fairy eagerly.

"A boy!" they all cried in consternation. And Seseley added:

"Why--you're a GIRL fairy, aren't you?"

"Well--yes; I suppose I am," answered the beautiful creature, smiling;
"but as you are going to change me anyway, I may as well become a boy
as a girl."

"Better!" declared Helda, clapping her hands; "for then you can do as
you please."

"But would it be right?" asked Seseley, with hesitation.

"Why not?" retorted the fairy. "I can see nothing wrong in being a
boy. Make me a tall, slender youth, with waving brown hair and dark
eyes. Then I shall be as unlike my own self as possible, and the
adventure will be all the more interesting. Yes; I like the idea of
being a boy very much indeed."

"But I don't know how to transform you; some one will have to show me
the way to do it," protested Seseley, who was getting worried over the
task set her.

"Oh, that will be easy enough," returned the little immortal. "Have
you a wand?"

"No."

"Then I'll loan you mine, for I shall not need it. And you must wave
it over my head three times and say: 'By my mortal powers I transform
you into a boy for the space of one year'."

"One year! Isn't that too long?"

"It's a very short time to one who has lived thousands of years as a
fairy."

"That is true," answered the baron's daughter.

"Now, I'll begin by doing a little transforming myself," said the
fairy, getting upon her feet again, "and you can watch and see how I do
it." She brushed a bit of moss from her gauzy skirts and continued:
"If I'm to become a boy I shall need a horse, you know. A handsome,
prancing steed, very fleet of foot."

A moment she stood motionless, as if listening. Then she uttered a low
but shrill whistle.

The three girls, filled with eager interest, watched her intently.

Presently a trampling of footsteps was heard through the brushwood, and
a beautiful deer burst from the forest and fearlessly ran to the fairy.
Without hesitation she waved her wand above the deer's head and
exclaimed:

"By all my fairy powers I command you to become a war-horse for the
period of one year."

Instantly the deer disappeared, and in its place was a handsome
charger, milk-white in color, with flowing mane and tail. Upon its
back was a saddle sparkling with brilliant gems sewn upon fine dressed
leather.

The girls uttered cries of astonishment and delight, and the fairy said:

"You see, these transformations are not at all d