Page 72 [72]
LABOULAYE'S FATEH Y 7500 K
powerful fairies—the Fairy of the Woods and the Fairy of
the Waters. Listen to me, my child; I am going to intrust
you with a secret—a secret which you must keep as care¬
fully as I have done, and which will give you wealth and
happiness. Ten years ago, the same year that your father
died and your mother also left us, I went out one morning
before daybreak to surprise the crabs asleep in the sand.
As I was stooping down, hidden by a rock, I saw a king¬
fisher slowly floating toward the beach. The kingfisher
is a sacred bird which should always be respected; knowing
this, I let it alight and did not stir, for fear of frightening
it. At the same moment I saw a beautiful green adder
come from a cleft of the mountain and crawl along the sand
toward the bird. When they were near each other, without
either seeming surprised at the meeting, the adder coiled
itself around the neck of the kingfisher, as if tenderly em¬
bracing it; they remained thus entwined for a few moments,
after which they suddenly separated, the adder to return
to the rock, and the kingfisher to plunge into the waves
which bore it away.
“Greatly astonished at what I had seen, I returned the
next morning at the same hour, and at the same hour the
kingfisher also alighted on the sands and the adder came
from its retreat. There was no doubt that they were fairies,
perhaps enchanted fairies, to whom I could render a service.
But what was I to do? To show myself would have been
48