The birds used to steal the worsted for their nests , but a policeman has been appointed to hold on at the other end . One of the great differences between the fairies and us is that they never do anything useful . When the first baby laughed for the first time , his laugh broke into a million pieces , and they all went skipping about . That was the beginning of fairies . They look tremendously busy , you know , as if they had not a moment to spare , but if you were to ask them what they are doing , they could not tell you in the least . They are frightfully ignorant , and everything they do is make-believe . They have a postman , but he never calls except at Christmas with his little box , and though they have beautiful schools , nothing is taught in them ; the youngest child being chief person is always elected mistress , and when she has called the roll , they all go out for a walk and never come back . It is a very noticeable thing that , in fairy families , the youngest is always chief person , and usually becomes a prince or princess , and children remember this , and think it must be so among humans also , and that is why they are often made uneasy when they come upon their mother furtively putting new frills on the basinette . You have probably observed that your baby-sister wants to do all sorts of things that your mother and her nurse want her not to do : to stand up at sitting-down time , and to sit down at standing-up time , for instance , or to wake up when she should fall asleep , or to crawl on the floor when she is wearing her best frock , and so on , and perhaps you put this down to naughtiness . But it is not ; it simply means that she is doing as she has seen the fairies do ; she begins by following their ways , and it takes about two years to get her into the human ways . Her fits of passion , which are awful to behold , and are usually called teething , are no such thing ; they are her natural exasperation , because we do n't understand her , though she is talking an intelligible language . She is talking fairy . The reason mothers and nurses know what her remarks mean , before other people know , as that `` Guch '' means `` Give it to me at once , '' while `` Wa '' is `` Why do you wear such a funny hat ? '' is because , mixing so much with babies , they have picked up a little of the fairy language . Of late David has been thinking back hard about the fairy tongue , with his hands clutching his temples , and he has remembered a number of their phrases which I shall tell you some day if I do n't forget . He had heard them in the days when he was a thrush , and though I suggested to him that perhaps it is really bird language he is remembering , he says not , for these phrases are about fun and adventures , and the birds talked of nothing but nest-building . He distinctly remembers that the birds used to go from spot to spot like ladies at shop-windows , looking at the different nests and saying , `` Not my colour , my dear , '' and `` How would that do with a soft lining ? '' and `` But will it wear ? '' and `` What hideous trimming ! '' and so on .
The fairies are exquisite dancers , and that is why one of the XXXXX things the baby does is to sign to you to dance to him and then to cry when you do it .
Guch Wa basinette colour day days fall first naughtiness years