y of
stopping them. How then can you?"

"I must go."

"She left our joyful Fairyland for a Magic Garden, and whoever enters
that Garden can never come back to us. There she dwells for ever alone,
at work or in thought, or preparing for her mysterious journeys to the
earth. Do not go, or you too will be cut off from our life of dance and
song, never to return."

"I will go. Tell me the way."

The fairy flew off. "I will not tell you," she said. "You shall not go."

"I will go," said Fairy Tenderheart again. With steadfast steps she
searched through Fairyland until she found a narrow track that led
between the winding mountains and far out across wide, shimmering
plains. This track she followed till she came upon the Magic Garden.

The Oldest Fairy of All sat thinking among her flowers, and her eyes
were filled with peace. She looked at Fairy Tenderheart standing at the
gate. "Who enters here can never return to Fairyland," she said, and her
voice was sweeter than the songs of birds.

Fairy Tenderheart pushed open the gate and stepped within the Garden.
"Who enters here finds joy," said the Oldest Fairy of All, and a crown
of happiness sat on her hair.

"You come to work?" she asked.

"I come to learn what I may do to help the suffering earth," said Fairy
Tenderheart. "Its cries of agony have beaten on my heart until there was
no rest for me in Fairyland. Is there no way to make war cease? I come
to you for wisdom."

The Oldest Fairy of All rose up and smiled, and her face was brighter
than the moon and stars. "Look closely at my flowers," she said, "and
tell me which you think most beautiful."

The flowers bloomed on every side, in every lovely hue--crimson and gold
and orange, blue and purple and pink and softest lavender. All were
scented, and all were beautiful; but there was one plant that pleased
the little fairy more than any other. It grew no taller than the rest,
made no great show of colour, yet through its stems and leaves there
shone a radiance as if a light hid in them. Its flowers were clear as
crystal--one could see quite through them--but the sunlight falling on
them was broken into glowing colours, so that every blossom was a little
bunch of flashing rainbows. And where the flowers had closed and grown
to fruit they hung golden as the sun and fragrant with a scent that
stole upon the wind and made the heart heat high with happiness.

"This is the most beautiful," said Fairy Tenderheart.