THE FAIRY OF THE ROSE.
BY RUFUS DAWES.
Corinne was a beautiful little girl, who always obeyed her parents, and who loved her brothers and sisters. She liked to walk about in the country, and to gather pretty flowers that grew in the fields, and sometimes she would stay out so late before the sun set, that the cows would go home before she did, and Letty, the housemaid, would be waiting for her with her silver porringer and supper.
One afternoon she was looking at the lovely clouds that were moving along under the blue sky, and one of them poured down a gentle mist, which made a brilliant rainbow. Corinne had often seen rainbows from the parlor window, but now she saw one out in the open fields, and it seemed to her that it was close by, and was bending over a rose-bush.
“If I could only catch that beautiful rainbow!” said Corinne, and away she ran, with her bright curling hair streaming to the breeze, and her blue eyes shining like violets in the dew.
But Corinne soon found that the rainbow fled as fast as she pursued it; but as she passed by the rose-bush, she saw a young and handsome female, who seemed to be hiding among the roses, and was now looking out upon the child.
“My pretty little Corinne,” said the female, “don’t run any more after the rainbow—you will never be able to overtake it. But stop a moment here by the roses. I am the Fairy of the Rose, and I love to make good little children happy. You may come here every day while the roses bloom, and carry one home with you in the evening. Take this,” said she, offering a beautiful bud to Corinne; “it is the emblem of innocence. Take it, sweet little Corinne, and remember the Fairy of the Rose. Be a good child, and you will be more beautiful than the flowers, and more delightful than the rainbows which you love.”
Corinne thanked the fairy for the present, and away she scampered to her mother. And after that, she used to visit the rose-bush every day, and while she played with the butterflies and the humming-birds, the Fairy of the Rose used to sing to her the sweetest songs, and sometimes she would fall asleep and dream such beautiful dreams, that it would have made her mother’s heart beat with delight to see the angelic smile on her lips.
In this way Corinne grew in favor with all, for she always minded her lessons, and obeyed her parents, and ever remembered with affection the Fairy of the Rose.