ce. At length he beheld a light breaking through the foliage of
the distant trees, which made him sure that he was on the borders of a
prairie. It was a wide plain, covered with long blue grass, and enameled
with flowers of a thousand lovely tints.

After walking for some time without a path, musing upon the open
country, and enjoying the fragrant breeze, he suddenly came to a ring
worn among the grass and the flowers, as if it had been made by
footsteps moving lightly round and round. But it was strange--so strange
as to cause the White Hawk to pause and gaze long and fixedly upon the
ground--there was no path which led to this flowery circle. There was
not even a crushed leaf nor a broken twig, nor the least trace of a
footstep, approaching or retiring, to be found. He thought he would hide
himself and lie in wait to discover, if he could, what this strange
circle meant.

Presently he heard the faint sounds of music in the air. He looked up in
the direction they came from, and as the magic notes died away he saw a
small object, like a little summer cloud that approaches the earth,
floating down from above. At first it was very small, and seemed as if
it could have been blown away by the first breeze that came along; but
it rapidly grew as he gazed upon it, and the music every moment came
clearer and more sweetly to his ear. As it neared the earth it appeared
as a basket, and it was filled with twelve sisters, of the most lovely
forms and enchanting beauty.

As soon as the basket touched the ground they leaped out, and began
straightway to dance, in the most joyous manner, around the magic ring,
striking, as they did so, a shining ball, which uttered the most
ravishing melodies, and kept time as they danced.

The White Hawk, from his concealment, entranced, gazed upon their
graceful forms and movements. He admired them all, but he was most
pleased with the youngest. He longed to be at her side, to embrace her,
to call her his own; and unable to remain longer a silent admirer, he
rushed out and endeavored to seize this twelfth beauty who so enchanted
him. But the sisters, with the quickness of birds, the moment they
descried the form of a man, leaped back into the basket, and were drawn
up into the sky.

Lamenting his ill-luck, Waupee gazed longingly upon the fairy basket as
it ascended and bore the lovely sisters from his view. "They are gone,"
he said, "and I shall see them no more."

He returned to his solitar