Evening star., 1912-09-15
A Midsummer Idyn.
the good fairies living in the stone would
protect them from any danger.

'They sometimes hung coral on their
fruit trees for they thought that the good
fairies would make the apples and peaches
grow and would keep the hail and heavy
rain from hurting the trees Even now
over in Italy some Of the people wear
pieces of coral to keep away all the evil
ghosts and spirits that they believe in.
Did you ever here the story OF Medusa
an old witch. whose hair was made Of
snakes and who turned every one to
stone who looked at herr" asked the
Dream Man.
'Oh. yes" said Bobbie. .'and a big SOL
der named Perseus cut of her head
Yes, that's the story, Bobbie; well,
thousands of years ago the people be-
ieved that this old witch had really
lived, and when Perseus cut her head off
ne put 1t down on some twigs and stones
near the seashore. Now this head turn
ed everything to stone that 1t touched.
and the twies ard leaves We're changed.
Then. as these people thought. sea fai
ries gathered these twigs and carried them
to all parts Of the sea, where they grew
into the little plants that people call
coral
Bobbie thought it was a fine story but
there were ever SO many wonderful
things to see besides corals.
'Oh. look, Mr.. Dream Man, at this
Iunny little lizard, he CRIED
And sure enough there was a lizard
made of a hard white stuff that had little
red ard blue and pink and green lights
In 1t. 1t was crawling over black rock
and looked almost alive.
Way over In Germany a man carved
this little lizard out of a stone called
OPAL" the Dream Man explained. People
used to believe that opals We're made out
of a piece of the rainbow, for they GER
tainly have as many colors. Men find 1t
in rock in ever so many parts of the
world. and most likely you have seen
mother wearing one of them. But lots
Of people think even now that ii is bad
luck to wear opals unless your birthday
comes in October"
Look at this funny little old man."
Bobbie cried. lis he made of opals?"
why, no. Bobbie, for you see there are
no little colored lights in him and he Is
blue. Over in China in city called
Pekins this funny little man was made
out of a blue stone called turquoise. He
is little charm to bring good luck to
people who believe that there are good
fairies in the turquoise. Many years ago
men and women thought that II they
wore turquoise stones and should faii
down the fairies would keep them from
hurting themselves, and instead OF break
ing their legs and arms they would crack
the little turquoise stone. -
What is this pretty yellow stone?'
Bobb!e asked as he wandered on TO the
next case.
THAT is called a beryl. and 1t is found
in the ground like the green stones called
emeralds and the blue sapphires and the
red rubies and many of the bright-colored
stones that are here in the museum
.Did people used to believe that little
fairies lived in It, Mr.. Dream Man!
"No. Bobbie but they thought that II
YOU should throw beryl into poor OF
water and sing a certain song at the
same time little evil spirits would appear
in the water and answer any questions
that YOU should ask them. Sometimes
they used to fill with water bowl that
had the letters Of the alphabet painted
around the edge and hold beryl over
the water by a piece of string. They
would ask a question and swing the
string and spell the answer out as the
stone hit the different letters painted on
the bowl They thought, too. that IL
man were put in prison for stealing and
they were not sure that he really had
done 1t they could find out by giving him
a beryl to hold. If the stone grew so hot
that he couldn't hold it he was put back
in prison.
4 \
Look here at this big purple rock, Mr..
Dream Man." said Bobbie. running to the
end of the room. There was a. big purple
stone about twice as big as Bobbie's head
1t seemed to be made of nur Der OF
small purple stones.
THAT big stone was once In the wall of
a cave down in Brazil and is called an
amethyst" said the Dream Man. You
can imagine, Bobbie. what pretty cave
it was with the walls all made of this
shiny purple amethyst. Such lot OF 1t
has been found that 1t doesn't cost nearly
so much as many Of the other coiored
stones that are put In rings. Years and
years ago the soldiers over In Greece and
kome believed that IL they wore anne
thysts they would win all their battles
kings and princes who thought that