Now the grove where these particular fairies lived was very famous. Its trees were hundreds of years old. They would stretch their long bodies and lift their great heads until sometimes they seemed to reach upwards nearly to the skies. They were very beautiful trees, with great branching arms laden with creamy sweet-scented flowers. The petals of these flowers were as white and sensitive in their purity as snowflakes. Touch one of them ever so lightly with your finger, or even breathe upon it, and its snowy beauty was gone. But the touch of the fairies had no such effect; they danced around the yellow centre in the heart of the blossom, or ran across the petals, and did not even stain the loveliness.

Hundreds upon hundreds of years had the fairies dwelt in this grove. Each year the trees grew taller and handsomer. Men brought their wives and children from strange cities to view the wonderful sight of the trees in flower. The perfume from the thousands of sweet white blossoms was often carried on the breeze to the sandy beach where the curling waves of the Gulf rolled in,—and that Gulf was a good long journey away, even for the fairies.

Late in the fall, when the flowers were gone and the cold winter was setting in, the fairies had a busy time of it with the birds, who were very fond of the red magnolia berries. Now these berries, if one eats very many of them, make one feel very lively; and sometimes when the fairy Queen arose in the morning, she would find dozens of little drunken birds lying around, who had been up all night eating the berries. Then she would order the fairies to help these naughty birds to their homes. This was no easy task, as the frisky little fellows acted very much like drunken men, and would topple over and behave very badly indeed.

But the fairies had other duties quite as important as watching the birds. They must see that on certain nights every flower and every blade of grass received a tiny drop of dew. And so the fireflies, who are really the policemen of fairyland, would light their thousands of little lanterns and guide the fairies over the dark places. The children of these southern lands would watch for the bright signals of the fireflies, and they knew when they saw them that the little people were at work.

The Queen of the fairies was very beautiful and kind, but also very strict. One thing she required without fail, and would never excuse her subjects for missing. This was that each day every fairy of her realm must perform one good deed. Should any subject fail once in this duty, he was not allowed to join in the nightly revel or dance. Should he fail more than once, he was made to pass the night in an ugly marsh near by, under the leaf of a tiger-lily. Now the tiger-lily grows out of the cold, dreary marsh; the slime oozes up, the snakes crawl around, and the bugs and mosquitoes buzz and quarrel all night long. No sensible fairy would care to spend the night in such a horrid place. But one little chap had to go there a great deal. He was not exactly bad, but he was awfully lazy; he wanted to play and have an easy time. He would chase butterflies all the summer day, or lie under a rosebush watching the sunbeams, or go down to the sandy beach and try to steal the color from the scales of the fishes that were darting through the bright waters. Idling thus, the day would pass, and at night he would remember, too late, that he had not done his good deed. He was a 'handsome little fairy, too, with wings more beautiful than any save the Queen's; indeed, so brilliant and flashing were they that he was called "Silver Wings."

One evening he started back to the magnolia grove feeling very sorrowful indeed, for as usual he had no good action to report. Twice already in that week had the Queen sent him to spend the night under the tiger-lily, and he shivered when he thought of the green-eyed lizards that had crawled around him. Then those awful frogs,—they kept up such an endless croaking for rain (as if there was n't water enough in the old marsh anyway) that he had not been able to get a wink of sleep the night before. But when one does wrong there is no help for it but to take his punishment like a man, and little Silver Wings pulled himself together and went home.

The fairy Queen had never looked so lovely as she did that night, sitting upon her throne of yellow buttercups. Our naughty prince had always a warm place in his heart for her, and if he had had the courage he would have asked her this very night to marry him. But he knew she would never give her heart to him until he had done away with his careless habits and love of idleness. The Queen no sooner laid eyes upon Silver Wings than she knew that he was again in trouble. Her eyes flashed angrily, and with her shining wand she beckoned him to approach. When he admitted that he had no good deed to report for the day, she lost all patience and told him that he was banished from court for one whole month, and if, on his return, he could not tell of thirty good deeds done during the month she would sentence him to banishment forever.

This was terrible I Never before had a fairy been banished; the very worst punishment had been the tiger-lily over in the marsh. But this was far worse than anything Silver Wings had ever dreamed of. For a few minutes he was overcome; but after a while he recovered himself, and, forlorn and unhappy, he slowly walked away, his bright wings trailing behind him.

But where could he go? He wandered sadly along until he found himself again by the shores of the Gulf. Then he flitted out across the waters toward a great steamer whose lights were shining brightly. But he had no heart for brightness that night, so passing the glittering steamer with a sigh he sailed away towards the distant city. Only the stars saw him on his journey, and he knew those watchful little eyes were fairies and that they were very much displeased with him.

It was a weary fairy that finally reached a dirty housetop in the city, and curling himself up close to a chimney fell asleep, too tired and sad to look further for a more comfortable resting-place. Now fairies sleep from midnight until noon, and never wake before twelve o'clock in the day. When Silver Wings opened his eyes the next day, he was surprised for a moment at not seeing the snow-white magnolia blossoms, or hearing the rustle of his companions' wings. Then he remembered his unhappy lot, and he knew that he must commence upon his task without delay.

He was just about to fly away when he heard beneath him a sigh. Peeping over the edge of the roof, he saw sitting near a window below him a pale, sad-faced little boy. A pair of crutches stood near by, and the room in which he sat was dark and poorly furnished. The boy had climbed upon a chair, and was trying to get in the path of a sunbeam that struck across the window.

"Oh, if I could get a little sunlight on my face!" he murmured.

Silver Wings watched a few moments.

"Dear me," he said to himself; "I wish that I could help him, but I can hardly change the course of the sun."

Suddenly an idea came to him. Did you ever have any one catch the sun in a piece of looking-glass and throw it in your eyes I Well, that is just about what our little fairy did. He opened his beautiful wings, that shone like spun silver, and waved them gently in the sun. Back they flashed the golden sunlight in a perfect flood over the child's face, and the little cripple laughed with joy.

Silver Wings soon found out that the boy's mother worked hard all day long, and that the child must await her return at night to be taken out for fresh air in a wheel-chair. By day he could only hobble about in his room with his crutches. But at night the mother would take him out and he could see the bright flowers in the florists' windows, and the carriages with fine ladies so beautifully dressed. And then all night he would dream of what he had seen. He had heard of the wonderful grove where the magnolias grew. But, alas! he could never hope to see that, for it was many miles away. If he could have but one rose, a real red rose,—he would be so happy!

Silver Wings saw all these things in the boy's heart, as only fairies can, and he longed to help him. But evening was not far off, and his work for the day must be done. So reluctantly he sailed away over the city. He had gone but a little way when he noticed a dainty little girl, who, with her governess, was climbing up the broad stone steps of a fine house. In her arms she carried a big bunch of red roses.

"I must get one of those flowers for my little cripple," thought the fairy; "but how am I to do it!"

The little girl would no doubt have given a rose to the boy if the fairy could have asked her for it, but fairies cannot talk as we do,—they can only make us think. So Silver Wings waited patiently until the little girl had been put to bed and was fast asleep. Then he whispered in her ear a lovely dream about the crippled boy. For several nights afterwards the fairy whispered dreams to her; and every day when she would walk or drive, Edith and her governess would search the crowded streets for a little crippled boy, of whom she was always dreaming.

Two weeks went by in this way, and Silver Wings began to lose heart. He had done but one good deed of the thirty that he must report to his Queen. Each day he would go to the boy's window, and flash the sunlight over his face.

"I cannot desert him," he would say to himself; "perhaps, after all, I may be able to do thirty good deeds in one day, and that will make everything right."

It happened one evening, as the mother and son were passing the florist's window, that they saw a little girl tripping out with her arms full of red roses. It was Edith, and she knew at once that the white-faced boy in the wheel-chair who stared so eagerly at her roses was the little cripple of her dreams. She walked right up to him and laid the flowers in his lap. Then, waiting only to ask where he lived, she hurried away with her governess.

Edith and her mother came often to the bare little attic room after this, and soon they took the boy to a famous surgeon, who straightened his poor twisted limbs, and told him that he would soon be well and strong again.

So busy had Silver Wings been with all this good work that he had altogether forgotten that his month of banishment was now up and that he must return to his Queen in the magnolia grove. He was sad, indeed, as he thought that he could tell of but one good deed done during his absence; but even if he was to be banished forever from the realms of fairyland, he was still proud of this one. He reached the grove near midnight—and such a night! The moon shone in full glory as bright as the day. Hundreds of fairies flitted about, their silver dresses shining and glittering like diamonds. Dewdrops, sparkling as the stars, crowned their heads, and in their hands they carried dazzling wands of moonbeams. A splendid feast of rose leaves and honey awaited them after the ball. But, alas ! in all this splendor our little prince felt like an exile. He dared not join them, but stood off under a dark tree watching the happy throng.

Suddenly a great firefly tumbled against him and made him come out from his hiding-place. Slowly and sadly he approached his Queen. Never had she looked so beautiful. Clad in a dress of moonbeams, ornamented with golden stars, she stood in the centre of her brilliant court. She commanded silence from her subjects with a wave of her wand. Then bidding Silver Wings to give an account of his deeds, she awaited his answer.

"Alas!" he said, "I have only one to tell of."

Then he told them of the little cripple, and how he had helped him and made his life more happy. This was all, and he was almost overcome with shame as he thought that he had spent the whole month in doing only this. But the next moment the Queen spoke.

"Oh, my prince," she said, "you have done nobly indeed. You have brought health and happiness to one poor mortal, and your one great deed is worth many, many times thirty smaller ones. Before all of fairyland, I choose you to be my wedded husband, to share my throne, and to be our king."

And so Silver Wings was rewarded, and he and his lovely Queen reigned over fairyland long and happily, and their subjects always loved their kind and wise rulers.