whitest snow-flakes, yet stung his cheeks like sparks of fire. Not
only did he see and feel, he could even _hear_ it now: his ears were
filled with a humming sound, growing louder and louder every minute,
like the noise made by a large colony of bumble-bees when a person
carelessly treads on their nest, and they are angered and thrown
into a great commotion and swarm out to defend their home. Very soon
out of this confused murmur louder, clearer sounds began to rise;
and these could be distinguished as the notes of numberless musical
instruments, and voices of people singing, talking, and laughing.
Then, all at once, there appeared running and skipping over the
ground towards him a great company of girls--scores and hundreds of
them scattered over the plain, exceeding in loveliness all lovely
things that he had ever beheld. Their faces were whiter than lilies,
and their loose, fluttering hair looked like a mist of pale shining
gold; and their skirts, that rustled as they ran, were also shining
like the wings of dragon-flies, and were touched with brown
reflections and changing, beautiful tints, such as are seen on
soap-bubbles. Each of them carried a silver pitcher, and as they ran
and skipped along they dipped their fingers in and sprinkled the
desert with water. The bright drops they scattered fell all around
in a grateful shower, and flew up again from the heated earth in the
form of a white mist touched with rainbow colours, filling the air
with a refreshing coolness.

At Martin's side there grew a small plant, its grey-green leaves
lying wilted on the ground, and one of the girls paused to water it,
and as she sprinkled the drops on it she sang:--


"Little weed, little weed,