Sandmans Goodnight Stories | Page 8

Butterfly! Think of that! You would have the most
beautiful butterfly in the world named for you, Mr. Peacock!"

Mr. Peacock could not resist this flattery. He told her she could choose
the two tips she best liked and have some one to pull them out.
It did not take Miss Butterfly a minute to fly to the tree near by where
Mr. Woodpecker was at work and ask his help, for she knew he did not
bother butterflies. His work was to find small insects.
Before the end of the summer the garden folk saw Miss Butterfly, but
not plain little Butterfly now, for she wore the most gorgeous gown in
the garden, of blue and black, and the next year all the other butterflies
were jealous of the Peacock Butterflies, who wore the handsomest
gowns in the world.
Mr. Peacock struts more than ever every time he sees one of the
handsome creatures he helped to dress, but no one knows that it was
due to the flattery of plain little Miss Butterfly that the family name
was created.

THE REVENGE OF THE GNOMES
[Illustration: Revenge of the Gnomes]
The Fairies decided to give a party one night, and invited the Goblins,
but they did not ask the Gnomes, because they did not think of them.
The Gnomes live so deep in the earth that the Fairies seldom meet them,
and so they really forgot and did not in the least intend to slight them.
But the Gnomes heard the Goblins talking about the party one night
and they were very angry because they were not asked also.
The woods were very beautiful, and some of the trees were wearing
their red and yellow leaves, for it was late in the summer. When the
moon came out the green and red and yellow made a pretty picture, and
the Fairies were delighted with the setting for their party.
The Fairy Queen had a new carriage made from a petal of a white lily
and drawn by two butterflies. The Fairies all had new dresses of pink

rose petals and they had the fireflies in all the bushes and trees where
they looked like so many tiny electric lights.
Their table was spread on a big rock; the rabbits were to wait on the
table because their coats were white, and squirrels were to do the
cooking in a little hollow. The table cloth was spun by a spider and was
so beautiful that the Queen, when she saw it, thought it was a shame to
cover it with dishes, so she had the rabbits put the food on a rock
behind a tree and leave the beautiful cloth so the Goblins could see it.
But when the Goblins arrived they looked at the table with dismay.
"Are not they going to have anything to eat?" they asked one another,
seating themselves at the table and looking with anxious eye.
Not a word did they say to the Queen about the beautiful cloth, and she
found that it was quite wasted on the greedy little Goblins.
There were so many Goblins that the Fairies were obliged to spread a
table on the ground for themselves, and when the rabbits appeared with
the food the Goblins jumped up and helped themselves before the
rabbits could serve them.
At last the Queen, seeing that it was of no use to have waiters for the
Goblins, told the rabbits to put the ice cream and cake and lemonade
and all the nice things on the table and let the Goblins help themselves.
The bad Goblins spoiled the beautiful cloth the spider had taken so
much trouble to weave; they spilled the lemonade and they crumbled
the cake and the poor Queen was in despair.
The Goblins, not getting the food quick enough to suit them, had
climbed on the table, which, you remember, was spread on a rock. Now,
this rock did not have any moss on it, and it happened that it was one of
the doors to the home of the Gnomes.
The Gnomes are little brown men and they hide under the leaves and
sticks that are so near the color of themselves that they cannot be seen,
so they had been watching all that went on at the party, and, when they

saw the Goblins on top of one of their rocks, part of their number
hurried into the earth and opened the stone where the Goblins were.
Some of the Goblins were quick enough to escape, but most of them
went into the ground, and all the cake and candy and ice cream with
them.
The Queen and her Fairies jumped up and looked around. Everything
was changed and the Fairies shivered as they looked.
The trees were brown