_invited_," he said, "and didn't go _with_ theschool to the picnic grounds--but I should have come back with it--at least some of it--but for some men with guns!"
I stamped on his ear as hard as ever I could.
"Never let me hear you mention such a subject again," I said."Nobody in Society would speak to you if they knew of it!"
He quite shook in his shoes--only he hadn't any shoes.
"I'll never even think of it again," he said. "I see my mistake. Iapologize. I do indeed!"
Now what _do_ you suppose happened at that very minute? If I hadn'tbeen a Fairy I should have been frightened to death. At that veryminute I heard little children's voices singing like skylarksfarther down on the Huge Green Hill--actually little children awhole lot of them!
"It--it sounds like the Sunday School pic----" the Lion began toSay--and then he remembered he must not mention the subject andstopped short.
"Has your heart changed?" I said to him. "Are you sure it has?"
"I think it has," he said meekly, "but even if it hadn't, ma'am,I'm so _full_ of Breakfast Food I couldn't eat a strawberry."
It happened that I had my heart glass with me--I can examine heartswith it and see if they have properly changed or not.
"Roll over on your back," I said. "I will examine your heart now."
And the little children on the Huge Green Hill side were comingnearer and nearer and laughing and singing and twittering more likeskylarks than ever.
He rolled over on his back and I jumped off his ear on to his bigchest. I thumped and listened and looked about until I could seehis great heart and watch it beating--thub--thub--thub--thub. Itactually had changed almost all over except one little corner andas the children's voices came nearer and nearer and sounded likewhole nests full of skylarks let loose, even the corner waschanging as fast as it could. Instead of a big ugly dark red fieryheart, it was a soft ivory white one with delicate pink spots onit.
"It has changed!" I cried out. "You are going to be a great bignice soft cozy thing, and you couldn't eat a picnic if you tried--and you will never try."
He was all in a flutter with relief when he got up and stood on hisfeet.
And the laughing little voices came nearer and nearer and I flew tothe Cave door to see what _was_ happening.
It was really a picnic. And goodness! how dangerous it would havebeen if it had not been for me. That's the way I am always savingpeople, you notice.
The little children in the village had grown so tired of being shutup indoors that about fifty of them who were too little to know anybetter had climbed out of windows, and slipped out of doors, andcrawled under things, and hopped over them, and had all run awaytogether to gather flowers and wild Peachstrawberines, and lovelybig yellow Plumricots which grew thick on the bushes and in thegrass on the Huge Green Hill. The delicious sweet pink and purpleIce-cream-grape-juice Melons hung in clusters on trees too high forthem to reach, but they thought they would just sit down undertheir branches and look at them and sniff and hope one would fall.
And there they came--little plump girls and boys in white frocksand with curly heads--not the least bit afraid of anything:tumbling down and laughing and picking themselves up and laughing,and when they got near the Cave, one of my Working Fairies, justfor fun, flew down and lighted on one little girl's fat hand. Shejumped for joy when she saw him and called to the others and theycame running and tumbling to see what she had found.
"Oh! Look--look!" she called out. "What is he! What is he! He isn'ta bird--and he isn't a bee and he isn't a butterfly. He's a littleteeny, weeny-weeny-weeny-weeny wee, and he has little green shoeson and little green stockings, and a little green smock and alittle green hat and he's laughing and laughing."
And then a boy saw another in the grass--and another under a leaf,and he shouted out, too.
"Oh! here's another--here's another." And then the Workers allbegan to creep out of the grass and from under the leaves and flyup in swarms and light on the children's arms and hands and hatsand play with them and tickle them and laugh until every child wasdancing with fun, because they had never seen such things before intheir lives.
I flew back to the Lion. He was quite nervous.
"It is a picnic," I said. "And now is your chance. Can you purr?"
"Yes, I can." And he began to make a beautiful purring whichsounded like an immense velvet cat over a saucer of cream.
"Come out then," I ordered him. "Smile as sweetly as you can anddon't stop purring. Try to look like a wriggling coaxing dog--Iwill go first and prevent the children from getting frightened."
So out we went. I was riding in his ear and peeping out over thetop of it. I did not let the children see me because I wanted themto look at the Lion and at nothing else.
What I did was to make them remember in a minute all the nicestLions they had ever seen in pictures or in the circus. Many of themhad never seen a Lion at all and the few who had been to a circushad only seen them in big cages behind iron bars, and with noticeswritten up, "Don't go near the Lions."
When my Lion came out he was smiling the biggest, sleepiest,curliest, sweetest smile you ever beheld and he was purring, and hewas softly waving his tail. He stood still on the grass a momentand then lay down with his big head on his paws just like a huge,affectionate, coaxing dog waiting and begging somebody to come andpet him. And after staring at him for two minutes, all the childrenbegan to laugh, and then one Little _little_ girl who had a greatmastiff for a friend at home, suddenly gave a tiny shout andrunning to him tumbled over his paws and fell against his mane andhid her face in it, chuckling and chuckling.
That was the beginning of the most splendid fun a picnic ever had.Every one of them ran laughing and shouting to the Lion. It wassuch a treat to them to actually have a Lion to play with. Theypatted him, they buried their hands and faces in his big mane, theystroked him, they scrambled up on his back, and sat astride there.Little boys called out, "Hello, Lion! Hello, Lion!" and littlegirls kissed his nice tawny back and said "Liony! Liony! Sweet oldLiony!" The Little Little Girl who had run to him first settleddown right between his huge front paws, resting her backcomfortably against his chest, and sucked her thumb, her blue eyeslooking very round and big. She _was_ comfy.
I kept whispering down his ear to tell him what to do. You see, hehad never been in Society at all and he had to learn everything atonce.
"Now, don't move suddenly," I whispered. "And be sure not to makeany loud Lion noises. They don't understand Lion language yet."
"But oh! I am so happy," he whispered back, "I want to jump up androar for joy."
"Mercy on us!" I said. "That would spoil everything. They'd befrightened to death and run away screaming and crying and nevercome back."
"But this little one with her head on my chest is such a_sweetie_!" he said. "Mayn't I just give her a little lick--just alittle one?"
"Your tongue is too rough. Wait a minute," I answered.
My Fairy Workers were swarming all about. They were sitting inbunches on the bushes and hanging in bunches from branches, andhopping about and giggling and laughing and nudging each other inthe ribs as they looked on at the Lion and children. They were asamused as they had been when they watched Winnie sitting on theeggs in the Rook's nest. I called Nip to come to me.
"Jump on to the Lion's tongue," I said to him, "and smooth it offwith your plane until it is like satin velvet--not silk velvet, butsatin velvet."
The Lion politely put out his tongue. Nip leaped up on it and beganto work with his plane. He worked until he was quite hot, and hemade the tongue so smooth that it was _quite_ like satin velvet.
"Now you can kiss the baby," I said.
The Little Little Girl had gone to sleep by this time and she hadslipped down and lay curled up on the Lion's front leg as if it wasan arm and the Lion bent down and delicately licked her soft cheek,and her fat arm, and her fat leg, and purred and purred.
When the other children saw him they crowded round and were moredelighted than ever.
"He's kissing her as if he was a mother cat and she was hiskitten," one called out, and she held out her hand. "Kiss me too.Kiss me, Liony," she said.
He lifted his head and licked her little hand as she asked and thenall the rest wanted him to kiss them and they laughed so that theLittle Little Girl woke up and laughed with them and scrambled toher feet and hugged and hugged as much of the Lion as she could puther short arms round. She felt as if he was her Lion.
"I love--oo I love oo," she said. "Tome and play wiv us."
He smiled and smiled and got up so carefully that he did not upsetthree or four little boys and girls