36 



to rest on one of thum, it is doubtful wlicthcr we 

 would recognize him, so different is the guise of 

 these real fairies from those invented creatures of 

 the books. Once, when a mere boy, I caught one 

 of the little imps at work, and watched her for 

 several minutes without dreaming that I had 

 been looking at a real fairy all this time. What 

 did I see? I was sitting in a clearing, partly in 

 the shade of a sapling growth of oak which 

 sprang from the trunk 

 of a felled tree. While 

 thus half reclining I 

 noticed a diminutive, 

 ,^^M black, wasp -like insect 



upon one of the oak leaves 

 close to my face. 

 The insect seemed almost stationary, 

 and not inclined to resent my intru- 

 sion, so I observed her closely. I soon discovered 

 that she was inserting her sting into the midstem 

 of the leaf, or perhaps withdrawing it therefrom, 

 for in a few moments the midge flew away. I 

 remember wondering what the insect was trying 

 to do, and not until years later did I realize that 

 I had been witnessing the secret arts of the ma- 

 gician of the insect world — a very Puck or Ariel, 

 as I have said — a fairy with a magic wand which 

 any sprite in elfindom might covet. 



The wand of Herrmann never wrought such a 



