Page:The New-Year's Bargain (1884).djvu/116

 work. Slowly and carefully I toiled through the dense brushwood and the deep glens; and at last, in the very loneliest recess of the mountain, I came upon—what do you think?—a fairy! The little children far away had been right in their guess, you see.

"It was Midsummer-eve, the fairies' own day; and he was celebrating it with an out-door tea. His seat was in the middle of a circle of vivid green grass, the kind that once went by the name of a 'fairy ring.' He was quite an old fairy. It is difficult to determine about ages, but I saw that at a glance. Beside him stood an immense toadstool, upon which was placed his supper of honey posset; but he didn't seem to have much appetite,—in fact, he was dreadfully out of spirits, as I found after we had talked a little while.

I am the last of the little men in green,' he said, glancing down at his clothes, which were indeed of a delicate duckweed tint.