THE ELVES OF MOUNT FERN
THE ELVES
1
The Elves of Mount Fern
The Elves are the dearest and most mischievous little people in all the wide world.
They live in Elfland, and Elfland can be found in every corner of the globe. They take up their abode on wooded hillsides, beside murmuring streams, or in deep, leafy forests. In the dead of night, when all the world is still, they steal forth from their dwellings and start on their merry midnight rounds. They dance in the moonlight on soft dewy lawns under wide-spreading trees. They visit their neighbors and friends among elves, and their neighbors and friends among men.
The Elves can see and not be seen; they can hear and not be heard; and are so light and nimble in their movements that they can float through the air like a leaf in the wind.
Once upon a time there was a company of Elves that lived in a stone wall. They had left their home in the forest glade for a season in the Giant World, as they called our world—because it seemed so big to them.
While they were wandering about in search of a place to settle, they came upon a hole in a stone wall that exactly suited them, it was so snug and comfortable. The Elves were very much delighted and at once decided to make their home there.