Part 32

sang little Prue, with a memory of her kindergarten.

"Yes, they are flowers of the sea, though they do not bloom," said the Chief Gardener, "and are very beautiful in color and form. I will give you some white cards and you can gather specimens to dry. You spread out the little branches with a tooth-pick, and the cards make pretty little books afterwards."

"But do seaweeds and mosses and lichens and ferns and mushrooms all belong to one family?" asked Davy.

"Oh, by no means. Not even all to the same division of flowerless plants. But it is too hard a study for a little boy, and it is enough to learn now that they do all belong to the big flowerless or Crip-tog-a-mous class."

"Papa, is it true that if you put fern seeds in your shoes, nobody can see you?" asked little Prue.

"Why, I don't very well see how 'nobody' could see you, but I think somebody might."

"It says in my fairy book that the princess put fern seed in her shoe, and then there wasn't any one who could see her. I wish it was like that. I'm going to try it," and the little girl pulled off some of the brown spores and tucked them in her dusty ties.

"Can you see me? Can you see me, now?" she asked, dancing about.

"Why, no," said the Chief Gardener, who pretended to be looking for her in another direction.

"Can you, Davy? Can you see me?"

"Not very well, when you go so fast," laughed Davy. "Stand still, and let me try."

Just then big Prue came out on the porch, and little Prue danced up to her.

"Can you see me? Can you see me, Mamma? You mustn't, you know, because I've got fern seed in my shoe."

Big Prue shut her eyes, and put out her arms.

"No, I can't see you," she said, "but you feel like the same little girl," and she kissed the little round tanned face on her shoulder.

THE PRINCESS BY THE SEA

"I HEARD you talking about flowerless plants," big Prue went on, "as I sat there by the window. I wonder if you would like to hear a little story of how they came to be without flowers."

"Please, yes!" and little Prue forgot her fern seed and hugged closer.

"Well, once upon a time there was a princess with a beautiful garden--"

"Is this the same princess that turned into a red rose?"

"Oh, no, this is another princess. There have been a great many princesses with gardens. This princess lived by the sea, where there was a meadow, and a cliff not far away, much like it is here. She loved her flowers more than anything in the world, and her garden was so beautiful that even the fairies loved it better than their own gardens of fairyland and came at midnight to dance in the moonlight, after the princess was asleep.

"And the princess knew that they danced there, for once a gentle fairy had come to her and told her of it, and warned her never to try to see them, for whoever sees the fairies dance by the midnight moon may meet with some dreadful misfortune, which even the fairies themselves cannot help.

"But when the princess heard about the fairy dance, she wanted to see it very much. Instead of trying to forget it and going to bed before it began, she thought of it all the time, and the more she thought, the more she made up her mind to see it, no matter what might happen afterwards.

"So one night, just before twelve o'clock, she crept into a large cluster of blooming ferns--"

"But ferns do not bloom--"

"They did then, and their sweet odor filled the still night air; the moon was white and round in the sky, and the level sea had a path of glory that led close to where she lay.

"The princess thought how beautiful was all the world, and especially her garden, and she grew sad to think that perhaps some time she would not be there to see it all. And then all at once she forgot everything else, for there in the moonlight were the fairies, dancing in a great glittering ring.

"The princess looked, hardly daring to breathe. Then it seemed to her that she could not see so well. She rubbed her eyes, but the world about her only grew dimmer still. She thought the moon had gone under a cloud, but it was sailing high in the sky. And then everything faded out, the world became dark and the princess gave a great cry of grief, for she knew that her punishment had come, and she was blind!