Fairies I Have Met

LITTLE Agatha lived in the days when castles were as common in the land as cottages are now, and when there were plenty of magicians always ready to help people out of difficulties.

One of the castles was Agatha's home. It stood on a hill and was surrounded by a dark wood. Agatha was a lonely little girl: she had no sisters or brothers to play with. She used to stand at the narrow window in the castle tower and look out into the wood, and long to run about with other little girls. If you had seen her you would have thought her a very funny figure in her long gown reaching nearly to the ground, and a close cap over her curls.

In the evening Agatha could see very little when she stood at the window, but still she stood there and looked at the dark wood. It was then that the nightingale, the Bird of Shadows, sang to her; and this was what she liked better than anything else. She thought the nightingale's voice was lovely to hear, and she wondered why it was so sad.

Evening after evening the lonely little girl looked out through the tower window listening to the nightingale, till she felt that he was her friend. Sometimes she spoke to him.