" Because they are all moon-struck," she answered.

"And what is it to be moon-struck?" he asked.

"Surely you should know, if any one!" laughed the fairy. "To see things
beautifully, and not as they are. On the moon you will be able to do that
without any difficulty."

"Ah," said the little Jackdaw, "now I know at last that the beautiful is going
to come true!"




HOW LITTLE DUKE JARL SAVED THE CASTLE



Duke Jarl had found a good roost for himself when his long work of expelling
the invader was ended. Seawards and below the town, in the mouth of the river,
stood a rock, thrusting out like a great tusk ready to rip up any armed vessel
that sought passage that way. On the top of this he had built himself a
castle, and its roots went deep, deep down into the solid stone. No man knew
how deep the deepest of the foundations went; but wherever they were, just
there was old Duke Jarl's sleeping-chamber. Thither he had gone to sleep when
the world no longer needed him; and he had not yet returned.

That was three hundred years ago, and still the solid rock vaulted the old
warrior's slumber; and over his head men talked of him, and told how he was
reserving the strength of his old age till his country should again call for