loud or flake of
snow that dared come near this enchanted spot. The water sprites
gathered drops from the melting ice palace and watered the budding beds,
after the imps had taken the chill off, while the air spirits made
sunshine overhead by flying to and fro with tireless wings, till a
golden curtain was woven that shut out the cold sky and made summer for
the flowers.

The Queen and her maids helped, for they fashioned birds, bees, and
butterflies with magic skill, and gave them life to sing, buzz, and
flutter in the new world, growing so fast where once all was bare and
cold and dark.

Slowly the ice palace melted; for warm airs stole through the pines, and
soon the walls were thin as glass, the towers vanished like frost-work
in the sun, and block after block flowed away in little rills as if glad
to escape from prison. The King and his subjects felt that they were
conquered; for the ice seemed to melt from them also, and their hearts
began to beat, their cold faces to soften as if they wanted to smile if
they knew how, and they loved to watch and wonder at the sweet miracles
the elves were working all about them.

The King tried not to give up, for he was very proud, and had ruled so
long it was hard to submit; but his power was gone, his palace crumbling
about him, his people longing to join the enemy, and there was nothing
for him to do but lay down his crown or fly away to the far North and
live with the bears and icebergs in that frozen world. He would have
done this but for Star. All the while the battle and the siege were
going on, she lived in her little cell, knowing nothing about it, but
hoping and waiting, sure that help would come. Every time the King
visited her he seemed kinder, and liked more and more to listen to her
songs or the stories she told him of life in Fairyland, and the joy of
being merciful. So she knew that the seeds she sowed in his heart were
beginning to grow like those planted in the cell, and she watched over
them as carefully.

One day her loveliest roses bloomed, and she was singing for joy as the
pink flowers filled the cell with their sweet breath, when the King came
hurrying down to her and falling at her feet begged her to save his
life. She wondered what he meant, and he told her of the battle, and how
the elves were conquering him by love; for the palace was nearly gone, a
great garden lay blossoming all about it, and he had nowhere to go
unless she would be his friend