BLUE-BONNET
Once there was a young wren who lived in a clump of bushes beside a little creek.
He was such a tiny brown wren, and he had such a beautiful long tail that stood up in the air as straight as a tiny flag-pole!
He could wag it from side to side if he wished. He was very proud of his fine tail.
One morning, he had spent so long wagging his tail and thinking how clever he was, that he forgot to look for food.
Now it was getting late, and there were no grubs or insects to be seen, for his brothers had eaten them all.
He wandered farther along the creek, trying first one side and then the other, but not onemouthful could he find.
At last he came to a bend in the creek. The water was still here, and hundreds of insects were buzzing over it.
He was soon so busy catching them that he forgot how late it was getting.
Then it grew dark, for the sun had gone down behind the hill.
The tiny wren did long to be back with his mother in the tree where he always went to bed.
But, when he saw the long shadows, he was afraid. So he settled down in a strange tree. He was almost asleep when he heard voices.
Looking down, he saw some tiny fairy lanterns, and there, seated side by side on a toadstool, were two dear little fairies.
They wore lovely, shiny, silvery dresses, and were ready to go to the Fairy Queen"s ball.
They were waiting for the moon to rise, for fairies dance only in the moonlight.
The little wren began to wish he might go to the ball, too; so he flew down and begged the fairies to take him.
"Oh!" they said, " you cannot go in that dull brown suit--you must have fairy clothes. Go to the goblin tailor as fast as you can--we shall wait till you come back."Off flew the wren, oh, so quickly! to the goblin"sshop.
The goblin looked at him and said, "You"re so big. I have nothing large enough to make a suit for you."The poor wren felt so sad; but the goblin said, "Oh, I know what I can do. I have two pieces which I can join together. Then there will be enough."No sooner had the goblin said this than the work was done, and there lay a beautiful black and shiny blue suit for the wren to put on, and a blue cap to match.
The wren was so pleased that he pro- mised to pay the goblin anyt h i n g h e m i g h t ask.
Now, goblins love to wear feathers in their caps.
The goblin looked at the wren"s tail, and said, "Give me half the feathers in your tail, and I shall be well paid." The wren did not like to spoil the tail of which he was so proud, but he said, "I must keep my promise."So he pulled out half the feathers, and gave them to the goblin.
The two fairies took the wren to the king"s palace.
What a wonderful time they had! Thou- sands and thousands of tiny fairies were there. They had beautiful dresses and glittering wings. They wore sparkling crowns on their heads.
The wren felt like a giant among the tiny fairies.
They taught him to dance the fairy dances,
and to sing the fairy songs.
Much too soon, the first little sunbeams stole in, and the fairies had to be gone.
"Goodbye, Little Blue-bonnet," they called. "Come again another night."And then--he was all alone on the tree.
He flew off home to tell his brothers and sisters about the ball.
They did not know him in his new suit. So he told them all.
His little brothers began to think they would like new suits, too.
They went to the goblin, but each had to pay with half the feathers in his tail.
They came home in fine suits, with caps of blue and black.
The little sisters were too shy to fly so far from home, so they had to keep their dull brownsuits.
Now you know why Mr. Blue- bonnet has so fine a coat, and so few feathers in his tail, while his little sister is always dressed in brown.