148 The Catskill Fazrtes.

“The eagle offered to carry the guests down the mountain
on his back, and they found the ride very pleasant. Snowdrop
could only think of her lonely mother now, who must watch
anxiously for her return, and so decided to seek the fairy realm
at once.

“ Everything was in confusion; the fairy queen had been
stung by a gnat, which caused her death, and the king was
again a widower.

“* That comes of marrying beneath his rank. She was only
Skimp’s maid of honor, cried the gossips.

“Snowdrop heard them, for she stood behind the bluebell
in which they were swinging.

“«Bless me!’ exclaimed one, raising her eye-glass, which was
made of the eye-hole of a cambric needle set in steel; ‘who
comes here? It is Madam Skimp, and no other!

“Sure enough, it was Skimp, who had heard of the queen’s
death, and decided to return to the court, in hopes of winning
the seat on the throne beside the king.

“ Skimp was lovely. She had bathed her face in flower-dew ;
her robe was sewed out of gold leaf, with a boddice formed of
a single ruby, and trimmed with diamond dust. Her hair was
combed into a high waterfall; her hat was made of a beetle,
and her fan was dandelion down. Never was a more charming
toilet seen; the other fairy ladies nearly died of envy when
she minced along, waving her fan in a fashionable manner ;
and in kneeling before the king she showed two little gold
boots, with red heels, to great advantage.

“The king thought he had never seen Skimp look so pretty ;
and when he bade her rise from her knees, he proposed to drink