St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1897-11-26
THE LAST OF THE FAIRIES.
Poor Little Oriane's Sad Fate.

cisco Argonaut)
One day the fairy Oriane, who was M
bigger than the nail of your little finger
was returning in carriage made of ;
walnut shell and drawn by four lady
bugs to the forest of Broceliande, wher
she had always lived with the othe
fairies. She was returning from tn
baptism OF three robin redbreasts, whicl
had been celebrated in crack in a wal
all overgrown with honey-suckles. Tn
festivities in the nest under the leaves hat
been very pleasant. The pretty cries o
the new born birds, futtering their pnl
little wings, scarce covered with down
gave promise that the fairy's god-chil
dren would one day be excellent singers
Oraine was therefore in a very goot
humor, and, as happiness makes ont
good, she rendered services as she went
along to all the creatures she met, slip
ping bouquets of wild roses into the has
kets of the children as the trudged tc
school, breathing on the buds of elegan
tine to help them bloom, and putting
blades of grass over the dewdrops in the
roses for fear that the little spiders would
be drowned in crossing them. Two
lovers, a peasant girl and boy. were
walking arm in arm in field where the
green wheat barely came up to their
ankles; she made the wheat grow and
ripen in order that their love making
might not be seen from the road. And
as in doing the good deeds that JOY sug-
gests, one becomes more happy still, the
fairy Oriane was so delighted with her
sell that if she had not been afraid of over.
turning her Trail carriage she would have
begun to dance in the nutshell
But presently her happiness vanished.
What had happened? She was quite
sure that she had followed the right road,
but, where formerly the forests OF Broce-
liande had waved the enchanted mystic
ries of their deep foliage in the breeze,
there was nothing but vast plain, with
gaunt, unsightly houses on it under sky
sullied with grimy smoke.
Whittier have you gone, o green and
golden spaces in which we used to dance
by the light of the stars, you thickets OF
wild rose and hawthorn, you grottoes
where sleep smiled upon messy banks
amid music and perfumes, and you sub
terranean palaces, with crystal walls on
which shone the myriad lusters OF living
gems? Whittier have yougone, Urgande,
Urgele, Aloine, Vlviane and Holda the
pagan, and Melusine the charmer. and
you, Melandre, and Ariel, and Nab, and
Titania ?"
poor Oriane, it is in vain that you
call upon them" said lizard stopping
in its fight among the stones. "Hordes
OF men have invaded these dear solitudes;
in order to put up houses and to open
a way for terrible machines breathing
forth smoke and flames, they have cut
down the trees, burned the rose thickets,
filled up your grottoes with stones, and
all the fairies have bten killed. | saw
Habonde, trying to escape, die with
little cry under the foot of passerby
like crushed grasshopper."
On this, Oriane began to cry bitterly
over the late OF her beloved companions
and over her own destiny as well, for
truly it was very melancholy thing to
be the only fairy lett in the world. What
should she do? Where should she hide
herself? Who would defend her against
the fury of wicked men? The first idea
that came into her head was TO fly, to
stay no longer in this sad place where her
sister-tairies had persisted. But she could
not travel by coach, as was her custom.
The four lady-hugs to whom she had al
ways been so kind, had heard the dis
course OF the lizard, and had run away
with the ingiatitude of their kind. 1t
was a very hard blow for the unhappy
Oriane-the more so as she detested
nothing more than walking on foot.
She resigned herself to her tate. how
ever, and set out with Tagging steps
among the grasses that were higher than
herself. She had determined to return to
the nest OF the robin rcdbreasts in he
flower grown wall The father and the
mother of her god-children could not fail
to make her welcome. Their nest would
be an asylum tor her until the autumn,
at least. With such very little legs one
does not travel quickly, as one does even
in walnut shell, borne bycreatures that
fly. Three long days passed before she
came in sight of the flower covered wall,
and you can imagine how tired she was
But at last she was going to be able to
rest.
ut is ~ she cried, as she approached
the wall. 1T is |, the lalry.godmother
Come and take me in on your wings,
good birds, and carry me into your
messy home"
There was no response. not even the
little head of a redbreast peering out be-
tween the leaves to see who was there,
and opening wide her eyes Oriane saw
that, in the place where the nest had been,
there was fastened in the wall piece of
white porcelain on which was tied tee-
graph wire.
AS she was going away. not knowing
what was to become OF her, she met a
woman with basket full ofcorn in her
arms, who was opening the door OF a
farmhouse to enter it.
"Oh. madam, said she, "if YOU will keep
me with you and protect me, YOU will
have no reason TO repent it. Fairies, like
the elves, understand better than any.
body how ts separate the chaff from the
corn. Truly you will have in me SER
want who will be very useful o you and
who will save you much trouble"
The woman did not hear or pretended
not to hear her. She pushed the door
open and thr. W the contents OF her bas-
ket into the hopper of machine which
cleaned the corn without the need of any
elves or fairies.
A little further on, Oriane met on the
banks OF liver a grnupo men who were
standing about enormous bales OF goods,
and near the bank there was ship. She
thought to herself that these men did not
know how to 60 about getting their
goods on board.
Gentlemen" said she. IF you will keep
me with you and protect me. you will
have no reason to repent it. will call
to your aid the strongest gnomes, who
can even jump about with great burdens