BUTTERFLY’S DIAMOND
Onceupon a time there was a little Fairy who was remarkable for her impatience and laziness. She was called Fairy Butterfly because she had such splendid green wings with silver spots on them. She loved dearly to be dressed in gorgeous colours, and to sleep in the rich chambers of the Foxgloves, or to flutter over beds of fragrant Mignonette. In truth, she was as luxurious a little Fairy as the sun ever shone on. So much did she like her ease that she would not gather a single dew-drop to bathe her face, nor would she pick a fresh rose-petal for a napkin. She played all day long, or slept curled up in the heart of a flower. Oh, she was a lazy Fairy!
When the Queen of the Fairies observed the faults of Butterfly, she resolved to help her to correct them. One day she summoned the lazy one to Court, and said:—
“Fairy Butterfly, we command you to go at once to the Green Cavern in the Island of Ceylon, and remain there until you have fashioned a diamond more pure and brilliant than any that has ever rested on the brow of mortal or Elf.”
Little Butterfly bowed in silence and withdrew. As soon as she was outside the greenmound in which the Fairy Queen held her Court, she burst into a passionate flood of tears.
“I shall have to watch that diamond for months and months and years and years,” sobbed she, “and every day I must turn it over with my wand so that the crystals will form evenly! Oh, it is an endless labour to make a diamond! Oh, I am a most wretched Fairy!”
So she sat, and sobbed, and murmured for several minutes. Then she jumped up and stamped her little feet on the ground so furiously that the blue-eyed grasses trembled.
“I won’t bear it!” she exclaimed. “I’ll run away to the Fairies of the Air. I am sure they will be so pleased with my beauty that they will feed me, and I shall never need to work again! As for the diamond, why, it is just impossible for a little Fairy like me to make it!”
Then she peeped into a fountain to admire herself, and saw, alas! that the splendid green of her wings had faded, and the silver spots were dim. For, if Fairies have naughty thoughts, their wings always droop and their beauty fades. At this sight, little Butterfly wept aloud with vexation and shame.
“I suppose the old tyrant, our Queen, thinks that now I am so ugly, I’ll hide myself in the Green Cavern in the Island of Ceylon! But I’ll let her see that I do not care about her!” And,alas! as Butterfly spoke thus, the silver spots disappeared entirely, and her wings became a dirty brown.
Trembling with anger, the little one waved her wand, and called:—
“Hummingbird! Hummingbird!Come nigh! Come nigh!And carry me offTo the far Blue Sky!”
“Hummingbird! Hummingbird!Come nigh! Come nigh!And carry me offTo the far Blue Sky!”
“Hummingbird! Hummingbird!
Come nigh! Come nigh!
And carry me off
To the far Blue Sky!”
In an instant a tiny hummingbird, shining like a jewel, alighted at her feet. She sprang on his back, and away they flew to the golden clouds in the West where the Queen of the Air Fairies held her Court. And when the Queen and all her Fairies saw Butterfly’s dirty brown wings, they waved their wands and vanished. And little Butterfly was left alone in the Palace of the Air.
But such a beautiful palace as it was! The clouds hung around it like transparent curtains of opal. The floor was paved with a rainbow. Thousands of gorgeous birds fluttered in the sunlight, and a multitude of voices filled the place with sweet sounds. Butterfly, fatigued by her flight through the sky and lulled by the voices, lay down on a rosy cloud, and fell into a gentle slumber.
When she awoke, she saw that a tiny bird, smaller than the hummingbird, was building a nest beside her. Straw after straw, shred aftershred, the patient little creature brought in her bill and wove together. And then she flew away over hills and fields to find soft down with which to line the nest.
“She is a foolish thing!” murmured Butterfly. “How hard she works, and I don’t believe that she will finish it after all!”
But soon the bird came back with her bill full of down, and lined the soft warm nest so that it was fit for a Fairy to sleep in. Butterfly peeped into it, and exclaimed, “Oh, what a pretty thing!”
Immediately she heard the tinkling of a lute, and a clear voice singing:—
“Bit by bit the bird builds her nest!”
She started up, and the Queen of the Air Fairies stood before her, clad in a robe of azure gossamer, embroidered with rainbow lights.
“Foolish Butterfly,” said she, “we allow no idlers here. Obey your Queen, and go at once to the Green Cavern in the Island of Ceylon. Time and patience will accomplish all things. Go and make your diamond, and then you shall be welcome here.” Butterfly tried to tell her how very hard it was to make a diamond, but the Queen of the Air Fairies flew away, touching her lute, and singing:—
“Bit by bit the bird builds her nest!”
Butterfly leaned her head upon her hands for a minute. She began to be ashamed of being so lazy, but she did not yet wish to go to the lonely Green Cavern, and work hard. So she waved her wand, and called again:—
“Hummingbird! Hummingbird!Come nigh! Come nigh!And carry me backThrough the clear Blue Sky!”
“Hummingbird! Hummingbird!Come nigh! Come nigh!And carry me backThrough the clear Blue Sky!”
“Hummingbird! Hummingbird!
Come nigh! Come nigh!
And carry me back
Through the clear Blue Sky!”
Immediately the little hummingbird returned, and she sprang on his back. He flew down with her, and she alighted near the green mound inside of which the Fairy Queen held her Court.
Close by the mound Butterfly saw some bees working in a crystal hive. Wearily and sadly she watched them. They left the hive, dipped into flowers, and carried their loads of sweet pollen back to the hive, and there they built their wax combs filled with golden honey. “I wish,” thought she, “that I loved to work as hard as the bees do! But as for that diamond, it is useless to think about it! I should never finish it!”
Just then she heard strains of delightful music coming from the mound, and a chorus of Fairy voices singing:—
“Little by little the bee builds its cell!”
Butterfly could have wept when she heard those familiar voices, for she longed to be with her Fairy sisters dancing hand-in-hand. “I willmake the diamond,” murmured she. “I shall surely get it done sometime! And I can fly home every night and dance in the Fairy Ring, or sleep in the flowers!”
Immediately a joyful strain of music rose on the air, and she heard her sisters’ voices singing:—
“To the Green Cavern haste away!Sleep by night, and work by day!Little by little the gem will grow,Till pure as sunshine it will glow!”
“To the Green Cavern haste away!Sleep by night, and work by day!Little by little the gem will grow,Till pure as sunshine it will glow!”
“To the Green Cavern haste away!
Sleep by night, and work by day!
Little by little the gem will grow,
Till pure as sunshine it will glow!”
Alas! when Butterfly heard this, instead of flying at once to the Green Cavern, she began to think how hard she should have to work, and how many times she must turn the diamond. “I never can do it!” thought she. “I will go to the Queen of the Ocean Fairies. I am sure she will let me live in her Sea-Palace; and I need never work again!”
Mournful notes came from the mound, as Butterfly turned toward the seashore. When she reached the beach, she waved her wand, and called:—
“Nautilus! Nautilus!Come to meAnd carry me throughThe cold green Sea!”
“Nautilus! Nautilus!Come to meAnd carry me throughThe cold green Sea!”
“Nautilus! Nautilus!
Come to me
And carry me through
The cold green Sea!”
Immediately the delicate pearly boat of the nautilus came floating over the Ocean, and a wave landed it at Butterfly’s feet. She stepped in,and down, down, under the waves she went, down to the bed of the Ocean, to a coral grove. And there was the magnificent palace of the Queen of the Ocean Fairies. Its pink coral pillars were twisted into a thousand beautiful forms. Pearls hung in deep festoons from the arches. The fan-coral and the sea-moss were formed into deep, cool bowers. And the hard, sandy floor was covered with many-coloured shells.
But as it had been in the Air, so it was in the Sea! When the Queen of the Ocean Fairies saw Butterfly’s dirty brown wings, she and all her Court waved their wands and disappeared. And Butterfly was left alone in the Sea-Palace.
“How beautiful it is!” cried she. “Giants must have made these coral pillars!” As she spoke her eyes were nearly blinded by a swarm of tiny insects, and she saw them rest on an unfinished coral pillar. While she looked and wondered, she heard a thousand shell-trumpets being blown, and many voices singing:—
“Mite by mite the insect builds the coral bower!”
The sounds drew nearer and nearer, and a hundred Fairies, standing in beautiful shells, came floating through the water. In the largest shell of all was their Queen in a robe of wave-coloured silk spun by the Ocean silkworm. It was as thin as a spider’s web, and the border was gracefully wrought with seed pearls.
“Foolish Butterfly,” said the Queen, “learn to be industrious. We allow no idlers at our Court. Look at the coral pillars of my palace. They were made by these swarms of little creatures. Labour and patience did it all.”
And she waved her wand, and the hundred shells floated away, while all the Fairies sang:—
“Mite by mite the insect builds the coral bower!”
“Well!” said Butterfly, sighing. “All creatures are busy, on the earth, in the air, and under the water. All things seem happy at their work. Perhaps I can learn to be so, too. I will make the diamond. And it shall be as pure and brilliant as a sunbeam in a water-drop!”
So Butterfly sought the Green Cavern in the Island of Ceylon. Day by day she worked as busily as the coral insects. She grew cheerful and happy. Her wings once more became a splendid green, and the silver spots were so bright that they seemed like sparks of fire. Never had she been so beautiful, never so much loved by the little birds and flowers.
After seven years had passed by, Butterfly knelt at the feet of her Queen and offered her diamond. It gave light like a star, and the whole Fairy Mound shone with its rays. And to this day the Fairies call it “Butterfly’s Diamond.”
Lydia Maria Child(Adapted)