Fairyfoot took him up, and they went their way through the forest. And the strange part of it was that though Fairyfoot thought he knew ill the forest by heart, every path they took was new to him, and more beautiful than anything he had ever seen before. The moonlight seemed to grow brighter and purer at every step, and the sleeping flowers sweeter and lovelier, and the moss greener and thicken Fairyfoot felt so happy and gay that he forgot he had ever been sad and lonely in his life.
Robin Goodfellow, too, seemed to be in very good spirits. He related a great many stories to Fairyfoot, and, singularly enough, they were all about himself and divers and sundry fairy ladies who had been so very much attached to him that he scarcely expected to find them alive at the present moment. He felt quite sure they must have died of grief in his absence.
"I have caused a great deal of trouble in the course of my life," he said, regretfully, shaking his head. "I have sometimes wished I could avoid it, but that is impossible. Ahem! When my great-aunt"s grandmother rashly and inopportunely changed me into a robin, I was having a little flirtation with a little creature who was really quite attractive. I might have decided to engage myself to her. She was very charming. Her name was Gauzita. To-morrow I shall go and place flowers on her tomb."
"I thought fairies never died," said Fairyfoot.
"Only on rare occasions, and only from love," answered Robin. "They needn"t die unless they wish to. They have been known to do it through love. They frequently wish they hadn"t afterward--in fact, invariably--and then they can come to life again. But Gauzita--"
"Are you quite sure she is dead?" asked Fairyfoot.
"Sure!" cried Mr. Goodfellow, in wild indignation, "why, she hasn"t seen me for a couple of years. I"ve moulted twice since last we met. I congratulate myself that she didn"t see me then," he added, in a lower voice. "Of course she"s dead," he added, with solemn emphasis; "as dead as a door nail."
Just then Fairyfoot heard some enchanting sounds, faint, but clear. They were sounds of delicate music and of tiny laughter, like the ringing of fairy bells.
"Ah!" said Robin Goodfellow, "there they are! But it seems to me they are rather gay, considering they have not seen me for so long. Turn into the path."
Almost immediately they found themselves in a beautiful little dell, filled with moonlight, and with glittering stars in the cup of every flower; for there were thousands of dewdrops, and every dewdrop shone like a star. There were also crowds and crowds of tiny men and women, all beautiful, all dressed in brilliant, delicate dresses, all laughing or dancing or feasting at the little tables, which were loaded with every dainty the most fastidious fairy could wish for.
"Now," said Robin Goodfellow, "you shall see me sweep all before me.
Put me down."
Fairyfoot put him down, and stood and watched him while he walked forward with a very grand manner. He went straight to the gayest and largest group he could see. It was a group of gentlemen fairies, who were crowding around a lily of the valley, on the bent stem of which a tiny lady fairy was sitting, airily swaying herself to and fro, and laughing and chatting with all her admirers at once.
She seemed to be enjoying herself immensely; indeed, it was disgracefully plain that she was having a great deal of fun. One gentleman fairy was fanning her, one was holding her programme, one had her bouquet, another her little scent bottle, and those who had nothing to hold for her were scowling furiously at the rest. It was evident that she was very popular, and that she did not object to it at all; in fact, the way her eyes sparkled and danced was distinctly reprehensible.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ALMOST IMMEDIATELY THEY FOUND THEMSELVES IN A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE DELL.]
"You have engaged to dance the next waltz with every one of us!" said one of her adorers. "How are you going to do it?"
"Did I engage to dance with all of you?" she said, giving her lily stem the sauciest little swing, which set all the bells ringing. "Well, I am not going to dance it with all."
"Not with _me_?" the admirer with the fan whispered in her ear.
She gave him the most delightful little look, just to make him believe she wanted to dance with him but really couldn"t. Robin Goodfelllow saw her. And then she smiled sweetly upon all the rest, every one of them.
Robin Goodfellow saw that, too.
"I am going to sit here and look at you, and let you talk to me," she said. "I do so enjoy brilliant conversation."
All the gentlemen fairies were so much elated by this that they began to brighten up, and settle their ruffs, and fall into graceful att.i.tudes, and think of sparkling things to say; because every one of them knew, from the glance of her eyes in his direction, that he was one whose conversation was brilliant; every one knew there could be no mistake about its being himself that she meant. The way she looked just proved it. Altogether it was more than Robin Goodfellow could stand, for it was Gauzita who was deporting herself in this unaccountable manner, swinging on lily stems, and "going on," so to speak, with several parties at once, in a way to chill the blood of any proper young lady fairy--who hadn"t any partner at all. It was Gauzita herself.
He made his way into the very centre of the group.
"Gauzita!" he said. He thought, of course, she would drop right off her lily stem; but she didn"t. She simply stopped swinging a moment, and stared at him.
"Gracious!" she exclaimed. "And who are you?"
"Who am I?" cried Mr. Goodfellow, severely. "Don"t you remember me?"
"No," she said, coolly; "I don"t, not in the least."
Robin Goodfellow almost gasped for breath. He had never met with anything so outrageous in his life.
"You don"t remember _me_?" he cried. "_Me_! Why, it"s impossible!"
"Is it?" said Gauzita, with a touch of dainty impudence. "What"s your name?"
Robin Goodfellow was almost paralyzed. Gauzita took up a midget of an eyegla.s.s which she had dangling from a thread of a gold chain, and she stuck it in her eye and tilted her impertinent little chin and looked him over. Not that she was near-sighted--not a bit of it; it was just one of her tricks and manners.
"Dear me!" she said, "you do look a trifle familiar. It isn"t, it can"t be, Mr. ----, Mr. ----," then she turned to the adorer, who held her fan, "it can"t be Mr. ----, the one who was changed into a robin, you know," she said. "Such a ridiculous thing to be changed into! What was his name?"
"Oh, yes! I know whom you mean. Mr. ----, ah--Goodfellow!" said the fairy with the fan.
"So it was," she said, looking Robin over again. "And he has been pecking at trees and things, and hopping in and out of nests ever since, I suppose. How absurd! And we have been enjoying ourselves so much since he went away! I think I never _did_ have so lovely a time as I have had during these last two years. I began to know you," she added, in a kindly tone, "just about the time he went away."
"You have been enjoying yourself?" almost shrieked Robin Goodfellow.
"Well," said Gauzita, in unexcusable slang, "I must smile." And she did smile.
"And n.o.body has pined away and died?" cried Robin.
"I haven"t," said Gauzita, swinging herself and ringing her bells again.
"I really haven"t had time."
Robin Goodfellow turned around and rushed out of the group. He regarded this as insulting. He went back to Fairyfoot in such a hurry that he tripped on his sword and fell, and rolled over so many times that Fairyfoot had to stop him and pick him up.
"Is she dead?" asked Fairyfoot.
"No," said Robin; "she isn"t."
He sat down on a small mushroom and clasped his hands about his knees and looked mad--just mad. Angry or indignant wouldn"t express it.
"I have a great mind to go and be a misanthrope," he said.
"Oh! I wouldn"t," said Fairyfoot. He didn"t know what a misanthrope was, but he thought it must be something unpleasant.
"Wouldn"t you?" said Robin, looking up at him.
"No," answered Fairyfoot.
"Well," said Robin, "I guess I won"t. Let"s go and have some fun. They are all that way. You can"t depend on any of them. Never trust one of them. I believe that creature has been engaged as much as twice since I left. By a singular coincidence," he added, "I have been married twice myself--but, of course, that"s different. I"m a man, you know, and--well, it"s different. We won"t dwell on it. Let"s go and dance. But wait a minute first." He took a little bottle from his pocket.
"If you remain the size you are," he continued, "you will tread on whole sets of lancers and destroy entire germans. If you drink this, you will become as small as we are; and then, when you are going home, I will give you something to make you large again." Fairyfoot drank from the little flagon, and immediately he felt himself growing smaller and smaller until at last he was as small as his companion.
"Now, come on," said Robin.
On they went and joined the fairies, and they danced and played fairy games and feasted on fairy dainties, and were so gay and happy that Fairyfoot was wild with joy. Everybody made him welcome and seemed to like him, and the lady fairies were simply delightful, especially Gauzita, who took a great fancy to him. Just before the sun rose, Robin gave him something from another flagon, and he grew large again, and two minutes and three seconds and a half before daylight the ball broke up, and Robin took him home and left him, promising to call for him the next night.
Every night throughout the whole summer the same thing happened. At midnight he went to the fairies" dance; and at two minutes and three seconds and a half before dawn he came home. He was never lonely any more, because all day long he could think of what pleasure he would have when the night came; and, besides that, all the fairies were his friends.