Cho-Cho and the Health Fairy

by Eleanor Glendower Griffith

As the days went by, the good Woman learned to love the little Boy as if he were her own, and he grew so strong and healthy that no one would have imagined him the same lonely Child that Cho-Cho had brought to the Farm House. All day long he played in the sweet clover-scented air, sometimes with the little calves in the field, but more often beside the Dairy, where the Sweet-faced Woman spent so much of her time.

The Dairy was built of stone, and the walls were thick and deep. A little stream ran through it, and in a stone trough stood great crocks of Milk, Milk to make Children strong and healthy, for nothing in all the world is so good for Children as Milk. The stream sang among the Milk crocks, and the little Boy played beside the Dairy, and the good Woman smiled and was happy.

Then, one day while the little Boy was playing in the clover field, down the road came an old Witch. She smiled at the Child, and spoke pleasantly to him, but in her heart was hate and ugliness.

“Come walk with me, my dear,” she said, “and I will give you coffee to drink.”

The Farmer’s Wife had often told the little Boy never to drink coffee for it was very bad for Children, but he liked coffee, so he took the old Witch’s hand and followed her far, far away.

As the sunlight faded from the fields, and night came on, the Sweet-faced Woman missed the little Boy, and anxiously looked for him, but nowhere could he be found.

Now Cho-Cho from his Magic Window in the great city had never ceased to look each day toward the country and the Farm where the Boy lived, and as he saw the Child grow strong and healthy, he smiled with pleasure, for Cho-Cho was the Friend of Children.

But today as he looked, to his great surprise, he saw the Sweet-faced Woman sobbing on her doorstep, and he knew that something must be wrong. After putting out the living-room fire and locking the door of his house, Cho-Cho started at once for the Farm. The Woman still sat on her doorstep, sad with weeping.

“Lady,” said Cho-Cho, “tell me your trouble.”

Then she told him that the little Boy was lost.