[To Beeswax.] Girls, fairy-story playmates let us call:

Red Riding Hood and Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty ... all the rest!

Beeswax.

[Echoing the wish.] Yes, yes! O fairy-story playmates, come to life!

[Again Children peer forth from shadowy hiding-places, calling, “Here we are! Come, catch us if you can!” The two little girls try to catch these fairy visitors, who, however, always elude them.]

Babs.

[Grieved.] They mocking flee us though we love them so!

Beeswax.

[Grieved.] O Children! One ... if only one would stay!

[A little girl whom we will call The Rose-Girl enters, clad in homely clothes of green, with a large flower-like sunbonnet.]