ee no one. "Ethel! Ethel!" it called again, this time very
near. She looked around, saying, "Here I am; who is calling?" "It is
I. Don't you see me? I am close beside you," said the same sweet
voice.
Looking down Ethel saw at her feet a tiny creature all dressed in
dainty green. "Oh!" thought she, "this must really and truly be a
fairy. Why, I supposed fairies were only make-believe people!" and
Ethel was so surprised that she forgot to answer the little creature.
Soon the fairy said: "Ethel, because you love the birds and the flowers
and the trees and all the animals, I have come to take you out into the
country to visit your friends."
Ethel clapped her hands and said: "Oh, I should love to go to the
country! but I haven't any friends there."
"Yes, you have," said the fairy, "come and see."
So away they went, and Ethel all the time wondered whom the fairy could
possibly mean by her friends; but they went so fast that, before she
had time to do much thinking, Ethel found herself in a great, green
meadow, bright and fresh and cool. Soon they came to a tree with
spreading branches; and there, lying under it and resting in its shade,
was a gentle looking creature with soft eyes, long smooth horns, and a
hairy dress of red and white.
"Here," said the fairy, "is one of your friends, and a very good friend
she is too." "Oh," said Ethel, "now I know whom you mean by my
friends!"
I wonder who can tell me why the fairy called the cow Ethel's friend.
Yes, because without this friend Ethel would miss her cup of milk at
breakfast and the golden butter for her bread.
Ethel gave the white star on the cow's forehead a gentle pat and,
looking into her great dark eyes, she said, "Surely you are my friend,
Bossy." But the fairy said, "Come on, little girl, there are many more
friends to see." So Ethel visited all the friendly animals,--the sheep
with their woolly coats, the pigs in their sty, the chickens, the ducks
and the geese in the barnyard, the pigeons in their home on the roof,
the great clever collie in his kennel; and she found that she owed
something to every one of them.
Just as she was giving Rover a farewell pat, old Dobbin, harnessed to
the farm wagon, came clattering up to the barn. "Here comes the best
friend of all!" cried Ethel. "What should we do without Dobbin to
carry the milk and the butter and the eggs to the city, to draw the
wood and the coal that keep us warm, to help the farmer
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