“Aren’t you a little late with the last verse?” asked Owly. “We’ve already invited the flowers. If you must make poetry, why not try to make it in time?”
“Good poetry is always in time,” said Rhymo. “Just ask Captain Featherweight if that isn’t so.”
But the Captain was far too busy to pay much attention to Rhymo and Owly. He was thinking about the girdles.
There is nothing an elf prizes so much as a girdle, and Captain Featherweight decided to have special girdles made just for the ball in honor of the flowers.
“Rainbow,” said he, “and you too, Iris-Wing, shall have charge of designing the girdles.”
“And see that each one is appropriate,” said Touchstone, “and since Owly is so very wise, let his girdle be made of Solomon’s-Seal.”
This pleased the other elves so much that they asked the Captain to allow Touchstone to help in designing all the girdles.
“I don’t think any one as silly as Touchstone should have charge of anything,” said Owly.
“Have a care,” said Touchstone, “or your girdle shall be made of Nettles instead of Solomon’s-Seal.”
“I’m bored,” said Owly, “and I’ll just run away until the girdle question is settled.”