(The following story should be read to the
children =first=, as it forms a kind of groundwork
for the Story Lessons which follow.)
It was night--a glorious, moonlight night, and in the shade of the leafy
woods the Queen of the fairies was calling her little people together by
the sweet tones of a tinkling, silver bell. When they were all gathered
round, she said: "My dear children, I am going to do a great work, and I
want you all to help me". At this the fairies spread their wings and
bowed, for they were always ready to do the bidding of their Queen. They
were all dressed in lovely colours, of a gauzy substance, finer than any
silk that ever was seen, and their names were called after the colours
they wore. The Queen's robe was of purple and gold, and glittered
grandly in the moonlight.
"I have determined," said the Queen, "to build a Temple of precious
stones, and =your= work will be to bring me the material." "Rosy-wings,"
she continued, turning to a little fairy clad in delicate pink, and fair
as a rose, "you shall bring rubies." "Grass-green," to a fairy dressed
in green, "your work is to find emeralds; and Shiny-wings, you will go
to the mermaids and ask them to give you pearls."
Now there stood near the Queen six tiny, fairy sisters, whose robes were
whiter and purer than any. The sisters were all called by the same
name--"Crystal-clear," and they waited to hear what their work was to
be.
"Sisters Crystal-clear," said the Queen, "you shall all of you bring
diamonds; we shall need so many diamonds."
There was another fairy standing there, whose robe seemed to change into
many colours as it shimmered in the moonlight, just as you have seen the
sky change colour at sunset, and to her the Queen said, "Rainbow-robe,
go and find the opal".
Then there were three other fairy sisters called "Gold-wings," who were
always trying to help the other fairies, and to do good to everybody,
and the Queen told them to bring fine gold to fasten the precious stones
together.
These are not =all= the fairies who were there; some others wore blue,
some yellow, and the Queen gave them all their work. Then she rang a
tiny, silver bell, and they all spread their wings and bowed before they
flew away to do her bidding.
After many days the fairies came together to bring their precious
treasures to the Queen. How they carried them I scarcely know, but there
was a little girl, many years ago, who often paused at the window of a
jeweller's shop to gaze at a tiny, silver boy, with silver wings,
wheeling a silver wheel-barrow full of rings, and the little girl
thought that perhaps the fairies carried things in the same way. Anyhow,
they all came to the Queen bringing their burdens, and she soon set to
work on the Temple.
"The foundations must be laid with diamonds," said the Queen. "Where are
the six sisters? Ah! here they come with the lovely, shining diamonds,
which are like themselves, 'clear as crystal'. Now little Gold-wings,
bring =your= treasure," and the three little sisters brought the finest
of gold. So the work went merrily on, and the fairies danced in glee as
they saw the glittering Temple growing under the clever hands of the
Queen. She made the doors of pearls and the windows of rubies, and the
roof she said should be of opal, because it would show many colours when
the light played upon it.
At last the lovely building was finished, and after the fairies had
danced joyfully round it in a ring again and again, until they could
dance no longer, they gathered in a group round the dear Queen, and
thanked her for having made so beautiful a Temple.
"It is quite the loveliest thing in the world, I am sure," said
Rosy-wings.
"Not quite," replied the Queen, "mortals have it in their power to make
a lovelier Temple than ours."
"Who are 'mortals'?" asked Shiny-wings.
"Boys and girls are mortals," said the Queen, "and grown-up people
also."
"I have never seen mortals build anything half so pretty as our Temple,"
said Grass-green; "their houses are made of stone and brick."
"Ah! Grass-green," answered the Queen, smiling, "you have never seen the
Temple I am speaking of, but it =is= better than ours, for it
lasts--lasts for ever. Wind and rain, frost and snow, will spoil our
Temple in time; but the Temple of the mortals lives on, and is never
destroyed."
"Do tell us about it, dear Queen," said all the fairies; "we will try to
understand."
"It is called by rather a long word," said the Queen, "its name is
'character'; =that= is what the mortals build, and the stones they use
are more precious than our stones. I will tell you the names of some of
them. First there is =Truth=, clear and bright like the diamonds; that
must be the foundation; no good character can be made without Truth."
Then the sisters Crystal-clear smiled at each other and said, "We
brought diamonds for truth".
"There are =Honesty=, =Obedience=, and many others," continued the
Queen, "and =Kindness=, which is like the pure gold that was brought by
Gold-wings, and makes a lovely setting for all the other stones."
The little fairies were glad to hear all this about the Temple which the
mortals build, and Gold-wings said that she would like above everything
to be able to help boys and girls to make their Temple beautiful, and
the other fairies said the same; so the Queen said they all might try to
help them, for each boy and girl =must= build a Temple, and the name of
that Temple is Character.