king together
about something which interested them very much. The fruit-fairy was
eating her breakfast as she swung on a long spray of the raspberry-vines
that waved in the wind; a blue-bird was taking his bath in the pool
below, looking as if a bit of the sky had fallen into the water as he
splashed and shook the drops from his wings; Skip, the squirrel, was
resting on the mossy wall, after clearing out his hole of last year's
nuts, to be ready for a new supply; Spin, the spider, was busily
spreading her webs to bleach, and Brownie, the little bear, was warming
his fuzzy back in the sunshine, for his den was rather dark and cold.

"It is such a pity that no one understands what the brook is trying to
tell them. If they only knew about the fairy spring as we do, this is
just the day to set out and find it," said Iris, the elf, as she took
the last sip of raspberry shrub from the pretty red cup, and wiped her
lips on a napkin Spin had made for her.

"Ah, if they only did! how glad I should be to show them the way,"
answered the blue-bird, as he dried his feathers on a mossy stone, while
the caddis-worms all popped their heads out of sight in their little
stone houses for fear he might eat them up.

"I have called every child I see, and done my best to lead them up the
mountain; but they won't come, and I cannot make them understand the
sweet words the brook keeps singing. How dull human creatures are! Even
Brownie knows this song, though he is a dear, clumsy thing, always going
to sleep when he is not eating," said Skip, with a twinkle in his bright
eye; for he and the little bear were good friends, though one was so
brisk and the other so big and awkward.

"Of course I do; I've heard it ever since I was born, and the first long
walk I took was up the mountain to find the wonderful spring. I drank of
it, and have been the happiest creature alive ever since," answered
Brownie, with a comfortable roll on the green grass.

"I am too busy to go, but my cousin Velvetback often comes down and
tells me about the splendid life he leads up there, where no foot ever
treads on him, no hand ever breaks his webs, and everything is so still
and bright that he always is in a hurry to get home again. When my
weaving and bleaching are all done I am going up to see for myself;" and
Spin shook off the tiny drops of dew which shone like diamonds on her
largest web.

"There is one child who comes every day to look at the brook and lis