fireside in the
evening, and so received at first hand the comment and suggestion of a
bevy of competent, if somewhat youthful, critics.

It is said that there is a great scarcity of fairy folk in modern
France; and that, terrified by the thunders of the Revolution, they
left their unhappy country in a body during its stormy years, first
assembling in grateful concourse around the tomb of Perrault, upon
whose memory they conferred the boon of immortality.

If this story is true--and the last reported act of the fairies on
leaving France makes it appear so--then we may be sure that a few of
the more hardy and adventurous fays skipped back again across the
border and hid themselves in Laboulaye's box of jewels, where they
give to each gem an even brighter sheen and a more magical luster.

"QUILLCOTE," HOLLIS, MAINE.

_August, 1920._

LABOULAYE'S FAIRY BOOK

On the Kerver

YVON _and_ FINETTE

_A Tale of Brittany_

[Illustration: ]

I

Once upon a time there lived in Brittany a noble lord, who was called
the Baron Kerver. His manor-house was the most beautiful in the
province. It was a great Gothic castle, with a groined roof and walls,
covered with carving, that looked at a distance like a vine climbing
over an arbor. On the first floor six stained-glass balcony windows
looked out on each side toward the rising and the setting sun. In the
morning, when the baron, mounted on his dun mare, went forth into the
forest, followed by his tall greyhounds, he saw at each window one of
his daughters, with prayer-book in hand, praying for the house of
Kerver, and who, with their fair curls, blue eyes, and clasped hands,
might have been taken for six Madonnas in an azure niche. At evening,
when the sun declined and the baron returned homeward, after riding
round his domains, he perceived from afar, in the windows looking
toward the west, six sons, with dark locks and eagle gaze, the hope
and pride of the family, that might have been taken for six sculptured
knights at the portal of a church. For ten leagues round, all who
wished to quote a happy father and a powerful lord named the Baron
Kerver.

The castle had but twelve windows, and the baron had thirteen
children. The last, the one that had no place, was a handsome boy of
sixteen, by the name of Yvon. As usual, he was the best beloved. In
the morning, at his departure, and at evening, on his return, the
baron always found Yvon waiting on the threshol