“But I do not care to dance to-night!” replied Lulea, with a little frown.
“We might create something, by virtue of our fairy powers,” suggested one who reclined at the feet of the queen.
“Ah, that is just the idea!” exclaimed the dainty Lulea, with brightening countenance. “Let us create something. But what?”
“I have heard,” remarked another member of the band, “of a thinking-cap having been made by some fairies in America. And whatever mortal wore this thinking-cap was able to conceive the most noble and beautiful thoughts.”
“That was indeed a worthy creation,” cried the little queen. “What became of the cap?”
“The man who received it was so afraid some one else would get it and be able to think the same exquisite thoughts as himself that he hid it safely away—so safely that he himself never could think afterward where he had placed it.”
“How unfortunate! But we must not make another thinking-cap, lest it meet a like fate. Cannot you suggest something, else?”
“I have heard,” said another, “of certain fairies who created a pair of enchanted boots, which would always carry their mortal wearer away from danger—and never into it.”
“What a great boon to those blundering mortals!” cried the queen. “And whatever became of the boots?”
“They came at last into the possession of a great general who did not know their powers. So he wore them into battle one day, and immediately ran away, followed by all his men, and the fight was won by the enemy.”