around her seemed to have undergone. The trees, the leaves, the fern,
the moss--all appeared ten times as beautiful as they were before. The
dewdrops that glistened upon the grass and fern sparkled with
twenty-fold brilliancy; the green of the leaves was by far more tender
and exquisite than before her change; the mighty trunks of the old
trees were more majestic than ever, the whole glen was enriched with
greater beauties, and the notes of the woodland birds possessed more
melody than she had ever fancied in her old, childish wanderings
through the forest.
It was as if all these beauties had been but imperfectly seen, and only
feebly appreciated by the child of mortals, whose natural perceptions
had been blunted by the sin and sorrow of her kind; but, that the
moment the earthly nature and form had been shaken off, a purer and
more intellectual state of being had brought with it the power to see,
to know, and to appreciate in a higher degree the beauties of nature
and of nature's God. Never had Evelyn experienced such a delicious
sensation of entire pleasure as at that moment.
Curiously enough, no recollections of home, of parents, of relations,
came across her; all seemed blotted out for the moment as if they had
never existed. She only felt the intense pleasure of her present
existence--a pleasure so pure and at the same time so utterly absorbing
and engrossing that it seemed to leave room for no other thought or
sensation, and the child stood as one in a trance--but a trance
exquisitely delightful!
Presently the fairy queen turned aside, apparently about to occupy
herself with other matters, and having no more to say to Evelyn. The
latter, however, was not neglected. Two of the other fairies took her,
each by one hand, and led her under the great spreading trees, beneath
whose branches was a wide open space, where there was room enough for
hundreds of such small creatures to sport and play. There they began to
dance, lightly and gracefully, first joining hand in hand, then
separating and dancing the most curious figures you can imagine, in and
out of the hollow of the tree under which they were, round its trunk
and its roots, and now and then catching hold of the lower branches and
swinging themselves up. Such a dance it was! And the most extraordinary
thing was that it all seemed to come quite as natural to Evelyn as if
she had been at it all her life. She danced and skipped and swung in
the branches with the best of them, and had not the slightest feeling
of fatigue after the exertion. She felt, moreover, a lightness and
buoyancy of spirit such as she had never felt before, and as to being
shy or bashful in the presence of strangers, she experienced no such
sensation for a single moment. On the contrary, she laughed and talked
with the little elves as happily and merrily as if she had known them
from her cradle, and there was no difficulty about learning their
language, for they all spoke English as well as any English child could
have done. Perhaps they _were_ English children, which would in some
measure account for it. However that may be, Evelyn never had a
cheerier or more enjoyable dance than this one, and she thoroughly
entered into it.
Presently they took to climbing. Up the trees they swarmed, ran out on
the branches, and balanced themselves on the ends (roaring with
laughter when one or other of them lost his balance and had a fall,
which he always broke by cleverly catching hold of the next branch
below), pelted each other with leaves, and chased one another wildly
through the tops of the trees. Then they played at hide-and-seek in and
around the trees. One hid in a rabbit-hole under the roots, another in
a crevice on the top of one of the hornbeam pollards, and great was the
laughter when one little scamp crept into an old magpie's nest, and lay
hidden there for several minutes before he was found. But perhaps the
best fun of all was when they chased a squirrel, who was thoroughly
puzzled by the proceeding, and caused them immense merriment by his
chattering, as well as by his various dodges to elude his pursuers.
Sometimes he would climb to the very tops of the highest trees, and
appear astonished beyond measure when the little elves followed him so
high; then, again, he would throw himself off, and catch a branch in
falling, as quickly and as cleverly as if he had been himself a fairy.
Once more he would lie pressed up so close against the thick branch of
a tree, that he would appear to be a part of the tree himself; and then
he would betake himself to his nest, and occasionally peer out with
his sparkling little eyes, as if to ascertain whether anyone would be
daring enough to follow him _there_. But the fairies never attempted to
hurt him, and Evelyn soon found that these woodland fairies were not of
a sort which at all enjoyed making other people unhappy. _She_ was
certainly anything but unhappy, and enjoyed her afternoon amazingly.
Nevertheless, as all things come to an end, so at last did these fairy
gambols.
Suddenly there sounded through the forest a low, sweet, but thrilling
whistle, like an unusually melodious railway whistle heard at a long
distance off in a still evening. Every elf knew it at once to be the
queen's signal, and accordingly they all hurried back to the spot where
Evelyn had first seen them, from which they had been wandering right
and left through the merry green wood in their sports. The queen
graciously smiled as her obedient children flocked around her, and
proceeded to give them her directions for the employment of their
evening.
"Sprightly," said she, addressing one little fellow, whom Evelyn had
observed to be particularly lively in the dancing and other games, "go
you, with a couple more of your friends, to old Farmer Grubbins. He was
very cross this morning to two poor boys who picked a couple of apples
from one of his trees which overhung the footpath, and is going to take
them before the magistrates to-morrow morning. He goes to bed early and
will be asleep before nine. But you need not wait for _that_, for he is
sure to doze heavily in his arm-chair after supper. Go and plague him
well. Pinch his toe till he thinks it is gout; whisper to him that the
rats are in his barn, and that a man with a lucifer matchbox has been
seen in his rick-yard. And if _that_ neither keeps him from sleep nor
gives him uncomfortable dreams, tell him that wheat is down in the
market ten shillings a quarter, American beef is coming into this
country in such quantities, that homefed beef will never sell well
again, and all his rates and taxes are going to be doubled directly.
Give him a real bad night of it, and when he is lying awake, thoroughly
uncomfortable, whisper to him a few words in favour of the poor lads in
any way you think most likely to be useful.
"Mirthful, do you go off to poor old Mrs. Marshall at Nettlebush
Cottage. She is down with the rheumatism, very bad, and in a good deal
of pain. Cheer the old dame up a bit, whisper all kinds of pleasant
things in her ear, gently rub her poor aching limbs, and keep the dust
quiet so that her room may be kept cheerful and clean. Sweeten the
taste of what food she has, and do what you can to lighten the time to
her.
"Flittermouse, Childerkin, Gadaway, go to Doctor Backbrusher's school,
and comfort the hearts of the youngsters there. The old fellow has
flogged a lot of them as usual to-day. Go and cheer them up; and if you
_could_ put a few crumbs--good, hard, sleep-stopping crumbs--into the
doctor's bed, so much the better. Do it just when he has put his candle
out, and is going to step into bed, and one of you take away the box of
matches he always has by his bedside, and hide it in his brown pitcher.
He'll never find it there, and if he is once well in bed with those
crumbs, he'll have a rough time of it.
"You, Pitiful and Hoverer, go to little Miss Wilson's room at The
Priory, and teach her to remember her French verbs. Poor child! they
are sadly too much for her, and it would be a real kindness to get rid
of the grammar for her, only they would be sure to get another; so the
better way will be to help her to remember.
"The rest of you go where you like; sleep or play, visit mortals, or
remain unseen by them, only do nothing unkind to anyone, and be sure to
be back here precisely at midnight for the ring dance."
As soon as the fairy queen had finished speaking, the little elves to
whom she had given special directions set off without any delay to obey
her orders, while the rest scattered themselves in every direction
through the forest, each following the pursuit which seemed best to
him.
As Evelyn felt herself not only at liberty to go where she pleased, but
able to keep up with any of her companions and to go where they went
and do as they did, she thought she should very much like to see how
Sprightly performed the commission entrusted to him, and as the elf
made no objection, off they tripped together, accompanied by another
little being whose name I forget, but who was as lively and merry as
the rest of them. They went at a pace at which our young friend Evelyn
had never gone before, but which somehow or other seemed quite natural
to her, and which very speedily brought them to the house of Farmer
Grubbins.
Arrived there, they walked quietly up to the door, which opened to them
without any of the people inside knowing that it had done so, although
the fact of its having opened was proved to Evelyn not only by her
passing through with the others, but by the remark which she heard the
old farmer make as she and her companions entered, namely, that there
was a terrible draught from that door.
The farmer was an old bachelor, and there was no one in the house with
him but his niece and the servants. He and his niece were just
finishing supper when the fairies entered, and on seeing this Sprightly
winked knowingly at his companions, and they all stood quietly aside
until the old man should be asleep and their duties would begin.
They had not long to wait. Farmer Grubbins pushed back his chair with a
remark to his niece upon the supper, to the effect that the beefsteak
pie had been uncommon good, to which she readily assented. The old man
then settled himself in his own particular arm-chair by the fireside,
drew a long breath, and quietly composed himself to sleep. In a very
few moments, after a contented snort or two, much after the fashion of
a grampus which found itself more than commonly comfortable, he quietly
dozed off and was immediately in the land of dreams.
Then Evelyn's companions crept stealthily up to him and began their
games. One climbed up on to the old man's shoulder, whilst the other
seated himself upon the footstool upon which his feet rested, well
encased in large and easy slippers. The first began to whisper in his
ear, while the second tickled his feet with a lightness of touch which
no one but a fairy could have done. Presently the sleeper suddenly
twitched his foot, whereupon the elf waited until it was still again;
and then resumed his tickling. Then the farmer moaned in his sleep, and
uneasily turned his head upon one side, at which movement the other elf
began to whisper more vigorously than ever. A snort, a start, and the
sleeper awoke.
"Eh, Jane? Did you speak?" he asked his niece, who replied in a low
voice that she had said nothing, and almost before she had answered,
his head fell back again and once more he dozed. Still the tickling and
the whispering continued, and the sleep of the old farmer appeared to
be most uncomfortable.
Evelyn watched in great amusement, until at last she saw Sprightly, who
had taken his place at the footstool, take out what appeared to be a
pair of pincers, and, applying them to the great toe of the farmer's
right foot, give it a nip with all his force. The old man instantly
woke up with a roar.
"Oh, my toe!" he called out in evident pain. "Drat that gout, I've got
it again!" and he began to groan sadly.
His niece got up, put her knitting down upon the table and came across
the room to him, but after another groan or two, the pain seemed to
subside, and he dozed off again. Presently he started once more and
turned in his chair.
"Rats in the barn, did you say, Jane?" he muttered rather than said;
"can't be--don't bother--keep quiet, there's a good girl," and all was
silent again for a few moments, until Sprightly, again producing the
pincers and applying them to the same toe, pressed them with both hands
as hard as ever he could. The roar which now burst from the farmer's
lips really frightened Evelyn, who fancied for the moment that he
_must_ discover that some hand, mortal or elfin, had inflicted the
injury upon him.
Not a bit of it: the elves were certainly invisible, and the old man
attributed everything to the gout, and vowed it was the worst pain he
had ever had in the whole course of his life.
Meanwhile the two elves were laughing ready to split their sides, and,
somehow or other, Evelyn felt very much inclined to do the same. It was
no laughing matter, however, for Farmer Grubbins. He rose from his
chair, not in the best of tempers, nor using the choicest language, and
declared that he should go to bed and try if a good night would put
matters right with him.
As he spoke, the two elves roared again with laughter, and made the
most extraordinary grimaces at the old man, which seemed to Evelyn all
the more ridiculous from the knowledge that he could not see and was
perfectly unconscious of them.
Then he slowly ascended the stairs, upon which Sprightly and his
companion beckoned to Evelyn, and they all followed the farmer,
treading very lightly, and still laughing as he muttered expressions by
no means complimentary to the gout.
When he reached his bedroom he speedily undressed and turned into bed,
having first carefully placed upon his head an old red night-cap, in
which he presented an appearance so ludicrous as greatly to increase
the amusement of his unseen guests. His niece just looked in, and asked
if he wanted anything, and being told that she need not trouble herself
about him, quickly took the hint, and retired for the night.
Then began the real fun of the little fairies. As soon as the old man
had made himself comfortable, and a drowsy comfortable feeling began to
steal over him, they were at him again. First one of them tickled his
nostrils with a feather until he was obliged to rub his nose violently,
which woke him up at the critical moment when he was just about to go
off into a quiet sleep. Then the same thing happened to his right ear;
then it was his left, and then his nostrils again. Then they left him
alone for a few moments until he was really just asleep, when Sprightly
said in his ear, quite close, and in a voice that was almost above a
whisper,
"That man has lighted the match--close to the stacks in the rick-yard.
Fire!"
The old man started up as if he had been shot.
"Fire!" he cried out; "what the dickens was that? Who said fire?"
He sat up in his bed and listened, and then he grumbled to himself
about the folly of eating dumplings for supper after beefsteak-pudding,
and how it always made one dream such nonsense, and then back he sank
upon his pillow, grumbling still until he gradually dropped off again.
Then, softly uncovering his feet, the cruel Sprightly, before this
sleep had lasted more than a minute, gave him a sharp and severe nip on
the same toe as before, and again the unhappy man woke with a yell, or
rather bellow, of pain, and said bitter words against that gout to
which he firmly believed himself to be the victim. The pain kept him
awake some minutes, but at last he dozed off again, and then came more
tickling and whispering, so that he could by no possibility get any
real or prolonged repose.
At last there was a long and careful whisper on the part of Sprightly's
companion, during which the farmer did not indeed awake but turned over
again and again, first on one side and then on the other, muttering to
himself meanwhile:
"Wheat down again! Ruin--ruin--ruin! Markets awful bad;" and presently
again he groaned out in his sleep, "Drat them Yankees and their beef!"
all of which remarks, distinctly heard by Evelyn as she stood on a
chair by the bedside, told her plainly enough that the little elves
were fulfilling the commands of their queen with great and precise
exactness. Still the old man dozed and woke, and woke and dozed, and
ever and anon turned uneasily in his bed, as if passing a decidedly
uncomfortable time of it, until at last, after another tremendous nip
from Sprightly's pincers, he quite woke up and groaned audibly.
At that moment, to her great surprise (for there seemed no possibility
of his thinking it a dream _then_) Sprightly and his companion seated
themselves one on each side of the old man's head, and began to wave
their hands gently over his eyes. He appeared to see nothing, and to be
quite ignorant of what they were doing, or indeed that there was any
one there, and presently he closed his eyes, though he did not breathe
heavily, or snore, or give any palpable sign of being asleep.
Both the little elves now began to whisper eagerly in his ears, and
Evelyn quite plainly heard the words, "poor boys!" "only a couple of
apples," "honest parents," "no such great offence after all," and
various other expressions calculated to appease the wrath of the old
farmer against the culprits of whom the fairy queen had spoken. The old
man soon began to mutter again, and from what he said it was evident to
Evelyn that the words of the whisperers were not without their effect.
Presently he seemed to be quite awake.
"Curious that I should dream about them lads," he said. "I hope the
poor chaps haven't had such a bad night as I seem in for. Maybe they
didn't know they was doing so wrong. I've took apples myself, before
now, when I hadn't ought to have done so. I don't know as I'll go
against them after all! Dash me if I will, either!"
Scarcely were the words out of his mouth when the faces of both the
elves lighted up with the brightness of conscious triumph; they knew
that their queen's commands had been obeyed, and her desire
accomplished, and they lost no time in their next proceeding.
Abandoning at once their previous endeavours at whispering, tickling,
and tormenting, they made sundry passes over the old man's face, which
had the effect of immediately plunging him into a profound sleep. Twice
he snored heavily, but this time it was not the snore of restlessness
or disgust, but the contented sound of a peaceful and happy sleeper.
At this moment the three-quarters past eleven sounded on the chimes of
the neighbouring church clock. The little elves instantly started up,
whispered to Evelyn that the queen would be shortly expecting them, and
beckoning the little girl to follow them, crept quietly and stealthily
from the farmer's bedroom, descended the stairs, and passing through
the front door in the same manner by which they had entered it, hastily
sped back to the forest.
In the glade they found the queen, standing among a group of elves who
were positively convulsed with merriment. They were listening to the
account which Flittermouse, Childerkin, and Gadaway were giving of the
visit to Dr. Backbrusher, which they had lately paid, and from which
they had but just returned, and they seemed to have given the worthy
doctor rather a rough time of it, having bothered him with hard crumbs
in his bed until he had lost all patience, and bounced out of bed for a
light, in searching for which he had tumbled into his bath, and been
made thoroughly uncomfortable for the night.
Whether this proceeding on the part of the elves was calculated to make
the doctor more tender of his pupils' feelings was a question which
Evelyn found herself unable to solve, but she hoped for the best when
she heard the fairy queen, after expressing her entire approval of what
had been done, publicly declare her intention of persevering, and
giving orders that Dr. Backbrusher should be persistently and
thoroughly plagued every night until he had been brought to a kinder
and more satisfactory frame of mind.
When the fairies had laughed enough at the account of the
schoolmaster's disasters, the queen asked the others to relate how they
had fulfilled their several missions, and expressed herself very well
satisfied with the manner in which her wishes with regard to Farmer
Grubbins had been carried out. Nor was she less pleased with the
conduct of the elves who had been sent upon errands of a more
emphatically benevolent nature.
Tears stood in Evelyn's eyes as she heard little Mirthful relate the
gratitude of the poor old woman whom she had been sent to comfort. To
be sure, she had not exactly known whom to thank, having seen no one,
but for all that she had shown a thankful disposition, and such a
cheerful determination to look at the bright side of a life that seemed
dark enough, poor thing! and to make the best of everything, come what
might, that Evelyn felt quite touched at the narrative. She felt
sincere sympathy, too, for and with little Miss Wilson, whom Pitiful
and Hoverer had vastly assisted with her French verbs. They told of all
her trouble in learning, and how, by their secret help, she had
suddenly found herself able to remember, and had been quite astonished
at finding that she could learn with such unusual and unexpected ease.
She had not the least idea, they said, that she was being helped by
fairies, and of course it was the best thing in the world for her to be
thus deceived, because having once overcome her difficulties, as she
thought, by her own patience and determination, she would always in
future employ the same weapons, and that with an additional confidence
which would go far to insure success.
From all these accounts Evelyn learned that which she had always hoped
and believed to be true, namely, that it is the pleasure of good
fairies--such as those who principally inhabit forest glades and
mountain wilds--to help and comfort mortals who require it, and
especially such mortals as love to help and comfort others, and have
tender feeling hearts within their breasts. She could not but feel,
moreover, that those mortals whom the elves delighted to plague and
torment were generally, if not always, people who richly deserved it,
and who were not over-scrupulous about hurting the feelings of their
fellow-mortals.
Thus it appeared to Evelyn that the elfin race performed most useful
functions, and were deserving to the utmost of the affection and
respect which she had ever bestowed upon them.
While these thoughts passed through the child's mind, the messenger
elves had all finished their accounts of their doings, and the queen
now waved her hand solemnly, upon which they parted right and left, and
she remained standing alone. Then she spoke thus:
"Midnight hour has struck again,
One more day is with the slain:
One more morn will soon be here,
Heralded by chanticleer.
While as yet 'tis sacred night,
Practise we the mystic rite:--
Hand-in-hand join, light and free,
All beneath the woodland tree;
Softly o'er the leafy bed
In fantastic measure tread,
Soon to mortal eyes to bring
Traces of the fairy ring."
When she had thus spoken, the queen stepped forward, and taking the
hand of another elf in each of her own, paused one moment until all the
others had followed her example, and then began the dance. They
completely encircled one of the large oaks, and for some time danced
round and round it with great solemnity, singing sweetly as they did
so. Evelyn found herself irresistibly compelled to join both in the
dance and song, but it was ever after a matter of regret to her that
she could not recollect the words of the latter, which she remembered
to have been full of beauty and most melodious.
After a time they separated, and, gaily dancing upon one side, came out
into an open space where was luxuriant grass, a perfect carpet of
daisies and buttercups being beneath their feet. Here the class formed
themselves once more into a circle, and danced round and round as if
they were never going to stop. Again they sang, words as pleasant and
music as sweet as before, but again Evelyn found herself entirely
unable to recollect the air or the words afterwards.