MAY FAIRIES
"Come out and dance," called the Snow Fairies to the May Fairies.
The May Fairies peeped out of their homes in the hawthorn trees and shivered.
"No, thank you," they said. "It is too cold out there. Besides, we are busy making our buds."
They made tiny red-tipped buds and set them on the branches of the trees, two at the foot of each thorn. Then they crept down into their warm homes again to wait for the spring.
With the spring came the merry Sunbeams.
"Come out and dance," they called.
"Oh! are you there?" called back the May Fairies. "Then we must open our buds, so we have no time to dance."
They worked hard, blowing out the buds with their dainty breath, till at last the leaves opened and the trees were dressed in fluttering green.
The Spring Fairies came tripping past, waving tasselled catkins in their hands.