She had not slept more than five minutes, before along came a troop of fairies, and you may be assured that they were astonished enough to see a little girl lying fast asleep on the grass, at that time in the morning.
"Well, I never!" said the largest fairy, who was the Principal One.
"Nor I," said the Next Biggest; "It's little Bridget, and with such a dirty face! Just look! She has been eating blackberries and strawberries—and raspberries too, for all I know; for you remember, brother, that a face dirtied with raspberries is very much like one dirtied with strawberries."
"Very like, indeed, brother," said the Principal One, "and look at her feet! She's been walking in the wet sand!"
"And her hands!" cried the Very Least, "what hands! They're all smeared over with mixtures of things."
"Well," said the Next Biggest, "she is certainly a dirty little girl, but what's to be done?"
"Done?" said the Principal One. "There is only one thing to be done, and that is to wash her. There can be no doubt about that."
All the fairies agreed that nothing could be more sensible than to wash little Bridget, and so they gathered around her, and, with all gentleness, some of them lifted her up and carried her down towards the brook, while the others danced about her, and jumped over her, and hung on to long fern leaves, and scrambled among the bushes, and were as merry as a boxful of crickets.
When they approached the brook, one of the fairies jumped in to see if the water was warm enough, and the Principal One and the Next Biggest held a consultation, as to how little Bridget should be washed.
"Shall we just souse her in?" said the Next Biggest.