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[Illustration]

[Illustration: GOING TO THE MIDSUMMER BALL.]




                   THE

              FAIRY NIGHTCAPS.

             BY THE AUTHOR OF
  THE FIVE NIGHTCAP BOOKS, "AUNT FANNY'S STORIES,"
                 ETC., ETC.

                 NEW YORK:
           D. APPLETON & COMPANY,
             443 & 445 BROADWAY.
          LONDON: 16 LITTLE BRITAIN.
                   1861.




  ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by
                       FANNY BARROW,
  In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
                 Southern District of New York.




             TO MASSA CHARLES,
  WHOSE MOST LOVABLE QUALITIES WERE BUT FAINTLY
             PORTRAYED IN THE
           FIRST NIGHTCAP BOOK,
                  THIS
      THE SIXTH AND LAST OF THE SERIES,
            IS AFFECTIONATELY
                 Dedicated.




PREFACE TO THE CHILDREN.


DEAR CHILDREN,

Here is the last Nightcap book, making six in all. The story of "The
Three Little Fishes" was taken (but very much altered) from a clever
book for grown folks, written, I believe, nearly two hundred years
ago; but all the rest is true, "real true."

I have written them out with my heart full of love and good wishes
for you, and _you_, and YOU; and my only desire in return is,
that down in a cosy corner of your dear little hearts, you will keep warm,
one kind thought of your loving

                AUNT FANNY.




CONTENTS.


                                                                    PAGE

    THE FAIRIES' LIFE; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF WHAT THEY DID IN THE
    BEAUTIFUL HOLLOW,                                                  9

    THE CHILDREN'S LIFE; WITH THEIR JOURNEY TO WEST POINT,            37

    THE FAIRIES' LIFE; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE MIDSUMMER BALL,         77

    THE CHILDREN'S LIFE; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF IDLEWILD, THE STAG DANCE,
    THE BATTLE OF THE FAIRIES, &c.,                                  145

    THE DEATH OF CHARLEY,                                            209




FAIRY NIGHTCAPS.




THE FAIRIES' LIFE.


In the deep shadow of the Highlands, at the foot of the old Crow Nest
Mountain, is a wild and beautiful hollow, closed around on every side
by tall trees, interlaced together by the clasping tendrils of the
honeysuckle, and the giant arms of luxuriant wild grape-vines.

The mossy edge of this magic circle is thickly embroidered with
violets, harebells, perfumed clover-blossoms, and delicate, feathery
ferns. A little brook, overhung with grasses and whispering leaves,
dances and dimples in the bright sunlight and soft moonbeams, and then
trips away, to offer the wild-rose leaves that have fallen upon his
bosom to his beloved tributary lord, the great Hudson River.

Not a bat dare spread his unclean leathern wings across this charmed
place, and the very owls that wink and blink in the hollow trees near
by keep their unmusical "hoot toot" to themselves.

In the short young velvety grass, a starry daisy, or a sly little
cowslip, peeps up here and there, but nothing else disturbs the
lawn-like smoothness, save a tiny mound of green moss near the centre
of the hollow, shaped marvellously like a throne.

It was the night of the eighteenth of June; and evidently there was
something of importance about to happen in the beautiful hollow, for
presently a train of glow-worms came marching gravely in, and arranged
themselves in a circle around the mossy throne; while thousands of
fire-flies flashed and twinkled through the trees. The soft,
coquetting wind wandered caressingly among the flowers, and the
moonbeams rested with a sweeter, tenderer light, upon the little brook
which murmured and rippled, and gave back many a glancing, loving
beam.

Suddenly a silvery tinkling bell was heard, like music at a distance.
Twelve times it sounded; and immediately after an invisible chorus of
sweet tiny voices were heard singing:

  "Hasten, Elfin! hasten, Fay!
  From old Crow Nest wing your way;
  Through the bush and dewy brake,
  Fairies, hasten, for the sake
  Of a mortal, whose pure breath
  Soon will fade, and sink in death:
  We for him sweet dreams will find,
  We will fill with balm the wind;
  Watch his young life glide away,
  Deck with beauty its decay--
  Till the closing earthly strife,
  Opens into heavenly life."

Instantly the air seemed filled with streams of light like falling
stars; the booming sound of humble-bees was heard, as fairy knights
and ladies came hastening to the call through the moon-lit air; the
knights pricking their chargers with their wasp-sting spurs, and the
ladies urging theirs quite as fast with their sweet, coaxing voices.

The grave, elderly fairies, came more soberly. They crept out from
under the velvet mullen leaves, and gravely mounted their palfreys,
which were small field mice, and held them well in, with corn-silk
bridles; for elderly fairies are inclined to be gouty, and don't like
to do any thing in a hurry; like other people, they are apt to go too
fast when they are young--and to balance the matter, are very slow
coaches when they are old.

Several ancient ladies, who had been napping in a secluded nook at the
root of an old tree, waited for their nutshells and four to be brought
up; and as the coach-horses were represented by hairy, white
caterpillars--who were so short-legged, that they took the longest
possible time to get over the ground--and as the ancient fairies had
much ado to fold their wings, and arrange their crinoline in their
carriages, you may be sure they were very fashionably late.

And now a strain of delicious music filled the air, the glow-worms
lighted up brilliantly, and the dew grew heavy with fragrance, as the
Fairy Queen, with a bright train of attendants, floated past in dark
green phaetons, made of the leaves of the camelia, and drawn by
magnificently painted butterflies, harnessed and caparisoned with
gold.

The dignity and queenly presence of her Majesty would have rendered
her conspicuous above the rest, even if her tiny golden crown and
sceptre, tipped with a diamond that blazed like a meteor, had not
indicated that she was a monarch; and the acclamations that rose on
all sides attested the attachment her subjects felt for her person.

She was indeed most lovely; and kind and generous beyond words to
describe; and she had called her court together this very night to do
that which makes both fairies and mortals lovelier and better, with
every new effort. Do you know what it is? It is, _trying to add to the
happiness of another_.

And now the Queen and her maids of honor gracefully alighted with the
eagerly proffered assistance of the fashionable young fairy dandies;
and the court gathered respectfully around, as the beautiful Queen
seated herself on her throne, and gently waved her sceptre to command
attention.

"My lords, ladies, and gentlemen," said her Majesty, in a voice of
perfect music, "I have called you together three nights before our
opening midsummer festival, because I know by my fairy power, that a
mortal--a gentle, lovely boy--will arrive here to-morrow, across
whose young life the harsh wings of pain and affliction have passed.
For a month or more he has so drooped and faded, that I fear, before
long, his pure life will be ended. His mother watches over him with
the undying, untiring love, which only a mother knows. We can help
her, my beloved subjects, and we will; we can steal the venom from his
painful sleep, by giving him fairy dreams; and on our gala nights we
will gently lift him from his couch, and bring him here. His sweet
presence will cast no shadow on our festivities, so pure and lovely
have been all the thoughts, words, and actions of his short life."

A murmur of pleasure rose from the assembled court, and the good and
beautiful Queen saw with delight, that her proposal had given pleasure
to all her subjects, with one exception; and he was her very honest,
but still more disagreeable prime minister, who, being a sour,
meddlesome old bachelor, hated children. His temper was not
particularly sweet just then, because he was making wry faces over an
attack of the gout in his great toe, from indulging too freely in
May-dew wine, and eating too often of roasted tiger-lily, which is a
very highly seasoned dish, and difficult to digest, unless you take
immediately after eating, half a dozen lady-slipper pills, which my
lord the prime minister never would take, on account of the name--for
of course, if he hated children he hated the ladies also--and as I
was saying, he felt very cross, and inclined to find fault with any
thing anybody else proposed; so making as low a bow as his stiff back
would permit, he began, with an abominable nasal twang: "May it please
your Majesty, who is this child you deign to favor so highly?"

"He is called Lame Charley!" graciously answered the Queen. "He is the
darling of all who know him."

"Are there any other children in the family, my liege?" snarled the
prime minister.

"About three dozen, more or less," answered the Queen, f