l ferns; and she
wandered on and on, among the rocks and the trees, and over the grass
and the flowers, until she sat down by a great tree to rest. Then,
without intending anything of the kind, she went fast asleep.

She had not slept more than five minutes, before along came a troop of
fairies, and you may be assured that they were astonished enough to
see a little girl lying fast asleep on the grass, at that time in the
morning.

"Well, I never!" said the largest fairy, who was the Principal One.

"Nor I," said the Next Biggest; "It's little Bridget, and with such a
dirty face! Just look! She has been eating blackberries and
strawberries--and raspberries too, for all I know; for you remember,
brother, that a face dirtied with raspberries is very much like one
dirtied with strawberries."

"Very like, indeed, brother," said the Principal One, "and look at her
feet! She's been walking in the wet sand!"

"And her hands!" cried the Very Least, "what hands! They're all
smeared over with mixtures of things."

"Well," said the Next Biggest, "she is certainly a dirty little girl,
but what's to be done?"

"Done?" said the Principal One. "There is only one thing to be done,
and that is to wash her. There can be no doubt about that."

All the fairies agreed that nothing could be more sensible than to
wash little Bridget, and so they gathered around her, and, with all
gentleness, some of them lifted her up and carried her down towards
the brook, while the others danced about her, and jumped over her, and
hung on to long fern leaves, and scrambled among the bushes, and were
as merry as a boxful of crickets.

When they approached the brook, one of the fairies jumped in to see if
the water was warm enough, and the Principal One and the Next Biggest
held a consultation, as to how little Bridget should be washed.

"Shall we just souse her in?" said the Next Biggest.

"I hardly think so," said the Principal One. "She may not be used to
that sort of thing, and she might take cold. It will be best just to
lay her down on the bank and wash her there."

So little Bridget, who had never opened her eyes all this time (and no
wonder, for you will find, if you are ever carried by fairies while
you are asleep, that they will bear you along so gently that you will
never know it), was brought to the brook and laid softly down by the
water's edge.

Then all the fairies set to work in good earnest. Some dipped clover
blossoms in the