y to lift them hyacinths," said the one man. "Duke's orders,"
replied the other, and, having emptied the cart, they dug up the
boarding-school and put the poor, terrified things in it in five rows.
Of course, neither the governess nor the girls dare let on that they
were fairies, so they were carted far away to a potting-shed, out of
which they escaped in the night without their shoes, but there was a
great row about it among the parents, and the school was ruined.

As for their houses, it is no use looking for them, because they are
the exact opposite of our houses. You can see our houses by day but you
can't see them by dark. Well, you can see their houses by dark, but you
can't see them by day, for they are the colour of night, and I never
heard of anyone yet who could see night in the daytime. This does not
mean that they are black, for night has its colours just as day has,
but ever so much brighter. Their blues and reds and greens are like ours
with a light behind them. The palace is entirely built of many-coloured
glasses, and is quite the loveliest of all royal residences, but the
queen sometimes complains because the common people will peep in to see
what she is doing. They are very inquisitive folk, and press quite hard
against the glass, and that is why their noses are mostly snubby. The
streets are miles long and very twisty, and have paths on each side made
of bright worsted. The birds used to steal the worsted for their nests,
but a policeman has been appointed to hold on at the other end.

One of the great differences between the fairies and us is that they
never do anything useful. When the first baby laughed for the first
time, his laugh broke into a million pieces, and they all went skipping
about. That was the beginning of fairies. They look tremendously busy,
you know, as if they had not a moment to spare, but if you were to ask
them what they are doing, they could not tell you in the least. They are
frightfully ignorant, and everything they do is make-believe. They have
a postman, but he never calls except at Christmas with his little box,
and though they have beautiful schools, nothing is taught in them; the
youngest child being chief person is always elected mistress, and when
she has called the roll, they all go out for a walk and never come back.
It is a very noticeable thing that, in fairy families, the youngest
is always chief person, and usually becomes a prince or princess; and
children reme