THE TREE FAIRIES
The Pied Piper played a tune, and the children of Hamelin followed him.
They followed him until he came to a mountain.
A door in the side of the mountain opened, and the piper and the children went inside.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!” said the piper. “We must get inside the mountain before the door closes.”
The children all followed him.
The door in the mountain-side closed, and no one ever saw them again.
The children now looked about them.
They stood in the most wonderful green room. It looked like Fairy Land.
The chairs and tables were made of green moss, and green hammocks were swinging everywhere.
The children ran about, making a great noise.
Then the funniest dwarf appeared. He had a beard that reached clear down to the floor.
He stamped his foot, and shouted to the Pied Piper, “What mischief have you been in now?”
The Pied Piper said, “I freed the town of Hamelin of rats, and the mayor promised to pay me a thousand guilders. He would not pay the money, when the time came, so I took his children, and all the other children of the village.”
The dwarf stamped his foot again, and shouted, “What do you intend to do with all these children?”
The Pied Piper did not answer. He only played a merry tune.
“They shall not stay here!” shouted the dwarf. Then he went into the next room, where his brothers were at work.
The dwarfs in this room were starting young plants, and they tended the roots of trees to make them grow.
The dwarf stamped his foot and shouted to his brothers:
“The Pied Piper has brought in a whole villageful of children. I will not keep them all. I can never feed so many!”
One funny dwarf answered him. He was a queer fellow, as broad as he was long.
This dwarf laid his finger on the side of his nose and asked:
“Why not change the children into fairies and let them live in the trunks of the trees?”
“The very thing!” shouted the first dwarf.
So he opened a little door at the root of a maple tree, and called one of the children to him.
Then the other dwarfs said a magic verse, and whisk! the child was changed into a fairy and went up into the trunk of the tree!
So the dwarfs kept on, until all the children were changed into fairies and went to live in the trunks of trees.
Soon after this the Pied Piper and the dwarfs went away across the sea.
They rode on the Magic Carpet, and they forgot all about the children they had changed into fairies and shut up in the trees.
One day Prince Charming went into the woods.
He was looking for the Beautiful Princess.
He was tired, for he had walked a long way through the woods. He lay down under the tree, to rest.
He was almost asleep when a maple seed fell on his head, and he said:
“The seed makes me think of the hair of the Beautiful Princess.”
Then he heard a gentle tapping.
The tapping seemed to come from the tree under which he lay. He got up and called in a loud voice:
“Princess, princess, come to me,
If princess, now, you really be!”
Then, he heard a gentle sigh, but he thought it was the wind stirring the new green leaves.
Then the prince fell asleep, and dreamed a dream.
He dreamed that a door opened in the tree under which he lay and out walked the beautiful princess.
He thought that the princess said, “All the fairies are shut up in trees. You must let them out. Then I can come to you.”
The prince awoke. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and ran to a tree near by, and said:
“Pretty Fairy Thistle-Down,
Spread your airy wings,
Open, now, your secret door,
While Prince Charming sings.”
Click! click! click! A little door opened in the tree, and out came Fairy Thistle-Down. She floated away on the wings of the breeze.
Then Prince Charming went to another tree and said:
“Pretty Fairy Silver-Sheen,
In your dainty dress of green,
Open wide your door to me,
I have come to set you free.”
Click! click! click! The door opened and out came Fairy Silver-Sheen.
The prince went to another tree and said:
“Good-Luck Fairy, light and airy,
Open your tree-door wide,
This is such a pleasant world,
You must not stay inside.”
Click! click! click! Open came the door, and out came the Good-Luck Fairy. She bowed, and smiled at the prince.
So the prince went on, all day, calling the fairies to come out of the trees.
When evening came he stood beside an old oak tree, but he called in vain, for the Oak-Tree Fairy would not come out.
Then he went back to the tree in which the Beautiful Princess was, and he said, “Can you come out now?”
The Beautiful Princess said, “I can not come until you let out the Oak-Tree Fairy!”
The next day it rained, and the next, and the next.
It is very sober business walking in the woods in wet weather.
The poor prince got the feathers in his cap all wet, but he must make the Oak-Tree Fairy come out.
He pleaded and pleaded with her to leave her tree.
At last the Oak-Tree Fairy sang this little song:
“O prince, I promise to leave my tree
When yellow slippers you bring to me.”
The prince was delighted. He went into town, and bought the prettiest yellow satin slippers he could find. He took them to the fairy in the oak tree, but she only repeated the same verse.
The prince then puzzled his brains to find out what kind of slippers the fairy wished.
He was almost in despair, when, one day, he was walking through the woods and saw a queer little yellow flower growing.
He went nearer the flower. Then he clapped his hands and shouted for joy, because the flower was in the shape of a yellow slipper.
He searched a long time until he found another flower just like it. Then he ran as fast as his feet would carry him, and came to the oak tree and said:
“Now I am happy. Without any doubt,
Kind Oak-Tree Fairy, you will come out.”
Click! click! click! went the door in the tree and the Oak-Tree Fairy came out.
She put on the slippers and went tripping away through the woods.
Then the prince went back to the tree in which the Beautiful Princess lived. He tapped on the tree and called out:
“Beautiful Princess, come to me,
Open now the door in your tree.”
Click! click! click! Open came the door in the tree and out came the Beautiful Princess.
She had eyes like violets and hair like silky corn tassels, and she said:
“Prince Charming has set the fairies free,
And all will our willing servants be.”
The prince and the princess were married. All the fairies came to the wedding, and the Good-Luck Fairy was the jolliest one of all.
The Oak-Tree Fairy said, “You see, I had to have yellow slippers to wear to the wedding!”
The prince ordered the Flower-Fairy to plant some more seeds of the wonderful flower that bore the yellow slippers, so that the Oak-Tree Fairy might have a new pair of slippers every year.
If you search in the deep woods you may see the slippers growing there. They are called Lady Slippers now.
The prince and the princess lived happily ever after, and the fairies went all over the world.
After Grandpa had finished the story Freddie woke up.
He rolled over against Teddie.
Then Teddie woke up, of course, and they began to talk.
Then Humpty Dumpty woke up.
“When did you fall asleep?” asked Grandpa.
The Roly-Polys all began to talk at once.
Grandpa Grimes shook his head. “One at a time, please,” he said.
Then Freddie and Teddie and Humpty Dumpty all held up their hands.
Grandpa Grimes nodded to Teddie, who said:
“I fell asleep when you were telling about a dwarf.”
Then Freddie said, “I fell asleep when you were telling about the Oak-Tree Fairy.”
Humpty Dumpty did not say a thing.
Grandpa Grimes is old and gray,
But he still delights in play.
He will entertain you all,
So gather round him, large and small.