d took Nora's hand and she
found herself in a little boat, no bigger than a leaf, sailing across
the pond but still beneath its surface. And here she saw on every
hand, working amid the mire and the mirk, such jolly little divers,
who were feeding the fish and tending the pond lily roots, and, like
all the others, singing at their tasks.

Now you will know of course that they were on their way to the home of
the fairy queen. And it was but a short while before they were there.
I need not tell you, children, how lovely is her palace, with its
golden floor and silver walls and its hangings of the colors of the
rainbow. Nor need I say how beautiful is her majesty herself, with
wings like the most splendid butterfly and a gown like the morning and
a face like the sunshine.

It seems that Nora had come upon the queen's birthday, and she was
just giving the birthday honors. So Nora and the dryad stood in the
background and watched the scene. Around the throne stood gallant
fairy gentlemen clad like beetles and dragon flies for splendor
and ladies whose long gowns hung like the light on the waterfall of
Loughmareen. But to the amazement of Nora, those who came forward to
receive the honors were for the most part dressed like workmen and
many of them were bent with hard labor. As each advanced and made
obeisance, the royal herald read the exploit for which the rank
of knighthood was about to be conferred. For one he read: "To our
faithful servant who covered the lilies of Moira from the attack of
the Frost King"; and to another: "To the gallant yeoman who watered
the grain field of Kilvellin"; and to still another: "To him who dug
the trench by the roadside and kept safe the highway to Throselwait
Fair." And as each came forward the trumpets pealed in triumph, and
after a gold star had been pinned upon the new knight's breast the
gentlemen and ladies of the court greeted them with hearty reverence.
And Nora looked in the smiling face of the dryad, but said nothing.

Then Nora herself, in a breathless moment of fear, was presented to
the queen, and the queen kissed her daintily just above her lips on
both sides. And suddenly Nora found herself back on her stony bench by
the spring with the branches of the beech-tree waving silently before
her.

"Oh, mothereen and grandmotherkin," she cried as soon as she got home,
and she ran home all the way--"let me tell you about the wonderful
visit I have been making out in the wildwood