said, "I advise you never to stretch this unless you want to make
some particular thing of it, for then it will only stretch to the
right size; but if you merely begin to pull it for your own amusement,
it will go on stretching and stretching, and I don't know where it
will stop."

CHAPTER VIII.

A STORY.

In the night she told a story,
In the night and all night through,
While the moon was in her glory,
And the branches dropped with dew.

'Twas my life she told, and round it
Rose the years as from a deep;
In the world's great heart she found it,
Cradled like a child asleep.

In the night I saw her weaving
By the misty moonbeam cold,
All the weft her shuttle cleaving
With a sacred thread of gold.

Ah! she wept me tears of sorrow,
Lulling tears so mystic sweet;
Then she wove my last to-morrow,
And her web lay at my feet.

Of my life she made the story:
I must weep--so soon 'twas told!
But your name did lend it glory,
And your love its thread of gold!

By this time, as the sun had gone down, and none of the moons had
risen, it would have been dark but that each of the rafts was rigged
with a small mast that had a lantern hung to it.

By the light of these lanterns Jack saw crowds of little brown faces;
and presently many rafts had come up to the boat, which was now
swimming very slowly. Every sailor in every raft fastened to the
boat's side a silken thread; then the rafts were rowed to shore, and
the sailors jumped out, and began to tow the boat along.

[Illustration: A STORY.--PAGE 106.]

These crimson threads looked no stronger than the silk that ladies sew
with, yet by means of them the small people drew the boat along
merrily. There were so many of them that they looked like an army as
they marched in the light of the lanterns and torches. Jack thought
they were very happy, though the work was hard, for they shouted and
sang.

The fairy woman looked more beautiful than ever now, and far more
stately. She had on a band of precious stones to bind back her hair,
and they shone so brightly in the night that her features could be
clearly seen.

Jack's little favorite was fast asleep, and the other two fairies had
flown away. He was beginning to feel rather sleepy himself, when he
was roused by the voice of his free lady, who said to him, "Jack,
there is no one listening now, so I will tell you my story. I am the
Fairy Queen!"