Richard went to bed at the usual time, but he could not sleep. At half-past eleven he dressed himself again, and slipping secretly down stairs arrived in the garden and awaited events. On the last stroke of midnight a bright light appeared from the sky and that ray of light condensed on the earth, taking the figure of a beautiful woman crowned with flowers, who carried in her hand a little golden wand which gave off brilliant reflections. The fairy extended her hand and immediately an unusual movement was produced among the plants. The pinks turned into elegant gentlemen in bright costumes of ruby, pink, and green; the hyacinths and jasmines into gallant little pages with fair hair; the white lilies were pale ladies of singular beauty, dressed in white; the dahlias wore long trains and at the neck a ruffle of delicate lace of colours which recalled the flowers which had preceded; the violet modestly tried to hide her beautiful countenance of velvety skin and her eyes of gentle aspect among a group of poppies, who passed arm-in-arm, attracting attention by their blood red costumes. Finally from amongst a group of mournful evergreens, who were chatting with some beautiful pansies, appeared the queen of the fête, the rose. Her presence produced a murmur of admiration, never had she been so lovely. Her face held the freshness of the flower, and her pink dress with a long train was of very fine silk which rustled as the sovereign walked. An olive-tree turned into a throne and dais, and the rose, without any other ceremony than a general greeting, took her seat on the throne. She raised her arm, imposing silence, and everybody became silent.
"Gentlemen," said the queen, "once again the good magician Spring has re-animated our hearts. We have not met since last year and there are several grave matters to resolve, but the most important is the manner of defending ourselves from the bees, wasps, and butterflies who continually sip our honey, accelerating our end. On this point I have already begged Spring to have the accused appear before me, so that this gathering is really an oral judgment."
At a signal from the magician the accused appeared in costumes of etiquette, the butterfly wearing its finest clothes.
It appeared before the queen with its head modestly bent and its face lighted up by a blush.
"What does your majesty wish?" it asked.
"To inquire the motive why you presume to take away our nectar," said the rose.
"Ah, madam!" replied the butterfly, touched, "little harm I do you, because I never take more than is necessary to feed myself, and I have never abused your hospitality."
"That is well; we will take that into account as an extenuating circumstance for you. Let the wasp approach."
The wasp entered in a black dress-coat and a yellow necktie striped with black.
"I," it said, "gather nectar from you because I have proposed to work like the bee, although I have not yet succeeded in doing so since the beginning of the world, but still not much time has passed and I hope to learn."