76 FINDING FERNS TO TRANSPLANT 
have often found these ferns as well grown ten or 
twelve days earlier.” 
I was thinking it time to go home, when Mr. 
Percy said that, as long as we were out for ferns 
to-day, we might try to find the lady-fern and take 
it along with us. There was still room in the bas- 
ket, although its heaviness had increased. 
“The lady-fern.!” I exclaimed. “Is it one that 
ladies like especially?” 
“Well, perhaps not the ladies of to-day,” Mr. 
Percy answered, “because they have learned to like 
so many kinds of ferns. The truth is that the fern 
itself is a lady. In ancient times, it was called 
female fern, which has not so poetic a sound. The 
folk of long ago believed that the seeds it bore 
could make people invisible. Imagine,” Mr. Percy 
continued, “how amusing it would be if I should 
put some of this mystic seed in my shoes, or in my 
pockets. You would still hear me walking about 
and talking, but you would not be able to see me. 
I might drop in at the Six Spruces at any time of 
the day and find out all your secrets.” 
“That, of course, is a fairy tale,” said Joseph, 
who is something of an authority about sprites and 
witches. 
“It may be that now,” Mr. Percy answered, “but 
truly, in the days when it was called female fern, 
it was believed to have this and many other curious 
powers.” 
“I hope we are going to find it,” I said. 
