“Softly, softly,” said the fisherman. “Not so fast. I will give you your robe if you will dance for me here on Mio Strand.”
“What must I dance?” she asked.
“You must dance the mystic dance that makes the Palace of the Moon turn round.”
She said, “Give me my feathers and I will dance it. I cannot dance without my feathers.”
“What if you cheat me, what if you break your promise and fly immediately to the moon and no dancing at all?”
“Ah, fisherman,” she said, “the faith of a Fairy!”
Then he gave her the robe.
Now, when she had arrayed herself and flung back her hair, the Fairy began to dance upon the yellow sand. In and out of the feather robe crept her fairy feet. Slowly, softly, she went with folded wings and sang:
“Oh, the gold and silver mountains of the Moon,
And the sweet Singing Birds of Heaven!
They sing in the branches of the cinnamon tree,
To entertain the thirty kings that are there.
Fifteen kings in white garments,
To reign for fifteen days.
Fifteen kings in black garments,
To reign for fifteen days.
I hear the music of Heaven;
Away, away, I fly to Fairy Places.”
At this the Fairy spread her rainbow-coloured wings, and the wind that they made fluttered the red flowers in her hair. Out streamed the robe of feathers bright and gay.