aths edged
with tall growing flowers of every colour indeed, for they never stayed
the same for half a moment, but kept changing like rainbows--melting
from one shade into another in the loveliest way, like the coloured
lights at the pantomime.

"'Oh, how lovely!' said Lena. 'May I gather some, please?'

"The little man shook his head.

"'You cannot,' he said, walking on before her.

"After a while he turned down another path.

"'These are our birds,' he said; and Lena, glancing more closely at what
she had thought were still flowers, saw that they were trees with
numberless branches, on each of which sat or perched a bird. They were a
contrast to the many-coloured flowers, for each bird was of one colour
only, and all the birds on each tree were the same. There was a tree
perfectly covered with pure white ones, another with all red, a third
all blue, and so on. And the birds swayed gently backwards and forwards
on the branches, in time; though there was no sound, it seemed to Lena
like hearing beautiful music. And somehow she did not feel inclined to
speak or to ask any questions. She just quietly followed the little man,
feeling happier and more pleased than she had ever felt in her life.
And soon there came another change. Looking up, Lena saw that all the
birds and flowers were left behind, and she was walking through a sort
of thicket of leafless bushes. She wondered why they were so bare, when
everything else in the brownies' country was so rich and bright.

"'These are our orchards,' said her guide. 'But we keep the fruit packed
up till it is wanted. It keeps it fresher. See now!' As he spoke he
touched a bush.

"'Grow,' he said, and in an instant there came a sort of flutter over
the tree, and then at once there sprouted out all over the branches the
most tempting-looking clusters of fruit. They were something like
beautiful purple grapes, but richer and more luscious-looking than any
grapes Lena had ever seen. And while she was admiring them the little
man touched another, and instantly oranges, golden and gleaming like no
oranges she had ever seen before, glistened out all over the branches.
And the little man stepped on in front, touching the trees as he went,
till the whole path was a perfect glow of fruits of every colour and
shape. So beautiful were they to look at, that Lena somehow felt no wish
to eat them.

"On went the brownie, touching as he went, till suddenly the path came
to an end, and L