Sunbeam and Zephyr

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sunbeam and Zephyr Chapter one. They named him Zephyr because
he was like the wind that rustles the leaves, binds
over the lily bells, and makes the tall pines sing.
Zephyr was a prince among the fairies. He was strong
and big for a fairy, nearly two inches tall. Although

(00:24):
he was young, he had done great deeds. Once with
his sharp sword, he had slain a grasshopper. At another
time he had driven a whole kingdom of ants from
an ant hill. And Zephyr was so clever that all
the fairies would sit still and listen when he began

(00:45):
to talk. Oh the funny stories he could tell. Even
the grave old men like the Prime Minister, would hold
their sides and laugh. Zephyr loved some Beam because she
had pink cheeks like the sweet arbaut's, eyes blue as
the sky, and hair as yellow as the golden sunshine.

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She was so small that she could lie down in
the petal of a rose, and often went to sleep
curled up for the night in a honeysuckle blossom. All
the fairies loved her too, because she was so kind
and good. She was their queen, and they obeyed her.
These fairies lived in the woods and seldom went outside,

(01:29):
so Sunbeam, although a queen, had never been beyond the
long shadow, where the sun goes down at night. Before twilight,
all the fairies went to bed. They liked best to
sleep in the morning Glories, for they made such nice beds,
and they shut up so tightly at just the right

(01:50):
time for little fairies to go to sleep. Then the
morning Glories would open when the sun came up and
would tumble the sleepy little thries out on the grass,
and just laughed to see the little sleepy heads rub
the tew out of their eyes and try to be
wide awake once Ever, so long before, Sunbeam had had

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a dreadful experience, her two uncles, Sunflower and Hollyhock, had
warned her that she must go to bed early. But
one day she thought that since she was queen, she
wouldn't let even her prime ministers tell her what to do,
so she stayed up very late. It was almost half
past six. Hollyhock and Sunflower were very much worried and

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kept saying, please run and get inside that wild rose
and go to sleep, Sunbeam. But Sunbeam wouldn't because she
was a very wilful little fairy then Tricksy Sunbeam's dearest
little friend, and one of her ladies in waiting said, oh,
how funny you look, Sunbeam. Sunbeam said, I don't look

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funny at all, Just the same. She ran to the fountain,
for the fountain was her favorite mirror, and looked into
it in such a sight. Instead of a rosy cheeked,
chubby little fairy, all she could see was a pale,
thin little fairy, so pale and so thin that she
wouldn't have known herself if it hadn't been for the

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dent in her chin where a dimple had always been.
Oh but Sunbeam was frightened. Run quick, Sunbeam said, holy hock,
you're growing thinner. Every minute. Sunbeam looked, and she could
see that she was growing thinner. So she ran and
ran as fast as ever she could, and jumped right
into the wild rose and hid her dear little eyes

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in the soft pink petal, and fell fast asleep. When
she woke, she ran and looked in the fountain again
the very first thing, And you can be sure she
was glad to find that she looked like herself once more.
But after that, Sunbeam never tried to stay up. Late

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chapter two. Zephyr loved Zambiam and wanted to marry her,
but she longed to see the world and told him
he must wait until she had made a trip around it.
Zapfhyr coaxed and begged her to stay at home, but
nothing he could say would change her mind, for she
was determined to take the journey. So she called the

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servants and ordered them to harness two of her largest,
handsomest and swiftest bumblebees to her rose leaf carriage. Then,
dressed in a lovely yellow gown made of butterfli's feathers,
she stepped into her carriage, waved her hand, and with
a loud, buzzing noise, away flew her black and yellow team.

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The fairies watched her, straining their eyes till she disappeared
over the tree tops. And then they all cried and
felt so badly that they nearly wept their eyes eyes out.
Oh what will become of our beautiful sunbeam? They cried?
Will she ever come back to us? I will go

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after her, said Zephyr. Bring me my swift hornet. So
he mounted his black steed, and with a fierce buzzing,
the hornet darted off. He soon overtook Sunbeam, for his
hornet could fly much faster than her bumble bees, and
he was almost up to her rose leaf carriage when
she drove her tired bumble bees into a lovely red

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clover field. She had never seen red clover before, as
they do not grow in the forest, and the side
was a great treat to her as well as to
the tired and hungry bumble bees. She unfastened them from
the carriage to let them meet all the honey they wanted,
and they just ate and ate until they tumbled off

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the clover blossoms to the ground. They were so full.
Now what shall I do? Cried Sunbeam. I can't get
my bumble bees to go. And she tugged at them
and coaxed and scalded, but it was no use. They
were fast asleep. Poor Sunbeam sat down on a clover
leaf and felt so tired and sorry that she cried

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until she too fell asleep. Chapter three. When Zephyr alighted
from his black hornet, he found Sunbeam asleep on the
clover leaf, and, not having the heart to awaken her,
he bent over her and kissed her cheek, and then
went round to the opposite side of the clover blossom,
where he would be entirely hidden. When she opened her eyes,

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just then a dewdrop that hang directly over Sunbeam's head
was shaken, and it fell right on her face, and
so nearly drowned her that she awoke with a start
to find herself alone. Zephyr kept as quiet as he
could for some time, but his poor little Sunbeam was
crying so hard that he finally came out of his

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hiding place and said, my dear Sunbeam, I am here
to take you home. At first, she was so glad
to see him that she almost fell off the clover leaf,
right on the bumble bees, but Zephyr caught her in
his arms. Please can't you wake up my bumble bees,
she sobbed. I will try, said Zephyr, But you do

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not need them, for you can ride behind me on
the hornet. No, no, I must go on my journey,
she said, And seeing her determined to have her own way,
he tried to wake the drowsy bumble bees. He shook
them and pounded them with the long grass, and grew
all out of breath, shouting at them, but they would

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not open their eyes. He sat down to rest himself,
and as he was wondering what he could do next,
he too fell asleep. By and by the bees awoke
of their own accord. So Sunbeam harnessed them and started
off again, for she knew that Zephyr would ride his
favorite hornet after her before she could get fire away.

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Soon she saw a beautiful white field and guided her
bumble bees into it. This field was also all clover,
only it was white clover. It stretched away off ever
so far till Sunbeam could not see the end of it.
The air was sweet with perfume, so that she entirely
forgot the unhappy time in the red clover. Suddenly, the

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bees started so swiftly that she became frightened, and in
spite of all her efforts to stop them, they flew
faster and faster, until she could see nothing but a
dim white mass all around her. Then, with a thump,
they struck a hard board fence and fell to the ground,
and poor little Sunbeam was thrown from her rose leaf

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carriage and nearly stunned by the fall. When she could
open her eyes, she saw that the poor bumble bees
were dead, and then she knew that her journey was
at an end, and that perhaps she could never get
home again. Chapter four. While Sunbeam was sitting among the
white clover, sobbing as though her heart would break, she

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heard a strange noise. It was different from any noise
she had ever heard before. It grew louder and louder,
and poor little Sunbeam became very much frightened. Just as
fast as she could, she climbed up the slippery stem
of a white clover and tiptoed across the top of
the blossom and looked, and what do you think? She

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saw something big and white coming towards her. Sometimes it
would come straight towards her, and then it would fall
down and all the clover would be crumbled. Then Sunbeam
heard a bak voice say, come baby, dear baby, thought Sunbeam,
that is not a baby. That is a giant, more

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than a hundred hundred times as big as a fairy.
Sunbeam was so frightened that she could limped down from
the clover blossom and ran as fast as she could.
Then she fell down and tore her pretty yellow dress
on a blade of grass. That made her cry again,
for it was her prettiest dress, all made of butterfly's wings.

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Poor Sunbeam thought, oh, if Zephyr would only come, and
she began to call Zephyr Zephyr. Luckily, Zephyr was not
very far away, and when he heard her call, it
was not very long before he discovered her and placed
her behind him on the hornet. Together they flew swiftly

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over the fields and rivers till they reached their own woods.
The fairies were so happy over Sunbeam's return that they
sang and danced and began to prepare a great banquet
on the largest oakliff they could find Chapter five. First, however,
they all formed into line, and, with twelve lovely little

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fairy maidens leading the way, went to Jack in the pulpit,
who married Zephyrn's Sunbeam. Sunbeam had on a sweet little
dress made of daisy petals, and Zephyr had the cunningest
black velvet suit made from a bumblebees coat. After the wedding,
they marched back to where the dinner was spread on
the oak cliff. After dinner, the fairies called so loudly

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for a speech from Zephyr that at last he climbed
up on a chestnut and began to speak What he
said was very funny, and a red squirrel came out
from a tree overhead to see why the fairies were
laughing so hard and so merrily. The little red squirrel
was very glad to have a chance to see the fairies,
for usually when they heard him coming, they always hid.

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But now Zephyr's speech was so funny that they didn't
hear the red squirrel at all. The red squirrel thought, oh,
I wish the fairies would invite me to their party.
He saw one little fairy next the Sunbeam, who had
lovely velvety eyes, and he thought she was the dearest
little thing he had ever seen. It was Shrixie, Sunbeam's

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dearest friend, the naughtiest, most mischievous little fairy in the world.
Sunbeam adored Trixy because Trixie could think of so many
funny things to do. When the red squirrel saw Trixie,
he thought he simply must go to the party. He
began to laugh and chatter too, and ran out on
a limb directly over their heads so he could listen

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better to the speech. Here he got to laughing so
heartily that he lost his balance and fell right up
the limb, which frightened the fairy so much that they
ran and hid away under the leaves. The little red
squirrel cannot find them now, and neither can you, nor I.
And of Sunbeam and Zephyr by J. Randolph Brown