The May-Day Queen

 The May-Day Queen by Georgene Faulkner

Come one, come all, to 'the fairies' opening ball!
The long Winter has passed, and Spring's here at
last.
Come, come, fly with me, underneath our old oak
tree!
And there upon our carpet green, we will choose our
May-day Queen;
So come one, come all, fly with me to our May-day
ball!

       The birds warbled and sang this invitation for many days, as they flew to and fro through the forest. As soon as they had come back to the forest they had been calling to the flowers to awaken, and now at last it was time for the fairies' opening ball. The March breezes had blown away the last snow flurries, and now the big broom of March had swept Mother Earth all clean. The sap had begun to flow in the bushes and branches, and pussy willows, in their warm furry coats, crawled out on the branches. The fairies loved the pussy willows and they stroked their fur and called them ''fairies' kittens.'' Sometimes the pussies dropped their little coats, and then the fairies would wrap up in them when the nights were chilly. The hypatica and other early spring flowers also wore furry stems during these first cold days when winter was turning into spring.
       But after March came April and the days were growing longer and warmer. "April showers bring May flowers," sang the little fairies to each other. And when the rain pattered down very hard they hid under toadstools for umbrellas and they laughed at the showers and said, "Soon April will be over and we will have our May ball."
       And now at last the grand opening ball of the season was at hand, and the birds warbled the final invitation: 

"Why not take the beautiful white rabbit? She would make a lovely May Queen."

Come one, come all! Come tonight to the fairies'
ball!
And there upon our carpet green, we will choose the
May-day Queen.
Come one, come all! Come to our May-day ball!

"How beautiful! How beautiful!"
laughed the Fairy Queen.

       After the birds sang the invitation, they sang a good-night song to the fairies and went to their nests. All went to sleep except the old owl, who sat upon a branch of the old oak tree and blinked at the man in the moon. The old owl looked down upon the dances and revels of the fairies' and whenever he heard anyone speak of the May-day Queen, who was to be crowned at sunrise, he would call out, "Whoo-oo! Whhoo-oo-Whoo-oo!" as though he did not understand. But the owl knew as much as any one, for no one knew just who would be chosen the Queen of the May.
       For some time every one in the forest had been. talking about it, and each group of the forest friends wished that the queen would be chosen from their number. The birds felt a songster should be chosen.

       The squirrels scampering about through the trees began to chatter, "We climb higher than any of the others. One of Our number should surely be chosen queen!"

       "Nonsense! We run faster!" said the rabbits. "The queen should be one of us. Why not take the beautiful white rabbit? She would make a lovely May Queen."
       "Buzz-zz! Buzz-zz!" said the bumblebee. "We always give honey and sweet nectar to the fairies.We have our own queen bee. Why should our beautiful queen bee not be chosen Queen of the May?"
       The butterflies flitted about and said, "We carry honey, too, and sometimes we carry the fairies on our backs. We should have one of our number chosen."
       The flowers, as they were awakening, heard all these voices of the forest, and they said softly, "How we wish that the Fairy Queen might select a flower to be the May Queen!"
       The wind was whispering about through the forest and he called, "Whoo-oo- Will you-ou - Whoo-oo will be queen? Will you-ou - Whoo-oo!" And then the wind whispered to the Fairy Queen that he hoped she would choose a flower.
       I think you are right, swift-winged messenger!" said the Fairy Queen to the wind. "And now I charge you, oh wind, to go about among the flower family and bring me word again as to which one deserves the honor of being chosen the Queen of the May!"
       It was May-day Eve, just at midnight, when finally all of the fairies came together under their magic oak tree. The King and Queen sat upon two toadstool thrones and watched their troops of fairies dancing around and around in a magic ring.
       After a time, when they were resting upon the ground, one of the little fairies said, "How I wish that we could have a Maypole dance! Last year I was riding upon a butterfly and we went near the village green and I saw some happy children dancing about a Maypole, weaving bright ribbons in and out as they danced."
       But we have no Maypole and no bright ribbons," said the King.
       "Oh, your Majesty!" said a ground beetle. "We can take that tall branch for a pole and some of these worms can help me dig a hole and plant it. And I will go below and pinch a sleepy spider who lives next door to me, and he can crawl out and spin us some ribbons."
       Soon the ground beetle climbed out of his hole, and waving his pincers toward the King, he said, "Here, your Majesty, is the King of the Spiders, come to do your royal bidding."
       The spider bowed low before the King of the Fairies, and the pole being firmly planted in the ground, the little fairy again explained about the bright ribbons on the Maypole.
       "Oh, I can do that, your Majesty," said the spider.  'It will be like dropping many of my cobweb bridges to the ground and fastening them at the top." Then the spider climbed up to the top of the pole and began to drop down his cobwebs. As the fairies each took hold of one thread at the bottom, the spider was afraid that they would not hold at the top; and so he went around and around, fastening these threads, and finally curled up at the top himself, holding all the threads securely.
       Just as the spider finished his task, the Dew Fairy came through the forest and covered the cobweb ribbons with dew drops. Then the morning sunshine glistened upon the wet cobwebs, making them sparkle like diamonds.
       The birds awakened and all began to sing as the fairies danced about their Maypole.
       "How beautiful! How beautiful!" laughed the Fairy Queen.  "We never had such a wonderful May party. This is our last dance, for we always must stop at sun-up. Oh, thank you, spider, for making us all so happy!"
       "I am glad to have been of service," said the spider, as he slipped down from the pole.
       "And now before we depart," said the Queen, "we must crown the May Queen."

The Dew Fairy then came and put a crown of
dew drops upon the Dandelion's head.

       It was so still in the forest one could have heard a pine needle drop as the Queen stood waiting. "As you know, friends," said the Queen, "I have been watching and wondering who would be chosen, and I have been listening also. The wind, my swift-winged messenger here, and the Dew Fairy have aided me in the selection. So I now proclaim to you all, be it known the Yellow Dandelion with her golden crown is the Queen of the May!"
       "But," gasped the King. "The Dandelion will soon lose her golden crown and turn quite gray, and then the gray hair will blow away and she will be bald! A queen should be beautiful always!"
       "Beauty does not last," answered the Queen, "nor does gold; it melts away, but golden deeds of service live always."
       "When the Dandelion is ready," she continued, "each golden hair turns gray, and these, like tiny wings, carry a seed baby out into the world. And in another season where there was once one little dandelion there will be many. So the Dandelion is beautiful to me, for her whole life is one of service. Hence, your Majesty, I now proclaim the Dandelion as the Queen of the May!"
       The Dew Fairy then came and put a crown of dew drops upon the Dandelion's head, and all the flowers danced about the Dandelion, and the wind helped them to bow before her. The Fairy Queen then touched the grass where the fairies had been dancing and she called the dandelions to come. And soon a carpet of gold seemed to be spread before them and there they glistened in the green grass like golden stars dropped from the sky.
       And when the children came to the forest to fill, their May baskets they found more dandelions than any other flowers. And they crowned their May queen with a golden crown of dandelions, but whether they ever knew that the Fairy Queen had chosen the Dandelion for the Queen of the May, I do not know.