laughter you ever heard.
"It's the fairies," thought Con, "but where are they?"
Where were they? Everywhere. There came another shrill peal oflaughter and up they sprang, all together, from every imaginable corner.There was not a branch of a tree, hardly even a twig, it seemed to Con,on which one was not perched. They poked up their comical faces abovethe clear water of the brook where they must have been hiding, thoughhow he had failed to see them there the boy could not imagine; theystarted up from the ground in such numbers, that Con lifted carefullyfirst one foot and then the other to make sure he was not tramping uponsome of them; they actually swarmed, and Con could not make it out atall. Could they have only just come, or had they been there all thetime, and had something wrong with his eyes prevented his seeing thembefore? No, he couldn't make it out.
Were they like what he had expected to find them? Hardly, at least hewas not sure. Yet they were very pretty; they were as light and brightand agile as--like nothing he could think of. Their faces seemed to bebrimming over with glee; there was not a sad or anxious look among them.They were dressed in every colour of the rainbow, I was going to say,but that would not be true, for there were no _brilliant_ colours amongthem. In every shade that you see in the woods in autumn would be morecorrect; the ladies in the soft greens and brown pinks and tenderyellows of the fading leaves, the gentlemen in the olives andrusset-browns and purples which give the deeper tints of autumnfoliage--perhaps this was the reason that Con had not at firstdistinguished them from the leaves and the moss and the tree-roots wherethey had lain hidden?
He stood gazing at them in silence, wondering when they were going toleave off laughing. At last the noise subsided, and one fairy, who hadbeen swinging on a bough just above Con's head, slid down and stoodbefore him.
"Welcome to fairyland, Connemara," he said pompously. He was one of thetallest among them, reaching above Con's waist. His face, like therest, was full of fun, but it had a look of great determination too."My name is Frisken," he continued, "at least that's one of my names,and it will do for you to use as well as any other, though up abovethere they have ever so many names for me. I am an old friend of yours,though you may not know it, and you will find it for your interest toplease me. We've given up kings and queens lately, we find it's betterfun without; but, considering everything, I think I may say my opinionis considered of some importance. Elves, do you agree with me?"
They all raised a shout of approval, and Frisken turned again to Con."Our laws are easy to keep," he said, "you will soon know them. Yourduties are comprised in one word, _Play_, and if ever you attempt to doanything else it will be the worse for you. You interrupted us in themiddle of a dance, by-the-by. Elves, strike up the music."
Then Frisken took Con's right hand, and a lovely little maiden clad inthe palest green, and with flowing yellow hair, took the other, and thefairies made themselves into dozens and dozens of rings, and twirled andwhirled away to the sound of the gayest and most inspiriting music. Conhad never enjoyed himself so much in his life, and the best of it wasthe more he danced the more he wanted to dance; he jumped and whirledand twirled as fast as any (though I have no doubt the _fairies_ thoughthim rather clumsy about it), and yet without the very least feeling offatigue. He felt as if he could have gone on for ever. Suddenly theelves stopped.
"Oh don't stop!" said Con, who was beginning to feel quite at home, "dolet's go on. I am not a bit tired."
"_Tired_," said Frisken, contemptuously, "whoever heard such a word?How can you be so ill-mannered? Besides, mortal though you are, youcertainly should _not_ be tired. Why, you're only just awake, and youslept long enough to last you at any rate for--"
"For how long?" said Con, timidly.
But Frisken did not answer, and Con, who was rather in awe of him,thought it best not to press the enquiry. The fairies did not go ondancing, however. They were fond of variety, evidently, whether theyever got tired or not. They now all "adjourned" to another part of theforest, where a grand banquet was prepared. What the viands were, Conhad no idea, but he little cared, for they were the most delicious hehad ever tasted. He was not a greedy boy by any means, but he did enjoythis feast; everything was so charming; the fairies all reclined oncouches made of the same soft green moss as that on which he had foundhimself lying when he first awoke, and all the time the invisiblemusicians played lovely, gentle music, which, had Con not winkedviolently, would have brought the tears to his eyes, for, somehow, itmade him think of home, and wonder what his mother was doing, andwhether she was in trouble about his absence. It did not seem to affectthe fairies in the same way; they were chattering, and joking, andlaughing, just as merrily as ever; once Con caught Frisken's eye fixedupon him, and almost immediately after, the music stopped, and the gamesbegan. What wonderful games they were! I cannot tell you half of them;one favourite one you may have heard of before--they buried a seed alittle way in the ground, and then danced round it in a circle, singingsome queer wild words which Con could not understand. Then they allstood still and called to Con to look; he could hardly believe hiseyes--there was the seed already a little plant, and even as he looked,it grew, and grew, and grew, up into a great strong tree; and as thebranches rose higher and higher, the fairies caught hold of them androse up with them into the sky, till the tree seemed to be covered withfruits of every shape and colour. Con had not recovered his amazement,when they were all down again, ready for something else. This time,perhaps, it would be the mouse game--a dozen or two of fairies wouldturn themselves into mice, and Frisken and one or two others into cats,and then what a chase they had! It puzzled Con quite as much as theseed game, for he was _sure_ he saw Frisken gobble up two or three mice,and yet--in a moment, there they all were again in their proper fairyforms, not one missing! He wished he could ask Frisken to explain it,but he had not time, for now an expedition to the treasure caves wasproposed, and off they all set, some riding on fairy piebald poniesabout the size of a rocking-horse, some driving in mother-of-pearlchariots drawn by large white cats, some running, some dancing along.And, oh, the treasure caves, when they got there! All the stories Conhad ever heard of--Aladdin, and genii and pirates' buried riches, noneof them came up to these wonderful caves in the least. There were just_heaps_ of precious stones, all cut and polished, and, according tofairy notions, quite ready for wear. For they all helped themselves toas many jewels as they wanted, strung them together on silk, withneedles that pierced them as easily as if they had been berries, andflitted about as long as the fancy lasted, wreathed in diamonds andrubies, and emeralds, and every sort of brilliant stone. And then whenthey had had enough of them, threw them away as ruthlessly as childrencast aside their withered daisy-chains.
And so it went on without intermission; incessant jousts and revels, andbanquets, constant laughter and joking, no pain, no fatigue, no anxiety.For the fairies live entirely and completely in the present, past andfuture have no meaning to their heedless ears, time passes as if it werenot; they have no nights or days, no summer or winter. It is always thesame in fairyland.
But some things puzzled Con sorely. Strangely enough, in this realm ofthoughtlessness, he was beginning to _think_ as well as to fancy, towish to know the whys and wherefores of things, as he had never donebefore. Now and then he tried to question Frisken, who, he feltcertain, knew all he wished to learn, but it was difficult ever to gethim to explain anything. Once, I was very nearly saying _one day_, butthere are no such things there--Con could keep no count of time, hecould have told how many banquets he had been at, how many times theyhad been to the caves, how often they had bathed in the stream, but thatwas all--once, then, when Frisken seemed in a quieter mood than usual,Con tried what he could do.
"Frisken," he said, "why is it that all the oldest looking fairies amongyou are the smallest. Why, there's the old fairy that drives thelargest chariot, he's not above half as big as you? It seems to me theykeep getting smaller and smaller as they get older; why is it?"
> "Of course they do. What else would you have?" said Frisken. "What anowl the boy must be! How can you ask such ill-mannered questions?"
"Do you mean they get smaller and smaller till they die?" said Con.
Frisken sprang to his feet with a sort of yell. It was the first timeCon had seen him put out, but even now he seemed more terrified thanangry. He sat down again, shaking all over.
"I don't know what you mean," he gasped; "we never mention such things."
"But what becomes of you all then--_afterwards_?" said Con, morediscreetly.
Frisken had recovered himself.
"What do you mean by your afters and befores and thens?" he said; "Isn't_now_ enough for you? What becomes of them? why,
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