now it seems all different somehow.'

'She means meeting a fairy,'said Dan. 'I never believed
in 'em - not after I was six, anyhow.'

'I did,' said Una. 'At least, I sort of half believed till we
learned "Farewell, Rewards". Do you know "Farewell,
Rewards and Fairies"?'

'Do you mean this?' said Puck. He threw his big head
back and began at the second line:

'Good housewives now may say,
For now foul sluts in dairies
Do fare as well as they;
And though they sweep their hearths no less

('Join in, Una!')

Than maids were wont to do,
Yet who of late for cleanliness
Finds sixpence in her shoe?'

The echoes flapped all along the flat meadow.
'Of course I know it,' he said.

'And then there's the verse about the rings,' said Dan.
'When I was little it always made me feel unhappy in my
inside.'