The Starlight Wonder Book

Long and hard fought Thyrza, and presently a great gust of the gale swept her against the Bell of the Sea
The STARLIGHT WONDER BOOK
By HENRY B. BESTON
AUTHOR OF The FIRELIGHT FAIRY BOOK
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY MAURICE DAY
The ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS BOSTON
COPYRIGHT 1923 BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS, INC.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
To MISS MABEL DAVISON MY WAR-TIME GODMOTHER with the HOMAGE and GRATEFUL AFFECTION of H·B·B·
Once upon a time, during a great battle which was fought through the night in a tempest of lightning and rain, a brave young grenadier came upon one of the enemy lying sorely wounded on the field. Taking pity upon his foeman, the soldier bound up his wounds and carried him from the battle to the shelter of a little wood. Scarce had the wounded youth opened his eyes, when amid a blinding flash of lightning and a peal of tumbling thunder, a green chariot drawn by green dragons rushed downward through the hurrying clouds and sank to earth at the soldier’s side. Bidding the dragons be still, a tall, dark, and stately man wearing a long green mantle descended from the chariot, took the wounded lad in his arms, and thus addressed the grenadier:—
“Generous friend, to you I owe the life of my youngest son. I am the Enchanter of the Green Glen. Take you this little green wand in memory of the great debt I owe you. Whatsoever you strike once with it will continue to grow larger till you cry ‘stop’; whatsoever you strike twice with it will grow smaller till you bid the magic cease. Farewell, brave soldier, and may good fortune walk forever by your side.”
Then, wrapping his wide green mantle about the body of his son, the Wizard bade his scaly, yellow-eyed dragons be on their way, and vanished on high in the tempest and the dark.