Aunt Jo's scrap-bag, Volume 6 : $b An old-fashioned Thanksgiving, etc.Alcott, Louisa May
General
Aunt Jo's scrap-bag, Volume 6 : $b An old-fashioned Thanksgiving, etc.
Alcott, Louisa May
Children's stories
"Why, you see, they frolic all night, and go to sleep at dawn; so we
must get up very early, if we want to catch the elves awake. They are
such delicate, fly-away little things, and we are so big and clumsy, we
shall have to look carefully, and perhaps hunt a long time before we
find even one," replied Aunt Wee, very gravely.
"Mamma says I'm quick at finding things; and you know all about fairies,
so I guess we'll catch one. Can't we begin now? It's very early, and
this music has waked me up; so I don't want to sleep any more. Will you
begin to hunt now?"
"But you don't like to get up early, or to walk in the fields; and, if
we mean to catch a fairy, we must be up and out by sunrise every fair
morning till we get one. Can you do this, lazy Daisy?" And Aunt Wee
smiled to herself as if something pleased her very much.
"Oh! I will, truly, get up, and not fret a bit, if you'll only help me
look. Please come now to dress me, and see if you can find what makes
the music."
Daisy was very much in earnest, and in such a hurry to be off that she
could hardly stand still to have her hair brushed, and thought there
were a great many unnecessary buttons and strings on her clothes that
day. Usually she lay late, got up slowly and fretted at every thing as
little girls are apt to do when they have had too much sleep. She wasn't
a rosy, stout Daisy; but had been ill, and had fallen into a way of
thinking she couldn't do anything but lie about, reading fairy-tales,
and being petted by every one. Mamma and papa had tried all sorts of
things to amuse and do her good; for she was their only little daughter,
and they loved her very dearly. But nothing pleased her long; and she
lounged about, pale and fretful, till Aunt Laura came. Daisy called her
"Wee" when she was a baby, and couldn't talk plainly; and she still used
the name because it suited the cheery little aunt so well.
"I don't see anything, and the music has stopped. I think some elf just
came to wake you up, and then flew away; so we won't waste any more time
in looking here," said Wee, as she finished dressing Daisy, who flew
about like a Will-o'-the-wisp all the while.
"Do you think it will come again to-morrow?" asked Daisy anxiously.
"I dare say you'll hear it, if you wake in time. Now get your hat, and
we will see what we can find down by the brook. I saw a great many
fireflies there last night, and fancy there was a ball; so we may find
some drowsy elf among the buttercups and clover."
Away rushed Daisy for her hat, and soon was walking gayly down the green
lane, looking about her as if she had never been there before; for every
thing seemed wonderfully fresh and lovely.
"How pink the clouds are, and how the dew twinkles in the grass! I never
saw it so before," she said.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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