THE FAIRY GODMOTHERS AND OTHER TALES.
BY MRS. ALFRED GATTY.
1851.
HERMIONE SKETCHING.]
Col miele, e non coll' aceto si piglian le mosche.
_Italian Proverb_.
To My Children
These tales are most affectionately dedicated. They were written inhours of sickness, but are intended to be read by the healthy andjoyous young: and to illustrate some favourite and long cherishedconvictions.
Margaret Gatty.
Ecclesfield Vicarage,27th March, 1851.
CONTENTS.
The Fairy Godmothers
Joachim the Mimic
Darkness and Light
The Love of God
The design for the Frontispiece which adorns this volume is by thepencil of the writer's kind and highly gifted friend, Miss Lucette E.Barker.
THE FAIRY GODMOTHERS.
In one of the beautiful bays on the coast of Fairy Land, a party ofFairies was assembled on a lovely evening in July. There are manybeautiful bays on the coast of England, and there is one especially,my dear little readers, which you and I know of, where a long line ofgrand old rocks stretches far into the sea on the left-hand extremity,while in the distance to the right a warning lighthouse with itschanging lights gives an almost solemn beauty to the scene; for onecannot help thinking, at the sight of it, of the poor storm-drivenmariner, whom even that friendly light may fail to save from a sad andsudden death. But beautiful as this little bay is, of which I speak,and fond as we are of it, it is nothing, I do assure you, compared tothe bays in Fairy Land! There, there are no light-houses reminding onepainfully of danger and destruction near, but all is loveliness andpeace; and even the rocks would be turned into soft pillows by thegood-natured Fairies who inhabit the country, should any strangeaccident drive a mortal ship on that shore.
Also the bays in Fairy Land face to the west, which is a greatadvantage, for in an evening there you may sit and watch the goldensun dipping behind the waves; and the rich red tints he sends out uponthe rocks before he sets, are beyond measure beautiful and attractive.Especially, I believe, the Fairies enjoy this time of day, for theyare odd little creatures, rather conceited, and fond of everythingpretty; consequently they like to be floating about the rocks in theirwhite dresses when the crimson and golden hues of sunset shine onthem, knowing very well they look like so many bright flowers on theoccasion.
The day I speak of however had been very hot, and at the time I speakof, the Fairies felt a little lazy and were reclining on some rockscovered with sea-weed and amusing themselves by talking. In generalthe conversation of these little creatures is rather light andfrivolous and gay; but it is really a fact that they were just thenall serious together and all were engaged in a very profoundconversation on human happiness.
I am sorry to have so many explanations to give, but I think it quitenecessary to tell you the reason of so uncommon an event as a partyof Fairies being serious. Well then, there were going to be, veryshortly, several extremely gay christenings in the world, and some ofthe Fairies had been invited to attend at them as Godmothers, in orderthat they might bestow Fairy gifts on the different infants.
Four or five of the christenings were to take place the next day, andthe Fairies who were going were discussing with each other what giftsthey should bestow, and as their only object was to ensure thehappiness of the children for whom they were interested, theynaturally fell into a discourse as to what gifts were most likely tohave so charming an effect. "Your Godchild is a girl too, I believe,"said Euphrosyne to Ianthe [Fairies are privileged, you know, to haveromantic names] "what do you think of bestowing upon her?" "Why,"answered Ianthe, "the old story, I suppose--BEAUTY: at least suchwas my intention, but if you can any of you show me I am wrong insupposing it a cause of happiness to the mortal race, why, I supposeI must give her ugliness instead."
"Sister, I hope you will do no such thing," murmured a young Fairy wholay near twining seaweeds into a wreath. "I never until this eveningheard a doubt upon the subject, and to tell you the truth the onlytime I ever envy a mortal is when I see a regular beauty enter a largeassembly. Oh, the triumph of that moment! Every eye turned upon her;murmurs of admiration, not unmixed with envy, greeting her as shesweeps along; everyone courting her acquaintance; a word, a smile ofhers more valued than a pearl or a ruby. A sort of queen of Nature'sown making, reigning royally in undisputed sway, let her circumstancesof life be what they may! Look how mean the richest woman who is uglylooks by the side of her! No no, dear Ianthe, make your little ladyhandsome, and you have done the best that Fairy can do for her. Ideclare I envy her beforehand! Here where we are all so beautifultogether there is no interest or excitement about it--it is quiteflat." And so saying the young fairy Leila laid herself down to herwreath again. "Why, Leila, you are absolutely eloquent!" observedIanthe, "Beauty it certainly must be."
"Oh, I declare," pursued Ianthe, rousing up again, "I have sometimesreally wished myself ugly, that I might some day have the pleasure ofsuddenly finding myself beautiful!"
"Oh, but then," said a Fairy from behind, "is there no danger of yourregular beauty, as you call her, getting as tired of being beautifulas you are, and wishing herself ugly too?"
"Certainly, not," answered Ianthe, "for, for an earthly beauty therewould always be the excitement of being envied."
"Come, come," persisted the former speaker, "then the gift of beingenvied would be the best thing to bestow, at all events a necessaryaddition."
"Oh," cried Leila, stopping her ears, "I can't argue, I never could--Ican't hear any more, I am quite satisfied that I am right; you can'targue away the pleasure of being a beauty in a ball-room. Ask any ofthem themselves."
"Well," said Ianthe, "we need pursue the subject no further. I amresolved. My baby is to be beautiful, beautiful as the dawn of themorning; they shall call her Aurora!"
"I shall not follow your example," observed Euphrosyne, "I don't atall like that notion of the necessity of _envy_ to make the beauty'sjoy complete. Besides, I'm not at all sure beauty is not much morecharming in idea than in possession. Nobody spend their lives inentering a ball-room, and one gets sadly tired of one's own face. I'msure _I_ do, beautiful as it is;" and as she spoke the Fairy stoopedover a clear tide pool which mirrored her lovely countenance; "and yetlook what a nose I have! It is absolutely exquisite! And this hair!"and she held up her long silken curling tresses and looked at themreflected in the water as she spoke. A musical laugh rang through thefairy group. Euphrosyne resumed her seat. "There isn't a mortal damselin the world who would not go into raptures to resemble me," pursuedshe, "and yet--but, oh dear, I am getting quite prosy, and it is quiteuseless, for Ianthe has decided. I, on the contrary, am thinking ofsomething far less romantic and interesting, but I suspect far morenecessary to the happiness of mortals than beauty--I mean RICHES."
"Men are horribly fond of them, certainly," observed the Fairy frombehind, whose name was Ambrosia. "I can't endure men on that veryaccount. Look at the grubby wretched lives they lead incounting-houses and banks, and dreadful dingy holes and corners ofgreat towns, where we wouldn't set the soles of our feet, and this forforty or fifty years, perhaps, in order that in the fifty-first, orperhaps later still, they may turn into butterflies for the little bitof life that is left to them. And such butterflies, too! not knowingwhat to do with their gay coats and fine wings when they get them atlast."
"I think you are putting an extreme case," observed Euphrosyne."Though the grubs themselves may not thoroughly enjoy the riches theyhave so laboriously acquired, their children or grandchildren may, andlive at ease and enjoy them. I should not think of bestowing greatriches on uneducated paup
ers. But it is another matter to give them topeople whom education has refined, and who would know how to enjoy andemploy them."
"I wonder," suggested a very little Fairy, scarcely grown to her fullsize, "why you don't just give your Godchildren moderate good health,and enough money to make them quite comfortable without puzzlingthem?"
"You are a complete Solomon," observed Euphrosyne, "but you must know,my dear, that moderate good health and a mere comfortable competencywould hardly be considered Fairy gifts by our friends in the lowerworld. These things are, as it were, the absolute _necessities_ of ahappy life; they are the beef and mutton (to borrow an earthly simile)of the entertainment. Fairy gifts form the somewhat unnecessary (andquestionably wholesome) second course,