"Help! help!" he cried as he struggled to get free, and a night-hawk that was out in a search of a supper flew down to see what the matter was.
"Oh, ho!" said he when he saw who it was. "Fairy folk like to have all things their way, but 'tis my turn now to have a little fun."
And he plucked Pease-Blossom from out the thorns and flew away with him in his bill.
Up and down, so high that the trees below looked no taller than corn stalks, and so low that their branches brushed his wings, he flew, till Pease-Blossom was faint from dizziness.
"See what a great moth the hawk has in his bill," cried an owl that they passed.
"'Tis no moth but a bug," said a whip-poor-will.
"Such an enormous gnat should make a meal for two," whispered a brother hawk, flying close.
"Simpleton! Do you not know a fairy when you see one?" said the night-hawk who could keep quiet no longer.
But no sooner had he opened his bill to speak his very first word than out tumbled Pease-Blossom.
The other hawk made haste to catch the fay but before he could reach him a fine breeze came blowing by.