Fairies never cry, but some felt as if they might weep, to see so many pretty flowers killed, as they feared they would be. Even the idea of the chills and shivers, they would have to suffer, made some of the timid ones feel creepy.
Even suppose they could survive ice and frost, and the cold breath of the strong winds, that might uproot them, how could they resist the avalanches, that might overwhelm and crush them? If whole forests of giant trees were often leveled, like egg shells, and flattened like flounders, by these rolling terrors, or torn up by landslides, or ground to gravel, by falling rocks, or carried away by landslides, how could tiny and tender flowers hope to escape?
But the fairy queen knew the power of her friend, the Sun, and the tenacity and perseverance of her flower children. So, laughing at such forebodings, she bade the lovely flowers and little trees begin their march. Their orders to advance were steadily “forward and upward.” They were to hold the ground gained, inch by inch. They must even try, again and again, to [[88]]split the rocks, and be willing to suffer cold, wet, wind, and not be out of sorts, or show bad temper, when it rained too much, or the clouds hid the sun. They must take advantage of every nook, crevice, crack and cranny.
“Don’t be alarmed,” said one wise fairy to her neighbor. “I’ll warrant you they will pretty soon complain that it is too hot, and sometimes even ask the sun to veil his face with clouds. When the evil imps, that ride on the Föhn, or south wind, visit them, one or more will be eager to marry a frost giant, to keep cool.”
But the other fairy said, “that is only gossip,” and she did not believe they would “ever be sorry and want to change back.”
When, after their first victories, the cows and goats should come, and the birds make their nests, and men and women arrive, and the boys and girls play, these fairies, thus changed into flowers, were not to object to have their stalks eaten up by the cattle, or their seeds to be swallowed by the birds, or their blossoms to be plucked by the children. Even when they should come to their best bloom, and seem too pretty to be touched, they were to welcome the cows and goats.
To all these directions, the new plants, trees, and flowers, nodded their heads, and the war began. The older fairies went back to the vineyards, [[89]]groves, forests, dales and meadows, in the lower lands of sunshine, of mild climate, and of fair weather, and the battle was on.
Several millions of years slipped away, and some of the fairies in the warm countries had almost forgot their cousins in the high Alps. Then it happened that some thousands of them made up a party to go and visit what they had once left long ago, as a polar region, of thick ice where no land was visible.
What a change, and how lovely! When they reached Switzerland, and looked over the landscape, they could not, at first, believe their own eyes. True, it was mid-summer when they arrived; but, as far as the eye could reach, they beheld valleys and meadows spangled with flowers, from which floated the sound, or echoes, of tinkling bells, where contented cows and goats were browsing. On the sweet perfumed air, were wafted the aromatic odors of the delicious herbage, freshly cropped by the cattle. Pretty houses, on the flat spaces, or perched on the hill slopes, told of happy homes. Children were playing games, or picking flowers. Church spires pointed toward Heaven. In one village, a great long parade of sleek cows, their well groomed coats shining in the sun, and one with a milking stool between her horns, was moving up, where the grass was most luscious. Donkeys [[90]]and horses, laden with cheese and garden produce, were moving in lengthened lines to the markets. Here and there, castles, chalets, bridges, church spires, and thickly clustered houses, told of villages, towns and cities; for man was now in possession, and all the world rejoiced. It was like an heiress receiving her fortune, for human beings thus to enter into the enjoyment of the lovely landscape and beautiful country, which the fairies had helped so grandly to create. [[91]]