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.

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