The Audubon Societies 



163 



feed about this flower-bordered piazza. Walking to a bed of nasturtiums, I 

 picked a large bouquet, so large indeed, that it was hard to hold all the flowers 

 I had picked in one hand. 



Half kneehng by the bed, with eyes fixed on the unwieldy bouquet, I was 

 suddenly aware of a fairy just above my hand. It was very beautiful and 

 glittered green and many colors in the sunlight. Holding my breath and 

 making never a move, I still felt sure the beating of my heart would frighten 

 this lovely creature away. But no! it sipped honey from the flowers in my 



HUMMER BROODIXG YOUNG 



hand and, most wonderful of all, for a brief moment, alighted on my fore- 

 finger. 



When it darted away with a flash and a whirr, I saw that it was a Humming- 

 bird—but that really made little difference. It had seemed just like a fair>% 

 and I have always felt sure, since then, how fairies feel and how they act. 



Of course, the next impulse was to see if I could not attract the Humming- 

 bird again to my hand. So, walking very softly and slowly around a cedar 

 hedge, I found it resting on a low branch, over a bed of blue larkspur. I cannot 

 tell you how much I wished it would come to me a second-time. Drawing 

 nearer step by step, I stopped at last, never taking my eyes off this elf of a 

 bird. 



And now comes the best part of the story, for, just as in a real fairy-story, 

 one's wishes come true, my wish came true then. The Httle Hummer darted 



