On New Year’s Eve, while a little girl named Janet lay asleep, the Fairy Grant-Your-Wishes came to call. The Dreamland King had arranged it.
“I’ve come to grant your wishes,” the Fairy said.
Janet thought for a moment.
“Then I wish,” she said, “that my mother and Daddy would know that it hurts me dreadfully when they say that ‘little pitchers have big ears.’ I feel so much in the way when they say it. And when visitors come and say ‘children should be seen and not heard,’ or ‘I used to know you when you were so high’ — oh, I do wish they wouldn’t say those things.”
“Here’s what I’ll do,” the Fairy said. “I’ll ask the Dreamland King to send word to your mother and Daddy — to let them know it hurts you. And I’ll ask him to tell as many other grown-ups as he can reach, too. His messengers will go out tonight by the direct route from Dreamland to Grown-up-Land.”
