THE FAIRY WEDDING
From Sweden
Onceupon a time there was a lovely young girl, daughter of rich parents, who was known for her gentleness and goodness.
One night, while she was lying awake in her bed, watching the moonbeams dance on the floor, her door was softly opened. Then in tripped a little Fairy man clad in a gray jacket and red cap. He came lightly toward her bed, nodding in a most friendly way.
“Do not be afraid, dear lady,” he said. “I have come to ask a favour of you.”
“And I will do it willingly, if I can,” answered the girl, who had begun to recover from her fright.
“Oh, it will not be difficult!” said the Fairy man. “For many years I and mine have lived under the floor of your kitchen, just where the water-cask stands. But the cask has become old and leaky, so that we are continually annoyed by the dripping of water. Our home is never dry.”
“That shall be seen to in the morning,” said the girl.
“Thank you, dear lady,” said the Fairy man,and making an elegant bow, he disappeared as softly as he had come.
The next day, at the girl’s request, her parents had the water-cask removed. And after that, to the surprise of the servants, the kitchen-work was done at night when all slept, and never a pitcher or glass was broken in the house from that day forth. So the Fairies showed their gratitude.
Well, a few months after this, the pretty young girl was again lying awake in her bed, watching the moonbeams dance on the floor, when again her door was opened softly, and the Fairy man stole in.
“Dear lady,” said he, smiling and bowing, “now I have another request to make, which, in your kindness, you will surely not refuse to grant.”
“What is it?” asked she.
“Will you honour me and my house, to-night,” he replied, “and stand at the christening of my newly born daughter?”
The girl arose and dressing herself, followed the Fairy man through many passages and rooms that she had never known existed. At last they entered a small but elegant apartment, in which a host of Fairies were assembled. They immediately christened the Fairy baby. And as the little man was about to conduct the girl again to her room, the Fairies filled her pockets with what looked like shavings.
The little man then led her back through the same winding passages, and as soon as she was safely in her room, he said:—
“If we should meet at another time, you must never laugh at me and mine. We love you for your goodness and modesty, but if you laugh at us, you and I shall never see each other again.”
When he was gone the girl threw all the shavings into the fireplace, and lay down, and went to sleep. And, lo, the next morning when the maid came in to build the fire, she found in the ashes the most beautiful jewelry, all of pure gold set with gems, and of the finest workmanship!
Now, it happened, some time after this, that the girl’s wedding day arrived. There was great bustling, and preparations for a splendid feast. At length the wedding hour came. The bride, beautifully dressed and wearing her Fairy jewels and a crown on her golden hair, was conducted to the hall where the guests were waiting.
During the ceremony she chanced to glance around the hall. She saw, near the fireplace, all her friends the Fairies gathered for a wedding feast. The bridegroom was a little Elf, and the bride was her goddaughter, and the feast was spread on a golden table.
No one but the girl could see the Fairies. Just at that moment one of the Elves, who was acting as waiter at the Fairy bridal, stumbled over atwig that lay on the floor, and fell. Forgetting the caution that the little man had given her, the girl burst into a hearty laugh.
Instantly the golden table, the Elfin bridegroom and bride, and all the Fairy guests vanished. And from that day to this, no work was ever done at night in that kitchen, nor were any Fairies ever seen about that house.