s minute in the finest palace that was ever dug out of a
hill?"

"You may tell us all the same," said the King.

"Well and good," said the fairy. "It's to the south I've been. First
there's all this island that we're on, down to the place with the
grass and the iron chain around it. Then there's the bay, with the
ships. Then there's another island, with hills and trees, and then
there's the sea, and a long shore, all sand, and hundreds of houses,
big and little, where people live. And that's all."

Another fairy said: "I went farther to the west than this, but not
much farther till I came to a great river. Of course I couldn't be
crossin' the runnin' water, so I went round the mouth of it and then
kept on. The country was all flat for a good way, and bars of iron
everywhere, laid two and two, so many of them that I didn't dare rest
anywhere, and there were towns and plenty of people, and then at long
last I came to hills."

I suppose you know, without my telling you, that fairies cannot bear
to cross running water, any more than they can bear to touch iron, and
that was why this fairy had to go around the mouth of the Hudson River
instead of going across it.

Then came another fairy, who had been to the north, and he said: "It
beats everything, the lovely country I've seen. Never a better did I
see anywhere. Hills and woods and mountains, and the trees all yellow
and red and green and brown. I went up the big river on this side for
a long way, and then I saw great mountains on the other side. So
beautiful they looked, I wanted to go to them, only, sure, I couldn't
cross the river. So I went round the head of it and came down back to
the mountains. And there I found that they were full of fairies
already. But they seemed to be Dutch, and it's little English they
could talk, let alone Irish. Still we got along, and they gave me some
mighty fine drink that they had. And they said that we could come
there, the whole tribe, and welcome kindly, and I'ld say it was a good
place to go, only it's farther off than this from them we want to be
near."

"We'll stay where we are," said the King. "It's as well that we know
what's all around us, but here we'll be more to ourselves, as many
people as there are, for I'm thinkin' there's no fairies but us here."

Then slowly out of the crowd of fairies one came forward and said:
"Your Majesty, could I be saying something that's breakin' my heart?
It's hard for me to say and it'll