Ever since he could remember the hump always had been
there. Once he asked his mother about it, but she just gathered him into her
arms and said, "There, there, son, mother loves you just the same."
Of course Billy was glad that his mother loved him, but he did
wish he could find somebody who would tell him all about the hump. There were
so many, many questions he wanted to ask about it. "Perhaps," he would
whisper to his little Scotch terrier, "perhaps the angels dropped me when they
were bringing me here. What do you think about it, Bobs?" But the little
Scotch terrier would just wag his tail and lazily blink his eyes as much as to
say, "It's really too big a question for such a little dog to answer," and so
Billy found out that he could get no information in that quarter.
One day when he was sitting in the garden in his little wheel
chair, he noticed a particularly beautiful rose. As he leaned over and
caressed it gently with his thin little fingers, he murmured dreamily, "I
wonder if flowers have souls just like people."
"Why, of course we have," he was astonished to hear a voice
say, and although he looked everywhere he could. not see a single person.
"Here I am," the voice chirped up. This time Billy looked
straight at the rose and was surprised to see a dainty little fairy peeping
out from among its petals.
"Why — why — who are you?" gasped Billy, his big eyes very
round.
"I'm the soul of this rose," answered the fairy with an airy
grace.
"And have all the other flowers, souls, too?" inquired Billy
looking rather puzzled.
"Why, of course," said the fairy promptly. I thought
everybody knew that."
Suddenly Billy remembered about the hump and wheeling his
chair a little closer to the fairy he said eagerly, "Oh, do you think you
could tell me about this-" here the little boy swallowed rather hard, "this
hump? Why do I have it?"
There was silence in the garden for a moment, then the fairy
said very slowly and impressively, "Everything has a purpose, you know."
"But I really don't want it, you see," persisted Billy. "It
seems rather silly to have it when it isn't a bit of use," he went on in a
plaintive little voice, "and, besides, I can't play and have a good time like
other little boys."
"I don't know whether I can do anything for you or not," said
the fairy. "However, I will call a meeting of the fairies tonight and we will
talk it over."
"And will you tell them that I want to be straight and strong
like other boys?" came in tense tones from Billy.
The fairy nodded her head and said, "Be here tomorrow
afternoon and I will let you know the answer." Then the rose petals closed up
and the little creature was lost to view.
Just then some visitors sauntered into the garden and catching
sight of Billy, one of them, a very beautiful girl, murmured, "How dreadful!"
She didn't mean Billy to hear, but he did catch the words, and later, when his
mother went to get him, she found him a quivering little bundle of wounded
feelings.
"Why, Billy, son !" she exclaimed. "You mustn't cry so. See -
you are making mother feel bad."
"But — but, she looked at me so, mother." Then he sobbed out
his story in her arms.
"Listen, son, his mother said quietly. "Your body is only the
little house in which you live. It's your soul inside of you that really
counts."
Then Billy's face cleared because he remembered about the
fairy and all the way to the house he kept whispering, "Tomorrow, I'll know -
tomorrow I'll know."
As his mother tucked him in bed that night she wondered at the
happy, peaceful look on his face. When she bent over to kiss him, she said
tenderly, "What makes my little boy so happy tonight?" And Billy murmured
sleepily, "It's a secret, mother dear — perhaps — tomorrow," and his voice
trailed off into dreamland.
The next day he was in a fever of excitement. He could hardly
wait for the afternoon to arrive so anxious was he to see the fairy again.
When his nurse placed him in his wheel chair she noticed his flushed cheeks
and said with great concern, "I do hope, Master Billy, you are not catching
anything."
"Oh, I 'm all right, nurse," returned Billy, his eyes shining.
"But I do wish you would hurry." Then he gave her careful directions as to
where he wished his chair placed.
Just as soon as the nurse had disappeared into the house,
Billy cried softly, "I'm here, fairy-rose," and the next instant the fairy's
face came peeping through the petals.
"What did they say?" began Billy eagerly.
"S-sh," whispered the fairy. "The Queen decided to hold a
meeting right here in the garden and here she comes now."
Looking up, Billy saw a fairy coming down the path. She was
dressed in shining raiment which glittered when she walked. She stopped in
front of Billy 's chair and said, "Are you the little boy who wants to be made
well and strong?" Billy nodded, too overcome to speak.
The Queen then waved her wand over the garden and immediately
little faces peeped out from all the flowers.
"Listen, fairies." commanded the Queen. "Here is a little boy
who wants to be made straight and strong. As the fairies started to talk she
held up her wand and said, "Wait! We will let him speak for himself."
Billy felt rather shy at being the center of so much
attention, but he knew they were waiting and so he began: "I - I want to be
like other boys so that I can play all of their games. Besides, if I didn't
have any hump the people wouldn't look at me and say, 'How dreadful!' Please,
fairies," cried Billy appealingly, "please take away the hump!"
The fairies talked among themselves for some time and although
Billy listened intently he could not make out a word they were saying.
At length there was silence and then the Queen spoke: "Billy,
I'm afraid we shall not be able to take away the hump, but we will help you to
build such a beautiful soul that people will love you wherever you go — just
for yourself, and they will forget all about the hump."
Of course Billy was disappointed — bitterly disappointed. He
kept his face hidden for some time because he knew it was stained with tears,
and he was rather ashamed to let the fairies see that he had been crying.
Presently the Fairy Queen continued: "And we will give you
such a wonderful imagination that you will be able to make up games that other
boys would never think of. And whenever you wish you may enter 'Make-believe
land,' and have the most wonderful adventures there. You see this land is
meant for little boys like you. The door is locked to boys who are straight
and strong."
And suddenly Billy felt a wonderful peace steal over him, and
he became very, very happy. When he lifted his head he discovered that the
Queen and all the fairies had disappeared and that his nurse was coming for
him.
"Why, Master Billy," she exclaimed in astonishment. "You - you
look different somehow!"
"I feel different and I am different, nursie dear," replied
Billy sweetly as he leaned back in his chair. "After this I am going to be the
happiest boy alive." On his face a strange, sweet expression rested which
comes only to those who have sensed the reality of holy things.
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