THE AUTUMN LADY AND SINGING HEART

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 105, 6 May 1933, Page 7

THE AUTUMN LADY AND SINGING HEART

(Specially written for Autumn-Tijiie by "Captain Peggy.")

THE Autumn Lady laughed softly, and the baby breeze in passing caught it and passed it on to the tall pines. How they shook with delight. "She's coming!" they whispered. "She's coming," and so'the whisper spread, past the river bank right along to the little garden that belonged to. the house that stood at the end of the road. Here asters, deep regal purple, and chrysanthemums, tawny-red, golden-brown, and virgin white, uncurled their velvet petals to welcome their queen. Singing Heart heard the whisper as he was busy tending a tiny aster bud, that was struggling to feel the warmth of the sunbeams on its fragile petals. He raised his head with a smile. "At last she's coming—Autumn!" ho said. . ' . . . A dear little fellow was Singing Heart. Eyes brown "like liquid pools of happiness, a crooked mouth which more often was curved in a smile than a frown, and a heart —oh, such a happy, singing heart, always willing to do anything, always with a song on his lips. He doffed his bright blue cap and swept a low bow to the little bud. "She's coming," he said merrily. "Our dear lady!" From the tallest hill she came. Her white, naked foot crushed the browning grass, her golden brown hair, starred with fairy gold, floated round her like a cloak, her eyes were grey and bright like far-away stars, and her arms were heaped with autumn flowers. ' For one moment she stood poised, then with a merry laugh she swept down the hill. She danced a stately minuet with a squirrel, and then played hide-and-seek with the wind. Her curls clinging to her damp forehead, she talked to the pines; and then with a trembling hand she unlocked the gate of the garden that belonged to the house that stood at the end of the road. Singing Heart was perched on a tawny chrysanthemum, swinging his legs and whistling merrily. . "Singing Heart, Singing Heart, I'm here!" whispered the Autumn Lady. Singing Heart slipped from the flower. "Autumn Lady!" he exclaimed. "Are you ready, Singing Heart? The world is waiting^ for us." "Fov us?" <<y es —for you and me. I plant magic into the flowers and leaves, but you plant magic" and happiness into everyone's hearth' Singing Heart smiled. "I'm ready, dear lady. The whole world is waiting for you. Come!" Together they went "out into the singing world. Everywhere they went they planted magic and happiness. The trees were a glory of gold- and red and yellow. Gardens were full of deep scarlets, russet-browns, and pale gold. Tho world was full of magic, for. Autumn had tipped it with her brush of glowing colours, and Singing Heart had planted seeds of happiness and song everywhere. "Dear Lady," whispered Singing Heart that evening, when my Lady Night had drawn her caressing veil over the world. "Will you marry me?"

; Autumn's starlit eyes opened wide with surprise. "But Singing Heart," she-i began, and as Singing Heart did not speak, she continued: "You know fahjy-folk like you and myself cannot marry." » ; Singing Heart sighed. "I know," he said sadly, "but I thought " i "Dear, dear Singing Heart," answered the Autumn Lady softly. \ Singing Heart went away whistling, but there was a new note of sadness in lis melody which had never been there before. : ! Autumn's eyes were filled with tears, and one slipped down her face and feU like a shimmering dew-drop, into tho heart of a chrysanthemum. j Softly she stole away to the hollow-iu-the-hill. Scarcely had she pulled hert blanket of leaves over herself than the Wind Woman appeared. ' The Wind Woman was a busy soul whose whole time was spent in looking^ after her four sons, the North, South, East, and West winds. i "Autumn Maid," she croaked, "I was down among the poplars tonight, anj I heard your conversation .with Singing Heart.'' ' The Autumn Lady sat upright. ; "Wind Woman, you shouldn't have listened!" i "I know," cackled the Wind Woman, "but I did! You're a silly mrlid," she continued. i "Well," answered the Autumn Lady a little defiantly, "one can't help falling in love." f "No," the Wind Woman. cackled again, "but haven't you forgotten! WJhen your sisters, Spring, Summer, and Winter, are reigning, why, you can teid house for Singing Heart; and in your season it doesn't matter, for he's always with you. You '11 be a help to Singing Heart, helping ■ him prepare thje seeds of happiness and song. The Fairy Queen herself said so." i The Autumn Lady was standing upright now, her smile as bright as the gutulight that had drenched the world that day. I "Why, you wonderful, kind Wind Woman! I had forgotten." i "You can go and tell him tomorrow," said the Wind Woman kindly. i "No, I'm going now!" Tho Autumn Lady's eyes were wejls of happiness. T "Wind Woman, I'm so happy! What can I'do to share my happiness ■nfith the mortals?" ,„.'-, I "I think you have shared your happiness enough," answered tho Wind "Woman. "Why, with hills ablaze with gold, the ground beneath one's feet a shifting carpet of rainbow-coloured leaves, the sweet smell of pine-needles, ;«ud the seeds of Singing Heart's happiness in one's heart, one doesn't want much more." „ ~ , "But, 1 know!" said the Autumn Lady softly. "I'll send everyone a magic kiss! Good-bye, Wind Woman." ','"', She sped swiftly down the hill to Singing Heart—and happiness. ■ ' The Wind Woman watched her until she had disappeared, and then she gobbled back to her own little cottage, the happiness in the Autumn Lady's ctyes reflected in her own face. . . ■■,■■.■■. n . i And that is why, every' Autumn, the world is full of fairy, floating l:isses. ' . ....,.' ......