“Oh, how beautiful he is!” whispered Tiny to the swallow.
The little prince was at first quite frightened at the bird, who was like a
giant, compared to such a delicate little creature as himself; but when he
saw Tiny, he was delighted, and thought her the prettiest little maiden he
had ever seen. He took the gold crown from his head, and placed it on hers,
and asked her name, and if she would be his wife, and queen over all the
flowers.
This certainly was a very different sort of husband to the son of a toad, or
the mole, with my black velvet and fur; so she said, “Yes,” to the handsome
prince. Then all the flowers opened, and out of each came a little lady or a
tiny lord, all so pretty it was quite a pleasure to look at them. Each of them
brought Tiny a present; but the best gift was a pair of beautiful wings,
which had belonged to a large white fly and they fastened them to Tiny’s
shoulders, so that she might fly from flower to flower. Then there was much
rejoicing, and the little swallow who sat above them, in his nest, was asked
to sing a wedding song, which he did as well as he could; but in his heart he
felt sad for he was very fond of Tiny, and would have liked never to part
from her again.
“You must not be called Tiny any more,” said the spirit of the flowers to
her. “It is an ugly name, and you are so very pretty. We will call you Maia.”
“Farewell, farewell,” said the swallow, with a heavy heart as he left the
warm countries to fly back into Denmark. There he had a nest over the
