-LSB- Illustration : But if you look , and they fear there is no time to hide , they stand quite still pretending to be flowers -LRB- missing from book -RRB- -RSB- There are also numbers of them along the Baby Walk , which is a famous gentle place , as spots frequented by fairies are called . Once twenty-four of them had an extraordinary adventure . They were a girls ' school out for a walk with the governess , and all wearing hyacinth gowns , when she suddenly put her finger to her mouth , and then they all stood still on an empty bed and pretended to be hyacinths . Unfortunately what the governess had heard was two gardeners coming to plant new flowers in that very bed . They were wheeling a hand-cart with the flowers in it , and were quite surprised to find the bed occupied . ` Pity to lift them hyacinths , ' said the one man . ` Duke 's orders , ' replied the other , and , having emptied the cart , they dug up the boarding-school and put the poor , terrified things in it in five rows . Of course , neither the governess nor the girls dare let on that they were fairies , so they were carted far away to a potting-shed , out of which they escaped in the night without their shoes , but there was a great row about it among the parents , and the school was ruined . As for their houses , it is no use looking for them , because they are the exact opposite of our houses . You can see our houses by day but you ca n't see them by dark . Well , you can see their houses by dark , but you ca n't see them by day , for they are the colour of night , and I never heard of any one yet who could see night in the daytime . This does not mean that they are black , for night has its colours just as day has , but ever so much brighter . Their blues and reds and greens are like ours with a light behind them . The palace is entirely built of many-coloured glasses , and it is quite the loveliest of all royal residences , but the queen sometimes complains because the common people will peep in to see what she is doing . They are very inquisitive folk , and press quite hard against the glass , and that is why their noses are mostly snubby . The streets are miles long and very twisty , and have paths on each side made of bright worsted . The birds used to steal the worsted for their nests , but a policeman has been appointed to hold on at the other end . -LSB- Illustration : The fairies are exquisite dancers -RSB- One of the great differences between the fairies and us is that they never do anything useful . When the first baby laughed for the first time , his laugh broke into a million pieces , and they all went skipping about . That was the beginning of fairies .
They XXXXX tremendously busy , you know , as if they had not a moment to spare , but if you were to ask them what they are doing , they could not tell you in the least .
broke built called doing frequented look put stand stood worsted