The King aroused himself. “It is too late,” he cried, “to bring my dear Queen back to life, but at least as far as the Princess is concerned the guilty one shall repair her mischief. Bring the Earth Fairy to me, and after she has restored my daughter, she shall receive the punishment she has deserved.”
At once several fairies hastened away to seek for the Earth Fairy, and soon returned guarding her in their midst. She was weeping bitterly. As soon as her captors released her, she threw herself at the King’s feet. “Alas! Alas!” she wailed, “the Queen is dead, and they accuse me of being the cause. Though why, I cannot understand.”
“You know why they accuse you,” answered the King sternly. “I am but too well assured that it is you who have brought this grief upon us all. Now it is for you to break the spell you have laid upon the Princess, and after that we will consider what punishment is fitting for such a one as you.”
“The Princess!” cried the Earth Fairy, “I left her here in the cradle, but it appears that harm overtook her also.”
“Enough!” cried the King. “Yours is the spell that has changed the Princess to a flame. Yours must be the spell to restore her to her shape.”
“But I know nothing of spells,” exclaimed the Earth Fairy desperately.
Grey Smoke started forward vehemently. “What then were you doing with the wands that Spark saw when you opened the door?” she demanded sharply.
The Earth Fairy flushed deeply, but answered without hesitation. “Before my mistress fell asleep, she bade me bring her a certain bundle of wands that she wished to look at. I brought them, as she bade me, and she looked at them, taking some in her hands, and putting others aside. After that she gave them back to me, and bade me return them. While I was still busy putting them away, these Fire Fairies came and seized me roughly, crying that the Queen was dead, and that I was to blame. But listen—who was it that accused me? It was Grey Smoke who forced her way into the chamber of the Queen in my absence—it is Grey Smoke who says these things about me. How do you know that it is not Grey Smoke herself who has done this deed? What more likely than, having done it, she should try to throw the blame upon another?”
“Do not dare to accuse my good Grey Smoke. There is none whom I trust more than I do her,” retorted the King angrily. “Had we but chosen her as the Queen’s attendant, this grief would not have come upon us. Nothing that you can say will ever make me believe that you are not guilty. But we are wasting time. You have been brought to break the spell.”
Stubbornly, again and again, the Earth Fairy repeated that she knew nothing of spells, either to make them or break them.