"Let her go," said the fairy, "for, whatever becomes of her, her power has now gone forever."
Suddenly there was a soft strain of music, and the scullery was filled with rosy light. "They are coming, are coming for me," cried the fairy, and his face grew bright with joy. The next moment the fairy queen stood beside him, and with her were a great crowd of attendant fairies.
The banished elf sank upon his knee before her, but she raised him graciously.
"Your task has been well done," she said. "You have freed the forest from the evil magic that has been haunting it, and now you shall return to the fairy court; and not only this, but you shall be my favorite page and follow in my train."
Once more the fairy knelt before her to kiss her hand.
The queen turned to Goldenhair. "And you, dear child," she said, "you have suffered so much here,--leave it all. Come with us, and with one touch of my wand you shall become a fairy too."
But at this the king started forward. With the breaking of the evil spell all his former love for his little daughter had returned. "Do not leave me, Goldenhair," he cried.
"No," said Goldenhair to the fairy, "he is my father, and I may not leave him; he would be lonely without me, now that the queen has gone."
"Then, farewell," cried the fairies. "The forest calls us, and we have already lingered too long. Farewell, farewell, Goldenhair." So saying, they disappeared, the light and music fading with them.
They were never seen in the castle again; but often in the wood the princess would come upon them dancing in their fairy rings, or hear them call to her from flowers or clumps of fern, for they did not hide from her as they do from others.
Time went on, and many kings and princes sought the hand of Goldenhair in marriage; but she would have none of them.
At last the old king died, and then suddenly there appeared at the court a tall and noble youth. All wondered at his beauty, but no one but Goldenhair knew that it was the fairy of the wood, who had become a mortal being for her sake.
She loved him and gave him her hand, and they were married; and after that they ruled the kingdom together in great peace and happiness.
Ellen looked about her. She was still standing in the golden room of the Queerbodies' house. Before her was the Fairy Tale, smiling down into her face with shining eyes. There, too, were the gander and the Queerbody.
