yonder lovely spirit singing with my sister Moonlight? a clover
blossom was her home, and she dwelt unknown, unloved; yet patient and
content, bearing cheerfully the sorrows sent her. We watched and saw
how fair and sweet the humble flower grew, and then gladly bore her
here, to blossom with the lily and the rose. The flowers’ lives
are often short, for cruel hands destroy them; therefore is it our
greatest joy to bring them hither, where no careless foot or wintry
wind can harm them, where they bloom in quiet beauty, repaying our
care by their love and sweetest perfumes.”
“I will never break another flower,” cried Eva; ” but let me go
to them, dear Fairy; I would gladly know the lovely spirits, and ask
forgiveness for the sorrow I have caused. May I not go in?”
“Nay, dear Eva, you are a mortal child, and cannot enter here; but I
will tell them of the kind little maiden who has learned to love them,
and they will remember you when you are gone. Come now, for you have
seen enough, and we must be away.”
On a rosy morning cloud, surrounded by the loving Elves, went Eva
through the sunny sky. The fresh wind bore them gently on, and soon
they stood again beside the brook, whose waves danced brightly as if
to welcome them.
“Now, ere we say farewell,” said the Queen, as they gathered nearer
to the child, “tell me, dear Eva, what among all our Fairy gifts
will make you happiest, and it shall be yours.”
“You good little Fairies,” said Eva, folding them in her arms, for
she was no longer the tiny child she had been in Fairy-Land, “you dear
good little Elves, what can I ask of you, who have done so much
to make me happy, and taught me so many good and gentle lessons,
the memory of which will never pass away? I can only ask of you the
power to be as pure and gentle as yourselves, as tender and loving
to the weak and sorrowing, as untiring in kindly deeds to all. Grant
me this gift, and you shall see that little Eva has not forgotten
what you have taught her.”
“The power shall be yours,” said the Elves, and laid their soft hands
on her head; we will watch over you in dreams, and when you would have
tidings of us, ask the flowers in your garden, and they will tell you
all you would know. Farewell. Remember Fairy-Land and all your
loving friends.”
They clung about her tenderly, and little Rose-Leaf placed a flower
crown on her head, whispering softly, “When you would come to us
again, stand by the brook-side and wave this in the air, and we will
gladly take you to our home again. Farewell, dear Eva. Think of your
little Rose-Leaf when among the flowers.”
Long Eva watched their shining wings, and listened to the music of
their voices as they flew singing home, and when at length the last
little form had vanished among the clouds, she saw that all around her
where the Elves had been, the fairest flowers had sprung up, and the
lonely brook-side was a blooming garden.
Thus she stood among the waving blossoms, with the Fairy garland in
her hair, and happy feelings in her heart, better and wiser for her
visit to Fairy-Land.
“Now, Star-Twinkle, what have you to teach?” asked the Queen.
“Nothing but a little song I heard the hare-bells singing,” replied
the Fairy, and, taking her harp, sang, in a low, sweet voice:–
THE FLOWER’S LESSON.
THERE grew a fragrant rose-tree where the brook flows,
With two little tender buds, and one full rose;
When the sun went down to his bed in the west,
The little buds leaned on the rose-mother’s breast,
While the bright eyed stars their long watch kept,
And the flowers of the valley in their green cradles slept;
Then silently in odors they communed with each otber,
The two little buds on the bosom of their mother.
“O sister,” said the little one, as she gazed at the sky,
“I wish that the Dew Elves, as they wander lightly by,