"That is neither here nor there," said the Queen; "I command you to tell me what you did for him."
"Well," said the spider, almost crying, "Slyboots came to my house in the grape-vine in the greatest hurry, and begged me to scrabble and scratch with all my might and main to a certain part of the hollow, and spin three ropes, knee high, just as quickly as possible across it, as some of the court had taken a prodigious fancy to tight-rope dancing, and meant to give an exhibition before the evening was over; and he was to give me, for doing it, just the fattest little fly I ever beheld, which he had fast by the legs; it made my mouth water only to look at it; so, your Majesty may believe, I rushed down and worked at the ropes for dear life, and finished them to Slyboots' satisfaction, for he gave me the delicious fly, and I've just finish ed eating it up; and that is all I know about it, please your beautiful Majesty."
It was all as plain as moonlight; and after one moment passed in vainly endeavoring to suppress their merriment, the whole court burst into such a scream of laughter, that the very leaves rustled, as if some musical wind had stirred them. Of course not a fairy had ever heard that anybody had taken up the profession of tight-rope dancing, and Slyboots was at once convicted of having told a dreadful fib, and had the ropes erected for the express purpose of tripping up the prime minister, to prevent his boring the Queen on the great gala night with his sick bumble-bee memorial.
There the naughty sprite stood with a penitent look out of one eye, and winking ridiculously with the other; and the fairies having laughed till they were tired, now waited in breathless silence to hear his sentence pronounced.
Charley was really sorry for Slyboots; he was distressed that the fairy had told a falsehood; but, as to the mischief, it was so like the capers his own brothers and sisters were always cutting, that he felt very certain the comical little imp had not one grain of malice in his heart, so he softly touched the Queen's knee, and as she kindly bent down to him, whispered—"Oh, beautiful lady! he has a good heart, and he is very sorry; please to forgive him."
"Slyboots," began the Queen, in a tone which she tried to make very severe, "you have passed all reasonable bounds in this last prank; you have outraged and insulted my faithful servant—and, worse than all, you have told an untruth. If it had not been for this last, I might have forgiven you after you had made fitting apologies to the prime minister; even now I shall lighten your punishment, because this pure and lovely mortal has interceded for you. Listen to your sentence. My power tells me that the great wasp, Spiteful, has just entered the chamber where little Minnie, Charley's sister, is lying peacefully asleep, and within the hour he will thrust his poisonous cruel sting into the tender arm of the little child. With your wings to dart here and there, you might easily conquer him; but these must be fastened together by your friend Brownie, and within the hour you must bring me the dead body of the wasp. You have heard; Brownie, to your work!"
In the midst of a deep silence, the poor little trembling spider began to spin thread after thread round and round the beautiful gauzy wings of the disgraced and now sorrowful fay; one after the other the beautiful tints of blue, and gold, and purple, first faded, then were hidden under the misty cloud-color of network.
The court looked on in sorrow, for the elfin was beloved by many, but not a fay dared murmur or question the justice of the sentence. At last his wings, of a dead dull gray, were prisoned fast; and the Queen, waving her sceptre, said—"Go, Slyboots; if you carry a right spirit to your work, you will win the fight."
The fairy said not a word, but bowed him low, and turned sadly away. The time was short, and he must hasten and don his stoutest armor, for the foe was deadly. A friendly grasshopper offered to take him to the foot of the window where he must enter. With a gleeful spring he mounted, and away with great leaps they went through the ferns and over the grass, scrambling painfully in and out of bramble bushes, and pricking themselves with the sharp nettles that lay in their path. But the grasshopper (that friend in need) carried him bravely through them all, and came at last to a little house under a great mushroom, where Slyboots kept bachelor's hall.
Here he alighted, and hastily fastened on his acorn helmet, with its beautiful plume from the humming bird's breast; then he donned his close-fitting vest, made of the skin of the prickly-pear—the sharp points bristling terror to invaders. On his left arm he carried his trusty shield, made of the back of the golden beetle, and his right hand grasped his sharp blade, fashioned out of the blue sword-grass.