The Little Vegetable Men
One sunny summer day, the little Fairy Health worked among her flowers, weeding and digging the rich brown earth to make them beautiful. She sang, as she worked, a gay little song, and tripped lightly here and there over the grass and flower beds. Stopping at last to wipe the earth from her hands upon a large lily leaf, for it made a most convenient towel, she looked up and saw Cho-Cho coming down the road and ran to the gate to greet him.
Now Cho-Cho was a tiny Elf who loved Children, and he was one of the Fairy’s oldest friends.
“Fairy,” said Cho-Cho, “in looking from my Magic Window last evening I saw the old Witch Ignorance abroad. Up and down the city streets she went and into all the homes where Children live, and on the door of every house she made a black mark.”
“Oh, Cho-Cho,” said the Fairy, “this means trouble for the Children.”
“Yes,” said Cho-Cho.
Leading him to a seat within her Rose Arbor, the Fairy brought him sparkling water from her well and bade him rest until he felt refreshed.
As she spoke, through the garden gate came three queer-looking little Men. The first had the head of a Beet, and his clothes were made from dull green leaves. His shoes and stockings were beet-colored and in his hand he carried a green hat.