for the spirit
will be here while you sleep. Drink and dream, and in the morning you
will be in a new world."

While Iris spoke Brownie had piled up a bed of star-flowers in a little
crevice of the rock; Velvet had spun a silken curtain over it to keep
the dew off; Blue-bird perched on the tallest stone to keep watch; and
when May had drunk a cup of the fairy water, and lay down, with Skip
rolled up for a pillow, and Brownie at her feet for a warm rug, Iris
waved her wand and sung a lullaby so sweet that the child was in
dreamland at once.

When she woke it was day, but she had no time to see the rosy sky, the
mist rolling away, or the sunshine dazzling down upon the world, for
there before her rising from the spring, was the spirit, so beautiful
and smiling, May could only clasp her hands and look. As softly as a
cloud the spirit floated toward her, and with a kiss as cool as a
dew-drop, she said in a voice like a fresh wind,--

"Dear child, you are the first to come and find me. Welcome to the
mountain and the secret of the spring. It is this: whoever climbs up
and drinks this water will leave all pain and weariness behind, and grow
healthy in body, happy in heart, and learn to see and love all the
simple wholesome things that help to keep us good and gay. Do you feel
tired now, or lonely, or afraid? Has the charm begun to work?"

"Yes," cried May, "I think it has, for I feel so happy, light, and well,
I could fly like a bird. It is so lovely here I could stay all my life
if I only had mamma to enjoy it with me."

"She will come, and many others. Little children often are wiser than
grown people, and lead them up without knowing it. Look and see what you
have done by this longing of yours for the mountain top, and the brave
journey that brought you here."

Then the spirit touched May's eyes, and looking down she saw the little
path by which she had come grow wider and smoother, till it wound round
and round the mountain like a broad white ribbon, and up this pleasant
path came many people. Some were pale and sad; some lame, some ill; some
were children in their mothers' arms; some old and bent, but were
climbing eagerly up toward the fairy spring,--sure of help and health
when they arrived.

"Can you cure them all?" asked May, delighted to see what hope and
comfort her journey had given others.

"Not all; but every one will be the better for coming, even the oldest,
the saddest, and the sickest; for my four