ce, cried out:
"Wait a minute till we get our fairy pipe."

Annie could but wonder of what use a pipe would be, but she had been
taught to be patient and wait until things were explained to her; so she
stood very quiet, and soon saw the fairy in yellow come floating down to
the earth. Behind her came another little creature all in red, and still
behind her a third in a beautiful blue dress. Between them they carried
a long pipe, much like the one Roger, the gardener, smoked; and when
they were in front of the little girl they began to blow through it very
hard, and Annie soon found herself inside a a large soap-bubble, and
felt that she was gently floating upward in her fairy balloon. When she
reached the castle she touched the thin wall with her fingers and it
melted away, and left her standing in Fairy Land!

Her three companions--the fairy in yellow, the one in red, and the one
in blue--crowded around her, and cried "Welcome!" three times. Then they
made a place for three more, who tried to smile and say "Welcome!" also,
but could only look very sad and wipe a tiny tear from their little
eyes.

Now, Annie was a kind little girl, and she asked them in her gentlest
voice what made them sad, and they all replied: "Oh, we want some
dresses so badly; these are only our little skirts made out of cobwebs."

"What color do you want?" said Annie.

"Well," said the first, "_I_ want one of green, like the beautiful grass
and the leaves of the trees."

"Ah!" sighed Annie, "if I could _only_ remember how our teacher told us
to make green, but I am afraid I have forgotten."

Away ran one of the fairies, and soon came back with a little white cap,
which she placed upon Annie's head, saying: "This is our thinking-cap",
and as soon as it touched the child's brown curls, she cried: "I've
thought! If you mix yellow and blue together it will make green; but how
can we do it?"

"Oh, _we_ know!" all the six cried together, and they brought a lily
filled with dew, and the fairy with the yellow dress and the one with
the blue dress dipped their little skirts in it, and they stirred the
dew around with a tiny wand, and took out a lovely green robe, which was
put on the fairy who had chosen that color, and she began to smile very
sweetly.

Now, the next one stepped up, and said: "_I_ want a dress of purple like
the beautiful sweet violets which grow in our little gardens."

As Annie still had the thinking-cap on, she quickly told