128 



Gold Beatity. 



to eating she again began to take a little 

 comfort in life. Once more the garden 

 seemed attractive, and, although the high- 

 flyers had ceased to call forth her old, rap- 

 turous admiration, the low-flyers still re- 

 mained as beautiful as ever, and she never 

 wearied of watching their graceful flights 

 or of seeing them hover over the flowers, 

 whose bright hues they rivalled, and drink 

 the delicious nectar upon which they ex- 

 isted. In those days Gold Beauty had no 

 trouble in choosing between the high-flyers 

 and low-flyers, for the latter had become 

 her favorites, and their brilliant presence 

 gave the garden its most delightful charm. 

 But just when Gold Beauty had quite 

 grown up, and expected to spend the rest 

 of her days in peace, fate held a calamity 

 in store for her, more dreadful than any 

 she had ever dreamed of. 



The wicked fairy who made it her busi- 

 ness to wander around the garden and 

 blight the flowers with mildew, and blast 

 the young buds, and scatter the blossoms 

 to the wind, and kill the fruit, and even 

 sometimes quiet the voice of the little 

 brook, found Gold Beauty out and put her 

 fateful spell upon her. Then began such 

 a time of woe that it is a wonder that poor 

 Gold Beauty ever survived it; for while 

 she knew that the fairy had cast the spell 

 upon her, she was quite powerless to undo 

 it, and could only go on yielding more and 

 more to her wicked charm. This produced 

 such mental anguish that one would have 

 thought the fairy would have had some 

 pity. But she only kept on her cruel work 

 until she had her victim firmly sealed up in 

 one of those gray towers, and no one knows 

 what other mischief she might not have 

 done had not her power ceased there. 

 But even this hard-hearted fairy could do 

 no more than confine her in the tower 

 and leave her there, for there her power 

 ceased. 



Poor Gold Beauty! behold her now, 

 stripped of the beautiful green robe with 



its golden spots, and clothed in a shapeless 

 garment of dingy gray. Shut out from 

 the old garden with its sunlight and fra- 

 grance, and confined in a gloomy prison 

 whose thick walls no ray of light might 

 pierce. 



All her bright companions still wandered 

 free and happy through the fair summer 

 days, the flowers still smiled in beauty, and 

 the little brook still sang its careless song, 

 but she saw nothing, heard nothing of all 

 the glad life around her. Ah! who would 

 not pity Gold Beauty now? 



And still she did not hear when Summer 

 gathered all her gay children in her arms 

 and bade the old garden farewell; when 

 Autumn came with her gold and sunset 

 treasures and scattered largess over the 

 land, or when Winter sent his frosts and 

 snow and covered the earth with dazzling 

 beauty. Very dark days were those for 

 Gold Beauty. 



But the wicked fairy could not have her 

 own way forever, although she kept Gold 

 Beauty in her prison for many weary 

 months. For one day a beautful spirit 

 came flying into the garden, and went tra- 

 veling around to see what the wicked fairy 

 had been about, for she knew her very 

 well, and did not doubt she had been up to 

 some mischief. 



How indignant the spirit became as she 

 flew from one gray tower to another, and 

 found each one occupied by some poor 

 prisoner. Her first thought was to set 

 them free, and she would have liked noth- 

 ing better than to bring an army of her 

 soldiers and tear all the gray towers down 

 at once. 



But this she could not do, for as the 

 wicked fairy had used magic to confine the 

 prisoners, the spirit must also use magic to 

 set them free, and she set about this so 

 cleverly that no one suspected what she 

 was about until the poor captives were 

 nearly all delivered. 



She began with those who had been con- 



