at us--listen
to us. We love you so, and we dress ourselves out, day by day, in the
loveliest colours merely to give you pleasure."

"And do we not love _you_, you beautiful flowers?" said the Stranger
Child. But Christlieb knelt down on the ground, and stretched out her
arms, as if she would take all the beautiful flowers to her heart,
crying, "Ah, I love you all, every one of you!" Felix cried, "I love
you all, too, flowers, in your bright dresses. Still I dote upon green,
and the woods, and the trees. The woods have to take care of you, and
shelter you, bonny little things that you are."

Then came a sighing out of the tall, dark fir-trees; and they said,
"That is very true, you clever boy; and you are not to be afraid of us,
when our cousin, the storm, comes rushing at us, and we have to hold a
rather strenuous bit of argument with that rough customer."

"All right," said Felix. "Groan, and sigh, and snarl as much as you
like, you green giants that you are; _then_ is when the real woodsman's
heart begins to rejoice."

"You are quite right there," the forest brook plashed and rustled. "But
what is the good of always hunting--always rushing in storm and
turmoil? Come, and sit down nicely among the moss, and listen to me. I
come from far-away places, out of a deep, dark, rocky cleft. I have
delightful tales to tell you; and always something new, wave after
wave, for ever and ever. And I will show you the loveliest pictures, if
you will but look properly into this clear mirror of mine. Vaporous
blue of the sky--golden clouds--bushes, flowers and trees, and your
very selves, you beautiful children, I draw lovingly into the depths of
my bosom."

"Felix and Christlieb," said the Stranger Child, looking round with
wondrous blissfulness, "only listen how they all love us. But the
redness of the evening is rising behind the hills, and the nightingale
is calling me home."

"Oh, but let us just fly a little, as we did yesterday," Felix prayed.

"Yes," said Christlieb, "but not quite so high. It makes my head so
giddy."

Then the Stranger Child took them by the hands again, and they went
soaring up into the golden purple of the evening sky, while the birds
crowded and sang round them. That was a shouting and a jubilating! In
the shining clouds Felix saw, as if in wavering flame, beautiful
castles all of rubies and other precious stones. "Look! look!
Christlieb!" he cried, full of rapture, "look at all those splendid
p