Page:Fairies I have met.djvu/134

FAIRIES I HAVE MET golden hair streamed, up together upon the wind they were very beautiful to see.

And now a very curious and unfortunate thing happened. The wind-fairies suddenly grew tired and went to sleep, every one of them. Now when the wind-fairies go to sleep, the white-horses always dive down below the sea and go to sleep too. Before the Mermaid had reached the shore she was swimming again, for her white-horse had suddenly disappeared and left her with nothing to ride. He had gone to sleep below the sea until the next time the wind-fairies wanted to play.

"Oh, Mermaid dear," cried Michael, "what have you done with my nice new horse?"

"I am very sorry to tell you," said the Mermaid, lying down on the sand to rest herself, "that he has gone below the sea to sleep. It is really most unfortunate, but when a white-horse wants to sleep you can't stop him."

"Oh dear, oh dear," said Michael piteously, for it was a great disappointment. "I did so much want to have a white-horse to make me think of the sea for ever and ever."

"Wouldn't anything else do instead?" asked the Mermaid, who was very kind.

Then Michael noticed that every time a little wave reached the shore it broke on the rocks in a shower of coloured jewels. He pointed to them.

"Bring me some of those, please, Mermaid dear," he said.

So the Mermaid took a large shell, shaped like a saucer, and waited on a rock till a little wave came in and sprinkled the rock with jewels. She held out her shell to catch the 116