II.
THE SPARROW AND THE FAIRY.
A fairy once stood by the sea-shore, watching the foam, as it dashedupon the beach, when an ocean bird caught her up in its beak, and flewwith her far away over the waters. They came, at last, directly abovethe deck of a vessel, and one of the mariners, seeing a black speck inthe sky, discharged a musket, which so frightened the bird, it let thefairy drop down on the ship, but while she was falling, she had theprecaution to take the form of a sparrow to conceal herself. The sailorsgathered round, and wondered to see a sparrow, so far away from theland, and one of them was going to fling it overboard, when a littlecabin-boy ran forward, and begged that it might be given to him, whichwas done, and he ran with the panting trembling thing into thestore-room, where, amid the boxes and hampers of provisions, he made hispoor bed, of straw and a blanket. He found an empty orange-box, placed alittle nest of wool in the corner, in which he put the sparrow, and thenwent out again to his work; but came in often during the day, to see howit was getting along. At night he drew it up to his own bed, and wasjust going to sleep, when out of the box sprang the prettiest lady ingreen, about six inches high, that you ever saw in your life. The boygot up, and opened his eyes in wonder, and she came and sat down on hisbed by him. He then looked into his box, and missing his sparrow, burstinto tears. When she asked him what was the matter; he told her that hecried because his sparrow was gone, and in a twinkling, the little ladyhad vanished, and the sparrow was in its nest, as snug and warm asbefore. The next day, every chance he could get, he would be running into look at his sparrow, and when night came again, and the door wasfastened, out jumped the little lady in green, who came and played nicelittle games with him, and told him wonderful stories, and so fond didhe grow of her, he did not mind that the sparrow disappeared, as soon asthe little green lady came.
He used so often to run into his room, to talk with her, that it beganto be remarked by the sailors; that the boy who was always before ondeck, was now moping down in the cabin, by himself, and they resolved towatch him, and see what he did there. So one of them stood by the door,when he entered, and when it was shut, he thought he heard voicestalking, and, peeping through the keyhole, saw a little green lady,dancing over the boxes as light as a feather. He told this to theothers, and they determined to find out the truth, so they burst openthe door suddenly, and went in; but nothing was to be seen of the ladyin green, or anything else, but the boxes, the little boy, and thesparrow in his warm nest; so after speaking roughly to the littlefellow, all the sailors went out, no wiser than they came in. But fromthis time, his mates began to look upon him with distrust and suspicion:though before a favorite, he came to be much disliked by them, and theywere very unkind to him; but the boy did not mind it, so long as he hadsuch a good friend as the fairy.
But one night as a dreadful storm arose, so that they could no longerguide the vessel, they all declared the boy was the cause of theirtrouble--that he dealt in witchcraft, and must be thrown overboard, orthe ship and all in it would sink. Notwithstanding that he begged them,with the tears pouring down his cheeks, to spare him, they were sohard-hearted as to pay no attention to his beseeching tones, and when hefound that they were in earnest, he only asked them to let him go intohis berth, for a few minutes, to say his prayers; to which theyconsented. He then took his sparrow, and put it in his bosom, that itmight not be ill-treated after he had gone, and went out to them. Agreat rough sailor instantly seized him, and flung him with a whirl,over the side of the vessel. For a moment he hung above the glitteringwaves, that dashed, and foamed, and yawned, as if to swallow him alive,then he shut his eyes, and felt the cold waters rush and close over hishead, and down, down, into the darkness, he kept sinking, sinking, tillhe heard the sea-monsters dash past him, and expected every moment to bedevoured by them; but no, he escaped them all, and kept on falling,down, down. At last, he seemed to slip out of the waters, as it were,into clouds, and then into clear air, and hung a moment suspended in thesky, till he came plump on to the very softest and greenest turf, whichyielded beneath him like a bed. He was not at all hurt, and getting uplooked around bewildered, till feeling something stir in his bosom, heopened his vest, and out hopped the little green lady, and stood beforehim.
“Now,” said she, “I can repay you for all your care of me. I am a fairy,and this is one of my homes, and I can show you in a moment many of mykindred.” So saying, she blew a little bugle at her side, and many likeherself began to flock about, and welcome her to her home. She gavecommand to them to bring some food, and directly these busy littlepeople went to work, and spread on a little rocky table, the snowiestof cloths and the most delicious repast. After his hunger had beensatisfied, the fairy pointed to the sky, and said: “Above those clouds,lies the sea, through which you have just now passed; this is what youcall the bottom of the ocean, where dwell mermaids, sea-nymphs, andfairies.” The boy looked up, and wondered what prevented the ocean fromcoming down upon his head, and then reasoned to himself if that was notalso a great sea, which he had called the sky over his mother’s cottage,and if that was not where all the rain came from? But he did not thinklong about this, for the fairy had such sights to show him, as he hadnever even dreamed of before, the houses were formed of coral, andpearls, and instead of glass, the windows had large slabs of purediamond, to admit the light; the very pebbles under his feet were themost costly jewels, and the sun shining on them, dazzled his eyes, sothat he could scarcely see. The fairy had a splendid mansion constructedfor the boy, and a chariot, made of shells, and little fairy horses, sosmall that it took six of them to draw him. He had servants to wait onhim, his table was supplied every day, with the most luscious fruits; heheard the sweetest music, and the fairy herself used to spend the mostof her time with him, yet she noticed that he was often silent and sad.One day she found him weeping, and begged him to tell her the cause ofhis grief,--if there was anything yet wanting to complete his happiness?The boy dried his tears, and answered her. “Dear little lady, I haveeverything that heart can desire; fairies to wait on me, and anticipatemy wishes; nothing to do but to amuse myself from morn till eve; butwhen I am enjoying all these things, my heart goes back to my poorwidowed mother, who used to be always toiling for me, and I think thatperhaps she is even now sick, or starving, for want of proper food;while I am idling here, she may be wearing herself out, in laboring forthe support of my dear little brother, whom I long to see again; andeven if she has been provided with the necessaries of life, I am surethat her heart is sad, for she most likely thinks that I am drowned inthe ocean, and that I shall never again return to her. Do not then beastonished, if in the midst of all this beauty, and my good fortune, Iam sad and weep.”
The fairy answered him: “You are a good child, not to forget your poormother, and though I should be glad to have you remain with me forever,yet I can well see, that you would be happier to be with her and yourlittle brother. Stay here at least a year, and then I will find means tosend you to her.”
“Oh! thank you,” cried the boy; “but my dear little lady, if you cansend me home a year hence, you must be able to send me now; who knowsbut my mother may die of grief or of starvation long before that. Oh! ifit is not asking too much, let me go at once.”
The fairy then looked very sad, and told the boy that after his returnto earth and his mother she would never again be able to reveal herselfto him in her own proper shape, or make herself known to him. The boywas sad to learn this, yet still he begged to go to his dear mother.
Then the fairy, though so sorry to part with him, told him that heshould see his home that very night; and accordingly, when evening came,the fairy and himself were taken in the arms of a mermaid, and carriedup through the sea, till they rose upon the surface, and he saw thestars and the blue sky above, and knew that they were the same stars andsky that shone over his mother’s cottage. Soon they reached the land,and the mermaid left them upon the shore; and the fairy, beckoning to aswan that was in sight, mounted with the boy on its back,
as it stood byher side. She and the little boy rose high up in the air, and were borneswiftly over towns, cities, mountains, rivers and vallies. At last, asthe shades of night were passing away, and morn began to break, thescenes became more familiar to him, till the fairy, pointing beneaththem, showed him the woods, and the hills, amid which he knew was hisown little home. At her signal, the swan gently descended, and the boy’sheart bounded lightly, as he felt his feet once more rest upon the firmground, and looked around on a scene so familiar and so dear; but hisgladness left him when the fairy said: “We must here part. Never againshall I be permitted to reveal myself to you; but nightly, though unseenby you, I shall visit this spot; when all goes well with you and yourmother, and everything prospers to your wishes, think that the fairy hasbeen here, and at work.”
Before the boy could speak to her, she gently kissed him, at bidding himadieu, mounted again on the back of the swan, high in the air, andwaving farewell with her hand, as she was lost in the distant cloud, theboy saw her no more.
He stood gazing forgetfully after she had disappeared, and thenremembering himself, hastened on to the cottage. The blue smoke wasstruggling up the chimney, and he knew that the morning fire waskindled. The old brindled cow stood before the door, and his mother,with the milk-pail in her hand, and her little child toddling besideher, came forth, without seeing him, and began to seat herself to milk;the little boy, however, espied him, and cried out, “Oh, brother!brother!” The mother started up, and seeing the well-known features ofher son, burst into tears, as she clasped him to her heart. He was asone restored from the dead, for the wicked crew who had returned homefrom the ship, reported that he had fallen overboard and was drowned;but her joy was now full, when she found that he was never going toleave her again.
During the winter nights as they sat by the fireside, he used to tellher and his little brother all about the good fairy, and the wondersthat he had seen; and when the harvest came, and they gathered in a fullcrop of corn and fruit, (their neighbors’ crops had all been blighted,)he used to say to his mother, “The fairy has surely been here.” And aseverything worked to their advantage, and they were well provided for,they never forgot her or her promise to him.