the rose-jar baby had tiny wings, but no one had ever seen them while he slept on the cover of the rose-jar in mamma’s room. one drowsy summer day ray raised the cover from the rose-jar. instantly there was wafted about a faint delicious odor and the lovely little baby opened his eyes and smiled at ray. then he began to fly around the room like a great butterfly, indeed he was not any larger than one. ray followed him about the room and out into the garden and thence down a long path to the edge of the woods.
in this place some very beautiful roses were growing and the rose-jar baby flew right into the heart of one of them. he whispered something to the rose and all at once out of its very center peeped a bright little face. then other faces appeared, until every rose on the bushes showed a lovely, smiling countenance.
“these are my brothers and sisters,” said the rose-jar baby, introducing them to ray, who was delighted to meet them.
the baby talked with his brothers and sisters about many things. they told him about some butterflies who had been visiting them that morning, and other friends. they spoke about the fine weather, and the rose-jar baby said:
“i will not stay any longer because i am on my way to glen fair. i suppose i will see you there later.”
“yes,” answered all the roses together, “we are coming very soon.”
the baby then started to fly into the woods and ray followed until he began to feel very tired.
“will you please rest a moment?” said ray to the rose-jar baby, “and tell me if it is far to glen fair.”
“it is only a short distance from here,” said the baby, “we will soon be there.”
“and what is glen fair?” asked the little boy.
“well, my dear little friend,” said the baby, “glen fair is a beautiful place, where all the flowers that live about here, and many creatures as well, may go to enjoy themselves.”
“what do they all do there?” asked ray with interest.
“that you will see for yourself,” was the answer.
“it seems strange,” continued the child, “that i have never seen it in these woods.”
“it is not strange,” said the rose-jar baby, “that you have never seen it. no mortal has ever seen it, and yet there is a glen fair in every bit of woods.”
“why can’t we see it?” asked ray.
“because it belongs to the fairies and no mortal can find it unless guided there by one of us.”
“you are very kind to guide me,” said ray, and with these words the rose-jar baby continued his flight. ray followed him until he stopped at some high rocks. the baby flew right over them and ray was left alone. “i must climb over those rocks,” said ray to himself, “for that must be glen fair.” he began to climb with hands and feet and was soon on the other side safe and sound. he sat on the grass behind a rock and as he looked around him, he thought glen fair was indeed a beautiful place. ray never knew that flowers had such sweet, smiling faces.
there were ever so many buttercups standing near him laughing and talking together, their faces shining just as if they had been washed with soap. a group of daisies near the buttercups looked very neat with white collars around their necks. some beautiful butterflies were in a constant flutter of excitement and a row of grasshoppers wore tiny spectacles that made them look just like professors. in a few moments ray saw all the brothers and sisters of the rose-jar baby coming into glen fair, and at their head a very large beautiful rose lady. all the flowers bowed to her and called her queen. a handsome butterfly with a velvet cape edged with gold flew to meet her and escorted her to a mossy throne.
when the queen of the roses was seated, some bees who had been buzzing around all the flowers placed some tiny packages at her feet, saying, “a present of our choicest honey for our beautiful queen.”
“thank you, my good friends,” said the queen, and bowed her stately head.
just then a group of dear little violets in blue caps and white aprons, who had kept out of sight all the time, stepped forth and spread a white cloth on a long table. the queen of the roses took her place at the head and all the others sat around her. ray could not see what they had to eat, but he heard the queen say, “this dew is so refreshing,” and she passed her tiny cup to a bluebell to have it filled again. the flowers nodded and chatted, and one of them, jack-in-the-pulpit, proposed a toast to the queen. then all the flowers nodded, and somebody called out, “speech!” everybody took it up and said, “speech, speech!”
little jack arose and said: “ladies and gentlemen and my fat friend the bullfrog yonder, this is a very joyous occasion, so let us all be jolly,—if there is a croaker here” (he glanced at the bullfrog) “we hope he may change his tune. we shall always do our best to make things bright for mortals; all we ask of them is a little consideration and room to grow. when we have that—well, my friends, you have only to look at our beautiful lady to see the result. ladies and gentlemen, i drink to the queen of the roses.”
they all raised their tiny cups and drank with nods of approval at little jack. when the spread was over, there was dancing and the music was furnished by a band of bullfrogs. they played on reeds and wind instruments, uniformed in green and yellow. ray thought it was very pretty to see the rose-jar baby dancing with a tiny humming-bird. after they had danced a while some of them began to play games. ray was very much surprised to see some squirrels playing at baseball. they used a round nut for a ball and a straight twig for a bat. what fun they seemed to have! the pitcher did not seem in any hurry to throw the ball. he rolled it round and round and then over his head and once or twice twisted his whole body. indeed, he had all the airs and manners of a professional. at last ray grew impatient and called out from behind the rock, “play ball!” at the same instant the pitcher lightly tossed the ball and the gray squirrel at the bat knocked it away over some bushes. ray clapped his hands with delight and watched the fun for a long time. his attention was then attracted to some bullfrogs. of course they were playing leap-frog. that is their national game, and ray laughed aloud when a great fat frog would jump over a small one. some spiders were playing tennis over one of their own webs, and it was very interesting to watch them. suddenly a jolly circle of little brown field-mice scampered to the very rock that was hiding ray. their eyes twinkled when they saw him and they began to play ring-ring-a-ring-around, with ray in the middle. he never enjoyed anything so much and clapped his hands while they skipped around. all at once they began to play tag, scampering everywhere, trying to catch each other. ray grew very much excited watching them, and at last jumped to his feet, saying, “catch me, catch me.” then he started to run, with all the little brown field-mice after him. they ran over twigs and stones and in and out of winding paths. they passed tall pine trees and dodged in among green bushes. ray never knew before that he could run so fast, but at last he was out of breath and had to stop.
the mice ran right past him and were soon out of sight. ray looked around and found that he was at the edge of the woods quite near home. he stretched on the warm grass to rest a minute, and while he was looking up at the blue sky the rose-jar baby flew over his head and straight down the garden path to the house. after resting awhile ray arose and followed, singing softly to himself:—
“ring-a-ring-around!
a little boy was found
by some merry field-mice:
don’t you think that was nice
ring-a-ring-around!”
