richly attired. It was not her crown alone that showed her to be the
queen. The others made obeisance to her as she passed through the midst
of them from her home in the bunch of red clover. Four dainty pages
preceded her, carrying a silver web which had been spun by a
black-and-yellow garden spider of great renown. This silver web the four
pages spread carefully over a violet leaf, and thereupon the queen sat
down. And when she was seated the queen sang this little song:
"From the land of murk and mist
Fairy folk are coming
To the mead the dew has kissed,
And they dance where'er they list
To the cricket's thrumming.
"Circling here and circling there,
Light as thought and free as air,
Hear them cry, 'Oho, oho,'
As they round the rosey go.
"Appleblossom, Summerdew,
Thistleblow, and Ganderfeather!
Join the airy fairy crew
Dancing on the sward together!
Till the cock on yonder steeple
Gives all faery lusty warning,
Sing and dance, my little people,--
Dance and sing 'Oho' till morning!"
The four little fairies the queen called to must have been loitering.
But now they came scampering up,--Ganderfeather behind the others, for
he was a very fat and presumably a very lazy little fairy.
"The elves will be here presently," said the queen, "and then, little
folk, you shall dance to your heart's content. Dance your prettiest
to-night for the good old poet is watching you."
"Ah, little queen," cried the old poet, "you see me, then? I thought
to watch your revels unbeknown to you. But I meant you no
disrespect,--indeed, I meant you none, for surely no one ever loved
the little folk more than I."
"We know you love us, good old poet," said the little fairy queen, "and
this night shall give you great joy and bring you into wondrous fame."
These were words of which the old poet knew not the meaning; but we, who
live these many years after he has fallen asleep,--we know the meaning
of them.
Then, surely enough, the elves came trooping along. They lived in the
further meadow, else they had come sooner. They were somewhat larger
than the fairies, yet they were very tiny and very delicate creatures.
The elf prince had long flaxen curls, and he was arrayed in a wonderful
suit of damask web, at the manufacture of which seventy-seven silkworms
had labored for seventy-seven days, receiving in payment therefor as
many mulberry leaves as seven blue beetles could carry and stow in seven
times seven sunny days. At his side the elf prince wore a sword made of
the sting of a yellow-jacket, and the hilt of this sword was studded
with the eyes of unhatched dragon-flies, these brighter and more
precious than the most costly diamonds.
The elf prince sat beside the fairy queen. The other elves capered
around among the fairies. The dancing sward was very light, for a
thousand and ten glowworms came from the marsh and hung their beautiful
lamps over the spot where the little folk were assembled. If the moon
and the stars were jealous of that soft, mellow light, they had good
reason to be.
The fairies and elves circled around in lively fashion. Their favorite
dance was the ring-round-a-rosy which many children nowadays dance. But
they had other measures, too, and they danced them very prettily.
"I wish," said the old poet, "I wish that I had my violin here, for then
I would make merry music for you."
The fairy queen laughed. "We have music of our own," she said, "and it
is much more beautiful than even you, dear old poet, could make."
Then, at the queen's command, each gentleman elf offered his arm to a
lady fairy, and each gentleman fairy offered his arm to a lady elf, and
so, all being provided with partners, these little people took their
places for a waltz. The fairy queen and the elf prince were the only
ones that did not dance; they sat side by side on the violet leaf and
watched the others. The hoptoad was floor manager; the green burdock
badge on his breast showed that.
"Mind where you go--don't jostle each other," cried the hoptoad, for he
was an exceedingly methodical fellow, despite his habit of jumping at
conclusions.
Then, when all was ready, the Seven Crickets went "chirp-chirp,
chirp-chirp, chirp-chirp," three times, and away flew that host of
little fairies and little elves in the daintiest waltz imaginable:--
[Illustration: Bar Music]
The old poet was delighted. Never before had he seen such a sight; never
before had he heard so sweet music. Round and round whirled the sprite
dancers; the thousand and ten glowworms caught the rhythm of the music
that floated up to them, and they swung their lamps to and fro in time
with the fairy waltz. The plumes in the hats of the cunning little
ladies nodded hither and thither, and the tiny swords of the cunning
little gentlemen bobbed this way and that as the throng of dancers swept
now here, now there. With one tiny foot, upon which she wore a lovely
shoe made of a tanned flea's hide, the fairy queen beat time, yet she
heard every word which the gallant elf prince said. So, with the fairy
queen blushing, the mellow lamps swaying, the elf prince wooing, and the
throng of little folk dancing hither and thither, the fairy music went
on and on:--
[Illustration: Bar Music]
[Illustration: Bar Music]
"Tell me, my fairy queen," cried the old poet, "whence comes this fairy
music which I hear? The Seven Crickets in the hedge are still, the birds
sleep in their nests, the brook dreams of the mountain home it stole
away from yester morning. Tell me, therefore, whence comes this wondrous
fairy music, and show me the strange musicians that make it."
[Illustration: Bar Music]
[Illustration: Bar Music]
"Look to the grass and the flowers," said the fairy queen. "In every
blade and in every bud lie hidden notes of fairy music. Each violet and
daisy and buttercup,--every modest wild-flower (no matter how hidden)
gives glad response to the tinkle of fairy feet. Dancing daintily over
this quiet sward where flowers dot the green, my little people strike
here and there and everywhere the keys which give forth the harmonies
you hear."
Long marvelled the old poet. He forgot his sorrow, for the fairy music
stole into his heart and soothed the wound there. The fairy host swept
round and round, and the fairy music went on and on.
[Illustration: Bar Music]
"Why may I not dance?" asked a piping voice. "Please, dear queen, may I
not dance, too?"
It was the little hunchback that spake,--the little hunchback fairy who,
with wistful eyes, had been watching the merry throng whirl round and
round.
"Dear child, thou canst not dance," said the fairy queen, tenderly;
"thy little limbs are weak. Come, sit thou at my feet, and let me smooth
thy fair curls and stroke thy pale cheeks."
"Believe me, dear queen," persisted the little hunchback, "I can dance,
and quite prettily, too. Many a time while the others made merry here I
have stolen away by myself to the brookside and danced alone in the
moonlight,--alone with my shadow. The violets are thickest there. 'Let
thy halting feet fall upon us, Little Sorrowful,' they whispered, 'and
we shall make music for thee.' So there I danced, and the violets sang
their songs for me. I could hear the others making merry far away, but I
was merry, too; for I, too, danced, and there was none to laugh."
"If you would like it, Little Sorrowful," said the elf prince, "I will
dance with you."
"No, brave prince," answered the little hunchback, "for that would weary
you. My crutch is stout, and it has danced with me before. You will say
that we dance very prettily,--my crutch and I,--and you will not laugh,
I know."
Then the queen smiled sadly; she loved the little hunchback and she
pitied her.
"It shall be as you wish," said the queen. The little hunchback was
overjoyed.
"I have to catch the time, you see," said she, and she tapped her crutch
and swung one little shrunken foot till her body fell into the rhythm of
the waltz.
Far daintier than the others did the little hunchback dance; now one
tiny foot and now the other tinkled on the flowers, and the point of the
little crutch fell here and there like a tear. And as she danced, there
crept into the fairy music a tenderer cadence, for (I know not why) the
little hunchback danced ever on the violets, and their responses were
full of the music of tears. There was a strange pathos in the little
creature's grace; she did not weary of the dance: her cheeks flushed,
and her eyes grew fuller, and there was a wondrous light in them. And as
the little hunchback danced, the others forgot her limp and felt only
the heart-cry in the little hunchback's merriment and in the music of
the voiceful violets.
[Illustration: Bar Music]
Now all this saw the old poet, and all this wondrously beautiful music
he heard. And as he heard and saw these things, he thought of the pale
face, the weary eyes, and the tired little body that slept forever now.
He thought of the voice that had tried to be cheerful for his sake, of
the thin, patient little hands that had loved to do his bidding, of the
halting little feet that had hastened to his calling.
"Is it thy spirit, O my love?" he wailed. "Is it thy spirit, O dear,
dead love?"
A mist came before his eyes, and his heart gave a great cry.
But the fairy dance went on and on. The others swept to and fro and
round and round, but the little hunchback danced always on the violets,
and through the other music there could be plainly heard, as it crept in
and out, the mournful cadence of those tenderer flowers.
And, with the music and the dancing, the night faded into morning. And
all at once the music ceased and the little folk could be seen no more.
The birds came from their nests, the brook began to bestir himself, and
the breath of the new-born day called upon all in that quiet valley to
awaken.
So many years have passed since the old poet, sitting under the three
lindens half a league the other side of Pesth, saw the fairies dance and
heard the fairy music,--so many years have passed since then, that had
the old poet not left us an echo of that fairy waltz there would be none
now to believe the story I tell.
[Illustration: Bar Music]
Who knows but that this very night the elves and the fairies will dance
in the quiet valley; that Little Sorrowful will tinkle her maimed feet
upon the singing violets, and that the little folk will illustrate in
their revels, through which a tone of sadness steals, the comedy and
pathos of our lives? Perhaps no one shall see, perhaps no one else ever
did see, these fairy people dance their pretty dances; but we who have
heard old Robert Volkmann's waltz know full well that he at least saw
that strange sight and heard that wondrous music.
And you will know so, too, when you have read this true story and heard
old Volkmann's claim to immortality.
1887.
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:
[1: The music arranged by Mr. Theodore Thomas.]
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End of Project Gutenberg's A Little Book of Profitable Tales, by Eugene Field