HOW MUSIC CAME TO FAIRYLAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 323, 7 April 1928, Page 25

HOW MUSIC CAME TO FAIRYLAND

On th» dainty fronds of a prein I preen fern, in the very heart of tn - Zealand push, sat a tiny < lf. Be-w oh l,v nance. handsomely in smart, elfin suit of emerald Steen. !, dainty pink hands hid his featur tlfle large silvery tears dropped through his tiny lingers. * or. la. night, he had been overcome with • great desire to see the world Whei mortals dwell. At his request, tin Fairv Queen had ordered a beautih rainbow bridge, extending from th -;oft velvety-blue sky to the land mortals” Down this lovely bridge IVv Drop had travelled, until he reached the end, where huge kauns reared the .1 : lofty heads above the younger trees ; Through the beautiful bush heb. wandered, drinking in all ns beam I until the pangs of hunger and thin [ which are only known in mortals lam. I came upon him. Then it was that. V tears of distress, he bad climbed up on the beautiful little fern frond. Suddenly his pitiful sobbing ceased Something cold and silvery had fa*ion his little green cap. rolled down hii lace, and Anally dropped on the ui fern frond he was seated on. Oh. hoc like the dew in Fairyland.’ he cried us he stooped to drink the sparklim.. i jewel-like ball of liquid. His thirst thus quenched. Dew Drop lightly jumped from his perch, readto search for something eatable. So*- 1 he found. high up in the state■' branches of a tall tree, an appetisinbunch of large, purple berries. Spread ing his beautiful wings, which glistenand sparkled with every colour of u rainbow, he flew* up into the tree, anu fate his fill. , . . Thus refreshed, he laughed to h.ii self and danced merrily through this place of rare beauty. Now and 1 he came upon little pools of cleai sparkling water and one of these <’ discovered so suddenly that, unable check himself, he stepped into its cold depths. The water was closing o\ his head when he beheld a pret green blade, gaily nodding and swa ing in the wintf and bending graceful; over the pooL Dew Drop clutched it so desperately that he pulled it o and the wind blew both the blade ai.d Dew Drop’s dripping figure to a warm sunny spot in a grassy field. While Dew Drop was letting bin - self dry in the warm sunshine he e.x - amined the tiny blade that had sa\ • • his life. He found that it was aimile to a blade of grass, but differed slight! at the end. where it was broad, b y raised a little on lx>th sides to aliov ■ for a hollow inside. To ascerta. ■ where the hollow part of the blao* ended. Dew Drop took his little silv* knife (sheathed so cleverly in his be* as to appear part of the belt itself) ai. . | cut through the Hate blade, leavinthe hollow part in his tiny palm By some strange impulse he wa 1 prompted to put what lay in his ban

f between his cherry red lips and, to L. ! surprise and joy, a long-drawn, swe- ! note filled the still air. tfo pleased w : Dew Drop with this melodious souxi* that he spread his now dry wings and flew to Fairyland to show the fairi* there his little musical Instrumen That night, by the light of the alive: moon, down the star-strewn milky wa i came a troop of fairies and elves, le , I by Dew Drop, who was blowing b - I little music maker. They wanted i«. I secure the same kind of instrument } Dew Drop was blowing. fc*oon aftr j the still night air was filled with mucal strains, for Dew Drop had broug • ! to Fairyland the greatest of all. —Dulcie Rigden (aged 12).