THE FAIRY BABIES

Books by
LAURA ROUNTREE
SMITH

• Bunny and Bear Book, The
• Bunny Boy and Grizzly Bear
• Bunny Bright-Eyes
• Bunny Cotton-Tail Junior
• Candy-Shop Cotton-Tails, The
• Children’s Favorite Stories
• Circus Book, The
• Circus Cotton-Tails, The
• Cotton-Tail First Reader, The
• Cotton-Tail Primer, The
• Cotton-Tails in Toyland, The
• Drills and Plays for Patriotic Days
• Fairy Babies, The
• Games and Plays
• Hawk-Eye and Hiawatha
• Language Lessons from Every Land
• Little Bear
• Little Eskimo
• Merry Little Cotton-Tails, The
• Mother Goose Stories
• Primary Song Book
• Roly-Poly Book, The
• Runaway Bunny, The
• Seventeen Little Bears
• Snubby Nose and Tippy Toes
• Tale of Bunny Cotton-Tail, The
• Three Little Cotton-Tails

Published by
A. FLANAGAN COMPANY
CHICAGO

THE FAIRY BABIES

By
Laura Rountree Smith

Illustrated by
Dorothy Dulin

1924
A. FLANAGAN COMPANY
Chicago

COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY A. FLANAGAN COMPANY

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

“And they put the key in the lock” ([Page 89])

THE FAIRY BABIES

CHAPTER I
THE MAGIC PITCHER

Said the Fairy Ink-Bottle Babies, “What do you think?

We all came out of a bottle of ink!

We are very little to mind each rule,

But still we are going to start to school;

And if we remember, it starts in September!

This old-fashioned thing called school!”

Said the Fairy Ink-Bottle Babies, “What fun!

See, school has already begun!”

The Fairy Ink-Bottle Babies sat in a row. They looked as though they would roll off the top of the desks at any minute.

“You are almost as bad about rolling over as the Roly-Poly children,” said the teacher.

“Oh! oh! oh!” cried one of the Ink-Bottle Babies. “I am rolling over!”

Sure enough, thump! bump! thump! she went. She fell off the desk to the floor, leaving the marks of her little black feet behind her.

“Oh! oh! oh!” cried all the Ink-Bottle Babies together, “somebody pick her up! Somebody pick her up!”

The teacher was so scared that she went out of the room.

Pretty soon all the children went home. What do you suppose happened next?

The Fairy Ink-Bottle Mamma came down from the window sill and picked up her baby!

“Picked up her baby”

She said, “You are too little to go to school; you had better come with me.”

Then the other Ink-Bottle Babies set up a cry, “May we come, too, Ma? May we come, too?”

The Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “Creep down quietly from the desks and you may all come.”

Then all the Ink-Bottle Babies crept down and followed their Mamma out of the door. They walked a little way until they came to their home in the woods.

“I am so sleepy,” said the first Ink-Bottle Baby.

“I am so sleepy,” said the second Ink-Bottle Baby.

Then all but one of the twenty-five Ink-Bottle Babies said, “I am so sleepy!”

One Ink-Bottle Baby said, “I am not sleepy at all. I rolled off the desk and I feel wide-awake!”

This little Baby’s name was Molly. The Ink-Bottle Mamma put all of her babies to bed except Molly, and Molly said,

“I am wide-awake as if it were day,

I’ll sit on the parlor rug and play.”

The Ink-Bottle Mamma was so sleepy herself that she did not know what to do. Pretty soon she said, “Listen, Molly, and I will tell you a fairy tale.”

Then Molly cried, “I must wake Polly up to hear the fairy tale.” Polly was Molly’s twin sister.

Will you believe it? Before the Ink-Bottle Mamma could say “No!” Molly had gone upstairs and had waked all the Babies up before she found Polly!

The Ink-Bottle Babies looked so much alike it was hard to tell them apart!

All the Ink-Bottle Babies woke up and cried, “We want to hear the fairy tale, Ma! Please tell us all a fairy tale!”

Then the Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “Get back into bed, every one of you, and I will tell you a story.”

Then the Babies all crept back into bed and their Mamma told them the story of the Magic Pitcher.

Here is the story she told:

Once there was a little dwarf who lived alone in the woods. He lived in a little blue house with a red chimney. He was very proud of his red chimney. He painted the chimney every spring.

The little dwarf was very good-natured except when he started to cook. He could not cook a decent meal to save his life. He went about all day humming a little song:

“I can live without clothing and live without books,

But how is a fellow to live without cooks?”

One day as he passed by a little brook he sang this song, and the brook said,

“If you take the pebbles from out this brook,

I will try to help you find a cook!”

Then the little dwarf stooped down and began to pick the pebbles out of the brook.

At last, only one large stone remained. He pulled and tugged with all his might, and at last the brook ran merrily along, for he got the big stone up on the bank.

The brook sang,

“Look again, now I am free,

The magic pitcher you will see!”

The little dwarf looked down into the brook, and sure enough, there was a magic pitcher all blue and gold. The water ran deeper now, in the little brook, so the little dwarf had to dive down after the pitcher.

He came out choking and sputtering, but he had the magic pitcher in his hand. Then he ran homeward singing and whistling all the way. He sang:

“I can live without clothing and live without books,

But how is a fellow to live without cooks?”

“He poured once more”

He got some bread and cheese out of a cupboard and drew the pitcher full of water, and sat down to his lonely meal.

He started to pour out a glass of water, and as he poured it from the magic pitcher, it turned into fine, rich milk. He poured once more, and this time it was honey that came out of the magic pitcher.

He tried again and out came tea! So it went on. Every time he poured from the magic pitcher, out came something delicious to drink.

The little dwarf grew so happy and healthy that when he went into the woods to chop down trees he could chop six trees while the other little dwarfs could only chop down one.

He never sang any more about wanting a cook, and he seemed so happy that the other little dwarfs were jealous of him, and they said, “We will find out his secret.”

So, one evening when it was late, they all crept to the house where the little dwarf lived, and they all peeped in at the window.

There sat the little dwarf by the table pouring from his magic pitcher. He poured out coffee, and cream, and molasses!

My! the other little dwarfs turned green with envy. They said, “We will have that pitcher.”

They opened the door, ran into the house, seized the pitcher, and ran away, away, away, into the deep woods.

The little dwarf was so sad, he went to the brook again and said,

“The dwarfs have carried my pitcher away,

Alas! alas! alackaday!”

“I will fix them,” said the little brook. “You were so good to take all my stones away, you shall soon have the pitcher back again; never fear.”

Then the little dwarf went back home singing a merry song.

Now the dwarfs had carried the pitcher away with them, and when they had run for a long time, they saw a little brook, winding in and out among the trees, and they said, “We will fill the pitcher with water.”

So the first little dwarf ran and filled the pitcher with water. Then he ran back to his companions who sat in a circle, and began to fill their glasses. They all set up a shout, for out of the pitcher came only thick mud!

“You have played a trick on us,” they cried.

Then the second little dwarf went and filled the pitcher.

“It is pure water,” he said, but when he went to pour from the pitcher, lo! and behold! out came vinegar!

Then the third little dwarf said, “Let me try,” and the next said, “Let me try,” but each time there came out of the pitcher something quite unfit to drink.

Then the dwarfs said, “This pitcher is of no account after all; we will throw it into the brook.”

They said, “If the little dwarf finds it again, he is welcome to drink all the mud and vinegar he wants.”

Then they threw the pitcher back into the brook, and the brook carried it safely back to the place in the woods where the little dwarf passed every day. Pretty soon the little dwarf came along. He sang,

“Ha! ha! Ho! ho! What do I see?

A beautiful pitcher floats in to me!”

He filled the pitcher with water and soon poured out a fine drink of buttermilk.

He ran home as fast as his legs could carry him, and he hid his pitcher safely away.

He worked at home very busily all that day. He made shades for his window, so no one could look in. He put a lock on his door, and he made a little key to fit the lock.

“Now, no one can see what I pour from my pitcher,” he said, “and no one can come in, unless I invite him.”

He went to bed and slept well. Late that night a most remarkable thing happened. Five and twenty little men came to his door and they rapped and they tapped, and he would not let them in!

Then they laid down five and twenty little parcels on his doorstep and they crept away. Next morning the little dwarf went to his door and saw the five and twenty little parcels. They were all from the grocery store.

On each parcel was written, “Compliments from the little dwarfs, with thanks for the borrowed pitcher.”

On one package was written, “Don’t drink too much mud and vinegar!”

The little dwarf went to the brook and asked what all this meant. When the brook told him he laughed until he cried.

The little dwarf may still live in the woods, for all I know, and he may still be drinking out of his magic pitcher.

As soon as the Ink-Bottle Mamma stopped talking all her Babies went to sleep.

CHAPTER II
THE FORTUNE TELLER

October, October, you gay little rover,

You are welcome, the wide world over;

Merrily, merrily, school-bells ring

And children all delight to sing.

The Ink-Bottle Babies are absent to-day,

Or perhaps they lingered upon the way;

I heard the Ink-Bottle Babies sigh,

“We are busy bidding the birds good-bye!”

The Ink-Bottle Babies woke up cross. Every one of them got up out of the wrong side of the bed!

The Ink-Bottle Mamma called, “Hurry, hurry, or you will all be late to school!”

Then Molly called, “I can’t find my shoes,” and Polly called, “I can’t find my dress,” and all the Ink-Bottle Babies set up such a wail that the Ink-Bottle Mamma had to come upstairs and help them dress.

She said, “My dear children, will you never grow up?”

“Give us a ride, please!”

When they sat down at the table, Molly said, “I don’t want this oatmeal,” and Polly said, “I don’t want any either.”

Then all the Ink-Bottle Babies said, “We don’t want any oatmeal!”

They laid down their twenty-five little spoons. And will you believe it? Not one of the Babies would eat any breakfast!

Then the Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “Get down from your chairs, every one of you.”

The Ink-Bottle Babies got down from their chairs, pouting and scolding. Then the Ink-Bottle Mamma put on their caps and sent them right off to school.

“Hurry! hurry!” she said. “Don’t be late for school!”

They had not gone far when the first Ink-Bottle Baby said, “I will not go another step!”

Then the second Ink-Bottle Baby said, “I will not go another step!”

Then what do you suppose happened next? They all sat down in a row and they cried and they screamed and they howled!

Just then an old farmer came along with his wagon.

When he saw all the Ink-Bottle Babies in a row, he said, “Bless my heart! What funny little babies! What are you all doing here?”

Then Molly and Polly cried, “Give us a ride, please! We don’t care which way we go!”

Then the farmer got down and helped all the Babies into his wagon and they rode merrily away!

They laughed and talked and said, “Oh!” and “Ah!” and “What a fine ride!”

When they rode by the school they kept very still, and they all crept down in the bottom of the wagon.

On and on they rode, through the woods and into a town and away off to a little red house on a farm.

“Will you spend the day with me?” asked the farmer.

The Ink-Bottle Babies cried, “We will! We will!” And they jumped up and down with joy. They had a fine time all day. They saw the sheep and pigs and cows, and they took turns riding on a little pony.

When night came Molly and Polly cried, “We want our Ma! We want our Ma!”

The farmer’s wife was very deaf, but she saw that all the Ink-Bottle Babies were crying at once, so she gave each one a cookie. The cookies had red sugar on them. They had raisins in them. The Ink-Bottle Babies cried and would not eat their cookies.

Then the farmer’s wife took Polly on the right arm of her chair, and she took Molly on the left arm of her chair. Then she let all the rest of the Ink-Bottle Babies crowd around her.

Next, the farmer’s wife put on her spectacles and opened a great red book. Then all the Ink-Bottle Babies clapped their hands and set up a shout, for they could see the name of the book.

It was called “Tip-Top Fairy Tales.”

The farmer’s wife smiled at the Babies and began to read slowly. She skipped the hard words and stumbled over the easy ones!

If you do not like to listen to her read, you will have to read for yourself the story of Goldy and Brownie, or The Fortune Teller. Here is the story:

Once upon a time there were two sisters. They were as different as they could be.

Goldy was good and beautiful. Brownie was ugly and cross.

One day Goldy said, “I am going down into the valley to see the Fortune Teller. I am going to have my fortune told.”

Brownie said, “You shall not go. I am afraid you will have a better fortune than mine if you go first.”

Then Brownie tied Goldy into a chair and she went out of the house and locked the door.

Brownie said, “I will have my fortune told first.”

She went into the valley where an old Gypsy lived. She knocked at the door and the Gypsy called out,

“Cross-Patch, pull the latch,

Sit by the fire and spin;

Cross-Patch, pull the latch,

Open the door, come in.”

“She stamped her foot”

Brownie was a little afraid to pull the latch at first, but as the Gypsy did not speak again she knew she must do something, so she pulled the latch. The door opened, and she went into the house.

She said, “You cross old woman, I want my fortune told.”

The Gypsy looked at her and said,

“You may bake and brew,

But whatever you do,

You’ll uglier grow each day;

But make a wish, just make one wish,

Make a wish and go away!”

Brownie was so angry she stamped her foot and said the first thing that came into her mind.

She said, “I wish I had a fine fur coat to wear all the time.”

Then the Gypsy touched her with her cane, and her dress turned into a fur coat, and Brownie herself turned into a caterpillar!

“There!” said the Gypsy, “I guess you have a fur coat to wear all the time.”

The Gypsy forgot one thing. She forgot to take away Brownie’s voice, so she could talk as well as ever.

Brownie went crawling slowly home. She called out to Goldy,

“Go to the Gypsy, whatever you do,

A very fine fortune waits there for you!”

She really hoped that the Gypsy would turn her sister into a caterpillar, too!

Then Brownie sighed, for she remembered that she had tied Goldy into her chair, and that she could not get away if she wanted to.

Pretty soon a prince came by and Brownie cried,

“The beautiful princess sits in a chair;

Just take a peep in the window there!”

The prince was so surprised to hear a voice and see no one, that he cried out,

“What shall I do? What shall I do?

I’ll peep through the window to see if it’s true.”

Then he tiptoed to the window so softly his feet never made a sound, and sure enough, there he saw Goldy sitting in the chair—tied in, fast asleep.

The prince tried to get into the house. He tried the front door, and the back door, and the side door, and all the windows. At last he found a window that would open. He sat on the window sill and cried,

“Golden Hair, will you come to me?

May I come in and set you free?”

Then Goldy woke up. She had read about princes, but she had never seen one before. She was so surprised she only nodded her head.

Then the prince came in and cut the cords that bound her.

Goldy said, “Thank you!” Then she went and made the prince a cup of tea.

They were about to sit down and enjoy the tea when a dove flew in at the window. It had a message tied round its neck. The message was for the prince. It said, “Come home at once. Your father is ill.”

So the prince took off his cap with the big feather in it, and made a bow. Then he went out of the window as suddenly as he had come.

Goldy said to herself, “I will go to the Gypsy and have my fortune told. Perhaps I shall meet the prince again.”

So she put on her blue dress and sunbonnet, and went to the house where the Gypsy lived, and knocked at the door.

The Gypsy said,

“Cross-Patch, pull the latch,

Sit by the fire and spin;

Cross-Patch, pull the latch,

Open the door, come in!”

Then Goldy opened the door and walked in.

“Will you tell my fortune?” she said.

The Gypsy liked Goldy, but to save her life she did not know how to tell a very good fortune, so she said,

“Whatever you do your wish will come true,

So make it, I pray, and go quickly away!”

Goldy was wishing in her heart that she could see the prince, so she said at once, “I wish I could fly.”

“She knocked at the door”

Then the Gypsy touched her with her cane and her blue dress turned into a shining pair of wings. She became a beautiful blue butterfly, and sailed away and away in the sunshine. By and by she sailed into the king’s garden.

The prince came out and cried, “Oh what a beautiful butterfly.”

Then Goldy told him what had happened and she said, “Go to the Gypsy and see how I can be changed back again.”

Then the prince went in a hurry to the Gypsy, you may believe. When the Gypsy heard him knock she cried as before,

“Cross-Patch, pull the latch,

Sit by the fire and spin;

Cross-Patch, pull the latch,

Open the door, come in!”

The prince opened the door and made his very best bow and said, “I wish Goldy were changed back into a beautiful girl and standing here beside me.”

The Gypsy nodded her head and soon a blue butterfly came floating in through the window. The Gypsy said a magic verse, and changed the butterfly back into the girl Goldy.

Then Goldy and the prince thanked the Gypsy. They were married at once, and they went to live in the king’s palace. They were not so happy as they had expected to be for Goldy cried all day, “I miss my sister Brownie. Go and find my ugly little sister.”

The prince went out to look for Brownie. He traveled high and low but he could not find her.

Then Goldy went out to look for her sister. She went to her old home and she heard a voice say,

“I am as lonely as can be,

Sister Goldy, come to me!”

Then Goldy cried, “Here I am. Where are you hiding, little sister?”

Then Brownie told about her being changed into an ugly caterpillar, and they went together to the Gypsy.

The Gypsy was sitting on her doorstep and Goldy cried out, “See, I will give you this golden dish if you will change the caterpillar into my little sister.”

The Gypsy liked the dish and she said a few magic words and changed the caterpillar into the girl Brownie.

Brownie was now so happy that she was good-looking. Many a young prince came and fell in love with her but Brownie was so happy to live with her sister and the prince, that she sang a very merry song:

“I have lovers four and twenty;

One or two would be a plenty;

And I am as happy as happy can be,

Since the old Gypsy set me free.”

One day there came to the palace a little lame prince. He was as ugly as a barb-wire fence, but Brownie let him in. She gave him a cup of tea and said:

“I have lovers four and twenty;

One or two would be a plenty;

And I am happy as happy can be,

Since the old Gypsy set me free.”

The little lame prince said, “I am ugly and no one loves me. Will you marry me?”

Brownie said, “I will marry you.” And they were married in the rose garden, and they grew better looking and happier every day.

Whenever they saw sick caterpillars or butterflies with broken wings, they took care of them.

Brownie and Goldy each had a home near the king’s palace, and they were happy all their lives.

The Ink-Bottle Babies cried, “Is that all? Tell it again! Tell it again! Please do! Read it or tell it! It is a lovely story!”

The farmer’s wife said, “It must be bedtime.” They looked at the great clock that stood in the hall, and the clock said it was ten o’clock!

“I am going home to-morrow, and I am going to school,” said Molly.

“I, too,” said Polly.

“We, too,” cried all the Ink-Bottle Babies. “We are all going to learn to read that story.”

Then they scampered upstairs and went to bed.

Just as they were about to go to sleep, Molly said, “It is awful to have to spell out the words like the farmer’s wife does.”

Polly said, “I am going to learn to read!”

CHAPTER III
THANKSGIVING DINNER

Old November’s come once more;

Children, see the snow!

Riding out in grandpa’s sleigh,

We all will gladly go,

For Thanksgiving brings such joys

To the waiting girls and boys;

I heard the Ink-Bottle Babies sigh,

“Please give us a piece of pumpkin pie!”

Next day the farmer hitched up his horses and took all the Ink-Bottle Babies home.

They said, “Oh Ma, we want to learn to read. Oh Ma, we will go to school every day!”

The Ink-Bottle Mamma kissed all her babies and sent them to school.

They wanted so much to learn to read fairy tales that they never missed a day of school, from the 16th of October to Thanksgiving.

“They never missed a day of school”

The day before Thanksgiving Molly began to cry on the way home from school. Then Polly began to cry! Pretty soon all the Ink-Bottle Babies took out their twenty-five little pocket handkerchiefs and began to cry!

When they got home Mamma said, “Why do you cry?”

The first Ink-Bottle Baby said, “I don’t know, boo-hoo!”

The second Ink-Bottle Baby said, “I don’t know, boo-hoo!”

Polly said, “I am crying because Molly is crying.”

Molly said, “I am crying because we have no grandma and grandpa to go to see on Thanksgiving Day.”

Then all the Ink-Bottle Babies said, “We want a grandma and grandpa, boo-hoo!”

The Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “Dry your eyes, and I will tell you what to do.”

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies dried their eyes and Mamma said, “Suppose we go and spend Thanksgiving Day with the farmer and his wife!”

The Ink-Bottle Babies clapped their hands and shouted, “Hurrah! hurrah!”

When they had stopped their noise, Mamma said each Baby should take a pie in a little basket to the farmer and his wife.

Then she took the Babies to the pantry and showed them twenty-five little pies all in a row.