t I am a fairy now," said the mud turtle to
Jimmie, and Jimmie said he would. He also said he would never stand on his
head again, with a stone tied around his neck, and I'm glad to say he
never did. Now, in case I should see a sky-blue-pink-green rose in blossom
to-morrow I'll tell you a story about Lulu, and how Aunt Lettie did her a
great favor.

STORY XXI

LULU AND AUNT LETTIE

Lulu Wibblewobble was walking in the deep, dark woods, and, what is more,
she was all alone. Yes, and she wasn't afraid. You see, Jimmie had gone
off with the boys in the lots back of the duck pond to play ball, and
Alice had gone shopping with her mamma. Lulu could have gone, too, only
felt she would rather go walking in the woods, so she went.

At first it was very pleasant with the birds singing in the trees, and the
wind blowing through the leaves, and making music, and Lulu liked it very
much. She found some fine eel grass in a little brook, and she was eating
the green stems, and thinking how nice it was, when all at once she heard
a funny noise. It was just like when a great, big door swings on rusty
hinges.

Lulu stopped eating eel grass at once, and she called right out loud:

"My goodness! What's that?"

Then it was all still, and quiet; as quiet, you know, as when a little
mouse walks along, and doesn't want any one to hear him, going after the
crackers and cheese, and maybe the jam tarts, too; who knows? Well, it was
just as still and quiet as it could be, when all of a sudden the noise
came again.

"Oh, dear!" cried Lulu. "I believe I'm going to be frightened. I wish
Jimmie was here!"

But Jimmie, the brave boy duck, was a long way off, playing ball with
Bully, the frog, and his other friends, though he would have come at once
to help his sister if he had known what a dreadful thing was almost going
to happen to her.

Well, as I said, the noise sounded again, and then, when Lulu looked right
at a tree, what should she see but something big and bushy, waving in the
wind.

"Oh, maybe it's Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, and perhaps Sister Sallie is
with them!" she said, aloud, and she didn't feel quite so frightened. Then
that terrible noise came again, and the bushy thing got bigger, and Lulu
saw that it was the tail of a great, big black dog. Oh, such a big black
dog as it was! And he was growling, and that's what made the sound like a
big door creaking on big, rusty hinges.

The dog came out from behind the