THE FAIRIES ’ PRISONER 
359 
His case was soon stated. Of course, the 
Queen was horrified at his deed, for she looked 
upon any wanton cruelty to birds or animals 
as a crime, and Robin soon saw it would go 
hard with him. It was no use giving her the 
flimsy excuse that other boys did it. 
“ Fairies/ 5 said the Queen, “ I have con- 
sidered this bad boy's case, and I have 
decided we shall keep him a prisoner here in 
our woods and make him work for us. 55 
A little buzz of talk and certain looks among 
the fairies seemed to denote satisfaction with 
these words. 
But Robin cried out : “ For how long ? ” 
“ Silence ! ” said the Queen, and at once 
added : “ Until you have finished the work 
I shall give you. For some time I have thought 
of giving you fairies a swimming-pool/’ con- 
tinued the Queen. Upon hearing this two 
fairies clapped their hands. “ As things 
are now, it is not safe for us to bathe either 
in the creek or in the lake. This boy shall 
build us a proper bath with his own hands. 
Come with me.” 
Descending from the throne, she flew out 
cf the cave, and all the fairies flew after her, 
guiding Robin, who was still harnessed with 
the wild vine. The Queen stopped when 
she came to a place where the waters of the 
creek ran, swift and crystal-clear, over pure 
white sand. All around the side maidenhair 
fern and blue and yellow flags were growing. 
“ This is the spot I have chosen/’ said the 
Queen. “ The prisoner will first have to 
build a dam. Of course, he won’t do it nearly 
as well as our old friend, the Beaver, but I 
cannot disturb him just now, for he is very 
busy building his house.” 
The Queen showed Robin where to find clay 
and the prettiest pebbles for lining the swim- 
ming bath, and, after warning him that she 
was very particular about the work, flew 
back to the palace, accompanied by most of 
the fairies. Only half-a-dozen remained for a 
short time to look after the prisoner. 
“ Where is the old Beaver ? ” was the first 
question Robin asked after the Queen had gone. 
“ About five fairy miles down the creek,” 
replied Fleetwing. 
“ And how much is a fairy mile ? ” sa d he. 
“ Ten of your largest steps make a fairy 
mile,” said Goldheart. 
“ Oh, that is easy,” declared Robin. “ Then 
the Beaver is fifty paces down the creek.” 
And at once he started off to find him. 
Sure enough, the old Beaver was hard at 
work building his house with branches and 
twigs and mud. How vigorously he thumped 
the moist cla^ down with his big tail ! 
“ Oh, if I only had a tail like that!” said 
Robin. 
He spent a whole day taking lessons from 
the Beaver, and then went back to work on 
the swi mmi ng-pool . 
After he had made the dam across the 
creek, diverting the water into another 
channel, he dug out his basin to the proper 
size and lined it thickly with clay. Then he 
began to collect his pebbles, but when he 
had enough to begin on the bottom of the 
pool he found the clay had already dried 
and the work would have to be done over 
again. 'Phis was a great disappointment, and 
meant another day in the wood. 
That evening Robin worked long after the 
moon had risen, collecting his pebbles and 
placing them in little heaps, keeping all those 
of one colour together. Tired out at last, he 
lay down on the bank and slept soundly till 
shortly before sunrise, when all the birds, 
carolling joyously, seemed to him to be 
calling, “ Wake, Robin ! Wake, Robin ! ” 
Up jumped Robin, and was soon hard at 
work again on the swimming-pool. 
Every morning and evening one of the 
fairies brought him nuts and berries, and 
Goldheart made him a little cap from the 
broad leaves of the May-apple to protect 
him from the heat of the sun. 
Often Goldheart would perch upon a twig 
or flower and talk to him while he worked. 
She was Robin’s favourite fairy. When he 
found that she was quite willing to chat as 
long as he was busy with his hands, he had 
many questions to ask her. 
“ Please tell me something about fairies,” 
he begged one day. 
“ What shall T tell you ? ” asked Goldheart. 
£t If you know anything about fairies there is 
nothing to tell, and if you don’t know any- 
thing there is so much that I don’t know where 
to begin.” 
“ I don’t know anything,” said Robin. 
“ Begin at the beginning. What are your 
favourite flowers ? ” 
“ The fairies’ favourites are the columbine, 
wake-robin, iris, honeysuckle, and brier-rose. 
The last two we like for the sweet smell. 
Fairies who are good swimmers love to float 
on water-lilies, but \ am afraid to. The 
iris and columbine are liked particularly well, 
because they make such good cradles for the 
fairy babies.” 
u Do you like garden flowers, Goldheart ? ” 
“ Garden flowers ? It is but seldom a fairy 
will venture beyond her own woods, but a 
hedge of sweet-peas in bloom will tempt us 
more than anything else. And sometimes we 
