the most beautiful creature 
 they had ever set their e\-es on. Me wore a gold 
 collar round his neck, and fastened to the collar was 
 a silver bell, which made the sweetest music in the 
 world. It tinkled as he ran ; and the day, which had 
 been so black and stormy, became all bright with 
 sunshine ; the whole forest was lit up and looked 
 green and gold ; every bird began to sing ; and, what 
 was more wonderful, all the creatures of the forest 
 began to talk, and the three brothers understood what 
 they said. 
 
 " Is that Tipsy going by ?" asked the little Squirrel, 
 who was perched on a bough cracking his nuts 
 there. 
 
 The Rabbit, putting his head out of his warren, 
 replied: 
 
 " It is Tipsy ; don't you know him by his silver 
 bell.>" 
 
 " Ha, ha ! " laughed the Fox. " Tipsy's silver bell 
 is loose ; he will drop it presently." 
 
 "Dear me!" cried the Magpie; "what will Fairy 
 Prince do then? He will not be able to get home 
 
124 TIPSY'S SIZVER BELL, 
 
 to-night, and the .Queen will be so angry; and, you 
 know, he can never find the bell himself." 
 
 "Never mind," said the Lizard; "Dick, Jack, and 
 Bill will tell him all about it." 
 
 "As to that," said the Hare, running by, "I could 
 tell Fairy Prince." 
 
 But all of a sudden the silver bell ceased to tinkle, 
 the forest became dark again, the birds left ofT sing- 
 ing and the creatures talking, and all was just as 
 it had been before. Presently tramp, tramp, and a 
 handsome gentleman in green and gold came riding 
 b\-. He looked in a great hurry, and was all but 
 breathless. 
 
 " Boys," said he, " have you seen my greyhound ? 
 He is white as milk, and he wears a gold collar with 
 a silver bell to it." 
 
 " He has just gone by," answered Dick. 
 
 " He took that road," said Jack. 
 
 " And his silver bell is under that hawthorn bush," 
 said Bill, who saw it shining in the grass. 
 
 The Fair}' Prince stooped and picked up the silver 
 bell. The monient it tinkled the forest lit up again, 
 the birds sang- and the creatures talked, and the beau- 
 
T/rSV'S SILVER BELL. 12$ 
 
 tiful greyhound, who had vanished, came ninnln;^^ back 
 to his master, who fastened the bell to liis gold collar 
 once more. 
 
 "And now, boys," said he, turning to the three 
 brothers, "tell me what gift you would like to have 
 and you shall get it ; for I am Fairy Prince, and this 
 is my dog, Tipsy." 
 
 " I should like to make such a handsome little blue 
 velvet coat, that the like of it had never been seen," 
 said Dick. 
 
 " And I the most beautiful pair of little red boots," 
 said Jack. 
 
 "And I the prettiest little yellow saddle," said 
 Bill. 
 
 They all spoke in a breath, without taking time to 
 think, and when they had said their sa\', all the 
 creatures in the forest — the Squirrel, the Rabbit, the 
 Fox, the Magpie, the Lizard, and the Hare, burst out 
 laughing, and said, "Oh! you silly, silly boys, is that 
 all you ask from Fairy Prince } " 
 
 " Never mind, boys," said Fairy Prince very kindly, 
 *'it is a good wish, and you shall have it; but if you 
 want me again, come here, take a pebble, and just 
 
1 26 TIPS Y 'S S/L VER BELL. 
 
 throw it into the water of that pool ; and now good-bye 
 to you for the present." 
 
 He rode round the hawthorn bush with his dog 
 Tipsy. The boys lieard a h'ttle plash in the water, 
 and not a sign of Fairy Prince, of his horse, or his dog 
 was left after that, and the moment the bell ceased to 
 tinkle the day became dark, and the forest was as it 
 had been before. 
 
 The three brothers, who felt rather frightened, got 
 out of the forest as fast as they could, and after 
 agreeing not to tell their mother what had happened 
 to them, they went straiglit home. 
 
 The widow always sent her boys up to bed in the 
 dark, for fear of fire ; but when they went up that 
 evening to the garret where they slept all in one bed, 
 they found a bright light burning in a little lantern, 
 and they saw on the bed a piece of blue velvet, a red 
 morocco skin, and yellow leather, with gold thread, 
 and lace, and needles, scissors, and an awl, and a last, 
 and everything in short which they needed to make a 
 coat, a pair of boots, and a saddle. They saw that 
 Fairy Prince had not merely sent those things there, 
 but that he meant them to set to work at once, and 
 
TIFSY'S SILVER BELL. 127 
 
 SO tlicy did, and sat up all ni;^ht, and never left ofT 
 till each had finished liis task, and Dick had made 
 the loveliest blue velvet coat, all laced and em- 
 broidered, and Jack the most beautiful little red boots, 
 stitched with gold thread, and Bill the handsomest 
 little yellow saddle that .had ever been seen. The 
 brothers were so pleased with their work that they 
 all three said, " We must show it to mother, and 
 tell her how we met Fairy Prince and Tipsy in the 
 forest." 
 
 But when they went down, they found that the 
 widow had gone to the well for water, and as they 
 were rather late, they went off to work without waiting 
 for her. 
 
 When the tailor saw the little blue velvet coat 
 which Dick had made, he was both amazed and de- 
 lighted : the shoemaker went into raptures over Jack's 
 pair of little red boots, and the saddler shook hands 
 with Bill, said he was proud of him, and that there 
 had never been anything like the little yellow saddle. 
 Indeed the tailor, the shoemaker, and the saddler 
 thought so much of the work of their little prentices, 
 that without having said a word to one another, they 
 
1 28 TIPS Y 'S S/L I 'ER BELL, 
 
 sent the coat, the pair of boots, and the saddle to the 
 palace, each making sure that the Queen would buy 
 them, and that his fortune was made. 
 
 " Dear me, what pretty Httle things !" said the 
 Queen. " I nev^er did see anything- so pretty ; but 
 they are so Httle that I really can do nothing with 
 them. Take them back to the tailor, the shoemaker, 
 and the saddler, and say that I don't want them." 
 
 When the little Princess heard this she began to cry. 
 "I want the little coat, the h'ttle boots, and the little 
 saddle," she said ; " I want them for Puss and my 
 little wooden horse." 
 
 " Then, my dear, you shall have them," said the 
 Queen. She had only this one child, who was a 
 cripple, and could neither walk, nor sit up, nor do 
 anything but play with her cat all the day long. The 
 most famous doctors had not been able to cure her, 
 or do her any good, and the Queen, who loved her 
 beyond anything else in this world, always let her 
 have her way, and gave her ever\'thing she asked for. 
 
 When the little Princess heard that she was to have 
 the coat, the pair of boots, and the saddle, she left 
 off crying, and called her cat 
 
77 rsY's sirrf.R bell. 129 
 
 " Come here, Puss," said she, " and put on that 
 coat." 
 
 Puss came, the little Princess put the coat upon him, 
 and at once he sat up as straight as an arrow. 
 
 " Puss, hold out }-our left hind paw," said the little- 
 Princess. 
 
 Puss held out his left hind paw, and his little 
 mistress put one of the red boots on him, and it fitted 
 beautifully. 
 
 " And now let me have the other paw." said the 
 little Princess. 
 
 Puss held out his right hind paw, and as soon as 
 the boot was on, he began to dance on the carpet so 
 prettily that there never had been anything like it. 
 
 " Would you like a ride, Puss .' " said the little 
 Princess, fitting the }-ellow saddle on the back of her 
 wooden horse, who, the moment it was on him, began 
 racing round the room. When Puss saw that, he 
 leaped up on his back and rode him, and the two, 
 the cat and the wooden horse, galloped round and 
 round till the little Princess clapped her hands, she 
 was so glad, and the Queen laughed so that the tears 
 
 ran down her cheeks; she was laughing still, when 
 
 I 
 
I30 TJFSY'S SILVER BELL. 
 
 an old lady, who was also very wise, came into the 
 room. 
 
 "Ah! what a pity," said she, when she saw what 
 was going on ; " if \-our Majesty had only put that 
 coat on the Princess, and these boots on her feet, 
 they would have fitted her, and she would have been 
 well at once. As to the saddle, the worst horse that 
 ever was would have become the best in the world 
 if he had only had it on his back ; and now they 
 will never fit any one but the cat and the wooden 
 horse." 
 
 " I wish I had known that," said the Queen. -"Tell 
 the tailor, the shoemaker, and the saddler to make me 
 another coat, pair of boots, and saddle directly. The 
 coat and the boots will be for the Princess, and as to 
 the saddle, we will try what it will do for Dobbin, who 
 has been worth nothing for ever so long." 
 
 The masters of the three boys were delighted when 
 the orders came from the palace, and they set their 
 prentices to work at once. Dick, Jack, and Bill asked 
 no better, they made sure that what they had done 
 once they could do again, and they cut up the velvet 
 and leather which their masters found them without 
 
TIPS Y 'S SIL VER BELL. 131 
 
 a bit of fear ; but someliow or other the coat, tlic 
 boots, and the saddle they made now were not at all 
 like those they had made in the night, and they were 
 so slow about them too that the Queen sent three 
 times to know if she ever was to get these things. 
 The masters declared, all three, that the boys were 
 lazy, and sending word to the widow that she was 
 not to be uneasy about her children, they kept them 
 and made them sit up all night. The boys worked 
 very hard indeed, and at length the coat, the pair of 
 boots, and the saddle were finished by the morning, 
 and taken to the Queen, by the tailor, the shoemaker, 
 and the saddler. 
 
 But none of them would do. The Princess could 
 not get her arm in the sleeve of the coat, nor her 
 feet in the boots, and the saddle could never be 
 strapped to Dobbin's back. 
 
 "Take the trashy things away," said the Queen, in 
 a rage, " and let me hav£ a coat, a pair of boots, and 
 a saddle like the first, or I shall make }'ou repent 
 it." 
 
 The three masters said never a word, they were so 
 frightened ; but each, when he got home, threatened 
 
132 TIPS Y 'S S/L VER BELL. 
 
 his prentice to keep him on bread and water until \\i 
 had done the Queen's bidding. The boys did their 
 best, but try as hard as they could, they onl\' spoiled 
 cloth and leather. Upon this the masters put their 
 heads together, and after declaring that their pren- 
 tices had never made the coat, the boots, and the 
 saddle which had taken the Queen's fancy, they agreed 
 to lock them up, and not give them a bit to eat till 
 they had confessed the truth, and said who had made 
 them. 
 
 Now this took place in the tailor's house, and Dick, 
 who had overheard every word, slipped out, and went 
 and told his brothers. 
 
 " What shall we do } " said Jack. 
 
 " Go to the forest and tell Fairy Prince," said Bill. 
 
 Off to the forest they went. When they came to 
 the pool, they none of them wanted to throw the 
 pebble in. Dick said he was sure his mother would 
 not like it; Jack said he was afraid; and Bill said he 
 would not. At length they agreed that each should 
 take up a pebble, shut his eyes, and throw it in at 
 the same time with the other two. So said, so done ; 
 rach took up a pebble, shut his eyes, and threw the 
 
TirS } ■ V9 SIL VEK BELL. 1 33 
 
 pebble in, and tlie vcr\- iiionicnt tlie pebbles plashed 
 into the water tiie bo\s heard tiie little silver bell. 
 Thc\- opened their eyes, and there was the forest, all 
 lit up so beautifuU}', the birds sin<jiny^, the creatures 
 talking, and Tipsy going by, and Fairy Prince riding 
 after him. 
 
 " Well, boys," said he, " what do you want ? " 
 
 The three brothers told him their trouble, and asked 
 to make another coat and saddle, and another pair 
 of boots, like the first. 
 
 On hearing this, all the creatures in the forest burst 
 out laughing, and cried out in a breath: 
 
 "Oh, you silly, silly boys, is that all you ask from 
 Fairy Prince.?" 
 
 "Never mind, boys," said Fairy Prince kindly, "you 
 shall have your wish, and I dare say you will know 
 better another time." 
 
 So saying he rode away, with Tipsy before him ; 
 and the moment Tipsy 's silver bell left off tinkling, 
 the forest became dull and silent again. 
 
 The three brothers went home very well pleased, 
 "for now," said they, "we shall get out of trouble;" 
 and so they did after a fashion. They made such a 
 
134 TIPSY' S SILVER BELL. 
 
 coat, such a pair of boots, and such a saddle, that 
 the first were nothing to them ; and the best of it 
 was, that the moment the httle Princess put on the 
 little coat she sat up, and was as straight as straight 
 could be ; and that as soon as the boots were on her 
 legs, she jumped down on the floor and began to 
 dance, so that all the courtiers declared there had 
 never been anything like it. The next thing she did 
 was to ride Dobbin, whom the saddle fitted beauti- 
 fully, and who, from a little vicious brute, became the 
 best and liveliest pony that had ever been seen. 
 
 The Queen was delighted, and wanted to make the 
 tailor her prime minister, the shoemaker her lord 
 chancellor, and the saddler commander in-chief of all 
 her armies ; but, on second thoughts, she resolved not 
 to do so till they had made her another coat, saddle, 
 and pair of boots, for fear anything should happen 
 to the first. And now the troubles of Dick, Jack, 
 and Bill all began over again. They had only asked 
 for the gift of making once these things which the 
 Queen wanted, and when they attempted them again 
 they were just as unsuccessful as they had been be- 
 fore. They did not wait, however, for their masters 
 
TIPSY'S SILVER BELL. 13S 
 
 to starv^e or lock them up tliis time, but went off to 
 the forest at once, in order to ask Fairy Prince to 
 get them out of trouble again. When they came to 
 the pool they picked up three pebbles, and threw 
 them in without shutting their eyes, for they were not 
 friL;htcned now; but though the pebbles went in with 
 a plash, there was no tinkling of the silver bell, no 
 Tipsy, and no Fairy Prince riding by; but instead 
 of these, a sound of voices, coming nearer and nearer, 
 and calling them by tlieir names. 
 
 " I am sure that is my master's voice," said Dick. 
 
 "Let us throw stones in again," said Bill, who also 
 heard the saddler. 
 
 And Jack, who was sure that he heard the shoe- 
 maker put in his word, said, "Let us throw bigger 
 stones this time." 
 
 So they picked up the largest stones they could find, 
 and threw them in with a great noise, hoping that Fairy 
 Prince would hear and come to them. But no Fairy 
 Prince appeared, and instead of him they saw the tailor, 
 the shoemaker, and the saddler coming up panting, for 
 they had run after their prentices all the way from 
 town, and being fat men, they were very much out of 
 
r 36 TIFS Y 'S SIL VER BELL. 
 
 breath. When the three masters saw the bo\-s, they 
 raised a shout of triumph, and cried out to one 
 another : 
 
 "I see them;" ''Here they are;" ''Now we have 
 them ; " " Hurrah ! hurrah ! " 
 
 They rushed on, striving Vv^ho should be first. 
 
 " Take my hand,' said Dick to Jack. 
 
 " Take my hand," said Jack to Bill. 
 
 The tailor, the shoemaker, and the saddler came 
 on, waving their caps, and still crying " Hurrah \ " and 
 Dick, Jack, and Bill jumped straight into the water, 
 and were seen no more. 
 
 The three masters stood and stared at each other. 
 Then they called to the boys, asking them to come out, 
 and promising not to starve or beat or ill-use them in 
 any fashion ; but either Dick, Jack, or Bill did not trust 
 them, or they could not get out of the pool as easily as 
 they had got into it, for they did not appear, and after 
 agreeing never to tell any one what had happened, 
 the tailor, the shoemaker, and the saddler went back 
 to town vcr\' much crestfallen. 
 
 When the Queen found they could not make her 
 the things she wanted from them, she said it was 
 
TJrSi'S SIIA'EK BELL. 137 
 
 because they were stubborn and laz\', and she sent 
 tlicni to prison to be kept there on bread and water 
 till the\- sliou'.d obey her. As thc\- were unable to 
 do that, they might have spent the rest of their dajs 
 in jail, if the Queen had not died, and the little Prin- 
 cess let them out on the day of her coronation. 
 
 When the widow learned that her boys had run 
 awa>', and that no one knew what had become of 
 them, she was so unhappy that there is no telling 
 of it. She went about looking for them everywhere, 
 and asking all the people she met if they had seen 
 Dick, Jack, or Bill ; but no one could give her any 
 tidings of them, though she went to' many strange 
 countries, and questioned all the wisest people in the 
 world. At length, after wandering about several 
 )ears, she found a little wise old man, who said to 
 her: 
 
 " Go home and look for your boys within a mile 
 of your own house." 
 
 Though the widow was as tired as could be, this 
 comforted her greatU-, and she went home as fast as 
 she could. Her way lay through the forest, but as 
 she was afraid of it, she was going to walk round. 
 
138 TIFSY'S SILVER BELL. 
 
 when she met a pretty Httle old woman, who said 
 to her, " Better go through the forest if you want to see 
 your boys again." 
 
 The widow's fear all vanished as she heard this. 
 She went into the forest at once, and walked up and 
 down the whole day long, but not a soul did she see, 
 nor a sign of her boys did she find. At length, being 
 fairly tired out, she sat down by the side of the pool to 
 rest a while before going home. She had not been 
 sitting there long when there came up a little boy with 
 a rod and basket. He took no notice of the widow, 
 but began to fish. He was a very handsome boy, and 
 looking at him, the widow was reminded of her own 
 children, and could not help crying. 
 
 " What ails you .'' " said the little boy. 
 
 The widow told him how she had lost her boys and 
 was seeking for them, but could not find them nor learn 
 where they were. 
 
 " They are serving their apprenticeship in Fairy- 
 land," said the little boy, when he had heard her out ; 
 " and they will never be able to get away out of it 
 unless they find Tipsy's silver bell." 
 
 On hearing this the widow cried more bitterlv than 
 

 
 TJFSy 'S SILVER BELL. 
 
 
 
 139 
 
 ever, and 
 
 said 
 
 now she know- 
 
 that she £ 
 
 hould 
 
 never 
 
 see 
 
 her boys 
 
 again 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 "You can see them," said the httlc boy, " if you will 
 do what I tell you." 
 
 " And what is that ?" asked the widow. 
 
 " You must take my hand and shut your eyes, 
 and not open them till I bid }-ou. Then whom- 
 soever or whatever you see, you must not say one 
 word." 
 
 The widow promised to do as he bade her. The little 
 boy took her hand, she shut her e\es, and plash ! they 
 both went into the water ; but the widow was so 
 frightened at this that she opened her eyes at once. 
 In a moment the httle boy was gone, and she was 
 sitting alone by the side of the pool. 
 
 She stayed till nightfall, hoping he would come back, 
 but he did not. She went home at last, but early the 
 next day she was in the forest again, seeking up and 
 down for a token of her boys. She found none, and 
 when she was so tired out that she could not walk a step 
 further, she sat down by the side of the pool to rest. 
 Presently the pretty little boy came with his rod and 
 basket, and began to fish. He took no notice of the 
 
I40 TJFSY'S SILVER BELL. 
 
 widow, and it was just as if he had never seen her 
 before. Seeing this, and also thinking of her boys, the 
 poor woman began to cry. The httle boy at first did 
 not mind her, but at length he asked what ailed her, 
 and when she told him, he promised to let her see her 
 boys, provided she did not open her e}'es till he bade 
 her, and did not utter a word, good or bad. The widow 
 promised everything, and this time she kept her word ; 
 for though when he took her hand and jumped with her 
 into the water she heard it plash over her head, she 
 never opened her eyes till the little boy said to her, — 
 " Look now, and mind what I told you." 
 The widow looked as he bade her, and she found 
 that she was standing outside a window, and that she 
 could see through the glass in the room within. Her 
 three boys were sitting there together, very busy 
 working. They were fresh and rosy, but did not 
 look a day older than when they left her. Dick was 
 making a tiny coat of scarlet clo'th, laced with gold ; 
 Jack was finishing a little high-heeled shoe of white 
 satin, the other stood made on the table by him ; and 
 Bill was stitching a little buff saddle, so very small that 
 the widow wondered for what horse it could be meant. 
 
TjPS Y 'S SIL VKR BELL. 1 4 1 
 
 Presently a door opened and a little L,^entlenian strutted 
 in. lie went up to Dick, and seemed to be sayinfif : 
 "Well. sir. is that coat ready?" Upon which Dick- 
 rose and tried the coat on him, and the widow saw that 
 it fitted beautifully. Then another door opened, and a 
 little lady with a long train came sweeping in. She 
 went up to Jark. and he showed her the shoe. She sat 
 down at once, and he put the shoe on her foot, and 
 worked hard away at the other one. Then the little 
 lady and the little gentleman got into conversation, but 
 he was looking at his coat in a glass all the time, and 
 the lady was peeping down at her foot. But this was 
 not all. Bill, having finished his saddle, got up and 
 went out of the room. He left the door open, and his 
 mother could see a little groom holding a little horse 
 outside. The horse, though small, was very beautiful. 
 lie was cream-coloured, and had a flowing mane and a 
 long tail ; but he was also a spirited thorough-bred 
 horse, and he tossed his head and pawed so that the 
 groom could scarcely hold him. When Bill approached 
 and tried to put the saddle on his back, the horse 
 reared and plunged so that the widow cried out : " Take 
 care. Bill!" 
 
142 tjfsy's silver bell. 
 
 No sooner were the words spoken than all vanished, 
 and she found herself once more sitting by the edge 
 of the pool in the forest. She waited a long time, 
 hoping the little boy would come again to take her 
 back to Fairyland to have another look at her chil- 
 dren ; but he did not ; and though she came day after 
 day to the forest, and sat by the edge of the pool, 
 she never saw him again. 
 
 The three brothers often thought of their mother, 
 and wished to see her, but they were very happy 
 with the fairies who made ever so much of them. 
 They had been seven years in Fairyland, when Fair\- 
 Prince got married, and there were great rejoicings 
 in the palace. There was a grand dinner to which 
 Dick, Jack, and Bill were invited, and after dinner a 
 grand ball, which was one of the finest things that 
 had ever been seen. The boys could not dance with 
 the fairies, who were of the small species, for fear 
 of treading upon them. They could only look on, and 
 after a while Dick and Jack got tired of it, and went 
 down to the garden to listen to the Queen's talking 
 bird, but Bill stayed in the ball-room to see the 
 bridegroom valse with the bride ; for though Fairy 
 
TirSY'S SILVER BELL. i<3 
 
 Piince looked such a handsome gentleman when he 
 was up in the world, he was as little as the other 
 fairies once he was below. 
 
 The talking bird perched on a tree at the end of 
 tlie garden, and Tipsy watched every night at the 
 foot of the tree lest any one should come and steal 
 him. Dick and Jack now saw the dog there in the 
 moonlight, but they also saw that he had dropped his 
 silver bell, and that it lay in the grass beside him. 
 
 " That is Tipsy's silver bell," said Dick to Jack. 
 
 "Yes," answered the talking bird on the tree, "and 
 if \-ou take and tinkle it, you will find yourself in the 
 place you came from ; and you need only tinkle it when- 
 ever you wish to come back again to Fairyland." 
 
 When the boys heard this they took each other 
 by the hand. Dick picked up the little silver bell, and 
 the moment it tinkled away they were out of Fairy- 
 land in the forest by the edge of the pool. Though it 
 was night they made their way to their mother's 
 house and knocked at the door, and when she heard 
 their voices, she got up and let them in, and kissed 
 them again and again, and cried for joy. Indeed she 
 would have been, quite happy now if it were not that 
 
I U TIPS Y'S SIL VER BELL. 
 
 Bill had remained in Fairyland. Dick and Jack offered 
 to go and look for him, but their mother was too 
 much afraid of losing them again, and taking away 
 the little silver bell, she hid it where they could not 
 find it. Although Dick and Jack had been seven 
 }'ears away, the\' were no bigger, and looked no 
 older than on the day when they ran awa\' to the 
 forest ; but each had learned his trade with the fairies, 
 and could work beautifully. Dick made the prettiest 
 little clothes, and Jack the prettiest little boots and 
 shoes in the world, and though these things which 
 the}' made were only fit for children, }'et the}- had 
 this advantage, that if the child who put them on 
 were deformed, or a cripple, it became well at once. 
 Their work was accordingly much sought after, and 
 fetched so high a price that they earned a great 
 deal of money and made their mother ver}' happy 
 and comfortable. There was only one drawback to 
 all this: they remained little bays v.-ith round faces, 
 rosy cheeks, and curly hair, whilst the boys whom 
 they had known before they went to Fairyland, be- 
 came young men, and got married, and had families 
 of their own. The people who wanted them were 
 
IIPSY'S SILVER BELL. 145 
 
 always jii>t as civil as if they had been big men with 
 scrubby beards, but those who did not, jeered at and 
 laughed at them till they were half sick of their lives, 
 and wished themselves back again in Fairyland. 
 Tiieir mother, howe\'er, was just as kind to them as 
 ever, and washed, and combed, ami dressed them 
 as if they had been little children still. She never 
 seemed to understand that they ought to be grown- 
 up men. She liked them as they were, and had 
 only one trouble, that their brother Bill had not 
 come back with them. 
 
 " Give us the little silver bell, mother," said Dick, 
 " and let us all go off to Fairyland and find him." 
 
 But the widow said she was too old to go to Fairy- 
 land at her time of life, but that they might do as 
 they pleased when she was dead. She lived for seven 
 years after their coming back, and at the end of that 
 time she died. Dick and Jack found the little silver 
 bell round her neck and took it off. When she was 
 buried they shut up the house and went to the forest. 
 The moment the\' tinkled the bell they were off tw 
 Fairyland, and there they are to this day with their 
 
 brother Bill working for the fairies. 
 
 K 
 
14^ 
 
 T/PSV'S SILVER BELL. 
 
 The people who had laughed at them for remaining 
 little boys were very sorry when they were gone, for 
 no one ever made such pretty and useful little coats 
 and shoes as theirs had been. 
 
/ ^l5V"'^^V^ ITTLE Prince Doran was sev^en years 
 with his nurse ; he was rocked seven years 
 more, and after that he slept seven years. Whilst 
 he was being rocked, his father the Kinij gave him a 
 little black puppy-dof^ called Trim, and his mother the 
 Queen a little white kitten called Muff. Trim and 
 Muff were very fond of Doran, and slept with him, Muff 
 at his head, and Trim at his feet, until he awoke, and 
 then they woke too. 
 
148 PRINCE DO RAN. 
 
 Prince Doran was now twent\--one, and as his father 
 had died whilst he was sleeping, his mother the Queen 
 said to him : " My dear, it is now time that you should 
 get married. The Princess Sprightly is very beautiful 
 and very rich ; you had better ask her to be your wife." 
 
 " I shall send an ambassador to ask her in mar- 
 riage from the King her father," said Doran. And he 
 did send the ambassador at once. 
 
 When Prince Doran was alone with Muff and Trim, 
 and told them what he had done, Muff said, " The 
 Princess lives a long way off; she will be a long time 
 coming. Why should we not go and see the world in 
 the meantime } " 
 
 " Muff," said Prince Doran, ''you are the wisest cat I 
 know." 
 
 And he went and told his mother that he, Muff, and 
 Trim, were going to travel, and that they would all be 
 back by the time the Princess arrived. 
 
 " My dear son," said the Queen, ")'ou cannot leave 
 your kingdom. You must sta\' and govern your sub- 
 jects." 
 
 " Very well," answered Doran, " I shall sta}'." 
 
 That night Prince Doran told Muff and Trim, who 
 
rKLVCE DOR.iy. 149 
 
 always slept wiili him, that he had a^^recd to remain at 
 home, in order to govern his subjects. Tiicy were both ^ 
 ver\- angry, and Trim said, " Why should not your cousin 
 the Duke rule your kingdom whilst you are away ? And 
 as to your subjects, they got on without you whilst you 
 were sleeping ; can't they get on witliout you whilst you 
 are travelling ? " 
 
 "I declare. Trim," cried Prince Doran, "you are a 
 wonderful dog, and quite as wise as Alufif." 
 
 When Doran told the Queen that he must go and 
 travel all the same, and that his cousin the Duke would 
 govern the kingdom in his stead, the Queen, who was 
 very wise, shook her head and said, " My son, that will 
 not do. Remember how long you have been sleeping, 
 and how much time you have lost." 
 
 "Just so," answered Prince Doran, "I have slept so 
 long that I mean to be wide awake now, and I also 
 mean to make up for the time I have lost by going 
 about." 
 
 All the Queen could say could not keep Prince 
 Doran, his mind was so bent on travelling. So off 
 lie set with Mufif and Trim, and all he took with him 
 was a quilt, which he strapped to his knapsack. When 
 
ISO 
 
 PRINCE DOR AN, 
 
 Muff was tired, Prince Doran carried him on his 
 shoulder ; when Trim was tired, Prince Doran carried 
 him in his arms ; and when Prince Doran himself was 
 tired, he rolled himself up in his quilt, with Muff at 
 his head and Trim at his feet, and the three had a 
 long nap. 
 
 Prince Doran had been gone a long time, and he 
 had already seen a great many wonderful things, when 
 his mother, the Queen, sent him a messenger, who came 
 all breathless with haste, to tell him that the Princess 
 Sprightly had arrived, that she was the most beautiful 
 Princess that had ever been seen, that she had brought 
 with her forty chariots full of gold and precious stones, 
 and that Prince Doran had better come back at once 
 and marry her. 
 
 "You can't go home yet," said Muff, who was 
 just then sitting on his shoulder, and who had heard 
 every word the messenger had said ; " you know you 
 have not seen the great battle which is to take place 
 between the cats and mice next month. How can 
 you ever fight your enemies if you do not first see 
 fighting .'' " 
 
 *' I am glad you have thought of that, Muff," said 
 
rK/.\CE DO KAN. 151 
 
 tlie Piincc ; '' I must see the battle of course before 
 I go home. Tell the Queen so," said he to the mes- 
 senger; "but that as soon as Muff, Trim, and I have 
 seen a little fighting, I shall make haste home, and 
 marry the Princess." 
 
 The messenger went back to the Queen, and Prince 
 Doran went on ; but he was not in time to see the 
 battle between the cats and mice, for it was just over 
 when they arrived, and the cats, who had won the 
 day, were bur\-ing their dead and eating their enemies. 
 The Prince being too late for this, was thinking of 
 going home in earnest, when the Queen sent him 
 another messenger, telling him that the Princess 
 Sprightly had been so much affronted at his think- 
 ing more of seeing a battle fought between cats and 
 mice than of coming back to marry her, that she 
 had talked of going away at once with her forty 
 chariots. Whereupon his cousin the Duke, in order 
 to a\oid a war with the King her father, and also 
 not to let all her valuables leave the kingdom, had 
 married her. 
 
 "Well, that is settled," said Prince Doran; "what 
 shall we do now ? " 
 
152 PRINCE DO RAN. 
 
 " Let us go and hear the wonderful bird who sings 
 only once in a hundred years," said Trim. 
 
 " Yes," said Doran ; " we can go home after that." 
 
 The wonderful bird lived a long way off, and when 
 they came to the countr}' in which he was to be found, 
 it wanted a good bit yet to the hundred years. 
 
 " Since we have conie so far,' said Prince Doran, 
 " we shall wait till it is time for the wonderful bird 
 to sing." 
 
 The Queen now sent another message to Doran. 
 His subjects had got tired of waiting for him, and 
 they had asked his cousin the Duke, who had con- 
 sented, to be King in Prince Doran's stead. So upon 
 the whole the Queen thought that Doran had better 
 not come back. 
 
 " What can't be cured must be endured," said Dor.m ; 
 " at least we shall hear the wonderful bird ; but let 
 us take a nap till the hundred years are out," 
 
 He rolled himself up in his quilt, with Muff at his 
 head and Trim at his feet, and the three went to sleep 
 under a tree in a forest. They slept so soundly, and 
 they slept so long, that, when they woke up, the 
 wonderful bird, who perched on the tallest oak in the 
 
FKIXCE DO RAN. T53 
 
 forest, had sung his song, and would not sing now 
 for anotlier hundred years. 
 
 " And now what shall we do ? " asked Doran. 
 
 " I think," answered Viwii and Trim, " that wc may 
 just stay where we are." 
 
 " Then I must build a house," said Doran. 
 
 " Build it in the forest," said Trim ; " I want to go 
 hunting." 
 
 "And leave plenty of room for the mice to run 
 about," said Muff; "a house without mice is dull." 
 
 Prince Doran did as they advised him. He built 
 a house in the forest, and Muff and Trim helped him. 
 When the house was built, and all but roofed, Doian, 
 Muff, and Trim felt tired, and took a long nap. 
 
 " Let us roof the house now," said Doran, when he 
 woke. 
 
 " No," said Trim, '* let us hunt first." 
 
 " Yes, I want an airing," said Muff. 
 
 " Well," said Doran, " I feel as if a walk would do 
 me good." 
 
 .They all went out in the forest. Trim ran first 
 looking for game, Doran came after him, and Muff 
 was on Doran's shoulder. They had not walked long 
 
154 PRINCE DORAN: 
 
 before Trim said, " I hear a great noise. Do you see 
 aii}-thing, Muff?" 
 
 " I see two crows picking- at something on the 
 ground," answered Muff. 
 
 " Trim, go and see what is the matter," said Doran. 
 
 Trim went on barking till he came to the two crows. 
 They flew away, and he found a little red squirrel 
 all torn and bleeding, which he picked up in his mouth, 
 and brought back to his master. The little Squirrel 
 looked almost dead, but Prince Doran took it home 
 and laid it on the hearth, and Trim licked it, and 
 Muff kept it warm. 
 
 After a while the little Squirrel opened one e\'e, then 
 he opened the other eye, then he moaned and stirred ; 
 then he said : 
 
 "Thank you, Prince Doran, you have saved my life." 
 
 Doran was accustomed to hear Muff and Trim talk 
 but he had never heard a squirrel talk before ; besides, 
 this one knew his name, and could not be a squirrel 
 like any other. He was much surprised, and said at 
 once, " Who are you } " 
 
 " I am the Fairy Nap," answered the Squirrel; "and 
 I am nurse to all the young fairies. 1 lull them to 
 
rK/XCE DORAN. 
 
 155 
 
 sleep by setting in motion all the gold and silver acorns 
 on the fairy oak. I wanted to see the world, but the 
 Oucen of the I-'airies would not allow it. I teased her 
 so much, however, that she consented to let me have 
 my way, but on condition that I should not be more 
 than a week awa\-, and that I should remain under 
 the shape of a squirrel all the time. You see what has 
 come of it. I had scarcely begun to look about me 
 when I was attacked b\' these two crows, and they 
 would ha\-e killed me if you had not sent Trim to 
 deliver me." 
 
 Prince Doran, Mufif, and Trim were greatly pleased 
 to have got a fairy. They took every care of her, and 
 the\' would sit and listen by the hour to her accounts 
 of Fairyland. At the end of three days the Squirrel, 
 or rather Fairy Nap, was quite well again, for she had 
 told Doran to fetch her certain herbs from the forest, 
 and tliese had healed her wounds. She was a little 
 lame, however, for her left leg had been injured, but 
 otherwise she was ver\' liveh', and ate the nuts which 
 Mufif and Trim brought her, as heartily as if she had 
 eaten nothing else all her life. She would not sleep 
 with Muff and Trim, however, but when Prince Doran 
 
156 PRINCE DORA IV. 
 
 took off" his coat at night and hung- it up, she got into 
 his pocket and stayed there till the morning. The first 
 thing he did on getting up was to look for Nap and 
 take her out ; but on the morning of the fourth day 
 she was not in his pocket as usual. 
 
 " You need not look for me there, Prince Doran," said 
 she, " I could not fit in your pocket now." 
 
 Doran looked round and saw the most beautiful little 
 lady he had ever seen ; and she was not merely beauti- 
 ful, but she shone so with gold and silver and pearls, dia- 
 monds and precious stones, that he was quite dazzled. 
 
 *' Are you Nap .-^ " he asked. 
 
 " Yes," said she, " I am the Fairy Nap, and I must 
 go back directly to Fairyland and lull the young fairies 
 to sleep ; and now tell me what gift you will have from 
 me for having saved my life. But please to make 
 haste, for I must be gone." 
 
 Prince Doran said he must consult Muff and Trim, so 
 the three put their heads together and whispered to 
 each other; then Prince Doran said, "Well, Nap, since 
 you leave us free to choose, and since you are going 
 back to Fairyland, take us with you." 
 
 Fairy Nap was very much vexed when she heard 
 
PKIA'CK DORAN. 157 
 
 this, and did all she could to make them change that 
 gift into another. She oftered Doran to make him 
 king again, and Muff to give him a charm whicli 
 would make rats and mice run u[) to him, and Trim 
 to take him to Rabbitland, but they all three declared 
 that the\' would go to Fairyland, and that they would 
 have nothing else. When Nap saw they were deter- 
 mined, she thought she would make use of this wish of 
 theirs to see a little more of the world, but this time 
 under her own shape. 
 
 "Very well," said she; "if I take you to Fairyland, 
 you must lull the young fairies to sleep instead of me 
 for a week, and when you have been seven times seven 
 daj-s in Fairxdand you will find yourselves here back 
 again." 
 
 Prince Doran, Muff, and Trim agreed to tlu's, for 
 they did not know that a week in Fairyland is exactly 
 seven times seven days, and not a minute less. The 
 moment they had said yes, they found themselves with 
 Nap in Fairyland under an oak-tree all hung with gold 
 and silver acorns. All the young fairies were lyin;^ 
 around the tree, and each fairy was in a cradle of 
 pearls, and from every guld and silver acorn there was 
 
158 PRINCE DO RAN. 
 
 a thread, and all the threads met at one end and were 
 fastened together by a big diamond. Nap put the 
 diamond into Prince Doran's hand, and showed him how 
 he was to put all the threads in motion, and lull the 
 young fairies to sleep with the music of the gold and 
 silver acorns ; then bidding him on no account stop one 
 second, for if he did the young fairies would waken at 
 once, and the Queen be ever so angry, she vanished. 
 Prince Doran did as he was bid. He set all the gold 
 and silver acorns in motion, and lulled the young fairies 
 to sleep ; but the music of the acorns was so sweet and 
 delightful that he longed to sleep too ; so after a while 
 he said, " Muff, take that ball in your mouth, and let me 
 have a nod." 
 
 Muff did as he was bid ; but after a while he got so 
 sleepy that he said, "Trim, take that ball in your 
 mouth, and let me have a nod." 
 
 Trim took the ball, but he got so sleepy that he had 
 to waken Prince Doran ; and when he got sleepy again, 
 he had to waken Muft, and so the}' spent all their time 
 sleeping and wakening; and whilst Fairy Nap was going 
 about the world enjoying herself, they could not stir 
 from under the fairy tree, and never got a sight of 
 
'Nap showed him liow he wa^ lu put a.i ti.' ' 
 
 to sleep wilh the mu>ic of the g' Id nnd 
 
TKIXCE DOR AW 150 
 
 Fairyland. At last Doran got so tired that when he 
 gave tlic ball to Muff he said, "Now, Muff, manage as 
 you like ; but whatever }'ou do, do not waken nie." 
 
 " Very well," said Muff, as Prince Doran rolled him- 
 self up in his quilt and went fast asleep. 
 
 When Muff felt sleepy he gave the diamond ball to 
 Trim, and said to him, "Now, Trim, manage as you 
 like, but whatever you do, do not waken me." 
 
 With that Muff went and laid himself down at the 
 head of Prince Doran, and was soon fast asleep. 
 
 Trim put the gold and silver acorns in motion, and 
 lulled the young fairies to sleep as long as he could ; 
 but he got so sleepy himself that he could go on no 
 longer, so he just dropped the diamond ball, and curled 
 himself round at the feet of Prince Doran. 
 
 The moment the diamond ball touched the ground 
 the gold and silver acorns ceased going, and all the 
 young fairies woke and began to cry. Trim started up, 
 and picked up that nearest to him, and shook it well, he 
 was so frightened. Then Muff awoke and got another 
 fairy, and shook it too, to keep it quiet ; but as all the 
 other fairies kept on crying louder and louder, Prince 
 Doran awoke, and putting his hand in the cradle next 
 
too PRINCE DORAN. 
 
 him, he took the young fairy out of it and hushed it ; 
 and at that moment the seven times seven dax'S that 
 they liad been in Fairyland being- out, Prince Doran, 
 Muff, and Trim found themselves at home again in the 
 little house in the forest ; Doran with a young fairy in 
 his hand, and Muff and Trim with each a fairy in his 
 mouth. 
 
 "Well," said Prince Doran, "we have brought some- 
 thing out of Fairyland." 
 
 They were all three much pleased with their prize. 
 The young fairies were very little, but very pretty ; they 
 required, however, so much care and nursing that 
 Doran, ]\IuiT, and Trim had no time to spare to roof 
 the house, for Doran made cradles for them, and they 
 had to be rocked almost all day and all night ; then 
 they could feed on nothing but dew and honey, and 
 Doran had to go out every morning to get them the 
 earliest dew, and Mufif had to prowl about at night to 
 steal the honey of the wild bees for them, whilst Trim 
 stayed at home and watched them, and would not let 
 a soul come near the place. All that time the house 
 remained unroofed ; but on account of there being 
 fairies in it, there was neither rain nor bad weather. 
 
PRINCE DOR AN. i6i 
 
 It was always sunny in the daytime and warm at 
 night. Wlien the young fairies were old enough to go 
 about they were so frolicsome and so full of pretty 
 tricks that Doran, Muff, and Trim never felt dull, and 
 grew fonder and fonder of them every day. Indeed 
 the}' could not let them out of their sight a moment 
 lest they should escape. Not that the young fairies 
 seemed to wish to go ; but Doran knew that fairies are 
 not to be trusted, besides he was afraid lest the Queen 
 of the Fairies should steal these back again from him, 
 Muff, and Trim. 
 
 One day Doran's fairy said to him, " Doran, you 
 must open all the doors and windows of the house." 
 
 "Why so .''" asked Doran. 
 
 ** Because we are going to make you, Muff, and Trim 
 a quilt to lie on, and we want all the birds of the air, 
 all the fishes of the sea, and all the insects of the field 
 to help us." 
 
 When Muff" and Trim saw Doran opening all the 
 doors and windows of the house, they asked him what 
 that was for, and when Doran told them, Trim said : 
 "Your old quilt would do very well. What do you 
 want with a new one.-*" 
 
l62 PRINCE DORAN. 
 
 And Muff said : " I would not trust those fairies, if 
 I were you." 
 
 But for once Doran would not take the advice of 
 Muff and Trim. When all the doors and windows of 
 the house were open, the first fairy called all the birds 
 of the air, and made each bird give her a feather; then 
 the second fairy called all the fishes of the sea, and 
 bade each fish give her a scale or bring her a pearl from 
 the sea ; then the third fairy called all the insects of 
 the field, and made every one of those that spun webs 
 give her some of their web, and those that were winged 
 one of its wings. When they had all the feathers, scales, 
 pearls, wings, and webs that they wanted, the young 
 fairies began to make the quilt. They worked three days 
 and three nights, and at length the quilt was finished. 
 The groundwork was of feathers and web to be soft 
 and warm, the pattern was of fishes' scales and insects' 
 wings, and the border and the tassels were of pearls. 
 
 "And now," said the fairies to Doran, "lie down and 
 try if you like your quilt." 
 
 Doran lay down, and the quilt was so soft and warm 
 and pleasant, that he rolled himself in it and fell asleep 
 at once. 
 
PRINCE DOK.LV. 163 
 
 "And now, Mufif," said the fairies, "try how \-ou like 
 the quilt." 
 
 Muff went and laid himself down at Doran's head 
 and fell fast asleep. 
 
 "And now/' said the fairies to Trim, "do you try 
 how you like it, Trim." 
 
 Trim crept under the quilt till he got at Doran's feet, 
 when he at once began to snore. When the three were 
 fast asleep, the fairies went and sat on the quilt. 
 Then it rose and rose till it flew away up in the air, 
 because tbiCre was no roof to the house, and Doran, 
 Muff, and Trim and the three fairies were in Fairyland 
 in no time, all under the oak-tree with the gold and 
 silver acorns, where Nap was lulling the young fairies 
 to sleep in their cradles of pearls. When Doran, Miiff, 
 and Trim had had a long sleep they awoke. 
 
 " Why, here we are, under the oak-tree again," said 
 Doran. 
 
 "Yes," said the three young fairies, "and here we 
 are with \'ou, and is not that a good quilt which we 
 made for }-ou ? " 
 
 "It is very good," answered Prince Doran, 'but 1 
 am tired hearing the gold and silver acorns, besides I 
 must go home and roof my house." 
 
164 
 
 PRINCE DORAN. 
 
 " Have another sleep first," said the three fairies. 
 " Yes," said Muff and Trim, " let us take another nap. ' 
 So they all three went to sleep again, and the three 
 young fairies watched by them night and day lest they 
 should escape, and every time they woke and wanted 
 to go home, they persuaded them to have another sleep 
 first, and that is how Doran, ]\Iuff, and Trim are still 
 asleep in Fairyland, and how the little house in the 
 forest is unroofed to this day. 
 
was once upon a time, a poor 
 old woman, who lived in a little 
 cottage on the borders of a forest, with her two orphan 
 grandchildren. They were twin sisters, and so much 
 alike that their grandmother only knew them by the 
 colour of their hair; for one was fair and the other 
 was dark, and the fair one was called Fairie, and the 
 dark one, Brownie. 
 
 The old woman went out one day to gather sticks 
 in the forest, and left the two children alone in the 
 
1 66 FAIRIE AND BROWNIE. 
 
 house. It was a Saturday, and Fairie, who was look- 
 ing out of the window to see the people who went 
 up and down the road, on their way to and from 
 market, also began to sing. 
 
 " Ding, dong, dell," 
 
 sang Fairie, and Brownie answered within, 
 
 " Pussy cat's in the well." 
 " Who put him in ? " 
 
 sang Fairie, 
 
 "Little Johnnie Trim," 
 
 answered Brownie. 
 
 " Wlio took him out?" 
 
 Fairie sang again and again. Brownie answered, 
 
 "Little Johnnie Trout." 
 
 The two sisters were beginning again with " Ding, 
 dong, dell," when a little old gentleman turned round 
 the corner of the house and looked up at Fairie. He 
 wore a cocked hat, a red coat, silk stockings, and 
 shoes with silver buckles to them, for all this happened 
 a long time ago, when people were still dressed after 
 that fashion. 
 
 " My dear," said the old gentleman, winking at 
 
FA IN IE AND BROWNIE. 167 
 
 Fairie, "how well you do sing. Will \ou let me in 
 to listen to your ' Ding, dong. dell ' ? " 
 
 "The door is on the latch, sir," replied Ivairic, 
 "and you can come in if you like." 
 
 " Oh ! very well," says he briskly, and in he walked 
 at once. 
 
 Fairie, who was never afraid of anything, or of any- 
 one, came and looked at him ; but Brownie, who was 
 shy, ran and hid behind the door. The old gentleman 
 took a chair, sat down, and made himself comfortable. 
 Presently he took off his cocked hat, and said to Fairie : 
 "My dear, }-our 'Ding, dong, dell' is the prettiest and 
 the cleverest song I ever heard. Do sing it to me, 
 please. In m\- right ear, dear." 
 
 "Yes," answered Fairie; "but Brownie must sing, 
 'Pussy cat's in the well.'" 
 
 " By all means," said he ; " Brownie shall sing in 
 my left ear." 
 
 Fairie began at once with " Ding, dong, dell," 
 which she sang in the old gentleman's right ear, 
 and Brownie sang " Pussy cat's in the well " 
 in his left ear, and they both sang till the 
 song was ended, when they began it again, for 
 
i68 FAIRIE AND BROWN IE. 
 
 as the old gentleman said : One can never have too 
 much of a good thing. Indeed, so nicely did they 
 sing, and so pleased was he, that he shut his eyes 
 and purred like a cat. They had just begun another 
 "Ding, dong, dell," when the door opened, and their 
 grandmother came in with her bundle of sticks. 
 
 "There, dears, that will do, thank you,"' said the old 
 gentleman, getting up and walking out. 
 
 Something fell on the floor with a chink as he got 
 up, and Fairie ran after him, saying: "You have 
 dropped something, sir." 
 
 " Keep it, my dear," answered the old gentleman 
 without looking round. 
 
 He walked on very fast, got behind some tall ferns, 
 and vanished. When Fairie went back to the cottage 
 and told her grandmother all that had happened, she 
 found that it was a bright new shilling which the old 
 gentleman had dropped on the floor. People could 
 live for a week on a shilling in those times ; and as 
 the old grandmother was very poor, she thought what 
 a blessing it was that this gentleman in the cocked 
 hat should have come in and got Fairie and Brownie 
 to sing him " Ding, dong, dell," 
 
FAIRIE AXD BROW ME. 169 
 
 On the following Saturday the f^rand mother went 
 out a<jain to the forest to gather sticks, and the two 
 little sisters remained at home. Fairie was at the 
 window, looking up and down the road, when she saw 
 the old gentleman in the red coat and cocked hat 
 coming towards the house. 
 
 " Well, my dear," said he, nodding to her, " will 
 you let me in to-day ? " 
 
 " Oh yes, sir," answered Fairie ; " and we will sing 
 you ' Four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie,' if you 
 like it." 
 
 " Thank you, dear," said he, walking in ; " but I 
 think 'Ding, dong, dell,' the finest song that ever was 
 made, and we will have that first, if }'ou please." 
 
 He sat down, took off" his cocked hat, made Fairie 
 sing in his right ear and Brownie in his left; and 
 when the song was ended, and they wanted to have 
 the " Four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie," he 
 begged for "Ding, dong, dell" over again, for, as he 
 said, the more he heard that noble song the better he 
 liked it. They were beginning it for the seventh time 
 when the door opened, and their grandmother came 
 in with a bundle of sticks in her arm. The old 
 
170 FAIR IE AND BROWNIE. 
 
 gentleman then started up in a mighty hurry, and 
 dropped another shiUing as he walked out of the 
 house. Brownie picked it up and ran after him, but 
 he did not even look round at her. 
 
 " Keep it, keep it," said he ; and he was gone and 
 behind the ferns in no time. 
 
 Well, this shilling lasted another week ; and when 
 Saturday came round, the grandmother went again to 
 the forest to gather sticks, and the old gentleman 
 came and had " Ding, dong, dell " sung to him by the 
 two little sisters ; and everything happened exactly as 
 it had happened before, with this difference, that it was 
 the grandmother who ran after him with the shilling, 
 and that, being rather lame, she was only just in time 
 to see his cocked hat disappear behind the ferns. 
 She went on thinking she would surely find him ; 
 but when she, too, got behind the ferns, all she saw 
 was a molehill. 
 
 "Now, who can this little gentleman in the red 
 coat be, and where does he come from, and where 
 does he go to ? " thought the grandmother, " I shall 
 stay within next Saturday and watch him." 
 
 Instead of going out to gather sticks as usual, the 
 
FAIRIE AXD BROlV.y//:. 171 
 
 old woman remained at home on the next Saturday; 
 but thoiigli both Fairie and Brownie had their heads 
 cut of the window, and san<^ " Din^, don^, dell," and 
 looked up and down the road for the old gentleman, 
 he never came near the cottage. The grandmother 
 got tired of waiting for him, and went out towards 
 dusk. She was scarcely gone when in he walked, 
 looking in a great hurry. 
 
 "Come, my dears," said he to the children, "make 
 haste and sing, for I am ever so late." 
 
 Fairie and Brownie, who were very good-natured, 
 began singing at once ; but at the end of five minutes 
 he started up and said that would do for to-day, and 
 he had dropped the shilling, and was gone in a moment. 
 
 Matters went on so for a long time. The grand- 
 mother, seeing it was no use to stay at home and 
 v.-atch the old gentleman, went out every Saturday. 
 He came quite regularl}- to hear "Ding, dong, dell" 
 sung, and dropped a shilling, as a matter of course, and 
 walked away and vanished behind the ferns just as he 
 had done the first time. One Saturday, as the old 
 grandmother was coming in and the old gentleman 
 was going out, he said to Fairie and Brownie: "Well. 
 
172 FAIRIE AND BROWNIE. 
 
 dears, 1 shall come and hear 'Ding-, dong, dell' sun^,^ 
 for the last time next Saturday, and so what shall I 
 bring you ? " 
 
 Before the grandmother had time to put in a word, 
 both Fairie and Brownie had answered : " Oh, please, 
 will you bring us a bird ? " 
 
 " Very well," said he, " you shall have ' Don't-Forget- 
 j\Ie.'" And off he was, and behind the ferns in no time. 
 The grandmother was very angr}- that Fairie and 
 Brownie had asked for nothing better than a bird. 
 
 " You foolish children," she said, " what shall we 
 do with a bird? Feed it wdien we cannot feed our- 
 selves ! And then, how shall we get on without the 
 old gentleman's shilling since he means to come no 
 more .'' If you had sung something else to him 
 besides that stupid ' Ding, dong, dell,' he would never 
 have left off coming, I am sure." 
 
 She scolded them both till Fairie and Brownie 
 began to cry, and declared that tliey had sung "Ding, 
 dong, dell" because the old gentleman would hear no- 
 thing else, and he shut his eyes and purred all the time 
 they sang it, and they were sure they were not to 
 blame. 
 
FAIRIE AND BROWNIE. 173 
 
 "Well," said the grandmother, "what Is done is 
 done, but what \ou have to do is this : when that 
 little Red Coat goes away next Saturday, follow him 
 as fast as }-ou can, and see where he goes to when he 
 gets behind the ferns. If you can find out where lie 
 lives, he may take you to sing to him again." 
 
 Fairie and Brownie both promised to do this. The 
 old gentleman came on the Saturday, and they sang 
 to him, and as he was going away, he took a little 
 silver cage with a green bird in it out of his pocket, 
 and said : " Good-bye, my dears, here is ' Don't- 
 Forget-Me.' " And he was gone in no time. Fairie 
 and Brownie followed him out, and as he never looked 
 round, they were almost as soon behind the ferns as 
 he was. They saw him walking very fast to a broad 
 and handsome gate which stood wide open, showing 
 them a beautiful garden full of roses, and beyond it a 
 
 splendid 
 
 palace 
 
 all 
 
 glitterin 
 
 g in 
 
 the 
 
 sun. ' 
 
 I suppose 
 
 he lives 
 
 here," 
 
 said 
 
 Fairie 
 
 to B 
 
 -ownic ; and they fol- 
 
 lowed hi 
 
 m in. 
 
 No 
 
 sooner 
 
 had 
 
 they 
 
 passed the gate 
 
 than the 
 
 old gentl 
 
 :man looked 
 
 roun 
 
 d and 
 
 nodded to 
 
 them. 
 
 'Oh! 
 
 Fairie and 
 
 Brownie,' 
 
 said 
 
 he, " here 
 
 you are 
 
 come 
 
 to 
 
 see me 
 
 1 I 
 
 thought > 
 
 ou would. 
 
174 FAIRIE AND BROWNIE. 
 
 Well, my dears, your room is ready, and luncheon is 
 waiting." 
 
 He took them at once to the palace, then up to a 
 pretty room with two little beds in it. And on each 
 bed there was a pretty little frock ready ; the blue one 
 was for Fairie, and Brownie had the pink one. After 
 that they went to another room where a table was 
 set out with cakes, sweets, and all sorts of good 
 things. The old gentleman bade the -little sisters 
 take what they liked and eat as much as they 
 pleased. When they had done he made them sing 
 to him, and after that he took them to a room full 
 of playthings, where he left them. 
 
 Now this old gentleman was prime minister to the 
 King of the Fairies, and his name was Snip. The 
 beautiful palace he had taken Fairie and Brownie to 
 was the palace of the King and Queen, and it was in 
 Fairyland. There was nothing Snip liked so well as 
 hearing little children sing, and he went out in the 
 world every Saturday for that purpose, till the King, 
 \\\\Q wanted him for state business, would not let 
 him out any more. You may think, therefore, how- 
 glad Snip was to keep Fairie and Brownie when they 
 
FAIRIE AND BROWXIE. 175 
 
 followed him. He was very kind to them, and gave 
 them the best of everything. They had all sorts of 
 daint}' thin;4s to cat, and the most beautiful clothes 
 to wear, and the handsomest of playthings to play 
 with, and all they had to do was to sing " Ding, dong, 
 dell" to him every day. Sometimes they got tired of 
 this, and cried, and asked to go home to Granny ; but 
 Snip gav^e them a cake or a doll or a new frock, and 
 the\' were comforted. 
 
 No one in the palace knew anything about all this, 
 but the King and Queen of the Fairies soon perceived 
 that the prime minister who dined at the royal table, 
 was always in a great hurry to go to his own apartment 
 immediately after luncheon. 
 
 "Snip," once said the King, "what are you going 
 away for in such haste .-* " 
 
 " May it please your Majesty," answered Snip, look- 
 ing m)-sterious " I know that your Majesty's enemies 
 are plotting against )-ou, so I go and counterplot in my 
 room." 
 
 The King nodded, and said, " Quite right," and that 
 was all. 
 
 The King had a little fairy page called Pop, wlio was 
 
176 FA HUE AND BROWNIE. 
 
 always making mischief. As he once passed by the 
 door of Snip he heard him talking to Fairy and 
 Brownie. Pop was too short to look through the ke}'- 
 hole and see who was within, but he ran and told the 
 King that the prime minister had strangers with 
 him. 
 
 " Snip is a traitor," said the King to the Queen, " I 
 must see about it." 
 
 The King went at once to the door of Snip's room, 
 and wishing to take the prime minister in the act, 
 whatever he might be doing, he first peeped through the 
 keyhole. What should he see but Snip seated in an 
 armchair, with his eyes shut, and his hands folded, a little 
 fair girl standing on one side of him, and a little dark 
 girl on the other. 
 
 " Now, my dears, you may begin," said Snip. 
 
 '' Ding, dong, dell," sang Fairie in his right ear. 
 
 " Pussy cat's in the well," sang Brownie in his left ear, 
 and so on, till the song was ended, and all the time 
 Snip kept his eyes shut, and purred like a cat. 
 
 They were going to begin over again, when the King 
 touched the lock with the fairy ring on his fore tinger. 
 At once the door flew wide open, Snip started up in a 
 
FAIR IE AXn BROWME. 177 
 
 frijlit, and Fairic and Brownie went and hid behind liis 
 big chair. 
 
 " Well, sir," said the King of the Fairies, looking very 
 sternh- at Snip, and speaking in a ver\' deep voice, " is 
 that your counterplotting, having ' Ding, dong, dell,' 
 sung to you by two mortals? Don't you know that I 
 have forbidden all such intercourse with human beings 
 since we had so much trouble with Red Cap?" 
 
 " May it please your Majest}-," replied Snip, who was 
 himself again, " I do it to clear my ideas, and for the 
 good of your kingdom. Your Majest}' knows that we 
 fairies get cobweb on the brain. Now, to hear a song 
 sung by human beings, who, as every one knows, 
 never have cobwebs of an}' kind, is the finest thing 
 in the world for that complaint. Your Majesty can- 
 not imagine how clear one's ideas begin to get when 
 one hears ' Ding, dong, dell,' but when it comes to 
 Johnny Trout, one feels as bright as bright can 
 be." 
 
 " Indeed !" said the King, " I must try that. Give me 
 
 the chair, and you little things come and sing to me 
 
 directly." 
 
 It took some coaxing to make Fairie and Brownie 
 
 M 
 
178 FAIRIE AND BROWNIE, 
 
 sing to the King of the Fairies, but at length they did 
 so, and he liked it amazingly. 
 
 " 1 declare my ideas are getting clearer and clearer," 
 said the King, " I must hear that wonderful song every 
 day. ' Ding, dong, dell ! ' Beautiful ! beautiful !" 
 
 " And Pussy cat's in the well ! " said Snip. 
 
 " Oh ! that is fine," said the King : 
 
 " And Johnny Trout ! " said Snip. 
 
 " Oh ! that beats all," said the King, " but, Snip, we 
 will keep this to ourselves. We will not tell the Queen 
 about it." 
 
 When he had heard " Ding, dong, dell," sung for ever 
 so long, the King of the Fairies went and told the 
 Queen that Pop was a little impostor, and that Snip 
 was a great statesman. 
 
 " Well, but what about your enemies, and the plotting 
 and counterplotting," said the Queen. 
 
 " My dear," answered the King, " these are state 
 matters, with which ladies have nothing to do." 
 
 The Queen was very much aftronted at this, and 
 would not look at either Snip or the King for ever so 
 long. After a time, however, she thought she would 
 like to know what it was that kept them closeted 
 
FAIRIE AND BROWNIE. 17-1 
 
 toj^cther even- day, and so one afternoon she went to 
 Snip's door and listened to what was going on vvitliin. 
 The King ^\as scolding Snip, and talking so loud that 
 the Ouccn could hear e\-ery word. 
 
 " I tell you, sir," he was saying, " it is my turn to 
 hear 'Ding, dong, dell.' How dare you keep \our 
 sovereign waiting. \'ou rebel V 
 
 But Snip an.>wered quite coolly, " May it please 
 your Majest}', I brought Fairie and Brownie here, and 
 though I may lend them to you, they are mine for all 
 that." 
 
 " Xo, we are not," cried Fairie and Brownie; "we are 
 Granny's, and we want to go away, and we will not 
 sing any more for you, you bad, ugly little men." 
 
 Here was a fine thing ! Two puny human beings 
 calling the King of the Fairies and his prime minister 
 bad, ugly little men ! 
 
 "Snip, you are a traitor," cried the King in a rage. 
 "You set these little creatures against me. Come here 
 and sing to me directly," he said to Fairie. 
 
 "And you come and sing to me," said Snip to 
 Brownie. 
 
 When the Queen heard about singing, she looked 
 
i8o FAIR IE AND BROWNIE. 
 
 through the keyhole. She saw the King sitting in a 
 chair, Fairie singing to him, and he purring Hke a cat 
 with his e}'es shut, and Snip sitting in another chair 
 with Brownie singing to him, and he was purring louder 
 than the King. When the Queen had looked long 
 enough she went away. Presently she met the King 
 and his minister, who had made it up, and were going 
 out riding together. She asked what they had been 
 doing in Snip's room. 
 
 "My dear," answered the King, "I have already told 
 you that these are state matters not fit for ladies." 
 
 "Oh, very well," said the Queen; but as soon as they 
 were gone, she went up to Snip's room and touched the 
 lock with the fairy ring on her forefinger. The door 
 flew open, and the Queen found Fairie and Brownie 
 crying together in a corner of the room. 
 
 They stopped when the Queen of the Fairies came 
 in, for never before had thc}- seen so beautiful a lady, 
 and one so finely dressed too, all in gold and silver, with 
 a crown of diamonds on her head. 
 
 " Whoare you .''" asked the Queen. "Who brought 
 you here, and what are you crying for.?" 
 
 " I am Fairie, and this is Brownie," answered Fairie, 
 
F.i/f://-: AXD BROWME. iSi 
 
 " and we came here after an ugly little black man, be- 
 cause Granny bade us, and the ugly little black man 
 makes us sing to him, and we want to go home to 
 Granny." 
 
 "Very well," said the Queen; "but as you did not 
 come here from naughtiness, but because you were bid, 
 )-ou must see m\- garden first." 
 
 She took Fairie by one hand and Brownie by the 
 other, and went down to the garden with them. She 
 then bade them bring her all the cobwebs they could 
 find. The}' did so, and when she had cobwebs enough, 
 the Queen took a needle out of a little housewife in her 
 pocket, and bidding the sisters mind what she was 
 doing, she began to work the cobwebs till they became 
 the finest and most beautiful lace that had ever been 
 seen. 
 
 " Now, take a cobweb, and do as I did," said the 
 Queen, giving each a housewife like her own. 
 
 Fairie and Brownie did as the Queen told them, 
 and each worked her cobweb till it was almost as 
 beautiful as the Queen's. 
 
 " Xow put up your housewife, and let us look at m)- 
 garden," said the Queen. 
 
i82 FAIRIE AND BROWNIE. 
 
 They went over the garden, which was a most 
 beautiful place, and full of the loveliest roses and 
 rarest flowers. Fairie asked if Brownie and she might 
 not take some. The Queen at first said no, that she 
 never allowed any one to pick the flowers of her gar- 
 den ; then she changed her mind, and told them that 
 as they had been good children she would let them 
 take a few. Fairie gathered some white roses, and 
 made a wreath of them., which she put on her head ; 
 and Brownie picked some crimson berries that grew 
 on a tree, and threaded them into a necklace, which 
 she fastened round her neck. This was scarcely done, 
 when Fairie saw the gate through which they had 
 come in standing wide open. 
 
 " Oh, please," said Fairie to the Queen, " may I 
 just run out to Granny.' I see her there beyond, 
 gathering sticks in the forest." 
 
 " I have a hundred gardens, and you have seen 
 only one," answered the Queen. "Which will you see 
 first, your Grann\' or my other ninet\--nine gardens?" 
 
 Fairie and Brownie both said they would rather 
 see their Granny first, upon which the Queen told them 
 to go. They ran out at once in the forest, ever so 
 
FAIRIE AXD BROWME. 183 
 
 glad to see their grandmother again, but also wish- 
 ing much to see the other ninety-nine gardens of tlie 
 Queen of the Fairies. 
 
 " W'c shall be back directly," said Fairie, turning 
 round, but she stared quite amazed, for lo I the gate 
 was gone, there was not a glimpse of the garden and 
 its roses, the glittering palace had vanished, and they 
 were alone in the forest, with the tall ferns around 
 them, and not a sign of their grandmother far or near. 
 
 The two little sisters were so frightened, that 13rownie 
 could not help crying; but Fairie took her hand, and 
 said she knew the way home, and that if Granny was 
 out they could sit at the door and wait till she came 
 back. They went round the ferns, and followed the 
 highroad. They met several people, who all stared 
 at Fairie's wreath of roses and at Brownie's necklace 
 of berries, till the children were ashamed, and hid 
 them in the pockets of their little pinafores, for all 
 the fine things which Snip had given them were gone, 
 and they wore the shabby clothes which they had 
 on when they followed him. They came at last to 
 the spot where, their grandmother's cottage should 
 have been, but in its stead they saw a big square 
 
l84 FAIRIE AND BROWNIE. 
 
 house, with four-and-tvventy windows on every side, 
 and four-and-twenty weathercocks on the roof, 
 
 "Please, whose house is that?" asked Fairie of a 
 woman who was passing by. 
 
 " Why, you silly child," answered the woman, " where 
 do \'ou come from that you do not know this is the 
 house which the Queen had built for Don't-Forget- 
 Me?" 
 
 The children were glad to hear about Don't-Forget- 
 Me, for they thought that perhaps their grandmother 
 lived there now. They went and sat on the door- 
 steps, and waited, thinking she might come out to 
 them, but she did not, and in her stead out walked 
 a big servant man in livery, who asked them roughly 
 what they were doing there. 
 
 " We are tired, and we are resting," said a little voice, 
 and Fairie, looking up, saw Don't-Forget-Me in his 
 silver cage, hanging out of a window. 
 
 " Then don't rest long," said the big servant man, as 
 he went back into the house. 
 
 Presently a lady's maid came out, and calling the 
 children little lazy things, bade them begone. 
 
 " We are not lazy, for we can make lace out of cob- 
 
FAIA'i:-: AXD BROirX/E. i8s 
 
 webs," said the little voice again ; " go and sa}' so to 
 \oiir lady the Princess, and show her this." 
 
 Fairie, seeing what Don't-Forgct-Me meant, toolv 
 out of her pocket the lace which she had worked in 
 the garden of the Queen of the Fairies, and gave it 
 to the lady's maid, who went in with it to her mistress 
 the Princess. 
 
 Now, this Princess was so fonJ of lace that .she spent 
 almost all her money upon it, though she could never 
 find any to her liking ; but nothing could be finer than 
 this lace made of cobweb, and it was so beautiful as 
 well, that the Princess declared she had never seen 
 anything to equal it. 
 
 " Bring those wonderful little girls at once," said 
 she to the maid. 
 
 " Children," said she, when they stood before her, 
 "did you really make this lace out of cobwebs V 
 
 " Get us some cobwebs from the garden and you 
 will see," said a little voice. 
 
 Fairie and Brownie looked up, and there was 
 Don't-Forget-Me in his silver cage, hanging close to 
 them. 
 
 The Princess sent to the garden for some cobwebs. 
 
i86 FAIRIE AND BROWNIE. 
 
 She chose the finest, and gave them to Fairie and 
 Brownie, who, each taking out her housewife, at once 
 made the most beautiful lace that could be seen. 
 
 " And who taught you how to make lace out of 
 cobweb, and who are you ? " asked the Princess, more 
 amazed than ever. 
 
 " A lady who lives far away taught us," answered 
 Don't-Forget-Me in his cage ; " and we are orphans." 
 
 " Will you stay with me and work lace for me ? " 
 asked the Princess. 
 
 "Oh yes; we will," answered Don't-Forget-Me, "if 
 you will use us kindly." 
 
 The Princess, who never seemed to know it was 
 Don't-Forget-Me who was talking, and not Fairie and 
 Brownie, promised to be very kind to them ; but she 
 did not keep her word, for the first thing she did was to 
 have them taken to a room at the top of the house, and 
 locked up there, lest they should escape, and make lace 
 out of cobwebs for some one else. 
 
 When Fairie and Brownie saw that they could not get 
 out any more, they were in great trouble, 
 
 " Don't fret," said a little voice, " I shall keep you 
 company." 
 
fAlRlE AXD BKOiy.V/£. . iSj 
 
 Tlicy looked up and saw Doii't-Forget-Mc in liis 
 silver cage. 
 
 " Oh, Don't-Forget-Me/' said Fairic, " when will 
 Granny come to see us ? " 
 
 " My dear," answered Don't- Forgct-Me, " guess how 
 long \-ou have been away." 
 
 " Seven da\-s," said Fairic, " for we left on the Satur- 
 day morning, and this is Friday." 
 
 "My dear," replied Don't-Forget-Me, "you have been 
 gone seven years, and your grandmother is dead." 
 
 Fairie and Jkownie cried bitterly on hearing this, 
 but Don't-Forget-Me did his best to comfort them. He 
 promised to stay with them and to advise them, and he 
 also told them all that had happened whilst tliey were 
 in Fairyland. When the old grandmother saw that 
 Fairie and Brownie did not come back from the forest, 
 she went to look for them behind the ferns, but neither 
 there nor anywhere else did she find them. She came 
 back alone to the cottage, and sitting down, she began 
 to cry. 
 
 "Don't cr}', Grann>-," said a little voice. 
 
 "Why, who are you.''" asked the grandmother, look- 
 ing around her and seeing no one. 
 
iSS FAIRIE AND BROWNIE. 
 
 " I am Don't-Forget-Me," answered the little voice, 
 "and my silver cage is just behind you. T belong to 
 Fairie and Brownie, and \'ou must not fret, Granny, 
 for they are well and happy, and are busy singing 
 'Ding, dong, dell' to the old gentleman this very 
 minute, but they cannot come back for seven years." 
 
 "And what shall I do all that time? " asked the poor 
 old woman. 
 
 "Don't be afra'd, Granny," answered Don't-Forget- 
 Me, "but take me to-morrow to the Queen." 
 
 Granny did as she was bid. She took Don't-Forget- 
 Me in his silver cage to the palace, and asked to show 
 him to the Queen. Before her Majesty could say a 
 word, the young Prince, who was very rude, burst out 
 laughing, and said: " You silly old woman, what does the 
 Queen want with your bird.? What can he do for her.-"' 
 
 " I can tell the Queen that you broke her fan 
 yesterday," said Don't-Forget-Me. 
 
 The young Prince was quite frightened when he 
 heard this little bird telling what he had done, but the 
 Queen was both surprised and delighted. 
 
 "You wonderful bird," said she, "you must come 
 and live in my palace, and talk to me every day." 
 
FAIRIE AXD nROU'XIE. 189 
 
 Rwt Don't-For:^ct-Mc said he could not do that on 
 an\- account ; however, if the Queen would build iiini 
 a house to his liking, with a few other things he should 
 tell her of, he should not mind sta}'ing in it, and 
 letting her come and talk to him every morning. 
 The Queen agreed to cver\'thing. for with such a bird 
 as Don't-Forget-Me to advise her, she knew she could 
 do without her ministers, who were rather trouble- 
 some about that time. 
 
 The first thing Don't-Forget-!Me asked for was, that 
 the Queen should build him a house with twent)'-four 
 windows on every side, and twenty-four weather-cocks 
 on the roof, and that this house should be on the 
 spot where the old grandmother's cottage stood. The 
 next thing Don't-Forget-Me asked for was, a large 
 garden, with trees and flowers ; and last of all, that 
 his Grann\- should take care of him, and have a set 
 of servants under her, to keep evcr)-thing nice, and 
 in order. All this the Queen did very willingl}'; and 
 every morning she went and had a long conversation 
 with Don't-Forget-Me, who told her all she was to 
 do, and who made quite a great queen of her. 
 
 When Don't-Forget-Me had been a year in his 
 
IQO FAIRIE AND BROWNIE. 
 
 new house, poor old Granny died, and he told the 
 Queen she must find him a Princess to take care of 
 him. The Queen had some trouble in <jetting him a 
 Princess to his liking, but she did find one at last 
 that suited him, and matters went on very comfort- 
 ably, till the Queen died too, and the young Prince 
 reigned in her stead. The new King would have no- 
 thing to say to Don't- Forget-Me, whom he hated, but 
 at the same time, he feared him too much to do any- 
 thing against him. So Don't-Forget-Me lived in his 
 house with the Princess till Fairie and Brownie came 
 back from Fairyland. 
 
 The Princess was very much surprised to find that 
 instead of staying in the drawing-room with her, Don't- 
 Forget-Me would now be in the room at the top of 
 the house with the two little girls. He told her that 
 he wanted to see them making lace out of cobwebs, 
 and as after all he was the master of the house, there 
 was no gainsaying him. He was so kind to Fairie 
 and Brownie that they did not mind being locked up, 
 for Don't-Forget-Me told them the most beautiful 
 fairy tales, and he taught them ever so many things 
 as well, and the two sisters were as happy as the day 
 
FAtRlE AXD BKOU'Mi:. 191 
 
 was long, till they grew up to be beautiful young 
 women. All these years they spent in making lace 
 out of cobwebs, till there was scarcelx- a cobweb to be 
 found in field or garden, and spiders had to be reared 
 like silkworms. Their lace was the finest and the 
 rarest to be seen, and the Princess was as proud as 
 could be of the handsome things she had ; but she 
 had nothing so handsome as the robe and veil which 
 each of the sisters made for her own wedding-day, by 
 the advice of Don't-Forget-Me. 
 
 " But, Don'l-Forget-Me," once said Fairie, " who will 
 ever come up here to marry us ? " 
 
 " Some one will come by and by," answered Don't- 
 Forgct-.Me ; "do as I bid you." 
 
 The Princess had two sons, who had gone off tra- 
 velling to see the world the very day before that on 
 which Fairie and Brownie left Fair)land. These 
 two young Princes had many strange adventures, and 
 saw many wonderful things, but they had never seen 
 anything more wonderful than Don"t-F"orget-Me, and 
 when they came back, the fir.st thing they asked of 
 their mother was : " Where is Don't-Forget-Me .' " 
 
 "He is busy," answered the Princess, "you cannot 
 
192 FAIRIE AND BROWNIE. 
 
 see him to-day; besides he does not like company any 
 longer." 
 
 The Princes were sorry to hear this, for Don't- Forget- 
 Me had been ver\' kind to them formerly, and he had 
 told them all about Fairie and Brownie, and how they 
 were to come back from Fairyland when their seven 
 years were out. 
 
 " I shall marry Fairie," had said the elder one of 
 the two Princes, " I like her best." 
 
 "And I shall marry Brownie," said his brother, "I 
 like her best." 
 
 "Very well," said Don't Forget-Me ; "but you must 
 go and travel first, and by the time you are home 
 again, Fairie and Brownie will be here." 
 
 The young Princes did as Don't-Forget-]\Ie bade 
 them, and when the}' came back, and were told they 
 could not see him, the next question they put was: 
 " Have not Fairie and Brownie left Fairyland yet ?" 
 
 But their mother did not even know what they 
 meant, for she had never heard of Fairie and Brownie. 
 The Princes had been home three da\-s, and they were 
 wondering to each other in what part of the house 
 Don't-Forget-Me was to be found, when, as they were 
 
FAIR IE AXD BROWXIE. 193 
 
 walkinfj in the garden, they heard liim talkincjr to 
 Fairie and Brownie, who had left the window of their 
 room open. 
 
 "Oh! Don't- Forget-Mc, where are you?" cried the 
 Princes from below. 
 
 "Come up to the top of the house," he answered in 
 his little clear voice, wliich could be heard ever so far, 
 "and open the first door }-ou see, and you will find 
 me there." 
 
 The Princes did as Don't-Forget-Me told them ; 
 they went up to the top of the house, and opened the 
 first door they saw ; for, though the Princess had 
 locked the door, she had forgotten to take the kc\'. 
 When the Princes entered the room, they looked for 
 Don't- Forget-Me ; but, instead of him, they saw two 
 beautiful girls, one fair and one dark, who were making 
 lace out of cobwebs. At first they were both so much 
 amazed that they could not say one word, but at 
 length the elder one of the two Princes, looking at 
 Fairie, said: "Who are you, and where do you come 
 from ? " 
 
 " I am Fairie," she answered ; '* that is my sister 
 Brownie, and we come from Fairyland." 
 
194 FAIRIE AND BROWiXIE. 
 
 "Then if you are Fairie," said the Prince, " Don't- 
 Forget-Me has surely told you that you are to marry 
 me, and that Brownie is to marry my brother there." 
 
 " Yes," said Don't-Forget-Me, in his cage ; " I have 
 told them all that, and their wedding-dresses are 
 ready, but you must go and ask the Princess for her 
 consent." 
 
 The Princes lost no time in going to their mother, 
 and telling her that they had found Fairie and Brownie, 
 and wished to marry them. 
 
 "Very well," said the Princess; "but if you do 
 marry them, I must have Don't-Forget-Me." 
 
 When the Princes went back and told Fairie and 
 Brownie this, the two sisters cried out that they liked 
 the Princes very much, but that they could never 
 part with Don't-Forget-Me, who had been so good 
 to them all these years. 
 
 " Do as I bid you," said Don't-Forget-Me, who had 
 been listening to all this, " and tell the Princess that 
 you will not give me up till you are married ; and 
 that then you must open my cage, take me out and 
 stroke me three times, and kiss me twice, before you 
 put me on her hand." 
 
How 1 iiuvo you,' iaiJ sac." — Fagt igij. 
 
FAIRIE AXD PROWXIE. 195 
 
 Fa'rie and Brownie, \vlio knew how wise Don't- 
 For;^ct-Me was, did as he bade them ; and the Prin- 
 cess was so glad to get this wonderful bird, that she 
 made her sons marry the two sisters the very next 
 morning. Fairie and Brownie put on their beautiful 
 lace robes and veils, and Fairie's wreath of roses, 
 which she had kept all these jears, turned out to be 
 diamonds, and Brownie's necklace of berries to be 
 rubies ; and the two brides looked so beautiful and 
 so good, that every one said how happy the Princess 
 ought to be to have got such wives for her sons. 
 
 The Princess said she was very glad ; but, to say 
 the truth, it was because she was to get Don't-Forget- 
 J\Ie that she was so pleased. She asked for him as 
 soon as the wedding was over. The cage was brought 
 down to the drawing-room ; and when the Princess 
 had ordered all the doors and windows to be shut, 
 Fairie and Brownie opened the cage and took out 
 Don't-Forget-Me. Each stroked him three times and 
 kissed him twice, then both put him on the Princess' 
 hand. 
 
 " Now I have you," said she. But even as she spoke 
 all the doors and windows flew wide open. 
 
196 
 
 FAIRIE AND BROWNIE. 
 
 " Good-bye," said Don't-Forget-Me ; and off and 
 away he flew to Fairyland, where he has remained 
 ever since, and all that the Princess had of him was 
 his silver cage. She was in great trouble at first, but 
 Fairie and Brownie comforted her, and were very good 
 and kind ; and they were all very happy together till 
 they died. 
 
 X^^Mlii^/// 
 
©rfllo 
 
 -r 
 
 \\ ICRE three Princesses once 
 w ho were ver}- beautiful and vcrj' 
 
198 BATTY, 
 
 proud. Each Princess built herself a palace with a 
 turret to it. When the turrets were nearly finished, 
 the Princesses having heard of the three silver bells of 
 Fairyland, wished to have them to roof their turrets 
 with. They sent out a proclamation, offering to marry 
 the kings who would get the bells for them. No kings, 
 however, caring to make the attempt, the Princesses 
 said they would take up with princes. When this, 
 too, failed, they sent out a third proclamation, saying 
 they would marry the men who brought them the 
 bells, no matter who and what they might be. Upon 
 this, a great many young men set off for Fairyland, and 
 tried to get in, and bring back the bells, in order to 
 marry the Princesses; but they all failed, no doubt, for 
 not one of them ever appeared again. So the Princesses 
 remained unmarried, and the turrets unroofed, and all 
 on account of the three silver bells of Fairyland. 
 
 Well, about this very same time there lived a poor 
 Woodcutter and his wife, who had three sons. The first 
 was big Billy, the second was bigger Billy, and the third 
 was biggest Billy. When the first Billy was born, the 
 Woodcutter said : " What a fine child." When the 
 second Billy came, the Woodcutter said : " That child is 
 
BATTV. 199 
 
 very large;" but when he saw the third Billy, the poor 
 Woodcutter cried out : " This is a Giant ! How shall I 
 ever feed him and his brothers?" Indeed the three 
 boys sj^rew up so tall, so stout, and so large, that every 
 one called them the Giants ; and they were as awkward 
 and as ungainl}' as they were big. They were good for 
 nothing, said their father, but to mar his work, fill the 
 place, and eat him out of house and home. There were 
 a great many bats in the old tower, and looking at them, 
 the Woodcutter used to say : " I would rather have a 
 bat for a child than another Billy." 
 
 The tower stood on the borders of a forest, which was 
 close to Fairyland. The fairies thought they would 
 give the Woodcutter his wish, and the next child his 
 wife had, instead of being a girl, was the prettiest little 
 bat in the world. The Woodcutter was very angry at 
 first, but his wife said to him : " I wonder at you. Bats 
 are dear little things to begin with, and this is the 
 dearest little bat I ever saw. Besides, you will see how 
 nice it will look when I have dressed it." 
 
 The Woodcutter's wife made her little bat a pair of 
 red mittens and a pair of red stockings, and when she 
 had them on, she looked so well and so pretty in them, 
 
200 BATTY. 
 
 that her father began to like her. The Giants, too, were 
 very fond of Batty, and helped to nurse her until she 
 was strong enough to fly. She, too, was very fond of 
 them, and would hang from them v/hen she wanted a 
 nod in the daytime, or wheel about their heads of an 
 evening; but after all, there was nothing she liked so 
 well as sleeping in the old tower all day, and flitting 
 about it at night. She got on very well with the other 
 bats, for though they were all much older than she was, 
 they thought a great deal of her on account of her red 
 mittens. 
 
 The Woodcutter liked Batty, chiefly because she gave 
 him no trouble, and cost him nothing, but the three poor 
 Billies he hated more and more. 
 
 " They are good for nothing, but to sleep, eat, and 
 drink," he would say. " If they had any spirit, they 
 would never stay here. If they can do nothing else, 
 can't they go for the three silver bells of Fairyland .'" 
 
 " But if they do, I shall never see them again," said 
 the Woodcutter's wife, crying. 
 
 Batty, who was hanging by her heels in a dark corner 
 of the room, heard all this, and wondered what it 
 meant. 
 
B.4 TTY. 2ot 
 
 " Mother," said she, as soon as her father was out, 
 "what are the three silver bells of Fairyland, and why 
 does father want my brothers to go for them ?" 
 
 Her mother then told her the story of the three 
 Princesses who had offered to marry the young men 
 who would bring them back the bells with which they 
 wished to roof their turrets. "But if my Billies goto 
 Fairyland," said the Woodcutter's wife, " I know I shall 
 never see them again." 
 
 " Do not fret, mother," said Batty ; " if my brothers 
 go to Fairyland, I shall go with them, and bring them 
 safe home." 
 
 This comforted the Woodcutter's wife a little, for she 
 knew that Batty was very clever, and could take good 
 care of the Giants. Batty went at once to an old bat 
 who lived in the tower, and asked her how she was to 
 go to Fairyland. 
 
 " It is the easiest thing in the world," answered the 
 old bat ; "wait till the-moon is up, get on a moonbeam, 
 and it will take you straight to Fairyland." 
 
 Batty did as the old bat told her. She waited till 
 the moon was up, got on a moonbeam, and soon found 
 herself in Fair\-land, close to the King's palace. She 
 
202 BA TTY. 
 
 saw the three silver bells in a belfry, shining in the 
 moonlight, and she was flitting about them, when the 
 fairy, whose business it was to watch the bells, cried 
 out : " Who goes there ? " 
 
 " Little Batty," said she. 
 
 " What brings you here ? " 
 
 " I came to see the silver bells." 
 
 " That's all very well," said the fairy, "but the King 
 must have a look at you." 
 
 He took Batty before the King and the Queen of the 
 Fairies, who, as soon as they saw her, cried out, " Why, 
 that is little Batty. We know her by her red mittens. 
 Well, Batty, so you have come to see Fairyland ; and 
 what do you think of it .'* " 
 
 "I think I never saw so fine a place," said Batty; 
 "but may it please your Majesties to tell me what is the 
 use of these silver bells up in the belfry .'* " 
 
 " These bells," said the King, " are to waken us in the 
 morning ; to call us to dinner at noon ; and to send us 
 to sleep at night. Would you like the Queen to let you 
 have a look at them, Batty .'' " 
 
 Batty answered that she would very much like to see 
 the bells, so the Queen took her up to the belfry, showed 
 
i?. / TTY. 203 
 
 her the bells, and then said, " I think you had better go 
 now, Batt\'. We like you very well, but we want no 
 strangers here. Come, get up on the moonbeam and be 
 off." 
 
 Batty got up on the moonbeam, and she was at home 
 in the old tower long before day. No one asked her 
 where she had been, and Batty said nothing about it. 
 
 The older the Giants grew, the more they slept, ate, 
 and drank, and the more their father disliked them. At 
 length he told them one evening that they must go out 
 into the world and seek their fortunes there. 
 
 " How are we to seek our fortunes? " asked the three 
 Billie.s. 
 
 " Go to Fair\-land, get the three silver bells, and 
 marr\' the three Princesses," answered their father ; and 
 he turned them out of the tower, and locked the door 
 upon them, without even letting them bid their mother 
 good-b\'e. 
 
 " Do not fret, mother," said little Batty, flying out 
 of the window after her brothers, " I shall bring thcin 
 safe home." 
 
 " Batty," said Big Billy, " do you know the way to 
 Fair) land ?" 
 
204 BATTY. 
 
 " It is up a moonbeam," answered Batty ; " but you 
 are all three too big to get up on a moonbeam. You 
 must let me go there alone, and wait here in the forest 
 till I come back." 
 
 The Giants agreed to this. Batty got up on a moon- 
 beam, and went ofif to Fairyland, whilst they stayed in 
 the forest and went to sleep ; this they did standing, 
 each leaning against a tree; for as their father had no 
 beds large enough for them, he had accustomed them 
 to sleep so, resting against the wall. 
 
 When Batty got off the moonbeam this time, she 
 found that she was close to the moon. She thought that 
 it looked very dull, " I must see what is the matter 
 with that moon," said she to herself. She opened it, 
 looked in, and saw that it was sadly in want of cleaning. 
 
 " Well, I am sure," thought Batty ; " I wonder at the 
 fairies, I do, to keep their moon so untidy." 
 
 She shut up the moon aga'n, and went to the King's 
 palace. She peeped in at the window of a room in 
 which the King and the Queen were talking together, 
 and heard what they were saying. Fairies are such 
 fickle creatures that they are always changing every- 
 thing- and one of their great fancies is to widen or to 
 
fiAlTY. 205 
 
 narrow Fairyland as their wliini may be. Now, the 
 Kin<; wanted Fairyland to be widened, and the Queen 
 wanted it to be narrowed that very night, for it is only 
 at night when the moon is down that the fairies can do 
 this, and that was what they were talking about. 
 
 *' Fairyland is already too large as it is," said the 
 Queen, " the fairies are always gadding about." 
 
 " I shall not widen it much," said the King, " I shall 
 only take in the big oak in the forest to pass a review 
 under it, and when the review is over, we can narrow 
 Fairyland back again, and put the big oak out to- 
 morrow night as soon as the moon is down." 
 
 The Queen agreed to this, and Batty having heard 
 enough, got up on the moonbeam again, and went off 
 to the forest. She woke her brothers, and making them 
 stand against the great oak-tree, she bade them wait 
 there till they found themselves in Fairyland. 
 
 "And mind," said Batty, "that you do not stir hand 
 or foot till you hear the three silver bells tinkle, for once 
 it is day the fairies cannot turn you out till night comes 
 rotmd again." 
 
 The three Billies, who knew how wise Batty was, 
 promised to obey her, and in order not to be tempted 
 
2o6 BATTY 
 
 to leave the great oak-tree, they went fast asleep as 
 soon as they stood leaning against it. 
 
 The moment the silver bells rang, the King of the 
 Fairies went to look at the tree, and the Queen went 
 with him. When they saw the three Giants standing 
 against the oak, and still fast asleep, they were amazed 
 and disgusted. They did not know what to do with 
 such big creatures, and they went home to the palace to 
 consult together on the matter. 
 
 " That comes of taking in the great oak," said the 
 Queen. 
 
 " Never mind the great oak now," said the King ; 
 " but since we cannot turn these monsters out before 
 night, what are we to do with them in the meanwhile." 
 
 The Queen said one thing and the King said another 
 thing, and they were beginning to quarrel, when Batty, 
 who was flitting near the window, put in her word. 
 
 " If you please, those are my three brothers," said 
 Batty ; " and you can make them very useful if you 
 like." 
 
 " And pray who are you } " asked the Queen, 
 
 " If you please I am little Batty." 
 
 ' Then show me your red mittens." 
 
FATTY. 207 
 
 Batty showed her red mittens, and the Oucen was 
 satisfied. Still she said, " That is all very well, 
 Batty ; but your brothers are too big to be of any use 
 to us.'* 
 
 " If }-ou please," said Ratty, "I liave seen that Fairy- 
 land is rather untid\-, and my brothers could clean it up 
 for you in no time. Besides you have been taking in a 
 great many insects with the oak, ants, caterpillars, and 
 the like, and my brothers will catch and destroy them 
 every one." 
 
 The King and Queen did not much like that, but as 
 they could not turn out the Giants till it was night again, 
 they agreed to make them useful for that day. 
 
 When the bells had just done ringing the Giants 
 awoke. Batty took them at once to the King, who set 
 them to work. 
 
 " And be quick about it too," said the King; " for you 
 have only this day to do it in ; out of Fairyland }-ou go 
 to-night." 
 
 The three Billies began cleaning up Fairyland, and 
 hunting all the ants and caterpillars that had come in 
 w'rh the great oak ; but when the King saw the clumsy 
 way they set about it, he cried out, " Stop, stop ; you 
 
2c8 BATTY. 
 
 are rooting up all the trees, and treading on ali the 
 fences. That will never do 1 " 
 
 Then he called Batty, and scolded her finely for all 
 the mischief her brothers were doing. Poor Batty went 
 off to the three Giants, but she found that if the King 
 was not pleased with them, they were not pleased with 
 the King; for the moment they saw her they cried out, 
 " Batty, we are starving. The King gives us nothing to 
 eat but honey and dew. That will never do for us ; out 
 of Fairyland we go to-night." 
 
 " Ah ! but think of the silver bells," said Batty. 
 
 " We do not care about the silver bells," answered 
 the Giants ; "we want to eat." 
 
 " Would you like fish .' " asked Batty. 
 
 The Giants answered they would like anything that 
 was not honey and dew, but that eat they must. 
 
 Batty went back to the King. " May it please your 
 Majesty," said she, " I can see that the large fish pond 
 in front of your palace wants cleaning. My brothers 
 could clean it for you to-day, whilst you are reviewing 
 your army under the big oak tree." 
 
 " I don't know that the pond wants cleaning," said tht; 
 King. 
 
BATTY. 209 
 
 " Yes, it does," said the Queen, " and Batty's brothers 
 will do it beautifully." 
 
 So off the King and the Queen went to the review ; 
 and whilst they were away the three Billies cleaned the 
 pond — and ate ail tlie fish. 
 
 "Well, have }'ou had enough ? " asked Batty. 
 
 "Enough I" said the Giants, "we are as hungry as 
 ever. You must get us out of Fairyland to-night, or we 
 shall starve outright, Batt}-." 
 
 Batty had something to do to persuade them to try 
 Fairyland for one night more ; and when they had 
 agreed to stay, the King came back, saw that his fish 
 was gone, and called Batty to give her another scolding. 
 Batty begged his pardon, said her brothers were very 
 hungry, and promised that they would never do it 
 again. 
 
 " Of course not," said the King, " all the fish is eaten. 
 Bid \-our brothers not stir from the oak tree, for out of 
 Fair\-land they go with it to-night." 
 
 " That is a pity," replied Batty, " for if my brothers 
 go I must go too. Yet I see the moon is very dull here, 
 and I could clean it up for you, if you gave me some- 
 thing handsome." 
 
2IO PATTY. 
 
 "Dear me," said the Queen, "clean the moon up! 
 How nice that would be- The moon is dull, as Batt>' 
 says, and we can scarcely see to dance at night. And 
 how will you clean the moon, Batty ? " 
 
 Batty said she would rather not tell, but she knew 
 she could do it, if she got something handsome. 
 " Something to take away out of Fairyland as a keep- 
 sake," said Batty. 
 
 The Queen was mad for getting the moon cleaned, 
 and she persuaded the King into having it done that 
 very night. She also promised Batty to let her take 
 away whatever she pleased out of Fairyland. 
 
 As soon as it was night, Batty flew up to the moon, 
 opened it, got in, and cleaned it thoroughly with her 
 wings, till it was as bright as bright could be ; and all 
 the fairies who were looking on below clapped their 
 hands, they were so glad to see the moon shine as it had 
 never shone before. When the moon was quite clean. 
 Batty came down to the King and the Queen of the 
 Fairies, and dropping them a curtsey, she said, " Please, 
 have I cleaned the moon to your liking 1 " 
 
 " You have cleaned it beautifully," said they, " and 
 now make haste and mention the keepsake you wish 
 
BAT7Y. 211 
 
 for. We like you very well, Batty, but we shall narrow 
 Fair\land as soon as the moon is down, and the big oak 
 and your brothers must all be back in the forest b}- peep 
 of da}-." 
 
 " Then, please," answered Batty, '* I will have the 
 three silver bells in the belfr\' above the palace." 
 
 "The bells 1 our bells!" cried the King and the 
 Queen; "why, Batty, don't you know that we can 
 neither waken in the morning, nor eat at noon, nor 
 sleep at night if we do not hear our bells 1 Ask for 
 something else." 
 
 Batty said the\- had promised her what she liked, that 
 she liked the bells, and nothing but the bells would she 
 have. 
 
 " Nonsense," said the King and the Queen, " we can- 
 not do without our bells, so you must think of some- 
 thing else that we can give you, Batty." 
 
 With that they went off to dance b\' the light of the 
 moon, which Batty had cleaned so well. All the fairies, 
 young and old, went after them, and the fairy who 
 watched the bells went to dance with the rest. 
 
 Batty flew at once to the great oak-tree, and bade Big 
 Billy come with her to the palace. When they were 
 
212 BATTY. 
 
 there Batty got up into one of the bells, hung from the 
 clapper, so that it should make no noise, then said, 
 '' Big Billy, take down that bell, put it on, wrap it round 
 you, walk with it to the great oak-tree, stay there, and 
 do not stir." 
 
 Big Billy did as he was bid. He stood on tiptoe, took 
 down the bell, put it on, rolled himself well into it, then 
 walked to the great oak-tree, and stood there as quiet as 
 any mouse. Batty then got out of the bell, took Bigger 
 Billy to the palace, and hanging from the clapper of the 
 second bell, she made him take it down. This he did 
 quite easil}-, being taller than his brother. Bigger Billy 
 having put on the bell, wrapped himself well in it, 
 walked off with it to the great oak-tree, and stood there 
 as quiet as any mouse. When this was done, Batty and 
 Biggest Billy went for the third bell, which he picked 
 up, he was so tall. He put it on, wrapped himself in 
 it, took it to the great oak-tree, and stayed there as 
 quiet as any mouse, whilst Batty flitted about to see 
 that all was right. 
 
 The Giants slept till sunrise, then they awoke, and 
 called out: "Batty, are we out of Fairyland, and can 
 we take off our bells .'' we are so hungry 1" 
 
BATTY. 213 
 
 " Vou are out of Fairyland," answered Batt}' ; "but 
 you must not think of eating yet. You must keep on 
 the bell-s and walk straight on till you come to the 
 palaces of the Princesses. You cannot miss the way ; 
 the bells know all about it. As soon as you are married 
 to the Princesses, you may roof the turrets with the 
 bells, but mind you do not roof the turrets first. And 
 now I shall go and take a nod somewhere, for I cannot 
 bear daylight, and I feel very sleepy." 
 
 The Giants did as Batty bade them. The}- walked 
 straight on, and never took off the bells till thc>- came 
 to the palaces of the three Princesses, who nearly went 
 wild with joy when the\' saw the silver bells they had 
 wished for so long. 
 
 "Oh! \ou dear, good Giants," they cried, "what shall 
 we do for you V 
 
 Tiie three Billies answered in a breath: "Give us 
 something to eat. We come from Fair\-land, where all 
 we had was honey and dew, and a little fish." 
 
 " Poor fellow-s," said the three Princesses, "you shall 
 have plenty to eat; but will you not roof our turrets 
 with the bells whilst your dinner is getting ready.'" 
 
 The three Giants were very good-natured, and they 
 
214 BATTY. 
 
 did as the ]''rincesses bade tliem. They roofed the 
 turrets with the bells, then sat down to dinner. When 
 dinner was over, and they had eaten enough, they asked 
 the Princesses to marry them ; but the Princesses only 
 laughed at them. 
 
 " Marry you," said they, " who ever heard of Prin- 
 cesses marrying Giants! No, no: but if you will stay 
 and watch the bells, we will give you plenty to eat, and 
 that will do very well for you." 
 
 The Giants were rather vexed at being tricked, but 
 they were very easy Giants, and they did not know 
 what to do, so they agreed to stay and watch the 
 bells. 
 
 When Batty had taken a long sleep, she thought 
 she would like to know how her brothers were 
 getting on. So she flew and flew till she came to the 
 three palaces, and there she found the three Billies, not 
 married to the Princesses, but each sitting in a turret 
 and each watching a bell. 
 
 "Oh, that's the way the Princesses keep their word, 
 is it !" said Batty ; " well, I shall soon settle that." 
 
 Up she got on a moonbeam, for it was a fine moon- 
 light night, and off she went to Fairyland. She found 
 
" They roofed the turrets with the bells, then sat Jowii to dinner." — }'>i);e 214. 
 
BAllY. 215 
 
 the King and the Queen and all the fairies in such a 
 commotion as had never been, for the loss of the three 
 silver bells. As soon as they saw her, they all cried out : 
 *' Oh ! Batty, Batty, what have you done ! You have 
 taken our bells, and we can neither waken, nor eat, nor 
 sleep till we get them back again. Only tell us where 
 our bells are, Batty, and you shall have three wishes 
 from us. Will you be a beautiful girl, Batty .' " 
 
 "Thank you," answered Batty; "but I like flitting 
 about at night, and hanging from my heels in the day, 
 and if I were a beautiful girl, I could not do that ; so I 
 think I shall stay as I am, if you please." 
 
 "Then, what will you have, Batty, to tell us where 
 the bells are V cried all the fairies. 
 
 " Well," said Batty, " my brothers are very fine men, 
 but they are rather big. I should like them to be 
 shorter." 
 
 " Done ! " cried all the fairies; " and now where are the 
 bells t " 
 
 " Wait a bit," said Batty, " my brothers are very good- 
 natured, but they are very stupid. I should like them 
 to be clever." 
 
 The fairies again cried "Done!" and asked Batty 
 
2i6. BATTY. 
 
 what more she would have to tell them where the bells 
 were. 
 
 " I shall think it over," said Batty. " As to the bells, 
 they are roofing the three turrets of the three palaces 
 belonging to the three Princesses who were to marry my 
 three brothers, but would not." 
 
 When the fairies heard this, they were as wild with 
 joy as the Princesses had been when they got the bells ; 
 and as the moon was down, they widened Fairyland at 
 once ; and the bells, the palaces, the Princesses, and 
 the three Billies were all in before you could have said 
 Jack Robinson. 
 
 "I declare," said Batty to her brothers, "you are no 
 longer Giants, but as handsome, well-sized, and clever- 
 looking men as I ever saw." 
 
 " Take off these bells and put them back in the belfry 
 of my palace," said the King of the Fairies. 
 
 " Yes ; and we will keep the palaces lest any one 
 should be tempted to steal our bells again," said the 
 Queen. 
 
 "Just so," said the King; "and since the Princesses 
 were so fond of our bells, why they shall stay and ring 
 them for us." 
 
BATTY. 217 
 
 VVlien the Princesses heard that they were to remain 
 ill Fairyland for ever and ring the bells there, they cried 
 and wrung their hands, and were distracted with grief, 
 and begged very hard to be allowed to go back to the 
 world again. 
 
 " No ; we cannot let you go," said the King. " And, 
 indeed, I shall keep Batty and her brothers, too. Batty 
 will clean the moon for us when it gets dull again, and 
 her brothers are so clever now that they will be quite 
 useful.^' 
 
 " Stop a bit," cried Batty, " you owe me a wish yet 
 for telling you where the bells were, well then please to 
 let my brothers and me out of Fairyland." 
 
 " Oh, please take us with you 1 " cried the three 
 Princesses to the three Giants. " Only get us out of 
 Fairyland and we will marry you directly." 
 
 But it was too late. 
 
 " Done 1 " had cried all the fairies, and in a mo- 
 ment Batt\' and her brothers were in the old tower 
 again. 
 
 The Woodcutter and his wife were both as glad as 
 glad could be to see their children. 
 
 "I knew travelling would do you good," said their 
 
2l8 
 
 £A TTY. 
 
 father to the three BiUies ; and, indeed, the brothers were 
 so clever now that they got on famously and became 
 great men in no time. Batty, too, was very happy ; but 
 she had her wish, and remained Batty all the days of 
 her life. 
 
 
0). 
 
 JMI- 
 
 jiiiu m ^m ^ rm 
 
 RINCE CRYSTAL and 
 
 Princess Crystal his wife were 
 a great Prince and Princess, They were very fond of 
 one another, but could never be of the same mind ; 
 for Prince Crystal was all for soldiering, drilling, and 
 fighting, and Princess Crj'stal was all for fiddling, 
 dancing, and merrymaking. When their only ch.ild — 
 
220 FEATHER HEAD. 
 
 a bo\- — was born, they both declared he was the love- 
 liest of babies, but could not agree at all about the 
 name the\' should give him, 
 
 "Let Baby have a fairy godmother," said the old 
 King, "and she will settle that matter." 
 
 " The very thing," said Prince Crystal, " we will ask 
 Poppy to name the child." 
 
 " Not Poppy," said the Princess, " she is spiteful ; let 
 us go to Fancy Tansy." 
 
 But Prince Crystal said that Fancy Tansy was 
 stingy, and that Poppy was generous when she was 
 in a good humour; "and if we take Baby with us," 
 said the Prince, " she will not only give him a name, 
 but present him with some fairy gift or other." 
 
 The Princess still wanted to have Fancy Tansy 
 for the child's godmother ; but the old King thought 
 a fairy gift was worth having, and Prince Crystal had 
 his way. The Prince and Princess found Poppy at 
 liome, but very much out of temper. The cat had got 
 into her study, and spilt a fairy wash which she had 
 been three hundred years in making, and which would 
 have been the finest thing in the world for tan and 
 freckles in two hundred years more. 
 
FEATHER HEAD. 221 
 
 " Well," said she quite crossly, when she saw the 
 Prince and Princess and the Baby, " what do you 
 want, and what have you got there ?" 
 
 Prince Crystal told her what brought them, and 
 a.sked her so politely to give a name to Baby that 
 Poppy became more gracious, and answered quite- 
 kindly: "Come with me, and I will give Baby a name 
 and something along with it." 
 
 She took them to the room in which she kept her 
 fairy gifts. They were very valuable, but not all 
 pretty to look at, and Princess Crystal was quite dis- 
 appointed as she saw them. 
 
 " These are not things for babies, my dear," said 
 Poppy. " Indeed, I have only three gifts left which 
 would do for your boy — this pair of boots, this 
 sword, and this cap ; you may take which you like 
 best." 
 
 The boots were scarlet, and very pretty ; the sword 
 had a gold scabbard enamelled with green ; and the 
 cap was the loveliest blue satin cap that had ever been 
 seen ; and though they were all the size just fit for a 
 baby, " they were to grow with him and last him his 
 life," said Poppy. 
 
222 FEATHER HEAD. 
 
 Prince Crystal looked at the sword. " I shall take 
 that," said he. 
 
 " Whoever heard of a sword for a baby ? " cried the 
 Princess ; " besides the cap is much prettier." 
 
 " Have the boots," said Poppy. 
 
 "Why so.? " asked the Prince. 
 
 "Never mind, have the boots." 
 
 When the Prince and Princess heard Poppy advising 
 them to take the boots, they made sure this must be 
 the worst gift of the three, and the Prince wanted 
 the sword and the Princess the cap more than ever. 
 They nearly quarrelled about it, but Princess Crystal 
 at last won the day, and the blue satin cap was put 
 on Baby's head. Fairy Poppy was very much dis- 
 pleased that her advice had not been taken ; but she 
 pretended not to care, and as they were going awa}-, 
 she took a white feather, stuck it in the Baby's cap, 
 and said, " There now, you have had your way, and 
 much good may it do \-ou." 
 
 The Prince and Princess were scarcely out of the 
 Fairy's palace when they remembered that Poppy had 
 not named the child after all. She was such a 
 touchy fairy, and so apt to take offence, that the^^ 
 
FEATHER I/EAD. 223 
 
 did not venture to go back to lier, but they began 
 quarrelling as usual, each blaming the other for 
 having forgotten the very tiling they came for. 
 
 " It is all on account of that blue cap and feather," 
 said the Prince. " I shall never call Baby an\-thing 
 but Feather Head." 
 
 " Well," answered the Princess, who was so pleased 
 with the cap that she cared about nothing else, " I 
 think Feather Head is as good a name as any." 
 
 The old King was delighted with the cap, and he 
 agreed with Princess Crystal that it was most becoming 
 to Baby. Indeed, they both thought that he looked too 
 well with it ever to take it off, so Baby kept his cap on 
 night and day, for, being a fairy cap, it always looked 
 quite fresh and new. 
 
 Feather Head grew up to be a very handsome and 
 clever young Prince, but his temper was like the feather 
 in his cap : whichever way the wind blew went Feather 
 Head. He could never stay long at one thing, and 
 when a fancy crossed his mind, he thought of nothing 
 else, however wild and foolish it might be. When he 
 took his hat off to have his hair combed and brushed, 
 I-'eather Head became so sensible that no one could 
 
224 FEA'IHER HEAD. 
 
 believe he was the same Prince, but the moment his cap 
 was on again, Feather Head became as wild as ever. 
 The worst of it was, that having always heard his 
 mother say he never looked so handsome as when he 
 wore his cap, he could not bear to have it off his head, 
 and unless in very hot weather, he actually slept in it. 
 
 The old King and Prince Crystal died the same year, 
 and Feather Head became King when he was just 
 twenty. Princess Crystal at once went to see Fancy 
 Tansy, who was her own godmother, and begged of her 
 to give the young King some good advice. 
 
 " My son is the best, the handsomest, and the clever- 
 est King," said she, " but he is always doing the most 
 foolish things, and getting into trouble. If I say a word 
 to him he laughs, and shakes his white feather at me, 
 and looks so handsome that I forget what I meant to 
 say, and if any one else ventures to advise or remon- 
 strate, ' Hold your tongue,' says Feather Head, the 
 moment he hears a word he does hot like." 
 
 " I know," said Fancy Tansy, nodding, " it is all 
 Poppy's doing, my dear ; however, I shall look after 
 him." 
 
 " Fancy Tansy is coming to see you," said Princess 
 
fEA TI/ER HEAD. 225 
 
 Cr\-stal to Feather Head, when she cainc home, " miiiJ 
 }0u are civil to her;" and Feather Head, who was a 
 good-natured youn^ KinL,^ promised to be very pohte. 
 
 He was alone in his room one day when the window 
 flew open, and in whisked Fancy Tansy in a little tor- 
 toise-shell car drawn by two blue griffins. The car being 
 a fairy like its owner, immediately became so small that 
 on alighting, Fancy Tansy put it on the table ; and the 
 griffins, fairies too, who were a sort of pony griffin, and 
 remarkably diminutive, got under the sofa, and thence 
 stared at Feather Head. 
 
 " Now, what are you doing ? " said Fancy Tansy, for 
 the young King was sitting back in his chair, his heels 
 were on the table, and he was kicking at something, first 
 with one foot, then with the other. 
 
 " Don't you see," answered Feather Head, " I am 
 kicking that sunbeam.'' 
 
 " How silly )-ou must be," said Fancy Tansy. 
 " Feather Head, you oufrht to get married." 
 
 Feather Head did not like Fancy Tansy's fashion of 
 coming in through the window, he did not like being 
 called silly, and he had no wish to get married just yet ; 
 but all this he could have borne, if it had not been for 
 
226 FEATHER HEAD. 
 
 the griffins, and the way they winked at him with their 
 little cunning- black eyes, that seemed to say, " Come, 
 now, no nonsense ; that may do for Fancy Tansy, but 
 it will not do for us. Bless you, Feather Head, we 
 know all about you." Indeed, these griffins provoked 
 the young King so much, that though he went on kick- 
 ing the sunbeam, he also tried to get a sly kick at 
 them. 
 
 " Feather Head," said Fancy Tansy, " I see what you 
 are at. Take off \'our cap." 
 
 " I won't," said Feather Head ; upon which the little 
 tortoise-shell car grew large again, the griffins came out 
 from under the sofa, and Fancy Tans}-, car and griffins, 
 all whisked away tnrough the window. 
 
 The next time Fancy Tansy came in through the 
 window in her tortoise-shell car and griffins, she found 
 Feather Head sitting back in his chair with his heels 
 up on the table. 
 
 "At it again," said Fancy Tansy; "now, what do 
 you do that for } " 
 
 " I think you are always at it," said Feather Head, 
 and he was going to add that he was kicking a sun- 
 beam, when he caught the little griffins staring at him 
 
FEATHER HEAD. 227 
 
 from under the sofa, and their Httlc black ejxs sa\-in;^ 
 as plain as plain could be : " Come, none of your 
 !ionsense, Fancy Tansy may believe that, but we know- 
 better." 
 
 " Featlier Head," said the Fairy, " I have got a beau- 
 tiful Princess for you, and you must marry her." 
 
 " I don't mind if I do," said Feather I^ead, for he 
 thought that if he were once married Fanc\' Tansy 
 would not come so often ; but when the Fairy went on 
 to say that the Princess was very rich and had this 
 thing and that thing, he asked quite sharply, " Has she 
 got griffins ? " 
 
 " Four," said Fancy Tansy. 
 
 " Then," said Feather Head, " I'll never marry her." 
 
 " Take off your cap," said Fancy Tansy. 
 
 " I won't," answered Feather Head, for he saw the 
 griffins blinking and winking at him from under the 
 sofa, and he felt so sure it was the\- who made all the 
 mischief, that he got quite cross. 
 
 "Feather Head," said the Fairy, "if you do not 
 marry the Princess I have got for you, and if }'ou do 
 not take off your cap this moment, you shall not see 
 me or my griffins in a hurr\'." 
 
228 FEA THER HEAD. 
 
 •' So much the better," cried Feather Head in a rage, 
 " for I am tired of being lectured and snubbed by you 
 and your griffins, and I will neither marry your Princess 
 nor take off my cap." 
 
 The words were scarcely out of his mouth when the 
 window flew open, and car, griffins, and Fairy were 
 gone. 
 
 Feather Head never kept long of the same mind. 
 Fancy Tansy was scarcely out of sight when he thought 
 he might as well have married the Princess. He was 
 sorry lie had not asked her name, but when some one 
 told him that Ruby was the most beautiful Princess 
 living, he made up his mind to marry her if she would 
 have him. Princess Ruby agreed to become his Queen 
 provided he came to fetch her. Feather Head accord- 
 ingly set off with a great suite, and travelled night and 
 day till he came to the Princess's countr\\ As soon as 
 Feather Head saw Ruby he fell desperately in love with 
 her, and the moment she saw him in his blue satin cap 
 with the white feather in it, she declared he was the 
 handsomest and the grandest King she had ever seen. 
 
 " Tell him to take off his cap," said the Princess' nurse 
 to her. 
 
FEATHER HEAD. 220 
 
 " Oil, nurse !" answered Ruby, " tliat would be a i)it\', 
 he looks so well in it." 
 
 " I don't like that nurse of }'ours," said Feather Head 
 to Ruby, " and what are these black cats that are always 
 after her ? " For he thought the nurse's black cats 
 looked like the blue griffins. 
 
 " Cats ! " said the Princess, " well, they are cats to be 
 sure. Are you fond of jugged hare .-' " she went on; 
 " because I am, and, oh ! Feather Head, I should so like 
 a hare of \'Our shooting." 
 
 " Then you shall have one to-morrow," said Feather 
 Head, who knew he was a first-rate marksman. 
 
 Early the next morning Feather Head took a gun and 
 went out. He had not walked long in the park before 
 a fine hare ran past him. He was taking aim when the 
 Hare said : " Why, Feather Head, what do you want 
 with that gun ? " 
 
 Feather Head answered : " I am going to shoot }'ou, 
 and take you home to the Princess." 
 
 "Why not catch me alive," said the Hare. "It will be 
 greater fun, besides I am much handsomer alive than 
 dead. Throw down that gun and run after me, not that 
 I can run, for as you see 1 have a bad foot." 
 
230 FEATHER HEAD. 
 
 Feather Head looked at the Hare, and saw that she 
 was Hmping ; so throwing down his gun, he agreed to 
 take her aHve. 
 
 " Ah ! but let us have some sport first," said the 
 Hare. 
 
 " To be sure," answered Feather Head. *' Start 
 fair." 
 
 The Hare began leaping on before him, and Feather 
 Head followed her close, but somehow or other, the 
 Hare, though she limped sadly at first, limped less 
 and less as she ran, and got farther and farther from 
 Featlier Head. 
 
 " You go too fast," said he. 
 
 "Nonsense," said the Hare; "keep up with me. I 
 am sure you can if you try." 
 
 On hearing this. Feather Head did his best, but the 
 faster he ran the faster ran the Hare, and the greater 
 grew the distance between them. Feather Head be- 
 came very hot, and thought he would take off his cap, 
 which his mother had always made him fasten under 
 his chin for fear of accidents ; but when the Hare saw 
 what he was about, she protested. 
 
 " Oh, Feather Head, how can you .-'" said she. " Why, 
 
FEATHER HEAD. 2.?i 
 
 to see you runniiiij with that cap on your head and that 
 white feather flyinf^, is quite a treat to me. " 
 
 '' Very well," answered Feather Head, "I shall keep 
 the cap on to please you, though I often wish I had 
 never had it, it is so hot and uncomfortable at times ; 
 but }-ou must not run so fast, besides, you don't limp 
 now." 
 
 " It is the running," answered the Hare ; " it has done 
 me a world of good. I should like a run with you every 
 morning, Feather Head." 
 
 "That can't be," said Feather Head; "the Princess 
 nmst have you to-day." 
 
 "Well, then, since this is to be our last run," said the 
 Hare, '' let it be a good one." 
 
 So off 3he went like the wind, and Feather Head, 
 though no one had ever beaten him running, was soon 
 quite exhausted. He threw himself down panting, and 
 had only just breath enough to say, " Stop a bit, will 
 }'ou. I can't go on any farther." 
 
 The Hare replied that she did not mind taking a rest. 
 So she, too, threw herself down opposite him, and lay 
 nibbling the grass. When she had eaten enough, she 
 asked Feather Head if he was readv. 
 
232 FEATHER HEAD. 
 
 " Oh, dear no," answered he. 
 
 When the Hare heard this, she rose, looked at him, 
 laughed in his face, and leaped away. In a second she 
 had vanished under cover, but Feather Head, who started 
 up to follow her, could hear her laughing as she went, 
 and all the echoes round said " Ha, ha ! " with the Hare, 
 and laughed at him. 
 
 In his vexation. Feather Head tore off his cap, 
 " Why, what a ninny I have been," said he as soon as it 
 was off his head ; " who ever heard of running after a 
 hare t No wonder she laughed at me." But the moment 
 he put on his cap again to go back to the palace, he 
 began to think he had not been so foolish after all, only 
 a little unlucky. He was sorry, however, to disappoint 
 the Princess of her jugged hare, " I must get her 
 something else instead," thought Feather Head. 
 
 Feather Head never travelled without all his cooks. 
 The moment he reached the palace he sent for them, 
 and bade them tell him of some wonderful dish which 
 he could cook himself for Princess Ruby. The head 
 cook said one thing, and the under cook said another 
 thing, and Feather Head disliked all their sugges- 
 tions. 
 
FEATHER HEAD, 233 
 
 •' Give me your cookery-book," said he to the head 
 cook. 
 
 Wlicii Feather Head had the cookery-book, he read 
 it all throir^h till he came to the receii)t for a sweet 
 omelet : " To one ^g\\\ of cream put four well-beaten 
 eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt, fry a nice 
 light brown on a slow fire, sift fine sugar over." 
 
 "The easiest thing in the world," thought Feather 
 Head, " and much nicer than jugged hare. I shall 
 make it myself." 
 
 Feather Head asked for cream, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, 
 and salt, then went down to the kitchen, locked himself 
 in, and set about making his omelet. " The great thing 
 is to beat the eggs well," thought he. 
 
 So he beat up his eggs, and was a long time about it. 
 The shells gave him a good deal of trouble, for as the 
 book said nothing about throwing them away. Feather 
 Head took care to keep them every one. When he 
 was tired beating up the eggs, he fried his omelet a nice 
 light brown, as the book had said, sifted fine sugar 
 over it, and sent it up to the Princess, with his compli- 
 ments, and he hoped she would like it much better than 
 jugged hare. The Princess sent back her compliments 
 
234 FEATHER HEAD. 
 
 to Feather Head, and said she was very much obliged 
 to him. But she was so vexed at not getting the hare 
 he had promised her, that she would not touch the 
 omelet. She pretended to have the toothache, and told 
 her maids of honour they might eat it if they pleased. 
 When the first maid of honour tasted the omelet a 
 piece of egg-shell cut her tongue. 
 
 " What a delicious omelet," said she. 
 
 When the second maid of honour tasted the omelet, 
 a bit of the egg-shell got between her teeth. 
 
 " Such a flavour," said she. 
 
 "Delicious! a flavour!" said the third maid of 
 honour ; " why, there never was such an omelet yet ;" 
 and she swallowed a large piece of egg-shell as she 
 spoke. 
 
 When Princess Ruby heard them all praising the 
 omelet so much, she thought she would like a bit. 
 
 "My toothache is better," said she, "give me just 
 one little wee morsel to taste King Feather Head's 
 omelet." 
 
 But the moment the bit of omelet was in her mouth, 
 the Princess gave a little scream. 
 
 " Wh}', this omelet is made of egg-shells ! " said she. 
 
FEATHER HEAD. 235 
 
 'Mlas King Feather Head done it to affront nic ? I 
 have a great mind never to look at him again." 
 
 "Well, it was too bad of King Feather Head," said 
 the three maids of honour, "and if \oiir Ro\-al Iligii- 
 ness were not so sweet-tempered as }-ou are, \-ou 
 would never forgive him," 
 
 " Hold your tongue," said the Princess, " and go and 
 tell King Feather Head to come up to me." 
 
 "My dear," said the nurse of the Princess, who sat 
 knitting behind her chair, " tell Feather Head to take 
 off his cap." 
 
 When Feather Head came, expecting to be praised 
 for his omelet, the Princess scolded him, so that he was 
 in despair. 
 
 " It is all the fault of that stupid cookery-book," he 
 was going to say, when he caught the nurse's black cats 
 peeping from under the Princess's chair, and winking 
 and blinking at him as much as to say, " Come, now, no 
 nonsense." 
 
 " My dear Ruby," said he, " how can you keep these 
 hideous little beasts about you } " 
 
 " Beasts ! what beasts ! you do not mean nurse's cats," 
 said Ruby ; " she has promised me four kittens." 
 
236 FEATHER HEAD. 
 
 "They maybe cats," said Feather Head, " but they 
 look very like griffins, and I would drown the kittens if 
 I were you." 
 
 This reminded the Princess that she was to tell 
 Feather Head to take off his cap, but when she looked 
 at him she found him so handsome with that blue cap 
 and white feather that she could not make up her mind 
 to do it. " I don't think I could marry him if he had 
 not his cap on," thought Ruby, so she said nothing 
 about it. 
 
 " And now," thought Feather Head, when he and 
 Princess Ruby were friends again, " what am I to do .-' 
 The Hare would not wait till I caught it, the stupid 
 book never told me to throw away the egg-shells. 
 What nice thing shall I get to please Ruby .'' " 
 
 Feather Head would have liked to get that nice thing 
 for the next day's dinner, which was to be a grand one ; 
 but he could neither cook it himself nor let any one 
 cook it for him, and so, though he thought and thought 
 till his head ached, he found out nothing for the whole of 
 that da\'. 
 
 The next morning Feather^Head rode out, still think- 
 insf of the nice thincr he could fjet for the Princess. 
 
FEATHER HEAD. 237 
 
 A? he passed by a cottage he saw a beehive, and it 
 so happened that he had never seen one before. 
 
 "What is that ?" said Featlier Head to his servant. 
 
 " A beehive, your Majesty." 
 
 '* And what is there inside of it } " aslved I'cather 
 Head. 
 
 The servant reph'ed tliat there was honey within the 
 beehive, but he did not say that there were bees too. 
 
 " Honey ! " said Feather Head. " Why, honey is 
 sweet stuff of course ; it is delicious sweet stuff; I re- 
 member all about it." 
 
 And in a moment it flashed across his mind that 
 Princess Ruby was very fond of sweet things, and that 
 he could not do l)etter than get that beehive and set 
 it on the table for the dessert. 
 
 "But it must be a surprise," thought Feather Head ; 
 " not a word about it must I say till the time comes." 
 
 So he rode back to the palace without so much as 
 giving the beehive another look. As he was going 
 upstairs, he met Princess Ruby coming down, and 
 when he saw her he could not help boasting a little. 
 " Ah ha ! " said he, "you still think about the jugged 
 hare, I daresa}-, and about the sweet omelet, and )'ou 
 
23S FEATHER HEAD. 
 
 do not know what a noble dish I am going to have 
 for you and your guests by and by. Do not ask 
 me what it is, because I will never tell." 
 
 " Shall I guess ?" asked Ruby. 
 
 "You may guess," said Feather Head, "but I shall 
 never tell." 
 
 The Princess named many things, but she never 
 thought of honey, and Feather Head laughed and was 
 delighted. 
 
 When dinner time came round Feather Head bade 
 his servant take the cloth of gold which he kept for 
 state occasions, and follow him with four of his hand- 
 somest pages. He then rode off to the cottage, and 
 bade his servant throw the cloth of gold over the 
 beehive. 
 
 " May it please your Majesty," began the man. 
 
 "Hold your tongue," said Feather Head ; "do as I 
 bid you, and let my pages carry this beehive to the 
 palace." 
 
 The servant did as he was bid, and the pages 
 took up the beehive, and carried it off in state. 
 
 " Stop, stop ! " cried a boy, running out of the cot- 
 tacre. 
 
FFATIIJ^.R HEAD. 23Q 
 
 "Take that," said Feather Head, tossing him a 
 purse oi gold, "and hold your tongue." 
 
 " May it please your IMajest}-," said the boy. 
 
 " Hold \-our tongue," said Feather Head, and he 
 rode away in a great hurry, and would not listen to 
 the bo}', who was only going to tell him that there 
 were neither bees nor honey in the hive, which was an 
 old one, but only a set of wasps who had got in there, 
 and whom his father was going to burn out that very 
 night. 
 
 " 1 think we will not wait for dessert." said Feather 
 Head to the pages, " take that beehive in, and lay it on 
 the table before the Princess." 
 
 " May it please your Majesty," said the pages. 
 
 " Hold your tongue," said Feather Head. So the 
 pages did as they were bid. When the guests came in 
 and saw the cloth of gold, they wondered what delicious 
 dish was under it, and they all sat down expecting 
 something the\' had never had before. Princess Ruby 
 was very impatient to know what Feather Head had 
 brought her in such state. 
 
 •■' Feather Head ! " said she, "do get that cloth taken 
 off, if you please." 
 
240 FEATHER HEAD. 
 
 " Take off the cloth," said Feather Pieaci to the 
 pages. 
 
 The pages took off the cloth, and the Princess and 
 the guests stared when thej' saw a beehive. 
 
 " That is a beehive," said Feather Head to the 
 Princess ; " I daresay you had never seen a beehive 
 before." 
 
 " Indeed I had," she answered very crossly, for she 
 was quite disappointed. 
 
 "Well, I had not," said Feather Head, "and it is full 
 ©f hone\', and \-ou like honey, I am sure." 
 
 " Yes, but I don't like it out of a beehive," said 
 Ruby, still very cross; " and I do not like bees. Bees I 
 why, these are wasps ! " she cried, as a whole swarm 
 came out of the hive, buzzing about the room, settling 
 on all the dishes, and stinging the people right and left. 
 Princess Ruby was one of the first stung, and flew 
 out of the room screaming. 
 
 Well, there never had been af Princess Ruby's court 
 anything like the disturbance there was now with these 
 wasps. Every one pushed and tumbled against every- 
 body else, and still more wasps came out of the hive, 
 buzzing and stinging, till every one fled before them ; and 
 
Ji_Jl_U 
 
 ' There never haj been at Princess Ruby's ourt anything like th' disturbance there was 
 now with these wnsps." — Page 240. 
 
I- RATHER HEAD. 241 
 
 the room and tlie palace were full of them, and Feather 
 Head was beside himself with shame and vexation. He 
 sent for his servant, and threw all the blame upon him. 
 " How dare you bring that beehive in here?" said he in a 
 rao-e ; " why did you tell me there was honey in it when 
 it was full of wasps ?" 
 
 " Your Majesty told me to hold my tongue," an- 
 swered the man; "besides I did not know there were 
 wasps in the hive." 
 
 "Then the boy knew; go and fetch that boy that I 
 may have him hung," cried Feather Head, who was 
 still in a great passion. 
 
 The servant went and fetched the boy. 
 
 " You knew there were wasps in that hive, and you 
 never told me," said Feather Head to the boy. " You 
 shall hanjT for it." 
 
 " May it please your Majesty," said the boy, " you 
 bade me hold my tongue." 
 
 " Then I cannot hang you," said Feather Head, " nor 
 the pages, for I bade them hold their tongue, nor 
 myself, for I am always doing foolish things, and I 
 never know why, and all I can do is to go and beg 
 lluby's pardon." 
 
242 FEATHER HEAD. 
 
 At first no one could tell Feather Head where 
 Princess Ruby had gone to. At length, a little page 
 said she was in a summer house that overlooked the 
 sea at the end of the garden, and her nurse was with 
 her bathing her face, on account of all the wasps that 
 had stung her. 
 
 Feather Head went off at once to seek the Princess, 
 but the moment he entered the summer-house, and she 
 saw him. Ruby cried out, *' Go away ; I hate you. Go 
 away directly." 
 
 But Feather Head, instead of going away, threw him- 
 self on his knees at her feet, and begged her to forgive 
 him. 
 
 " I tell you I hate you, and your cap and feather," 
 said Ruby, who had a very quick temper, and in her 
 rage she snatched the cap off his head, and flung it out 
 of the window into the sea. The moment his cap was 
 off. Feather Head stared and burst out laughing. 
 
 " Well, there never was such a ridiculous fellow as 
 I have been," said he ; " but if you will forgive me 
 this time. Ruby, I promise never to be so foolish 
 again." 
 
 " You may believe him, my dear," said the nurse, who 
 
FEATHER HEAD. 2.13 
 
 turned into Fancy Tansy, and was up in licr car with 
 the cats turned into griffins all in a moment. " Feather 
 Head will be very sensible now. It was all Poppy's 
 doing. Poor Feather Head, did you not know it was 
 she who ran as the Hare, and laughed at you, and 
 enjoyed \-our folly, and that she wrote that cookery- 
 book, and kept the wasps quiet in the hive till it was 
 on the table ? But I was your friend, Feather Head, 
 }-ou may tell your mother so. Now, good-bye, and 
 behave well, both of you, and Ruby has four griffins 
 after all, Feather Head." 
 
 And away she flew through the air, leaving Feather 
 Head bare-headed, but as wise a King as ever was, and 
 Ruby with every sting gone from her face, and the 
 loveliest four little griflftns frisking about her. 
 
 " My dear Ruby," said Feather Head, "what beautiful 
 little creatures these are." 
 
 " Oh, they are only kittens," said Ruby ; '* but since it 
 was all nurse's doing, I am very sorry I threw your cap 
 into the sea, Feather Head. You do not look half so 
 well since you are without it. I shall send a diver down 
 Cor it." 
 
 Feather Head was in despair when he heard her say- 
 
244 FEATHER HEAD. 
 
 ing this, for he knew what would happen if he got the 
 cap on again. But though the Princess was obstinate, 
 and sent ever so many divers down for the cap, and 
 offered ever so much money to get it back again, no 
 diver could find it for her, for when a fairy gift is lost or 
 thrown away, it goes back to the fairy who bestowed it, 
 and Feather Head's blue satin cap, with the white 
 feather, had returned at once to its place in Poppy's 
 palace, where it was quite ready for any one to whom 
 the Fairy might choose to give it. Feather Head, how- 
 ever, never had it again. He married Ruby, and took 
 her home to his kingdom, and became the wisest King 
 of his day. 
 
 When Princess Crystal saw her son come back with- 
 out his cap, she was inconsolable at the loss. It was no use 
 for Fancy Tansy to tell her hovi^ foolish Feather Head 
 had been whilst he wore that cap, Princess Crystal 
 would answer : " That is very true, but it was the hand- 
 somest cap I ever set my eyes on, and I never saw such 
 a feather." 
 
 Rub}-, too, though she was Queen, and very happy 
 with Feather Head, could not get used to him without 
 his cap for a long time, and to the last of her days she 
 
FEATHER HEAD. 
 
 245 
 
 was vexed with herself for having,- llunij it into the sea. 
 But Feather Head got on vers- well without it, ami, 
 indeed, he was so much afraid of <^etting it back again, 
 for he knew how mischievous rairy i^wppy was, tliat he 
 never wore a cap to the day of his death. 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED J 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to -which renewed. 
 
 Renewed books are subjea to immediate recall. 
 
 10Nov'5^.VD 
 
 
 [ REC'D LD 
 
 
 i NOV 2 1959 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 \7immk 
 
 
 "ec-D cr. 
 
 
 ^^65 iqcQ 
 
 
 
 MAY 1 fi ?nn^ 
 
 
 
 ^m'^'^'^^ 
 
 
 . y^- ^ 
 
 
 ftPR 2 S '^'"'^ 
 
 
 OCn 3)983 ^=1, 
 
 
 »Ec.cm.ocT ita 
 
 
 Berkeley 
 
^/%^^s 
 
 ft 
 
 ^s^; 
 
 i^'^.md^ 
 
 « 
 
 i 
 
 ^*^t&.~ 
 
 ^ o 
 
 f^20 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 £j«S' 
 
 •3f> 
 
 r 
 
 V