"What's the matter with it?" asked the boy.
"It was a beautiful, clear river when it was named for the Indian Princess, Polawee, and she brought unhappy children to look into it until they stopped crying and were as glad as she was."
"Yes," replied the boy, "but she had her arms around them while they looked. It was her love that helped them."
Rowena turned her head away and thought. When she turned back again she said, "The Polawee is like me. No one loves us. They throw mud and sticks into the river, just as they do at me. They call us both names."
"Then," said the boy, "you and the Polawee should be changed together."
"Yes," said Rowena, "but I am not a fairy like Lily-bud. No one would care what I said, or do anything for my asking."
"O yes, they would," returned the boy so decidedly that it made Rowena wonder if he might possibly be right. "Love is stronger than Lily-bud or any other fairy. Love is always at your side ready to help. If you don't listen to the teasing of the other children, and smile through it and let Love look through your eyes, and you look up and to the right, you will see what will happen. Love will show you how to clean the river, too."
Rowena looked at her companion more closely than she had done before. This was such strange talk for a boy. She saw that he was dressed in white, and for the first time she noticed that wings grew from his shoulders. Then it was that she realized that it was not that all these children were as large as she was, but that she was now as small as they.
"You know a great deal for a boy," she said.