In Story-land
_LITTLE BLESSED-EYES; OR, THE FAIRY'S BIRTHDAY GIFT._
In the olden times when fairies could be seen by mortals, they oftentook upon themselves the office of sponsors, god-fathers andgod-mothers, to new-born children. In such cases, the child adopted wassure, sooner or later, to receive some wonderful gift from his fairygod-mother.
One bright, Spring morning, a sweet boy baby came into a humble home,made ready for him by love. As his mother looked fondly upon the weeform at her side she thought, naturally enough, of his future, andwondered what kind of a man he would become. "How I wish," said shesoftly, "that I could give to you, my darling child, the richest gift onearth, so that Kings and Emperors might be proud to call you theircompanion." "So you can," said a gentle voice beside her. The mother wasstartled by the words, for she thought herself alone when she utteredthe wish. She looked to the right, then to the left,--nobody hadentered the room. "Ah, silly woman that I am," sighed she. "I have letmy own thoughts answer me." Again she looked down at her babe.
"I can give him the greatest and most wonderful gift on earth," said thesame gentle voice. This time the mother was quite sure that some one hadspoken, though the voice was unlike any human voice she had ever heard.It was so soft and musical that it sounded like the tinkling of silverbells. The poor woman was quite frightened and drew her babe closer toher side as she peered into the shadowy corners of the room.
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the silvery voice, "Are you afraid of me!"Following the sound this time, the mother's eyes fell upon a tinycreature no larger than your thumb who sat perched upon a post of thebed. The body of this strange, little being was as perfect as that ofany child. From its two shoulders extended two wings as thin as gauze,but gleaming with every tint of the rainbow. Upon its head was a slendergold crown, and its small face just at this moment was bright with amerry smile.
The mother knew instantly that it was one of the good fairies who werereported to be present at the birth of every babe, and who, if seen andrecognized, were sure to bring some good fortune to the child, but ifunnoticed, went away sorrowing, because they were then powerless to helpthe infant.
"What will you do for my child?" cried the mother. "Will you give himcomfort and ease and fill his days with pleasure?"
"Ah no," replied the fairy, "I will give him something _far better_ thanpleasant food and a soft bed and fine clothes!"
"Will you make him great and powerful so that men may bow down beforehim?" said the mother eagerly.
"No! no!" again replied the fairy shaking her head. "I will give himsomething of far more worth than fame and power!"
"You will make him rich, so rich that he will never have to work?"exclaimed the mother.
"Nay, good woman," said the fairy seriously. "These are but foolishthings for which you ask. My gift is greater than all of these puttogether. Pleasure and influence and wealth a man may earn forhimself--and he may be very miserable after he gets them, too," addedshe, with a shrug of the shoulders. "The gift that I would bestow uponyour son will make him the happiest of mortals and will give him thepower of making many, many others happy!"
"Tell me," cried the mother, "how will you make him so happy? No humanbeing is ever sure of happiness."
"Let me kiss him upon his two eyelids as he lies there asleep," repliedthe fairy, "and do you the same each returning birthday and all will bewell."
The mother hesitated; a step was heard approaching the door.
"Quick, quick!" exclaimed the fairy. "I must be off before that dooropens, as it is forbidden us ever to be seen by more than one mortal ata time. Shall I give him the magic kiss or not?"
"Yes!" cried the excited mother, "I trust you will do no harm to myprecious child."
Instantly the fairy fluttered down from the post of the bed, andimpressing a kiss upon each of the closed eyelids of the child, shesaid, softly, "He shall be called 'Blessed-Eyes.'"
The door of the room swung back upon its hinges, the father of the childentered with a cheery "Good morning" to wife and babe, the fairy wasgone.--The mother silently pondered over what had happened and when thechristening day came, she said his name was to be "Blessed-Eyes."
Most of her friends and relatives thought this was a very queer nameindeed to give to a child, and even went so far as to argue with thefather that the little one ought to be named "John" or "James" after oneor the other of his two grandfathers. But as the boy grew into a sweet,healthy childhood, loving and kind to everyone, they were graduallyreconciled to the name, and little Blessed-Eyes became a generalfavorite. He was always sunshiny, always happy. His mother never failedon each new birthday to rise early, even before the day dawned, and togo to his bedside, and, bending over him, kiss his two eyelids as thefairy had bidden. At such times she imagined that she heard a faintsound as of a far-away chorus of strange, silvery voices, singing:
"Love well, love well, love well, That the heart within may swell, Love well, love well, love well!"
Still, she was never quite sure but that it was merely the first mellowtones of the church bell in a distant village.
Long before her child could talk the mother noticed how closely heobserved everything about him, and how quickly he responded to thefaintest smile upon her face. As he grew older it was a delight to takehim out for a walk. He was constantly discovering some new beauty in thelandscape. He saw the first red glow of the evening sunset. His eyeswere the first to spy out the early spring flower, even before the snowwas off the ground. In the late autumn when the wind was sharp and coldand the woods were bare, he was sure to bring home some red mountainberries, or some withered leaf into a corner of which a cunning littlecaterpillar had wrapped himself, sewing it over and over as one wouldsew a bag. Then he would tell gleefully how the frost had touched theponds and changed them into smooth glass. Often on a cold winter morninghe would waken his mother by clapping his hands with joy over thefrost-pictures on the window pane. Sometimes in the evening twilight hewould ask his mother if the stars were pinholes in the floor of heaventhrough which the glory shone. No stone nor cloud nor stream nor treebut gave him pleasure.
"Ah," thought the mother, "this is the fairy's birthday gift. She hasmade his eyes to see the beautiful everywhere." "More than that, farmore than that! Kings and princes shall yet call him great!" waswhispered gently in her ear. The mother was amazed. Who could have heardher unuttered thoughts? She looked up, but she only saw a robin hoppingabout in a branch of the tree overhead. Still she seemed to hear againthe soft but distant singing of the words,
"Love well, love well, love well, That the heart within may swell, Love well, love well, love well."
"Surely," said she, half aloud, "who could help loving the child. He hasindeed, blessed eyes."
As the boy grew older he seemed somehow to know the people about him asnobody else knew them. He was always finding out the best that was ineach of them. Somehow he had a way of helping all the other lads out oftheir difficulties. For instance, early one morning when he chanced tobe passing the old basket maker's, he heard the shop boy speaking inloud, angry tones to the baskets, abusing them for being so contrary andill-shaped. Blessed-Eyes paused, and looking through the open door hesaw the poor apprentice struggling to fit a round cover on to a squarebasket and a square cover on to a round basket.
"Let me help you," said Blessed-Eyes cheerily, "I think you have made amistake, that's all. This cover was intended for that basket, and thatcover for this basket." With these words he put the round cover on tothe round basket, and the square cover on to the square basket, and eachfitted snugly into its place.
"How clever you are, Blessed-Eyes," said the apprentice, "I have beenworking over these baskets for the last half hour." Without more ado heput them upon his shoulder, and started on his errand, which was todeliver them to the gardener at the King's palace.
Years passed by, changing little Blessed-Eyes into a tall young man, andeach succeeding year added to the wonderful power which his eyespossessed, of seeing the
best that was in everything and everybody. Hewas the friend of rich and poor. All sought his companionship, for hewas constantly pointing out to them so many beautiful things in theworld about them which they would never have seen but for him. All lovedhim dearly, for he was just as constantly finding the best that theirinner world contained, and encouraging them to live according to theirnoblest ideals of how true men and women should live. So, you see, thefairy's Birthday Gift was indeed a great, and wonderful Gift.