FullReads

“I’ll go, mamma; and when all the errands are done, may I come back through Fairyland, as we call the little grove where the tall ferns grow?”

“Yes, dear; when you oblige me, I am happy to please you.”

“I’m glad I decided to be good; now I shall have a lovely time,” said Kitty to herself, as she trotted away with a basket in one hand, a bundle in the other, and some money in her pocket for a poor old woman who needed help.

The shoes went quietly along, and seemed to know just where to stop. The sick baby’s mother thanked her for the soft little nightgowns; the lame girl smiled when she saw the books; the hungry children gathered round the basket of food, like young birds eager to be fed; and the old woman gave her a beautiful pink shell that her sailor son brought home from sea.

When all the errands were done Kitty skipped away to Fairyland, feeling very happy, as people always do when they have done kind things. It was a lovely place; for the ferns made green arches tall enough for little girls to sit under, and the ground was covered with pretty green moss and wood- flowers. Birds flew about in the pines, squirrels chattered in the oaks, butterflies floated here and there, and from the pond near by came the croak of frogs sunning their green backs on the mossy stones.

“I wonder if the shoes will let me stop and rest; it is so cool here, and I’m so tired,” said Kitty, as she came to a cosey nook at the foot of a tree.

The words were hardly out of her mouth when her feet folded under her, and there she sat on a cushion of moss, like the queen of the wood on her throne. Something lighted with a bump close by her; and looking down she saw a large black cricket with a stiff tail, staring at her curiously.

“Bless my heart! I thought you were some relation of my cousin Grasshopper’s. You came down the hill with long leaps just like him; so I stopped to say, How d’ ye do,” said the cricket, in its creaky voice.

“I’m not a grasshopper; but I have on fairy shoes to-day, and so do many things that I never did before,” answered Kitty, much surprised to be able to understand what the cricket said.

“It is midsummer day, and fairies can play whatever pranks they like. If you didn’t have those shoes on, you couldn’t understand what I say. Hark, and hear those squirrels talk, and the birds, and the ants down here. Make the most of this chance; for at sunset your shoes will stop skipping, and the fun all be over.”

While the cricket talked Kitty did hear all sorts of little voices, singing, laughing, chatting in the gayest way, and understood every word they said. The squirrels called to one another as they raced about,–

“Here’s a nut, there’s a nut;
Hide it quick away,
In a hole, under leaves,
To eat some winter day.
Acorns sweet are plenty,
We will have them all:
Skip and scamper lively
Till the last ones fall.”

The birds were singing softly,–

“Rock a bye, babies,
Your cradle hangs high;
Soft down your pillow,
Your curtain the sky.
Father will feed you,
While mother will sing,
And shelter our darlings
With her warm wing.”

And the ants were saying to one another as they hurried in and out of their little houses,–

“Work, neighbor, work!
Do not stop to play;
Wander far and wide,
Gather all you may.

We are never like
Idle butterflies,
But like the busy bees,
Industrious and wise.”

“Ants always were dreadfully good, but butterflies are ever so much prettier,” said Kitty, listening to the little voices with wonder and pleasure.