“The dance being over, the queen of all sighed a fragrant sigh of happiness upon the air, and bowing to her lovely companions said:

“ ‘Sweet sisters, the mission of the fairies is to gladden the hearts of the mortals. Let us, therefore, this night, leave behind us on the earth the exquisite garments whose hues and fashions have given us so much pleasure. And because we may not be seen uncovered, let us from henceforth be invisible.’

“ ‘We will! We will!’ cried the sister fairies. They were all good and kind of heart, and much as they loved their dainty robes, they loved better to give happiness to others.

“And that is why the fairies are invisible, and why we have the flowers.”

“The flowers!” cried Mermei. “Why the flowers?”

“And the fairies’ garments! Where can we find them?” asked Fei with the starry eyes.

“In the gardens, in the forests, and by the streams,” answered the mother. “The flowers, dear children, are the bright-hued garments which the fairies left behind them when they flew from earth, never to return again, save invisible.”

THE DREAMS THAT FAILED

Ping Sik and Soon Yen sat by the roadside under a spreading olive tree. They were on their way to market to sell two little pigs. With the money to be obtained from the sale of the little pigs, they were to buy caps and shoes with which to attend school.

“When I get to be a man,” said Ping Sik, “I will be so great and so glorious that the Emperor will allow me to wear a three-eyed peacock feather, and whenever I walk abroad, all who meet me will bow to the ground.”

“And I,” said Soon Yen, “will be a great general. The reins of my steeds will be purple and scarlet, and in my cap will wave a bright blue plume.”

“I shall be such a great poet and scholar,” continued Ping Sik, “that the greatest university in the Middle Kingdom will present me with a vase encrusted with pearls.”

“And I shall be so valiant and trustworthy that the Pearly Emperor will appoint me commander-in-chief of his army, and his enemies will tremble at the sound of my name.”

“I shall wear a yellow jacket with the names of three ancestors inscribed thereon in seven colors.”

“And I shall wear silk robes spun by princesses, and a cloak of throat skins of sables.”

“And I shall live in a mansion of marble and gold.”

“And I in halls of jadestone.”

“And I will own silk and tea plantations and tens of thousands of rice farms.”

“All the bamboo country shall be mine, and the rivers and sea shall be full of my fishing boats, junks, and craft of all kinds.”

“People will bow down before me and cry: ‘Oh, most excellent, most gracious, most beautiful!’ ”

“None will dare offend so mighty a man as I shall be!”

“O ho! You good-for-nothing rascals!” cried the father of Ping Sik. “What are you doing loafing under a tree when you should be speeding to market?”