Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-04-25
The Queen Of the Fairies.

Inc late duchess Oh TOruOu, says an
English paper, taking an airing alone
in her carriage, in remote part of the
Scottish highlands, observed at some
distance from the road neat. cottage
surrounded by o garden. Her grace
pulled the check. string, and asked the
servants to go around with the carriage
to where she desired them to stop,
while she crossed the moor to pay the
cottage visit. The duchess happened
to wear pelisse trimmed with gold
lace, and her hat was ornamented with
golden spangles. A girl about twelve
years old, the only person in the cot
tage, was spinning at the wheel and
singing a merry strain. AS soon as her
eyes caught the figure of the duchess
approaching, the green dress, the shin
ing appearance of the hat, on which the
sun shone, the singularity of such Wis.,
liant in so lonely a situation, all so
worked on the imagination Of the little
girl that she verify believed the queen
or the fairies had come to reveal to her
some fearful mystery of fate. In great
terror she escaped to O back closet,
where, through a small aperture, she
could see without being seen. The
supposed fairy queen entered, sur
veyed the apartment with O curious
eye, and then seeing the wheel, be-
thought herself of trying to spin. She
gave the wheel several turns, but could
not make q tolerable thread, though she
twisted up all the carded wool she
could find. AS some compensation for
any injury her awkwardness might
have occasioned, her grace tied a crown
piece in handkerchief that lay upon
the table, fixed it to o spoke of the
wheel, and departed. The girl could
not summon courage to venture from
her hiding-place before her father and
sister came in, nor till some time after
could they extract from her an expla-
nation of the extraordinary state of per-
turbation in which they found her.
Their surprise was scarcely less than
hers when they were informed that
somebody who could be no other than
the queen of the fairies, for she was all
in green and gold, and shining bright
as the sun, had come into the house,
and seeing no one there. had fallen to
bewitching the wheel which, as sure
as fairies were fairies, would never 60
again.
"And see," continued the young en-
thusiast, pointing to the handkerchief
tied to the spoke, something which
she had left"
The father united the handkerchief,
and the sight OF the sterling piece of
coin which it contained soon dispelled
from his mind all suspicion as to the
terrestrial attributes of the lady who
had been honoring his cottage with O
visit. The women of the cottage, how
ever were of very different opinion.
With them the lady could be no
other than the fairy queen, who must
doubtless have come to tell poor Isabel
her fortune the spoiled thread was q
sign that the first days of her life
would be marked with disappointment
and sorrow, and the crown piece tied
in handkerchief to the spoke of the
wheel betokened that she would in the
end arrive by honest industry to wealth
and comfort. Harmless delusion 1t
lasted but for day. Sunday came,
and the appearance of the queen OF
the fairies, in the same dress at church
as the duchess of the manor, convinced
even Isabel that she had been deceived.