the old story; and curious things do happen on birthdays, as every
one knows.

It really did seem rather elfish to look up suddenly and see a
lovely lady all in white, with shining hair and a wand in her hand,
sitting under what looked very like a large yellow mushroom in the
middle of a meadow, where, till now, nothing but cows and
grasshoppers had been seen. Before Marjorie could decide the
question, the pleasant laugh came again, and the stranger said,
pointing to the white thing that was still fluttering over the grass
like a little cloud,--

"Would you kindly catch my hat for me, before it blows quite away?"

Down went basket and knife, and away ran Marjorie, entirely
satisfied now that there was no magic about the new-comer; for if
she had been an elf, couldn't she have got her hat without any help
from a mortal child? Presently, however, it did begin to seem as if
that hat was bewitched, for it led the nimble-footed Marjorie such a
chase that the cows stopped feeding to look on in placid wonder; the
grasshoppers vainly tried to keep up, and every ox-eye daisy did its
best to catch the runaway, but failed entirely, for the wind liked a
game of romps, and had it that day. As she ran, Marjorie heard the
lady singing, like the princess in the story of the Goose-Girl,--

"Blow, breezes, blow!
Let Curdkin's hat go!
Blow, breezes, blow!
Let him after it go!
O'er hills, dales and rocks,