FAIRIES I HAVE MET
rise above the sea. He had to wait a long time, but he did not mind that, because there are always such nice fairies to talk to on the sea-shore.
At last the big round moon sailed slowly up into the sky. At the same moment a hundred thousand moonshine-fairies rushed out across the sea towards Skybright, flying and dancing on the water, and turning it into a sheet of silver as they came. For the moonshine-fairies carry silver with them wherever they fly, and scatter it as they go.
This was the moment that Skybright had been waiting for.
"Please, pretty moonshine-fairies," he cried, running to the water's edge and holding out his arms, "give me some of your silver to line my cloud with, and keep the rain from coming through!"
Then the moonshine-fairies danced towards him across the sea, with their tiny hands full of silver.
"Take our silver, little cloud-fairy," they said, "and line your cloud with it, and dip your wings in it, and scatter it over the earth as you fly, for everything is made more beautiful by our silver."
Then they poured the silver out of their hands into his, and because the silver of the moonshine-fairies is very light he was able to carry a great deal of it. He filled the pockets of his pretty grey coat with it, and he filled his cap, and took a quantity of it in his hands. And he said Good-bye to the moonshine-fairies, and flew away up to the clouds.
When the other cloud-fairies saw the beautiful silver he had brought with him they were delighted. They all set to
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