The Counterpane Fairy | Page 6

it. It looked very little
to have spun all that curtain of silvery web.
As Teddy stood looking at it, it began to sing again:
"Here in my shining web I sit, To look about and rest a bit. I rest myself
a bit and then, Quick as a flash, I begin again."
"Mistress Spinner! Mistress Spinner!" cried Teddy. "Can you tell me
where to find the enchanted princess who lies asleep waiting for me to
come and rescue her?"
The spider sat quite still for a while, and then it said in a voice as thin
as a hair: "You must go through the emerald door; you must go through
the emerald door. What so fit as the emerald door for the hero who
would do great deeds?"
Teddy did not so much as stay to thank the little gray spinner, he was in

such a hurry to find the princess, but turning he sprang to the emerald
door, flung it open, and stepped outside.
He found himself standing on the glass steps, and as his foot touched
the topmost one the whole flight closed up like an umbrella, and in a
moment Teddy was sliding down the smooth glass pane, faster and
faster and faster until he could hardly catch his breath.
The next thing he knew he was standing in the golden garden, and there
was the Counterpane Fairy beside him looking at him sadly. "You
should have known better than to try the emerald door," she said; "and
now shall we break the story?"
"Oh, no, no!" cried Teddy, and he was still the hero. "Let me try once
more, for it may be I can yet save the princess."
Then the Counterpane Fairy smiled. "Very well," she said, "you shall
try again; but remember what I told you, beware of that that is little and
gray, and take this with you, for it may be of use." Stooping, she picked
up a blade of grass from the ground and handed it to him.
The hero took it wondering, and in his hands it was changed to a sword
that shone so brightly that it dazzled his eyes. Then he turned, and there
was the long flight of glass steps leading up to the golden castle just as
before; so thrusting the magic sword into his belt, he ran nimbly up and
up and up, and not until he reached the very topmost step did he turn
and look back to wave farewell to the Counterpane Fairy below. She
waved her hand to him. "Remember," she called, "beware of what is
little and gray."
He opened the door and went into the five-sided golden hall, and there
were the three doors just as before, and the spider spinning and singing
on the fourth side:
"Now the brave hero is wiser indeed; He may have failed once, but he
still may succeed. Dull are the emeralds; diamonds are bright; So is his
wisdom that shines as the light."
"The diamond door!" cried Teddy. "Yes, that is the door that I should
have tried. How could I have thought the emerald door was it?" and
opening the diamond door he stepped through it.
He hardly had time to see that he was standing at the top of the glass
steps, before--br-r-r-r!--they had shut up again into a smooth glass hill,
and there he was spinning down them so fast that the wind whistled
past his ears.

In less time than it takes to tell, he was back again for the third time in
the golden garden, with the Counterpane Fairy standing before him,
and he was ashamed to raise his eyes.
"So!" said the Counterpane Fairy. "Did you know no better than to
open the diamond door?"
"No," said Teddy, "I knew no better."
"Then," said the fairy, "if you can pay no better heed to my warnings
than that, the princess must wait for another hero, for you are not the
one."
"Let me try but once more," cried Teddy, "for this time I shall surely
find her."
"Then you may try once more and for the last time," said the fairy, "but
beware of what is little and gray." Stooping she picked from the grass
beside her a fallen acorn cup and handed it to him. "Take this with
you," she said, "for it may serve you well."
As he took it from her, it was changed in his hand to a goblet of gold
set round with precious stones. He thrust it into his bosom, for he was
in haste, and turning he ran for the third time up the flight of glass steps.
This time so eager was he that he never once paused to look back, but
all the time he ran on up and