He was so delighted to find this strange moonlit place close to his own snug little room that he began to dance and skip about the floor. The wind came in through the door he had left open. It blew about him as he danced and he kept turning toward it that it might blow in his face. He kept picturing to himself the many places, lovely and desolate, the hill sides and farm yards and tree-tops and meadows, over which it had blown on its way to "The Mound." As he danced he grew more and more delighted with the motion and the wind. His feet grew stronger and his body lighter. At length, it seemed as if he were borne up on the air and could almost fly. So strong did this feeling become that at last he began to doubt whether he was not in one of those precious dreams he so often had, in which he floated about on the wind at will. Then something made him look up. To his unspeakable delight, he found his uplifted hands lying in those of North Wind! Yes, North Wind was dancing with him round and round the long bare room, her hair now falling to the floor, now floating to the ceiling. The sweetest of smiles was playing about her beautiful mouth. She did not stoop in order to dance with him but held his hands high in hers. When he saw her, he gave one spring and his arms were about her neck and her arms holding him to her breast. The same moment, she swept with him out of the open window through which the moon was shining. Making a wide and sweeping circuit, she settled with him in his own little nest at the top of the big beech tree. Diamond was so entirely happy that he did not care to speak a word. But presently, he felt as if he were going to sleep and that would be to lose so much that he was not willing to do it. "Please, dear North Wind," said he, "I am so happy that I am afraid it is a dream. How am I to know that it is not a dream?" "What does it matter?" returned North Wind. "The dream--if it _is_ a dream--is a pleasant one, is it not?" "That is just why I want it to be true! It is not for the dream itself--I mean it is not for the pleasure of it," answered Diamond, "for I have that whether it is a dream or not. It is for _you_, North Wind! I cannot bear to find it a dream because then I should lose _you_! You would be nobody then and I could not bear that. You are not just a dream, dear North Wind, are you? Do say _no_, for I shall not dare dream of you again if you are nobody at all." "Either I am not a dream, or there is something better which is not a dream, Diamond," said North Wind in a rather sorrowful tone. "But it is not something better, it is _you_ I want, North Wind," he persisted. She made no answer but rose with him in her arms and sailed away over the tree-tops till they came to a meadow where a flock of sheep was feeding.