psa seemed to be enclosed in a perfect network of the rays of
shooting-stars, and they were both a good deal frightened. Fifty or
sixty shooting-stars, with black eyes that could stare, were enough,
they thought, to frighten anybody.

"If we had anything to sit upon," said Mopsa, "they could carry us
over the pass." She had no sooner spoken than the largest of the bats
bit off one of his own long wings, and laid it at Mopsa's feet. It did
not seem to matter much to him that he had parted with it, for he shot
out another wing directly, just as a comet shoots out a ray of light
sometimes, when it approaches the sun.

Mopsa thanked the shooting fairy, and, taking the wing, began to
stretch it, till it was large enough for her and Jack to sit upon.
Then all the shooting fairies came round it, took its edges in their
mouths, and began to fly away with it over the mountains. They went
slowly, for Jack and Mopsa were heavy, and they flew very low, resting
now and then; but in the course of time they carried the wing over the
pass, and halfway down the other side. Then the sun came up; and the
moment he appeared all their lovely apricot-colored light was gone,
and they only looked like common bats, such as you can see every
evening.

They set down Jack and Mopsa, folded up their long wings, and hung
down their heads.

Mopsa thanked them, and said they had been useful; but still they
looked ashamed, and crept into little corners and crevices of the
rock, to hide.

CHAPTER XIV.

REEDS AND RUSHES.

'Tis merry, 'tis merry in Fairyland,
Where Fairy birds are singing;
When the court doth sit by the monarch's side,
With bit and bridle ringing.

WALTER SCOTT.

There were many fruit-trees on that slope of the mountain, and Jack
and Mopsa, as they came down, gathered some fruit for breakfast, and
did not feel very tired, for the long ride on the wing had rested
them.

They could not see the plain, for a slight blue mist hung over it; but
the sun was hot already, and as they came down they saw a beautiful
bed of high reeds, and thought they would sit awhile and rest in it. A
rill of clear water ran beside the bed, so when they had reached it
they sat down, and began to consider what they should do next.

"Jack," said Mopsa, "did you see anything particular as you came down
with the shooting-stars?"

"No, I saw nothing so interesting as they were," answered Jack. "I was
looking at them and watching