"'Why do you play your harp so joyously? Have you nothing to do but idle away the day and the night in such foolishness? A lazy sprite like you will never get to heaven. I should sooner expect to see this staff which I carry grow green and blossom, than find you there.'
"The water-sprite threw down his harp in great terror and began to weep bitterly. What had he ever done that the old priest should frighten him so?
"Without giving further heed to the sprite, the priest rode on. For many years, his own life had been so dull and solemn, that it made him bitter to see other people happy. He found a cruel pleasure in making the little sprite wretched.
"While he was buried in his own gloomy thoughts, he did not see that the staff in his hands was slowly changing into the green branch of a living tree. Tiny green buds, then leaves, slowly, silently unfurled. As silently flower-buds appeared and opened into rosy blossoms, spicy with fragrance.
"The priest, at last, beheld the branch of leaves and flowers in his hand. He was filled with great wonder at himself. While the dead staff of wood slowly bloomed in his hands, something hard and cold in his heart seemed to melt. Not since he was a small boy had he listened to the singing of the birds with such joy. He dismounted from his horse to gather a handful of wild lilies-of-the-valley.
"He even smiled on a whistling peasant boy who passed him on the road. Then he thought of the weeping sprite. In all haste he rode back to the bridge.
"To the sobbing lad, he said:
"'Behold how my old staff has grown green and flowers like a rose-bush in June. This is a symbol, my good fellow, that hope blooms in the hearts of us all. You may yet go to heaven.'"
At that minute, the limp sails stirred, the ropes rattled in the breeze, and the boat was soon under way.
Early in the afternoon, the other guests of the party arrived. I could not begin to tell you all the games they played. Some were like those of their American cousins, but there were many new ones. Next to "Blind Man's Buff," and "Last Couple Out," the best fun was "Lend, Lend Fire."