icult to know much about the fairies, and almost
the only thing known for certain is that there are fairies wherever
there are children. Long ago children were forbidden the Gardens, and
at that time there was not a fairy in the place; then the children were
admitted, and the fairies came trooping in that very evening. They
can't resist following the children, but you seldom see them, partly
because they live in the daytime behind the railings, where you are not
allowed to go, and also partly because they are so cunning. They are
not a bit cunning after Lock-out, but until Lock-out, my word!

[Illustration: They are so cunning]

[Illustration: When they think you are not looking they skip along
pretty lively (missing from book)]

When you were a bird you knew the fairies pretty well, and you remember
a good deal about them in your babyhood, which it is a great pity you
can't write down, for gradually you forget, and I have heard of
children who declared that they had never once seen a fairy. Very
likely if they said this in the Kensington Gardens, they were standing
looking at a fairy all the time. The reason they were cheated was that
she pretended to be something else. This is one of their best tricks.
They usually pretend to be flowers, because the court sits in the
Fairies' Basin, and there are so many flowers there, and all along the
Baby Walk, that a flower is the thing least likely to attract
attention. They dress exactly like flowers, and change with the
seasons, putting on white when lilies are in and blue for bluebells,
and so on. They like crocus and hyacinth time best of all, as they are
partial to a bit of colour, but tulips (except white ones, which are
the fairy cradles) they consider garish, and they sometimes put off
dressing like tulips for days, so that the beginning of the tulip weeks
is almost the best time to catch them.

When they think you are not looking they skip along pretty lively, but
if you look, and they fear there is no time to hide, they stand quite
still pretending to be flowers. Then, after you have passed without
knowing that they were fairies, they rush home and tell their mothers
they have had such an adventure. The Fairy Basin, you remember, is all
covered with ground-ivy (from which they make their castor-oil), with
flowers growing in it here and there. Most of them really are flowers,
but some of them are fairies. You never can be sure of them, but a
good plan is