Teddy dropped the bird as though it had burned him, and there it was not
a bird at all, but the Counterpane Fairy, who stood smoothing down her
cloak and frowning. "Oh! I didn't know that was you; I thought it was a
bird," cried Teddy.

"A bird!" cried the fairy. "Do I look like a bird?"

Teddy thought that she did, for her nose was long and thin, and her eyes
were bright like those of a sparrow, but he did not like to say so. All
he said was, "I wonder why I came here?" for now he knew that this was
the place that he had been coming to.

"I suppose you came to see the dreams go by," said the Counterpane
Fairy. "I often come for that myself."

"The dreams go by!" said Teddy. "I don't know what you mean."

"Do you see that castle over yonder?" asked the fairy, pointing out
across the lake. Teddy looked as hard as he could, and after a while he
thought he did see the shadowy roofs and turrets of a great gray castle
through the mist.

"I think I do," he said.

"Well," said the fairy, "that is where the dreams live, and every
evening they go sailing past here, on their way to the people who are
asleep, and I generally come down to see them go by. Look! look! There
goes one now."

A little boat, as pale and light as a bubble, was gliding through the