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Sammie and Susie Littletail

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<h2> XXVI </h2> <h3> SUSIE AND THE BLUE FAIRY </h3> They were talking about Uncle Wiggily's visit to the red fairy, in the rabbits' burrow the next day, when Susie remarked: "Well, if I saw a fairy, I think I'd ask for something more magical than having my rheumatism cured." "No you wouldn't," said her uncle, as he nibbled a bit of chocolate-covered carrot that Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had made. "You think you would, but you wouldn't. In the first place, you never had rheumatism, or you'd be glad to get the first fairy you saw to cure it. And in the second place, when you see a fairy it makes you feel so funny you don't know what you are saying. But I am certainly glad I met that one. I never felt better in all my life than I do since my rheumatism is cured. I believe I'll dance a jig." "Oh, no, don't," begged Mamma Littletail. "Yes, I shall to," spoke Uncle Wiggily. "Begging your pardon, of course, Alvinah." You see, Mamma Littletail's first name was Alvinah. So Uncle Wiggily danced a jig, and did it fairly well, considering everything. That afternoon Susie Littletail went for a walk in the woods. She was all alone, for Sammie had gone over to play with Bully, the frog, and Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, his squirrel chums. Susie walked along, and she was rather hoping she might meet the fairy prince, who was changed from a mud turtle into a nice boy, and came to Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble's party. But Susie didn't meet him, and, when it began to get dark, she started for home. "Oh!" she exclaimed aloud, as she came to a little spot where the grass grew nice and green, and where the trees were all set in a circle, just as if they were playing, Ring Around the Rosy, Sweet Tobacco Posey. "Oh, dear, I wish I would meet with a fairy, as Uncle Wiggily did! But I don't s'pose I ever will. I never have any good luck! Only last week I lost my ring with the blue stone in it." And just then—oh, in fact, right after Susie finished speaking, what should she hear but a voice singing. Yes, a voice singing; a sweet, silvery voice, and this is what it sang. Of course, I can't sing this in a sweet, silvery voice, but I'll do the best I can. Now this is the song: "If any one is seeking A fairy for to see, If they will kindly glance up Into this chestnut tree They'll see what they are seeking, I'm truly telling you, For I'm a little fairy All dressed in baby-blue." Then, you may believe me or not, if Susie didn't look up into the tree, and there, in a hole where the Owl school teacher once lived, was a really and truly-ruly fairy. Honest. Susie knew at once it was a fairy that she saw because the little creature was colored baby blue, you know, the shade they put on babies, and she had gauzy wings, with stars on them, and carried a magic wand which also had a star on it, did the little blue creature. Still, the little rabbit girl wanted to make sure, so she asked: "Are you a fairy?" "I am," replied the little creature in blue. "Can you kindly tell me how much two and two are?" "Four," answered Susie. "Is it really?" "Of course. You ought to know that," spoke Susie proudly, for she was at the head of her arithmetic class. "Ought I?" asked the fairy with a sigh. "Well, I suppose I had, but I haven't been to school in ever so long—not since I was a wee bit of a child, and that's ever and ever so many years ago, when I was no bigger than that," and she pointed to something in the air. "Bigger than what?" asked Susie, who didn't see anything. "Than that speck of star dust," went on the blue fairy. "It's so small you can't see it. But no matter. Because you were so kind as to tell me how much two and two are, I will give you three wishes." "Will you, really?" cried Susie in delight. "Yes, three wishes, for I am a regular fairy, and that is the regular number of wishes you may have. Some fairies only give two wishes, and some only one. But I always give three. Go ahead now, and wish." "Let me see," thought Susie, and her nose twinkled like three stars, she was so excited. "First I wish for a golden coach drawn by four horses." "Oh!" cried the fairy, "I'm so sorry, for wishes like that, though they come true, never last. Still, you may have it," and she waved her magic wand, and if the golden coach and four horses didn't appear right there in the woods—honest! "Wish again, my dear," went on the fairy, and this time Susie was more careful. "I wish for ten boxes of chocolate-covered carrots," she said, and once more the fairy said she was sorry, for that wish wouldn't last. Still, it came true, and down from the tree where the blue fairy sat, came tumbling the ten boxes of chocolate-covered carrots, each one wrapped up in lace paper. Susie put them in the golden coach, and was ready for her next wish. She thought a good long while over this one. Then she said: "I wish I could find my ring with the blue stone!" At that the fairy clapped her tiny hands. "That is a fine wish!" she cried. "It will come true, and stay so. But the others——" and she shook her head sorrowfully. Then she waved her magic wand three times in the air, and suddenly, in less than two jumps, if the ring with the blue stone, that Susie had lost, didn't appear right on the end of the wand. And it flew off and landed right on Susie's paw. Oh, wasn't she glad! And the fairy said: "The ring will last, because that is blue, and I am blue, too. Now, good bye, Susie." And with that she disappeared, changing into a butterfly with golden wings. Then Susie started to get in the golden coach and ride home, but, would you believe me, if those horses didn't run away, upsetting the coach and breaking it, and scattering all the ten boxes of chocolate-covered carrots all over. Oh, how badly Susie felt, but it was just what the fairy said would happen. The first two wishes didn't last. Anyhow, Susie had the ring, and she hurried home to tell her story. Now, if it doesn't rain to-morrow, the story to-morrow night will be about Sammie and the green fairy.     <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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