"Pippin"

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 150, 22 December 1922, Page 16

"Pippin"

By JUNE BERRY.

{ A Fairy Tale for Little Folks! j

One- beautiful summer night the Fairy Queen w,ib holding her court in a forest glade. Tlie moon shed its silvery beams to give them light, while hundreds of little green-coated goblins perched aloft in the branches, waving tiny lanterns. Beautiful fairies, ugly gnomes, and cheeky little sprites danced and frolicked over the grass, or sat on.the mushrooms and in the flowers. The Queen, with her beautiful golden hair streaming around her, and her star-crowned sceptre in her hand, occupied her throne in the centre of the glade, while a tiny serving man, in a long green coat and brown stockings with large, red bows at the knees, bent low before her. \on a silver tray he offered delicious fruit* and wine to the Queen. Two tiny minstrela played sweet music for her pleasure; one had a violin made of a leaf, and the other a flute, which was really a large lily. The appearance of two small but stalwart men-at-arms, leading between them a prisoner, was the signal for the feasting and music to cease, and all looked grave as Pippin was brought before the Queen for sentence.

Now, Pippin was a very valiant, but rather rash, little Fairy Knight, who had been tried .and found guilty of thrashing another'fairy. This fairy had dared to usurp the particular flower in which Pippin curled himself at night, and though the Queen sympathised with her favourite knight, yet she felt she must uphold peace and order in her Kingdom. So she- looked sadly at Pippin as she pronounced her sentence.

. "You'are banished from Fairyland and forbidden to Hold any intercourse with my subjects until you have done some kindness in the mortal world which will warrant your recall." •

A murmur of horror and sympathy went up from the other fairies as Pippin turned away from the Throne and was escorted by his captors to - the confines of .Fairyland. ". ' ■ •

Dawn found him riding disconsolately along a forest path on tho large white butterfly which served him as a steed. people passed, but of course none 'of them could ccc Pippin, for fairies cannot be eeen .in the daytime, and the butterfly too becamo invisible when Pippin rode on it. As he rode slowly along, v wondering what kind' deed, he could perform «to win the Queen's favour again, he saw a small bird lying beneath a tree, and vainly trying to fly. It had fallen- out of ..its nest. „ Immediately Pippin thought of his kind deed, and, dismounting from the butterfly, he pick-, ed- up the helpless bird and ..carefully clinibcd\with it. tip the tree. After putting-'itsafcly in, its nest he clambered clown again, expecting to get a summons trom the.Queen. But nothing happened, so after a while he rode on again. About midday, feeling- very hot and very thirsty, he came upon a small brook rippling over its stony bed. He waj just about to take a drink when he saw a little fish lying on the gasping for breath. Some cruel "boys had evidently caught it and then left it lying there. Hoping that at last he could earn his forgiveness, Pippin carefully picked up tlie fish and put it back into the water. In vain, however, did iin listen for his Queen's voice. Nothing broke tho stillness save tho ripple of the brook and the songs of the birds in the trees overhead... • ■ '...:.

Feeling very lonely and very sad,< Pippin once moi'e mounted his butterfly, and rodo on.

Towards sunset ■he 'drew, near to a wood, and as. he rode along he heard gay voices^ laughing and shouting. Suddenly two little girls came running through the trees, their arms filled with bluebells they had gathered. Just then one of them espied a beautiful tall lily grow-■ihg-.'aloiia^-aiid, dropping, .all her bluebells, she ran forward crying: .. "Oh! What ■a. lovely flower >■ I must have-it!" ...

But.Pippin could not bear to see the beautiful flower pulled j ruthlessly up, only to be thrown down as the bluebells had been when something else caught tile little lady's attention. So he jumped off his steed, and immediately the butterfly became visible. The other child saw it, and with a glad shout she ran forward, .^trying to catch it. Her companion,' forgetting the' lily, . joined her, but ' the butterfly rose gracefully "from' the ground and flew towards an opening in ,the woods. The children followed, still trying to catch the brilliant creature. Bereft of his steed, Pippin stood in the wood wondering which way to go next. He was not at all sorry that ho had lost the butterfly, for had he not saved the lily? As he turned to foliow the children, he threw one more glance towards the flower; but it had disappeared, and in its. place, tali' and beautiful in her shining white robe, stood the Fairy Queen. . She smiled as she looked at the bewildered Pippin. Then she said, in her low, musical voice: "You failed in the other acts of kindness, Pippin, because you thought too much of the reward. This time, however, you thought. only of saving the ■lily, and therefore this deed ranks the highest. The kindness which springs forth unsought, with no heed future gain, is the only real and lasting kindness, my little Knight. And now, welcome back to Fairyland." And as the moon rose that night and once more she'd its soft beams over the Fairy glade, the Queen again held her Courts This time, however, the musicians ceased not in their music, the goblins danced and held aloft their tiny lanterns, the fairies, frolicked and sang, and the sprites leapt from flower, to flower, and Pippin, the happiest of all her subjects, sat proudly beside his beloved Queen. She, in the midst of the dancing arid feasting,. would look with a smile at her' trusty little Knight. As the moon disappeared from sight, ! and tlio rosy dawn appeared in the sky,! tho . fairies,. goblins, and sprites and gnomes cried aloud : • "Welcome, Sir Pippin. 'Welcome back to Fairyland." ■ I