l never be able to reach it! Never, never,
never!" Susie looked around, and what should she see but a nice, little
old lady, trying to break off a stem of goldenrod.

"Oh, dear me suz-dud!" cried the old lady again, and then Susie saw that
she was very little indeed, hardly larger than a ten-cent plate of ice
cream after it's all melted. So she couldn't reach the goldenrod, she
was so little.

"What is the matter?" asked Susie very politely. "Can I help you?"

"Thank you, my dear child," went on the little old lady. "If you would
be so kind as to reach me down a stem of goldenrod, I would be very much
obliged to you."

"What do you want with it?" asked Susie, wondering who the little old
lady could possibly be.

"Why, I want it for a fairy wand," she answered. "I have lost mine."

"Are you a fairy, too?" asked the little rabbit girl, and she began to
wonder what would happen next as she broke off a stem for the old lady.

"Indeed I am," replied the little old lady. "I am a fairy godmother. I
have charge of all the other fairies, the blue fairy and the red fairy
and the green fairy, and all the other colors, including the fairy
prince, who used to be a mud turtle."

"But, if you are a fairy," asked Susie, "why couldn't you make that
goldenrod come down to you, when you weren't tall enough to reach up to
it?"

"Hush!" exclaimed the fairy godmother, for she really was one, as you
shall see. "Hush, my dear child! It's a great secret. Don't tell any
one," and she put her right hand over her mouth and her left hand over
her ear, and held the goldenrod under her arm. "You see, I lost my magic
wand," she went on, "and I couldn't do any more magic until I got a new
one. Now I am all right, and to reward you you may come with me."

"But I have to get home with the bread and sugar and yeast cake," said
Susie.

"No," spoke the fairy godmother, "you will not need to be in a hurry.
Besides, what I will show you will happen in an instant, and you will
get home in time after all."

So she waved the goldenrod in the air, and once more the silver trumpet
sounded: "Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta-ra!" and, all of a sudden, Susie found herself
lifted up, and there she and the fairy godmother were sailing right
through the air on a big burdock leaf. At first Susie was afraid, but
she soon got over her fright and enjoyed the ride.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"We are going to where the fairies live," answered the little old woman,
but