“Well, one lovely evening, several months ago, just after the sun had set and the sky was all rosy and gold in the west, your Mother Dear went out for a little walk in the garden with Father. Lady Rumdidoodledum had just come out and was shining very brightly over the top of the big eucalyptus tree. Mother Dear saw her first; she always does, you know. So, she wished very, very hard for another little daughter, at the same time opening the eucalyptus blossom that she held in her hand. There was a little breeze at that moment, and away flew the tiny creature. When she reached the Baby Star, she stayed a very, very long time indeed. For she was most particular for so small a personage and wished to find just the very sweetest of all the Rumdidoodledum babies to be Margaret Sherman. So she searched and searched but none of them suited exactly, until way off in a corner she found what she was looking for: an adorable little golden-haired mite with eyes that danced and were the color of forget-me-nots. Then the fairy-person knew that she had found the right little sister for John, Martha Mary, Walter and Edward Lee and Liza, so she flew off, happy as happy could be.
“Ever since, Mother Dear has been waiting, waiting for her dream to come true. This morning, just as Lady Rumdidoodledum was fading from the sky, the Baby-person arrived, for all the world as lovely and pink as the dawn that brought her.
“That, Butterfly Dear, is the story of Little Sister Margaret, the dearest of all Lady Rumdidoodledum’s children. And that, you see, is the reason that Mr. Cock Robin sang so happily outside your window this morning and the flowers were all so gay and the sky so blue and bright. You see, all the world is happy at the sound of a baby’s voice.
“Listen, there she is, calling now, for someone to come and love her.”
“I do,” said Butterfly Liza. “And I—and I—and I—and I,” sang all the others.
FINIS
THE “MOTHER DEAR” BOOKS
THE GOLDEN SPEARS AND
OTHER FAIRY TALES
By EDMUND LEAMY
With a preface