all them, which will be very soon."

"Who are these two ladies?" asked Graceful, who had never seen any
women but fishermen's wives in the hut.

"They are two fairies," replied his grandmother--"two powerful
fairies--the Fairy of the Woods and the Fairy of the Waters. Listen to
me, my child; I am going to intrust you with a secret--a secret which
you must keep as carefully as I have done, and which will give you
wealth and happiness. Ten years ago, the same year that your father
died and your mother also left us, I went out one morning before
daybreak to surprise the crabs asleep in the sand. As I was stooping
down, hidden by a rock, I saw a kingfisher slowly floating toward the
beach. The kingfisher is a sacred bird which should always be
respected; knowing this, I let it alight and did not stir, for fear of
frightening it. At the same moment I saw a beautiful green adder come
from a cleft of the mountain and crawl along the sand toward the bird.
When they were near each other, without either seeming surprised at
the meeting, the adder coiled itself around the neck of the
kingfisher, as if tenderly embracing it; they remained thus entwined
for a few moments, after which they suddenly separated, the adder to
return to the rock, and the kingfisher to plunge into the waves which
bore it away.

[Illustration: AT NIGHT THE GRANDMOTHER ALWAYS GAVE HIM GOOD COUNSELS
FOR HIM TO FOLLOW WHEN SHE WAS GONE]

"Greatly astonished at what I had seen, I returned the next morning at
the same hour, and at the same hour the kingfisher also alighted on
the sands and the adder came from its retreat. There was no doubt that
they were fairies, perhaps enchanted fairies, to whom I could render a
service. But what was I to do? To show myself would have been to
displease them and run into danger; it was better to wait for a
favorable opportunity which chance would doubtless offer. For a whole
month I lay in ambush, witnessing the same spectacle every morning,
when one day I saw a huge black cat arrive first at the place of
meeting and hide itself behind a rock, almost under my hand. A black
cat could be nothing else than an enchanter, according to what I had
learned in my childhood, and I resolved to watch him. Scarcely had the
kingfisher and the adder embraced each other when, behold! the cat
gathered itself up and sprang upon these innocents. It was my turn to
throw myself upon the wretch, who already held his victims in his
murderous cl