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Show Mil ME 13 Sy MARY AHA&BOIR MOON'S MISUNDERSTANDING. "Once in n blue moon," said the Fnlry Queen, "I think it's nice to have I ) A In ::V--' a banquet. We don't want to have too many of them, because that would be selfish. There is so much work for us to do, giving happiness to others, oth-ers, whispering secrets to children,, chil-dren,, telling them how to enjoy ev erythlng, that we don't want to spend too much time enjoying A Tear Fell. ourselves alone. But sometimes., sometimes, once In a blue moon, a banquet is lots of fun." "It is Indeed," said all the fairies'. "Will we have a- banquet this very evening?" "Yes," answered the Fairy Queen, "for all the goodies are ready. Such delicious things as I have." "Cheers !" shouted the Fairies. But Mr. Moon was looking down from the sky, and his face was wrinkled, wrin-kled, and his smile was a very peculiar one. It looked more like a sad smile than a happy one, and the Fairy Queen at once noticed that something was the trouble. "Oh, Mr. Moon," she said, "are we arranging our party on a bad night for you? Of course we thought you were out for the whole night, and so we knew this would be a splendid night for our banquet. But if you have another an-other engagement, and have only come out for a little while we are quite willing will-ing to put off our party for another time. We do want to have the moonlight, moon-light, your light, dear Mr. Moon. But we don't want to make anything inconvenient in-convenient for you. Tell us, Mr. Moon, do you want a rest tonight?" "No," said Mr. Moon sadly, "I don't want to rest." "Oh, it's going to rain," said the fairies. "I felt a drop," added one. "And I felt a drop too," said another. an-other. "I'm sure that I felt a drop also," said a third fairy. "I think it is going to rain," said the Fairy Queen. "Even though Mr. Moon is out, a cloud is covering him up and several drops of rain have fallen. We'll have our banquet another night, fairies." And all the fairies cheerfully said, "All right. Wre'll have the banquet another night." "Oh no," said Mr. Moon, and the cloud went away from his face. "I don't want to stop the banquet. And I really meant to shine all night." "Did you want to change your mind?" asked the Fairy Queen. "No," said Mr. Moon. "But why did the cloud pass over your face, and why did three or four drops of rain, or four of youp tears fall to the earth?" , "I couldn't help that," said the Moon. "Are you sad, Mr. Moon?" asked the Fairy Queen. "I feel that something is the matter with you. You don't seem to be yourself tonight. Won't you tell us the trouble?" "I heard you say that once in a blue moon, you llktd to have a ban- quet, and I thought perhaps you knew of another an-other moon, and wanted him to shine for you. I'm not blue that is I'm not really blue, though now I do feel blue, blue and very sad." "Oh, Mr. Moon," snld the Fairy I Queen, "I am so theers!" Shouted glad you told me the Fairies what the trouble was, for if you hadn't told me we might have had a very sad misunderstanding. misunder-standing. "Of course we didn't want another moon, and there Is no other moon but you, dear Mr. Moon. There Is n saying say-ing that I used which means something some-thing quite different from what you thought. "When folks sny 'Once In a blue moon,' they mean 'Olico In a great while.' They don't mean that they want a blue moon, and enn only give such a party when there Is u blue moon, or whatever they are planning to give or do. "Now we were going to have a banquet, ban-quet, and I meant that I thought It was nice to have a banquet once In a great while. That was a silly saying I used, that's all." "I'm so relieved," said Mr. Moon, smiling once more. "I never heard of another moon, but of course how was I to be sure? Such wonderful things happen all the time. 1'cople fly up in the air In airships, rind behave just like birds. So I wasn't sure whether there was another union or not, and that perhaps this fellow was blue. For being blue Ju color and feeling blue in spirits Is different--eh?" "Quite, different." fnld the Fairy Queen. "Yu don't f''i l blue, now, do you?" And as the moon grinned happily hap-pily the Fnlry Queen knew that everything every-thing was all right, and a banquet took place In Fairyland that night. |