at the idea of stopping in the forest with the beautiful
girls that, after hesitating a little while, he said, "Yes, I will stop
with you, if you are quite sure all will be well with my dear ones."

"You need not be afraid about that," said another of the girls. "We
are fairies, you see, and we can do all sorts of wonderful things. It
isn't even necessary for us to go where your dear ones are. We shall
just wish them everything they want, and they will get it. And the
first thing to be done is to give you some food. You must work for
us in return, of course."

Subha Datta at once replied, "I will do anything you wish."

"Well, begin by sweeping away all the dead leaves from the clearing,
and then we will all sit down and eat together."

Subha Datta was very glad that what he was asked to do was so easy. He
began by cutting a branch from a tree, and with it he swept the floor
of what was to be the dining-room. Then he looked about for the food,
but he could see nothing but a great big pitcher standing in the
shade of a tree, the branches of which hung over the clearing. So
he said to one of the fairies, "Will you show me where the food is,
and exactly where you would like me to set it out?"

At these questions all the fairies began to laugh, and the sound of
their laughter was like the tinkling of a number of bells.

5. What was there to laugh at in the questions of Subha Datta?

6. What is your idea of a fairy?

CHAPTER IV

When the fairies saw how astonished Subha Datta was at the way they
laughed, it made them laugh still more, and they seized each other's
hands again and whirled round and round, laughing all the time.

Poor Subha Datta, who was very tired and hungry, began to get unhappy
and to wish he had gone straight home after all. He stooped down to
pick up his axe, and was just about to turn away with it, when the
fairies stopped their mad whirl and cried to him to stop. So he waited,
and one of them said:

"We don't have to bother about fetching this and fetching that. You
see that big pitcher. Well, we get all our food and everything else
we want out of it. We just have to wish as we put our hands in,
and there it is. It's a magic pitcher--the only one there is in the
whole wide world. You get the food you would like to have first,
and then we'll tell you what we want."

Subha Datta could hardly believe his ears when he heard that. Down he
threw his axe, and hastened to put his hand in the