A pretty little girl is Tiny, and she is also now a very nice one, but she used to have one great fault—she was very conceited. She fancied herself the prettiest and cleverest child in the world, and when she was with other little girls of the village where she lived, she was in the habit of telling them very plainly what she thought of herself; which, you may imagine, was not the way to make them like her. One day she had a lesson, however, which, I am glad to say, quite cured her; and I am going to tell you how the happy change was brought about.
That little girl you see in the picture, standing on the other side of the brook, is Tiny. This brook is in a little wood close to her mother’s cottage, and she has just been looking at the reflection of her own pretty face in the water, and thinking how much prettier it is than any other faces she ever sees. While she is occupied in this way, she hears somebody laugh, and looking up, sees a beautiful lady and an ugly little dwarf standing on the other side of the brook. The lady has bright wings upon her shoulders, and both she and the dwarf are laughing at poor little Tiny.
Tiny does not quite like being laughed at, but has no doubt they are admiring her all the same. She is very much astonished, though; when she hears the lady say:—
“Well, Tiny, I suppose you think yourself quite perfect. You are a vain little creature; and if you remain through life the same, nobody will love you, and you will never be happy: I will help you to become wiser. I am going to give you a pair of wings, with which you will be able to fly about, and see and hear a great deal which will serve as a useful lesson to you. The wings will only last till sunset, but you will have time to find out that there is vanity in others as well as yourself, and to judge how silly it is.”
After saying this, the fairy with her attendant dwarf disappear. But Tiny feels a strange pricking at her shoulders, and presently finds herself raised up from the ground by a pair of wings, which have grown out suddenly. She was always small for her age; and that is the reason she is called Tiny; but now she discovers that she has become no bigger than a little bird.
Scene II.
After flying a little way, she settles down among some pretty wild flowers, and finds herself close to a large owl. “What are you?” he says, for he cannot see well in the daylight. “Please, sir, I’m a little girl, only a good fairy has given me wings, that I may see the world, and grow wiser.” “Ha, ha, ha!” laughs the owl, “see the world indeed! Why, I’ve lived in the same barn all my life, and I’m the wisest bird there is; everybody knows that.”