once upon a time it was raining very hard one morning. it was just when lulu and alice and jimmie wibblewobble were looking out of the window of the duck pen, getting ready for school.

"jimmie, is your hair combed?" asked his mamma.

"no, ma'am," he answered; "but i'm just going to comb it."

"and did you brush your teeth?"

"no, mamma, but i'm just going—"

"now, now, jimmie, that's what you always say. hurry to the bathroom and clean your teeth at once, or else there'll be a dentist coming to the school looking into your mouth and goodness knows what will happen then. hurry, now, or you'll be late."

jimmie cleaned his teeth quickly, and ran on to school so he wouldn't be late and get a bad mark. what's that? you didn't know ducks had teeth? well, the next time you get a chance, when a duck opens his mouth real wide, you look in, and maybe you'll see them. they're very small, i know, but that doesn't count.

well, lulu and alice ran on ahead, and jimmie came following after. he wasn't late at school because he met bully the frog, who hopped, and so jimmie had to run to keep up. the little boy duck was the first one in the classroom, and the teacher said:

"why, jimmie, this is a delightful surprise. you are not late this morning, though you were every other day this week."

"yes, ma'am," was all jimmie said, as he took his seat.

well, you should have seen it rain! honestly, i don't know when it ever rained so hard before; maybe not since the animals came out of the ark, or the last time i wanted to go to a picnic. some of the kindergarten children got quite wet, because, you see, they were so little that they couldn't hold their umbrellas up straight. and even some of the high school girls got wet, too; but they didn't mind.

jimmie and his sisters didn't need an umbrella, for, you know, water always runs off a duck's back, and doesn't do a bit of harm. it rained when the duck children got home from school, and it was still raining when mrs. wibblewobble said:

"my dears, i don't like to ask you to go out in the storm again, but i do wish you would run over to grandfather goosey-gander's house. he is ill, and i want to send him some hot watercress tea."

now alice didn't want to go because her foot, that she once had cut on a stone, pained her. and jimmie, well, no sooner had he gotten in the house, and taken some bread and butter, with jam on it, than he had run out in the rain again, to play with bully, the frog. that left only lulu to go to grandfather goosey-gander's house, but she said she didn't mind in the least, and afterward she was very glad she went, for she saw a most wonderful sight. just you wait, and i'll tell you about it.

so mrs. wibblewobble put the hot tea in a tin pan, and covered it over with a burdock leaf, to keep the rain out, and then she put some cold potatoes in a dish, for she thought the old gentleman duck might like them as well. then lulu started off through the woods to go to her grandfather's house. it was still raining, but she didn't mind, and pretty soon, oh, maybe in about ten quacks, she came to where mr. gander lived.

well, you would have felt sorry for him if you could have seen him. there he was, sitting on a stool, with his feet in a pail of hot water, and seven bottles of medicine on a table at his right wing, and six bottles of pills on a table at his left wing, and there was a blanket up around his neck, and he had a nightcap on, and he was groaning something terrible; yes, really he was.

"oh, grandfather!" cried lulu. "are you very sick?"

"yes," he replied, "i am very sick. i think i have the pip, or maybe the epizoodic."

"which is worse?" asked lulu, as she set the hot tea and the cold potatoes on the table.

"they are both worse," answered the old gentleman duck. "that is, they seem so, when you have them both at once. but i think i would feel better if i had a hot cornmeal poultice on the back of my neck. only i can't make it and put it there, for i can't take my feet out of the hot water, and i don't know where the cornmeal is, and i'm home all alone, for my wife has gone shopping."

"oh, i'll make it for you," said lulu very kindly. "i know where the cornmeal is." so she went to get some, and, on the way to the meal box she began to think:

"wouldn't it be lovely if a blue fairy, or a green one or a purple one, or even a skilligimink colored one would appear now? i would ask her to make grandfather better. but i don't s'pose one will come, for i never have any luck seeing fairies," and she sighed three times as she opened the cornmeal box.

then, all of a sudden, as she lifted the cover, as true as i'm telling you, if she didn't see something all glittering and shining down in one corner of the box. at first she thought it was the yellow meal, but then she saw that it was a little creature, all gold, with shimmering wings, like those of a humming bird.

"oh!" cried lulu, "are you a fairy?"

"yes," replied the little creature, "i am the golden cornmeal fairy. i have been shut up here for ever and ever so long, and i thought i would never get out. but, since you have let me out, i will do anything in the world for you," and she waved her golden wings, and sang a jolly, golden song about diamonds.

"will you?" cried lulu. "then please make my grandfather better, for he is very sick and has to take thirteen kinds of medicine."

"i will make him well," said the fairy, as she flew out of the box, "and it is very kind of you to ask that, instead of something for yourself. now, you make a nice hot poultice of this meal, which is magical, and put it on the back of his neck.

"then you say this fairy word: bibbilybab-bilyboobily-bag,' and see what happens. but don't tell your grandfather i am a fairy; in fact, say nothing to any one about it, for we fairies are going away for a time, but we may come back later." then the golden fairy waved her wings and disappeared.

but lulu did just as she had been told, even to saying that magical word, and, my gracious! if grandfather goosey-gander didn't get all well in a second, and he thanked lulu very much. she felt sorry about the fairy disappearing so suddenly, but you can't always have fairies, you know. now, if you girls don't lose your pink hair ribbon i'll tell you to-morrow night about jimmie and the black cow.