"Play something sad," said the little Shepherdess, for, like all girls, she wanted to cry when she was happiest.
"There," said the Cat, curling herself up for a nap, "I am glad that is settled. She never would have given in if he had not looked at the Flower Girl. These girls are queer creatures," she said, closing her eyes.
HOW THE b.u.t.tERCUP GREW YELLOW
[Ill.u.s.tration: How the b.u.t.tercup Grew Yellow]
Long, long ago it is told that the flowers were all white and that each received its color by some magic power.
The little Daisy, with its yellow eye, received its golden center when the angry elves pelted the little Fairies with sunbeams.
The Daisy grew to be very proud of her yellow eye and thought it showed off to perfection her pure white rim. One day she was looking about the field where she grew and saw the little White Cups growing all about her in abundance.
"There is too much white in this field," she told the other Daisies.
"Our beautiful white borders would show off much better if the White Cups were golden."
"But perhaps the White Cups do not wish to become golden," said her sisters.
"Oh, but we do, dear Daisies," said the White Cups all in chorus; "we have always wanted to be a beautiful yellow like your eyes, but we thought you would not like to have us that color, as we have to live in the same field."
"Oh yes, we would," said the Daisy, "and I am sure the fields will look much more beautiful with you a golden color than white; besides that, we shall be seen to better advantage; so both of us will gain by the change."
"But who will help us to change our color?" asked the White Cups.
The daisy thought a long time, and at length she said: "You might get the Goblins to color you, but the thing is to get them to do it. They are such queer little fellows that if they thought they were bothering the Fairies they would do it quick enough; but if we ask them to make you yellow that we all may look more beautiful they would only laugh and run off."
"Why can"t we make them think they would make the Fairies angry if they made us golden?" asked the White Cups; "I am sure we can find a way."
"That would be the very thing," said the Daisy, "but what do you propose to do?"
"We will ask the Fairies when they come into the fields to-night for their frolic," said the White Cups.
That night when the Fairies came flying over the field the White Cups called to them and told them what they wanted.
"Oh, that will be beautiful," said the Fairy Queen, "and we can fool the Goblins easy enough, as you shall see."
The Fairy Queen called her Fairies around her and whispered so low that the field flowers could not hear what she said, but they heard the Fairies laugh as they flew away, and each alighted on a little White Cup and began to sing.
"We love you, little White Cup, Our Lady of the Field; We will watch o"er you and keep you and from all danger shield; You are prettier than the Daisy with her yellow eye so bright, You are like a waxen blossom in the pale moonlight."
Over and over they sang the verse as they leaned over and kissed the little Cups, and by and by from out of the woods came the Goblins, hopping and jumping like leaves before the wind.
"Here they are," they said, when they saw the Fairies. "Listen and hear what they are singing."
When they heard the Fairies" pretty love song to the little White Cup the Goblins kicked up their heels and laughed, each laying a tiny finger beside his nose as he winked at his brother.
Off they scampered to the woods again, and the Fairies kept on singing their song, while the Daisy watched with its yellow eye, wondering how her cousin, the White Cup, would be made the color for which she had wished.
By and by the Goblins came back, but this time they carried bags over their shoulders and they crept carefully through the gra.s.s.
The Fairies saw them all the time, but of course they pretended not to, and when the Goblins were quite near the Queen said:
"Come, my children; leave your best-loved flower for to-night.
To-morrow you shall come again."
As they were flying away they glanced back, and in the moonlight they saw the Goblins hard at work over each little White Cup.
When the morning sun awoke he opened wide his eyes, for all over the field among the Daisies he beheld little Golden Cups nodding gaily at their cousins with the golden eyes.
The next night when the Fairies came flying through the fields they saw the Yellow Cups. "You are more beautiful than ever," they said to the Golden Cups, "and we will call you our Golden Cups, but you must be known as the b.u.t.tercups or the Goblins will discover our trick and make you white again."
The b.u.t.tercups thanked the Fairies and told them they would be glad to be their cups whenever they gave a banquet and that never would they let the Goblins know the Fairies had fooled them.
So they bloom among the Daisies in the fields and are called b.u.t.tercups, but they know to the Fairies they are the little Golden Cups, and the Goblins wonder why the Fairies always seem so happy when they fly near the b.u.t.tercup and find it changed.
The Fairies are too wise to let the Goblins know how they fooled them and gained for the b.u.t.tercups the very color that they wanted, but it is rather hard sometimes not to tell them when the little Goblins scamper about and try to upset their plans.
The Fairy Queen has taught them that "Silence is golden," and they know their Queen is always right.
WAS IT THE FIELD FAIRY?
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Field Fairy]
Jack and his sister Nina were two little orphans who had to beg from door to door for their food and a place to sleep.
One day a man named Simon told them if they would work for him he would give them a home.
Jack and Nina thought Simon must be a very kind-hearted man to offer them a home, so they worked just as hard as they could to repay him.
But in this they were mistaken, for Simon was a very greedy, hard-hearted man and only offered to take the children that he might get their work for nothing.
Jack did all the ch.o.r.es about the farm and Nina took care of the house, although they were both much too small to do such hard work.
In return Simon gave them a place to sleep on the floor of the attic and very little to eat.
If he had Nina cook meat for his dinner he would sit by the stove and watch that she did not eat any of it, and when he had eaten all the meat he would leave the bones and gristle for poor little Jack and Nina, who were half starved.
One day Simon told Jack he was going to sell the big Brindle Cow to the butcher and that he was to drive her the next day to the town, a few miles away.
Jack and Nina were very fond of Brindle Cow and wept bitterly when they heard this. They begged Simon not to let the butcher have her, but he told them he would not listen to any such silly chatter and for Jack to be off the next morning bright and early.