"What has made you so changed, Rowena?" she asked.
"The Princess Polawee," was the surprising reply.
The big girl told the others and they all laughed as if this were a great joke, but Rowena behaved so quietly and looked up so happily, and her forehead, always before protected by the tangled hair, was so white and smooth, that she seemed altogether like a new being, and stories began to go about the village that Rowena had really talked with the spirit of the beloved Indian maiden, and that the Princess had transformed her.
The effect of these rumors was that there was no more teasing of Rowena. In fact the children stood a little in awe of her, and all the time Rowena was holding in her heart the mission which had made her willing to leave the fairy orchard.
One day, without telling anyone what she intended to do, she made her way to the Town Hall. The men whose duty it was to see that the village was kept in order, and who, Rowena's aunt said, never did it, were sitting around a long table trying to decide whether cows should be allowed to feed in the public park.
Rowena, in her Sunday frock, walked in upon them, and the men took their pipes from their mouths and stared in surprise to see a little girl come in and disturb their conference.
She looked from one to another with eager, bright eyes.
"Are you the selected men?" she asked.
Some of them laughed and some of them frowned. One of the frowning ones said, "Run away, child. What do you mean by coming in here and disturbing us when we are attending to the business of the village?"
"Oh, I'm so glad you do," replied Rowena earnestly. "I heard that you never did attend to it."