All that day Peter and Polly played in the snow. All day Peter's white
butterflies fell. Down they came out of the air, softly and silently.
Peter liked to stand and look up into the sky. He liked to feel the soft
flakes light upon his face. He liked to see them on his coat sleeve.
Polly said, "Aren't the flakes pretty, Peter? They are little stars. The
perfect ones have six points. The Story Lady told me a story about a
star snowflake. I will tell it to you.
"Once a little water fairy lived in our brook, back of grandmother's
house. One day she was very, very naughty. She did not wish to go up
into the air. She did not wish to be part of a cloud. She wished to
stay in the brook.
"Her father said, 'You must go. And I shall have you punished for being
so naughty. I shall have Jack Frost change you into a snowflake.'
"Jack Frost came one day to change the cloud into snowflakes. He saw how
sorry the water fairy was because she had been so naughty.
"So he said, 'You know that I have to make all snowflakes like stars.
Some of them are very pretty. I will change you into the prettiest star
snowflake that I know.'
"'And when you melt,' said Jack Frost, 'you will be a water fairy again.
You will always be good then, won't you?'
"So he changed her into a beautiful star snowflake. I have seen her
picture. The Story Lady showed it to me."
"Let's find her," said Peter. "Then let's show her to the Story Lady.
That will be better than the picture."
So the children looked and looked. They found many stars. But Polly was
not sure that any one of them was the right one.
At last Peter found the most beautiful star of all. "This is the water
fairy, this is the water fairy!" he cried.
And Polly said, "It does look like the picture. So let's go and show it
to the Story Lady."
Down they went to her house and into the kitchen. There was the Story
Lady, washing dishes.
"O Story Lady," said Peter. "I have the water fairy on my arm! She is
changed into a star. See her!"
But when the Story Lady looked, there was no star snowflake.
"She has gone," said Peter. "That is too bad." And he looked ready to
cry.
"Why, yes, Peter," said the Story Lady. "She has gone. But don't you
think that she is happy to be just a water fairy again? She likes that
better, you know. You must be glad that you found her and helped her
melt."
"I am glad," said Peter. "But it was only a 'Once upon a time' story,
wasn't it?"
"Of course it was, Peter. But don't you know that all snowflakes are
water fairies? Now run along and play with those that are left."