THE MAKING OF THE OPAL
THE opal was the last of the precious stones to be made. And this was how it happened.
Long, long ago—so long ago that no one had ever seen a ruby or a sapphire or an emerald—there was a Princess who had a great many friends among the fairies. Because they loved her they called her the Dear Princess, and the country in which she lived was known as the Crystal Mountain. It was the delight of the fairies to do her bidding, to fly and fly over hill and dale to fetch her anything she wished to have. Sometimes she wished to have very curious things, because all the ordinary things that Princesses like to have had been brought to her long ago by the fairies. If she wanted things that no one had ever heard of before, the fairies would set to work to make them for her. One day she said—
"Oh, Fairies dear, I am going to be married. I am going to marry the Prince of the Far Land over the Hill, and the wedding is to be the grandest ever seen. My dress is lovely: it was cut out of a rainbow on purpose for me, and trimmed with the edge of a sunset cloud. But what am I to wear in my hair?"
Now, the Princess's hair hung over her in dark waves, like a long cloak.
"Flowers!" cried the fairies. "Quick—quick—let us fly for flowers to twist in the Dear Princess's hair!"
So they all flew away, some in one direction and some in another, while the Dear Princess of the Crystal
61
