Front matter

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FAIRIES I HAVE MET

"PLEASE," SHE SAID, "I WANT TO BE A NIGHTINGALE"

F A I R I E S

I H A V E M E T

BY MRS. RODOLPH STAWELL

ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR BY

EDMUND DULAC

HODDER AND STOUGHTON

NEW YORK AND LONDON

DEDICATION

BEFORE Penelope could toddle she lived far away among the oleanders. The sunbeams who came down to see the oleanders saw Penelope too. She sat on the grass and played with them, and they loved her very much.

One day the sunbeams were sad.

"Penelope is going to England," they said to each other.

"I am going to England with her," said Sunbeam the First.

"How?" asked the others.

"I shall hide in her hair," said Sunbeam the First.

"Then," said Sunbeam the Second, "I shall go too. I shall hide behind her eyelashes."

"And I," said Sunbeam the Third, "shall hide in her heart."

So Penelope went to England, with one sunbeam in her hair, and one in her eyes, and one in her heart.

When she was old enough to talk she spoke to the sunbeams.

"Shall you always stay in my hair?" she asked Sunbeam the First.

"That is more than I can say," he answered. "Perhaps when you are old I shall be obliged to go away."

Then Penelope asked Sunbeam the Second—

"Shall you always stay in my eyes?"

"I hope so," said Sunbeam the Second; "but perhaps if you are unhappy I shall be obliged to go away."

Then the corners of Penelope's mouth began to droop a little.

"Dear Sunbeam," she said to Sunbeam the Third, "shall you be always in my heart?"

"Yes, if you keep me there," said Sunbeam the Third.

"How can I keep you there?" asked Penelope.

"You must love the fairies," said the sunbeam, "and understand them when they speak to you. If you love the fairies even when you are old, I shall stay in your heart always."

These stories have been written for Penelope, so that she may love the fairies, and keep the sunbeam always in her heart.

CONTENTS

PAGE

The Bird of Shadows and the Sun-Bird 13

The Sea-Fairy and the Land-Fairy, and how they quarrelled 21

Princess Orchid's Party 31

The Cloud that had no Lining 41

The Fairies who changed Places 51

The Making of the Opal 59

The Big Spider's Diamonds 69

A Little Girl in a Book 77

The Fairy who was looking for a Home 85

The Box of Dreams 95

The Fairy who had only One Wing 103

The Little Boy from Town 111

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Bird of Shadows and the Sun-Bird

"Please," she said, "I want to be a nightingale" Frontispiece

TO FACE PAGE

The Sea-Fairy and the Land-Fairy

He held out the little shell in the beam of coloured light 24

Princess Orchid's Party

She smiled at him very graciously when he was introduced to her 36

The Cloud that had no Lining

And because the silver of the moonshine-fairies is very light he was able to carry a great deal of it 46

The Fairies who changed Places

Drop-of-Crystal was too busy to speak 54

The Making of the Opal

Of course the Dear Princess ... wore the great opal on the day that she was married 68

The Big Spider's Diamonds

The web and the diamonds and the Big Spider himself all fell to the ground 74

A Little Girl in a Book

The other people in the book looked at her in surprise 82