THE SONG OF
THE DAFFODIL FAIRY

I'm everyone's darling: the blackbird and starling
Are shouting about me from blossoming boughs;
For I, the Lent Lily, the Daffy-down-dilly,
Have heard through the country the call to arouse.
The orchards are ringing with voices a-singing
The praise of my petticoat, praise of my gown;
The children are playing, and hark! they are saying
That Daffy-down-dilly is come up to town!

THE SONG OF THE LAVENDER FAIRY

"Lavender's blue, diddle diddle" --
So goes the song;
All round her bush, diddle diddle,
Butterflies throng;
(They love her well, diddle diddle,
So do the bees;)
While she herself, diddle, diddle,
Sways in the breeze!

"Lavender's blue, diddle diddle,
Lavender's green";
She'll scent the clothes, diddle diddle,
Put away clean--
Clean from the wash, diddle diddle,
Hanky and sheet;
Lavender's spikes, diddle diddle,
Make them all sweet!

THE SONG OF THE SWEET PEA FAIRIES

Here Sweet Peas are climbing;
(Here's the Sweet Pea rhyme!)
Here are little tendrils,
Helping them to climb.

Here are sweetest colours;
Fragrance very sweet;
Here are silky pods of peas,
Not for us to eat!

Here's a fairy sister,
Trying on with care
Such a grand new bonnet
For the baby there.

Does it suit you, Baby?
Yes, I really think
Nothing's more becoming
Than this pretty pink!

THE SONG OF
THE WHITE BINDWEED FAIRY

O long, long stems that twine!
O buds, so neatly furled!
O great white bells of mine,
(None purer in the world)
Each lasting but one day!
O leafy garlands, hung
In wreaths beside the way--
Well may your praise be sung

THE SONG OF THE CANDYTUFT FAIRY

Why am I "Candytuft"?
That I don't know!
Maybe the fairies
First called me so;
Maybe the children,
Just for a joke;
(I'm in the gardens
Of most little folk).
Look at my clusters!
See how they grow:
Some pink or purple,
Some white as snow;
Petals uneven,
Big ones and small;
Not very tufty--
No candy at all!

THE SONG OF THE JASMINE FAIRY

In heat of summer days
With sunshine all ablaze,
Here, here are cool green bowers,
Starry with Jasmine flowers;
Sweet-scented, like a dream
Of Fairyland they seem.

And when the long hot day
At length has worn away,
And twilight deepens, till
The darkness comes--then, still,
The glimmering Jasmine white
Gives fragrance to the night.

THE SONG OF
THE SNOWDROP FAIRY

Deep sleeps the Winter,
Cold, wet, and grey;
Surely all the world is dead;
Spring is far away.
Wait! the world shall waken;
It is not dead, for lo,
The Fair Maids of February
Stand in the snow!

THE SONG OF
THE TULIP FAIRY

Our stalks are very straight and tall,
Our colours clear and bright;
Too many-hued to name them all--
Red, yellow, pink, or white.
And some are splashed, and some, maybe,
As dark as any plum.
From tulip-fields across the sea
To England did we come.
We were a peaceful country's pride,
And Holland is its name.
Now in your gardens we abide--
And aren't you glad we came?

THE SONG OF
THE FUCHSIA FAIRY

Fuchsia is a dancer
Dancing on her toes,
Clad in red and purple,
By a cottage wall;
Sometimes in a greenhouse,
In frilly white and rose,
Dressed in her best for the fairies' evening ball!

THE SONG OF THE ORCHIS FAIRY

The families of orchids,
they are the strangest clan,
with spots and twists resembling
a bee, or fly, or man;
And some are in the hot-house,
and some in foreign lands,
But Early Purple Orchis
in English pasture stands.

He loves the grassy hill-top,
he breathes the April air;
He knows the baby rabbits,
he knows the Easter hare,
The nesting of the skylarks,
the bleat of lambkins too,
The cowslips, and the rainbow,
the sunshine, and the dew.

O orchids of the hot-house,
what miles away you are!
O flaming tropic orchids,
how far, how very far!

THE SONG OF THE PINK FAIRIES

Early in the mornings,
when children still are sleeping,
Or late, late at night-time,
beneath the summer moon,
What are they doing,
the busy fairy people?
Could you creep to spy them,
in silent magic shoon,

You might learn a secret,
among the garden borders,
Something never guessed at,
that no one knows or thinks:
Snip, snip, snip, go busy fairy scissors,
Pinking out the edges
of the petals of the Pinks!

Pink Pinks, white Pinks,
double Pinks, and single,--
Look at them and see
if it's not the truth I tell!
Why call them Pinks
if they weren't pinked out by someone?
And what but fairy scissors
could pink them out so well?

THE SONG OF
THE ROSE FAIRY

Best and dearest flower that grows,
Perfect both to see and smell;
Words can never, never tell
Half the beauty of a Rose--
Buds that open to disclose
Fold on fold of purest white,
Lovely pink, or red that glows
Deep, sweet-scented, What delight
To be Fairy of the Rose!