that she should not forget her night's adventures, or think it was all
merely a dream, she found a ring of yellow grass wound tightly round her
third finger. From that hour, though the ring fell to pieces, the mark
of it was clearly to be seen on her finger. It _was_ a fairy ring, you
see.

Her mother apparently had not missed her, and the baby was as jolly as
ever.

"What _was_ the matter with you last night, Kaethe?" said her mother.
"You were dreamier than ever; not a word could we get out of you. You
_must_ have been tired out, you poor child!"

"But everything was all right, wasn't it, mother, the potatoes were
boiled and the supper ready?"

"Why of course you managed very nicely. Now hurry up and let us have
breakfast."

Now I feel sure that all the children who read this story will want to
know what happened to Kaethchen and Green Ears later on.

Did he really come back to visit her as a grown man?

Did they marry and live happy ever after?

Had he green ears as a mortal?

But alas the fairies who told me this story, have left these questions
unanswered, at all events for the present, so I can only guess at the
conclusion.

I think myself that Green Ears was pretty sure to succeed in his quest,
because if you want a thing intensely enough, you can usually get it.

They would make a rather funny married couple, that is true, and we will
hope that Green Ears did not turn head over heels on his marriage day.

But the fairies assure me that the trials necessary to pass through in
order to become a mortal, have a very sobering effect on the character,
and so we can think of Green Ears as quite different, though still
fascinating and charming.

I would have liked to be present at their wedding, wouldn't you?

"O joy when on this solid earth
Is heard the sound of fairy mirth!
O joy, when under earthly things
Is heard the sound of fairy wings,
When the impossible is true,
When I come back and marry you!"

THE OLD KING

Walter had been playing with his kite in the garden. Somehow or other it
would never mount properly, unless his father was there to help him. It
was apt to fly up a little way, and then to fall into a bush or fence,
and there to perch like a big bird, until Walter and his friends rescued
it with difficulty. But on a windy day when his father took him into the
open fields, away the kite would sail, until Walter grew anxious lest it
should disappear altogether in c