in some terrible way. One night he had a dream that troubled him very
much. He saw his wife sitting crying bitterly in the little home he
used to love, holding the youngest child on her knee whilst the other
three stood beside her looking at her very, very sadly. He started up
from the ground on which he lay, determined to go home at once; but
at a little distance off he saw the fairies dancing in the moonlight,
and somehow he felt again he could not leave them and the pitcher. The
next day, however, he was so miserable that the fairies noticed it,
and one of them said to him: "Whatever is the matter? We don't care
to keep unhappy people here. If you can't enjoy life as we do, you
had better go home."

Then Subha Datta was very much frightened lest they should really
send him away; so he told them about his dream and that he was afraid
his dear ones were starving for want of the money lie used to earn
for them.

"Don't worry about them," was the reply: "we will let your wife know
what keeps you away. We will whisper in her ear when she is asleep,
and she will be so glad to think of your happiness that she will
forget her own troubles."

11. Do you think what the fairies said to the woodcutter was likely
to comfort him about his wife and children?

12. If you had been in Subha Datta's place what would you have said
to the fairies when they made this promise?


CHAPTER VII