The fairy babies

“Oh! oh! oh!” cried the Ink-Bottle Babies. “It is May-Day! hurrah! hurrah!”

Then they all got up and dressed in a hurry and said, “Oh Ma! may we go to the woods? Oh Pa! may we all go to the woods together?”

Then Mamma and Papa said they might all go to the woods if they would be very careful not to get lost.

The Ink-Bottle Babies each took a cute little basket, and they all went to look for flowers and berries in the woods.

“I wonder if we will meet Red Riding-hood,” said Molly.

“I wonder if we will meet the wolf,” cried Polly.

At that very minute the Ink-Bottle Babies stood still for they heard a voice cry,

There stood a fierce little dwarf stamping his foot at them.

All the Ink-Bottle Babies bowed politely and said, “If you please, Sir, may we gather a few violets and buttercups?”

Then the little dwarf said,

Then Molly and Polly said, “If we each give you a cookie, would you let us gather a few flowers?”

Then the little dwarf came and peeked into each one of the baskets and saw, sure enough, that each Baby had a cookie in the basket.

Then the little dwarf clapped his hands and cried,

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies all put their cookies on a large, flat stone, and the little dwarf filled his pockets and his cap full of them.

Then he made a bow and said,

Then whisk, bound, the little dwarf was gone!

The Ink-Bottle Babies lost no time in picking flowers, you may be sure.

They found violets, daisies, and buttercups, and before they could believe it, it was sundown.

They said, “We do not care what the little dwarf said, we will not hurry home.”

Then they sat down and ate the sandwiches and apples they had brought with them.

Just as the sun was setting Molly cried, “Oh, oh, oh,” and Polly cried, “Oh, oh, oh,” and all the Ink-Bottle Babies cried, “Oh, oh, oh.” What do you suppose was the matter? They all began to sink down, down, down, and it became quite dark!

They sank down until they came to the top of the magic tower, which was built under the sea!

They saw the fishes swim past them and they cried, “Oh, oh, oh, where are we going?”

The roof of the magic tower opened and down the Ink-Bottle Babies went to the very bottom of the tower. They were just beginning to get their breath when the most beautiful princess in the world came and stood before them.

She said,

She saw only Molly at first; then Polly and all the rest of the Babies came tumbling down the staircase.

The princess gathered up an armful of Babies and cried,

The Babies patted the princess’ dress; it was soft and silky. Then they all begged to braid her hair. They had to work days and days to braid all her hair, it was so long and heavy.

“Tell us a story, please,” said the Babies.

And the princess began, “Once upon a time I went into the woods to gather flowers!”

“Just like we did,” shouted all the Ink-Bottle Babies together.

“I was going along humming a little tune, when I saw a fierce little dwarf,” continued the princess.

“Oh, oh, oh,” cried the Babies, “we met him, too! We met him, too!”

“The dwarf talked in rhyme,” said the princess. Then all the Babies nodded their heads.

The princess said, “The dwarf would not let me have any flowers unless I gave him a cookie, and when I did give him a cookie, he said,

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies set up a shout, for those were the very words the little dwarf had said to them.

The princess said, “I was so happy gathering flowers that I forgot what the little dwarf said, and after sundown I began to sink, down and down, until I came to this magic tower.”

The princess shook her head and said, “All the doors and windows are fastened. Besides, we are under the sea.”

The Ink-Bottle Babies looked out of the window, and sure enough, fishes were swimming past.

Suddenly the princess said, “Hush, the little dwarf is coming. Run Babies, and hide, every one of you!”

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies ran upstairs.

Click, click, went the key in the door, and the door opened and the little dwarf came in stamping and scolding.

He came into the room where the princess was, and said,

The princess went to her spinning wheel, and showed the dwarf that she had spun two skeins of thread.

The little dwarf stamped his foot and cried,

Then he looked very cunning indeed, and he opened the door to his storeroom. “There are one thousand bundles of flax,” said he. “You must spin all of this.”

Then he said,

The princess laughed gaily and said,

The little dwarf was so surprised at this answer that he looked cross-eyed, but he did not answer the princess.

Next he drew from his pocket a pitcher and a spoon. Then he went and got a rocking-chair that he had brought with him, and he said,

Then whisk! bound! he was off and away and the princess began to sing softly,

The Ink-Bottle Babies came in dancing and singing for they had heard every word that had been said.

They cried, “We are so glad Ma taught us to spin.”

The Ink-Bottle Babies looked in the garret and they found twenty-five little spinning wheels. They all sat down and began to spin as hard as they could.

Suddenly Molly stopped spinning and Polly stopped spinning and then all the Babies stopped spinning, and they ran to the place where the chair and spoon and pitcher were.

They cried out, “Oh, the magic chair and spoon and pitcher!”

Then the magic chair said, “All jump in and have a ride.”

And the magic spoon said, “I will show you how to spin.”

Then the magic pitcher said, “I will give you a drink of cider.”

They all made merry, you may believe.

In a short time the magic spoon had all the flax spun into thread; then they grew tired and sleepy and went to bed. The next day they had no work to do as the spinning was all done, so they looked all over the tower and peeped into every closet and corner.

At last it was sundown and the little dwarf came as before and found the princess sitting alone by her spinning wheel.

He winked his eye and said,

Then the princess showed him all the thread, and the dwarf was so surprised that he hardly knew what to say. He began to gather up the thread to take away with him, and he said,

Then the magic spoon came in and beat him, and the magic pitcher stood in front of him and poured water on him. Then the magic chair came up behind him and he fell right into it. The chair rocked him out of the window into the deep sea, and he never troubled the princess any more.

Then the chair came back and said, “Get in, every one of you, and I will give you a ride.”

Then they all got in, the magic pitcher and spoon, too, and they rode away, away, away, to the palace where the princess lived. They let the princess out; and then they rode to the home of the Ink-Bottle Babies, and let all the Babies out. The magic chair then rocked away, taking the magic spoon and pitcher with it.