Fairies I have met

by Mrs. Rodolph Stawell

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FAIRIES I HAVE MET

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

FAIRIES

I HAVE MET

BY MRS. RODOLPH STAWELL

ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR BY

EDMUND DULAC

HODDER AND STOUGHTON

NEW YORK AND LONDON

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DEDICATION

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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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CONTENTS

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	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

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ILLUSTRATIONS

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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