Sandman's Goodnight Stories Part 16

"I suppose so," sighed the Rosebush; "but it is just as I have always said. You never can tell about the quiet, modest ones. Think of the little Windflower having such a story and flying away with the Wind.

My, my! What a world!"

p.u.s.s.y WILLOW'S FURS

[Ill.u.s.tration: p.u.s.s.y Willow's Furs]

Miss p.u.s.s.y Willow put on her furs one day in March and stepped out into the suns.h.i.+ne; but, while the sun was warm, March's breath was cold, so she hugged her furs closer about her and sat on a swaying bough.

It was early and Miss p.u.s.s.y knew it, but what cared she, dressed in her furs; she knew that her silver-gray dress was very much admired, and while she was modest she was not above caring for admiration.

p.u.s.s.y Willow had no trouble until all the spring and summer flowers arrived in their gayly colored gowns and then, though she did not in the least envy them, she did not like to hear the scornful remarks about her furs, and sometimes she wished that under her fur coat she had a pretty colored gown.

"It is really too bad," said one Red Flower. "Poor p.u.s.s.y Willow! I do feel so sorry for her; she wears that fur coat all the year round."

"You know why, my dear, do you not?" asked a tall Blue Flower growing near.

"I suppose she has no other," said the Red Flower.

"I think it is because she has on an old dress," answered tall Blue Flower; "she never takes off that fur coat, you notice, and, of course, these hot days she would if she had a new dress. Don't you think I am right?"

"I should not wonder if you were," was the reply, "but let us ask Mr.

Poppy what he thinks."

"Oh, what is the use of asking him. He is asleep half the time. I do believe he never sees our pretty frocks at all," replied Blue Flower.

"Let us ask Miss Thistle; she sees everything and she may have asked Miss Willow before this why she never takes off her coat; you know Thistle cares nothing for the feelings of others."

Miss Thistle said she did not know, but that she would ask Miss Willow right away, "for why in the world she wears that fur coat all summer I cannot think. She really is the only one around here who does not give attention to her clothes. I think style means more than color," said Miss Thistle, with a toss of her head.

"I can tell you what you wish to know," said Lady Bug, alighting on a bush near the gossips.

"Oh, do, dear Lady Bug!" said Blue Flower. "You travel and know the styles. Now don't you think blue is ever so much better style for summer than any other color?"

"Yes, I do travel," replied Miss Lady Bug, without replying to Blue Flower's question, "and I see the styles, as you said, and that is the reason I can tell you the truth about p.u.s.s.y Willow. She is the only one among you who really is in style."

"In style with that fur on!" said Thistle, all p.r.i.c.kly with anger.

"Why, where have you been, Lady Bug? Up to the North Pole?"

"No," calmly replied Miss Lady Bug. "I have been everywhere that fas.h.i.+onable folks go, and everybody is wearing furs, no matter how hot the weather; and so I tell you again that the only one who is in style is Miss p.u.s.s.y Willow with her silvery fur."

Miss p.u.s.s.y Willow did not let the flowers around her know that she heard what Lady Bug had said, but she felt very happy and no longer did she wish that under her fur she had a dainty colored gown.

She behaved in a modest manner and put on no airs, for did she not know that she was dressed in the latest fas.h.i.+on?

ORIANNA

[Ill.u.s.tration: Orianna]

Bunny White, one night when the Fairies were holding a revel, peeped out of his window to see the frolic, for Bunny and the Fairies were the best of friends because members of Bunny's family had for ages drawn the carriage of the Queen.

But to-night Bunny saw a stranger in the midst of the Fairy group, tiny like the others, but very differently dressed, and the Fairies were all listening to what she had to say, rather than making merry, as was their custom.

"Who can she be?" thought Bunny White, and, being a very inquisitive creature, he ran out of his house and over to the carriage of the Fairy Queen to ask her about the little stranger.

"Oh, that is our dear Orianna, the Indian Fairy," answered the Queen, "and only once in a while does she come to visit us"; and then because Bunny White was so interested the Queen told him all about Orianna.

"You see," said the Queen, "all children are afraid of Indian dreams, so I had to have a Fairy who would make the Indians kind and loving to the 'Pale Face,' as the Indians call the white folk.

"Orianna lives near the Indians in a forest, and when you see a tall tree with an opening at the bottom like the door of a wigwam you may be sure that it is one of Orianna's homes.

"Did you notice her pretty costume?"

Bunny White told the Queen he had not had a very close view of Orianna, so the Queen told him to run over to the Fairies and see the pretty dress she wore.

Orianna wore the dress of an Indian girl, tiny moccasins on her little feet and two tiny black braids, one over each shoulder, but the thing that attracted Bunny White the most was her wings.

They were not at all like those of the other Fairies. Orianna's wings were feathers of an eagle.

Her wand, too, was different, for instead of a wand she carried a tiny silver bow and arrow, the tip of the arrow being of gold.

Bunny ran back to the Queen and told her he thought Orianna the very prettiest of all the Fairies. "But what is it that s.h.i.+nes so on the tip of the arrow?" she asked.

"Oh, that is the love she shoots straight into the hearts of all the Indians," replied the Queen.

"Orianna flies up through her tree house to the tallest branch and shoots her love-tipped arrow straight into the heart of all Indians, and so you see the children need never be afraid any more of dreaming of Indians, for all Indians are good and Orianna is always on the lookout from the top of one of her homes, and that is the reason she so seldom comes to visit us."

Just then Orianna came to bid the Queen good night, and Bunny White ran off to his home, but the next morning he was up bright and early to look for the wigwam trees.

But not one did he find, for the Fairies are very clever, and who ever did find the places where they live; but for all that we know, there are Fairies, and now that Orianna is taking care of the Indians no little boy or girl need ever be afraid of Indian dreams, because the Fairy Queen has given them a Fairy.

OLD NORTH WIND

[Ill.u.s.tration: Old North Wind]

Old North Wind lived away up in the North Pole Land in the winter, and there her children, the Icebergs, grew.

Old North Wind was very proud of her huge children, and when the long, cold winter was at an end she said: "My big, strong children, come with me. We will float away from this land where there is no one to see your beauty and go to the seas where the s.h.i.+ps are sailing.

"Of course, you all cannot go, but I will take the three big brothers because they are the strongest, and show the old South Wind and the Sun we are stronger and mightier than they."