Page:Wonder Tales from Tibet.djvu/47

Rh the fountain sparkling in the sun. Crystal clear it was and very beautiful, and beside it was a marble bench looking cool and restful. The Prince sank down upon it, for he felt suddenly very weary, but scarcely had he seated himself before the sunlight disappeared and a strange half darkness covered him. The sound of the splashing water grew louder, but it was very pleasant to hear, and mingled with it was a whispering and pattering as of small voices and tiny feet, and a brushing as of garments against the bushes. He looked around him and then stood up the better to see. From behind every flower and bush danced forth a little form, shimmery and indistinct but beautiful beyond belief.

"Oh, you lovely, lovely creatures!" exclaimed the Prince aloud. "But I must not look at you, for truly you must be they of whom the master told me,—the ghosts of little children who lived and died long years ago and were forgotten!"