d the green fairy.

XXVII

SAMMIE AND THE GREEN FAIRY

When Susie told her brother Sammie about what happened to her in the
woods, when she saw the blue fairy, the little rabbit boy remarked:

"Aw, I guess you fell asleep and dreamed that, Susie." for that's the
way with brothers sometimes. I once had a brother, and he--but there,
I'll tell you about him some other time.

"No," answered Susie, "I didn't dream it. Why, here's my ring to prove
it," and she held out the one with the blue stone in it.

"I guess you found that in the woods, where you lost it," went on
Sammie. "I don't believe in fairies at all."

"But didn't one cure Uncle Wiggily's rheumatism?"

"Aw, well, I guess that would have gotten better anyhow."

"It wouldn't, so there!" exclaimed Susie. "I just hope you see a fairy
some day, and I hope they don't treat you as kind as the one treated me,
even if the horses did run away and disappear." But of course Susie
didn't really want anything bad to happen to her brother. But you just
wait and see what did happen. Oh, it was something very, very strange,
yes, indeed, and I'm not fooling a bit; no, indeed. I wouldn't make it
out anything different than what it really was, not for a penny and a
half.

Well, it happened about a week later. Sammie was coming home from a ball
game, which he had played with Johnnie and Billie Bushytail (of whom I
will tell you later), and some others of his chums, and he was in a
deep, dark part of the wood, when suddenly he heard a crashing in the
bushes.

"Pooh!" exclaimed Sammie. "I s'pose that's one of them fairies. I'm not
going to notice her," and with that he tossed his baseball up in the
air, careless like, to show that he didn't mind. But he was a bit
nervous, all the same, and his hand slipped and his best ball went right
down in a deep, dark, muddy puddle of water. Then Sammie felt pretty
bad, I tell you, and he was going to get a stick to fish the ball out,
when he heard the crashing in the bushes again, and what should appear
but--no, not a fairy, but bad, ugly fox.

"Ah!" exclaimed the fox, looking at Sammie, and smacking his lips, "I've
been waiting for you for some time."

"Yes?" asked the little boy rabbit, and he tried to see a way to run
past that fox, only there wasn't any.

"Yes, really," went on the fox. "Have you had your supper?"

"No," replied Sammie, "I haven't."

"Neither have I," continued the fox, "but I'm going to have it pret