The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1898-11-04

II Oii " cl uSttti, liOill Guc ciIGu, iron
every side, sprang innumerable beings
tiny sprites, clashing little silver Gym
balls and blowing their horns OF ElfIand
When they had sung a song of welcome
, tO the earth maiden, forth from theil
midst came the elfin king, with his
magic wand in hand, and stood in front
Of Maggie.
What wouldst thou, O maid OF
earth?" he demanded
Maggie tremhled, for, though of tiny
form, there was a majesty about the
eltin king and a power in his tone.
1.-The boz, o maybc's is very braid,
she answered, coyly; "who has micIle
wad aye hae mair; Id ken. please yc
4 o the year frae noo"
Better lang something than soon
naething," said the little king soberly;
''be a guild friend to yersel, Mistress
Maggie; ask nae mair, but HE We hame >
Maggie, emboldened by what seemed
so human, and withal so kindly, coun-
sci, shook her head soberly.
Il wad ken a. she repeated.
The eliin king looked at her sadly.
BY his magir art he knew 50 well of
all the year ; happenings, and Yet SO
well too how. if only they will use their
godly powers, moItals can thwart and
master fate and evil of whatsoever sort
it be. So, being kindly disposed COB
lin, he tried to lissuade Maggie from
further inquiry, besecchng her to fore
90 the test. and to HE her home and
bide there, letting the years haps and
mishaps care, as he said for their ain
sells.
But Maggie was wilful; nor was she
content, as the king begged her, to
learn Of the years events little by little.
II wad ken a. she said again, with
Il pout, and 4 tramp of her tiny foot;
Il wad hae it a to come wi a rush.
The king frowned.
'''Tis ever so" he sighed; mortal
will is ever stranger than magic worth.
Be it 50, if SO be it must: wiltu' ane
maun gang her ain gait
So speaking, he waved his wand and
at once over poor Maggie came a mag
ical change; from living. breathing
woman she was changed in an instant
into an image of stone; she ceased to
breathe, she ceased to feel; her cyelids,
lifted. never fell, but just as she was
she stayed. The elfin hosts vanished,
the elfn music died away, the clfn
lights faded out; she could not breathe,
or see, or hear; she could only think,
no new thoughts, but all the old and
one btterer than all of the last words
she heard, "a wilfu ane maun gang her
ain gait remembering who, beside the
king of the elfs, had said them, and Il
bold face and wealth of haXen hair.
SO passed the night, while Maggie
stared into the darkness, and the day
broke, and she stared into the light,
and the nights and days came and
went The snow fell, bnt there was no
change. The winter moved away, and
the spring came. The first flowers
the snow drops and crocuses crept up
to Maggie's feet and peered wonder
ingly into her sweet, silent face; the
forest buds hung down from the trees,
and gazed askingly; the birds came up
from the south, and perched near her,
twittering questions.
They were all alike to poor Maggie;
questions many, but answers none.
Through the hot summer it was all the
same, nothing to see, nothing to hear,
nothing to feel, only to think all the
time; to think and to be. Then the
summer winged into the autumn; the
leaves of the oaks and bushes, grown
crisp and sere, iluttered down around
her, seeming to pity her as they fell,
and to say: I'VE waited, and so full
filled oar destiny; why could you not
have waited too, Maggie?'
Thus the year rolled ronnd, and it
was Halloween again. Maggie did
not know it, for I'VE take no note Of
time save hy its flight" When the
clocks in the villages beyond the con-
fines Of the forest were exactly upon
the stroke of twelve, as it had been tie
year before. the dense black night
grew violet, and the violet frightened,
and the eltn throng appeared, and the
music, and the eltin king
He waved his wand and Maggie
woke to lite,-a life of action as for a
whole year it had been only ofthought.
''Iou have had your wish, Mistress
Maggie" he said; ''begone now to your
ain hamc, then to ken a o tie years
happenlngs,-a' to come, as We wad
haze it yersel, a wi a rush"
SO Maggie, her face set homeward,
went back by the path whereby she
came, little recking, poor girl, how a
whole year she had stayed, like statue
of stone, in the heart of Wonderwood.
She went blitheIy through the forest
and out of it, over the sheep pasture,
through the garden, towards the door
Of the dear old mansc She had come
singing gayly thus far, Il feeling of ella
tion within her that. As The Clfin king
had said, at her own home all the
knowledge Of the events Of the year
would come. But, as she ncared the