had told me this
time yesterday morning that I should be offered a knapsack full of
money, and should refuse it, I could not possibly have believed them!"

THE FAIRY WHO JUDGED HER NEIGHBORS

There was once a Fairy who was a good Fairy, on the whole, but she had
one very bad habit; she was too fond of finding fault with other people,
and of taking for granted that everything must be wrong if it did not
appear right to her.

One day, when she had been talking very unkindly of some friends of
hers, her mother said to her: "My child, I think if you knew a little
more of the world, you would become more charitable. I would therefore
advise you to set out on your travels; you will find plenty of food, for
the cowslips are now in bloom, and they contain excellent honey. I need
not be anxious about your lodging, for there is no place more delightful
for sleeping in than an empty robin's nest when the young have flown.
And if you want a new gown, you can sew two tulip leaves together, which
will make you a very becoming dress, and one that I should be proud to
see you in."

The young Fairy was pleased at this permission to set out on her
travels; so she kissed her mother, and bade good-by to her nurse, who
gave her a little ball of spiders' threads to sew with, and a beautiful
little box, made of the egg-shell of a wren, to keep her best thimble
in, and took leave of her, wishing her safe home again.

The young Fairy then flew away till she came to a large meadow, with a
clear river flowing on one side of it, and some tall oak-trees on the
other. She sat down on a high branch in one of these oaks, and, after
her long flight, was thinking of a nap, when, happening to look down at
her little feet, she observed that her shoes were growing shabby and
faded. "Quite a disgrace, I declare," said she. "I must look for another
pair. Perhaps two of the smallest flowers of that snapdragon which I see
growing in the hedge would fit me. I think I should like a pair of
yellow slippers." So she flew down, and, after a little trouble, she
found two flowers which fitted her very neatly, and she was just going
to return to the oak-tree, when she heard a deep sigh beneath her, and,
peeping out from her place among the hawthorn blossoms, she saw a fine
young Lark sitting in the long grass, and looking the picture of misery.

"What is the matter with you, cousin?" asked the Fairy.

"Oh, I am so unhappy," replied the poor Lark; "I wa