“One day he sent Hope out into the forest to pick berries. As she went into the woods, by the little path which led from her house, there hopped out on it a little bunny—like the ones in the park, you know, excepting that this one had two tails.”
(“Why?” asked Madeline.
“To clean out his house with, of course,” explained Mildred.)
“Now, although Hope had walked in the forest ever since she was a little girl, she had never, never seen a bunny with two tails. So she followed this one. Further and further she went, and darker and darker it grew, but Hope did not notice this, for she was too busy watching Mr. Two-tails.
“Suddenly he disappeared, and left her standing in front of a great, green-grey stone. It was very dark, and poor Hope was very much frightened. I would have been, too. Wouldn’t you?”
Three heads bobbed up and down energetically, and three pairs of eyes opened very wide.
“But she was a sensible little girl, and knew that the good fairies would help her. So she knocked on the stone. There started a whirring noise, as of wings.
“Say the magic word, and tell me your name,” sang a silvery voice.
“Hope,” said the little girl.
At this the stone opened, and she went into a beautiful little room, all lighted with fireflies and glow-worms. On the floor sat a fairy, busy mending a butterfly’s broken wing.