DAISY.
Perhaps by this time you are wondering what has become of the fairy.
This is exactly what Susan used to wonder; and when, at evening, she
went out to tell Peter that supper was ready, and it was time for him to
leave off work, if a leaf fell suddenly down, or a rabbit ran across her
path, she would start and look about cautiously; for it seemed to her
the old woman might at any time come creeping along under one of the
tall arches which the boughs made on every side, or even she might be
perched among the dusky branches of the trees.
Peter used to laugh at her, and ask if she could find nothing pretty and
pleasant in all the beautiful wood, that she must be forever searching
for that ugly face.
But, to tell the truth, when he walked home alone after dark, and the
wind was dashing the boughs about, and sighing through them, and
strange-looking shadows came creeping past him, Peter himself would
quicken his pace, and whistle loudly so as not to hear the sounds that
came thicker and thicker, and seemed like unearthly voices. He could not
help a feeling, such as Susan had, that the old fairy was hidden
somewhere in the wood, and that her dreadful face might look up out of
the ground, or from behind some shadowy rock.
He did not know what a lovely, smiling face was hidden beneath the
dame's wrinkles and rags; he did not know that this spirit, he dreaded
so much, was his best and kindest friend; and that, while he feared to
meet her, she was always walking by his side, and keeping troubles away,
and it was even her kind hand that parted the boughs sometimes, to let
the sunshine stream upon his little home.
It is very foolish to fear any thing, for our fears cannot possibly keep
danger away; and suppose we should sometimes meet living shadows, and
dreadful grinning faces, in a lonely place, it is not likely they would
eat us up; and it is a great deal better and braver for us to laugh back
at them than to be frightened out of our senses, and run into some real
danger to escape a fancied one.
The fairy was not to be found by seeking her, but she came at last of
her own accord. When Peter came home from his work, one night, and
passed the place where Susan usually met him, she was not there; he
walked slowly, for it was a beautiful evening, and he did not wish to
disappoint his wife, who thought more of her walk with him than of her
supper. No Susan appeared, for all his lingering; and when his own door
was reached, who should stand there but the old woman, her ugly face
bright with smiles; and in her arms a little child, as small, and
helpless, and homely as you would wish to see.
But it belonged to Peter and Susan; and if children are ever so homely,
their own parents always think them beautiful. You never saw a person so
pleased as Peter; he hugged his little girl, and danced about with her,
and went out to the door, when it was light, to look at her face, again
and again. It seemed to him as if a miracle had been wrought on purpose
for him; and already he could fancy the little one running about his
home, building up gardens out of sticks and stones, and singing with a
voice as musical as her mother's, and even pleasanter, because it would
sound so childish and innocent.
Of course Susan was pleased with what delighted Peter so much; and
neither of them minded the little homely face, except once, when Peter
declared it looked like the old woman herself, and he was afraid it had
caught her ugliness.
"What's that--what's that?" exclaimed the fairy, whom he supposed to
have gone away; for he was too happy to think much about _her_. Up she
started from Susan's easy chair, with her great eyes glittering at him,
and her wide mouth opening as if she would devour the baby.
"I said she looked like her godmother," answered Peter, holding his
child a little closer, and moving towards the door to look at its face
again.
"Then," cried the old dame, "I must christen her. There is nothing rich
or beautiful about her looks, and it would be foolish to call her by a
splendid name. She will live in lonely, lowly places, and grow without
any one's help, and always have a bright, fresh, loving face, that looks
calmly up to heaven: we must call her Daisy. Take care of her heart,
now, Peter; and this gift of mine will be a more precious one than ever
was bestowed upon a queen."
So she fumbled a while in her great pocket, and brought out a pair of
rusty spectacles, which she offered Peter: but he did not know this, for
he was looking at Susan; and the fairy laid them upon the little,
sleeping bosom of the child, and hobbled off into the dark, and was not
seen in Peter's house again for many a day.
"What folly is the meddlesome old dame about, I wonder?" said Peter to
himself, taking up the spectacles, and about to throw them away; but the
child opened her eyes, and took them in her little hand in such a
knowing way, he must needs have her mother see it.
"Dear soul!" exclaimed Susan; "she will be such a comfort to me, when I
am here alone all day with my work! What shall we name her? It must be
something bright and pleasant; and it seems to me there is nothing
prettier than Daisy."
Now, while Peter and the old woman were talking by the door, Susan had
been fast asleep, and had not heard what they said.
"The dame has talked you into that fancy," answered Peter. "I should
call the little one Susan."
"What dame?" asked the wife, in surprise. "You cannot mean that the old
woman has been here."
If he had ever heard Susan speak an untruth, Peter would have thought
she was deceiving him now; but he felt that she was good and true, and
thought, perhaps, after all, she had been so drowsy as to forget the
dame's visit; so he patiently told about it, spectacles and all.
Susan took them in her hand with some curiosity, and even tried them
upon Daisy's face; they were large and homely, besides being all over
rust. While Daisy wore them, the moonlight broke through the boughs
again, to show her little face, looking so old, and wise, and strange,
that Susan snatched the spectacles off, and threw them into a drawer,
where she quite forgot them, and where they lay, growing rustier, for
years.