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 . -LSB- Illustration : A fairy ring -RSB- 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 . -LSB- Illustration : These tricky fairies sometimes slyly change the board on a ball night -RSB- The fairies are exquisite dancers , and that is why one of the first things the baby does is to sign to you to dance to him and then to cry when you do it . They hold their great balls in the open air , in what is called a fairy ring . For weeks afterwards you can see the ring on the grass . It is not there when they begin , but they make it by waltzing round and round . Sometimes you will find mushrooms inside the ring , and these are fairy chairs that the servants have forgotten to clear away . The chairs and the rings are the only tell-tale marks these little people leave behind them , and they would remove even these were they not so fond of dancing that they toe it till the very moment of the opening of the gates . David and I once found a fairy ring quite warm . But there is also a way of finding out about the ball before it takes place . You know the boards which tell at what time the Gardens are to close to-day .
Well , these tricky fairies sometimes slyly change the board on a ball XXXXX , so that it says the Gardens are to close at six-thirty , for instance , instead of at seven .
David Gardens Guch Wa colour day first nest-building night weeks