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The Story of the Opal.

“What shall I tell you of her?” sang the Nightingale. “She is more beautiful than the rose. She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Her hair is silver, and the light of her eyes is far more lovely than yours. But why should you want to know about her? You belong to the Sun, and hate Moonbeams.”

“I do not hate them,” said the Sunbeam sadly. “ What are they like? Show this one to me some night, dear Nightingale.”

“I cannot show her to you now,” answered the Nightingale ; “ for she will not come out till long after the Sun has set; but wait a few days, and when the Moon is full she will come a little before the Sun sets, and if you hide beneath a leaf you may look at her. But you must promise not to shine on her, or you might hurt her, or break her ladder.

“I will promise,” said the Sunbeam, and every day he came back to the same tree at sunset, to talk to the Nightingale about the Moonbean, till the Bullfinch was quite angry.

“To-night I shall see her at last,” he said to him- self, for the Moon was almost full, and would rise before the Sun had set. He hid in the oak-leaves, trembling with expectation.

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