WIG, WOG, AND BLACK PETER.
Under a tall tree-fern lived a band of fairy folk.
One bright moonlight night, they all came out to play.
The water in the creek made a happy sound as it rippled over the little pebbles.
It set the fairies dancing.
When they were tired, they lay about on the soft moss.
Wig began to tell stories of black giants he had seen in the bush.
All at once he sprang up, and shouted out, "Who"s afraid of Black Peter?""I"m not," said Wog, and she jumped up and ran after Wig.
"It set the fairies dancing."
Then all the fairies chased Wig and Wog, calling, "We"re not afraid of Black Peter.""Yes, you are! Yes, you are!" shouted Wig and Wog; and, helter-skelter, they ran in and out among the grasses.
Sometimes they hid in blue-bells or chocolate flowers.
Then a black cloud hid the moon, and it was dark.
The fairies tried to find their way home, but they could not see.
They put out their tiny hands to feel the plants in the bush.
"Do you think this is our tree-fern, Wig ?" said Wog. "Its leaves feel like long feathers.""Let us climb to the top, and perhaps we shall be able to see," said Wig.
Up went the wee folk, one after the other.
Just as the last little fairy jumped into the tree, they all heard a voice cry, "Who is not afraid of Black Peter?"The wee folk began to tremble in the dark.
They tried to say "We"re not"; but they were too frightened.
"This is my tree," said the voice. "You have come to steal my gum-it is mine, and you cannot have it.""Oh, no; we are lost!" cried Wig and Wog together.
"We do not want your gum-
we want only to find our way home."
Just then the cloud passed, and there stood a real black giant.
He was just a little black
boy; but fairies are so small that they thought him a giant.
"Who are you?" he said.
"We are fairies who live in Dingley Dell," they all cried together.
"Well, now I have got you and you are my prisoners," he said.
"I know it is the fairy folk who tell our secrets.""Let us go home; oh, do let us go home to our queen!" they begged, "for daylight will soon be here."At last the black giant said, "Well, if you can guess my riddle, I will let you go. Who is under this tree looking up at you? Three guesses.""Oh," said Wig, "I know. It is the great brown snake who crawls through the grass.""Wrong!" said the giant.
"Is it the baby bear who rides on his mother"sback?" asked little Wog.
"Wrong again. You have only one more guess."
Then all the fairies cried, "Is it the owl with the great eyes who stares all night ?""You shall see," said the giant. "Wait till the sun rises ; then look below, and you shall know."Slowly the light crept up in the sky, and the big sun smiled over the gum-trees.
Wig and Wog climbed to the topmost branch, and bent over to look.
The river flowed beneath, and shone like a great mirror.
The fairies crowded up the branches, clinging to every little twig.
There, in the water, was a beautiful picture of their own little faces, with golden fluffy hair all round them like tiny sunbeams.
They looked and looked until the sun went down.
As the moon rose, Wig said to Wog, "It is time for us to go home"; but, when they tried to move, they found they were fastened to the branches.
They did not mind, for they knew that, when morning came, they would again see the wonderful picture in the water below-the picture of the "Wattle-fairies."