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LABOULAYE 5 FAIRY BOOK
5 "Ask of us what you will,’ said they, "and your request
shall be instantly granted.’
"IT reflected that I was old, and had suffered too much in
lite to wish to begin it anew, while the day would come, my
child, when nothing would be too great for your desires;
when you wish to be rich, noble—a general, a marquis, a
prince, perhaps! When that day comes, thought I, I can
give him everything, and a single moment of such happi¬
ness will repay me for eighty years of pain and misery. I
thanked the fairies, therefore, and entreated them to keep
their good will till the day when I should have need of it.
The Fairy of the Waters took a small feather from her crown,
and the Fairy of the Woods detached a scale from her scarf.
“My good woman,’ said they, ‘when you wish for us,
place this feather and this scale in a vessel of pure water
and call on us, making a wish. Should we be at the end
of the world, we will be at your side in an instant, ready
to pay the debt we owe you.’
"1 bowed my head in token of gratitude. When I raised
it all had vanished; even the wounds and blood had disap¬
peared from my hands, and I should have thought that I
had been dreaming, had not the scale of the serpent and
the feather of the kingfisher remained in my hand."
"And where are these treasures, grandmamma?”’ asked
Graceful.
"My child, I have carefully concealed them,” answered
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