JOURNEYS THROUGH BOOKLAND A NEW AND ORIGINALPLAN FOR READING APPLIED TO THEWORLD'S BEST LITERATUREFOR CHILDREN BYCHARLES H. SYLVESTERAuthor of English and American Literature VOLUME TWONew Edition 1922 CONTENTS AESOP THE FALCON AND THE PARTRIDGE (From the Arabian Nights) MINERVA AND THE OWL THE SPARROW AND THE EAGLE (From the Arabian Nights) THE OLD MAN AND DEATH INFANT JOY . .. .. .. . William Blake THE BABY . .. .. .. . George MacDonald THE DISCONTENTED STONECUTTER (From the Japanese) DISCREET HANS . .. .. .. . Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm THE POPPYLAND EXPRESS . .. .. .. . St. Louis Star Sayings BLUEBEARD LULLABY RUMPELSTILTZKIN . .. .. .. . Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm THE MIRROR OF MATSUYANA (From the Japanese) A CONTRAST THE GOLDEN TOUCH . .. .. .. . Nathaniel Hawthorne THE CHILD'S WORLD . .. .. .. . W. B. Rands THE FIR TREE . .. .. .. . Hans Christian Andersen HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN PICTURE BOOKS IN WINTER . .. .. .. . Robert Louis Stevenson HOW THE WOLF WAS BOUND . .. .. .. . Adapted by Anna McCaleb THE DEATH OF BALDER . .. .. .. . Adapted by Anna McCaleb THE PUNISHMENT OF LOKI . .. .. .. . Adapted by Anna McCaleb SEVEN TIMES ONE . .. .. .. . Jean Ingelow SHUFFLE-SHOON AND AMBER-LOCKS . .. .. .. . Eugene Field AFTERWHILE . .. .. .. . James Whitcomb Riley WINDY NIGHTS . .. .. .. . Robert Louis Stevenson THE SNOW QUEEN . .. .. .. . Hans Christian Andersen THE CHIMERA . .. .. .. . Nathaniel Hawthorne A VISIT FBOM ST. NICHOLAS . .. .. .. . Clement C. Moore THE STORY OF PHAETHON THE ENGLISH ROBIN . .. .. .. . Harrison Weir TOM, THE WATER BABY . .. .. .. . Charles Kingsley THE MILKMAID . .. .. .. . Jeffreys Taylor HOLGER DANSKE . .. .. .. . Hans Christian Andersen WHAT THE OLD MAN DOES is ALWAYS RIGHT . .. .. .. . Hans Christian Andersen THE FAIRIES OF CALDON-LOW . .. .. .. . Mary Howitt WHO STOLE THE BIRD'S NEST? . .. .. .. . L. Maria Child THE FIRST SNOWFALL . .. .. .. . James Russell Lowell THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER . .. .. .. . John Ruskin THE STORY OF ESTHER THE DARNING-NEEDLE . .. .. .. . Hans Christian Andersen THE POTATO . .. .. .. . Thomas Moore THE QUEEN OF THE UNDERWORLD ORIGIN OF THE OPAL IN TIME'S SWING . .. .. .. . Lucy Larcom WHY THE SEA IS SALT . .. .. .. . Mary Howitt PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES For Classification of Selections, see General Index at end of Volume X. ILLUSTRATIONS KAY AND GERDA AT PLAY AMONG THE FLOWEBS . .. (Color Plate) ArthurHendersonAESOP (Halftone) . .. .. From Painting by VelasquezTHE OWL . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenTHE SPARROW AND THE EAGLE . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenINFANT JOY . .. .. Lucille EndersJAPANESE GATE . .. .. Herbert N RudeenTHE STONECUTTER AND HIS SILKEN COUCH . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenEVERYTHING REJOICED IN A NEW GROWTH . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenBLUEBEARD . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenTHE PASS KEY . .. .. UncreditedSHE SLIPPED SILENTLY AWAY . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenSISTER ANN WATCHING FROM THE TOWER . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenRUMPELSTILTZKIN . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenAWAITING THE RETURN OF THE FATHER . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenJAPANESE LANTERN . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenHER GREATEST PLEASURE WAS TO LOOK INTO THE MIRROR . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenYEARNING LOVE . .. .. Lucille EndersTHE FIGURE OF A STRANGER IN THE SUNBEAM . .. .. Arthur HendersonMARYGOLD WAS A GOLDEN STATUE . .. .. Arthur HendersonTHE CHILD'S WORLD . .. .. Marion MillerTHE SWALLOWS AND THE STORK CAME . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenTHE FAT MAN TOLD ABOUT KLUMPEY-DUMPEY . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenHANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN . .. .. (Halftone) UncreditedPICTURE BOOKS IN WINTER . .. .. Iris Weddell WhiteTHE GODS WERE AMAZED . .. .. A. H. WinklerHODER HURLED THE DART . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenSTRANGE OPAL LIGHTS FILTERED THROUGH THE WATER . .. .. A. H. WinklerTHOR'S HAND GRIPPED HIM . .. .. W. O. ReeseSHUFFLE-SHOON AND AMBER-LOCKS . .. .. Lucille EndersHOLLYHOCKS . .. .. Donn P. CraneTHE GOBLIN AND THE MIRROR . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenTHE SNOW-FLAKE AT LAST BECAME A MAIDEN . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenTHEY FLEW OVER WOODS AND LAKES . .. .. Herbert N Rudeen"HE IS BLOWING BUBBLES" . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenTHE CROW STOPPED TO LOOK AT HER . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenTHE REINDEER RAN AS FAST AS IT COULD GO . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenTHE SNOW QUEEN'S CASTLE . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenPEGASUS AT THE FOUNTAIN . .. .. Herbert N RudeenPEGASUS DARTED DOWN ASLANT . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenST. NICHOLAS . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenIN VAIN PHAETHON PULLED AT THE REINS . .. .. Donn P. CraneTHERE WAS A LITTLE CHIMNEY SWEEP, AND HIS NAME WAS TOM . .. .. Donn P. CraneTHEY CAME UP WITH A POOR IRISH WOMAN . .. .. Donn P. CraneBEES AND HIVES . .. .. Donn P. CraneHARTHOVER PLACE . .. .. Donn P. CraneALL RAN AFTER TOM . .. .. Donn P. CraneTOM LOOKED DOWN THE CLIFF . .. .. Donn P. CraneTHE OLD DAME LOOKED AT TOM . .. .. Donn P. CraneTOM LOOKED INTO THE CLEAR WATER . .. .. Donn P. CraneSIR JOHN SEARCHING FOR TOM . .. .. Donn P. CraneTOM WAS NOW A WATER BABY . .. .. Donn P. Crane"OH, YOU BEAUTIFUL CREATURE!" SAID TOM . .. .. Donn P. CraneTOM ESCAPED THE OTTER . .. .. Donn P. CraneTHE SALMON, KING OF ALL THE FISH . .. .. Donn P. CraneTOM ON THE BUOY . .. .. Donn P. CranePORPOISES . .. .. Donn P. CraneA LOBSTER . .. .. Donn P. CraneELLIE AND THE PROFESSOR . .. .. Donn P. CraneMRS. BEDONEBYASYOUDID . .. .. Donn P. CraneSHE TOOK TOM IN HER ARMS . .. .. Donn P. CraneTOM FOUND THE CABINET . .. .. Donn P. CraneTHE LAST OF THE GAIRFOWL . .. .. Donn P. CraneAND BEHOLD, IT WAS ELLIE . .. .. Donn P. CraneHOLGER DANSKE . .. .. Arthur HendersonTHE FIGUREHEAD . .. .. Arthur Henderson"MY DEAR GOOD HUSBAND" . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenTHE FAIRIES OF CALDON-LOW . .. .. Iris Weddell WhiteWHO STOLE THE BIRD'S NEST? . .. .. Herbert N. Rudeen"FATHER, WHO MAKES IT SNOW?" . .. .. Iris Weddell White"HELLO! I'M WET, LET ME IN" . .. .. Donn P. Crane"SORRY TO INCOMMODE YOU" . .. .. Donn P. Crane"PRAY SIR, WERE YOU MY MUG?" . .. .. Donn P. Crane"THOU HAST HAD THY SHARE OF LIFE" . .. .. Donn P. CraneHE CAST THE FLASK INTO THE STREAM . .. .. Donn P. CraneTHE DWARF SHOOK THE DROPS INTO THE FLASK . .. .. Donn P. CraneMORDECAI IN THE KING'S GATE . .. .. Arthur HendersonHE PUT ON SACKCLOTH AND ASHES . .. .. Arthur HendersonTHEN HAMAN WAS AFRAID . .. .. Arthur HendersonPLUTO SEIZED PROSERPINA . .. .. Arthur HendersonIN TIME'S SWING . .. .. Herbert N. RudeenSO THE BARGAIN WAS MADE . .. .. Mildred Lyon AESOP Many centuries ago, more than six hundred years before Christ was born, there lived in Greece a man by the name of Aesop. We do not know verymuch about him, and no one can tell exactly what he wrote, or even thathe ever wrote anything. We know he was a slave and much wiser than his masters, but whether hewas a fine, shapely man or a hunchback and a cripple we cannot be sure, for different people have written very differently about him. No matter what he was or how he lived, many, many stories are still toldabout him, and the greater part of the fables we all like to read aresaid to have been written or told by him, and everybody still calls themAesop's fables. Some of the stories told about him are curious indeed. Here are a few ofthem. In those days men were sold as slaves in the market, as cattle are soldnow. One day Aesop and two other men were put up at auction. Xanthus, awealthy man, wanted a slave, and he said to the men: "What can you do?" The two men bragged large about the things they could do, for bothwanted a rich master like Xanthus. "But what can you do?" said Xanthus, turning to Aesop. "The others can do so much and so well, " said Aesop, "that there'snothing left for me to do. " "Will you be honest and faithful if I buy you?" "I shall be that whether you buy me or not. " "Will you promise not to run away?" "Did you ever hear, " answered Aesop, "of a bird in a cage that promisedto stay in it?" Xanthus was so much pleased with the answers that he bought Aesop. Some time afterward, Xanthus, wishing to give a dinner to some of hisfriends, ordered Aesop to furnish the finest feast that money could buy. The first course Aesop supplied was of tongues cooked in many ways, andthe second of tongues and the third and the fourth. Then Xanthus calledsharply to Aesop: "Did I not tell you, sirrah, to provide the choicest dainties that moneycould procure?" "And what excels the tongue?" replied Aesop. "It is the great channel oflearning and philosophy. By this noble organ everything wise and good isaccomplished. " The company applauded Aesop's wit, and good humor was restored. "Well, " said Xanthus to the guests, "pray do me the favor of dining withme again to-morrow. And if this is your best, " continued he turning toAesop, "pray, to-morrow let us have some of the worst meat you canfind. " The next day, when dinner-time came, the guests were assembled. Greatwas their astonishment and great the anger of Xanthus at finding thatagain nothing but tongue was put upon the table. "How, sir, " said Xanthus, "should tongues be the best of meat one day, and the worst another?" "What, " replied Aesop, "can be worse than the tongue? What wickedness isthere under the sun that it has not a part in? Treasons, violence, injustice, and fraud are debated and resolved upon by the tongue. It isthe ruin of empires, of cities, and of private friendships. " * * * * * At another time Xanthus very foolishly bet with a scholar that he coulddrink the sea dry. Alarmed, he consulted Aesop. "To perform your wager, " said Aesop, "you know is impossible, but I willshow you how to evade it. " They accordingly met the scholar, and went with him and a great numberof people to the seashore, where Aesop had provided a table with severallarge glasses upon it, and men who stood around with ladles with whichto fill the glasses. Xanthus, instructed by Aesop, gravely took his seat at the table. Thebeholders looked on with astonishment, thinking that he must surely havelost his senses. "My agreement, " said he, turning to the scholar, "is to drink up thesea. I said nothing of the rivers and streams that are everywhereflowing into it. Stop up these, and I will proceed to fulfill myengagement. " * * * * * It is said that at one time when Xanthus started out on a long journey, he ordered his servants to get all his things together and put them upinto bundles so that they could carry them. When everything had been neatly tied up, Aesop went to his master andbegged for the lightest bundle. Wishing to please his favorite slave, the master told Aesop to choose for himself the one he preferred tocarry. Looking them all over, he picked up the basket of bread andstarted off with it on the journey. The other servants laughed at hisfoolishness, for that basket was the heaviest of all. When dinner-time came, Aesop was very tired, for he had had a difficulttime to carry his load for the last few hours. When they had rested, however, they took bread from the basket, each taking an equal share. Half the bread was eaten at this one meal, and when supper-time came therest of it disappeared. For the whole remainder of the journey, which ran far into the night andwas over rough roads, up and down hills, Aesop had nothing to carry, while the loads of the other servants grew heavier and heavier withevery step. The people of the neighborhood in which Aesop was a slave one dayobserved him attentively looking over some poultry in a pen that wasnear the roadside; and those idlers, who spent more time in prying intoother people's affairs than in adjusting their own, asked why hebestowed his attention on those animals. "I am surprised, " replied Aesop, "to see how mankind imitate thisfoolish animal. " "In what?" asked the neighbors. "Why, in crowing so well and scratching so poorly, " rejoined Aesop. [Illustration: "AESOP" Painting by Valasquez, Madrid ] Fables, you know, are short stories, usually about animals and things, which are made to talk like human beings. Fables are so bright andinteresting in themselves that both children and grown-ups like to readthem. Children see first the story, and bye and bye, after they havethought more about it and have grown older, they see how much wisdomthere is in the fables. For an example, there is the fable of the crab and its mother. They werestrolling along the sand together when the mother said, "Child, you arenot walking gracefully. You should walk straight forward, withouttwisting from side to side. " "Pray, mother, " said the young one, "if you will set the example, I willfollow it. " Perhaps children will think the little crab was not very respectful, butthe lesson is plain that it is always easier to give good advice than itis to follow it. There is another, which teaches us to be self-reliant and resourceful. Acrow, whose throat was parched and dry with thirst, saw a pitcher in thedistance. In great joy he flew to it, but found that it held only alittle water, and even that was too near the bottom to be reached, forall his stooping and straining. Next he tried to overturn the pitcher, thinking that he would at leastbe able to catch some of the water as it trickled out. But this he wasnot strong enough to do. In the end he found some pebbles lying near, and by dropping them one by one into the pitcher, he managed at last toraise the water up to the very brim, and thus was able to quench histhirst. THE FALCON AND THE PARTRIDGE From The Arabian Nights Once upon a time a Falcon stooped from its flight and seized aPartridge; but the latter freed himself from the seizer, and enteringhis nest, hid himself there. The Falcon followed apace and called out tohim, saying: "O imbecile, I saw you hungry in the field and took pity on you; so Ipicked up for you some grain and took hold of you that you might eat;but you fled from me, and I know not the cause of your flight, except itwere to put upon me a slight. Come out, then, and take the grain I havebrought you to eat, and much good may it do you, and with your healthagree. " When the Partridge heard these words he believed, and came out to theFalcon, who thereupon struck his talons into him and seized him. Cried the Partridge, "Is this that which you told me you had brought mefrom the field, and whereof you told me to eat, saying, 'Much good mayit do you, and with your health agree?' Thou hast lied to me, and mayGod cause what you eat of my flesh to be a killing poison in your maw!" When the Falcon had eaten the Partridge his feathers fell off, hisstrength failed, and he died on the spot. Know that he who digs for hisbrother a pit, himself soon falls into it. MINERVA AND THE OWL "My most solemn and wise bird, " said Minerva one day to her Owl, "I havehitherto admired you for your profound silence; but I have now a mind tohave you show your ability in discourse, for silence is only admirablein one who can, when he pleases, triumph by his eloquence and charm withgraceful conversation. " The Owl replied by solemn grimaces, and made dumb signs. Minerva badehim lay aside that affectation and begin; but he only shook his wisehead and remained silent. Thereupon Minerva commanded him to speakimmediately, on pain of her displeasure. The Owl, seeing no remedy, drew up close to Minerva, and whispered verysoftly in her ear this sage remark: "Since the world is grown sodepraved, they ought to be esteemed most wise who have eyes to see andwit to hold their tongues. " THE SPARROW AND THE EAGLE From The Arabian Nights Once a Sparrow, flitting over a flock of sheep, saw a great Eagle swoopdown upon a newly weaned lamb and carry it up in his claws and fly away. Thereupon the Sparrow clapped his wings and said, "I will do even asthis Eagle did. " So he waxed proud in his own conceit, and, mimicking one greater thanhe, flew down forthright and lighted on the back of a fat ram with athick fleece, that was matted by his lying till it was like woolen felt. As soon as the Sparrow pounced upon the sheep's back he flopped hiswings to fly away, but his feet became tangled in the wool, and, howeverhard he tried, he could not set himself free. While all this was passing, the shepherd was looking on, having seenwhat happened first with the Eagle and afterward with the Sparrow. So ina great rage he came up to the wee birdie and seized him. He plucked outhis wing feathers and carried him to his children. "What is this?" asked one of them. "This, " he answered, "is he that aped a greater than himself and came togrief. " The Old Man and Death A poor and toil-worn peasant, bent with years and groaning beneath theweight of a heavy fagot of firewood which he carried, sought, weary andsore-footed, to gain his distant cottage. Unable to bear the weight ofhis burden longer, he let it fall by the roadside, and lamented his hardfate. "What pleasure have I known since I first drew breath in this sad world?From dawn to dusk it has been hard work and little pay! At home is anempty cupboard, a discontented wife, and lazy and disobedient children!O Death! O Death! come and free me from my troubles!" At once the ghostly King of Terrors stood before him and asked, "What doyou want with me?" "Noth-nothing, " stammered the frightened peasant, "except for you tohelp me put again upon my shoulders the bundle of fagots I have letfall!" INFANT JOY By William Blake "I have no name; I am but two days old. ""What shall I call thee?" "I happy am;Joy is my name. "Sweet joy befall thee! Pretty Joy!Sweet Joy, but two days old. Sweet Joy I call thee: Thou dost smile: I sing the while, "Sweet joy befall thee!" THE BABY By George Macdonald Where did you come from, baby dear?Out of the everywhere into the here. Where did you get your eyes so blue?Out of the sky as I came through. What makes the light in them sparkle and spin?Some of the starry spikes left in. Where did you get that little tear?I found it waiting when I got here. What makes your forehead so smooth and high?A soft hand stroked it as I went by. What makes your cheek like a warm white rose?Something better than any one knows. Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss?Three angels gave me at once a kiss. Where did you get that pearly ear?God spoke, and it came out to hear. Where did you get those arms and hands?Love made itself into hooks and bands. Feet, whence did you come, you darling things?From the same box as the cherub's wings. How did they all just come to be you?God thought about me, and so I grew. But how did you come to us, you dear?God thought of YOU, and so I am here. THE DISCONTENTED STONECUTTER Adapted from the Japanese Once upon a time there was a man who worked from early morning till lateat night cutting building stones out of the solid rock. His pay wassmall and hardly enough to keep his wife and children from starving. Sothe poor stonecutter grew discontented and sighed and moaned bitterlyover his hard lot. One day when his work seemed harder than usual and his troubles morethan he could bear he cried out in despair: "Oh, I wish I could be rich and lie at ease on a soft couch with acurtain of red silk!" Just then a beautiful fairy floated down from heaven, and softly said, "Thy wish is granted thee. " So the poor stonecutter found himself richand powerful and resting easily on his silken couch with its redcurtain. As he gazed out, however, he saw the king of the country rideby with many horsemen before and behind him, and with a great goldensunshade held over his head. It irritated the rich man to have noparasol over his head and to see another more powerful than himself, andin his discontentment he exclaimed, "Would that I were a king such asthat one. " Once again his good fairy appeared, waved his wand, and said, "It shallbe as thou desirest. " Immediately the man was king, and before him andbehind him rode his men-at-arms, and over his head was a goldensunshade. But elsewhere the sun shone fiercely down and dried up thevegetation with its terrible heat. It was reflected into theface of the king so that even the golden sunshade did not keep him fromsuffering. Once more he sighed discontentedly, "If I could only be thesun!" [Illustration: THE STONECUTTER AND HIS SILKEN COUCH] Almost before he spoke he found himself to be the sun, and he beganjoyously to send his fiery rays above, below and everywhere roundabouthim. He scorched the grass of the earth, and burned the faces of itsrulers and felt his power unlimited until a little cloud placed itselfbetween him and the earth and threw back his scorching rays. It stillangered him to find something more powerful than himself, and he wishedaloud that he might be the cloud. [Illustration: EVERYTHING REJOICED IN A NEW GROWTH] Again his wish was granted, and he found himself floating where hewished through the sky. He ran between the sun and the earth andsheltered the latter so that the grass grew green, the trees leaved outagain, and everything rejoiced in a new growth. Then he sent greatfloods of rain upon the earth, filled the rivers till they overflowed, swept homes and herds into the sea, and destroyed the works of man inevery direction. But try as he would he could not move one great rockthat stood right across his way. Though he sent waters that roaredaround its base and pushed hard against it, yet it remained immovable. Such a failure angered the man-cloud, and again he cried out, "Wouldthat I were a rock, so strong and immovable is it. " This time, also, his guardian angel interfered, and he found himself arock that withstood the sun, the wind and the waters. But then, one day, there came along a rude stonecutter, who with chisel and heavy hammerbegan to cut the great rock into small, regular building stones. "Whatdoes this mean?" cried the rock. "Has this man power to cut me inpieces? Surely I am weaker than he! Would I were a stonecutter!" "As thou wishest, so shall it be, " said his guardian angel, andimmediately he was again a stonecutter, working hard as before and forsmall wages, but happy and contented with his lot. DISCREET HANS By Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm Hans's mother asked, "Whither are you going, Hans?" "To Grethel's, " replied he. "Behave well, Hans. " "I will take care; good-bye, mother. " "Good-bye, Hans. " Hans came to Grethel. "Good day, " said he. "Good day, " replied Grethel. "What treasure do you bring today?" "I bring nothing. Have you anything to give?" Grethel presented Hans with a needle. "Good-bye, " said he. "Good-bye, Hans. " Hans took the needle, stuck it in a load of hay, and walked home behindthe wagon. "Good evening, mother. " "Good evening, Hans. Where have you been?" "To Grethel's. " "And what have you given her?" "Nothing; she has given me something. " "What has Grethel given you?" "A needle, " said Hans. "And where have you put it?" "In the load of hay. " "Then you have behaved stupidly, Hans; you should put needles on yourcoat sleeve. " "To behave better, do nothing at all, " thought Hans. "Whither are you going, Hans?" "To Grethel's, mother. " "Behave well, Hans. " "I will take care; good-bye mother. " "Good-bye, Hans. " Hans came to Grethel. "Good day, " said he. "Good day, Hans. What treasure do you bring?" "I bring nothing. Have you anything to give?" Grethel gave Hans a knife. "Good-bye, Grethel. " "Good-bye, Hans. " Hans took the knife, put it in his sleeve and went home. "Good evening, mother. " "Good evening, Hans. Where have you been?" "To Grethel's. " "And what did you take to her?" "I took nothing; she has given something to me. " "And what did she give you?" "A knife, " said Hans. "And where have you put it?" "In my sleeve. " "Then you have behaved foolishly again, Hans; you should put knives inyour pocket. " "To behave better, do nothing at all, " thought Hans. "Whither are you going, Hans?" "To Grethel's, mother. " "Behave well, Hans. " "I will take care; good-bye, mother. " "Good-bye, Hans. " Hans came to Grethel. "Good day, Grethel. " "Good day, Hans. What treasure do you bring?" "I bring nothing; have you anything to give?" Grethel gave Hans a young goat. "Good-bye, Grethel. " "Good-bye, Hans. " Hans took the goat, tied its legs and put it in his pocket. Just as hereached home it was suffocated. "Good evening, mother. " "Good evening, Hans. Where have you been?" "To Grethel's. " "And what did you take to her?" "I took nothing; she gave to me. " "And what did Grethel give you?" "A goat. " "Where did you put it, Hans?" "In my pocket. " "There you acted stupidly, Hans; you should have tied the goat with arope. " "To behave better, do nothing, " thought Hans. "Whither away, Hans?" "To Grethel's, mother. " "Behave well, Hans. " "I will take care; good-bye, mother. " "Good-bye, Hans. " Hans came to Grethel. "Good day, " said he. "Good day, Hans. What treasure do you bring?" "I have nothing. Have you anything to give?" Grethel gave Hans a piece of bacon. "Good-bye, Grethel. " "Good-bye, Hans. " Hans took the bacon, tied it with a rope, and swung it to and fro, sothat the dogs came and ate it up. When he reached home he held the ropein his hand, but there was nothing on it. "Good evening, mother, " said he. "Good evening, Hans. Where have you been?" "To Grethel's, mother. " "What did you take her?" "I took nothing; she gave to me. " "And what did Grethel give you?" "A piece of bacon, " said Hans. "And where have you put it?" "I tied it with a rope, swung it about, and the dogs came and ate itup. " "There you acted stupidly, Hans; you should have carried the bacon onyour head. " "To behave better, do nothing, " thought Hans. "Whither away, Hans?" "To Grethel's, mother. " "Behave well, Hans. " "I'll take care; good-bye, mother. " "Good-bye, Hans. " Hans came to Grethel. "Good day, " said he. "Good day, Hans. What treasure do you bring?" "I bring nothing. Have you anything to give?" Grethel gave Hans a calf. "Good-bye, " said Hans. "Good-bye, " saidGrethel. Hans took the calf, set it on his head, and the calf scratched his face. "Good evening, mother. " "Good evening, Hans. Where have you been?" "To Grethel's. " "What did you take to her?" "I took nothing; she gave to me. " "And what did Grethel give you?" "A calf, " said Hans. "And what did you do with it?" "I set it on my head and it kicked my face. " "Then you acted stupidly, Hans; you should have led the calf home andput it in the stall. " "To behave better, do nothing, " thought Hans. "Whither away, Hans?" "To Grethel's, mother. " "Behave well, Hans. " "I'll take care; good-bye, mother. " "Good-bye, Hans. " Hans came to Grethel. "Good day, " said he. "Good day, Hans. What treasure do you bring?" "I bring nothing. Have you anything to give?" Grethel said, "I will go with you, Hans. " Hans tied a rope round Grethel, led her home, put her in the stall andmade the rope fast; then he went to his mother. "Good evening, mother. " "Good evening, Hans. Where have you been?" "To Grethel's. " "What did you take her?" "I took nothing. " "What did Grethel give you?" "She gave nothing; she came with me. " "And where have you left her, then?" "I tied her with a rope, put her in the stall, and threw her somegrass. " "Then you have acted stupidly, Hans; you should have looked at her withfriendly eyes. " "To behave better, do nothing, " thought Hans; and then he went into thestall, and made sheep's eyes at Grethel. And after that Grethel became Hans's wife. The Brothers Grimm, Jakob and Wilhelm, were very learned German scholarswho lived during the first half of the nineteenth century. They wereboth professors at the University of Gottingen, and published manyimportant works, among them a famous dictionary. In their own country itis, of course, these learned works which have given them much of theirfame, but in other countries they are chiefly known for their FairyTales. Most of these they did not themselves write; they simply collected andrewrote. They would hear of some old woman who was famous for tellingstories remembered from childhood, and they would present themselves ather cottage to bribe or wheedle her into telling them her tales. Perhapsthe promise that her words should appear in print would be enough toinduce her to talk; perhaps hours would be wasted in trying to make hergrow talkative, without success. At any rate, the Grimm brothers finallycollected enough of these stories to make a big, fat book. THE POPPYLAND EXPRESS St. Louis Star Sayings The first train leaves at 6 p. M. For the land where the poppy blows. The mother is the engineer, And the passenger laughs and crows. The palace car is the mother's arms; The whistle a low, sweet strain. The passenger winks and nods and blinks And goes to sleep on the train. At 8 p. M. The next train starts For the poppyland afar. The summons clear falls on the ear, "All aboard for the sleeping car!" But "What is the fare to poppyland? I hope it is not too dear. "The fare is this--a hug and a kiss, And it's paid to the engineer. So I ask of Him who children took On His knee in kindness great:"Take charge, I pray, of the trains each day That leave at six and eight. "Keep watch of the passengers, " thus I pray, "For to me they are very dear;And special ward, O gracious Lord, O'er the gentle engineer. " BLUEBEARD Once upon a time there lived a great lord who had many beautiful homesand who was fairly rolling in wealth. He had town houses and castles inthe country, all filled with rich furniture and costly vessels of goldand silver. In spite of all his riches, however, nobody liked the man, because of his ugly and frightful appearance. Perhaps people could haveendured his face if it had not been for a great blue beard thatfrightened the women and children until they fled at his very approach. Now, it so happened that there was living near one of his castles a finelady of good breeding who had two beautiful daughters. Bluebeard, forsuch was the name by which he was known through all the country, saw thetwo daughters and determined to have one of them for his wife. So heproposed to the mother for one, but left it to her to decide which ofthe daughters she would give him. Neither of the daughters was willing to marry him, for neither couldmake up her mind to live all her life with such a hideous blue beard, however rich the owner might be. Moreover, they had heard, and thereport was true, that the man had been married several times before, andno one knew what had become of his wives. In order to become better acquainted with the women, Bluebeard invitedthem and their mother to visit him at one of his castles in the country. They accepted the invitation, and for nine delightful days they huntedand fished over his vast estates, and for nine wonderful evenings theyfeasted and danced in his magnificent rooms. Everything went so much to their liking, and Bluebeard himself was sogracious, that the younger girl began to think that after all his beardwas not so very blue; and so, soon after their return to town, themother announced that the younger daughter was ready to marry him. In afew days the ceremony was performed, and Bluebeard took his wife to oneof his castles, where they spent a happy month. At the end of that time Bluebeard told his wife that he was obliged tomake a long journey and would be away from home about six weeks. Headded that he hoped his wife would enjoy herself, and that he wished herto send for her friends if she wanted them, and to spend his money asfreely as she liked in their entertainment. "Here, " he said, "are the keys of my two great storerooms, where youwill find everything you need for the house; here are the keys of thesideboards, where you will find all the gold and silver plate for thetable; here are the keys of my money chests, where you will find goldand silver in abundance [Illustration: a key] and many casketscontaining beautiful jewels which you have not yet seen; and here is apass key which will open all the rooms in the castle excepting one. "But here is a little key which fits the lock in the door of the littleroom at the end of the long gallery on the first floor. This little roomyou must not enter. Open everything else, go everywhere you like, treateverything as though it was your own; but I strictly forbid you to enterthe little room. If you even so much as put the key in the lock you mayexpect to suffer direfully from my anger. " The young wife promised faithfully to observe her husband's wishes tothe letter, and he, pleased with the readiness with which she consentedto obey him, kissed her fondly, sprang into his carriage and departed onhis journey. [Illustration: SHE SLIPPED SILENTLY AWAY] No sooner had Bluebeard left than the friends of his wife began toarrive. Many of them did not wait for an invitation, but came as soon asthey heard that her husband had gone with his terrible blue beard. Thenwas there great merrymaking all over the house, and it was overrun fromtop to bottom with the excited guests, for all were consumed with thedesire to see the treasures the castle contained. These were trulywonderful. Rich tapestries hanging on the walls, great mirrors thatreflected the whole image of a person from head to foot, wonderfulpictures in frames of pure gold, gold and silver vessels of gracefulshape and elegant design, cabinets filled with curiosities, lightsgleaming with crystals, caskets filled with sparkling diamonds and otherprecious stones without number, all served to charm and delight theguests so that they had little time to think about their hostess. The wife, however, soon wearied of the splendor of her home, for shekept continually thinking about the little room at the end of the longgallery on the first floor. The more she thought about it the morecurious she became, and finally, forgetting her good manners, she lefther guests, slipped silently away from them, and in her excitementnearly fell the whole length of the secret stairway that led to the longgallery. Her courage did not fail her till she reached the door of thelittle room. Then she remembered how false she was to her trust, andhesitated. Her conscience, however, was soon silenced by her curiosity, and with a beating heart and trembling hand she pushed the little keyinto the lock, and the door flew open. The shutters of the window in the little room were closed, and at firstshe could see nothing; but as her eyes became accustomed to the dimlight she saw that clotted blood covered the floor, and that hangingfrom the walls by their long hair were the bloody heads of Bluebeard'sother wives, while on the floor lay their dead bodies. When the young wife realized at what she was looking, the key fell fromher shaking hand, her heart stopped beating, and she almost fell to thefloor in horror and amazement. Recovering herself after a while, shestooped and picked up the key, locked the door and hurried back to herchamber. In vain she tried to compose herself and meet her guests again. She was too frightened to control herself, and when she looked at thelittle key of that awful little room at the end of the long gallery onthe first floor, she saw that it was stained with blood. She wiped thekey and wiped it, but the blood would not come off. She washed it, andscrubbed it with sand and freestone and brick dust, but the blood wouldnot come off; or, if she did succeed in cleaning one side and turned thekey over, there was blood on the other side, for it was a magic keywhich a fairy friend of Bluebeard's had given him. That night the wife was terrified to hear Bluebeard returning, thoughshe tried to welcome him with every show of delight and affection. Heexplained his sudden change of plans by saying that he had met a friendon the road who told him that it was unnecessary for him to make thelong journey, as the business he was intending to transact had been alldone. It was a very unhappy night she passed, but Bluebeard said nothing todisturb her until morning, and then he presently asked her for his keys. She gave them to him, but her hand trembled like an old woman's. Bluebeard took the keys and looked them over carelessly. "I see the key of the little room at the end of the long gallery on thefirst floor is not with the others. Where is it?" "It must have fallen off in the drawer where I kept the keys, " she said. "Please get it for me at once, " said Bluebeard, "as I wish to go to theroom. " The wife, as white as a sheet, and almost too faint to walk, went backto her chamber and returned, saying she could not find the key. "But I must have it, " said Bluebeard; "go again and look more carefullyfor it. Certainly you cannot have lost it. " So back to the chamber went the terrified woman, and, seeing no hope ofescape, she carried the key down to her waiting husband. Bluebeard took the key, and looking at it closely, said to his wife, "Why is this blood spot on the key?" "I do not know, " said the wife, faintly. "You do not know!" said Bluebeard. "Well, I know. You wanted to go tothe little room. Very well; I shall see that you get there and take yourplace with the other ladies. " In despair the young woman flung herself at his feet and begged formercy, repenting bitterly of her curiosity. Bluebeard turned a deaf earto all her entreaties and was not moved in the least by her piteousbeauty. "Hear me, madam. You must die at, once, " he said. "But give me a little time to make my peace with God, " she said. "I musthave time to say my prayers. " "I will give you a quarter of an hour, " answered Bluebeard, "but not aminute more. " He turned away, and she sent for her sister, who came quickly at hersummons. "Sister Ann, " she said excitedly, "go up to the top of the tower and seeif my brothers are coming. They promised to come and see me to-day. Ifthey are on the road make signs to them to hurry as fast as they can. Iam in awful despair. " [Illustration: SISTER ANN WATCHING FROM THE TOWER] Without waiting for an explanation the sister went to the top of thetower and began her watch. She was scarcely seated when her sister called up, "Sister Annie, do yousee any one coming?" Annie answered, "I see nothing but the sun on the golden dust and thegrass which grows green. " In the meantime, Bluebeard, who had armed himself with a sharp, curvedscimitar, stood at the foot of the stairs waiting for his wife to comedown. "Annie, sister Annie, do you see any one coming down the road?" criedthe wife again. "No, I see nothing but the golden dust. " Then Bluebeard called out, "Come down quickly now, or I will come up toyou. " "One minute more, " replied his wife; and then she called softly, "Annie, sister Annie, do you see any one coming?" "I think I see a cloud of dust a little to the left. " "Do you think it is my brothers?" said the wife. "Alas, no, dear sister, it is only a shepherd boy with his sheep. " "Will you come down now, madam, or shall I fetch you?" Bluebeard bawledout. "I am coming, --indeed I will come in just a minute. " Then she called out for the last time, "Annie, sister Annie, do you seeany one coming?" "I see, " replied her sister, "two horsemen coming, but they are still agreat way off. " "Thank God, " cried the wife, "it is my brothers. Urge them to makehaste. " Annie replied, "I am beckoning to them. They have seen mysignals. They are galloping towards us. " Now Bluebeard called out so loudly for his wife to come down that hisvoice shook the whole house. His lady, not daring to keep him waitingany longer, hurried down the stairs, her hair streaming about hershoulders and her face bathed in tears. She threw herself on the floorat his feet and begged for mercy. "There is no use in your pleading, " said Bluebeard; "you must certainlydie. " Then, seizing her by the hair with his left hand, he raised hisscimitar, preparing to strike off her head. The poor woman turned hereyes upon him and begged for a single moment to collect her thoughts. "No, " he said; "not a moment more. Commend yourself to God. " He raised his arm to strike. Just at that moment there was a loudknocking at the gate, and Bluebeard stopped short in his bloody work. Two officers in uniform sprang into the castle and ran upon Bluebeardwith drawn swords. The cruel man, seeing they were his wife's brothers, tried to escape, but they followed and overtook him before he had gonetwenty steps. Though he begged for mercy they listened not to a singleword, but thrust him through and through with their swords. The poor wife, who was almost as dead as her lord, could hardly rise togreet her brothers, but when she learned of Bluebeard's death shequickly recovered and embraced them heartily. Bluebeard, it was found, had no heirs, and so all his riches came intothe possession of his wife. She was filled with thankfulness at herrescue, and in repentance for her curiosity she gave her sister agenerous portion of her money, and established her brothers in highpositions in the army. As for herself, she afterwards married a worthy gentleman and livedhappily to a hale old age. The beautiful town and country houses wereconstantly filled with guests, who, after they had convinced themselvesthat the cruel master was actually dead, made the rooms ring with theirjoyous laughter and talking. LULLABY Come hither, little restless one, 'Tis time to shut your eyes;The sun behind the hills has gone, The stars are in the skies. See, one by one they show their light--How clear and bright they look!Just like the fireflies in the night, That shine beside the brook. You do not hear the robins sing--They're snug within their nest;And sheltered by their mother's wing, The little chickens rest. The dog, he will not frolic now, But to his kennel creeps;The turkeys climb upon the bough, And e'en the kitten sleeps. The very violets in their bedFold up their eyelids blue, And you, my flower, must droop your headAnd close your eyelids, too. Then join your little hands and prayTo God, who made the light, To keep you holy all the dayAnd guard you through the night. RUMPELSTILTZKIN By Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm There was once upon a time a poor miller who had a beautiful daughter. It happened one day that he had an audience with the King, and in orderto appear important he told the King that he had a daughter who couldspin straw into gold. "Now that's a talent worth having, " said the King to the miller; "ifyour daughter is as clever as you say, bring her to my palace tomorrow, and I'll test her. " When the girl was brought to him, he led her into a room full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel and spindle, and said, "Now set to work andspin all night, and if by early dawn you haven't spun the straw intogold you shall die. " Then he closed the door behind him and left heralone inside. So the poor miller's daughter sat down. She hadn't the least idea of howto spin straw into gold, and at last she began to cry. Suddenly the dooropened, and in stepped a tiny little man who said: "Good evening, MissMiller-maid; why are you crying so bitterly?" "Oh!" answered the girl, "I have to spin straw into gold, and haven'tthe slightest notion how it's done. " "What will you give me if I spin itfor you?" asked the manikin. "My necklace, " replied the girl. The little man took the necklace, sat down at the wheel, and whir, whir, whir, round it went until morning, when all the straw was spun away, andall the bobbins were full of gold. [Illustration: Rumpelstiltzken spinning. ] As soon as the sun rose, the King came, and when he saw the gold he wasastonished and delighted, but he wanted more of the precious metal. Hehad the miller's daughter put into another room, much bigger than thefirst and full of straw, and bade her, if she valued her life, spin itall into gold before morning. When the girl began to cry the tiny little man appeared again and said:"What'll you give me if I spin the straw into gold for you?" "The ring from my finger, " answered the girl. The manikin took the ring, and when morning broke he had spun all the straw into glittering gold. The King was pleased beyond measure at the sight, but he was still notsatisfied, and he had the miller's daughter brought into a yet biggerroom full of straw, and said: "You must spin all this away in the night; but if you succeed this timeyou shall become my wife. " When the girl was alone, the little man appeared for the third time, andsaid: "What'll you give me if I spin the straw for you this third time?" "I've nothing more to give, " answered the girl. "Then promise me when you are Queen to give me your first child. " Seeing no other way out of it, she promised the manikin, and he set towork. When the King came in the morning, and found the gold, he straightwaymade her his wife. When a beautiful son was born to her, she did notthink of the little man, till all of a sudden one day he stepped intoher room and said: "Now give me what you promised. " The Queen offered the little man all the riches in her kingdom if hewould only leave her the child. But the manikin said, "No, a living creature is dearer to me than allthe treasures in the world. " Then the Queen began to cry and sob so bitterly that the little man wassorry for her, and said, "I'll give you three days, and if in that timeyou guess my name, you may keep your child. " The Queen pondered the whole night over all the names she had everheard, and sent messengers to scour the land, and to pick up far andnear any names they should come across. When the little man arrived shebegan with Kasper, Melchior, Belshazzer, Sheepshanks, Cruickshanks, Spindleshanks, and so on through the long list. At every name the littleman shook his head. At last a messenger reported, "As I came upon a high hill round thecorner of the wood, where the foxes and hares bid each other good-night, I saw a little house, and in front of the house burned a fire, and roundthe fire sprang the most grotesque little man, hopping on one leg andcrying, 'Tomorrow I brew, today I bake, And then the child away I'll take; For little deems my royal dame That Rumpelstiltzken is my name!'" When the little man stepped in afterward and asked his name she said, "Is your name Conrad?" "No. " "Is your name, perhaps, Rumpelstiltzken?" "Some demon has told you that, some demon has told you that, " screamedthe little man, as he vanished into the air. THE MIRROR OF MATSUYANA The following pretty little story comes from Japan, where it may befound in a collection of tales for children. A long time ago a youngcouple lived in the country with their only child, a beautiful littlegirl whom they loved tenderly. The names of the parents cannot be toldnow, for they have long been forgotten, but we know that the place wherethey lived was Matsuyana, in the province of Echigo. [Illustration: AWAITING THE RETURN OF THE FATHER] Now it happened when the child was still very little that her father wasobliged to go to the capital of the kingdom. As it was so long ajourney, neither his wife nor his child could go with him and hedeparted alone, promising to bring them many pretty gifts on his return. The mother had never been away from the neighborhood and was not able toget rid of some fear when she thought of the long journey her husbandmust take. At the same time, however, she could not but feel pride andsatisfaction that it was her husband who was the first man in all thatregion to go to the rich city where the king and the nobles lived, andwhere there were so many beautiful and marvelous things to be seen. At last, when the good wife knew that her husband would return, shedressed her child gaily in the best clothes she had and herself in theblue dress that she knew he liked very much. It is not possible to describe the joy of the good woman when she sawher husband return safe and sound. The little one clapped her hands andlaughed with delight when she saw the toys her father had brought, andhe never tired of telling of the wonderful things he had seen on hisjourney and at the capital. "To you, " he said to his wife, "I have brought a thing of wonderfulpower, that is called a mirror. Look and tell me what you see inside. "He handed her a little flat box of white wood, and when she opened itshe saw a metal disk. One side was white as frosted silver andornamented with birds and flowers raised from the surface; the otherside was shining and polished like a window-pane. Into this the youngwife gazed with pleasure and astonishment, for from the depths she sawlooking out at her a smiling face with parted lips and animated eyes. "What do you see?" repeated the husband, charmed by her amazement andproud to prove that he had remembered her in his absence. "I see a pretty young woman, who looks at me and moves her lips as iftalking, and who wears--what a wonderful thing! a blue dress exactlylike mine. " "Silly one! What you see is your own sweet face, " replied the man, delighted to know that his wife did not recognize herself. "This circleof metal is called a looking-glass. In the city, every woman has one, although here in the country no one has seen one until to-day. " Enchanted with her gift, the woman passed several days in wonderment, because, as I have said, this was the first time she had seen a mirror, and consequently the first time she had seen the image of her own prettyface. This wonderful jewel she thought too precious to be used everyday, and the little box she guarded carefully, concealing it among hermost precious treasures. Years passed, the good man and his wife living happily through them all. The delight of his life was the child, who was growing into the livingimage of her dear mother, and who was so good and affectionate thateverybody loved her. The mother, remembering her own passing vanity over her beauty, kept themirror hidden, to protect her daughter from any chance of vanity. As forthe father, no one had spoken of the glass, and he had forgotten allabout it. Thus the child grew up frank and guileless as her motherwished, knowing nothing of her own beauty or what the mirror mightreflect. But there came a day of terrible misfortune to this family, till then sohappy. The devoted and loving mother fell sick, and although herdaughter watched her with affectionate and tender devotion, the dearwoman grew worse and worse each day. When she knew that she must soon pass away, she was very sad, grievingfor husband and daughter that she must leave behind on earth; andespecially was she anxious for the future of her loving daughter. Calling the girl to the bedside, she said: [Illustration: HER GREATEST PLEASURE WAS TO LOOK INTO THE MIRROR] "My beloved child, you see that I am so very sick that soon I must dieand leave you and your father alone. Promise me that when I am gone, every morning when you get up and every night when you go to bed, youwill look into the mirror which your father gave me long ago. In it, youwill see me smiling back at you, and you will know that I am ever nearto protect you. " Having spoken these words, she pointed to the place where the mirror washidden, and the girl, with tears on her cheeks, promised to do as hermother wished. Tranquil and resigned, the mother then passed quicklyaway. The dutiful daughter, never forgetting her mother's wishes, each morningand evening took the glass from the place where it was hidden and gazedat it intently for a long time. There she saw the face of her deadmother brilliant and smiling, not pallid and ill as it was in her lastdays, but young and beautiful. To this vision each night she confidedthe troubles and little faults of the day, looking to it for help andencouragement in doing her duty. In this manner the girl grew up as ifwatched over and helped by a living presence, trying always to donothing that could grieve or annoy her sainted mother. Her greatestpleasure was to look into the mirror and feel that she could truthfullysay: "Mother, to-day I have been as you wished that I should be. " After a time the father observed that his daughter looked lovingly intothe mirror every morning and every evening, and appeared to conversewith it. Wondering, he asked her the cause of her strange behavior. Thegirl replied: "Father, I look every day into the glass to see my dear mother and tospeak with her. " She then related to him the last wishes of her dying mother, and assuredhim that she had never failed to comply with them. Wondering at such simplicity and loving obedience, the father shed tearsof pity and affection. Nor did he ever find the heart to explain to theloving daughter that the image she saw in the mirror was but thereflection of her own beautiful face. Thus, by the pure white bond ofher filial love, each day the charming girl grew more and more like herdead mother. A CONTRAST [Illustration: YEARNING LOVE] Light blue eyes:Flaxen hair;Rosy cheeks--Dimples there!These are Baby's. Pudgy fists;Ruddy toes;Kissy lips--Mother knows!These are Baby's. Cooing voice;Winning smiles;Pleading arms--Wanton wiles!These are Baby's. Yearning love;Growing fears;Grief and worry--All the years. These are Mother's. THE GOLDEN TOUCH By Nathaniel Hawthorne Once upon a time there lived a very rich man, and a king besides, whosename was Midas; and he had a little daughter whom nobody but myself everheard of, and whose name I either never knew or have entirely forgotten. So, because I love odd names for little girls, I choose to call herMarygold. This King Midas was fonder of gold than of anything else in the world. He valued his royal crown chiefly because it was composed of thatprecious metal. If he loved anything better or half so well, it was theone little maiden who played so merrily around her father's footstool. But the more Midas loved his daughter, the more did he desire and seekfor wealth. He thought, foolish man! that the best thing he couldpossibly do for this dear child would be to bequeath her the immensestpile of yellow, glistening coin that had ever been heaped together sincethe world was made. Thus he gave all his thoughts and all his time tothis one purpose. If he ever happened to gaze for an instant at thegold-tinted clouds of sunset, he wished that they were real gold andthat they could be squeezed safely into his strong box. When little Marygold ran to meet him with a bunch of buttercups anddandelions, he used to say, "Pooh, pooh, child! If these flowers were asgolden as they look, they would be worth the plucking!" And yet in his earlier days, before he was so entirely possessed withthis insane desire for riches, King Midas had shown a great taste forflowers. He had planted a garden in which grew the biggest andbeautifulest and sweetest roses that any mortal ever saw or smelled. These roses were still growing in the garden, as large, as lovely, andas fragrant as when Midas used to pass whole hours in gazing at them andinhaling their perfume. But now, if he looked at them at all, it wasonly to calculate how much the garden would be worth if each of theinnumerable rose-petals were a thin plate of gold. And though he oncewas fond of music (in spite of an idle story about his ears, which weresaid to resemble those of an ass), the only music for poor Midas now wasthe chink of one coin against another. At length (as people always grow more and more foolish unless they takecare to grow wiser and wiser) Midas had got to be so exceedinglyunreasonable that he could scarcely bear to see or touch any object thatwas not gold. He made it his custom, therefore, to pass a large portionof every day in a dark and dreary apartment underground, at the basementof his palace. It was here that he kept his wealth. To this dismal hole--for it was little better than a dungeon--Midas betook himself wheneverhe wanted to be particularly happy. Here, after carefully locking thedoor, he would take a bag of gold coin, or a gold cup as big as awashbowl, or a heavy golden bar, or a peck measure of gold dust, andbring it from the obscure corners of the room into the one bright andnarrow sunbeam that fell from the dungeon-like window. He valued thesunbeam for no other reason but that his treasure would not shinewithout its help. And then would he reckon over the coins in the bag, toss up the bar and catch it as it came down, sift the gold dust throughhis fingers, look at the funny image of his own face as reflected in theburnished circumference of the cup, and whisper to himself, "O Midas, rich King Midas, what a happy man art thou!" But it was laughable to seehow the image of his face kept grinning at him out of the polishedsurface of the cup. It seemed to be aware of his foolish behavior, andto have a naughty inclination to make fun of him. Midas called himself a happy man, but felt that he was not yet quite sohappy as he might be. The very tip-top of enjoyment would never bereached unless the whole world were to become his treasure-room and befilled with yellow metal which should be all his own. Now, I need hardly remind such wise little people as you are that in theold, old times, when King Midas was alive, a great many things came topass which we should consider wonderful if they were to happen in ourown day and country. And, on the other hand, a great many things takeplace nowadays which seem not only wonderful to us, but at which thepeople of old times would have stared their eyes out. On the whole, Iregard our own times as the stranger of the two; but, however that maybe, I must go on with my story. [Illustration: THE FIGURE OF A STRANGER IN THE SUNBEAM] Midas was enjoying himself in his treasure-room one day as usual, whenhe perceived a shadow fall over the heaps of gold, and, looking suddenlyup, what should he behold but the figure of a stranger standing in thebright and narrow sunbeam! It was a young man with a cheerful and ruddyface. Whether it was the imagination of King Midas threw a yellow tingeover everything, or whatever the cause might be, he could not helpfancying that the smile with which the stranger regarded him had a kindof golden radiance in it. Certainly, although his figure intercepted thesunshine, there was now a brighter gleam upon all the piled-up treasuresthan before. Even the remotest corners had their share of it, and werelighted up, when the stranger smiled, as with tips of flame and sparklesof fire. As Midas knew that he had carefully turned the key in the lock, and thatno mortal strength could possibly break into his treasure-room, he ofcourse concluded that his visitor must be something more than mortal. Itis no matter about telling you who he was. In those days, when the earthwas comparatively a new affair, it was supposed to be often the resortof beings endowed with supernatural powers, who used to interestthemselves in the joys and sorrows of men, women, and children halfplayfully and half seriously. Midas had met such beings before now, andwas not sorry to meet one of them again. The stranger's aspect, indeed, was so good-humored and kindly, if not beneficent, that it would havebeen unreasonable to suspect him of intending any mischief. It was farmore probable that he came to do Midas a favor. What could that favor beunless to multiply his heaps of treasure? The stranger gazed about the room, and when his lustrous smile hadglistened upon all the golden objects that were there, he turned againto Midas. "You are a wealthy man, friend Midas, " he observed. "I doubt whether anyother four walls on earth contain so much gold as you have contrived topile up in this room. " "I have done pretty well--pretty well, " answered Midas in a discontentedtone. "But, after all, it is but a trifle when you consider that it hastaken me my whole life to get it together. If one could live a thousandyears, he might have time to grow rich. " "What!" exclaimed the stranger. "Then you are not satisfied?" Midas shook his head. "And pray what would satisfy you?" asked the stranger. "Merely for thecuriosity of the thing, I should be glad to know. " Midas paused and meditated. He felt a presentiment that this stranger, with such a golden luster in his good-humored smile, had come hitherwith both the power and the purpose of gratifying his utmost wishes. Now, therefore, was the fortunate moment when he had but to speak andobtain whatever possible or seemingly impossible thing it might comeinto his head to ask. So he thought, and thought, and thought, and heaped up one goldenmountain upon another in his imagination, without being able to imaginethem big enough. At last a bright idea occurred to King Midas. It seemedreally as bright as the glistening metal which he loved so much. Raising his head, he looked the lustrous stranger in the face. "Well, Midas, " observed his visitor, "I see that you have at length hitupon something that will satisfy you. Tell me your wish. " "It is only this, " replied Midas. "I am weary of collecting my treasureswith so much trouble, and beholding the heap so diminutive after I havedone my best. I wish everything that I touch to be changed to gold. " The stranger's smile grew so very broad that it seemed to fill the roomlike an outburst of the sun gleaming into a shadowy dell where theyellow autumnal leaves--for so looked the lumps and particles of gold--lie strewn in the glow of light. "The Golden Touch!" exclaimed he. "You certainly deserve credit, friendMidas, for striking out so brilliant a conception. But are you quitesure that this will satisfy you?" "How could it fail?" said Midas. "And will you never regret the possession of it?" "What could induce me?" asked Midas. "I ask nothing else to render meperfectly happy. " "Be it as you wish, then, " replied the stranger, waving his hand intoken of farewell. "To-morrow at sunrise you will find yourself giftedwith the Golden Touch. " The figure of the stranger then became exceedingly bright, and Midasinvoluntarily closed his eyes. On opening them again he beheld only oneyellow sunbeam in the room, and all around him the glistening of theprecious metal which he had spent his life in hoarding up. Whether Midas slept as usual that night the story does not say. Asleepor awake, however, his mind was probably in the state of a child's towhom a beautiful new plaything has been promised in the morning. At anyrate, day had hardly peeped over the hills when King Midas was broadawake, and stretching his arms out of bed, began to touch the objectsthat were within reach. He was anxious to prove whether the Golden Touchhad really come, according to the stranger's promise. So he laid hisfinger on a chair by the bedside and on various other things, but wasgrievously disappointed to perceive that they remained of exactly thesame substance as before. Indeed, he felt very much afraid that he hadonly dreamed about the lustrous stranger, or else that the latter hadbeen making game of him. And what a miserable affair would it be if, after all his hopes, Midas must content himself with what little gold hecould scrape together by ordinary means instead of creating it by atouch. All this while it was only the gray of the morning, with but a streak ofbrightness along the edge of the sky, where Midas could not see it. Helay in a very disconsolate mood, regretting the downfall of his hopes, and kept growing sadder and sadder until the earliest sunbeam shonethrough the window and gilded the ceiling over his head. It seemed toMidas that this bright yellow sunbeam was reflected in rather a singularway on the white covering of the bed. Looking more closely, what was hisastonishment and delight when he found that this linen fabric had beentransmuted to what seemed a woven texture of the purest and brightestgold! The Golden Touch had come to him with the first sunbeam! Midas started up in a kind of joyful frenzy, and ran about the roomgrasping at everything that happened to be in his way. He seized one ofthe bed-posts, and it became immediately a fluted golden pillar. Hepulled aside a window-curtain in order to admit a clear spectacle of thewonders which he was performing, and the tassel grew heavy in his hand--a mass of gold. He took up a book from the table. At his first touch itassumed the appearance of such a splendidly bound and gilt-edged volumeas one often meets with nowadays, but on running his fingers through theleaves, behold! it was a bundle of thin golden plates, in which all thewisdom of the book had grown illegible. He hurriedly put on his clothes, and was enraptured to see himself in a magnificent suit of gold cloth, which retained its flexibility and softness, although it burdened him alittle with its weight. He drew out his handkerchief, which littleMarygold had hemmed for him. That was likewise gold, with the dearchild's neat and pretty stitches running all along the border in goldthread! Somehow or other, this last transformation did not quite please KingMidas. He would rather that his little daughter's handiwork should haveremained just the same as when she climbed his knee and put it into hishand. But it was not worth while to vex himself about a trifle. Midas now tookhis spectacles from his pocket, and put them on his nose in order thathe might see more distinctly what he was about. In those days spectaclesfor common people had not been invented, but were already worn by kings, else how could Midas have had any? To his great perplexity, however, excellent as the glasses were, he discovered that he could not possiblysee through them. But this was the most natural thing in the world, foron taking them off the transparent crystals turned out to be plates ofyellow metal, and of course were worthless as spectacles, thoughvaluable as gold. It struck Midas as rather inconvenient that, with allhis wealth, he could never again be rich enough to own a pair ofserviceable spectacles. "It is no great matter, nevertheless, " said he to himself, veryphilosophically. "We cannot expect any great good without its beingaccompanied with some small inconvenience. The Golden Touch is worth thesacrifice of a pair of spectacles at least, if not of one's veryeyesight. My own eyes will serve for ordinary purposes, and littleMarygold will soon be old enough to read to me. " Wise King Midas was so exalted by his good fortune that the palaceseemed not sufficiently spacious to contain him. He therefore wentdownstairs and smiled on observing that the balustrade of the staircasebecame a bar of burnished gold as his hand passed over it in hisdescent. He lifted the doorlatch (it was brass only a moment ago, but golden whenhis fingers quitted it) and emerged into the garden. Here, as ithappened, he found a great number of beautiful roses in full bloom andothers in all the stages of lovely bud and blossom. Very delicious wastheir fragrance in the morning breeze. Their delicate blush was one ofthe fairest sights in the world, so gentle, and so full of sweettranquility did these roses seem to be. But Midas knew a way to make them far more precious, according to hisway of thinking, than roses had ever been before. So he took great painsin going from bush to bush, and exercised his magic touch mostindefatigably, until every individual flower and bud, and even the wormsat the heart of some of them, were changed to gold. By the time thisgood work was completed, King Midas was summoned to breakfast, and, asthe morning air had given him an excellent appetite, he made haste backto the palace. What was usually a king's breakfast in the days of Midas I really do notknow and cannot stop now to investigate. To the best of my belief, however, on this particular morning the breakfast consisted of hotcakes, some nice little brook trout, roasted potatoes, fresh boiledeggs, and coffee for King Midas himself, and a bowl of bread and milkfor his daughter Marygold. At all events, this is a breakfast fit to setbefore a king, and, whether he had it or not, King Midas could not havehad a better. Little Marygold had not yet made her appearance. Her father ordered herto be called, and, seating himself at the table, awaited the child'scoming in order to begin his own breakfast. To do Midas justice, hereally loved his daughter, and loved her so much the more this morningon account of the good fortune which had befallen him. It was not agreat while before he heard her coming along the passageway cryingbitterly. This circumstance surprised him, because Marygold was one ofthe cheerfulest little people whom you would see in a summer's day, andhardly shed a thimbleful of tears in a twelvemonth. When Midas heard hersobs he determined to put little Marygold into better spirits by anagreeable surprise; so, leaning across the table, he touched hisdaughter's bowl (which was a china one with pretty figures all aroundit) and transmuted it to gleaming gold. Meanwhile, Marygold slowly and disconsolately opened the door and showedherself with her apron at her eyes, still sobbing as if her heart wouldbreak. "How now, my little lady!" cried Midas. "What is the matter with youthis morning?" Marygold, without taking the apron from her eyes, held out her hand, inwhich was one of the roses which Midas had so recently transmuted. "Beautiful!" exclaimed her father. "And what is there in thismagnificent golden rose to make you cry?" "Ah, dear father!" answered the child, as well as her sobs would lether, "it is not beautiful, but the ugliest flower that ever grew. Assoon as I was dressed I ran into the garden to gather some roses foryou, because I know you like them, and like them the better whengathered by your little daughter. But--oh dear! dear me!--what do youthink has happened? Such a misfortune! All the beautiful roses, thatsmelled so sweetly and had so many lovely blushes, are blighted andspoiled! They are grown quite yellow, as you see this one, and have nolonger any fragrance. What can be the matter with them?" "Pooh, my dear little girl! pray don't cry about it!" said Midas, whowas ashamed to confess that he himself had wrought the change which sogreatly afflicted her. "Sit down and eat your bread and milk. You willfind it easy enough to exchange a golden rose like that, which will lasthundreds of years, for an ordinary one, which would wither in a day. " "I don't care for such roses as this!" cried Marygold, tossing itcontemptuously away. "It has no smell, and the hard petals prick mynose. " The child now sat down to table, but was so occupied with her grief forthe blighted roses that she did not even notice the wonderfultransmutation of her china bowl. Perhaps this was all the better, forMarygold was accustomed to take pleasure in looking at the queer figuresand strange trees and houses that were painted on the circumference ofthe bowl, and these ornaments were now entirely lost in the yellow hueof the metal. Midas, meanwhile, had poured out a cup of coffee; and, as a matter ofcourse, the coffeepot, whatever metal it may have been when he took itup, was gold when he set it down. He thought to himself that it wasrather an extravagant style of splendor, in a king of his simple habits, to breakfast off a service of gold, and began to be puzzled with thedifficulty of keeping his treasures safe. The cupboard and the kitchenwould no longer be a secure place of deposit for articles so valuable asgolden bowls and coffeepots. Amid these thoughts he lifted a spoonful of coffee to his lips, andsipping it, was astonished to perceive that the instant his lips touchedthe liquid it became molten gold, and the next moment hardened into alump. "Ha!" exclaimed Midas, rather aghast. "What is the matter, father?" asked little Marygold, gazing at him withthe tears still standing in her eyes. "Nothing, child, nothing, " said Midas. "Eat your milk before it getsquite cold. " He took one of the nice little trouts on his plate, and, by way ofexperiment, touched its tail with his finger. To his horror, it wasimmediately transmuted from an admirably fried brook trout into a goldfish, though not one of those gold fishes which people often keep inglass globes as ornaments for the parlor. No; but it was really ametallic fish, and looked as if it had been very cunningly made by thenicest goldsmith in the world. Its little bones were now golden wires, its fins and tail were thin plates of gold, and there were the marks ofthe fork in it, and all the delicate, frothy appearance of a nicelyfried fish exactly imitated in metal. A very pretty piece of work, asyou may suppose; only King Midas, just at that moment, would much ratherhave had a real trout in his dish than this elaborate and valuableimitation of one. "I don't quite see, " thought he to himself, "how I am to get anybreakfast. " He took one of the smoking hot cakes, and had scarcely broken it when, to his cruel mortification, though a moment before it had been of thewhitest wheat, it assumed the yellow hue of Indian meal. To say thetruth? if it had really been a hot Indian cake Midas would have prizedit a good deal more than he now did, when its solidity and increasedweight made him too bitterly sensible that it was gold. Almost indespair, he helped himself to a boiled egg, which immediately underwenta change similar to those of the trout and the cake. The egg, indeed, might have been mistaken for one of those which the famous goose in thestorybook was in the habit of laying; but King Midas was the only goosethat had had anything to do with the matter. "Well, this is a quandary!" thought he, leaning back in his chair andlooking quite enviously at little Marygold, who was now eating her breadand milk with great satisfaction. "Such a costly breakfast before me, and nothing that can be eaten!" Hoping that, by dint of great dispatch, he might avoid what he now feltto be a considerable inconvenience, King Midas next snatched a hotpotato, and attempted to cram it into his mouth and swallow it in ahurry. But the Golden Touch was too nimble for him. He found his mouthfull, not of mealy potato, but of solid metal, which so burned histongue that he roared aloud, and, jumping up from the table, began todance and stamp about the room both with pain and affright. "Father, dear father!" cried little Marygold, who was a veryaffectionate child, "pray what is the matter? Have you burned yourmouth?" "Ah, dear child, " groaned Midas dolefully, "I don't know what is tobecome of your poor father. " And truly, my dear little folks, did you ever hear of such a pitiablecase in all your lives? Here was literally the richest breakfast thatcould be set before a king, and its very richness made it absolutelygood for nothing. The poorest laborer sitting down to his crust of breadand cup of water was far better off than King Midas, whose delicate foodwas really worth its weight in gold. And what was to be done? Already, at breakfast, Midas was excessively hungry. Would he be less so bydinner-time? And how ravenous would be his appetite for supper, whichmust undoubtedly consist of the same sort of indigestible dishes asthose now before him! How many days, think you, would he survive acontinuance of this rich fare? These reflections so troubled wise King Midas that he began to doubtwhether, after all, riches are the one desirable thing in the world, oreven the most desirable. But this was only a passing thought. Sofascinated was Midas with the glitter of the yellow metal that he wouldstill have refused to give up the Golden Touch for so paltry aconsideration as a breakfast. Just imagine what a price for one meal'svictuals! It would have been the same as paying millions and millions ofmoney (and as many millions more as would take forever to reckon up) forsome fried trout, an egg, a potatoes a hot cake, and a cup of coffee. "It would be quite too dear, " thought Midas. Nevertheless, so great was his hunger and the perplexity of hissituation that he again groaned aloud, and very grievously, too. Ourpretty Marygold could endure it no longer. She sat a moment gazing ather father and trying with all the might of her little wits to find outwhat was the matter with him. Then, with a sweet and sorrowful impulseto comfort him, she started from her chair, and, running to Midas, threwher arms affectionately about his knees. He bent down and kissed her. Hefelt that his little daughter's love was worth a thousand times morethan he had gained by the Golden Touch. "My precious, precious Marygold!" cried he. But Marygold made no answer. Alas, what had he done? How fatal was the gift which the strangerbestowed! The moment the lips of Midas touched Marygold's forehead achange had taken place. Her sweet, rosy face, so full of affection as ithad been, assumed a glittering yellow color, with yellow tear-dropscongealing on her cheeks. Her beautiful brown ringlets took the sametint. Her soft and tender little form grew hard and inflexible withinher father's encircling arms. Oh, terrible misfortune! The victim of hisinsatiable desire for wealth, little Marygold was a human child nolonger, but a golden statue! Yes, there she was, with the questioning look of love, grief, and pityhardened into her face. It was the prettiest and most woeful sight thatever mortal saw. All the features and tokens of Marygold were there;even the beloved little dimple remained in her golden chin. But, themore perfect was this resemblance, the greater was the father's agony atbeholding this golden image, which was all that was left him of adaughter. It had been a favorite phrase of Midas, whenever he feltparticularly fond of the child, to say that she was worth her weight ingold. And now the phrase had become literally true. And now at last, when it was too late, he felt how infinitely a warm and tender heartthat loved him exceeded in value all the wealth that could be piled upbetwixt the earth and sky. It would be too sad a story if I were to tell you how Midas, in thefullness of all his gratified desires, began to wring his hands andbemoan himself, and how he could neither bear to look at Marygold, noryet to look away from her. Except when his eyes were fixed on the image, he could not possibly believe that she was changed to gold. But, stealing another glance, there was the precious little figure, with ayellow tear-drop on its yellow cheek, and a look so piteous and tenderthat it seemed as if that very expression must needs soften the gold andmake it flesh again. This, however, could not be. So Midas had only towring his hands and to wish that he were the poorest man in the wideworld if the loss of all his wealth might bring back the faintest rose-color to his dear child's face. While he was in this tumult of despair he suddenly beheld a strangerstanding near the door. Midas bent down his head without speaking, forhe recognized the same figure which had appeared to him the day beforein the treasure-room and had bestowed on him this disastrous faculty ofthe Golden Touch. The stranger's countenance still wore a smile which seemed to shed ayellow luster all about the room, and gleamed on little Marygold's imageand on the other objects that had been transmuted by the touch of Midas. "Well, friend Midas, " said the stranger, "pray how do you succeed withthe Golden Touch?" Midas shook his head. "I am very miserable, " said he. "Very miserable, indeed!" exclaimed the stranger. "And how happens that?Have I not faithfully kept my promise with you? Have you not everythingthat your heart desired?" "Gold is not everything, " answered Midas, "and I have lost all that myheart really cared for. " "Ah! so you have made a discovery since yesterday?" observed thestranger. "Let us see, then. Which of these two things do you think is, really worth the most--the gift of the Golden Touch, or one cup ofclear, cold water?" "Oh, blessed water!" exclaimed Midas. "It will never moisten my parchedthroat again. " "The Golden Touch, " continued the stranger, "or a crust of bread?" "A piece of bread, " answered Midas, "is worth all the gold on earth. " "The Golden Touch, " asked the stranger, "or your own little Marygold, warm, soft, and loving, as she was an hour ago?" [Illustration: MARYGOLD WAS A GOLDEN STATUE!] "Oh, my child, my dear child!" cried poor Midas, wringing his hands. "Iwould not have given that one small dimple in her chin for the power ofchanging this whole big earth into a solid lump of gold!" "You are wiser than you were, King Midas, " said the stranger, lookingseriously at him. "Your own heart, I perceive, has not been entirelychanged from flesh to gold. Were it so, your case would indeed bedesperate. But you appear to be still capable of understanding that thecommonest things, such as lie within everybody's grasp, are morevaluable than the riches which so many mortals sigh and struggle after. Tell me now, do you sincerely desire to rid yourself of this GoldenTouch?" "It is hateful to me!" replied Midas. A fly settled on his nose, but immediately fell to the floor, for it, too, had become gold. Midas shuddered. "Go, then, " said the stranger, "and plunge into the river that glidespast the bottom of your garden. Take likewise a vase of the same water, and sprinkle it over any object that you may desire to change back againfrom gold into its former substance. If you do this in earnestness andsincerity, it may possibly repair the mischief which your avarice hasoccasioned. " King Midas bowed low, and when he lifted his head the lustrous strangerhad vanished. You will easily believe that Midas lost no time in snatching up a greatearthen pitcher (but alas me! it was no longer earthen after he touchedit) and hastening to the riverside. As he scampered along and forced hisway through the shrubbery, it was positively marvelous to see how thefoliage turned yellow behind him, as if the autumn had been there andnowhere else. On reaching the river's brink he plunged headlong in, without waiting somuch as to pull off his shoes. "Poof! poof! poof!" snorted King Midas, as his head emerged out of thewater. "Well, this is really a refreshing bath, and I think it must havewashed away the Golden Touch. And now for filling my pitcher. " As he dipped the pitcher into the water it gladdened his very heart tosee it change from gold into the same good, honest earthen vessel whichit had been before he touched it. He was conscious also of a changewithin himself. A cold, hard, and heavy weight seemed to have gone outof his bosom. No doubt his heart had been gradually losing its humansubstance and transmuting itself into insensible metal, but had nowsoftened back again into flesh. Perceiving a violet that grew on thebank of the river, Midas touched it with his finger, and was overjoyedto find that the delicate flower retained its purple hue, instead ofundergoing a yellow blight. The curse of the Golden Touch had thereforereally been removed from him. King Midas hastened back to the palace, and I suppose the servants knewnot what to make of it when they saw their royal master so carefullybringing home an earthen pitcher of water. But that water, which was toundo all the mischief that his folly had wrought, was more precious toMidas than an ocean of molten gold could have been. The first thing hedid, as you need hardly be told, was to sprinkle it by handfuls over thegolden figure of little Marygold. No sooner did it fall on her than you would have laughed to see how therosy color came back to the dear child's cheek, and how she began tosneeze and sputter, and how astonished she was to find herself drippingwet and her father still throwing more water over her. "Pray do not, dear father!" cried she. "See how you have wet my nicefrock, which I put on only this morning. " For Marygold did not know that she had been a little golden statue, norcould she remember anything that had happened since the moment when sheran with outstretched arms to comfort poor King Midas. Her father did not think it necessary to tell his beloved child how veryfoolish he had been, but contented himself with showing how much wiserhe had now grown. For this purpose he led little Marygold into thegarden, where he sprinkled all the remainder of the water over the rose-bushes, and with such good effect that above five thousand rosesrecovered their beautiful bloom. There were two circumstances, however, which, as long as he lived, used to put King Midas in mind of the GoldenTouch. One was that the sands of the river sparkled like gold; the other, thatlittle Marygold's hair had now a golden tinge which he had neverobserved in it before she had been transmuted by the effect of his kiss. The change of hue was really an improvement, and made Marygold's hairricher than in her babyhood. When King Midas had grown quite an old man and used to trot Marygold'schildren on his knee, he was fond of telling them this marvelous story, pretty much as I have told it to you. And then he would stroke theirglossy ringlets and tell them that their hair likewise had a rich shadeof gold, which they had inherited from their mother. "And to tell you the truth, my precious little folks, " quoth King Midas, diligently trotting the children all the while, "ever since that morningI have hated the very sight of all other gold save this. " Hawthorne was by no means the first man who ever told about King Midas, nor are the children who have lived since his time the first who everheard this story; for hundreds and hundreds of years ago, in a countryvery different from ours, the little Greek children heard it told in alanguage that would seem very strange to us. However, Hawthorne has byno means told the story just as the Greek mothers or Greek nurses mighthave told it to their children; he has added much which makes the storyseem more real and the characters more human. For instance, as he says, the old myth told nothing about any daughterof Midas's, and yet I think we are all ready to admit that we should notlove the story half so well without dear little Marygold. Then too, the talk about Midas's spectacles and about his trotting hisgrandchildren on his knee is but a little pleasant fooling on the partof Hawthorne, for spectacles were not even thought of for centuriesafter the time of old King Midas, and it is much more than unlikely thatany old Greek ever trotted children on his knee. Hawthorne had a perfect right to make these changes in the story; forthe old myths have come down to us from so long ago that they seem tobelong to everybody, and every one forms his own ideas of them. Thus you will see that while the author of this story thought ofMarygold as a little child who climbed up onto her father's knee, theartists in dealing with the subject have thought of her as almost ayoung woman. Which of these two ideas do you like better? THE CHILD'S WORLD By W. B. Rands Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful World, With the wonderful water round you curled, And the wonderful grass upon your breast--World, you are beautifully dressed. The wonderful air is over me, And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree;It walks on the water, and whirls the mills, And talks to itself on the tops of the hills. You, friendly Earth! how far do you goWith the wheat-fields that nod and the rivers that flow, With cities and gardens, and cliffs, and isles, And people upon you for thousands of miles? Ah, you are so great, and I am so small, I tremble to think of you, World, at all;And yet, when I said my prayers to-day, A whisper inside me seemed to say: "You are more than the Earth, though you are such a dot--You can love and think, and the Earth cannot!" THE FIR TREE By Hans Christian Andersen Out in the forest stood a pretty little Fir Tree. It had a good place;it could have sunlight, air there was in plenty, and all around grewmany larger comrades--pines as well as firs. But the little Fir Treewished ardently to become greater. It did not care for the warm sun andthe fresh air; it took no notice of the peasant children, who went abouttalking together, when they had come out to look for strawberries andraspberries. The children often came with a whole basketful, or with astring of berries which they had strung on a straw. Then they would sitdown by the little Fir Tree and say, "How pretty and small this one is!"The Fir Tree did not like that at all. Next year he had grown bigger, and the following year he was tallerstill. "Oh, if I were only as tall as the others!" sighed the little Fir. "ThenI would spread my branches far around and look out from my crown intothe wide world. The birds would then build nests in my boughs, and whenthe wind blew I would nod grandly. " It took no pleasure in the sunshine, in the birds, or in the red cloudsthat went sailing over it morning and evening. [Illustration: THE SWALLOWS AND THE STORK CAME] When it was winter, and the snow lay all around, white and sparkling, ahare would often come jumping along and spring right over the little FirTree. O, that made him so angry! But two winters went by, and when thethird came, the little Tree had grown so tall that the hare was obligedto run around it. "Oh, to grow, to grow, and become old; that's the only fine thing in theworld, " thought the Tree. In the autumn the woodcutters always came and felled a few of thelargest trees; that was done this year, too, and the little Fir Tree, that was now quite well grown, shuddered with fear, for the statelytrees fell to the ground with a crash, and their branches were cut off, so that the trees looked quite naked, long and slender, and could hardlyhe recognized. Then they were laid upon wagons, and the horses draggedthem away out of the wood. Where were they going? What destiny awaitedthem? In the spring, when the Swallows and the Stork came, the Tree askedthem, "Do you know where the big firs were taken? Did you meet them?" The Swallows knew nothing about it, but the Stork looked thoughtful, nodded his head and said: "Yes, I think so. I met many new ships when Iflew out of Egypt; on the ships were tall masts; I fancy these were thetrees. They smelt like fir. I can assure you they're stately--verystately. " "Oh, that I were big enough to go over the sea. What kind of a thing isthis sea, and how does it look?" "It would take long to explain all that, " said the Stork, and he wentaway. "Rejoice in thy youth, " said the Sunbeams; "rejoice in thy fresh growth, and in the young life that is within thee. " And the wind kissed the Tree, and the Dew wept tears upon it; but theFir Tree did not understand. When Christmas time approached, quite young trees were felled, sometimestrees which were neither so old nor so large as this Fir Tree, thatnever rested, but always wanted to go away. These beautiful young treeskept all their branches; they were put upon wagons, and horses draggedthem away out of the wood. "Where are they all going?" asked the Fir Tree. "They are not greaterthan I--indeed, one of them was much smaller. Why do they keep all theirbranches? Whither are they taken?" "We know that! We know that!" chirped the Sparrows. "Yonder in the townwe looked in at the windows. We know where the fir trees go. We havelooked in at the windows and have seen that they are planted in themiddle of a warm room and dressed up in the greatest splendor with themost beautiful things--gilt apples, honey-cakes, playthings, and manyhundreds of candles. " "And then?" asked the Fir Tree, trembling through all its branches. "Andthen? what happens then?" "Why, we have not seen anything more. But itwas wonderful!" "Perhaps I may be destined to this glorious end one day!" cried the FirTree, rejoicing. "That is even better than traveling across the sea. HowI long for it! If it were only Christmas! Now I am great and grown uplike the rest who were led away last year. Oh, if I were only on thewagon! If I were only in the warm room amidst all the pomp and splendor!And then? Yes, then something even better will come, something far morecharming, else why should they adorn me so? There must be somethinggrander, something greater still to come; but what? Oh! I'm suffering, I'm longing! I don't know myself what is the matter with me!" "Rejoice in us, " said Air and Sunshine. "Rejoice in thy fresh youth herein the woodland. " The Fir Tree did not rejoice at all, but it grew and grew; winter andsummer it stood there, green, dark green. The people who saw it said, "That's a handsome tree!" and at Christmas time it was felled before anyof the others. The axe cut deep into its marrow, and the tree fell tothe ground with a sigh; it felt a pain, a sensation of faintness, andcould not think at all of happiness, for it was sad at parting from itshome, from the place where it had grown up; it knew that it should neveragain see the dear old companions, the little bushes and the flowers allaround, perhaps not even the birds. The Tree came to itself only when itwas unloaded in a yard, with other trees, and heard a man say: "This one is famous; we want only this one!" Now two servants came in gay liveries, and carried the Fir Tree into alarge, beautiful room. All around the walls hung pictures, and by thegreat stove stood large Chinese vases with lions on the covers; therewere rocking chairs, silken sofas, great tables covered with picturebooks, and toys worth a hundred times a hundred dollars; at least, thechildren said so. And the Fir Tree was put into a great tub filled withsand; but no one could see that it was a tub, for it was hung round withgreen cloth, and stood on a large, many-colored carpet. Oh, how the Treetrembled! What was to happen now? The servants, and the young ladiesalso, decked it out. On one branch they hung little bags cut out ofcolored paper, and every bag was filled with sweetmeats. Golden applesand walnuts hung down as if they grew there, and more than a hundredlittle candles, red, white, and blue, were fastened to the differentboughs. Dolls that looked exactly like real people--the Tree had neverseen such before--swung among the foliage, and high on the summit of theTree was fixed a tinsel star. It was splendid. "This evening, " said all, "this evening it will shine. " "Oh, " thought the Tree, "that it were evening already! Oh that thelights may be soon lit! When will that be done? I wonder if trees willcome out of the forest to look at me? Will the Sparrows fly against thepanes? Shall I grow fast here, and stand adorned in summer and winter?" But the Tree had a backache from mere longing, and the backache is justas bad for a tree as the headache for a person. At last the candles were lighted. What a brilliance, what splendor! TheTree trembled so in all its branches that one of the candles set fire toa green twig, and it was scorched, but one of the young ladies hastilyput the fire out. Now the Tree might not even tremble. Oh, that was terrible! It was soafraid of setting fire to some of its ornaments, and it was quitebewildered with all the brilliance. And now the folding doors werethrown open, and a number of children rushed in as if they would haveoverturned the whole Tree, while the older people followed moredeliberately. The little ones stood quite silent, but only for a minute;then they shouted till the room rang; they danced gleefully round theTree; and one present after another was plucked from it. "What are they about?" thought the Tree. "What's going to be done?" And the candles burned down to the twigs, and as they burned down theywere extinguished, and then the children were given permission toplunder the Tree. They rushed in upon it, so that every branch crackedagain; if it had not been fastened by the top and by the golden star tothe ceiling, the Tree certainly would have fallen down. The children danced about with their pretty toys. No one looked at theTree except one old man, who came up and peeped among the branches, butonly to see if a fig or an apple had not been forgotten. "A story! A story!" shouted the children, as they drew a little fat mantoward the Tree. He sat down just beneath it--"for then we shall be inthe green wood, " said he, "and the Tree may have the advantage oflistening to my tale. But I can tell only one. Will you hear the storyof Ivede-Avede, or of Klumpey-Dumpey, who fell downstairs, and still wasraised up to honor and married the princess?" "Ivede-Avede, " cried some; "Klumpey-Dumpey, " cried others, and there wasa great crying and shouting. Only the Fir Tree was silent, and thought, "Shall I not be in it? Shall I have nothing to do in it?" But he hadbeen in the evening's amusement and had done what was required of him. And the fat man told about Klumpey-Dumpey, who fell downstairs, and yetwas raised to honor and married the princess. And the children clappedtheir hands, and cried, "Tell another, tell another!" for they wanted tohear about Ivede-Avede; but they got only the story of Klumpey-Dumpey. The Fir Tree stood quite silent and thoughtful; never had the birds inthe wood told such a story as that. Klumpey-Dumpey fell downstairs, andyet came to honor and married the princess! "Yes, so it happens in the world!" thought the Fir Tree, and believed itmust be true, because that was such a nice man who told it. "Well, whocan know? Perhaps I shall fall downstairs, too, and marry a princess!"And it looked forward with pleasure to being adorned again, the nextevening, with candles and toys, gold and fruit. "To-morrow I shall nottremble, " it thought. "I shall rejoice in all my splendor. To-morrow Ishall hear the story of Klumpey-Dumpey again, and perhaps that of Ivede-Avede, too. " And the Tree stood all night quiet and thoughtful. In the morning the servants and the chambermaid came in. "Now my splendor will begin afresh, " thought the Tree. But they dragged him out of the room and up-stairs to the garret, andthere they put him in a dark corner where no daylight shone. "What's the meaning of this?" thought the Tree. "What am I to do here?What is to happen?" And he leaned against the wall, and thought, and thought. And he hadtime enough, for days and nights went by, and nobody came up; and whenat length some one came, it was only to put some great boxes in acorner. Now the Tree stood quite hidden away, and the supposition isthat it was quite forgotten. [Illustration: THE FAT MAN TOLD ABOUT KLUMPEY-DUMPEY] "Now it's winter outside, " thought the Tree. "The earth is hard andcovered with snow, and people cannot plant me; therefore I suppose I'mto be sheltered here until spring comes. How considerate that is! Howgood people are! If it were only not so dark here, and so terriblysolitary! Not even a little hare! It was pretty out there in the wood, when the snow lay thick and the hare sprang past; yes, even when hejumped over me; but then I did not like it. It is terribly lonely uphere!" "Piep! Piep!" said a little Mouse, and crept forward, and then cameanother little one. They smelt at the Fir Tree, and then slipped amongthe branches. "It's horribly cold, " said the two little Mice, "or else it would becomfortable here. Don't you think so, you old Fir Tree?" "I'm not old at all, " said the Fir Tree. "There are many much older thanI. " "Where do you come from?" asked the Mice. "And what do you know?" Theywere dreadfully inquisitive. "Tell us about the most beautiful spot on the earth. Have you beenthere? Have you been in the storeroom, where cheeses lie on the shelves, and hams hang from the ceiling; where one dances on tallow candles, andgoes in thin and comes out fat?" "I don't know that, " replied the Tree; "but I know the wood, where thesun shines and the birds sing. " And then it told all about its youth. And the little Mice had never heard anything of the kind; and theylistened, and said: "What a number of things you have seen! How happy you must have been!" "I?" replied the Fir Tree; and it thought about what it had told. "Yes, those were really quite happy times. " But then he told of the ChristmasEve, when he had been hung with sweatmeats and candles. "Oh!" said the little Mice, "how happy you have been, you old Fir Tree!" "I'm not old at all, " said the Tree. "I came out of the wood only thiswinter. I'm only rather backward in my growth. " "What splendid stories you can tell!" said the little Mice. And next night they came with four other little Mice, to hear what theTree had to relate; and the more it said, the more clearly did itremember everything, and thought, "Those were quite merry days. But theymay come again. Klumpey-Dumpey fell downstairs, and yet he married theprincess. Perhaps I may marry a princess, too!" And then the Fir Treethought of a pretty little Birch Tree that grew out in the forest; forthe Fir Tree, that Birch was a real princess. "Who's Klumpey-Dumpey?" asked the little Mice. And then the Fir Tree told the whole story. It could remember everysingle word; and the little Mice were ready to leap to the very top ofthe tree with pleasure. Next night a great many more Mice came, and onSunday two Rats even appeared; but these thought the story was notpretty, and the little Mice were sorry for that, for now they also didnot like it so much as before. "Do you know only one story?" asked the Rats. "Only that one, " replied the Tree. "I heard that on the happiest eveningof my life; I did not think then how happy I was. " "That's a very miserable story. Don't you know any about bacon andtallow candles--a storeroom story?" "No, " said the Tree. "Then we'd rather not hear you, " said the Rats. And they went back totheir own people. The little Mice at last also stayed away; and then theTree sighed and said, "It was very nice when they sat around me, themerry little Mice, and listened when I spoke to them. Now that's past, too. But I shall remember to be pleased when they take me out. " But when did that happen? Why, it was one morning that people came andrummaged in the garret; the boxes were put away, and the Tree wasbrought out; they certainly threw him rather roughly on the floor, but aservant dragged him away at once to the stairs, where the daylightshone. "Now life is beginning again, " thought the Tree. It felt the fresh air and the first sunbeams, and then it was out in thecourtyard. Everything passed so quickly that the Tree quite forgot tolook at itself, there was so much to look at all around. The courtyardwas close to a garden, and there everything was blooming; the roses hungfresh and fragrant over the little paling, the linden trees were inblossom, and the swallows cried, "Quinze-wit! quinze-wit! my husband'scome!" But it was not the Fir Tree that they meant. "Now I shall live!" cried the Tree, rejoicingly, and spread its branchesfar out; but, alas! they were all withered and yellow, and it lay in thecorner among nettles and weeds. The tinsel star was still upon it, andshone in the bright sunshine. In the courtyard a couple of the merry children were playing who haddanced round the Tree at Christmas time, and had rejoiced over it. Oneof the youngest ran up and tore off the golden star. "Look what is sticking to the ugly old Fir Tree!" said the child, and hetrod on the branches till they cracked under his boots. And the Tree looked at all the blooming flowers and the splendor of thegarden, then looked at itself, and wished it had remained in the darkcorner of the garret; it thought of its fresh youth in the wood, of themerry Christmas Eve, and of the little Mice which had listened sopleasantly to the story of Klumpey-Dumpey. "Past! past!" said the old Tree. "Had I but rejoiced when I could havedone so! Past! past!" And the servant came and chopped the Tree into little pieces; a wholebundle lay there; it blazed brightly under the great brewing copper, andit sighed deeply, and each sigh was like a little shot; and thechildren, who were at play there, ran up, seated themselves by the fire, looked into it, and cried "Puff! puff!" But at each explosion, which wasa deep sigh, the Tree thought of a summer day in the woods, or of awinter night there, when the stars beamed; he thought of Christmas Eveand of Klumpey-Dumpey, the only story he had ever heard or knew how totell; and thus the Tree was burned. The boys played in the garden, and the youngest had on his breast agolden star, which the Tree had worn on its happiest evening. Now thatwas past, and the Tree's life was past, and the story is past, too:past! past!--and that's the way with all stories. HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN When a man writes as beautiful and as interesting stories as HansChristian Andersen has written for children, we like to know somethingabout him; and we find that nothing that he ever wrote was much moreinteresting than his own life. Certainly no one who knew him while hewas a child could have thought that he would ever have much chance ofbecoming a famous man. He was born on April 2nd, 1805, in the city of Odense, in Denmark. Theroom in which he was born was kitchen, parlor, bedroom and workshop forthe whole family, for the family of Andersen had little to do with, andlittle knowledge of how to make the best of what they had. The fatherwas a cobbler, but a cobbler who was much more interested in otherthings than he was in his trade, into which he had been forced quitecontrary to his own wishes. The mother was a careless, easy-goingperson, who was kind to her child, but had not the slightest idea oftraining him, or of restraining any of his odd tastes. These tastes weredetermined more or less by his father, who was a great reader, particularly of plays; and we see the results of this early introductionto the drama in Hans Christian Andersen throughout his life. Little Hans Christian was a most extraordinary child. He was ugly, as heremained all his life; for his body and neck were too long and too thin, his feet and his hands were too large and too bony, his nose was largeand hooked, and his eyes were small and set like a Chinaman's. However, it was not his looks, but his oddity, which cut him off from otherchildren. He would sit all day and make doll clothes, or cut dolls andanimals out of paper; and these were not things which would be likely tomake other boys like him and admire him. He had little schooling, andeven when he was a grown man he knew none too much of the grammar of hisown language. After his father's death, when he himself was about eleven, little HansChristian was more solitary than before, and shut himself up still morewith his doll's clothes, his toy theaters, and his books, for he was, like his father, very fond of reading. Especially did he like thosebooks which had anything about ghosts or witches or fairies in them. While he was but a child, he wrote a play of his own, in which most ofthe characters were kings and queens and princesses; and because he feltthat it could not be possible that such lofty personages would talk thesame language as ordinary people, he picked out from a dictionary, whichhe managed somehow to get hold of, French words, German words, Englishwords, and high-sounding Danish words, and strung them all together tomake up the conversation of his characters. It was no more than natural that such a strange, unattractive-lookingchild should be made fun of by the prosaic, commonplace people of hisneighborhood, and this was untold pain to the sensitive boy. There were, however, in the town, people of a higher class, who perceived in the boysomething beyond the ordinary, and who interested themselves in hisbehalf. They had him sent to school, but he preferred to dream away histime rather than to study, and his short period of schooling reallytaught him nothing. His mother, careless as she was, began to see that matters must change--that the boy could not go on all his life in this aimless fashion; butsince he steadily declined to be a tailor or a cobbler, or indeed totake up any trade, it seemed no easy question to settle. However, in1818, there came to Odense a troupe of actors who gave plays and operas. Young Andersen, who by making acquaintance with the billposter wasallowed to witness the performances from behind the scenes, decided atonce that he was cut out to be an actor. There was no demand for actorsin his native town, and he therefore decided to go to Copenhagen, thecapital of Denmark, there to seek his fortune. With about five dollars in his pocket, Andersen reached Copenhagen inSeptember, 1819, but he found that a fortune was by no means as easilymade as he had fancied. He himself felt convinced that he should be afamous actor, but how was he to convince any one else of this fact? Fromone actor to another, from one theater manager to another he went, butall told him that for one reason or another he was not fitted for thestage. Particularly did Andersen resent the excuse of one manager, whotold him that he was too thin. This fault Andersen assured him that hewas only too willing to remedy, if he would only give him a chance and asalary; but still the manager refused. Finally the boy was destitute of money and knew not where to turn formore, for he was too proud to go back to his native town. However, anItalian singing teacher, Siboni, into whose home Andersen had almostforced himself while a dinner party was in progress, became interestedin him, and with some friends provided him with enough to live on. Healso gave him singing lessons until the boy's voice gave out. Otherinfluential people gradually became interested in the strange creature, who certainly did appear to have some talent, but who had even moreobvious defects; and so he lived on, supported in the most meagerfashion. Determined to write plays if he could not play them, Andersen composeddrama after drama. He would rush into the house of a total stranger, ofwhom perhaps he had heard as a patron of genius, declaim some scenesfrom his plays, and then rush out, leaving his auditor in gaspingamazement. Finally he made the acquaintance of one of the directors ofthe Royal Theatre, Jonas Collin, who was ever afterward his best friend. Through the influence of this kindly man, Anderson was sent to school atSlagelse, and as he said later, the days of his degradation were overonce and for all. Andersen did not have an entirely pleasant time at school. He lovedsystematic study no more than he had early in his life, and he did notfall in very readily with his young companions. However, he persisted, for he was ashamed to disappoint his patron, Collin, and by the time heleft school in 1827, he had an education of which he needed not to beashamed. After his return to Copenhagen, he was able to pass hisexaminations satisfactorily. [Illustration: HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN 1805-1875] From this time on, Andersen's life was in the main happy, although hewas so sensitive and so sentimental that he was constantly fancyinggrievances where none existed, and making himself miserable overimaginary snubs. It is true that his dramatic works were not wellreceived, but this was because there was no real merit in them, and not, as Andersen persisted in believing, because the critics to whom theywere submitted had grudges against him. His first works that made adistinctly favorable impression were travel sketches, for Andersen wasall his life a great traveler, and knew how to write most charmingly andhumorously of all that he saw. His trips to other countries were alltreated most delightfully, and every book that appeared increased theauthor's fame. His visit to Italy, the country which all his life heloved above any other, also resulted in a novel, THE IMPROVISATORE, which became immensely popular and caused Andersen to be hailed as afuture great novelist. However, it was neither for travel sketches nor for novels that he wasto be best known, but for something entirely different, which he himselfwas inclined at first to look down upon, and which many of his criticsat the outset regarded as mere child's play. These were the fairy taleswhich he began in 1835, and which he published at intervals from thattime until his death. The children loved The Ugly Duckling, The Fir Treeand The Snow Queen; but it was not only the children who loved them. Gradually people all over the world began to realize that here was a manwho knew how to tell tales to children in so masterly a manner that evengrown folks would do well to listen to him. Now that Andersen was at the height of his fame, he had no lack offriends; for whether he was in Germany, or Spain, or England, he waseverywhere given ovations that were fit for a king, and was everywhereentertained by the best people in the most sumptuous manner. At one timehe stayed for five weeks with Charles Dickens in his home at Gad's Hill, and the two were ever afterward firm friends. All of these people lovedAndersen, not because of his fame, but because of the stories which hadbrought him fame, and because he was distinctly lovable in spite of hisoddity; for Andersen was still odd. He was ugly and ungainly, and, owingto his fondness for decoration, often dressed in the most peculiarfashion. Then, too, he was so childishly vain of the fame which had cometo him that he was at any time quite likely to stop in a crowded streetand call across to a friend on the other side about some favorablenotice which he had just received. After people became accustomed tothis trait, however, they saw that it was but another phase of thechildlikeness which made Andersen so charming and so unlike many otherfamous men. Despite his intimate knowledge of children, Andersen was never reallyfond of them. They worried him, and he, for some reason or other, neverseemed very attractive to them. But if he could be induced to tell themor read them one of his stories, illustrating it with the queer anticsand faces which he alone knew how to make, he was certain of anintensely interested audience. Andersen's fame and the love felt for him at home and abroad grew withhis every year, and when he died, in 1875, his death was looked upon asa more than national calamity. The highest people in Denmark, includingthe king and queen, who had come to look upon Andersen's friendship as agreat honor, followed him to his grave; and children all over the worldsorrowed when they were told that the author of the beloved Fairy Taleswould never write them another story. PICTURE-BOOKS IN WINTER By Robert Louis Stevenson Summer fading, winter comes--Frosty mornings, tingling thumbs, Window robins, winter rooks, And the picture story-books. Water now is turned to stoneNurse and I can walk upon;Still we find the flowing brooksIn the picture story-books. All the pretty things put byWait upon the children's eye--Sheep and shepherds, trees and crooks, In the picture story-books. We may see now all things are--Seas and cities, near and far, And the flying fairies' looks--In the picture story-books. How am I to sing your praise, Happy chimney-corner days, Sitting safe in nursery nooks, Reading picture story-books! What we like about so fine a little poem as this is that it sets ourthoughts to flying. As we read it, we see autumn coming on, with the redand the gold and the orange tinting the leaves. We can hear the lastnotes of the birds as they wing their way through the soft blue sky togayer places in the warm southland. The cold comes fast, and in themorning, as we try to play ball or gather the ripe nuts from the hazelbushes, our thumbs tingle with the frost. The little Scotch boy sees his robin, a little bird with a reddish-yellow breast, come to his window, and hears the cawing of the rooks. Wein the United States can hear the rough voice of the blue-jay, orperhaps see the busy downy woodpecker tapping industriously at the suetwe have hung in the tree for him. A few days later the water in the pond becomes hard as stone, and we canwalk over its smooth, glittering surface, or, if we are old enough, canmake our way back and forth in widening circles to the music of ourringing skates. When the cold grows too severe and our cheeks burn inthe wind, we can run inside, curl up in a big chair where it is warm andcheery, and, burying our faces in our favorite books, can see once morethe little waves dancing on the pebbly shore of the pond, and hear thebabble of the brook. What can we find in the books? Everything that makes life merry, andeverything that helps us to be true and manly. Out in the pasture thesheep are grazing, and among them walk the shepherds, singing gaily tothe wide sky and the bright sun. When, perchance, a frisking lamb straysnear the woods where perils lie, the shepherd follows, and with thecrook at the end of his staff draws the wanderer back to safety. These wonderful books of ours will carry us across the seas, even. We, for instance, might go to Scotland and play with the boy Stevenson. Whata delight it would be; for the man who can write so charmingly aboutchildren must have been a wonderfully interesting boy to play with. Andthe cities we should see--quaint old Edinburgh, with its big, frowningcastle on the top of that high rugged hill, and in the castle yard, oldMons Meg, the big cannon that every Scotch lad feels that he must crawlinto. If that is too far away from us, we will come back to Boston, and walkthrough the Common, and hear again the Yankee boys bravely complainingto General Gage because the British soldiers have trampled down the snowfort the youngsters have built. But those are only real things; the more wonderful things are the flyingfairies whose deeds we may read in this very book. But how can we write in prose the praise of the picture story-books whenStevenson thinks he cannot do it in his pretty rhymes? Moreover, we havejust found out that the poet's chimney corner is filled with the littleones who can read only the simplest things, and need big, fine picturesand easy words. He was not writing for us at all--but that does notmatter. His little poem pleases us just the same. Let us turn back and read it again--I suspect that, after all, we areall of us small enough to sit in a chimney corner; and perhaps everybook is but a picture story-book to the man or woman who is old enoughand big enough to read it rightly. HOW THE WOLF WAS BOUND Adapted by Anna McCaleb It seems strange that any one who might have lived with the gods intheir beautiful city of Asgard [Footnote: The Norse peoples believedthat their gods lived above the earth in a wonderful city named Asgard. From this city they crossed to the earth on a bridge, which by people onearth was known as the rainbow. ] and have shared in their joys and theirgood works should have preferred to associate with the ugly, wickedgiants. But that was the case with Loki--Red Loki, as he was called, because of his red hair. He was handsome like a god; he was wise andclever like a god--more clever than any of the other gods. In one way, however, he differed from the others; he had a bad heart, and liked muchbetter to use his cleverness in getting gods and men into trouble thanin making them happy. Besides this, he was very proud, and could notbear to submit even to Odin, the king of the gods. "Who is Odin, " [Footnote: Odin, chief of the Norse gods, had beeninduced to part with one eye in exchange for wisdom. ] he muttered, "thathe should be set over me? Is he more clever than I am? Is he morehandsome, with his one eye and his gray beard?" And Loki held hishandsome head high. Proud as he was, however, he was not too proud to do a disgracefulthing. He went off to the home of the giants and married the ugliest andfiercest of all the giantesses. Just why he did it does not seem veryclear, for he certainly could not have loved her. Perhaps he did it justto spite the other gods and to show them that he cared nothing for whatthey thought. But he must have repented of his act when he saw the children which thegiantess bore him, for they were certainly the most hideous andfrightful children that were ever born into the world. The daughter, Hela, was the least awful, but even she was by no means a person onewould care to meet. She was half white and half blue, and she had suchgloomy, angry eyes that any one who looked at her sank intounconquerable sadness and finally into death. But the other two! One wasa huge, glistening, scaly serpent, with a mouth that dripped poison, andglaring, beady eyes; and the other was a white-fanged, red-eyed wolf. These two monsters grew so rapidly that the king of the gods, lookingdown from his throne in the heavens, was struck with fear. "The gods themselves will not be safe if those monsters are allowed togo unchecked, " he said. "Down there in the home of the giants they willbe taught to hate the gods, and at the rate they're growing, they'llsoon be strong enough to shake our very palaces. " He sent, therefore, the strongest of his sons to fetch the children ofLoki before him. Well was it for those gathered about Odin's throne thatthey were gods and goddesses, else would the eyes of Hela have sent themto their death. Upon her, Odin looked more in pity than in anger--shewas not all bad. "You, Hela, " he said, "although it is not safe to allow you to remainabove ground, where you may do great harm to men, are not all wicked. Honor, therefore, shall be yours, and ease; but happiness shall be farfrom you. I shall make you queen over the regions of the dead--thatkingdom which is as large as nine worlds. " Then it was believed that the only honorable form of death was death inbattle; and the bravest of the heroes who died in battle were brought byOdin's messengers, the Valkyries, who always hovered on their cloud-horses above battlefields, to the great palace of Valhalla. Thereforeonly the cowards or the weak, who died in their beds, went to theunderground realm, and Hela knew that they were not subjects of whom shecould be proud. Nevertheless, she went without a word. Odin, then, without speaking, suddenly stooped and seized in his strongarms the wriggling, slippery serpent. Over the wall of the city he threwit, and the gods watched it as it fell down, down, down, until at lastit sank from sight into the sea. This was by no means the last of theserpent, however; under the water it grew and grew until it was so largethat it formed a girdle about the whole earth, and could hold its tailin its mouth. The question as to what should be done with the great wolf, Fenris, wasnot so easily answered. It seemed to all the gods that he had grownlarger and fiercer in the brief time he had stood before them, and noneof them dared touch him. At length some one whispered, "Let us killhim, " and the wolf turned and showed his teeth at the speaker; for as hewas the son of Loki, he could understand and speak the language of thegods. "That cannot be, " said Odin. "Have we not sworn that the streets of ourcity shall never be stained with blood? Let us leave the matter untilanother time. " So the wolf was permitted to roam about Asgard, and the gods all triedto be kind to him, for they thought that by their kindness they mighttame him. However, he grew stronger and stronger and more and morevicious, until only Tyr, [Footnote: Tyr was the Norse war-god. ] thebravest of all the gods, dared go near him to give him food. One day, asthe gods sat in their council hall, they heard the wolf howling throughthe streets. "How long, " said Odin, "is our city to be made hideous by such noises?We must bind Fenris the wolf. " Silence followed his words, for all knew what a serious thing it wasthat Odin proposed. Fenris must be bound--that was true; but who woulddare attempt the task? And what chain could ever hold him? At lengthThor [Footnote: Thor, god of thunder, was the strongest of all the gods]arose, and all sighed with relief; for if any one could bind the wolf, it was Thor. "I will make a chain, " he said, "stronger than ever chainwas before, and then we shall find some way to fasten it upon him. " Thor strode to his smithy, and heaped his fire high. All night he workedat his anvil; whenever any of the gods awakened they could hear theclank! clank! clank! of his great hammer, and could see from theirwindows the sparks from his smithy shining through the gloom. In themorning the chain was finished, and all wondered at its strength, ThenThor called to the huge wolf and said: "Fenris, you are stronger than any of the gods. We cannot break thischain, but for you it will be mere child's play. Let yourself be boundwith it, that we may see how great your strength really is. " Now the wolf knew his might better than any of them did, and he sufferedhimself to be bound fast. Then he arose, stretched himself as if he werejust waking from a nap, and calmly walked off, leaving the fragments ofthe chain on the ground. The amazed gods looked at each other withfright in their eyes--what could they do? "I will make a stronger chain, " said Thor, undiscouraged. And again hewent to his smithy, where he worked all day and all night. "This is the strongest chain that can ever be made, " he said, when hepresented it to the gods. "If this will not hold him, nothing can. " Calling the wolf, they flattered him and praised his strength, andfinally persuaded him to let himself be bound with this chain, "just fora joke. " You may be sure, however, that they said nothing about itsbeing the strongest chain that could ever be made. Fenris pretended to lie helpless for a time; then he struggled to hisfeet, shook his mighty limbs, tossed his hideous head--and the chainsnapped, and fell into a hundred pieces! Then indeed there wasconsternation among the gods; but Odin, the all-wise, had a suddenhelpful thought. Calling his swiftest messenger, he said: "Go to the dwarfs in their underground smithy. Tell them to forge for usa chain which cannot be broken; and do you make all haste, for the wolfgrows stronger each moment. " [Illustration: THE GODS WERE AMAZED] Off hastened the messenger, and in less time than it takes to tell it hewas with the dwarfs, giving them the message from Odin. The little menbustled about here and there, gathering up the materials of which thechain was to be made; and when these were all collected and piled in aheap, you might have looked and looked, and you would have seen nothing!For this extraordinary chain was made of such things as the roots ofmountains, the sound of a cat's footsteps, a woman's beard, the spittleof birds and the voice of fishes. When it was finished the messengerhurried back to Asgard and displayed it proudly to the anxious gods. Itwas as fine and soft as a silken string, but the gods knew theworkmanship of the dwarfs, and had no fear. "It will be easy, " they said, "to persuade Fenris to let himself bebound with this. " But they were mistaken. The wolf looked at the soft, shining cordsuspiciously, and said: "If that is what it looks to be, I shall gain no honor from breaking it;if it has been made by magic, I shall never free myself. " "But we will free you, " cried the gods. "This is but a game to test yourstrength. " "Not you, " growled the wolf. "I've lived here long enough to know thatif I don't look out for myself, no one else will look out for me. " "All right, if you are afraid, " said Thor, with a shrug of hisshoulders. And the wolf replied, "To show that I am no more cowardlythan the gods, I will suffer myself to be bound if one of you will puthis hand into my mouth. " To refuse to do this was, as the gods knew, to admit that they had meanttrickery, and thus to make Fenris hate them worse than ever. But whatone of them was willing to sacrifice his hand? Thor was no coward, buthe knew that he was the chief defender of the gods, and he could not lethimself be maimed. However, they did not have to wait long, for Tyr cameforward, and thrust his hand into the wolf's mouth. The wolf, his suspicions quieted, let himself be wrapped and bound withthe cord; and then, as he had done with the other chains, he stretchedhimself--or tried to. For the magic rope but drew tighter and tighterfor all his struggling, until it cut into his very skin. Enraged, hebrought his great teeth sharply together, and bit off Tyr's hand at thewrist. Then he howled and snapped and growled, until the gods, unwillingto have their peace disturbed, thrust a sword into his mouth, so thatthe hilt rested upon his lower jaw and the point pierced the roof of hismouth. They next fastened the cord to a rock, and left the wolf towrithe and struggle and shake the earth. So they were freed for a timefrom their enemy, but at the cost of Tyr's hand. THE DEATH OF BALDER Adapted by Anna McCaleb Of all the gods in Asgard, Balder was most beloved; for no one had everseen him frown, and his smile and the light of his eyes made all happywho looked at him. And of all who dwelt in Asgard or ever gainedadmission there, Loki was most hated. Clever as he was, he used hiscleverness to harass the other gods and to make them wretched, and oftenhe attempted real crimes against them. It was natural enough that Loki, slighted and frowned upon, should hate Balder the beautiful, even thoughBalder himself had never spoken an unkind word to him. "I cannot bear the sight of his shining hair and happy eyes, " mutteredLoki to himself. "If I could just blot them out of Asgard I should berevenging myself upon the gods for their bitterness toward me, for harmto Balder would hurt them more than harm to themselves. " One morning the assembled gods noticed that when Balder came among themhe looked less radiant than usual, and they gathered about him, beggingthat he tell them what was wrong. "It's nothing! It's nothing!" said Balder; and he forced a smile, but itwas not his old smile. It reminded them all of the faint light the sunsheds when a thin cloud has drifted before it. All day long, as they went about their tasks and their pleasures, thegods were conscious of a feeling of gloom; and when they stopped andquestioned themselves, they found that the cause lay in the diminishedbrightness of Balder's smile. When, the next morning, Balder again cameslowly to the great hall of the gods and showed a careworn face, Odinand Frigga, his father and mother, drew him apart and implored him totell them the cause of his grief. "My son, " spoke Odin, "it is not well that this gloom should rest on allthe gods, and they not know the cause. Perhaps we, your father and yourmother, may help you. " At last Balder told them that for two nights he had had strange, haunting dreams; what they were he could not remember clearly when heawoke, but he could not shake off their depressing effect. "I only know, " he said, "that there was ever a thick cloud, whichdrifted between me and the sun, and there were confused sounds of woe, and travelings in dark, difficult places. " Now the gods knew well that their dreams were messages given them by theNorns, or Fates, and not for a moment did Odin and Frigga venture tolaugh at Balder's fears. They soothed him, however, by promising to findsome means of warding off any danger that might be threatening him. Somewhat cheered, Balder went home to his palace to comfort hisdistressed wife, Nanna, while Odin and Frigga discussed measures fortheir son's safety. "I, " said Odin, "shall ride to the domains of Hela, queen of the dead, and question the great prophetess who lies buried there, as to whatBalder's dream may mean. " And mounting Sleipnir, his eight-footed steed, he rode away. Across the rainbow bridge he passed, out of the light, and down, down, down into the dark, hopeless realm of Hela. As he rode by the gate hesaw that preparations for a feast were being made within. A gloomy feastit would have to be in those drear regions, but evidently it was beingspread for some honored guest, for rich tapestries and rings of goldcovered the couches, and vessels of gold graced the tables. Past thegate rode Odin, to a grave without the wall, where for ages long thegreatest of all prophetesses had lain buried. Here, in this dark, chillplace, was to be spoken the fate of Balder, bringer of light. Solemnly Odin chanted the awful charms that had power to raise the dead, and king of gods as he was, he started when the grave opened, and theprophetess, veiled in mist, rose before him. "Who art thou?" she demanded in hollow, ghost-like tones. "And whatcanst thou wish to know so weighty that only I, long dead, can answerthee?" Knowing that she would refuse to answer him should she know who hereally was, Odin concealed his identity, and simply asked for whom thefeast was preparing in Hela's realm. "For Balder, light of gods and men, " replied the prophetess. "And who shall dare to strike him down?" cried Odin. "By the hand of his blind brother Hoder shall he fall. And now let merest. " And the prophetess sank again into her tomb, leaving Odin with aheart more heavy and chill than the darkness which closed round him. Meanwhile Frigga had busied herself with a plan which her mother lovehad suggested. First to all the gods in Asgard, then through all theearth did she go, saying, "Promise me--swear to me--that you will neverhurt Balder. " Every bird, every beast, every creeping thing; all plants, stones and metals; all diseases and poisons known to gods and men; fire, water, earth, air--all things gladly took oath to do Balder no harm. "For do not we, " they cried to Frigga, "love him even as you do? And whythen should we harm him?" Gladly Frigga took her way toward home, feeling certain that she hadsaved Balder forever. As she was about to enter Odin's palace, Valhalla, she noticed on a branch of an oak that grew there, a tiny, weak-lookingshrub. "That mistletoe is too young to promise, and too weak to do anyharm, " said Frigga; and she passed it by. All the gods rejoiced with her when she told of her success; even Odinpartially shook off his fears, as he told the younger gods and theheroes who dwelt with him in his palace to go and seek enjoyment aftertheir period of gloom. To the great playground of the gods theyhastened, and there they invented a new game. Balder, smiling as of old, took his stand in the midst, and all the others hurled at him weapons, stones and sticks, and even hit at him with their battle-axes. They grewvery merry over this pastime, for do what they would, none of them couldharm Balder; the missiles either fell short, or dropped to his feetharmless. Loki, passing by, was at first amazed when he saw Balder being used as atarget; then, when he saw that Balder remained unhurt through all, hebecame angry--he could not bear this proof of the fact that all thingsloved Balder. Hastening away, he disguised himself as an old woman andhobbled off to Fensalir, the mansion of Frigga. "Do you know, " said this old woman, entering the room where Frigga satspinning, "that the gods and heroes are playing a very dangerous game?They are hurling all sorts of things at your son Balder, who stands intheir midst. " "That is not a dangerous game, " replied Frigga, smiling serenely. "Lastyear it might have been, but now all things have given me their solemnoath not to harm Balder. " "Well, well, well, " said the old woman, "isn't that wonderful? To thinkthat any being should be so much beloved that everything should promisenot to hurt him! You said EVERYTHING, did you not?" "Yes, " replied Frigga. "That is, it really amounts to everything. Thereis one tiny parasite, the mistletoe, which grows on the Valhalla oak, which I did not bother with. " Once out of sight of Frigga, Loki moved rapidly enough; and shortly heappeared, in his own form, among the gods, who were still shouting withjoy over their game. In his hand he carried a dart; but who could haveguessed, to look at it, that it had been fashioned from the mistletoe onthe Valhalla oak? Outside of the circle of the gods stood Hoder, Balder's blind brother, and there was no smile on his face. Loki approached him and askedcraftily: "Why do you not join in the game? Are you not afraid that Balder willthink you are jealous of his good fortune if you take no part in thissport they have invented in his honor?" [Illustration: HODER HURLED THE DART] "Alas!" said poor Hoder, "I am left out of all the sports of the gods. How can I, with my sightless eyes, tell where Balder is? And you seethat I have nothing in my hand. What, then, could I throw?" "I have here a little dart that I will give you, " replied Loki. "Andsince you cannot direct your aim, I will guide your arm. " Joyfully Hoder thanked him, and when Loki indicated the direction inwhich he was to throw, he hurled the dart with all his might. Unswervingly flew the mistletoe dart, and instead of falling at Balder'sfeet, it lodged in his heart, so that he fell dead on the grass. Then, instead of the laughter which Hoder waited to hear, there went upa shuddering wail of terror; and angry hands seized Hoder and angryvoices were in his ear. "What have I done?" he pleaded. "I but wished to show honor to Balder asthe rest have done. " "And you have killed him!" they cried. "You shall die yourself. " "Peace! Peace!" said Heimdal. "Such a deed of violence must not stainthe home of the gods. Moreover, Hoder did it all unwittingly. It wasLoki who directed his aim, and we are all to blame that we allowed himto set foot on our playground. " Bitter indeed was Hoder's grief, and he implored his heart-brokenmother, Frigga, that he might be allowed to take Balder's place in darkHela's realm. "Not you alone, " she replied, "but any of the gods, would willingly diefor Balder. But not in that way can he be brought back to Asgard. Thereis one chance--speak to Hermod, fleetest of the gods; tell him to takeOdin's horse, Sleipnir, and ride to Hela's abode. Perchance, if heentreat her, she may give Balder up. " Hermod, at the word of thedespairing Hoder, mounted the eight-footed steed, and set off on theperilous journey. Meanwhile, the other gods prepared the funeral pyre for Balder, determined that it should be worthy of the beloved and honored god. Great pine trees were felled and piled upon the deck of Ringhorn, Balder's ship; tapestry hangings, garlands of flowers and ornaments ofgold and silver were heaped upon the pyre. And finally, in sad procession, came the gods, bearing Balder's body, which they placed upon the flowers. His horse and his dogs were killedand placed beside him, that they might be with him to serve him in theunderworld. Then one after one of the gods stepped forward and chantedtheir farewells; but when Nanna's turn came, she was unable to speak. Her heart broke, and her spirit fled to join that of her husband. Thegods could not sorrow for her death; they knew that the abode of thedead would have less terrors for the loving pair if they could betogether there, so without tears they laid her beside her husband. Last of all, Odin advanced and cast upon the pyre his treasured ring, Draupnir, gift of the dwarfs, as an offering to his dead son. Then Thor, with a touch of his hammer, which caused the lightning, set fire to thepile, and the ship, with sails set, was launched. In solemn silence the gods watched the ship float out upon the sea. "And wreathed in smoke, the ship stood out to sea. Soon with a roaring rose the mighty fire, And the pile crackled; and between the logs Sharp quivering tongues of flame shot out, and leapt, Curling and darting, higher, till they lick'd The summit of the pile, the dead, the mast, And ate the shriveling sails; but still the ship Drove on, ablaze above her hull with fire. And the gods stood upon the beach and gazed, And while they gazed, the sun went lurid down Into the smoke-wrapt sea, and night came on. Then the wind fell, with night, and there was calm; But through the night they watched the burning ship Still carried o'er the distant waters on, Farther and farther, like an eye of fire. And long, in the far dark, blazed Balder's pile; But fainter, as the stars rose high, it flared; The bodies were consumed, ash choked the pile. And as, in a decaying winter fire, A charr'd log, falling, makes a shower of sparks-- So with a shower of sparks the pile fell in, Reddening the sea around; and all was dark. "[Footnote: The poetic quotations in this story are fromMatthew Arnold's Balder Dead. ] Then, when all was over, the gods went mournfully back to their homes, there to await the return of Hermod. Their palaces were brightlyilluminated, but no lights shone from the windows of Breidablik, Balder's palace; and as long as that was dark, the gods cared little forthe brilliance of their own dwellings. Hermod, in the meantime, had journeyed across the rainbow bridge, and onand on toward the north until he reached the Giall river, which runsbetween the regions of Hela and the upper world. Well the guard of thebridge knew, when she heard on the bridge the noise of the horse's feet, that it was no shade who was crossing; but when Hermod told his errand, he was allowed to go on. And now his way led over trackless, slipperyice, on which scarce any other horse could have kept his footing; andsurely no other horse could have leapt, as did Sleipnir, the gate toHela's own realm. Once within, Hermod came rapidly into the presence ofthe queen, and on his knees before her implored her to allow Balder toreturn to the light and the upper air. "'For Heaven was Balder born, the city of gods And heroes, where they live in light and joy. Thither restore him, for his place is there!'" Hela remained unmoved by his pleadings; and what wonder? For she wasLoki's daughter, and knew by whose act Balder had been sent below. Finally she said: "Hermod, I shall try whether the protestations that all things lamentBalder are indeed true. Return to Asgard; and if, through all the earth, all things, living and dead, weep for Balder, he shall return. But ifone thing in all the world refuses to shed tears, here he shall stay. " Cheered by this promise, Hermod turned to depart, but before he left hetalked with Balder and with Nanna, his wife. They told him that allhonor which could be paid to any one in the realms of the dead was paidto them; that Balder was made the judge in disputes between the shades. But despite that, the days were weary, hopeless; no joy was there, nothing substantial--just days and nights of unvarying twilight, withnever a gleam of real brightness. Nor would Balder admit that there wascause for rejoicing in the promise of Hela. "Well we know the family ofLoki. Were there not some trick, Hela would never have spoken thatword. " Nevertheless, it was with a heart lighter than at his coming that Hermodset out on his return journey. And when he reached Asgard there wasrejoicing among the gods. For the first time since Balder's death, therewere the sounds of cheerful hurryings to and fro and of gods callingeach to each as they set out upon their tasks; for all the gods wanted apart in the work of bringing Balder back to life. In twos and threes they rode throughout all the world, and soon "allthat lived, and all without life, wept. " Trees, stones, flowers, metalsjoined willingly in grief for Balder the beautiful; and most of the godsspeedily returned in joy. But Hermod, as he rode, came to the mouth of adark cave where sat an old hag named Thok. Years long she had sat there, and the gods knew her well, for she always cried out mockingly to allwho passed by; but Hermod could not know that to-day Loki had changedforms with the old hag, and that it was really that enemy of the godswho sat before him. Dismounting, he besought the old woman to weep forBalder, as all things in heaven and earth had promised to do. But in ashrill voice she cried: "With dry tears will Thok weep for Balder. Let Hela keep her prey. " And as she fled, with harsh laughter, to the cave's depth, Hermod knewthat it was Loki who had this second time stolen life from Balder. Sadly he rode back to Asgard, and in silent grief the gods heard histale; for they knew that brightness was gone forever from the abode ofthe gods--that Balder the beautiful should return no more. This story of Balder is one of those myths which were invented toexplain natural happenings. The ancient peoples, knowing nothing aboutscience, could not account for such things as the rising and setting ofthe sun and the change from summer to winter; and they made upexplanations which in time grew into interesting stories. Some students believe that in this story the death of Balder (the sun)by the hand of Hoder (darkness) represents the going down of the sun ateach day's close. Another explanation, and a more probable one, is that the death ofBalder represents the close of the short northern summer and the comingon of the long winter. That is, the dreary winter, with its darkness, isrepresented by Hoder, who had strength, but could not make use of it toaid men or gods; who could, however, with his blind strength, slayBalder, who stood for the blessed, life-giving qualities of the summersun. Loki represented fire. He had in him elements of good, but because ofthe fact that he had used his power often to harm, as does fire, insteadof to bless, he was feared and hated and avoided; and thus he becamejealous of Balder. For a myth which the Greeks and Romans invented about the sun, see thestory of Phaethon, in this volume. [Illustration: STRANGE OPAL LIGHTS FILTERED THROUGH THE WATER] THE PUNISHMENT OF LOKI Adapted by Anna McCaleb After Balder's death the gods felt that they had little to make themhappy. Their thoughts dwelt always on their loss, or on their desire topunish Loki; and in neither of these thoughts was there any joy, for tothe pure minds of the gods, the thought of violence could bring nothingbut pain. One day the sea-god Aegir sent to the dwellers in Asgard an invitationto a banquet in his sea caverns, and all accepted except Thor, who hadbusiness that called him elsewhere. On the appointed morning theyappeared at Aegir's palace, and while at first they forced themselves tosmile and appear cheerful, in compliment to their host, they soon foundthemselves, because of the novelty of all about them, becoming genuinelyinterested. The palace was of coral, pink and white--rough on theoutside, but smooth and polished within; and the floors were strewn withsand so fine and white that it looked like marble. Draperies of bright-colored seaweed hung everywhere, and the gay sea flowers met their eyesat every turn, while the dishes and cups in which the feast was servedwere the most delicate pearl-tinted shells. Strange opal lights filteredthrough the water and into the banqueting hall, and great whales and seasnakes looked in through the windows on the gods as they sat at table. All was cheerfulness and merriment, but suddenly the gods felt a chillcome over them, as if a wind from Hela's ice-bound realm had rushedpast. Turning, they saw Loki on the threshold. With a muttered excusefor his lateness he slipped into his seat; and then, since none excepthis host greeted him, and since the merry talk was not resumed, heglanced about the table and said: "Pretty manners are these! Does no one pledge me in wine? Does no onehave a word for me?" Painfully the gods forced themselves to take up their conversation, though all avoided talking directly to Loki, whose expression becamemore lowering every moment. At length Odin turned to his host. "This servant, Funfeng, is deft and skilful. Even in my palace I havenot his superior. " Aegir bowed. "Since the king of the gods is pleased with Funfeng, Funfeng is no longer my servant, but the servant of Odin. He shall waitupon the heroes in Valhalla. " With a cry of jealous rage Loki sprang to his feet. "Never!" he cried, and he struck Funfeng so violently that he fell dead. All the gods leaped up, and they drove Loki from the palace, commandinghim never to appear in their presence again; but scarcely had theyseated themselves to resume their interrupted feast, when the crafty godagain entered the room. Not waiting for them to speak, he began torevile them. His words came in a rapid stream; he stopped not to drawbreath. Beginning with Odin, he attacked the gods in turn, mocking theirphysical peculiarities, recounting every deed which they had done thatwas not to their credit, shaming them because he had always been able toelude them easily, and because only he could help them out of theirdifficulties. Finally he came to Sif, Thor's golden-haired wife, whomlong before he had robbed of her tresses. "As for Sif, " he began, "I could tell a tale of her that--" But he went no further, for a peal of thunder drowned his words, and ablinding flash of lightning made him cover his eyes with his hands. Thegods sighed in relief, for Thor stood among them, his eyes shootingfire. "Already, " he cried, "has Aegir's palace been stained with blood to-day. I will not, therefore, kill you here. But if ever you appear before myeyes again, I shall smite you; and if ever you dare to speak Sif's name, I shall hear it though I am in the uttermost parts of the earth, and Ishall have vengeance. " "Well spoken, son Thor, " said Odin. "But I too have something to say toLoki. We shall permit you to go unharmed to-day, but if you care foryour life, hide yourself. We shall seek you; and the gods have keeneyes. And if we find you out, you shall die. " Sullen, frightened, Loki withdrew. He wandered about long in the mostbarren, desolate parts of the earth, cursing the gods and hatinghimself. At length he found a spot which he felt sure would be hiddeneven from Odin's eyes. It was in a steep, rocky valley, where nothinggrew, and where no sound ever came except the weird noise of the wind asit swept through the narrow passes, and the chatter of a mountain streamas it leapt down the rocks. Here, in this solitary place, Loki built himself a hut of piled-uprocks. Four walls had the hut, and in each wall was a door, for Lokiwished to be able to see the gods, from whatever direction theyapproached, and to make his escape. He had always been a famousfisherman, and now the fish which he took from the stream formed hisonly food. Sometimes he changed himself into a salmon and floated about in thequieter places of the stream. He never talked with the other fish wholived in the stream, but somehow he felt less lonely with those livingthings about him than he did in his solitary hut on the mountain side. One day (for Loki was a very clever workman) he began to fashionsomething, the like of which there had not been in the world before. This was a net for fishing; and so interested did Loki become intwisting and knotting the cords, that he almost forgot to keep watch forhis enemies, the gods. The net was almost finished, when one afternoonLoki raised his head and saw through one of his doors three godsapproaching--Odin, Thor and Heimdal, wisest of the gods. With a curse hetossed his net upon the fire--"THEY shall never have it!"--and slippedfrom his hut. Splash! And there was a huge salmon deep down in thestream, while Loki was nowhere to be seen. The gods were greatly disappointed when they entered the hut; they hadbeen so sure that at last they had found the hiding place of the wickedone, and it seemed they had missed him again. However, they knew hispower of disguising himself, and they were not utterly discouraged. "He has not been gone long, " said Heimdal, "for look--the fire stillburns. And what is this upon the fire?" And he drew out the partlyburned fish net. "What can it be?" asked Odin. "It is too coarse for any sort of coveringfor the body, and not strong enough to use in entangling an enemy. " "Wait!" said Heimdal. "I have it--I have it! It's a net for fishing--Loki was always a fisherman. See, " he exclaimed excitedly, "you take itSO, " thrusting one end into Thor's hand, "and you drag it through thewater SO. The water runs through and the fish are held. O, clever Loki!" "But why, " asked Thor, "should he burn it up, when he has spent so muchwork upon it?" "I don't know, " said Heimdal musingly, "unless--unless. Where could hehide except in that stream, and how could he conceal himself therewithout changing himself to a fish? Mark my words. Loki is there, and hefeared we might catch him with his own net. " "That, " said Odin, "would be a form of justice for which one wouldscarcely dare hope. I fear the net is too badly burned for use. " "Not so, " replied Heimdal. "Here is more flax, and we can easily repairthe damage the fire has done. " So the three gods sat upon the floor of the hut and mended the burnednet, keeping an eye always on the stream, that Loki might not make hisescape. And when the net was ready they went forth, and with it draggedthe stream. Not a fish did they catch, for Loki had frightened the realfish away, and he himself was hiding between two big stones, so that thenet passed over him. "The thing is too light, " said Thor. "It does not touch the bottom. " "That we can soon change, " replied Heimdal, and he set about fasteningstones to the lower edge of the net. Again they began to drag the river, and this time Loki feared that hecould not escape. But just as the net almost touched him, he gave amighty leap and sprang clear of the net. The silvery flash, the suddensplash, startled the gods, so that they almost dropped the net; but ittold them what they wanted to know--Loki WAS in the stream. Turning, they dragged the net down the stream, driving Loki nearer and nearer tothe sheer drop of the waterfall, down which he dared not plunge. Desperate, he made another leap, and again he almost escaped; but Thor'squick eyes saw him, Thor's strong, iron-gloved hand gripped him. Thegreat salmon struggled, but Thor held it fast by the tail, and finallyflung it out upon the bank. [Illustration: THOR'S HAND GRIPPED HIM] Loki, within the fish, vowed to himself that he would not return to hisown shape; but the fish's body could not live long out of the water, andsoon he found himself growing weak and faint. At length, therefore, hewas obliged to assume his own form, and there he stood, handsome, butevil-looking, before the waiting gods. "It hurts us, " said Odin, "that we should be forced to treat one of ourown kind in this way. Perhaps even now--tell us that you do regret yourpast wickedness, that you are sorry for the trouble you have caused thegods, that you grieve sometimes for Balder's death. " "I grieve, " said Loki, "only that I have caused so little trouble amongthe gods; I regret only that the days for pitting my cleverness againstyour stupidity are at an end--for I ask for no mercy. As for Balder'sdeath, it has been my chief cause for rejoicing as I have dwelt here inthis solitary place. " Shocked by his hardness, the gods led him away to the punishment whichthey had planned for him. The other gods met them by the way, and troopsof dwarfs and elves and human beings and animals sprang up on everyside, and followed them. And in the hearts of all these followers therewas joy, for Loki had never done them anything but harm; and besides, had he not slain Balder, the beautiful, the beloved? But in the hearts of the gods there was pain, for Loki was of their ownnumber, and far back in the beginnings of time, before he had becomewicked, he had been their great pride, by reason of his cleverness. They passed, a noisy procession, to a dark, underground cavern, a damp, slimy place, where snakes looked out from their holes, and toads satupon the stones. Here were three sharp-pointed rocks, which Thor piercedwith holes; and to these rocks they bound the wretched Loki with chainsof adamant. "Here he shall stay, " said Odin, "until the last great day shall comefor gods and men. " A giantess, whose son Loki had killed, came with a great serpent, whichshe fastened directly over Loki's head; and from the serpent's mouthdripped poison, which fell, drop by drop, upon Loki's upturned face. Hiswife, Sigyn, could not bear to see her husband in such agony, so shetook her stand beside him, cup in hand, and caught the poison as itfell. There through the ages on ages she stood, relieving Loki's pain, and trying to cheer him, for whom there was no cheer. When the cup wasfilled and she had to go to the cavern's mouth to empty it, then thevenom fell on Loki's face, and in his terrible pain he struggled andwrithed until the earth shook. And all the people, startled at theirwork or from their sleep, cried, "Loki's earthquake!" SEVEN TIMES ONE By Jean Ingelow There's no dew left on the daisies and clover, There's no rain left in heaven;I've said my "seven times" over and over--Seven times one are seven. I am so old, so old I can write a letter;My birthday lessons are done;The lambs play always, they know no better;They are only one times one. O moon! in the night I have seen you sailingAnd shining so round and low;You were bright! ah, bright! but your light is failing--You are nothing now but a bow. You moon, have you done something wrong in heaven, That God has hidden your face?I hope if you have you will soon be forgiven, And shine again in your place. O velvet bee, you're a dusty fellow, You've powdered your legs with gold!O brave marsh marybuds, rich and yellow, Give me your money to hold! O columbine, open your folded wrapper, Where two twin turtledoves dwell!O cuckoopint, toll me the purple clapperThat hangs in your clear green bell! And show me your nest with the young ones in it;I will not steal them away;I am old! you may trust me, linnet, linnet--I am seven times one to-day. SHUFFLE-SHOON AND AMBER-LOCKS[Footnote: From 'Love Songs of Childhood'. Copyright, 1894, by Eugene Field, published by Charles Scribner's Sons. ] By Eugene Field Shuffle-Shoon and Amber-LocksSit together, building blocks;Shuffle-Shoon is old and gray, Amber-Locks a little child. But together at their playAge and Youth are reconciled, And with sympathetic gleeBuild their castles fair to see. "When I grow to be a man, "(So the wee one's prattle ran), "I shall build a castle so--With a gateway broad and grand;Here a pretty vine shall grow, There a soldier guard shall stand;And the tower shall be so high, Folks will wonder, by and by!" Shuffle-Shoon quoth: "Yes, I know;Thus I builded long ago!Here a gate and there a wall, Here a window, there a door;Here a steeple wondrous tallRiseth ever more and more!But the years have leveled lowWhat I builded long ago!" So they gossip at their play, Heedless of the fleeting day;One speaks of the Long AgoWhere his dead hopes buried lie;One with chubby cheeks aglowPrattleth of the By-and-By;Side by side, they build their blocks--Shuffle-Shoon and Amber-Locks. AFTERWHILE[Footnote: From the poem to Afterwhiles by JamesWhitcomb Riley. Used by special permission of thepublishers--The Bobbs-Merrill Company. ] By James Whitcomb Riley Afterwhile we have in viewThe old home to journey to:Where the Mother is, and whereHer sweet welcome waits us there. How we'll click the latch that locksIn the pinks and hollyhocks, And leap up the path once moreWhere she waits us at the door;How we'll greet the dear old smileAnd the warm tears--afterwhile. WINDY NIGHTS By ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON Whenever the moon and stars are set, Whenever the wind is high, All night long in the dark and wet, A man goes riding by. Late in the night when the fires are out, Why does he gallop and gallop about?Whenever the trees are crying aloud, And ships are tossed at sea, By, on the highway, low and loud, By at the gallop goes he. By at the gallop he goes, and thenBy he comes back at the gallop again. THE SNOW QUEEN By Hans Christian Andersen THE FIRST STORY WHICH TREATS OF THE MIRROR AND FRAGMENTS Look you, now we're going to begin. When we are at the end of the storywe shall know more than we do now, for he was a bad goblin. He was oneof the very worst, for he was a demon. One day he was in very goodspirits, for he had made a mirror which had this peculiarity, thateverything good and beautiful that was reflected in it shrank togetherinto almost nothing, but that whatever was worthless and looked uglybecame prominent and looked worse than ever. The most lovely landscapesseen in this mirror looked like boiled spinach, and the best peoplebecame hideous, or stood on their heads and had no bodies; their faceswere so distorted as to be unrecognizable, and a single freckle wasshown spread out over nose and mouth. That was very amusing, the demonsaid. When good, pious thoughts passed through any person's mind thesewere again shown in the mirror, so that the demon chuckled at hisartistic invention. Those who visited the goblin school--for he kept a goblin school--declared everywhere that a wonder had been wrought. For now, theyasserted, one could see, for the first time, how the world and thepeople in it really looked. Now they wanted to fly up to heaven, tosneer and scoff at the angels themselves. The higher they flew with themirror, the more it grinned; they could scarcely hold it fast. They flewhigher and higher, and then the mirror trembled so terribly amid itsgrinning that it fell down out of their hands to the earth, where it wasshattered into a hundred million million and more fragments. And now this mirror occasioned much more unhappiness than before; forsome of the fragments were scarcely as large as a barleycorn, and theseflew about in the world, and whenever they flew into any one's eye theystuck there, and that person saw everything wrongly, or had only eyesfor the bad side of a thing, for every little fragment of the mirror hadretained the power which the whole glass possessed. A few persons evengot a fragment of the mirror into their hearts, and that was terribleindeed, for such a heart became a block of ice. A few fragments of themirror were so large that they were used as window panes, but it was abad thing to look at one's friends through these panes: other pieceswere made into spectacles, and then it went badly when people put onthese spectacles to see rightly, and to be just; and then the demonlaughed till his paunch shook, for it tickled him so. But without, somelittle fragments of glass still floated about in the air--and now weshall hear THE SECOND STORY A LITTLE BOY AND A LITTLE GIRL In the great town, where there are many houses, and so many people thatthere is not room enough for every one to have a little garden, andwhere consequently most persons are compelled to be content with flowersin pots, were two poor children who possessed a garden somewhat largerthan a flowerpot. They were not brother and sister, but they loved eachother quite as much as if they had been. Their parents lived justopposite each other in two garrets, there where the roof of oneneighbor's house joined that of another. And where the water pipe ranbetween the two houses was a little window; one had only to step acrossthe pipe to get from one window to the other. The parents of each child had a great box, in which grew kitchen herbsthat they used, and a little rosebush; there was one in each box, andthey grew famously. Now, it occurred to the parents to place the boxesacross the pipe, so that they reached from one window to another, andlooked quite like two embankments of flowers. Pea plants hung down overthe boxes, and the rosebushes shot forth long twigs, which clusteredround the windows and bent down toward each other; it was almost like atriumphal arch of flowers and leaves. As the boxes were very high, andthe children knew that they might not creep upon them, they oftenobtained permission to step out upon the roof behind the boxes, and tosit upon their little stools under the roses, and there they could playcapitally. In the winter time there was an end of this amusement. The windows weresometimes quite frozen over. But then they warmed copper shillings onthe stove, and held the warm coins against the frozen pane; and thismade a capital peep-hole, so round! so round! and behind it gleamed apretty mild eye at each window; and these eyes belonged to the littleboy and the little girl. His name was Kay and the little girl's wasGerda. In the summer they could get to one another at one bound; but in thewinter they had to go down and up the long staircase, while the snow waspelting without. "Those are the white bees swarming, " said the old grandmother. "Have they a queen bee?" asked the little boy. For he knew that there isone among the real bees. "Yes, they have one, " replied grandmamma. "She always flies where theyswarm thickest. She is the largest of them all, and never remains quietupon the earth; she flies up again into the black cloud. Many a midnightshe is flying through the streets of the town, and looks in at thewindows, and then they freeze in such a strange way, and look likeflowers. " "Yes, I've seen that!" cried both the children; and now they knew thatit was true. [Illustration: THE SNOWFLAKE AT LAST BECAME A MAIDEN] "Can the Snow Queen come in here?" asked the little girl. "Only let her come, " cried the boy; "I'll set her upon the warm stove, and then she'll melt. " But grandmother smoothed his hair, and told some other tales. In theevening, when little Kay was at home and half undressed, he clamberedupon the chair by the window, and looked through the little hole. A fewflakes of snow were falling outside, and one of them, the largest ofthem all, remained lying on the edge of one of the flower boxes. The snowflake grew larger and larger, and at last became a maidenclothed in the finest white gauze, put together of millions of starryflakes. She was beautiful and delicate, but of ice--of shining, glittering ice. Yet she was alive; her eyes flashed like two clearstars, but there was no peace or rest in them. She nodded toward thewindow, and beckoned with her hand. The little boy was frightened, andsprang down from the chair; then it seemed as if a great bird flew byoutside, in front of the window. Next day there was a clear frost, and then the spring came; the sunshone, the green sprouted forth, the swallows built nests, the windowswere opened, and the little children again sat in their garden high upin the roof, over all the floors. How splendidly the roses bloomed this summer! The little girl hadlearned a psalm, in which mention was made of roses; and, in speaking ofroses, she thought of her own; and she sang it to the little boy, and hesang, too: "The roses will fade and pass away, But we the Christ-child shall see one day. " And the little ones held each other by the hand, kissed the roses, looked at God's bright sunshine, and spoke to it, as if the Christ-childwere there. What splendid summer days those were! How beautiful it waswithout, among the fresh rosebushes! Kay and Gerda sat and looked at the picture book of beasts and birds. Then it was, while the clock was just striking twelve on the churchtower, that Kay said: "Oh! something struck my heart and pricked me in the eye. " The littlegirl fell upon his neck; he blinked his eyes. No, there was nothing atall to be seen. "I think it is gone, " said he; but it was not gone. It was just one ofthose glass fragments which sprang from the mirror--the magic mirrorthat we remember well, the ugly glass that made every great and goodthing which was mirrored in it to seem small and mean, but in which themean and the wicked things were brought out in relief, and every faultwas noticeable at once. Poor little Kay had also received a splinterjust in his heart, and that will now soon become like a lump of ice. Itdid not hurt him now, but the splinter was still there. "Why do you cry?" he asked. "You look ugly like that. There's nothingthe matter with me. Oh, fie!" he suddenly exclaimed, "that rose is worm-eaten, and this one is quite crooked. After all, they're ugly roses. They're like the box in they stand. " And then he kicked the box with his foot, and tore both the roses off. "Kay, what are you about?" cried the little girl. And when he noticed her fright he tore off another rose, and then sprangin at his own window, away from pretty little Gerda. When she afterward came with her picture book, he said it was only fitfor babies in arms; and when his grandmother told stories he always camein with a BUT; and when he could manage it, he would get behind her, puton a pair of spectacles, and talk just as she did; he could do that verycleverly, and the people laughed at him. Soon he could mimic the speechand the gait of everybody in the street. Everything that was peculiar orugly about people, Kay would imitate; and every one said, "That boy mustcertainly have a remarkable genius. " But it was the glass that struckdeep in his heart; so it happened that he even teased little Gerda, wholoved him with all her heart. His games now became quite different from what they were before; theybecame quite sensible. One winter's day when it snowed he came out witha great burning glass, held up the blue tail of his coat, and let thesnowflakes fall upon it. "Now look at the glass, Gerda, " said he. And every flake of snow was magnified, and looked like a splendidflower, or a star with ten points--it was beautiful to behold. "See how clever that is, " said Kay. "That's much more interesting thanreal flowers; and there's not a single fault in it--they're quiteregular until they begin to melt. " Soon after, Kay came in thick gloves, and with his sledge upon his back. He called up to Gerda. "I've got leave to go into the great square, where the other boys play;" and he was gone. In the great square the boldest among the boys often tied their sledgesto the country people's carts, and thus rode with them a good way. Theywent capitally. When they were in the midst of their playing there camea great sledge. It was painted quite white, and in it sat somebodywrapped in a rough, white fur, with a white, rough cap on his head. Thesledge drove twice round the square, and Kay bound his little sledge toit, and so he drove on with it. It went faster and faster, straight intothe next street. The man who drove turned round and nodded in a familiarway to Kay; it was as if they knew one another. Each time when Kaywanted to cast loose his little sledge, the stranger nodded again, andthen Kay remained where he was, and thus they drove out at the towngate. Then the snow began to fall so rapidly that the boy could not seea hand's breadth before him; but still he drove on. Now he hastilydropped the cord, so as to get loose from the great sledge; but that wasno use, for his sledge was fast bound to the other, and they went onlike the wind. Then he called out quite loudly, but nobody heard him;and the snow beat down, and the sledge flew onward. Every now and thenit gave a jump, and they seemed to be flying over hedges and ditches. The boy was quite frightened. He wanted to say his prayer, but couldremember nothing but the multiplication table. The snowflakes became larger and larger; at last they looked like whitefowls. All at once they sprang aside, the great sledge stopped, and theperson who had driven it rose up. The fur and the cap were madealtogether of ice. It was A LADY, tall and slender, and brilliantlywhite: it was the Snow Queen! "We have driven well!" said she. "But why do you tremble with cold?Creep into my fur. " And she seated him beside her in her own sledge, and wrapped the furround him, and he felt as if he sank into a snowdrift. "Are you still cold?" asked she, and then she kissed him on theforehead. Oh, that was colder than ice; it went quite through to his heart, halfof which was already a lump of ice. He felt as if he were going to die, but only for a moment; for then he seemed quite well, and he did notnotice the cold all about him. "My sledge! Don't forget my sledge. " That was the first thing he thought of; and it was bound fast to one ofthe white chickens, and this chicken flew behind him with the sledgeupon its back. The Snow Queen kissed Kay again, and then he hadforgotten little Gerda, his grandmother, and all at home. "Now you shall have no more kisses, " said she, "for if you did I shouldkiss you to death. " Kay looked at her. She was so beautiful, he could not imagine a moresensible or lovely face; she did not appear to him to be made of icenow, as she did when she sat at the window and beckoned to him. In hiseyes she was perfect; he did not feel at all afraid. He told her that hecould do mental arithmetic as far as fractions; that he knew the numberof square miles and the number of inhabitants in the country. And shealways smiled, and then it seemed to him that what he knew was notenough. And he looked up into the wide sky, and she flew with him highup upon the black cloud, and the storm blew and whistled; it seemed asthough the wind sang old songs. They flew over woods and lakes, over seaand land; below them the cold wind roared, the wolves howled, the snowcrackled; over them flew the black, screaming crows; but above all themoon shone bright and clear, and Kay looked at the long, long winternight; by day he slept at the feet of the Queen. THE THIRD STORY THE FLOWER GARDEN OF THE WOMAN WHO COULD CONJURE But how did it fare with little Gerda when Kay did not return? Whatcould have become of him? No one knew, no one could give information. The boys only told that they had seen him bind his sledge to anothervery large one, which had driven along the street and out at the towngate. Nobody knew what had become of him; many tears were shed, andlittle Gerda especially wept long and bitterly. Then she said he wasdead--he had been drowned in the river which flowed close by theirschool. Oh, those were very dark, long winter days! But now spring came, with warmer sunshine. "Kay is dead and gone, " said little Gerda. "I don't believe it, " said the Sunshine. "He is dead and gone, " said she to the Sparrows. "We don't believe it, "they replied; and at last little Gerda did not believe it herself. "I will put on my new red shoes, " she said one morning--"those that Kayhas never seen; and then I will go down to the river, and ask for him. " It was still very early; she kissed the old grandmother, who was stillasleep, put on her red shoes, and went quite alone out of the town gatetoward the river. "Is it true that you have taken my little playmate from me? I will giveyou my red shoes if you will give him back to me. " And it seemed to her as if the waves nodded quite strangely; and thenshe took her red shoes, which she liked best of anything she possessed, and threw them both into the river; but they fell close to the shore, and the little wavelets carried them back to her, to the land. It seemedas if the river would not take from her the dearest things she possessedbecause he had not her little Kay. But she thought she had not thrownthe shoes far enough out, so she crept into a boat that lay among thereeds, went to the other end of the boat, and threw the shoes fromthence into the water; but the boat was not bound fast, and at themovement she made it glided away from the shore. She noticed it, andhurried to get back; but before she reached the other end, the boat wasa yard from the bank, and it drifted away faster than before. Then little Gerda was very much frightened, and began to cry; but no oneheard her except the Sparrows, and they could not carry her to land; butthey flew along the shore, and sang, as if to console her, "Here we are!here we are!" The boat drove on with the stream, and little Gerda satquite still, with only her stockings on her feet; her little red shoesfloated along behind her, but they could not come up to the boat, forthat made more way. It was very pretty on both shores. There were beautiful flowers, oldtrees, and slopes with sheep and cows; but not ONE person was to beseen. "Perhaps the river will carry me to little Kay, " thought Gerda. And then she became more cheerful, and rose up, and for many hours shewatched the charming green banks; then she came to a great cherryorchard, in which stood a little house with remarkable blue and redwindows; it had a thatched roof, and without stood two wooden soldiers, who presented arms to those who sailed past. [Illustration: THEY FLEW OVER WOODS AND LAKES] Gerda called to them, for she thought they were alive, but of coursethey did not answer. She came quite close to them. The river carried theboat toward the shore. Gerda called still louder, and then there came out of the house an oldwoman leaning on a crutch; she had on a great velvet hat, painted overwith the finest flowers. "You poor little child!" said the old woman. "How did you manage to comeon the great rolling river, and to float thus far out into the world?" And then the old woman went quite into the water, seized the boat withher crutch stick, drew it to land, and lifted little Gerda out. AndGerda was glad to be on dry land again, though she felt a little afraidof the strange old woman. "Come and tell me who you are, and how you came here, " said the oldlady. And Gerda told her everything; and the old woman shook her head, and said, "Hem! hem!" And when Gerda had told everything, and asked ifshe had not seen little Kay, the woman said that he had not yet come by, but that he probably would soon come. Gerda was not to be sorrowful, butto look at the flowers and taste the cherries, for they were better thanany picture book, for each one of them could tell a story. Then she tookGerda by the hand and led her into the little house, and locked thedoor. The windows were very high, and the panes were red, blue and yellow; thedaylight shone in a remarkable way, with different colors. On the tablestood the finest cherries, and Gerda ate as many of them as she liked, for she had leave to do so. While she was eating them, the old ladycombed Gerda's hair with a golden comb, and the yellow hair hung softlyround the friendly little face, which looked as blooming as a rose. "I have long wished for such a dear little girl as you, " said the oldlady. "Now you shall see how well we shall live with one another. " And as the ancient dame combed her hair, Gerda forgot her adoptedbrother Kay more and more; for this old woman could conjure, but she wasnot a wicked witch. She only practiced a little magic for her ownamusement, and wanted to keep little Gerda. Therefore she went into thegarden, stretched out her crutch toward all the rosebushes, and, beautiful as they were, they all sank into the earth, and one could nottell where they had stood. The old woman was afraid that, if the littlegirl saw roses, she would think of her own, and remember little Kay, andrun away. Now Gerda was led out into the flower garden. What fragrance was there, and what loveliness! Every conceivable flower was there in full bloom;there were some for every season; no picture book could be gayer andprettier. Gerda jumped high for joy, and played till the sun went downbehind the high cherry trees; then she was put into a lovely bed, withred silk pillows stuffed with blue violets, and she slept there, anddreamed as gloriously as a queen on her wedding day. Next day she played again with the flowers in the warm sunshine; andthus many days went by. Gerda knew every flower; but, many as there wereof them, it still seemed to her as if one were wanting, but which oneshe did not know. One day she sat looking at the old lady's hat with thepainted flowers, and the prettiest of them all was a rose. The old ladyhad forgotten to efface it from her hat when she caused the others todisappear. But so it always is when one does not keep one's wits aboutone. "What, are there no roses here?" cried Gerda. And she went among the beds, and searched and searched, but there wasnot one to be found. Then she sat down and wept; her tears fell justupon a spot where a rosebush lay buried, and when the warm tearsmoistened the earth, the tree at once sprouted up as blooming as when ithad sunk; and Gerda embraced it, kissed the roses, and thought of thebeautiful roses at home, and also of little Kay. "Oh, how I have been detained!" said the little girl. "I wanted to seekfor little Kay! Do you not know where he is?" she asked the roses. "Doyou think he is dead?" "He is not dead, " the roses answered. "We have been in the ground. Allthe dead people are there, but Kay is not there. " "Thank you, " said little Gerda, and she went to the other flowers, looked into their cups, and asked, "Do you know where little Kay is?" But every flower stood in the sun thinking only of her own story, orfancy tale. Gerda heard many, many, of them; but not one knew anythingof Kay. And what did the Tiger Lily say? "Do you hear the drum, 'Rub-dub'? There are only two notes, always 'rub-dub'! Hear the mourning song of the women; hear the call of the priests. The Hindoo widow stands in her long red mantle on the funeral pile; theflames rise up around her and her dead husband; but the Hindoo woman isthinking of the living one here in the circle, of him whose eyes burnhotter than flames, whose fiery glances have burned into her soul moreardently than the flames themselves, which are soon to burn her body toashes. Can the flame of the heart die in the flame of the funeral pile?" "I don't understand that at all!" said little Gerda. "That's my story, " said the Lily. What says the Convolvulus? "Over the narrow road looms an old knightly castle; thickly the ivygrows over the crumbling red walls, leaf by leaf up to the balcony, where stands a beautiful girl; she bends over the balustrade and glancesup the road. No rose on its branch is fresher than she; no apple blossomwafted onward by the wind floats more lightly along. How her costlysilks rustle! 'Comes he not yet?'" "Is it Kay whom you mean?" asked little Gerda. "I'm only speaking of a story--my dream, " replied the Convolvulus. What said the little Snowdrop? "Between the trees a long board hangs by ropes; that is a swing. Twopretty little girls, with clothes white as snow and long green silkribbons on their hats, are sitting upon it, swinging. Their brother, whois greater than they, stands in the swing, and has slung his arm roundthe rope to hold himself, for in one hand he has a little saucer, and inthe other a clay pipe. He is blowing bubbles. The swing flies, and thebubbles rise with beautiful, changing colors; the last still hangs fromthe pipe bowl, swaying in the wind. The swing flies on; the little blackdog, light as the bubbles, stands up on his hind legs, and wants to betaken into the swing: it flies on, and the dog falls, barks, and growsangry, for he is teased, and the bubble bursts. A swinging board and abursting bubble--that is my song. " "It may be very pretty, what you're telling, but you speak it somournfully, and you don't mention little Kay at all. " [Illustration: "HE IS BLOWING BUBBLES"] What do the Hyacinths say? "There were three beautiful sisters, transparent and delicate. The dressof one was red, that of the second blue, and that of the third quitewhite; hand in hand they danced by the calm lake in the brightmoonlight. They were not elves; they were human beings. It was so sweetand fragrant there! The girls disappeared in the forest, and the sweetfragrance became stronger: three coffins, with three beautiful maidenslying in them, glided from the wood-thicket across the lake; theglowworms flew gleaming about them like little hovering lights. Are thedancing girls sleeping, or are they dead? The flower scent says they aredead, and the evening bell tolls their knell. " "You make me quite sorrowful, " said little Gerda. "You scent sostrongly, I cannot help thinking of the dead maidens. Ah! is little Kayreally dead? The Roses have been down in the earth, and they say he isnot. " "Kling! klang!" tolled the Hyacinth bells. "We are not tolling forlittle Kay--we don't know him; we only sing our song, the only one weknow. " And Gerda went to the Buttercup, gleaming forth from the green leaves. "You are a little bright sun, " said Gerda. "Tell me, if you know, whereI may find my companion. " And the Buttercup shone so gaily, and looked back at Gerda. What songmight the Buttercup sing? It was not about Kay. "In a little courtyard the clear sun shone warm on the first day ofspring. The sunbeams glided down the white wall of the neighboringhouse; close by grew the first yellow flower, glancing like gold in thebright sun's ray. The old grandmother sat out of doors in her chair; hergranddaughter, a poor, handsome maid-servant, was coming home for ashort visit. She kissed her grandmother. There was gold, heart's gold, in that blessed kiss--gold in the mouth, gold in the south, gold in themorning hour. See, that's my little story, " said the Buttercup. "My poor old grandmother!" sighed Gerda. "Yes, she is surely longing forme and grieving for me, just as she did for little Kay. But I shall soongo home and take Kay with me. There is no use of my asking the flowers;they know only their own song, and give me no information. " And then shetied her little frock round her, that she might run the faster; but theJonquil struck against her leg as she sprang over it, and she stopped tolook at the tall yellow flower, and asked, "Do you, perhaps, knowanything of little Kay?" And she bent quite down to the flower, and what did it say? "I can see myself! I can see myself!" said the Jonquil. "Oh! oh! how Ismell! Up in the little room in the gable stands a little dancing girl. She stands sometimes on one foot, sometimes on both; she seems to treadon all the world. She's nothing but an ocular delusion: she pours waterout of a teapot on a bit of stuff--it is her bodice. 'Cleanliness is afine thing, ' she says; her white frock hangs on a hook; it has beenwashed in the teapot too, and dried on the roof. She puts it on and tiesher saffron handkerchief round her neck, and the dress looks all thewhiter. Point your toes! look how she seems to stand on a stalk. I cansee myself! I can see myself!" "I don't care at all about that, " said Gerda. "You need not tell methat. " And then she ran to the end of the garden. The door was locked, but shepressed against the rusty lock, and it broke off, the door sprang open, and little Gerda ran with naked feet out into the wide world. She lookedback three times, but no one was there to pursue her. At last she couldrun no longer, and seated herself on a great stone; and when she lookedround the summer was over--it was late in autumn. One could not noticethat in the beautiful garden, where there was always sunshine, and wherethe flowers of every season always bloomed. "Alas! how I have loitered!" said little Gerda. "Autumn has come. I maynot rest again. " And she rose up to go on. Oh! how sore and tired her little feet were. All around it looked cold and bleak; the long willow leaves were quiteyellow, and the dew fell down like water; one leaf after anotherdropped; only the sloe-thorn still bore fruit, but the sloes were sour, and set the teeth on edge. Oh! how gray and gloomy it looked--the wideworld! THE FOURTH STORY THE PRINCE WHO MIGHT HAVE BEEN KAY Gerda was compelled to rest again; then there came hopping across thesnow, just opposite the spot where she was sitting, a great Crow. ThisCrow stopped a long time to look at her, nodding its head, and then itsaid, "Krah! krah! Good day! good day!" It could not pronounce better, but it felt friendly toward the little girl, and asked where she wasgoing all alone in the wide world. The word "alone" Gerda understoodvery well, and felt how much it expressed; and she told the Crow thestory of her whole life and fortunes, and asked if it had not seen Kay. [Illustration: THE CROW STOPPED TO LOOK] And the Crow nodded very gravely, and said: "That may be! that may be!" "What? do you think so?" cried the little girl, and nearly pressed theCrow to death, she kissed it so. "Gently, gently!" said the Crow. "I think I know. I believe it may belittle Kay; but he has certainly forgotten you, with the princess. " "Does he live with a princess?" asked Gerda. "Yes; listen, " said the Crow. "But it's so difficult for me to speakyour language. If you know the Crow's language, I can tell it muchbetter. " "No, I never learned it, " said Gerda; "but my grandmother understood it, and could speak the language, too. I only wish I had learned it. " "That doesn't matter, " said the Crow. "But it will go badly. " And then the Crow told what it knew. "In the country in which we now are lives a princess who is quitewonderfully clever; but then she has read all the newspapers in theworld, and has forgotten them again, she is so clever. Lately she wassitting on the throne--and that's not so pleasant as is generallysupposed--and she began to sing a song, and it was just this: 'Whyshould I not marry now?' You see, there was something in that, " said theCrow. "And so she wanted to marry, but she wished for a husband whocould answer when he was spoken to, not one who only stood and lookedhandsome, for that was wearisome. And so she had all her maids of honorsummoned, and when they heard her intention they were very glad. 'I likethat, ' said they; 'I thought the very same thing the other day. ' You maybe sure that every word I am telling you is true, " added the Crow. "Ihave a tame sweetheart who goes about freely in the castle, and she toldme everything. " Of course the sweetheart was a crow, for one crow always finds outanother, and birds of a feather flock together. "Newspapers were published directly, with a border of hearts and theprincess's initials. One could read in them that every young man who wasgood-looking might come to the castle and speak with the princess, andhim who spoke so that one could hear he was at home there, and who spokebest, the princess, would choose for her husband. Yes, yes, " said theCrow, "you may believe me. It's as true as that I sit here. Young mencame flocking in; there was a great crowding and much running to andfro, but no one succeeded the first or second day. They could all speakwell when they were out in the streets, but when they entered at thepalace gates, and saw the guards standing in their silver lace, and wentup the staircase, and saw the lackeys in their golden liveries, and thegreat lighted halls, they became confused. And when they stood beforethe throne itself, on which the princess sat, they could do nothing butrepeat the last word she had spoken, and she did not care to hear herown words again. It was just as if the people in there had taken somenarcotic and fallen asleep till they got into the street again, for nottill then were they able to speak. There stood a whole row of them, fromthe town gate to the palace gate. I went out myself to see it, " said theCrow. "They were hungry and thirsty, but in the palace they did notreceive so much as a glass of lukewarm water. A few of the wisest hadbrought bread and butter with them, but they would not share with theirneighbors, for they thought, 'Let him look hungry, and the princesswon't have him. '" "But Kay, little Kay?" asked Gerda. "When did he come? Was he among thecrowd?" "Wait! wait! We're just coming to him. It was on the third day thatthere came a little personage, without horse or carriage, walking quitemerrily up to the castle. His eyes sparkled like yours; he had fine longhair, but his clothes were shabby. " "That was Kay!" cried Gerda, rejoicing. "Oh, then, I have found him!"And she clapped her hands. "He had a little knapsack on his back, " observed the Crow. "No, that must certainly have been his sledge, " said Gerda, "for he wentaway with a sledge. " "That may well be, " said the Crow, "for I did not look at it veryclosely. But this much I know from my tame sweetheart, that when hepassed under the palace gate and saw the life guards in silver, andmounted the staircase and saw the lackeys in gold, he was not in theleast embarrassed. He nodded, and said to them, 'It must be tedious workstanding on the stairs--I'd rather go in. ' The halls shone full oflight; privy councilors and Excellencies walked about with bare feet, and carried golden vessels; any one might have become solemn; and hisboots creaked most noisily, but he was not embarrassed. " "That is certainly Kay!" cried Gerda. "He had new boots on; I've heardthem creak in grandmother's room. " "Yes, certainly they creaked, " resumed the Crow. "And he went boldly into the princess herself, who sat on a pearl that was as big as aspinning wheel, and all the maids of honor with their attendants, andall the cavaliers with their followers, and the followers of theirfollowers, who themselves kept a page apiece, were standing round; andthe nearer they stood to the door, the prouder they looked. Thefollowers' followers' pages could hardly be looked at, so proudly didthey stand in the doorway!" "That must be terrible!" faltered little Gerda. "And yet Kay won theprincess?" "If I had not been a crow, I would have married her myself, notwithstanding that I am engaged. They say he spoke as well as I canwhen I speak the crows' language; I heard that from my tame sweetheart. He was merry and agreeable; he had not come to marry, only to hear thewisdom of the princess; and he approved of her, and she of him. " "Yes, certainly that was Kay!" said Gerda. "He was so clever; he coulddo mental arithmetic up to fractions. Oh! won't you lead me to thecastle, too?" "That's easily said, " replied the Crow. "But how are we to manage it?I'll talk it over with my tame sweetheart: she can probably advise us;for this I must tell you--a little girl like yourself will never getleave to go completely in. " "Yes, I shall get leave, " said Gerda. "When Kay hears that I'm therehe'll come out directly, and bring me in. " "Wait for me yonder at the grating, " said the Crow; and it wagged itshead and flew away. It was late in the evening when the Crow came back. "Rax! rax!" it said. "I'm to greet you kindly from my sweetheart, andhere's a little loaf for you. She took it from the kitchen. There'splenty of bread there, and you must be hungry. You can't possibly getinto the palace, for you are barefooted, and the guards in silver andthe lackeys in gold would not allow it. But don't cry; you shall go up. My sweetheart knows a little back staircase that leads up to thebedroom, and she knows where she can get the key. " And they went into the garden, into the great avenue, where one leaf wasfalling down after another; and when the lights were extinguished in thepalace, one after the other, the Crow led Gerda to a back door, whichstood ajar. Oh, how Gerda's heart beat with fear and longing! It was just as if shehad been going to do something wicked; and yet she only wanted to knowwhether it was little Kay. Yes, it must be he. She thought so deeply ofhis clear eyes and his long hair; she could fancy she saw how he smiled, as he had smiled at home when they sat among the roses. He wouldcertainly be glad to see her; to hear what a long distance she had comefor his sake; to know how sorry they had all been at home when he didnot come back. Oh, what a fear and what a joy that was! Now they were on the staircase. A little lamp was burning upon acupboard, and in the middle of the floor stood the tame Crow, turningher head on every side and looking at Gerda, who courtesied as hergrandmother had taught her to do. "My betrothed has spoken to me very favorably of you, my little lady, "said the tame Crow. "Your history, as it may be called, is very moving. Will you take the lamp? then I will precede you. We will go the straightway, and then we shall meet nobody. " "I feel as if some one were coming after us, " said Gerda, as somethingrushed by her. It seemed like a shadow on the wall; horses with flyingmanes and thin legs, hunters, and ladies and gentlemen on horseback. "These are only dreams, " said the Crow; "they are coming to carry thehigh masters' thoughts out hunting. That's all the better, for you maylook at them the more closely, in bed. But I hope, when you are takeninto favor and get promotion, you will show a grateful heart. " "Of that we may be sure!" observed the Crow from the wood. Now they came into the first hall; it was hung with rose-colored satin, and artificial flowers were worked on the walls. And here the dreamsagain came flitting by them, but they moved so quickly that Gerda couldnot see the high-born lords and ladies. Each hall was more splendid thanthe last; yes, one could almost become bewildered! Now they were in thebedchamber. Here the ceiling was like a great palm tree with leaves ofglass, of costly glass, and in the middle of the floor two beds hung ona thick stalk of gold, and each of them looked like a lily. One of themwas white, and in that lay the princess; the other was red, and in thatGerda was to seek little Kay. She bent one of the red leaves aside, andthen she saw a little brown neck. Oh, that was Kay! She called out hisname quite loud, and held the lamp toward him. The dreams rushed intothe room again on horseback--he awoke, turned his head, and--it was notlittle Kay! The prince was only like him in the neck, but he was young and good-looking; and the princess looked up, blinking, from the white lily, andasked who was there. Then little Gerda wept, and told her history, andall that the Crows had done for her. "You poor child!" said the prince and princess. And they praised the Crows, and said that they were not angry with themat all, but the Crows were not to do it again. However, they should berewarded. "Will you fly out free, " asked the princess, "or will you have fixedpositions as court Crows, with the right to everything that is left inthe kitchen?" And the two Crows bowed, and begged for fixed positions, for theythought of their old age, and said, "It is so good to have someprovisions for one's old days, " as they called them. And the prince got up out of his bed, and let Gerda sleep in it, and hecould not do more than that. She folded her little hands and thought, "How good men and animals are!" and then she shut her eyes and wentquietly to sleep. All the dreams came flying in again, looking likeangels, and they drew a little sledge, on which Kay sat nodding; but allthis was only a dream, and therefore it was gone again as soon as sheawoke. The next day she was clothed from head to foot in velvet; and an offerwas made to her that she should stay in the castle and enjoy pleasanttimes, but she only begged for a little carriage, with a horse to drawit, and a pair of little boots; then she would drive out into the worldand seek for Kay. And she received not only boots, but a muff likewise, and was neatlydressed; and when she was ready to depart, a coach, made of pure gold, stopped before the door. Upon it shone like a star the coat of arms ofthe prince and princess; coachmen, footmen, and outriders--for therewere outriders, too--sat on horseback, with gold crowns on their heads. The prince and princess themselves helped her into the carriage, andwished her all good fortune. The forest Crow, who was now married, accompanied her the first three miles; he sat by Gerda's side, for hecould not bear riding backward; the other Crow stood in the doorway, flapping her wings; she did not go with them, for she suffered fromheadache that had come on since she had obtained a fixed position andwas allowed to eat too much. The coach was lined with sugar biscuits, and in the seat there were gingerbread, nuts, and fruit. "Farewell, farewell!" cried the prince and princess; and little Gerdawept, and the Crow wept. So they went on for the first three miles, and then the Crow said good-bye, and that was the heaviest parting of all. The Crow flew up on atree, and beat his black wings as long as he could see the coach, whichglittered like the bright sunshine. THE FIFTH STORY THE LITTLE ROBBER GIRL They drove on through the thick forest, but the coach gleamed like atorch. It dazzled the robbers' eyes, and they could not bear it. "That is gold! that is gold!" cried they; and they rushed forward, seized the horses, killed the postilions, the coachmen, and the footmen, and then pulled little Gerda out of the carriage. "She is fat--she is pretty--she is fed with nut kernels!" said the oldrobber woman, who had a very long matted beard and shaggy eyebrows thathung down over her eyes. "She's as good as a little pet lamb; how Ishall relish her!" And she drew out her shining knife, that gleamed in a horrible way. "Oh!" screamed the old woman at the same moment: for her own daughter, who hung at her back, bit her ear in a very naughty and spiteful manner. "You ugly brat!" screamed the old woman; and she had not time to killGerda. "She shall play with me!" said the little robber girl. "She shall giveme her muff and her pretty dress, and sleep with me in my bed!" And then the girl gave another bite, so that the woman jumped high up, and turned right round, and all the robbers laughed, and said: "Look how she dances with her calf. " "I want to go into the carriage, " said the little robber girl, And she would have her own way, for she was spoiled and very obstinate;and she and Gerda sat in the carriage, and drove over stock and stonedeep into the forest. The little robber girl was as big as Gerda, butstronger and more broad-shouldered, and she had a brown skin; her eyeswere quite black, and they looked almost mournful. She clasped littleGerda round the waist, and said: "They shall not kill you as long as I am not angry with you. I supposeyou are a princess?" "No, " replied Gerda. And she told all that had happened to her, and howfond she was of little Kay. The robber girl looked at her seriously, nodded slightly, and said: "They shall not kill you, even if I do get angry with you, for then Iwill do it myself. " And then she dried Gerda's eyes, and put her two hands into thebeautiful muff that was so soft and warm. Now the coach stopped, and they were in the courtyard of a robbercastle. It had burst from the top to the ground; ravens and crows flewout of the great holes, and big bulldogs--each of which looked as if hecould devour a man--jumped high up, but did not bark, for that wasforbidden. In the great, old, smoky hall, a bright fire burned upon the stonefloor; the smoke passed along under the ceiling, and had to seek an exitfor itself. A great cauldron of soup was boiling and hares and rabbitswere roasting on the spit. "You shall sleep to-night with me and all my little animals, " said therobber girl. They had something to eat and drink, and then went to a corner, wherestraw and carpets were spread out. Above these sat on laths and perchesmore than a hundred pigeons, and all seemed asleep, but they turned alittle when the two little girls came. "All these belong to me, " said the little robber girl; and she quicklyseized one of the nearest, held it by the feet, and shook it so that itflapped its wings. "Kiss it!" she cried, and beat it in Gerda's face. "There sit the wood rascals, " she continued, pointing to a number oflaths that had been nailed in front of a hole in the wall, "Those arewood rascals, those two; they fly away directly if one does not keepthem well locked up. And here's my old sweetheart 'Ba. '" Arid she pulledout by the horn a Reindeer, that was tied up, and had a polished copperring round its neck. "We're obliged to keep him tight, too, or he'd runaway from us. Every evening I tickle his neck with a sharp knife, andhe's badly frightened at that. " And the little girl drew a long knife from a cleft in the wall, and letit glide over the Reindeer's neck; the poor creature kicked out itslegs, and the little robber girl laughed, and drew Gerda into bed withher. "Do you keep the knife while you're asleep?" asked Gerda, and looked atit in a frightened way. "I always sleep with my knife, " replied the robber girl. "One does notknow what may happen. But now tell me again what you told me just nowabout little Kay, and why you came out into the wide world. " And Gerda told it again from the beginning; and the Wood Pigeons cooedabove them in their cage, and the other pigeons slept. The little robbergirl put her arm round Gerda's neck, held her knife in the other hand, and slept so that one could hear her; but Gerda could not close her eyesat all--she did not know whether she was to live or die. The robbers sat round the fire, sang and drank, and the old robber womantumbled about. It was quite terrible for a little girl to behold. Thenthe Wood Pigeons said: "Coo! coo! we have seen little Kay. A white owlwas carrying his sledge; he sat in the Snow Queen's carriage, whichdrove close by the forest as we lay in our nests. She blew upon us youngpigeons, and all died except us two. Coo! coo!" "What are you saying there?" asked Gerda. "Whither was the Snow Queentraveling? Do you know anything about it?" "She was probably journeying to Lapland, for there they have always iceand snow. Ask the Reindeer that is tied to the cord. " [Illustration: THE REINDEER RAN AS FAST AS IT COULD GO] "There is ice and snow yonder, and it is glorious and fine, " said theReindeer. "There one may run about free in great glittering plains. There the Snow Queen has her summer tent; but her strong castle is uptoward the North Pole, on the island that's called Spitzbergen. " "O Kay, little Kay!" cried Gerda. "You must lie still, " exclaimed the robber girl, "or I shall thrust myknife into your body. " In the morning Gerda told her all that the Wood Pigeons had said, andthe robber girl looked quite serious, and nodded her head and said, "That's all the same, that's all the same!" "Do you know where Lapland is?" she asked the Reindeer. "Who should know better than I?" the creature replied, and its eyessparkled in its head. "I was born and bred there; I ran about there inthe snow fields. " "Listen!" said the robber girl to Gerda. "You see all our men have goneaway. Only mother is here still, and she'll stay; but toward noon shedrinks out of the big bottle, and then she sleeps for a little while;then I'll do something for you. " Then she sprang out of bed, and clasped her mother round the neck andpulled her beard, crying: "Good morning, my own old nanny goat. " And her mother filliped her nosetill it was red and blue; and it was all done for pure love. When the mother had drunk out of her bottle and had gone to sleep uponit, the robber girl went to the Reindeer, and said: "I should like very much to tickle you a few times more with the knife, for you are very funny then; but it's all the same. I'll loosen yourcord and help you out, so that you may run to Lapland; but you must useyour legs well, and carry this little girl to the palace of the SnowQueen, where her playfellow is. You've heard what she told me, for shespoke loud enough, and you were listening. " The Reindeer sprang up high for joy. The robber girl lifted little Gerdaon its back, and had the forethought to tie her fast, and even to giveher her own little cushion as a saddle. "There are your fur boots for you, " she said, "for it's growing cold;but I shall keep the muff, for that's so very pretty. Still, you shallnot be cold, for all that; here's my mother's big muffles--they'll justreach up to your elbows. Now you look just like my ugly mother. " And Gerda wept for joy. "I can't bear to see you whimper, " said the little robber girl. "No, youjust ought to look very glad. And here are two loaves and a ham for you;now you won't be hungry. " These were tied on the Reindeer's back. The little robber girl openedthe door, coaxed in all the big dogs, and then cut the rope with hersharp knife, and said to the Reindeer: "Now run, but take good care of the little girl. " And Gerda stretched out her hands with the big muffles toward the littlerobber girl, and said, "Farewell. " And the Reindeer ran over stock and stone, away through the greatforest, over marshes and steppes, as fast as it could go. The wolveshowled, and the ravens croaked. "Hiss! hiss!" sounded through the air. It seemed as if the sky were flashing fire. "Those are my old Northern Lights, " said the Reindeer. "Look how theyglow!" And then it ran on faster than ever, day and night. THE SIXTH STORY THE LAPLAND WOMAN AND THE FINLAND WOMAN At a little hut they stopped. It was very humble; the roof sloped downalmost to the ground, and the door was so low that the family had tocreep on their stomachs when they wanted to go in or out. No one was inthe house but an old Lapland woman, cooking fish by the light of atrain-oil lamp; and the Reindeer told Gerda's whole history, but itrelated its own first, for this seemed to the Reindeer the moreimportant of the two. Gerda was so exhausted by the cold that she couldnot speak. "Oh, you poor things, " said the Lapland woman; "you've a long way to runyet! You must go more than a hundred miles into Finmark, for the SnowQueen is there, staying in the country, and burning Bengal Lights everyevening. I'll write a few words on a dried cod, for I have no paper, andI'll give you that as a letter to the Finland woman; she can give youbetter information than I. " And when Gerda had been warmed and refreshed with food and drink, theLapland woman wrote a few words on a dried codfish, and telling Gerda totake care of these, tied her again on the Reindeer, and the Reindeersprang away. Flash! flash! The whole night long the most beautiful blueNorthern Lights were burning. And then they got to Finmark, and knocked at the chimney of the Finlandwoman; for she had not even a hut. There was such a heat in the chimney that the woman herself went aboutalmost naked. She at once loosened little Gerda's dress and took off thechild's muffles and boots; otherwise it would have been too hot for herto bear. Then she laid a piece of ice on the Reindeer's head, and readwhat was written on the codfish; she read it three times, and when sheknew it by heart, she popped the fish into the soup-cauldron, for it waseatable, and she never wasted anything. Now the Reindeer first told his own story, and then little Gerda's; andthe Finland woman blinked with her clever eyes, but said nothing. "You are very clever, " said the Reindeer. "I know you can tie all thewinds of the world together with a bit of twine; if the seaman untiesone knot, he has a good wind; if he loosens the second, it blows hard;but if he unties the third and fourth, there comes such a tempest thatthe forests are thrown down. Won't you give the little girl a draught, so that she may get twelve men's power, and overcome the Snow Queen?" "Twelve men's power!" repeated the Finland woman. "Great use that wouldbe!" And she went to a bed and brought out a great rolled-up fur, andunrolled it; wonderful characters were written upon it, and the Finlandwoman read until the perspiration ran down her forehead. But the Reindeer again begged so hard for little Gerda, and Gerda lookedat the Finland woman with such beseeching eyes, full of tears, that shebegan to blink again with her own, and drew the Reindeer into a corner, and whispered to him, while she laid fresh ice upon his head. "Little Kay is certainly at the Snow Queen's, and finds everything thereto his taste and thinks it is the best place in the world; but that isbecause he has a splinter of glass in his eye, and a little fragment inhis heart; but these must be got out, or he will never be a human beingagain, and the Snow Queen will keep her power over him. " "But cannot you give something to little Gerda, so as to give her powerover all this?" "I can give her no greater power than she possesses already; don't yousee how great that is? Don't you see how men and animals are obliged toserve her, and how she gets on so well in the world, with her nakedfeet? She cannot receive her power from us; it consists in this--thatshe is a dear, innocent child. If she herself cannot penetrate to theSnow Queen and get the glass out of little Kay, we can be of no use! Twomiles from here the Snow Queen's garden begins; you can carry the littlegirl thither; set her down by the great bush that stands with its redberries in the snow. Don't stand gossiping, but make haste, and get backhere!" And then the Finland woman lifted little Gerda on the Reindeer, whichran as fast as it could. "Oh, I haven't my boots! I haven't my muffles!" cried Gerda. She soon noticed that in the cutting cold; but the Reindeer dared notstop. It ran till it came to the bush with the red berries; there it setGerda down, and kissed her on the mouth, and great big tears ran downthe creature's cheeks; and then it ran back, as fast as it could. Therestood poor Gerda without shoes, without gloves, in the midst of theterrible, cold Finmark. She ran forward as fast as possible; then came a whole regiment ofsnowflakes; but they did not fall down from the sky, for that was quitebright, and shone with the Northern Lights: the snowflakes ran along theground, and the nearer they came, the larger they grew. Gerda stillremembered how large and beautiful the snowflakes had appeared when shehad looked at them through the burning glass. But here they werecertainly far larger and much more terrible--they were alive. They wereadvance posts of the Snow Queen, and had the strangest shapes. A fewlooked like ugly great porcupines; others like knots formed of snakes, which stretched forth their heads; and others like little fat bears, whose hair stood up on end; all were brilliantly white, all were livingsnowflakes. Then little Gerda said her prayer; and the cold was so great that shecould see her own breath, which went forth out of her mouth like smoke. The breath became thicker and thicker, and formed itself into littleangels, who grew and grew whenever they touched the earth; and all hadhelmets on their heads, and shields and spears in their hands. Theirnumber increased, and when Gerda had finished her prayer a whole legionstood round about her, and struck with their spears at the terriblesnowflakes, so that these were shattered into a thousand pieces; andlittle Gerda could go forward afresh, with good courage. The angelsstroked her hands and feet, and then she felt less how cold it was, andhastened on to the Snow Queen's palace. But now we must see what Kay was doing. He was not thinking of littleGerda, and least of all that she was standing in front of the palace. [Illustration: THE SNOW QUEEN'S CASTLE] THE SEVENTH STORY OF THE SNOW QUEEN'S CASTLE, AND WHAT HAPPENED THERE AT LAST The walls of the palace were formed of the drifting snow, and thewindows and doors of the cutting winds. There were more than a hundredhalls, all blown together by the snow; the greatest of these extendedfor several miles; the strong Northern Lights illuminated them all, andhow great and empty, how icily cold and shining they all were! Never wasmerriment there--not even a little bear's ball, at which the storm couldhave played the music, while the bears walked about on their hind legsand showed off their pretty manners; never any little sport of mouth-slapping or bars-touch; never any little coffee gossip among the younglady white foxes. Empty, vast, and cold were the halls of the SnowQueen. The Northern Lights flamed so brightly that one could count themwhere they stood highest and lowest. In the midst of this immense emptysnow hall was a frozen lake, which had burst into a thousand pieces; buteach piece was like the rest, so that it was a perfect work of art; andin the middle of the lake sat the Snow Queen, when she was at home, andthen she said that she sat in the Mirror of Reason, and that this wasthe only one, and the best in the world. Little Kay was quite blue with cold--indeed, almost black! but he didnot notice it, for she had kissed the cold shudderings away from him, and his heart was like a lump of ice. He dragged a few sharp, flatpieces of ice to and fro, joining them together in all kinds of ways, for he wanted to achieve something with them. It was just like when wehave little tablets of wood, and lay them together to form figures--whatwe call the Chinese game. Kay also went and laid figures, and, indeed, very artistic ones. That was the icy game of Reason. In his eyes thesefigures were very remarkable and of the highest importance; that wasbecause of the fragment of glass sticking in his eye. He laid out thefigures so that they formed a word--but he could never manage to laydown the word as he wished to have it--the word eternity. The Snow Queenhad said: "If you can find out this figure, you shall be your own master, and Iwill give you the whole world and a pair of new skates. " But he could not. "Now I'll hasten away to the warm lands, " said the Snow Queen. "I willgo and look into the black spots. " These were the volcanoes, Etna andVesuvius, as they are called. "I shall whiten them a little! That'snecessary; that will do the grapes and lemons good. " And the Snow Queen flew away, and Kay sat quite alone in the great icyhall that was miles in extent, and looked at his pieces of ice, andthought so deeply that cracks were heard inside him; one would havethought that he was frozen. Then it happened that little Gerda stepped through the great gate intothe wide hall. Here reigned cutting winds, but she prayed a prayer, andthe winds lay down as if they would have gone to sleep; and she steppedinto the great, empty, cold halls, and beheld Kay; she knew him, andflew to him, and embraced him, and held him fast, and called out: "Kay, dear little Kay! I have found you!" But he sat quite still, stiff and cold. Then little Gerda wept hottears, that fell upon his breast; they penetrated into his heart, theythawed the lump of ice, and consumed the little piece of glass in it. Helooked at her, and she sang: "The roses will fade and pass away, But we the Christ-child shall see one day. " Then Kay burst into tears; he wept so that the splinter of glass cameout of his eye. Now he recognized her, and cried rejoicingly: "Gerda, dear Gerda! where have you been all this time? And where have Ibeen?" And he looked all around him. "How cold it is here! How large andvoid!" And he clung to Gerda, and she laughed and wept for joy. It was soglorious that even the pieces of ice round about danced for joy; andwhen they were tired and lay down, they formed themselves into just theletters of which the Snow Queen had said that if he found them out heshould be his own master, and she would give him the whole world and anew pair of skates. And Gerda kissed his cheeks, and they became blooming; she kissed hiseyes, and they shone like her own; she kissed his hands and feet, and hethen became well and merry. The Snow Queen might now come home; his wordof release stood written in shining characters of ice. And they took one another by the hand, and wandered forth from the greatpalace of ice. They spoke of the grandmother and of the roses on theroof; and where they went the winds rested and the sun burst forth; andwhen they came to the bush with the red berries, the Reindeer wasstanding there waiting; it had brought another young Reindeer, whichgave the children warm milk, and kissed them on the mouth. Then theycarried Kay and Gerda, first to the Finnish woman, where they warmedthemselves thoroughly in the hot room, and received instructions fortheir journey home; and then to the Lapland woman, who had made them newclothes and put their sledge in order. The Reindeer and the young one sprang at their side, and followed themas far as the boundary of the country. There the first green sproutedforth, and there they took leave of the two Reindeer and the Laplandwoman. "Farewell!" said all. And the first little birds began totwitter, the forest was decked with green buds, and out of it, on abeautiful horse (which Gerda knew, for it was the same that had drawnher golden coach) a young girl came riding, with a shining red cap onher head and a pair of pistols in the holsters. This was the littlerobber girl, who had grown tired of staying at home, and wished to gofirst to the north, and if that did not suit her, to some other region. She knew Gerda at once, and Gerda knew her too; and it was a right merrymeeting. "You are a fine fellow to gad about!" she said to little Kay. "I shouldlike to know if you deserve that one should run to the end of the worldafter you?" But Gerda patted her cheeks, and asked after the prince and princess. "They've gone to foreign countries, " said the robber girl. "But the Crow?" said Gerda. "The Crow is dead, " answered the other. "The tame one has become awidow, and goes about with an end of black worsted thread round her leg. She complains most lamentably, but it's all talk. But now tell me howyou have fared, and how you caught him. " And Gerda and Kay told their story. "Snipp-snapp-snurre-purre-basellurre!" said the robber girl. And she took them both by the hand, and promised that if she ever camethrough their town, she would come up and pay them a visit. And then sherode away into the wide world. But Gerda and Kay went hand in hand, and as they went it becamebeautiful spring, with green and with flowers. The church bells sounded, and they recognized the high steeples and the great town; it was the onein which they lived, and they went to the grandmother's door, and up thestairs, and into the room, where everything remained in its usual place. The big clock was going "Tick! tack!" and the hands were turning; but asthey went through the rooms they noticed that they had become grown-uppeople. The roses out on the roof-gutter were blooming in at the openwindow, and there stood the children's chairs, and Kay and Gerda satupon the chairs, and held each other by the hand. They had forgotten thecold, empty splendor at the Snow Queen's like a heavy dream. Thegrandmother was sitting in God's bright sunshine, and read aloud out ofthe Bible, "Except ye become as little children, ye shall in no wiseenter into the kingdom of God. " And Kay and Gerda looked into each other's eyes, and all at once theyunderstood the old song: "The roses will fade and pass away, But we the Christ-child shall see one day. " There they both sat, grown up, and yet children--children in heart; andit was summer--warm, delightful summer. HOW TO REMEMBER THE STORY When we read a good long story like The Snow Queen, we enjoy it andthink we should like to remember it. If it is really good we ought toremember it, not only because of its excellence, but, in the case of anold story, because we so often find allusions to it in our otherreading. The best way to fix a story in mind is to make an outline ofthe incidents, or plot. Then we can see the whole thing almost at aglance, and so remembrance is made easy. A good outline of The Snow Queen would appear something like this: I. The Goblin's Mirror. (Enlarges evil; distorts and diminishes good. ) 1. The Mirror is broken. II. Kay and Gerda. 1. The little rose garden. 2. Pieces of the mirror find their way into Kay's eye and heart. 3. The Snow Queen. A. Finds Kay. B. Carries him away. C. Makes him forget Gerda. III. Gerda's Search for Kay. 1. Carried away by the river. 2. Rescued by the old witch. IV. In the Flower garden. 1. The rose reminds Gerda of Kay. 2. Gerda questions the flowers. A. The Tiger Lily. B. The Convolvulus. C. The Snowdrop. D. The Hyacinth. E. The Buttercup. F. The Jonquil. V. Gerda Continues Her Search in Autumn. 1. Gerda meets the Crow and follows him. A. The princess's castle, b. The prince is not Kay. C. Gerda in rich clothes continues her search in a carriage. VI. Gerda meets the Robbers. 1. The old woman claims Gerda. 2. The robber girl fancies Gerda. 3. The Wood Pigeons tell about Kay. 4. The Reindeer carries Gerda on her search. VII. Gerda's Journey on the Reindeer. 1. The Lapland woman, a. Cares for Gerda. B. Sends message on a codfish. 2. The Finland woman. A. Cares for Gerda. B. Tells what has happened to Kay. C. Tells what ails Kay and says Kay may be saved by the power of innocent girlhood. VIII. Kay's Rescue. 1. At the Snow Queen's palace. A. Kay cannot write eternity. B. The Snow Queen leaves for Italy. C. Gerda finds Kay. D. Her tears melt his icy heart. E. Her song brings tears that clear his eyes. F. Kay knows Gerda. G. Pieces of ice spell the word eternity. H. Gerda's kisses restore Kay to warmth and health. 2. The return journey. A. The reindeer. B. The Finland woman. C. The Lapland woman. D. The prince and princess. E. The robber girl. 3. Gerda and Kay at home. A GOOD LESSON TO LEARN There is little use in reading if we do not get from it something thatmakes us wiser, better or nobler, or that gives us an inspiration towork harder and make more of ourselves. I think the author of The SnowQueen meant that we should get something more than a half-hour'senjoyment out of his beautiful story. He makes us like little Kay and his sweet friend Gerda, and then saddensus with Kay's misfortunes. We do not like to see him becomecrossgrained, mean in disposition and stony hearted. Then we learn to admire the faithfulness and courage and bravery ofGerda, and follow her to the Snow Queen's palace, afraid every momentshe will not find Kay. When she does find him, it is her tears of sympathy that melt his icyheart, her sweet faith in the Christ-child that clears his eyes, and herlove that brings him back to life. Of course this is all a fairy story; but children and all the race ofgrownups, even, may learn that it is only by innocence, sympathy andlove that the wickedness in the world can be overcome. THE CHIMERA By Nathaniel Hawthorne Once, in the old, old times (for all the strange things which I tell youabout happened long before anybody can remember), a fountain gushed outof a hillside in the marvelous land of Greece. And, for aught I know, after so many thousand years it is still gushing out of the veryselfsame spot. At any rate, there was the pleasant fountain wellingfreshly forth and sparkling adown the hillside in the golden sunset whena handsome young man named Bellerophon drew near its margin. In his handhe held a bridle studded with brilliant gems and adorned with a goldenbit. Seeing an old man and another of middle age and a little boy nearthe fountain, and likewise a maiden who was dipping up some of the waterin a pitcher, he paused and begged that he might refresh himself with adraught. "This is very delicious water, " he said to the maiden as he rinsed andfilled her pitcher after drinking out of it. "Will you be kind enough totell me whether the fountain has any name?" "Yes, it is called the Fountain of Pirene, " answered the maiden; andthen she added, "My grandmother has told me that this clear fountain wasonce a beautiful woman; and when her son was killed by the arrows of thehuntress Diana, she melted all away into tears. And so the water whichyou find so cool and sweet is the sorrow of that poor mother's heart!" "I should not have dreamed, " observed the young stranger, "that so cleara wellspring, with its gush and gurgle and its cheery dance out of theshade into the sunlight, had so much as one tear-drop in its bosom. And, this, then, is Pirene? I thank you, pretty maiden, for telling me itsname. I have come from a far-away country to find this very spot. " A middle-aged country fellow (he had driven his cow to drink out of thespring) stared hard at young Bellerophon and at the handsome bridlewhich he carried in his hand. "The watercourses must be getting low, friend, in your part of theworld, " remarked he, "if you come so far only to find the Fountain ofPirene. But pray, have you lost a horse? I see you carry the bridle inyour hand; and a very pretty one it is, with that double row of brightstones upon it. If the horse was as fine as the bridle, you are much tobe pitied for losing him. " "I have lost no horse, " said Bellerophon with a smile, "but I happen tobe seeking a very famous one, which, as wise people have informed me, must be found hereabouts if anywhere. Do you know whether the wingedhorse Pegasus still haunts the Fountain of Pirene, as he used to do?" But then the country fellow laughed. Some of you, my little friends, have probably heard that this Pegasuswas a snow-white steed with beautiful silvery wings, who spent most ofhis time on the summit of Mount Helicon. He was as wild and as swift andas buoyant in his flight through the air as any eagle that ever soaredinto the clouds. There was nothing else like him in the world. He had nomate, he had never been backed or bridled by a master, and for many along year he led a solitary and a happy life. Oh, how fine a thing it is to be a winged horse! Sleeping at night, ashe did, on a lofty mountain top, and passing the greater part of the dayin the air, Pegasus seemed hardly to be a creature of the earth. Whenever he was seen up very high above people's heads, with thesunshine on his silvery wings, you would have thought that he belongedto the sky, and that, skimming a little too low, he had got astray amongour mists and vapors and was seeking his way back again. It was verypretty to behold him plunge into the fleecy bosom of a bright cloud andbe lost in it for a moment or two, and then break forth from the otherside. Or in a sullen rainstorm, when there was a gray pavement of cloudsover the whole sky, it would sometimes happen that the winged horsedescended right through it, and the glad light of the upper region wouldgleam after him. In another instant, it is true, both Pegasus and thepleasant light would be gone away together. But any one that wasfortunate enough to see this wondrous spectacle felt cheerful the wholeday afterward, and as much longer as the storm lasted. In the summer time and in the most beautiful of weather Pegasus oftenalighted on the solid earth, and, closing his silvery wings, wouldgallop over hill and dale for pastime as fleetly as the wind. Oftenerthan in any other place he had been seen near the Fountain of Pirene, drinking the delicious water or rolling himself upon the soft grass ofthe margin. Sometimes, too (but Pegasus was very dainty in his food), hewould crop a few of the clover-blossoms that happened to be sweetest. Tothe Fountain of Pirene, therefore, people's great-grandfathers had beenin the habit of going (as long as they were youthful and retained theirfaith in winged horses) in hopes of getting a glimpse at the beautifulPegasus. But of late years he had been very seldom seen. Indeed, therewere many of the country folks dwelling within half an hour's walk ofthe fountain who had never beheld Pegasus, and did not believe thatthere was any such creature in existence. The country fellow to whomBellerophon was speaking chanced to be one of those incredulous persons. [Illustration: PEGASUS AT THE FOUNTAIN] And that was the reason why he laughed. "Pegasus, indeed!" cried he, turning up his nose as high as such a flatnose could be turned up. "Pegasus, indeed! A winged horse, truly! Why, friend, are you in your senses? Of what use would wings be to a horse?Could he drag the plow so well, think you? To be sure, there might be alittle saving in the expense of shoes, but then how would a man like tosee his horse flying out of the stable window?--yes, or whisking him upabove the clouds when he only wanted to ride to mill? No, no! I don'tbelieve in Pegasus. There never was such a ridiculous kind of a horse-fowl made!" "I have reason to think otherwise, " said Bellerophon quietly. And then he turned to an old gray man who was leaning on a staff andlistening very attentively with his head stretched forward and one handat his ear, because for the last twenty years he had been getting ratherdeaf. "And what say you, venerable sir?" inquired he. "In your younger days, Ishould imagine, you must frequently have seen the winged steed. " "Ah, young stranger, my memory is very poor, " said the aged man. "When Iwas a lad, if I remember rightly, I used to believe there was such ahorse, and so did everybody else. But nowadays I hardly know what tothink, and very seldom think about the winged horse at all. If I eversaw the creature, it was a long, long while ago; and, to tell you thetruth, I doubt whether I ever did see him. One day, to be sure, when Iwas quite a youth, I remember seeing some hoof-prints round about thebrink of the fountain. Pegasus might have made those hoof-marks, and somight some other horse. " "And have you never seen him, my fair maiden?" asked Bellerophon of thegirl, who stood with the pitcher on her head while this talk went on. "You surely could see Pegasus if anybody can, for your eyes are verybright. " "Once I thought I saw him, " replied the maiden, with a smile and ablush. "It was either Pegasus or a large white bird a very great way upin the air. And one other time, as I was coming to the fountain with mypitcher, I heard a neigh. Oh, such a brisk and melodious neigh as thatwas! My very heart leaped with delight at the sound. But it startled me, nevertheless, so that I ran home without filling my pitcher. " "That was truly a pity!" said Bellerophon. And he turned to the child whom I mentioned at the beginning of thestory, and who was gazing at him, as children are apt to gaze atstrangers, with his rosy mouth wide open. "Well, my little fellow, " cried Bellerophon, playfully pulling one ofhis curls, "I suppose you have often seen the winged horse. " "That I have, " answered the child very readily. "I saw him yesterday andmany times before. " "You are a fine little man!" said Bellerophon, drawing the child closerto him. "Come, tell me all about it. " "Why, " replied the child, "I often come here to sail little boats in thefountain and to gather pretty pebbles out of its basin. And sometimes, when I look down into the water, I see the image of the winged horse inthe picture of the sky that is there. I wish he would come down and takeme on his back and let me ride him up to the moon. But if I so much asstir to look at him, he flies far away, out of sight. " And Bellerophon put his faith in the child who had seen the image ofPegasus in the water, and in the maiden who had heard him neigh somelodiously, rather than in the middle-aged clown who believed only incart horses, or in the old man who had forgotten the beautiful things ofhis youth. Therefore he haunted about the Fountain of Pirene for a great many daysafterward. He kept continually on the watch, looking upward at the skyor else down into the water, hoping forever that he should see eitherthe reflected image of the winged horse or the marvelous reality. Heheld the bridle with its bright gems and golden bit always ready in hishand. The rustic people who dwelt in the neighborhood and drove theircattle to the fountain to drink would often laugh at poor Bellerophon, and sometimes take him pretty severely to task. They told him that anable-bodied young man like himself ought to have better business than tobe wasting his time in such an idle pursuit. They offered to sell him ahorse if he wanted one, and when Bellerophon declined the purchase theytried to drive a bargain with him for his fine bridle. Even the country boys thought him so very foolish that they used to havea great deal of sport about him, and were rude enough not to care a figalthough Bellerophon saw and heard it. One little urchin, for example, would play Pegasus, and cut the oddest imaginable capers by way offlying, while one of his schoolfellows would scamper after him holdingforth a twist of bulrushes which was intended to represent Bellerophon'sornamental bridle. But the gentle child who had seen the picture ofPegasus in the water comforted the young stranger more than all thenaughty boys could torment him. The dear little fellow in his play-hoursoften sat down beside him, and, without speaking a word, would look downinto the fountain and up toward the sky with so innocent a faith thatBellerophon could not help feeling encouraged. Now, you will perhaps wish to be told why it was that Bellerophon hadundertaken to catch the winged horse, and we shall find no betteropportunity to speak about this matter than while he is waiting forPegasus to appear. If I were to relate the whole of Bellerophon's previous adventures, theymight easily grow into a very long story. It will be quite enough to saythat in a certain country of Asia a terrible monster called a Chimerahad made its appearance, and was doing more mischief than could betalked about between now and sunset. According to the best accountswhich I have been able to obtain, this Chimera was nearly, if not quite, the ugliest and most poisonous creature, and the strangest andunaccountablest, and the hardest to fight with and the most difficult torun away from, that ever came out of the earth's inside. It had a taillike a boa constrictor, its body was like I do not care what, and it hadthree separate heads, one of which was a lion's, the second a goat's, and the third an abominably great snake's; and a hot blast of fire cameflaming out of each of its three mouths. Being an earthly monster, Idoubt whether it had any wings; but, wings or no, it ran like a goat anda lion, and wriggled along like a serpent, and thus contrived to makeabout as much speed as all the three together. Oh, the mischief and mischief and mischief that this naughty creaturedid! With its flaming breath it could set a forest on fire or burn up afield of grain, or, for that matter, a village with all its fences andhouses. It laid waste the whole country round about, and used to eat uppeople and animals alive, and cook them afterwards in the burning ovenof its stomach. Mercy on us, little children! I hope neither you nor Iwill ever happen to meet a Chimera. While the hateful beast (if a beast we can anywise call it) was doingall these horrible things, it so chanced that Bellerophon came to thatpart of the world on a visit to the king. The king's name was Iobates, and Lycia was the country which he ruled over. Bellerophon was one ofthe bravest youths in the world, and desired nothing so much as to dosome valiant and beneficent deed, such as would make all mankind admireand love him. In those days the only way for a young man to distinguishhimself was by fighting battles, either with the enemies of his countryor with wicked giants or with troublesome dragons or with wild beasts, when he could find nothing more dangerous to encounter. King Iobates, perceiving the courage of his youthful visitor, proposed to him to goand fight the Chimera, which everybody else was afraid of, and which, unless it should be soon killed, was likely to convert Lycia into adesert. Bellerophon hesitated not a moment, but assured the king that hewould either slay this dreaded Chimera or perish in the attempt. But, in the first place, as the monster was so prodigiously swift, hebethought himself that he should never win the victory by fighting onfoot. The wisest thing he could do, therefore, was to get the very bestand fleetest horse that could anywhere be found. And what other horse inall the world was half so fleet as the marvelous horse Pegasus, who hadwings as well as legs, and was even more active in the air than on theearth? To be sure, a great many people denied that there was any suchhorse with wings, and said that the stories about him were all poetryand nonsense. But, wonderful as it appeared, Bellerophon believed thatPegasus was a real steed, and hoped that he himself might be fortunateenough to find him; and once fairly mounted on his back, he would beable to fight the Chimera at better advantage. And this was the purpose with which he had traveled from Lycia to Greeceand had brought the beautifully ornamented bridle in his hand. It was anenchanted bridle. If he could only succeed in putting the golden bitinto the mouth of Pegasus, the winged horse would be submissive, andwould own Bellerophon for his master, and fly whithersoever he mightchoose to turn the rein. But, indeed, it was a weary and anxious time while Bellerophon waitedand waited for Pegasus, in hopes that he would come and drink at thefountain of Pirene. He was afraid lest King Iobates should imagine thathe had fled from the Chimera. It pained him, too, to think how muchmischief the monster was doing, while he himself, instead of fightingwith it, was compelled to sit idly poring over the bright waters ofPirene as they gushed out of the sparkling sand. And as Pegasus camethither so seldom in these latter years, and scarcely alighted theremore than once in a lifetime, Bellerophon feared that he might grow anold man, and have no strength left in his arms nor courage in his heart, before the winged horse would appear. Oh, how heavily passes the timewhile an adventurous youth is yearning to do his part in life and togather in the harvest of his renown! How hard a lesson it is to wait!Our life is brief, and how much of it is spent in teaching us only this! Well was it for Bellerophon that the gentle child had grown so fond ofhim and was never weary of keeping him company. Every morning the childgave him a new hope to put in his bosom instead of yesterday's witheredone. "Dear Bellerophon, " he would cry, looking up hopefully into his face, "Ithink we shall see Pegasus to-day. " And at length, if it had not been for the little boy's unwavering faith, Bellerophon would have given up all hope, and would have gone back toLycia and have done his best to slay the Chimera without the help of thewinged horse. And in that case poor Bellerophon would at least have beenterribly scorched by the creature's breath, and would most probably havebeen killed and devoured. Nobody should ever try to fight an earthbornChimera unless he can first get upon the back of an aerial steed. One morning the child spoke to Bellerophon even more hopefully thanusual. "Dear, dear Bellerophon, " cried he, "I know not why it is, but I feel asif we should certainly see Pegasus to-day. " And all that day he would not stir a step from Bellerophon's side; sothey ate a crust of bread together, and drank some of the water of thefountain. In the afternoon, there they sat, and Bellerophon had thrownhis arm around the child, who likewise had put one of his little handsinto Bellerophon's. The latter was lost in his own thoughts, and wasfixing his eyes vacantly on the trunks of the trees that over-shadowedthe fountain. But the gentle child was gazing down into the water; hewas grieved, for Bellerophon's sake, that the hope of another day shouldbe deceived like so many before it, and two or three quiet teardropsfell from his eyes and mingled with what were said to be the many tearsof Pirene, when she wept for her slain children. But, when he least thought of it, Bellerophon felt the pressure of thechild's little hand and heard a soft, almost breathless, whisper: "See there, dear Bellerophon! There is an image in the water. " The young man looked down into the dimpling mirror of the fountain, andsaw what he took to be the reflection of a bird which seemed to beflying at a great height in the air, with a gleam of sunshine on itssnowy or silvery wings. "What a splendid bird it must be!" said he. "And how very large itlooks, though it must really be flying higher than the clouds!" "It makes me tremble, " whispered the child. "I am afraid to look up intothe air. It is very beautiful, and yet I dare only look at its image inthe water. Dear Bellerophon, do you not see that it is no bird? It, isthe winged horse Pegasus. " Bellerophon's heart began to throb. He gazed keenly upward, but couldnot see the winged creature, whether bird or horse, because just then ithad plunged into the fleecy depths of a summer cloud. It was but amoment, however, before the object reappeared, sinking lightly down outof the cloud, although still at a vast distance from the earth. Bellerophon caught the child in his arms and shrank back with him, sothat they were both hidden among the thick shrubbery which grew allaround the fountain. Not that he was afraid of any harm, but he dreadedlest, if Pegasus caught a glimpse of them, he would fly far away andalight in some inaccessible mountain top. For it was really the wingedhorse. After they had expected him so long, he was coming to quench histhirst with the water of Pirene. Nearer and nearer came the aerial wonder, flying in great circles, asyou may have seen a dove when about to alight. Downward came Pegasus, inthose wide, sweeping circles which grew narrower and narrower still ashe gradually approached the earth. The nigher the view of him, the morebeautiful he was and the more marvelous the sweep of his silvery wings. At last, with so light a pressure as hardly to bend the grass about thefountain or imprint a hoof-tramp in the sand of its margin, he alighted, and, stooping his wild head, began to drink. He drew in the water withlong and pleasant sighs and tranquil pauses of enjoyment, and thenanother draught, and another, and another. For nowhere in the world orup among the clouds did Pegasus love any water as he loved this ofPirene. And when his thirst was slaked he cropped a few of the honey-blossoms of the clover, delicately tasting them, but not caring to makea hearty meal, because the herbage just beneath the clouds on the loftysides of Mount Helicon suited his palate better than this ordinarygrass. After thus drinking to his heart's content, and in his dainty fashioncondescending to take a little food, the winged horse began to caper toand fro, and dance, as it were, out of mere idleness and sport. Therenever was a more playful creature made than this very Pegasus. So therehe frisked in a way that it delights me to think about, fluttering hisgreat wings as lightly as ever did a linnet, and running little raceshalf on earth and half in air, and which I know not whether to call aflight or a gallop. When a creature is perfectly able to fly, hesometimes chooses to run just for the pastime of the thing; and so didPegasus, although it cost him some little trouble to keep his hoofs sonear the ground. Bellerophon, meanwhile, holding the child's hand, peeped forth from the shrubbery, and thought that never was any sight sobeautiful as this, nor ever a horse's eyes so wild and spirited as thoseof Pegasus. Once or twice Pegasus stopped and snuffed the air, pricking up his ears, tossing his head, and turning it on all sides, as if he partly suspectedsome mischief or other. Seeing nothing, however, and hearing no sound, he soon began his antics again. At length--not that he was weary, butonly idle and luxurious--Pegasus folded his wings and lay down on thesoft green turf. But, being too full of aerial life to remain quiet formany moments together, he soon rolled over on his back with his fourslender legs in the air. It was beautiful to see him, this one solitarycreature whose mate had never been created, but who needed no companion, and, living a great many hundred years, was as happy as the centurieswere long. The more he did such things as mortal horses are accustomedto do, the less earthly and the more wonderful he seemed. Bellerophonand the child almost held their breath, partly from a delightful awe, but still more because they dreaded lest the slightest stir or murmurshould send him up with the speed of an arrow-flight into the farthestblue of the sky. Finally, when he had had enough of rolling over andover, Pegasus turned himself about, and, indolently, like any otherhorse, put out his forelegs in order to rise from the ground; andBellerophon, who had guessed that he would do so, darted suddenly fromthe thicket and leaped astride of his back. Yes, there he sat, on the back of the winged horse! But what a bound did Pegasus make when, for the first time, he felt theweight of a mortal man upon his loins! A bound, indeed! Before he hadtime to draw a breath Bellerophon found himself five hundred feet aloft, and still shooting upward, while the winged horse snorted and trembledwith terror and anger. Upward he went, up, up, up, until he plunged intothe cold, misty bosom of a cloud at which, only a little while before, Bellerophon had been gazing and fancying it a very pleasant spot. Thenagain, out of the heart of the cloud, Pegasus shot down like athunderbolt, as if he meant to dash both himself and his rider head-longagainst a rock. Then he went through about a thousand of the wildestcaprioles that had ever been performed either by a bird or a horse. I cannot tell you half that he did. He skimmed straight forward, andsideways, and backward. He reared himself erect, with his forelegs on awreath of mist and his hind legs on nothing at all. He flung out hisheels behind and put down his head between his legs, with his wingspointing right upward. At about two miles' height above the earth heturned a somersault, so that Bellerophon's heels were where his headshould have been, and he seemed to look down into the sky, instead ofup. He twisted his head about, and, looking Bellerophon in the face, with fire flashing from his eyes, made a terrible attempt to bite him. He fluttered his pinions so wildly that one of the silver feathers wasshaken out, and, floating earthward, was picked up by the child, whokept it as long as he lived in memory of Pegasus and Bellerophon. But the latter (who, as you may judge, was as good a horseman as evergalloped) had been watching his opportunity, and at last clapped thegolden bit of the enchanted bridle between the winged steed's jaws. Nosooner was this done than Pegasus became as manageable as if he hadtaken food all his life out of Bellerophon's hand. To speak what Ireally feel, it was almost a sadness to see so wild a creature growsuddenly so tame. And Pegasus seemed to feel it so likewise. He lookedround to Bellerophon with tears in his beautiful eyes, instead of thefire that so recently flashed from them. But when Bellerophon patted hishead and spoke a few authoritative, yet kind and soothing words, anotherlook came into the eyes of Pegasus; for he was glad at heart, after somany lonely centuries, to have found a companion and a master. Thus italways is with winged horses and with all such wild and solitarycreatures. If you can catch and overcome them, it is the surest way towin their love. While Pegasus had been doing his utmost to shake Bellerophon off hisback, he had flown a very long distance, and they had come within sightof a lofty mountain by the time the bit was in his mouth. Bellerophonhad seen this mountain before, and knew it to be Helicon, on the summitof which was the winged horse's abode. Thither (after looking gentlyinto his rider's face, as if to ask leave) Pegasus now flew, and, alighting, waited patiently until Bellerophon should please to dismount. The young man accordingly leaped from his steed's back, but still heldhim fast by the bridle. Meeting his eyes, however, he was so affected bythe gentleness of his aspect and by his beauty, and by the thought ofthe free life which Pegasus had heretofore lived, that he could not bearto keep him a prisoner if he really desired his liberty. Obeying this generous impulse, he slipped the enchanted bridle off thehead of Pegasus and took the bit from his mouth. "Leave me, Pegasus!" said he. "Either leave me or love me. " In an instant the winged horse shot almost out of sight, soaringstraight upward from the summit of Mount Helicon. Being long aftersunset, it was now twilight on the mountain top and dusky evening overall the country round about. But Pegasus flew so high that he overtookthe departed day, and was bathed in the upper radiance of the sun. Ascending higher and higher, he looked like a bright speck, and at lastcould no longer be seen in the hollow waste of the sky. And Bellerophonwas afraid that he should never behold him more. But while he waslamenting his own folly the bright speck reappeared, and drew nearer andnearer until it descended lower than the sunshine; and behold, Pegasushad come back! After this trial there was no more fear of the wingedhorse's making his escape. He and Bellerophon were friends, and putloving faith in one another. That night they lay down and slept together, with Bellerophon's armabout the neck of Pegasus, not as a caution, but for kindness. And theyawoke at peep of day and bade one another good morning, each in his ownlanguage. In this manner Bellerophon and the wondrous steed spent several days, and grew better acquainted and fonder of each other all the time. Theywent on long aerial journeys, and sometimes ascended so high that theearth looked hardly bigger than the moon. They visited differentcountries and amazed the inhabitants, who thought that the beautifulyoung man on the back of the winged horse must have come down out of thesky. A thousand miles a day was no more than an easy space for the fleetPegasus to pass over. Bellerophon was delighted with this kind of life, and would have liked nothing better than to live always in the same way, aloft in the clear atmosphere; for it was always sunny weather up there, however cheerless and rainy it might be in the lower region. But hecould not forget the horrible Chimera which he had promised King Iobatesto slay. So at last, when he had become well accustomed to feats ofhorsemanship in the air, and could manage Pegasus with the least motionof his hand, and had taught him to obey his voice, he determined toattempt the performance of this perilous adventure. At daybreak, therefore, as soon as he unclosed his eyes, he gentlypinched the winged horse's ear in order to arouse him. Pegasusimmediately started from the ground and pranced about a quarter of amile aloft, and made a grand sweep around the mountain top by way ofshowing that he was wide awake and ready for any kind of an excursion. During the whole of this little flight, he uttered a loud, brisk, andmelodious neigh, and finally came down at Bellerophon's side as lightlyas you ever saw a sparrow hop upon a twig. "Well done, dear Pegasus! well done, my sky-skimmer!" cried Bellerophon, fondly stroking the horse's neck. "And now, my fleet and beautifulfriend, we must break our fast. To-day we are to fight the terribleChimera. " As soon as they had eaten their morning meal and drunk some sparklingwater from a spring called Hippocrene, Pegasus held out his head of hisown accord so that his master might put on the bridle. Then, with agreat many playful leaps and airy caperings, he showed his impatience tobe gone, while Bellerophon was girding on his sword and hanging hisshield about his neck and preparing himself for battle. When everythingwas ready, the rider mounted, and (as was his custom when going a longdistance) ascended five miles perpendicularly, so as the better to seewhither he was directing his course. He then turned the head of Pegasustoward the east, and set out for Lycia. In their flight they overtook aneagle, and came so nigh him, before he could get out of their way, thatBellerophon might easily have caught him by the leg. Hastening onward atthis rate, it was still early in the forenoon when they beheld the loftymountains of Lycia with their deep and shaggy valleys. If Bellerophonhad been told truly, it was in one of those dismal valleys that thehideous Chimera had taken up its abode. Being now so near their journey's end, the winged horse graduallydescended with his rider, and they took advantage of some clouds thatwere floating over the mountain tops in order to conceal themselves. Hovering on the upper surface of a cloud and peeping over its edge, Bellerophon had a pretty distinct view of the mountainous part of Lycia, and could look into all its shadowy vales at once. It was a wild, savage, and rocky tract of high and precipitous hills. In the more levelpart of the country there were ruins of burned houses, and here andthere the carcasses of dead cattle strewn about the pastures where theyhad been feeding. "The Chimera must have done this mischief, " thought Bellerophon. "Butwhere can the monster be?" As I have already said, there was nothing remarkable to be detected atfirst sight in any of the valleys and dells that lay among theprecipitous heights of the mountains--nothing at all, unless, indeed, itwere three spires of black smoke which issued from what seemed to be themouth of a cavern and clambered sullenly into the atmosphere. Beforereaching the mountain top these three black smoke-wreaths mingledthemselves into one. The cavern was almost directly beneath the wingedhorse and his rider, at the distance of about a thousand feet. Thesmoke, as it crept heavily upward, had an ugly, sulphurous, stiflingscent which caused Pegasus to snort and Bellerophon to sneeze. Sodisagreeable was it to the marvelous steed (who was accustomed tobreathe only the purest air) that he waved his wings and shot half amile out of the range of this offensive vapor. But on looking behind him, Bellerophon saw something that induced himfirst to draw the bridle and then to turn Pegasus about. He made a sign, which the winged horse understood, and sunk slowly through the air untilhis hoofs were scarcely more than a man's height above the rocky bottomof the valley. In front, as far off as you could throw a stone, was thecavern's mouth with the three smoke-wreaths oozing out of it. And whatelse did Bellerophon behold there? There seemed to be a heap of strange and terrible creatures curled upwithin the cavern. Their bodies lay so close together that Bellerophoncould not distinguish them apart; but, judging by their heads, one ofthese creatures was a huge snake, the second a fierce lion, and thethird an ugly goat. The lion and the goat were asleep; the snake was broad awake, and keptstaring around him with a great pair of fiery eyes. But--and this wasthe most wonderful part of the matter--the three spires of smokeevidently issued from the nostrils of these three heads! So strange wasthe spectacle, that, though Bellerophon had been all along expecting it, the truth did not immediately occur to him that here was the terriblethree-headed Chimera. He had found out the Chimera's cavern. The snake, the lion, and the goat, as he supposed them to be, were not threeseparate creatures, but one monster! The wicked, hateful thing! Slumbering as two thirds of it were, it stillheld in its abominable claws the remnant of an unfortunate lamb--orpossibly (but I hate to think so) it was a dear little boy--which itsthree mouths had been gnawing before two of them fell asleep! All at once Bellerophon started as from a dream, and knew it to be theChimera. Pegasus seemed to know it at the same instant, and sent forth aneigh that sounded like the call of a trumpet to battle. At this soundthe three heads reared themselves erect and belched out great flashes offlame. Before Bellerophon had time to consider what to do next, themonster flung itself out of the cavern and sprung straight toward him, with its immense claws extended and its snaky tail twisting itselfvenomously behind. If Pegasus had not been as nimble as a bird, both heand his rider would have been overthrown by the Chimera's headlong rush, and thus the battle have been ended before it was well begun. But thewinged horse was not to be caught so. In the twinkling of an eye he wasup aloft, halfway to the clouds, snorting with anger. He shuddered, too, not with affright, but with utter disgust at the loathsomeness of thispoisonous thing with three heads. [Illustration: PEGASUS DARTED DOWN ASLANT TOWARD THE CHIMERA'S THREE-FOLD HEAD. ] The Chimera, on the other hand, raised itself up so as to standabsolutely on the tip end of its tail, with its talons pawing fiercelyin the air and its three heads spluttering fire at Pegasus and hisrider. My stars! how it roared and hissed and bellowed! Bellerophon, meanwhile, was fitting his shield on his arm and drawing his sword. "Now, my beloved Pegasus, " he whispered in the winged horse's ear, "thoumust help me to slay this insufferable monster, or else thou shalt flyback to thy solitary mountain peak without thy friend Bellerophon. Foreither the Chimera dies, or its three mouths shall gnaw this head ofmine, which has slumbered upon thy neck. " Pegasus whinnied, and, turning back his head, rubbed his nose tenderlyagainst his rider's cheek. It was his way of telling him that, though hehad wings and was an immortal horse, yet he would perish, if it werepossible for immortality to perish, rather than leave Bellerophonbehind. "I thank you, Pegasus, " answered Bellerophon. "Now, then, let us make adash at the monster!" Uttering these words, he shook the bridle, and Pegasus darted downaslant, as swift as the flight of an arrow, right toward the Chimera'sthree-fold head, which all this time was poking itself as high as itcould into the air. As he came within arm's length, Bellerophon made acut at the monster, but was carried onward by his steed before he couldsee whether the blow had been successful. Pegasus continued his course, but soon wheeled round at about the same distance from the Chimera asbefore. Bellerophon then perceived that he had cut the goat's head ofthe monster almost off, so that it dangled downward by the skin, andseemed quite dead. But, to make amends, the snake's head and the lion'shead had taken all the fierceness of the dead one into themselves, andspit flame and hissed and roared with more fury than before. "Never mind, my brave Pegasus!" cried Bellerophon. "With another strokelike that we will surely stop either its hissing or its roaring. " And again he shook the bridle. Dashing aslant-wise as before, the wingedhorse made another arrow-flight toward the Chimera, and Bellerophonaimed another downright stroke at one of the two remaining heads as heshot by. But this time neither he nor Pegasus escaped so well as atfirst. With one of its claws the Chimera had given the young man a deepscratch in his shoulder, and had slightly damaged the left wing of theflying steed with the other. On his part, Bellerophon had mortallywounded the lion's head of the monster, insomuch that it now hungdownward, with its fire almost extinguished, and sending out gasps ofthick black smoke. The snake's head, however (which was the only one nowleft), was twice as fierce and venomous as ever before. It belched forthshoots of fire five hundred yards long, and emitted hisses so loud, soharsh, and so ear-piercing that King Iobates heard them fifty miles off, and trembled till the throne shook under him. "Well-a-day!" thought the poor king; "the Chimera is certainly coming todevour me. " Meanwhile Pegasus had again paused in the air and neighed angrily, whilesparkles of a pure crystal flame darted out of his eyes. How unlike thelurid fire of the Chimera! The aerial steed's spirit was all aroused, and so was that of Bellerophon. "Dost thou bleed, my immortal horse?" cried the young man, caring lessfor his own hurt than for the anguish of this glorious creature thatought never to have tasted pain. "The execrable Chimera shall pay forthis mischief with his last head. " Then he shook the bridle, shouted loudly and guided Pegasus, notaslantwise as before, but straight at the monster's hideous front. Sorapid was the onset that it seemed but a dazzle and a flash beforeBellerophon was at close gripes with his enemy. The Chimera by this time, after losing its second head, had got into ared-hot passion of pain and rampant rage. It so flounced about, half onearth and partly in the air, that it was impossible to say which elementit rested upon. It opened its snake jaws to such an abominable widththat Pegasus might almost, I was going to say, have flown right down itsthroat, wings outspread, rider and all! At their approach it shot out atremendous blast of its fiery breath and enveloped Bellerophon and hissteed in a perfect atmosphere of flame, singeing the wings of Pegasus, scorching off one whole side of the young man's ringlets, and makingthem both far hotter than was comfortable from head to foot. But this was nothing to what followed. When the airy rush of the winged horse had brought him within thedistance of a hundred yards, the Chimera gave a spring, and flung itshuge, awkward, venomous and utterly detestable carcass right upon poorPegasus, clung round him with might and main, and tied up its snaky tailinto a knot! Up flew the aerial steed, higher, higher, above themountain peaks, above the clouds, and almost out of sight of the solidearth. But still the earth-born monster kept its hold and was borneupward along with the creature of light and air. Bellerophon, meanwhile, turning about, found himself face to face with the ugly grimness of theChimera's visage, and could only avoid being scorched to death or bittenright in twain by holding up his shield. Over the upper edge of theshield he looked sternly into the savage eyes of the monster. But the Chimera was so mad and wild with pain that it did not guarditself so well as might else have been the case. Perhaps, after all, thebest way to fight a Chimera is by getting as close to it as you can. Inits efforts to stick its horrible iron claws into its enemy the creatureleft its own breast quite exposed, and, perceiving this, Bellerophonthrust his sword up to the hilt into its cruel heart. Immediately thesnaky tail untied its knot. The monster let go its hold of Pegasus andfell from that vast height downward, while the fire within its bosom, instead of being put out, burned fiercer than ever, and quickly began toconsume the dead carcass. Thus it fell out of the sky all aflame, and(it being nightfall before it reached the earth) was mistaken for ashooting star or a comet. But at early sunrise some cottagers were goingto their day's labor, and saw, to their astonishment, that several acresof ground were strewn with black ashes. In the middle of a field therewas a heap of whitened bones a great deal higher than a haystack. Nothing else was ever seen of the dreadful Chimera. And when Bellerophonhad won the victory he bent forward and kissed Pegasus, while the tearsstood in his eyes. "Back, now, my beloved steed!" said he. "Back to the fountain ofPirene!" Pegasus skimmed through the air quicker than ever he did before, andreached the fountain in a very short time. And there he found the oldman leaning on his staff, and the country fellow watering his cow, andthe pretty maiden filling her pitcher. "I remember now, " quoth the old man, "I saw this winged horse oncebefore, when I was quite a lad. But he was ten times handsomer in thosedays. " "I own a cart horse worth three of him, " said the country fellow. "Ifthis pony were mine, the first thing I should do would be to clip hiswings. " But the poor maiden said nothing, for she had always the luck to beafraid at the wrong time. So she ran away, and let her pitcher tumbledown, and broke it. "Where is the gentle child, " asked Bellerophon, "who used to keep mecompany, and never lost his faith, and never was weary of gazing intothe fountain?" "Here am I, dear Bellerophon!" said the child softly. For the little boy had spent day after day on the margin of Pirene, waiting for his friend to come back; but when he perceived Bellerophondescending through the clouds, mounted on the winged horse, he hadshrunk back into the shrubbery. He was a delicate and tender child, anddreaded lest the old man and the country fellow should see the tearsgushing from his eyes. "Thou hast won the victory, " said he joyfully, running to the knee ofBellerophon, who still sat on the back of Pegasus. "I knew thouwouldst. " "Yes, dear child!" replied Bellerophon, alighting from the winged horse. "But if thy faith had not helped me, I should never have waited forPegasus, and never have gone up above the clouds, and never haveconquered the terrible Chimera. Thou, my little friend, hast done itall. And now let us give Pegasus his liberty. " So he slipped off theenchanted bridle from the head of the marvelous steed. "Be free for evermore, my Pegasus!" cried he, with a shade of sadness inhis tone. "Be as free as thou art fleet. " But Pegasus rested his head on Bellerophon's shoulder, and would nottake flight. "Well, then, " said Bellerophon, caressing the airy horse, "thou shalt bewith me as long as thou wilt, and we will go together forthwith and tellKing Iobates that the Chimera is destroyed. " Then Bellerophon embraced the gentle child and promised to come to himagain, and departed. But in after years that child took higher flightsupon the aerial steed than ever did Bellerophon, and achieved morehonorable deeds than his friend's victory over the Chimera. For, gentleand tender as he was, he grew to be a mighty poet! A VISIT FROM SAINT NICHOLAS By Clement C. Moore Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the houseNot a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there;The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugarplums danced in their heads;And mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap, --When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snowGave a lustre of midday to objects below;When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer, With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be Saint Nick. More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled and shouted, and called them by name: "Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall!Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!" As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky, So up to the house-top the coursers they flew, With the sleigh full of toys, --and Saint Nicholas, too. And then in a twinkling I heard on the roofThe prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head, and was turning around, Down the chimney Saint Nicholas came with a bound. He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot, And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;A bundle of toys he had flung on his back, And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack. His eyes how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow. The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath. He had a broad face and a little round bellyThat shook, when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly. He was chubby and plump, --a right jolly old elf;And I laughed, when I saw him, in spite of myself. A wink of his eye and a twist of his headSoon gave me to know I had nothing to dread. He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk, And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose, He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle;But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!" Clement Clarke Moore, who wrote this poem, published a whole volume ofpoems, but none of the others is as famous as is this. It was writtenfor his own children, and he did not even know that it was to bepublished. It appeared in the Troy Sentinel in 1823, just two daysbefore Christmas, and we can imagine how delighted children were whenthey had it read to them for the first time. It is not a great poem; butno Christmas poem that has been published since has been half as popularwith children, and even grown people like it for its jolliness and itsChristmas spirit. THE STORY OF PHAETHON Phaeton, the son of the nymph Clymene, was very proud of his mother'sbeauty, and used to boast of it greatly to his playmates. Tired of theboy's bragging and conceit, one of his friends said to him one day: "You're very willing to talk about your mother, but I notice you neverspeak of your father. Are you ashamed of him?" "No, I'm not, " replied Phaethon, trying to look unabashed. "Well, then, tell us about him. If he were anything great, you would bewilling enough to brag about him. " And because Phaethon kept quiet, all of his playmates began to jeer athim, cruelly enough. "You don't know your father. You've never seen him, " they cried. Phaethon would not cry before them, but there were tears of shame andanger in his eyes as he told the story to his mother. "Never mind, my boy, " she said soothingly, "To-morrow you shall tellthem the name of your father, and that will stop their taunts. Come, letme whisper it to you. " When Phaethon heard what she had to tell him, his eyes shone with joyand pride, and he could scarce wait for morning to carry his news to hismocking friends. He was first at the meeting-place, but he would saynothing until all his playmates were gathered. Then he said, quietly, but O, so proudly: "My father is Apollo, the sun-god!" For a moment there was silence; then came a burst of laughter from thegroup crowded about Phaethon. "A likely story! Who ever heard anything so ridiculous? It's quite plainthat your mother is ashamed of your father, and is trying to throw youoff the track. " Again Phaethon ran home, his cheeks burning, his eyes flashing, andagain he told his mother all that had passed. "It's too late to do anything about it to-day, " said Clymene, "but to-morrow you shall go yourself to your father's palace, before he sets outon his trip across the sky; and if he is pleased with you, he will giveyou some proof that you are really his son. " Long before daylight the next morning Phaethon set out, and with hismother's directions in mind, walked straight east until he came to thedazzling palace of the sun. Had he not been a bold youth, he would havebeen frightened and turned back; but he was determined to prove hisboasts, and passed on into the palace. At last, on a great goldenthrone, he saw his father--surely a more glorious father than ever boyhad before. So glorious was he that Phaethon dared not approach himclosely, as the light about the throne was blinding. When Apollorecognized him, however, he took off the crown of rays from about hishead and called to Phaethon to approach fearlessly. As the boy stood before the throne, he was a son of whom no father, evenApollo, needed to be ashamed; and as he hurried into his story, the sun-god smiled at the signs of his impetuous temper. "You're willing to own me for your son, aren't you?" finished Phaethon. "To be sure I am, " replied the sun-god; "and that your mates may neverhave chance to doubt it more, I swear by the terrible Styx [Footnote:The Styx was one of the great rivers of Hades. The oath by the Styx wasregarded as so binding that even a god could not break it without beingpunished severely for his perjury. Any god who broke his oath wasobliged to drink of the black waters of the Styx which kept him in utterunconsciousness for a year; and after his return to consciousness he wasbanished for nine years from Olympus. ] to give you any proof you ask. " It did not take Phaethon long to decide--he had made up his mind on theway; and his words fairly tumbled over each other as he cried eagerly: "Then I'll drive the sun-chariot for a day!" Apollo was horrified, for he knew that he alone of the gods could managethe fiery steeds; and if great Jupiter himself could not do it, whatwould happen if they were placed in the power of this slight boy? Hebegged Phaethon to release him from his promise, but-- "You promised, you promised!" repeated the boy. "You swore by the Styx, and you CAN'T break your word. " This was true, as Apollo knew well; and at length, with a sigh, heturned and called to his servants, the Hours, who stood ready to attendhim on his journey: "Harness my steeds, and make sure that everything is right about thechariot. " While this was being done, Apollo explained carefully to his son thedangers of the way, hoping yet to turn him from his purpose. "The path runs steeply upward at first, " he said, "and with all theirstrength the horses can scarce drag the chariot. During the middle ofthe day the course is high, high in the heavens, and it will sicken youand make you dizzy if you look down. But the latter part of the drive ismost dangerous, for it slopes rapidly down, and if the horses are nottightly reined in, horses, chariot and driver will fall headlong intothe sea. " Nothing frightened Phaethon. "You see, " he explained, "it's not as if I didn't know how to drive. I've often driven my grandfather's horses, and they are wild andstrong. " By this time the magnificent golden chariot and the six horses of whitefire were ready, and after one last plea to his son, Apollo permittedhim to mount the seat. He anointed the boy's face with a cooling lotion, that the heat might not scorch him, and placed the crown of beams abouthis head. "And now, " he said, "you must be off. Already the people on earth arewondering why the sun does not rise. Do remember, my boy, not to use thewhip, and to choose a path across the heavens which is neither too highnor too low. " With but scant attention to his father's advice, Phaethon gave the wordto his steeds and dashed out of the gates which Aurora opened for him. And thus began a day which the gods on Olympus and the people on earthnever forgot. [Illustration: IN VAIN PHAETHON PULLED AT THE REINS. ] The horses easily perceived that some other hand than their master'sheld the lines, and they promptly became unmanageable. In vain Phaethonpulled at the reins; in vain he called the steeds by name. Up the skythey dashed, and then, first to the south, then to the north, they tooktheir zigzag course across the heavens. What a sight it must havepresented from below, this sun reeling crazily about the sky! Worst ofall, however, the horses did not keep at the same distance from theearth. First they went down, down, until they almost touched themountain tops. Trees, grass, wheat, flowers, all were scorched andblackened; and one great tract in Africa was so parched that nothing hassince been able to grow upon it. Rivers were dried up, the snow on themountain tops was melted, and, strangest of all, the people in thecountry over which the sun-chariot was passing were burned black. [Footnote: In this way the ancients explained the great desert ofSahara, and the dark color of the people of Africa. ] Then, rising, thehorses dragged the chariot so far from the earth that intense, bittercold killed off much of the vegetation which the fierce heat had spared. Poor Phaethon could do nothing but clutch the seat and shut his eyes. Hedared not look down, lest he lose his balance and fall; he dared notlook about him, for there were, in all parts of the heavens, the mostterrifying animals--a great scorpion, a lion, two bears, a huge crab. [Footnote: These terrifying animals which Phaethon saw in the sky werethe groups of stars, the constellations to which the ancients gave thenames of animals etc. We know the Big Dipper, or Great Bear, for we maysee it in the north any clear night. ] Vainly he repented of hisrashness; sadly he wondered in what way his death would come. It came suddenly--so suddenly that poor Phaethon did not feel the painof it. For Jupiter, when he saw the sun rocking about the heavens, didnot stop to inquire who the unknown charioteer was; he knew it was notApollo, and he knew the earth was being ruined--that was enough. Seizingone of his biggest thunderbolts, he hurled it with all his might, andPhaethon fell, flaming, from his lofty seat into the Eridanus River;while the horses, whom no thunderbolt could harm, trotted quietly backto their stalls. Clymene bewailed her son's death bitterly, and hiscompanions, grieved that their taunts should have driven their comradeto his destruction, helped her to erect over his grave a stone on whichwere these words: "Lies buried here young Phaethon, who sought To guide his father's chariot of flame. What though he failed? No death ignoble his Who fared to meet it with such lofty aim. " Most of the Greek myths had meanings; they were not simply fairystories. And while we have no means now of finding the meanings of someof them, many of them are so clear that we can understand exactly whatthe Greeks meant to teach by them. By far the most numerous are the so-called "nature myths"--myths which they invented to explain thehappenings which they saw constantly about them in the natural world. Ofthese nature myths the story of Phaethon is one. The ancients believed that drought was caused by the sun's coming tooclose to the earth; but how could Apollo, experienced driver of the sun-chariot, ever be so careless as to drive close enough to the earth toburn it? It was easy enough to imagine that the chariot, when it didsuch damage, was being driven by some reckless person who knew not howto guide it. But then arose the necessity of explaining Apollo'swillingness to trust such a reckless person with so great a task; andwhat more likely than that the inexperienced charioteer was Apollo'sbeloved son, who had induced his father to grant his rash request?Gradually details were added, until the story took the form in which wehave it. As the drought of summer is often brought to a close by a storm which isaccompanied by thunder and lightning, and which hides the light of thesun, so in the story Phaethon's ruinous drive is brought to an end bythe thunderbolt of Jupiter; while the horses, trotting back home beforetheir time, leave the world in comparative darkness. It must not be supposed that some one just sat down one day and said, "Iwill tell a story which shall explain drought and the ending ofdrought. " This story, like all the others, grew up gradually. Perhaps, one day, in time of drought, some one said to his neighbor, "The chariotof Apollo is coming too close to the earth, " and perhaps his neighborreplied, "Some one who knows not how to guide the white horses isdriving it. " Such language might in time easily become the commonlanguage for describing times of drought; and so, at length, would growup, out of what was at first merely a description, in figurativelanguage, of a natural happening, a story, in dramatic form. THE ENGLISH ROBIN By Harrison Weir See yon robin on the spray; Look ye how his tiny formSwells, as when his merry lay Gushes forth amid the storm. Though the snow is falling fast, Specking o'er his coat with white, Though loud roars the chilly blast, And the evening's lost in night, Yet from out the darkness dreary Cometh still that cheerful note;Praiseful aye, and never weary, Is that little warbling throat. Thank him for his lesson's sake, Thank God's gentle minstrel there, Who, when storms make others quake, Sings of days that brighter were. The English robin is not the bird we call robin redbreast in the UnitedStates. Our robin is a big, lordly chap about ten inches long, but theEnglish robin is not more than five and a half inches long; that is, itis smaller than an English sparrow. The robin of the poem has an olive-green back and a breast of yellowish red, and in habits it is like ourwarblers. It is a sweet singer, and a confiding, friendly little thing, so that English children are very fond of it, and English writers arecontinually referring to it. TOM, THE WATER BABY By Charles Kingsley INTRODUCTORY NOTE Charles Kingsley, who was born in 1819, and became Canon of the Churchof England at Chester, wrote, in addition to his interesting andbrilliant novels, The Water Babies, which is a charming fairy story foryoung people. It is, however, one of those stories that can be read morethan once, and read by all classes of people. Besides telling the delightful story of Tom, the water baby, and hiswonderful adventures on land and in water, Canon Kingsley gives in avery amusing style accounts of many of the animals that live in and nearthe water. But he brings them all into the story in such a way that theyseem to be real, living characters, and you are almost as muchinterested in the stately salmon and his wife, or even in the funny oldlobster, as you would be if they were actual human beings. As the story was written originally, there was a great deal in it forchildren of much larger growth than those who will read it here. In somerespects the story resembles Gulliver's Travels, for Kingsley tookoccasion to be satirical about many of the things which men and womensay, do and believe. Some of this satire children will enjoy thoroughly, but some of it could not be understood well except by persons who havelived in this world for many years. Accordingly, in this book, we havethought it best to leave out some things, giving you only the story ofTom, and hoping that when you young readers grow to manhood or womanhoodyou will find The Water Babies, complete, a good story to read. You willenjoy recalling the delight you have in it now, and will find out thateven a children's story may be so told as to keep a man thinking. Moreover, the story was written by an Englishman for an English boy, andthere are a great many allusions to things that only English boysappreciate or understand, and it has seemed wise to omit most of these. On the other hand, nothing has been omitted to weaken the story of Tom, and nothing has been added to destroy the charm of Canon Kingsley'swriting. CHAPTER I Once upon a time there was a little chimney-sweep, [Footnote: A boywould have a hard time crawling through some of our chimneys nowadays, but years ago, when houses had open fireplaces instead of steam plants, there was a network of huge chimneys through which a small boy couldeasily work his way, brushing off the soot as he went. ] and his name wasTom. That is a short name, and you have heard it before, so you will nothave much trouble in remembering it. He lived in a great town in theNorth country, where there were plenty of chimneys to sweep, and plentyof money for Tom to earn and his master to spend. He could not read norwrite, and did not care to do either; and he never washed himself, forthere was no water up the court where he lived. He had never been taughtto say his prayers. He never had heard of God, or of Christ, except inwords which you never have heard, and which it would have been well ifhe had never heard. [Illustration: THERE WAS A LITTLE CHIMNEY SWEEP, AND HIS NAME WAS TOM. ] He cried half his time, and laughed the other half. He cried when he hadto climb the dark flues, rubbing his poor knees and elbows raw; and whenthe soot got into his eyes, which it did every day in the week; and whenhis master beat him, which he did every day in the week; and when he hadnot enough to eat, which happened every day in the week likewise. And helaughed the other half of the day, when he was tossing halfpennies withthe other boys, or playing leapfrog over the posts, or bowling stones atthe horses' legs as they trotted by, which last was excellent fun, whenthere was a wall at hand behind which to hide. As for chimneysweeping, and being hungry, and being beaten, he took allthat for the way of the world, like the rain and snow and thunder, andstood manfully with his back to it till it was over, as his old donkeydid to a hailstorm; and then shook his ears and was as jolly as ever;and thought of the fine times coming, when he would be a man, and amaster sweep, [Footnote: A master sweep was a man who had grown toolarge to climb up chimneys, but who kept boys whom he hired out for thatpurpose. ] and sit in the public-house with a quart of beer and a longpipe, and play cards for silver money, and wear velveteens and ankle-jacks, and keep a white bulldog with one gray ear, and carry her puppiesin his pocket, just like a man. And he would have apprentices, one, two, three, if he could. How he would bully them, and knock them about, justas his master did to him; and make them carry home the soot sacks, whilehe rode before them on his donkey, with a pipe in his mouth and a flowerin his buttonhole, like a king at the head of his army. Yes, there weregood times coming; and when his master let him have a pull at theleavings of his beer, Tom was the jolliest boy in the whole town. One day a smart little groom rode into the court where Tom lived, andhalloed to him to know where Mr. Grimes, the chimney-sweep, lived. Now, Mr. Grimes was Tom's own master, and Tom was a good man of business, andalways civil to customers, so he proceeded to take orders. Mr. Grimes was to come up next morning to Sir John Harthover's at thePlace, for his old chimney-sweep was gone to prison, and the chimneyswanted sweeping. And so he rode away, not giving Tom time to ask whatthe sweep had gone to prison for, which was a matter of interest to Tom, as he had been in prison once or twice himself. Moreover, the groomlooked so very neat and clean, with his drab gaiters, drab breeches, drab jacket, snow-white tie with a smart pin in it, and clean roundruddy face, that Tom was offended and disgusted at his appearance, andconsidered him a stuck-up fellow, who gave himself airs because he woresmart clothes, and other people paid for them. His master was so delighted at his new customer that he knocked Tom downout of hand, and drank more beer that night than he usually did in two, in order to be sure of getting up in time next morning, for the more aman's head aches when he wakes, the more glad he is to turn out, andhave a breath of fresh air. And when he did get up at four the nextmorning, he knocked Tom down again, in order to teach him (as younggentlemen used to be taught at public schools) that he must be an extragood boy that day, as they were going to a very great house, and mightmake a very good thing of it, if they could but give satisfaction. And Tom thought so likewise, and, indeed, would have done and behavedhis best, even without being knocked down. For, of all places uponearth, Harthover Place (which he had never seen) was the most wonderful, and, of all men on earth, Sir John (whom he had seen, having been sentto jail by him twice) was the most awful. Harthover Place was really a grand place, even for the rich Northcountry, and Sir John a grand old man, whom even Mr. Grimes respected;for not only could he send Mr. Grimes to prison when he deserved it, ashe did once or twice a week; not only did he own all the land about formiles; not only was he as jolly, honest, sensible squire as ever kept apack of hounds, who would do what he thought right by his neighbors, aswell as get what he thought right for himself; but what was more, heweighed full fifteen stone, was nobody knew how many inches round thechest, and could have thrashed Mr. Grimes himself in fair fight, whichvery few folk round there could do, and which, my dear little boy, wouldnot have been right for him to do, as a great many things are not whichone can do, and would like very much to do. So Mr. Grimes touched hishat to him when he rode through the town, and thought that that made upfor his poaching Sir John's pheasants. So Tom and his master set out; Grimes rode the donkey in front, and Tomand the brushes walked behind; out of the court, and up the street, pastthe closed window shutters, and the winking weary policemen, and theroofs all shining gray in the gray dawn. They passed through thepitmen's village, all shut up and silent now, and through the turn-pike;and then they were out in the real country, and plodding along the blackdusty road, between black slag walls, with no sound but the groaning andthumping of the pit-engine in the next field. But soon the road grewwhite, and the walls likewise; and at the wall's foot grew long grassand gay flowers, all drenched with dew; and instead of the groaning ofthe pit-engine, they heard the skylark, saying his matins high up in theair, and the pit-bird warbling in the sedges, as he had warbled allnight long. All else was silent. For old Mrs. Earth was still fast asleep; and, likemany pretty people, she looked still prettier asleep than awake. Thegreat elm trees in the gold-green meadows were fast asleep above, andthe cows fast asleep beneath them; nay, the few clouds which were aboutwere fast asleep likewise, and so tired that they had lain down on theearth to rest, in long white flakes and bars, among the stems of the elmtrees, and along the tops of the alders by the stream, waiting for thesun to bid them rise and go about their day's business in the clear blueoverhead. [Illustration: THEY CAME UP WITH A POOR IRISHWOMAN. ] On they went; and Tom looked, and looked, for he never had been so farinto the country before; and longed to get over a gate, and pickbuttercups, and look for birds' nests in the hedge; but Mr. Grimes was aman of business, and would not have heard of that. Soon they came up with a poor Irishwoman, trudging along with a bundleat her back. She had a gray shawl over her head, and a crimson madderpetticoat; so you may be sure she came from Galway. [Footnote: Galway isa county in the western part of Ireland. The dress here described wasthe characteristic dress of the peasants of that county. ] She hadneither shoes nor stockings, and limped along as if she were tired andfootsore; but she was a very tall, handsome woman, with bright grayeyes, and heavy black hair hanging about her cheeks. And she took Mr. Grimes' fancy so much, that when he came alongside he called out to her: "This is a hard road for a gradely [Footnote: GRADELY, or GRAITHLY, isan old word which meant DECENT or COMELY. ] foot like that. Will ye up, lass, and ride behind me?" But, perhaps she did not admire Mr. Grimes' look and voice; for sheanswered quietly: "No, thank you; I'd sooner walk with your little lad here. " "You may please yourself, " growled Grimes, and went on smoking. So she walked beside Tom, and talked to him, and asked him where helived, and what he knew, and all about himself, till Tom thought he hadnever met such a pleasant-spoken woman. And she asked him, at last, whether he said his prayers! and seemed sad when he told her that heknew no prayers to say. Then he asked her where she lived, and she said far away by the sea. AndTom asked her about the sea; and she told him how it rolled and roaredover the rocks in winter nights, and lay still in the bright summerdays, for the children to bathe and play in it; and many a story more, till Tom longed to go and see the sea, and bathe in it likewise. At last, at the bottom of a hill, they came to a spring; a real Northcountry fountain, like one of those in Sicily or Greece, where the oldheathen fancied the nymphs [Footnote: The nymphs, according to theancient Greeks, were divinities in the shape of beautiful maidens, wholived in the woods or in springs and streams. ] sat cooling themselvesthe hot summer's day, while the shepherds peeped at them from behind thebushes. Out of a low cave of rock, at the foot of a limestone crag, thegreat fountain rose, quelling, and bubbling, and gurgling, so clear thatyou could not tell where the water ended and the air began; and ran awayunder the road, a stream large enough to turn a mill; among bluegeranium, and golden globeflower, and wild raspberry, and the birdcherry with its tassels of snow. [Footnote: These are English flowers, but you probably know some of them. The wild geranium, for instance, with its pinkish-purple flowers, is common in our woods. The globefloweris of rather a pale yellow, and its petals curl in so that it looks likea ball. ] And there Grimes stopped and looked; and Tom looked, too. Tom waswondering whether anything lived in that dark cave, and came out atnight to fly in the meadows. But Grimes was not wondering at all. Without a word, he got off his donkey, and clambered over the low roadwall, and knelt down, and began dipping his ugly head into the spring--and very dirty he made it. Tom was picking the flowers as fast as he could. The Irishwoman helpedhim, and showed him how to tie them up; and a very pretty nosegay theyhad made between them. But when he saw Grimes actually wash, he stopped, quite astonished; and when Grimes had finished, and began shaking hisears to dry them, he said: "Why, master, I never saw you do that before. " "Nor will again, most likely. 'Twasn't for cleanliness I did it, but forcoolness. I'd be ashamed to want washing every week or so, like anysmutty collier lad. " "I wish I might go and dip my head in, " said poor little Tom. "It mustbe as good as putting it under the town pump; and there is no beadlehere to drive a chap away. " "Thou come along, " said Grimes; "what dost want with washing thyself?Thou did not drink half a gallon of beer last night, like me. " "I don't care for you, " said naughty Tom, and ran down to the stream, and began washing his face. Grimes was very sulky, because the woman preferred Tom's company to his;so he dashed at him with horrid words, and tore him up from his knees, and began beating him. But Tom was accustomed to that, and got his headsafe between Mr. Grimes' legs, and kicked his shins with all his might. "Are you not ashamed of yourself, Thomas Grimes?" cried the Irishwomanover the wall. Grimes looked up, startled at her knowing his name; but all he answeredwas, "No, nor never was yet"; and went on beating Tom. "True for you. If you had ever been ashamed of yourself, you would havegone over into Vendale long ago. " "What do you know about Vendale?" shouted Grimes; but he left offbeating Tom. "I know about Vendale, and about you, too. I know, for instance, whathappened in Aldermire Copse, by night, two years ago come Martinmas. " "You do?" shouted Grimes; and leaving Tom, he climbed up over the wall, and faced the woman. Tom thought he was going to strike her; but shelooked him too full and fierce in the face for that. "Yes; I was there, " said the Irishwoman quietly. "You are no Irishwoman, by your speech, " said Grimes, after many badwords. "Never mind who I am. I saw what I saw; and if you strike that boyagain, I can tell what I know. " Grimes seemed quite cowed, and got on his donkey without another word. "Stop!" said the Irishwoman. "I have one more word for you both; for youwill both see me again before all is over. THOSE THAT WISH TO BE CLEAN, CLEAN THEY WILL BE; AND THOSE THAT WISH TO BE FOUL, FOUL THEY WILL BE. REMEMBER. " And she turned away, and through a gate into the meadow. Grimes stoodstill a moment, like a man who had been stunned. Then he rushed afterher, shouting, "You come back. " But when he got into the meadow, thewoman was not there. Had she hidden away? There was no place to hide in. But Grimes lookedabout, and Tom also, for he was as puzzled as Grimes himself at herdisappearing so suddenly; but look where they would, she was not there. Grimes came back again, as silent as a post, for he was a littlefrightened; and, getting on his donkey, filled a fresh pipe, and smokedaway, leaving Tom in peace. And now they had gone three miles and more, and came to Sir John's lodgegates. Grimes rang at the gate, and out came a keeper [Footnote: Akeeper is a man appointed, on a large estate, to see that no onetrespasses on the grounds or poaches the game. ] on the spot, and opened. "I was told to expect thee, " he said. "Now thou'lt be so good as to keepto the main avenue, and not let me find a hare or a rabbit on thee whenthou comest back. I shall look sharp for one, I tell thee. " [Illustration. ] "Not if it's in the bottom of the soot bag, " quoth Grimes, and at thathe laughed; and the keeper laughed and said: "If that's thy sort, I mayas well walk up with thee to the hall. " "I think thou best had. It's thy business to see after thy game, man, and not mine. " So the keeper went with them; and, to Tom's surprise, he and Grimeschatted together all the way quite pleasantly. He did not know that akeeper is only a poacher turned outside in, and a poacher a keeperturned inside out. They walked up a great lime avenue, a full mile long, and between theirstems Tom peeped trembling at the horns of the sleeping deer, whichstood up among the ferns. Tom had never seen such enormous trees, and ashe looked up he fancied that the blue sky rested on their heads. But hewas puzzled very much by a strange murmuring noise, which followed themall the way. So much puzzled, that at last he took courage to ask thekeeper what it was. He spoke very civilly, and called him Sir, for he was horribly afraid ofhim, which pleased the keeper, and he told him that they were the beesabout the lime flowers. "What are bees?" asked Tom. "What make honey. " "What is honey?" asked Tom. "Thou hold thy noise, " said Grimes. "Let the boy be, " said the keeper. "He's a civil young chap now, andthat's more than he'll be long if he bides with thee. " Grimes laughed, for he took that for a compliment. "I wish I were a keeper, " said Tom, "to live in such a beautiful place, and wear green velveteens, and have a real dog-whistle at my button, like you. " The keeper laughed; he was a kind-hearted fellow enough. "Let well alone, lad, and ill too at times. Thy life's safer than mineat all events, eh, Mr. Grimes?" And Grimes laughed again, and then the two men began talking quite low. Tom could hear, though, that it was about some poaching fight; and atlast Grimes said surlily, "Hast thou anything against me?" "Not now. " "Then don't ask me any questions till thou hast, for I am a man ofhonour. " And at that they both laughed again, and thought it a very good joke. And by this time they were come up to the great iron gates in front ofthe house; and Tom stared through them at the rhododendrons and azaleas, which were all in flower; and then at the house itself, and wondered howmany chimneys there were in it, and how long ago it was built, and whatwas the man's name that built it, and whether he got much money for hisjob. [Illustration: HARTHOVER PLACE. ] But Tom and his master did not go in through the great iron gates, as ifthey had been dukes or bishops, but round the back way, and a very longway round it was; and into a little back door, where the ash-boy letthem in, yawning horribly; and then in a passage the housekeeper metthem, in such a flowered chintz dressing gown, that Tom mistook her forMy Lady herself, and she gave Grimes solemn orders about "You will takecare of this, and take care of that, " as if he was going up thechimneys, and not Tom. And Grimes listened, and said every now and then, under his voice, "You'll mind that, you little beggar?" and Tom didmind, all at least that he could. And then the housekeeper turned theminto a grand room, all covered up in sheets of brown paper, and badethem begin, in a lofty and tremendous voice; and so after a whimper ortwo, and a kick from his master, into the grate Tom went, and up thechimney, while a housemaid stayed in the room to watch the furniture. How many chimneys Tom swept I cannot say; but he swept so many that hegot quite tired, and puzzled, too, for they were not like the town fluesto which he was accustomed, but such as you would find--if you wouldonly get up them and look, which perhaps you would not like to do--inold country houses; large and crooked chimneys, which had been alteredagain and again, till they ran one into another. So Tom fairly lost hisway in them; not that he cared much for that, though he was in pitchdarkness, for he was as much at home in a chimney as a mole isunderground; but at last, coming down as he thought the right chimney, he came down the wrong one, and found himself standing on the hearthrugin a room the like of which he had never seen before. He had never been in gentlefolks' rooms but when the carpets were allup, and the curtains down, and the furniture huddled together under acloth, and the pictures covered with aprons and dusters; and he hadoften enough wondered what the rooms were like when they were all readyfor the quality to sit in. And now he saw, and he thought the sight verypretty. The room was all dressed in white, --white window curtains, white bedcurtains, white furniture and white walls, with just a few lines of pinkhere and there. The carpet was all over gay little flowers and the wallswere hung with pictures in gilt frames, which amused Tom very much. There were pictures of ladies and gentlemen, and pictures of horses anddogs. The horses he liked; but the dogs he did not care for much, forthere were no bulldogs among them, not even a terrier. But the twopictures which took his fancy most were, one a man in long garments, with little children and their mothers round him, who was laying hishand upon the children's heads. That was a very pretty picture, Tomthought, to hang in a lady's room. For he could see that it was a lady'sroom by the dresses which lay about. The other picture was that of a man nailed to a cross, which surprisedTom much. He fancied that he had seen something like it in a shopwindow. But why was it there? "Poor man, " thought Tom, "and he looks sokind and quiet. " But why should the lady have such a sad picture as thatin her room? Perhaps it was some kinsman of hers, who had been murderedby the savages in foreign parts, and she kept it there for aremembrance. And Tom felt sad, and awed, and turned to look at somethingelse. The next thing he saw, and that, too, puzzled him, was a washing-stand, with ewers and basins, and soap and brushes, and towels, and alarge bath full of clean water--what a heap of things all for washing!"She must be a very dirty lady, " thought Tom, "by my master's rule, towant as much scrubbing as all that. But she must be very cunning to putthe dirt out of the way so well afterwards, for I don't see a speckabout the room, not even on the very towels. " And then, looking toward the bed, he saw that dirty lady, and held hisbreath with astonishment. Under the snow-white coverlet, upon the snow-white pillow, lay the mostbeautiful little girl that Tom had ever seen. Her cheeks were almost aswhite as the pillow, and her hair was like threads of gold spread allabout over the bed. She might have been as old as Tom, or maybe a yearor two older; but Tom did not think of that. He thought only of herdelicate skin and golden hair, and wondered whether she was a real liveperson, or one of the wax dolls he had seen in the shops. But when hesaw her breathe, he made up his mind that she was alive, and stoodstaring at her, as if she had been an angel out of heaven. No. She cannot be dirty. She never could have been dirty, thought Tom tohimself; and then he thought, "And are all people like that when theyare washed?" And he looked at his own wrist, and tried to rub the sootoff, and wondered whether it ever would come off. "Certainly, I shouldlook much prettier then, if I grew at all like her. " And looking round, he suddenly saw, standing close to him, a little, ugly, black, ragged figure, with bleared eyes and grinning white teeth. He turned on it angrily. What did such a little black ape want in thatsweet young lady's room? And behold, it was himself, reflected in agreat mirror, the like of which Tom had never seen before. And Tom, for the first time in his life, found out that he was dirty;and burst into tears with shame and anger; and turned to sneak up thechimney again and hide; and upset the fender and threw the fire ironsdown, with a noise as of ten thousand tin kettles tied to ten thousandmad dogs' tails. Up jumped the little white lady in her bed, and seeing Tom, screamed asshrill as any peacock. In rushed a stout old nurse from the next room, and seeing Tom likewise, made up her mind that he had come to rob, plunder, destroy, and burn, and dashed at him, as he lay over thefender, so fast that she caught him by the jacket. But she did not hold him. Tom had been in a policeman's hands many atime, and out of them, too, what is more; and he would have been ashamedto face his friends forever if he had been stupid enough to be caught byan old woman; so he doubled under the good lady's arm, across the room, and out of the window in a moment. He did not need to drop out, though he would have done so bravelyenough; for all under the window spread a tree, with great leaves andsweet white flowers, almost as big as his head. It was magnolia, Isuppose; but Tom knew nothing about that, and cared less; for down thetree he went, like a cat, and across the garden lawn, and over the ironrailings, and up the park towards the wood, leaving the old nurse toscream murder and fire at the window. The under gardener, mowing, saw Tom, and threw down his scythe; caughthis leg in it, and cut his shin open, whereby he kept his bed for aweek; but in his hurry he never knew it, and gave chase to poor Tom. Thedairymaid heard the noise, got the churn between her knees, and tumbledover it, spilling all the cream; and yet she jumped up, and gave chaseto Tom. A groom cleaning Sir John's hack at the stables let him goloose, whereby he kicked himself lame in five minutes; but he ran outand gave chase to Tom. Grimes upset the soot sack in the new-gravelledyard, and spoilt it all utterly; but he ran out and gave chase to Tom. The old steward opened the park gate in such a hurry, that he hung uphis pony's chin upon the spikes, and, for aught I know, it hangs therestill; but he jumped off, and gave chase to Tom. The ploughman left hishorses at the headland, and one jumped over the fence, and pulled theother into the ditch, plough and all; but he ran on, and gave chase toTom. Sir John looked out of his study window (for he was an early oldgentleman) and up at the nurse, and a martin dropped mud in his eye, sothat he had at last to send for the doctor; and yet he ran out, and gavechase to Tom. The Irishwoman, too, was walking up to the house to beg, --she must have got round by some byway, --but she threw away her bundle, and gave chase to Tom likewise. Only my lady did not give chase; forwhen she had put her head out of the window, her night-wig fell into thegarden, and she had to ring up her lady's maid, and send her down for itprivately, which quite put her out of the running, so that she camenowhere, and is consequently not placed. [Illustration. ] In a word, never was there heard at Hall Place--not even when the foxwas killed in the conservatory, among acres of broken glass, and tons ofsmashed flowerpots--such a noise, row, hubbub, babel, shindy, hullabaloo, and total contempt of dignity, repose, and order, as thatday, when Grimes, the gardener, the groom, the dairymaid, Sir John, thesteward, the ploughman, and the Irishwoman, all ran up the park, shouting "Stop thief, " in the belief that Tom had at least a thousandpounds' worth of jewels in his empty pockets; and the very magpies andjays followed Tom up, screaking and screaming, as though he were ahunted fox, beginning to droop his brush. And all the while poor Tom paddled up the park with his little barefeet, like a small black gorilla fleeing to the forest. Alas for him!there was no big father gorilla therein to take his part--to scratch outthe gardener's inside with one paw, toss the dairymaid into a tree withanother, and wrench off Sir John's head with a third, while he crackedthe groom's skull with his teeth as easily as if it had been a cocoanutor a paving stone. Tom, of course, made for the woods. He had never been in a wood in hislife; but he was sharp enough to know that he might hide in a bush, orswarm up a tree, and, altogether, had more chance there than in theopen. But when he got into the wood, he found it a very different sort ofplace from what he had fancied. He pushed into a thick cover ofrhododendrons, and found himself at once caught in a trap. The boughslaid hold of his legs and arms, poked him in his face and his stomach, made him shut his eyes tight (though that was no great loss, for hecould not see at best a yard before his nose); and when he got throughthe rhododendrons, the hassock-grass and sedges tumbled him over, andcut his poor little fingers afterwards most spitefully; the birchesbirched him as soundly as if he had been a nobleman at Eton, [Footnote:Eton is one of the most famous of English public schools. The youngBritish nobles here meet and associate with the young commoners in themost democratic manner. ] and over the face, too (which is not fairswishing, as all brave boys will agree). "I must get out of this, " thought Tom, "or I shall stay here tillsomebody comes to help me--which is just what I don't want. " But how to get out was the difficult matter. And indeed I don't think hewould ever have got out at all, but have stayed there till the cock-robins covered him with leaves, if he had not suddenly run his headagainst a wall. Now running your head against a wall is not pleasant, especially if itis a loose wall, with the stones all set on edge, and a sharp-corneredone hits you between the eyes and makes you see all manner of beautifulstars. The stars are very beautiful, certainly, but unfortunately theygo in the twenty-thousandth part of a split second, and the pain whichcomes after them does not. And so Tom hurt his head; but he was a braveboy, and did not mind that a penny. He guessed that over the wall thecover would end; and up it he went, and over like a squirrel. And there he was, out on the great grouse moors, which the country folkcalled Harthover Fell--[Footnote: FELL is the name given, in parts ofEngland, to moors, or stretches of high, open country of any sort. ]heather and bog and rock, stretching away and up, up to the very sky. Now, Tom was a cunning little fellow--as cunning as an old Exmoor[Footnote: Exmoor is a region in Somersetshire and Devonshire, inEngland. It was formerly a forest, but is now a moor, and is a favoriteresort of the deer. ] stag. Why not? Though he was but ten years old, hehad lived longer than most stags, and had more wits to start with intothe bargain. He knew as well as a stag that if he backed he might throw the houndsout. So the first thing he did when he was over the wall was to make theneatest double, sharp to his right, and run along under the wall fornearly half a mile. Meanwhile the gardener and the groom, the dairymaidand the ploughman, and all the hue and cry together, went on ahead halfa mile in the very opposite direction, and inside the wall, leaving hima mile off on the outside; while Tom heard their shouts die away in thewoods and chuckled to himself merrily. At last he came to a dip in the land, and went to the bottom of it, andthen he turned bravely away from the wall and up the moor; for he knewthat he had put a hill between him and his enemies, and could go onwithout their seeing him. But the Irishwoman, alone of them all, had seen which way Tom went. Shehad kept ahead of every one the whole time; and yet she neither walkednor ran. She went along quite smoothly and gracefully, while her feettwinkled past each other so fast that you could not see which wasforemost; till every one asked the other who the strange woman was; andall agreed, for want of anything better to say, that she must be inleague with Tom. But when she came to the plantation, they lost sight of her; and theycould do no less. For she went quietly over the wall after Tom, andfollowed him wherever he went. Sir John and the rest saw no more of her;and out of sight was out of mind. And now Tom was right away into the heather, over a moor growing moreand more broken and hilly, but not so rough but that little Tom couldjog along well enough, and find time, too, to stare about at the strangeplace, which was like a new world to him. So Tom went on and on, he hardly knew why; but he liked the great, wide, strange place, and the cool, fresh, bracing air. But he went more andmore slowly as he got higher up the hill; for now the ground grew verybad indeed. Instead of soft turf and springy heather, he met greatpatches of flat limestone rock, just like ill-made pavements, with deepcracks between the stones and ledges, filled with ferns; so he had tohop from stone to stone, and now and then he slipped in between, andhurt his little bare toes, though they were tolerably tough ones; butstill he would go on and up, he could not tell why. What would Tom have said if he had seen, walking over the moor behindhim, the very same Irishwoman who had taken his part upon the road? Butwhether it was that he looked too little behind him, or whether it wasthat she kept out of sight behind the rocks and knolls, he never sawher, though she saw him. And now he began to get a little hungry, and very thirsty; for he hadrun a long way, and the sun had risen high in heaven, and the rock wasas hot as an oven, and the air danced reels over it, as it does over alimekiln, till everything round seemed quivering and melting in theglare. But he could see nothing to eat anywhere, and still less to drink. So he went on and on, till his head spun round with the heat, and hethought he heard church bells ringing, a long way off. "Ah!" he thought, "where there is a church there will be houses andpeople; and, perhaps, some one will give me a bit and a sup. " So he setoff again, to look for the church; for he was sure that he heard thebells quite plain. And so it was; for from the top of the mountain he could see--what couldhe not see? And in a minute more, when he looked round, he stopped again, and said, "Why, what a big place the world is!" Behind him, far below, was Harthover, and the dark woods, and theshining salmon river; and on his left, far below, was the town, and thesmoking chimneys of the collieries; and far, far away, the river widenedto the shining sea; and little white specks, which were ships, lay onits bosom. Before him lay, spread out like a map, great plains, andfarms, and villages, amid dark knots of trees. They all seemed at hisvery feet; but he had sense to see that they were long miles away. [Illustration. ] And to his right rose moor after moor, hill after hill, till they fadedaway, blue into blue sky. But between him and those moors, and really athis very feet, lay something, to which, as soon as Tom saw it, hedetermined to go; for that was the place for him. A deep, deep green and rocky valley, very narrow, and filled with wood;but through the wood, hundreds of feet below him, he could see a clearstream glance. Oh, if he could but get down to that stream! Then, by thestream, he saw the roof of a little cottage, and a little garden set outin squares and beds. And there was a tiny little red thing moving in thegarden, no bigger than a fly. As Tom looked down, he saw that it was awoman in a red petticoat. Ah! perhaps she would give him something toeat. And there were the church bells ringing again. Surely there must bea village down there. Well, nobody would know him, or what had happenedat the Place. The news could not have got there yet, even if Sir Johnhad set all the policemen in the country after him; and he could getdown there in five minutes. Tom was quite right about the hue and cry not having got thither; for hehad come, without knowing it, the best part of ten miles from Harthover;but he was wrong about getting down in five minutes, for the cottage wasmore than a mile off, and a good thousand feet below. However, down he went, like a brave little man as he was, though he wasvery footsore, and tired, and hungry, and thirsty; while the churchbells rang so loud, he began to think that they must be inside his ownhead, and the river chimed and tinkled far below. CHAPTER II A mile off, and a thousand feet down. So Tom found it, though it seemedas if he could have chucked a pebble onto the back of the woman in thered petticoat who was weeding in the garden, or even across the dale tothe rocks beyond. For the bottom of the valley was just one field broad, and on the other side ran the stream; and above it, gray crag, graydown, gray stair, gray moor walled up to heaven. A quiet, silent, rich, happy place; a narrow crack cut deep into theearth; so deep, and so out of the way, that the bad bogies can hardlyfind it out. The name of the place is Vendale. So Tom went to go down; and first he went down three hundred feet ofsteep heather, mixed up with loose brown gritstone, as rough as a file;which was not pleasant to his poor little heels, as he came bump, stump, jump, down the steep. And still he thought he could throw a stone intothe garden. Then he went down three hundred feet of limestone terraces, one belowthe other, as straight as if a carpenter had ruled them with his rulerand then cut them out with his chisel. There was no heath there, but-- First, a little grass slope, covered with the prettiest flowers, rockrose and saxifrage, and thyme and basil, and all sorts of sweetherbs. Then bump down a two-foot step of limestone. Then another bit of grass and flowers. Then bump down a one-foot step. Then another bit of grass and flowers for fifty yards, as steep as thehouse-roof, where he had to slide down. Then another step of stone, ten feet high; and there he had to stophimself, and crawl along the edge to find a crack; for if he had rolledover, he would have rolled right into the old woman's garden, andfrightened her out of her wits. Then, when he had found a dark, narrow crack, full of green stalkedfern, such as hangs in the basket in the drawing-room, and had crawleddown through it, with knees and elbows, as he would down a chimney, there was another grass slope, and another step, and so on, till--oh, dear me! I wish it was all over; and so did he. And yet he thought hecould throw a stone into the old woman's garden. At last he came to a bank of beautiful shrubs; whitebeam, with its greatsilver-backed leaves, and mountain ash, and oak; and below them cliffand crag, cliff and crag, with great beds of crown ferns and wood sedge;while through the shrubs he could see the stream sparkling, and hear itmurmur on the white pebbles. He did not know that it was three hundredfeet below. And all the while he never saw the Irishwoman coming down behind him. But he was getting terribly tired now. The burning sun on the fells hadsucked him up; but the damp heat of the woody crag sucked him up stillmore; and the perspiration ran out of the ends of his fingers and toes, and washed him cleaner than he had been for a whole year. But, ofcourse, he dirtied everything terribly as he went. There has been agreat black smudge all down the crag ever since. And there have beenmore black beetles in Vendale since than ever were known before; all, ofcourse, owing to Tom's having blacked the original papa of them all, just as he was setting off to be married, with a sky-blue coat andscarlet leggings, as smart as a gardener's dog with a polyanthus in hismouth. At last he got to the bottom. But, behold, it was not the bottom--aspeople usually find when they are coming down a mountain. For at thefoot of the crag were heaps and heaps of fallen limestone of every sizefrom that of your head to that of a stage-waggon, with holes betweenthem full of sweet heath fern; and before Tom got through them, he wasout in the bright sunshine again; and then he felt, once for all andsuddenly, as people generally do, that he was b-e-a-t, beat. You mustexpect to be beat a few times in your life, little man, if you live sucha life as a man ought to live, let you be as strong and healthy as youmay; and when you are, you will find it a very ugly feeling. I hope thatthat day you may have a stout, staunch friend by you who is not beat;for, if you have not, you had best lie where you are, and wait forbetter times, as poor Tom did. He could not get on. The sun was burning, and yet he felt chill allover. He was quite empty, and yet he felt quite sick. There was but twohundred yards of smooth pasture between him and the cottage, and yet hecould not walk down it. He could hear the stream murmuring only onefield beyond it, and yet it seemed to him as if it was a hundred milesoff. He lay down on the grass till the beetles ran over him, and the fliessettled on his nose. I don't know when he would have got up again, ifthe gnats and the midges had not taken compassion on him. But the gnatsblew their trumpets so loud in his ear, and the midges nibbled so at hishands and face wherever they could find a place free from soot, that atlast he woke up, and stumbled away, down over a low wall, and into anarrow road, and up to the cottage door. And a neat, pretty cottage it was, with clipped yew hedges all round thegarden, and yews inside, too, cut into peacocks and trumpets and teapotsand all kinds of queer shapes, And out of the open door came a noiselike that of the frogs, when they know that it is going to be scorchinghot to-morrow--and how they know that I don't know, and you don't know, and nobody knows, He came slowly up to the open door, which was all hung round withclematis and roses; and then peeped in, half afraid, And there sat by the empty fireplace, which was filled with a pot ofsweet herbs, the nicest old woman that ever was seen, in her redpetticoat, and short dimity bedgown, and clean white cap, with a blacksilk handkerchief over it, tied under her chin. At her feet sat thegrandfather of all the cats; and opposite her sat, on two benches, twelve or fourteen neat, rosy, chubby little children, learning theirChris-cross-row; [Footnote: Chris-cross-row is an old name for thealphabet] and gabble enough they made about it. [Illustration: THE OLD DAME LOOKED AT TOM] Such a pleasant cottage it was, with a shiny clean stone floor, andcurious old prints on the walls, and an old black oak sideboard full ofbright pewter and brass dishes, and a cuckoo clock in the corner, whichbegan shouting as soon as Tom appeared; not that it was frightened atTom, but that it was just eleven o'clock. All the children started at Tom's dirty black figure, --the girls beganto cry, and the boys began to laugh, and all pointed at him rudelyenough; but Tom was too tired to care for that. "What art thou, and what dost want?" cried the old dame. "A chimney-sweep! Away with thee! I'll have no sweeps here. " "Water, " said poor little Tom, quite faint. "Water? There's plenty i' the beck, " she said, quite sharply. "But I can't get there; I'm most clemmed with hunger and drought. " AndTom sank down upon the doorstep, and laid his head against the post. And the old dame looked at him through her spectacles one minute, andtwo, and three; and then she said, "He's sick; and a bairn's a bairn, sweep or none. " "Water, " said Tom. "God forgive me!" and she put by her spectacles, and rose, and came toTom. "Water's bad for thee; I'll give thee milk. " And she toddled offinto the next room, and brought a cup of milk and a bit of bread. Tom drank the milk off at one draught, and then looked up, revived. "Where didst come from?" said the dame. "Over Fell, there, " said Tom, and pointed up into the sky. "Over Harthover? and down Lewthwaite Crag? Art sure thou are not lying?" "Why should I?" said Tom, and leant his head against the post. "And how got ye up there?" "I came over from the Place;" and Tom was so tired and desperate he hadno heart or time to think of a story, so he told all the truth in a fewwords. "Bless thy little heart! And thou hast not been stealing, then?" "No. " Bless thy little heart; and I'll warrant not. Why, God's guided thebairn, because he was innocent! Away from the Place, and over HarthoverFell, and down Lewthwaite Crag! Who ever heard the like, if God hadn'tled him? Why dost not eat thy bread?" "I can't. " "It's good enough, for I made it myself. " "I can't, " said Tom, and he laid his head on his knees, and then asked: "Is it Sunday?" "No, then; why should it be?" "Because I hear the church bells ringing so. " "Bless thy pretty heart! The bairn's sick. Come wi' me, and I'll hapthee up somewhere. If thou wert a bit cleaner, I'd put thee in my ownbed, for the Lord's sake. But come along here. " But when Tom tried to get up, he was so tired and giddy that she had tohelp him and lead him. She put him in an outhouse, upon soft, sweet hay and an old rug, andbade him sleep off his walk, and she would come to him when school wasover, in an hour's time. And so she went in again, expecting Tom to fall fast asleep at once. But Tom did not fall asleep. Instead of it he turned and tossed and kicked about in the strangestway, and felt so hot all over that he longed to get into the river andcool himself; and then he fell half asleep, and dreamt that he heard thelittle white lady crying to him, "Oh, you're so dirty; go and bewashed"; and then that he heard the Irishwoman saying, "Those that wishto be clean, clean they will be. " And then he heard the church bellsring so loud, close to him too, that he was sure it must be Sunday, inspite of what the old dame had said; and he would go to church, and seewhat a church was like inside, for he had never been in one, poor littlefellow, in all his life. But the people would never let him come in, allover soot and dirt like that. He must go to the river and wash first. And he said out loud again and again, though being half asleep he didnot know it, "I must be clean, I must be clean. " [Illustration. ] And all of a sudden he found himself, not in the outhouse on the hay, but in the middle of a meadow, over the road, with the stream justbefore him, saying continually, "I must be clean, I mast be clean. " Hehad got there on his own legs, between sleep and awake, as children willoften get out of bed, and go about the room, when they are not quitewell. But he was not a bit surprised, and went on to the bank of thebrook, and lay down on the grass, and looked into the clear, clear, limestone water, with every pebble at the bottom bright and clean, whilethe little silver trout dashed about in fright at the sight of his blackface; and he dipped his feet in and found it so cool, cool, cool; and hesaid, "I will be a fish; I will swim in the water; I must be clean, Imust be clean. " So he pulled off all his clothes in such haste that he tore some ofthem, which was easy enough with such ragged old things. And he put hispoor, hot, sore feet into the water; and then his legs; and the fartherhe went in, the more the church bells rang in his head. "Ah, " said Tom, "I must be quick and wash myself; the bells are ringingquite loud now; and they will stop soon, and then the door will shut, and I shall never be able to get in at all. " And all the while he never saw the Irishwoman, not behind him this time, but before. For just before he came to the riverside, she had stept down into thecool, clear water; and her shawl and her petticoat floated off her, andthe green water weeds floated round her sides, and the white waterlilies floated round her head, and the fairies of the stream came upfrom the bottom and bore her away and down upon their arms; for she wasthe queen of them all; and perhaps of more besides. "Where have you been?" they asked her. "I have been smoothing sick folks' pillows, and whispering sweet dreamsinto their ears; opening cottage casements, to let out the stifling air;coaxing little children away from gutters and foul pools where feverbreeds; turning women from the gin-shop door, and staying men's hands asthey were going to strike their wives; doing all I can to help those whowill not help themselves; and little enough that is, and weary work forme. But I have brought you a new little brother, and watched him safeall the way here. " Then all the fairies laughed for joy at the thought that they had alittle brother coming. "But mind, maidens, he must not see you, or know that you are here. Heis but a savage now, and like the beasts which perish; and from thebeasts which perish he must learn. So you must not play with him, orspeak to him, or let him see you; but only keep him from being harmed. " Then the fairies were sad, because they could not play with their newbrother; but they always did what they were told. And their queenfloated away down the river; and whither she went, thither she came. But all this Tom, of course, never saw or heard; and perhaps if he hadit would have made little difference in the story; for he was so hot andthirsty, and longed so to be clean for once, that he tumbled himself asquick as he could into the clear, cool stream. And he had not been in it two minutes before he fell fast asleep, intothe quietest, sunniest, coziest sleep that ever he had in his life; andhe dreamt about the green meadows by which he had walked that morning, and the tall elm trees and the sleeping cows; and after that he dreamtof nothing at all. The reason of his falling into such a delightful sleep is very simple;and yet hardly any one has found it out. It was merely that the fairiestook him. The kind old dame came back at twelve, when school was over, to look atTom; but there was no Tom there. She looked about for his footprints;but the ground was so hard that there was no slot, as they say in dearold North Devon. So the old dame went in again, quite sulky, thinking that little Tom hadtricked her with a false story, and shammed ill, and then run awayagain. * * * * * When Sir John and the rest of them had run themselves out of breath, andlost Tom, they went back again, looking very foolish. And they lookedmore foolish still when Sir John heard more of the story from the nurse;and more foolish still, again, when they heard the whole story from MissEllie, the little lady in white. All she had seen was a poor little black chimney-sweep, crying andsobbing, and going to get up the chimney again. Of course, she was verymuch frightened; and no wonder. But that was all. The boy had takennothing in the room; by the mark of his little sooty feet, they couldsee that he had never been off the hearth rug till the nurse caught holdof him. It was all a mistake. So Sir John told Grimes to go home, and promised him five shillings ifhe would bring the boy quietly up to him, without beating him, that hemight be sure of the truth. For he took it for granted, and Grimes too, that Tom had made his way home. But no Tom came back to Mr. Grimes that evening; and he went to thepolice office, to tell them to look out for the boy. But no Tom washeard of. So Mr. Grimes came up to Harthover next day with a very sour face; butwhen he got there, Sir John was over the hills and far away; and Mr. Grimes had to sit in the outer servants' hall all day, and drink strongale to wash away his sorrows; and they were washed away long before SirJohn came back. For good Sir John had slept very badly that night; andhe said to his lady, "My dear, the boy must have got over into thegrouse moors, and lost himself; and he lies very heavily on myconscience, poor little lad. But I know what I will do. " So, at five the next morning up he got, and bade them bring his shootingpony, and the keeper to come on his pony, and the huntsman, and thefirst whip, and the second whip, and the underkeeper with the bloodhoundin a leash--a great dog as tall as a calf, of the colour of a gravelwalk, with mahogany ears and nose, and a throat like a church bell. Theytook him up to the place where Tom had gone into the wood; and there thehound lifted up his mighty voice, and told them all he knew. Then he took them to the place where Tom had climbed the wall; and theyshoved it down, and all got through. And then the wise dog took them over the moor, and over the fells, stepby step, very slowly; for the scent was a day old, you know, and verylight from the heat and drought. But that was why cunning old Sir Johnstarted at five in the morning. And at last he came to the top of Lewthwaite Crag, and there he bayed, and looked up in their faces, as much as to say, "I tell you he is gonedown here!" They could hardly believe that Tom would have gone so far; and when theylooked at that awful cliff, they could never believe that he would havedared to face it. But if the dog said so, it must be true. "Heaven forgive us!" said Sir John. "If we find him at all, we shallfind him lying at the bottom. " And he slapped his great hand upon his great thigh, and said: "Who will go down over Lewthwaite Crag, and see if that boy is alive?Oh, that I were twenty years younger, and I would go down myself!" Andso he would have done, as well as any sweep in the country. Then hesaid: "Twenty pounds to the man who brings me that boy alive!" And as was hisway, what he said he meant. Now among the lot was a little groom-boy, a very little groom indeed;and he was the same who had ridden up the court, and told Tom to come tothe Hall; and he said: "Twenty pounds or none, I will go down over Lewthwaite Crag, if it'sonly for the poor boy's sake. For he was as civil a spoken little chapas ever climbed a flue. " So down over Lewthwaite Crag he went; a very smart groom he was at thetop, and a very shabby one at the bottom; for he tore his gaiters, andhe tore his breeches, and he tore his jacket, and he burst his braces, and he burst his boots, and he lost his hat, and what was worst of all, he lost his shirt pin, which he prized very much, for it was gold; so itwas a really severe loss; but he never saw anything of Tom. And all the while Sir John and the rest were riding round, full threemiles to the right, and back again, to get into Vendale, and to the footof the crag. When they came to the old dame's school, all the children came out tosee. And the old dame came out too; and when she saw Sir John, shecurtsied very low, for she was a tenant of his. "Well, dame, and how are you?" said Sir John. [Illustration: SIR JOHN SEARCHING FOR TOM] "Blessings on you as broad as your back, Harthover, " says she--shedidn't call him Sir John, but only Harthover, for that is the fashion inthe North country--"and welcome into Vendale; but you're no hunting thefox this time of the year?" "I am hunting, and strange game too, " said he. "Blessings on your heart, and what makes you look so sad the morn?" "I'm looking for a lost child, a chimney-sweep, that is run away. " "Oh, Harthover, Harthover, " says she, "ye were always a just man and amerciful; and ye'll no harm the poor lad if I give you tidings of him?" "Not I, not I, dame. I'm afraid we hunted him out of the house all on amiserable mistake, and the hound has brought him to the top ofLewthwaite Crag, and--" Whereat the old dame broke out crying, without letting him finish hisstory. "So he told me the truth after all, poor little dear! Ah, first thoughtsare best, and a body's heart'll guide them right, if they will buthearken to it. " And then she told Sir John all. "Bring the dog here, and lay him on, " said Sir John, without anotherword, and he set his teeth very hard. And the dog opened at once; and went away at the back of the cottage, over the road, and over the meadow, and through a bit of alder copse;and there, upon an alder stump, they saw Tom's clothes lying. And thenthey knew as much about it all as there was any need to know. And Tom? Ah, now comes the most wonderful part of this wonderful story. Tom, whenhe woke, for of course he woke--children always wake after they haveslept exactly as long as is good for them--found himself swimming aboutin the stream, being about four inches, or--that I may be accurate--3. 87902 inches long, and having round the parotid region of his fauces aset of external gills (I hope you understand all the big words) justlike those of a sucking eft, which he mistook for a lace frill, till hepulled at them, found he hurt himself, and made up his mind that theywere part of himself, and best left alone. In fact, the fairies hadturned him into a water baby. A water baby? You never heard of a water baby? Perhaps not. That is thevery reason why this story was written. There are a great many things inthe world which you never heard of; and a great many more which nobodyever heard of; and a great many things, too, which nobody will ever hearof. No water babies, indeed? Why, wise men of old said that everything onearth had its double in the water; and you may see that that is, if notquite true, still quite as true as most other theories which you arelikely to hear for many a day. There are land babies--then why not waterbabies? ARE THERE NOT WATER RATS, WATER FLIES, WATER CRICKETS, WATERCRABS, WATER TORTOISES, WATER SCORPIONS, WATER TIGERS AND SO ON WITHOUTEND? Am I in earnest? Oh dear no! Don't you know that this is a fairy tale, and all fun and pretense; and that you are not to believe one word ofit, even if it is true? But at all events, so it happened to Tom. And, therefore, the keeper andthe groom, and Sir John made a great mistake, and were very unhappy (SirJohn, at least) without any reason, when they found a black thing in thewater, and said it was Tom's body and that he had been drowned. Theywere utterly mistaken. Tom was quite alive; and cleaner, and merrier, than he had ever been. The fairies had washed him, you see, in the swiftriver, so thoroughly, that not only his dirt, but his whole husk andshell had been washed quite off him, and the pretty little real Tom waswashed out of the inside of it, and swam away, as a caddis [Footnote:The caddis worm, while it lives in the water, builds for itself a caseof stones or grass or shells, all bound together with silk When the timefor its transformation is near, the worm seals up with silk both ends ofits case, and remains withdrawn until it is ready to emerge as a caddisfly. ] does when its case of stones and silk is bored through, and awayit goes on its back, paddling to the shore, there to split its skin, andfly away as a caperer, on four fawn-coloured wings, with long legs andhorns. They are foolish fellows, the caperers, and fly into the candleat night, if you leave the door open. We will hope Tom will be wiser, now he has got safe out of his sooty old shell. But good Sir John did not understand all this, and he took it into hishead that Tom was drowned. When they looked into the empty pockets ofhis shell, and found no jewels there, nor money--nothing but threemarbles, and a brass button with a string to it--then Sir John didsomething as like crying as ever he did in his life, and blamed himselfmore bitterly than he need have done. So he cried, and the groom-boycried, and the huntsman cried, and the dame cried, and the little girlcried, and the dairymaid cried, and the old nurse cried (for it wassomewhat her fault), and my lady cried, for though people have wigs, that is no reason why they should not have hearts; but the keeper didnot cry, though he had been so good-natured to Tom the morning before;for he was so dried up with running after poachers, that you could nomore get tears out of him than milk out of leather; and Grimes did notcry, for Sir John gave him ten pounds, and he drank it all in a week. Sir John sent, far and wide, to find Tom's father and mother; but hemight have looked till Doomsday for them, for one was dead, and theother was in Botany Bay. [Footnote: Botany Bay was originally the nameof a settlement established in New South Wales, in Eastern Australia, for the reception of criminals from England. Later, the name came to beapplied to any distant colony to which criminals were transported. ] Andthe little girl would not play with her dolls for a whole week, andnever forgot poor little Tom. And soon my lady put a pretty littletombstone over Tom's shell in the little churchyard in Vendale. And the dame decked it with garlands every Sunday, till she grew so oldthat she could not stir abroad; then the little children decked it forher. And always she sang an old, old song, as she sat spinning what shecalled her wedding dress. The children could not understand it, but theyliked it none the less for that; for it was very sweet and very sad; andthat was enough for them. And these are the words of it:-- "When all the world is young, lad, And all the trees are green; And every goose a swan, lad, And every lass a queen; Then hey for boot and horse, lad, And round the world away; Young blood must have its course, lad, And every dog his day. "When all the world is old, lad, And all the trees are brown; And all the sport is stale, lad, And all the wheels run down; Creep home, and take your place there, The spent and maimed among; God grant you find one face there, You loved when all was young. " [Illustration. ] Those are the words, but they are only the body of it; the soul of thesong was the dear old woman's sweet face, and sweet voice, and the sweetold air to which she sang; and that, alas! one cannot put on paper. Andat last she grew so stiff and lame, that the angels were forced to carryher; and they helped her on with her wedding dress, and carried her upover Harthover Fells, and a long way beyond that too: and there was anew schoolmistress in Vendale. And all the while Tom was swimming about in the river, with a prettylittle lace collar of gills about his neck, as lively as a grig, and asclean as a fresh-run salmon. Now, if you don't like my story, then go to the schoolroom and learnyour multiplication table, and see if you like that better. Some people, no doubt, would do so. So much the better for us, if not for them. Ittakes all sorts, they say, to make a world. CHAPTER III Tom was now quite amphibious, and what is better still, he was clean. For the first time in his life he felt how comfortable it was to havenothing on him but himself. But he only enjoyed it; he did not know it, or think about it; just as you enjoy life and health, and yet neverthink about being alive and healthy; and may it be long before you haveto think about it! He did not remember having ever been dirty. Indeed, he did not rememberany of his old troubles--being tired, or hungry, or sent up darkchimneys. Since that sweet sleep, he had forgotten all about his master, and Harthover Place, and the little white girl, and in a word all thathad happened to him when he lived before; and what was best of all, hehad forgotten all the bad words which he had learned from Grimes, andthe rude boys with whom he used to play. That is not strange; for you know, when you came into this world, andbecame a land baby, you remembered nothing. So why should he, when hebecame a water baby? But Tom was very happy in the water. He had been sadly overworked in theland world; and so now, to make up for that, he had nothing but holidaysin the water world for a long, long time to come. He had nothing to donow but enjoy himself, and look at all the pretty things which are to beseen in the cool, clear water world, where the sun is never too hot andthe frost is never too cold. And what did he live on? Water cresses, perhaps; or perhaps water gruel, and water milk; too many land babies do so likewise. But we do not knowwhat one tenth of the water-things eat; so we are not answerable for thewater babies. Sometimes he went along the smooth gravel water-ways, looking at thecrickets which ran in and out among the stones, as rabbits do on land;or he climbed over the ledges of rock, and saw the sand pipes hanging inthousands, with every one of them a pretty little head and legs peepingout; or he went into a still corner, and watched the caddises eatingdead sticks as greedily as you would eat plum pudding, and buildingtheir houses with silk and glue. Very fanciful ladies they were; none ofthem would keep to the same materials for a day. One would begin withsome pebbles; then she would stick on a piece of green wood; then shefound a shell, and stuck it on too; and the poor shell was alive, anddid not like at all being taken to build houses with; but the caddis didnot let him have any voice in the matter, being rude and selfish, asvain people are apt to be; then she stuck on a piece of rotten wood, then a very smart pink stone, and so on, till she was patched all overlike an Irishman's coat. Then she found a long straw, five times as longas herself, and said, "Hurrah! my sister has a tail, and I'll have onetoo;" and she stuck it on her back, and marched about with it quiteproud, though it was very inconvenient indeed. And, at that, tailsbecame all the fashion among the caddis-baits in that pool, and they alltoddled about with long straws sticking out behind, getting between eachother's legs, and tumbling over each other, and looking so ridiculous, that Tom laughed at them till he cried. Then sometimes he came to a deep, still reach; and there he saw thewater forests. They would have looked to you only little weeds; but Tom, you must remember, was so little that everything looked a hundred timesas big to him as it does to you, just as things do to a minnow, who seesand catches the little water creatures which you can only see in amicroscope. And in the water forest he saw the water monkeys and water squirrels(they had all six legs, though; everything, almost, has six legs in thewater, except efts and water babies); and nimbly enough they ran amongthe branches. There were water flowers there too, in thousands; and Tomtried to pick them; but as soon as he touched them, they drew themselvesin and turned into knots of jelly; and then Tom saw that they were allalive--bells, and stars, and wheels, and flowers, of all beautifulshapes and colours; and all alive and busy, just as Tom was. So now hefound that there was a great deal more in the world than he had fanciedat first sight. Now you must know that all the things under the water talk; only notsuch a language as ours; but such as horses, and dogs, and cows, andbirds talk to each other; and Tom soon learned to understand them andtalk to them; so that he might have had very pleasant company if he hadonly been a good boy. But I am sorry to say, he was too like some otherlittle boys, very fond of hunting and tormenting creatures for meresport, till they were all afraid of him, and got out of his way, orcrept into their shells; so he had no one to speak to or play with. The water fairies, of course, were very sorry to see him so unhappy, andlonged to take him, and tell him how naughty he was, and teach him to begood, and to play and romp with him, too; but they had been forbidden todo that. Tom had to learn his lesson for himself by sound and sharpexperience, as many another foolish person has to do, though there maybe many a kind heart yearning over them all the while, and longing toteach them what they can only teach themselves. At last one day he found a caddis, and wanted it to peep out of itshouse; but its house door was shut. He had never seen a caddis with ahouse door before; so what must he do, the meddlesome little fellow, butpull it open, to see what the poor lady was doing inside. What a shame!How should you like to have any one breaking your bedroom door in, tosee how you looked when you were in bed? So Tom broke to pieces thedoor, which was the prettiest little grating of silk, stuck all overwith shining bits of crystal; and when he looked in, the caddis pokedout her head, and it had turned into just the shape of a bird's. Butwhen Tom spoke to her she could not answer; for her mouth and face weretight tied up in a new nightcap of neat pink skin. However, if shedidn't answer, all the other caddises did; for they held up their handsand shrieked: "Oh, you nasty, horrid boy; there you are at it again! Andshe had just laid herself up for a fortnight's sleep, and then she wouldhave come out with such beautiful wings, and flown about, and laid suchlots of eggs; and now you have broken her door, and she can't mend itbecause her mouth is tied up for a fortnight, and she will die. Who sentyou here to worry us out of our lives?" So Tom swam away. He was very much ashamed of himself, and felt all thenaughtier; as little boys do when they have done wrong and won't say so. Then he came to a pool full of little trout, and began tormenting them, and trying to catch them; but they slipped through his fingers, andjumped clean out of water in their fright. But as Tom chased them, hecame close to a great dark hover under an alder root, and out floushed ahuge old brown trout ten times as big as he was, and ran up against him, and knocked all the breath out of him; and I don't know which was themore frightened of the two. Then he went on sulky and lonely, as he deserved to be; and under a bankhe saw a very ugly, dirty creature sitting, about half as big ashimself; which had six legs and a big stomach, and a most ridiculoushead with two great eyes and a face just like a donkey's. "Oh, " said Tom, "you are an ugly fellow to be sure!" and he began makingfaces at him; and put his nose close to him, and halloed at him like avery rude boy. When, hey presto; all the thing's donkey-face came off in a moment, andout popped a long arm with a pair of pincers at the end of it, andcaught Tom by the nose. It did not hurt him much; but it held him quitetight. "Yah, ah! Oh, let me go!" cried Tom, "Then let me go, " said the creature. "I want to be quiet. I want tosplit. " Tom promised to let him alone, and he let go. "Why do you want tosplit?" said Tom. "Because my brothers and sisters have all split, and turned intobeautiful creatures with wings; and I want to split too. Don't speak tome. I am sure I shall split. I will split!" Tom stood still and watched him. And he swelled himself, and puffed, andstretched himself out stiff, and at last--crack, puff, bang--he openedall down his back, and then up to the top of his head. And out of his inside came the most slender, elegant, soft creature, assoft and smooth as Tom, but very pale and weak, like a little child whohas been ill a long time in a dark room. It made his legs very feebly;and looked about it half asleep like a girl when she goes for the firsttime to a ballroom; and then it began walking slowly up grass stem tothe top of the water. Tom was so astonished that he never said a word, but he stared with allhis eyes. And he went up to the top of the water too, and peeped out tosee what would happen. And as the creature sat in the warm, bright sun, a wonderful change cameover it. It grew strong and firm; the most lovely colours began to showon its body--blue and yellow and black, spots and bars and rings; out ofits back rose four great wings of bright brown gauze; and its eyes grewso large that they filled all its head, and shone like ten thousanddiamonds. "Oh, you beautiful creature!" said Tom; and he put out his hand to catchit. But the thing whirred up into the air, and hung poised on its wings amoment, and then settled down again by Tom quite fearless. [Illustration: "OH, YOU BEAUTIFUL CREATURE! SAID TOM. ] "No!" it said, "you cannot catch me. I am a dragon fly now, the king ofall flies; and I shall dance in the sunshine, and hawk over the river, and catch gnats, and have a beautiful wife like myself. I know what Ishall do. Hurrah!" And he flew away into the air, and began catchinggnats. "Oh! come back, come back, " cried Tom, "you beautiful creature. I haveno one to play with, and I am so lonely here. If you will but come backI will never try to catch you. " "I don't care whether you do or not, " said the dragon fly; "for youcan't. But when I have had my dinner, and looked a little about thispretty place, I will come back, and have a little chat about all I haveseen in my travels. Why, what a huge tree this is! and what huge leaveson it!" It was only a big dock; but you know the dragon fly had never seen anybut little water trees; starwort, and milfoil, and water crowfoot, andsuch like; so it did look very big to him. Besides, he was veryshortsighted, as all dragon flies are; and never could see a yard beforehis nose; any more than a great many other folks, who are not half ashandsome as he. The dragon fly did come back, and chatted away with Tom. He was a littleconceited about his fine colours and his large wings; but you know, hehad been a poor, dirty, ugly creature all his life before; so there weregreat excuses for him. He was very fond of talking about all thewonderful things he saw in the trees and meadows; and Tom liked tolisten to him, for he had forgotten all about them. So in a little whilethey became great friends. And I am very glad to say that Tom learned such a lesson that day, thathe did not torment creatures for a long time after. And then thecaddises grew quite tame, and used to tell him strange stories about theway they built their houses, and changed their skins, and turned at lastinto winged flies, till Tom began to long to change his skin, and havewings like them some day. And the trout and he made it up (for trout very soon forget if they havebeen frightened and hurt). So Tom used to play with them at hare andhounds, and great fun they had; and he used to try to leap out of thewater, head over heels, as they did before a shower came on; but somehowhe never could manage it. He liked most, though, to see them rising atthe flies, as they sailed round and round under the shadow of the greatoak, where the beetles fell flop into the water, and the greencaterpillars let themselves down from the boughs by silk ropes for noreason at all; and then changed their foolish minds for no reason atall, either; and hauled themselves up again into the tree, rolling upthe rope in a ball between their paws. And very often Tom caught them just as they touched the water; andcaught the alder-flies, and the caperers, and the cock-tailed duns andspinners, yellow, and brown, and claret, and gray, and gave them to hisfriends the trout. Perhaps he was not quite kind to the flies; but onemust do a good turn to one's friends when one can. And at last he gave up catching even the flies; for he made acquaintancewith one by accident and found him a very merry little fellow. And thiswas the way it happened; and it is all quite true. He was basking at the top of the water one hot day in July, catchingduns and feeding the trout, when he saw a new sort, a dark gray littlefellow with a brown head. He was a very little fellow, indeed; but hemade the most of himself, as people ought to do. He cocked up his head, and he cocked up his wings, and he cocked up his tail, and, in short, helooked the cockiest little man of all little men. And so he proved tobe; for instead of getting away, he hopped upon Tom's finger, and satthere as bold as nine tailors; and he cried out in the tiniest, shrillest, squeakiest little voice you ever heard: "Much obliged to you indeed; but I don't want it yet. " "Want what?" said Tom, quite taken aback by his impudence. "Your leg, which you are kind enough to hold out for me to sit on. Imust go and see after my wife for a few minutes. Dear me! what atroublesome business a family is!" (though the idle little rogue didnothing at all, but left his poor wife to lay all the eggs by herself). "When I come back, I shall be glad of it, if you'll be so good as tokeep it sticking out just so;" and off he flew. Tom thought him a very cool sort of personage; and still more so, whenin five minutes he came back, and said, "Ah, you were tired waiting?Well, your other leg will do as well. " And he popped himself down on Tom's knee, and began chatting away in hissqueaking voice. "So you live under the water? It's a low place. I lived there for sometime, and was very shabby and dirty. But I didn't choose that thatshould last. So I turned respectable, and came up to the top, and put onthis suit. It's a business-like suit, don't you think?" "Very neat and quiet indeed, " said Tom. "Yes, one must be quiet and neat and respectable, and all that sort ofthing for a little, when one becomes a family man. But I'm tired of it, that's the truth. I've done quite enough business, I consider, in thelast week, to last me my life. So I shall put on a ball dress, and goout and be a smart man, and see the gay world, and have a dance or two. Why shouldn't one be jolly if one can?" "And what will become of your wife?" "Oh! she is a very plain, stupid creature, and that's the truth; andthinks about nothing but eggs. If she chooses to come, why she may; andif not, why I go without her; and here I go. " And as he spoke, he turned quite pale, and then quite white. "Why, you're ill!" said Tom. But he did not answer. "You're dead, " said Tom, looking at him as he stood on his knee as whiteas a ghost. "No, I ain't!" answered a little squeaking voice over his head. "This isme up here, in my ball dress; and that's my skin. Ha, ha! you could notdo such a trick as that!" And no more Tom could. For the little rogue had jumped clean out of hisown skin, and left it standing on Tom's knee, eyes, wings, legs, tail, exactly as if it had been alive. "Ha, ha!" he said, and he jerked and skipped up and down, never stoppingan instant, just as if he had Saint Vitus's dance. "Ain't I a prettyfellow now?" And so he was; for his body was white, and his tail orange, and his eyesall the colours of a peacock's tail. And what was the oddest of all, thewhisks at the end of his tail had grown five times as long as they werebefore. "Ah!" said he, "now I will see the gay world. My living won't cost memuch, for I have no mouth, you see, and no inside; so I can never behungry nor have the stomach ache neither. " No more he had. He had grown as dry and hard and empty as a quill, assuch silly, shallow-hearted fellows deserve to grow. But instead of being ashamed of his emptiness, he was quite proud of it, as a good many fine gentlemen are, and began flirting and flipping upand down, and singing: "My wife shall dance, and I shall sing, So merrily pass the day: For I hold it for quite the wisest thing, To drive dull care away. " And he danced up and down for three days and three nights, till he grewso tired that he tumbled into the water and floated down. But whatbecame of him Tom never knew, and he himself never minded; for Tom heardhim singing to the last, as he floated down: "To drive dull care away-ay-ay!" And if he did not care, why nobody else cared, either. But one day Tom had a new adventure. He was sitting on a water-lilyleaf, he and his friend the dragon fly, watching the gnats dance. Thedragon fly had eaten as many as he wanted, and was sitting quite stilland sleepy, for it was very hot and bright. The gnats (who did not carethe least for the death of their poor brothers) danced a foot over hishead quite happily, and a large black fly settled within an inch of hisnose, and began washing his own face and combing his hair with his paws;but the dragon fly never stirred, and kept on chatting to Tom. Suddenly Tom heard the strangest noise up the stream; cooing, andgrunting, and whining, and squeaking, as if you had put into a bag twostock-doves, nine mice, three guinea pigs, and a blind puppy, and leftthem there to settle themselves and make music. He looked up the water, and there he saw a sight as strange as thenoise; a great ball rolling over and over down the stream, seeming onemoment of soft brown fur, and the next of shining glass: and yet it wasnot a ball; for sometimes it broke up and streamed away in pieces, andthen it joined again; and all the while the noise came out of it louderand louder. Tom asked the dragon fly what it could be; but of course, with his shortsight, he could not even see it, though it was not ten yards away. SoTom took the neatest little header into the water, and started off tosee for himself; and, when he came near, the ball turned out to be fouror five beautiful otters, many times larger than Tom, who were swimmingabout, and rolling, and diving, and twisting, and wrestling, andcuddling, and kissing, and biting, and scratching, in the most charmingfashion that ever was seen. But when the biggest of them saw Tom, she darted out from the rest, andcried in the water language sharply enough, "Quick, children, here issomething to eat, indeed!" and came at poor Tom, showing such a wickedpair of eyes, and such a set of sharp teeth in a grinning mouth, thatTom, who had thought her very handsome, said to himself, "Handsome isthat handsome does, " and slipped in between the water-lily roots as fastas he could, and then turned round and made faces at her. [Illustration: TOM ESCAPED THE OTTER] "Come out, " said the wicked old otter, "or it will be worse for you. " But Tom looked at her from between two thick roots, and shook them withall his might, making horrible faces all the while, just as he used togrin through the railings at the old women, when he lived before. It wasnot quite well bred, no doubt; but you know, Tom had not finished hiseducation yet. "Come away, children, " said the otter in disgust, "it is not wortheating, after all. It is only a nasty eft, which nothing eats, not eventhose vulgar pike in the pond. " "I am not an eft!" said Tom; "efts have tails. " "You are an eft, " said the otter, very positively; "I see your two handsquite plain, and I know you have a tail. " "I tell you I have not, " said Tom. "Look here!" and he turned his prettylittle self quite round; and sure enough, he had no more tail than you. The otter might have got out of it by saying that Tom was a frog; but, like a great many other people, when she had once said a thing she stoodto it, right or wrong; so she answered: "I say you are an eft, and therefore you are, and not fit food forgentlefolk like me and my children. You may stay there till the salmoneat you" (she knew the salmon would not, but she wanted to frighten poorTom). "Ha! ha! they will eat you, and we will eat them;" and the otterlaughed such a wicked, cruel laugh--as you may hear them do sometimes;and the first time that you hear it you will probably think it isbogies. "What are salmon?" asked Tom. "Fish, you eft, great fish, nice fish to eat. They are the lords of thefish, and we are lords of the salmon;" and she laughed again. "We huntthem up and down the pools, and drive them up into a corner, the sillythings; they are so proud, and bully the little trout, and the minnows, till they see us coming, and then they are so meek all at once; and wecatch them, but we disdain to eat them all; we just bite off their softthroats and suck their sweet juice--Oh, so good!"--(and she licked herwicked lips)--"and then throw them away, and go and catch another. Theyare coming soon, children, coming soon; I can smell the rain coming upoff the sea, and then hurrah for a fresh, and salmon, and plenty ofeating all day long. " And the otter grew so proud that she turned head over heels twice, andthen stood upright half out of the water, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "And where do they come from?" asked Tom, who kept himself very close, for he was considerably frightened. "Out of the sea, eft, the great, wide sea, where they might stay and besafe if they liked. [Footnote: Salmon live in the sea, as the ottersays, but each autumn they go up the rivers to spawn. ] But out of thesea the silly things come, into the great river down below, and we comeup to watch for them; and when they go down again, we go down and followthem. And there we fish for the bass and the pollock, and have jollydays along the shore, and toss and roll in the breakers, and sleep snugin the warm dry crags. Ah, that is a merry life, too, children, if itwere not for those horrid men. " "What are men?" asked Tom; but somehow he seemed to know before heasked. "Two-legged things, eft; and, now I come to look at you, they areactually something like you, if you had not a tail" (she was determinedthat Tom should have a tail), "only a great deal bigger, worse luck forus; and they catch the fish with hooks and lines, which get into ourfeet sometimes, and set pots along the rocks to catch lobsters. Theyspeared my poor, dear husband as he went out to find something for me toeat. I was laid up among the crags then, and we were very low in theworld, for the sea was so rough that no fish would come in shore. Butthey speared him, poor fellow, and I saw them carrying him away upon apole. Ah, he lost his life for your sakes, my children, poor, dear, obedient creature that he was. " And the otter grew so sentimental (for otters can be very sentimentalwhen they choose, like a good many people who are both cruel and greedy, and no good to anybody at all) that she sailed solemnly away down theburn, and Tom saw her no more for that time. And lucky it was for her that she did so; for no sooner was she gone, than down the bank came seven rough terrier dogs, snuffing and yapping, and grubbing and splashing, in full cry after the otter. Tom hid amongthe water lilies till they were gone; for he could not guess that theywere the water fairies come to help him. But he could not help thinking of what the otter had said about thegreat river and the broad sea. And as he thought, he longed to go andsee them. He could not tell why; but the more he thought, the more hegrew discontented with the narrow little stream in which he lived, andall his companions there; and wanted to get out into the wide, wideworld, and enjoy all the wonderful sights of which he was sure it wasfull. And once he set off to go down the stream. But the stream was very low;and when he came to the shallows he could not keep under water, forthere was no water left to keep under. So the sun burned his back andmake him sick; and he went back again and lay quiet in the pool for awhole week more. And then on the evening of a very hot day he saw a sight. He had been very stupid all day, and so had the trout; for they wouldnot move an inch to take a fly, though there were thousands on thewater, but lay dozing at the bottom under the shade of the stones; andTom lay dozing, too, and was glad to cuddle their smooth, cool sides, for the water was quite warm and unpleasant. But toward evening it grew suddenly dark, and Tom looked up and saw ablanket of black clouds lying right across the valley above his head, resting on the crags right and left. He felt not quite frightened, butvery still; for everything was still. There was not a whisper of wind, nor a chirp of a bird to be heard; and next a few great drops of rainfell plop into the water, and one hit Tom on the nose, and made him pophis head down quickly enough. And then the thunder roared, and the lightning flashed, and leapedacross Vendale and back again, from cloud to cloud, and cliff to cliff, till the very rocks in the stream seemed to shake; and Tom looked up atit through the water, and thought it the finest thing he ever saw in hislife. But out of the water he dared not put his head; for the rain came downby bucketfuls, and the hail hammered like shot on the stream and churnedit into foam; and soon the stream rose, and rushed down, higher andhigher, and fouler and fouler, full of beetles, and sticks, and straws, and worms, and addle-eggs, and wood lice, and leeches, and odds andends, and this, that, and the other, enough to fill nine museums. Tom could hardly stand against the stream, and hid behind a rock. Butthe trout did not; for out they rushed from among the stones, and begangobbling the beetles and leeches in the most greedy and quarrelsome way, and swimming about with great worms hanging out of their mouths, tuggingand kicking to get them away from each other. And now, by the flashes of the lightning, Tom saw a new sight--all thebottom of the stream alive with great eels, turning and twisting along, all down stream and away. They had been hiding for weeks past in thecracks of the rocks, and in burrows in the mud; and Tom had hardly evenseen them, except now and then at night; but now they were all out, andwent hurrying past him so fiercely and wildly that he was quitefrightened. And as they hurried past he could hear them say to eachother, "We must run, we must run. What a jolly thunderstorm! Down to thesea, down to the sea!" And then the otter came by with all her brood, twining and sweepingalong as fast as the eels themselves; and she spied Tom as she came by, and said: "Now is your time, eft, if you want to see the world. Come along, children, never mind those nasty eels; we shall breakfast on salmon to-morrow. Down to the sea, down to the sea!" Then came a flash brighter than all the rest, and by the light of it--inthe thousandth part of a second they were gone again--but he had seenthem, he was certain of it--three beautiful little white girls, withtheir arms twined round each other's necks, floating down the torrent, as they sang, "Down to the sea, down to the sea!" "Oh, stay! Wait for me!" cried Tom; but they were gone; yet he couldhear their voices clear and sweet through the roar of thunder and waterand wind, singing as they died away, "Down to the sea!" "Down to the sea!" said Tom; "everything is going to the sea, and I willgo too. Good-bye, trout. " But the trout were so busy gobbling worms thatthey never turned to answer him; so that Tom was spared the pain ofbidding them farewell. And now, down the rushing stream, guided by the bright flashes of thestorm; past tall birch-fringed rocks, which shone out one moment asclear as day, and the next were dark as night; past dark hovers underswirling banks, from which great trout rushed out on Tom, thinking himto be good to eat, and turned back sulkily, for the fairies sent themhome again with a tremendous scolding, for daring to meddle with a waterbaby; on through narrow strids [Footnote: strid (rare) means a place thelength of a stride] and roaring cataracts, where Tom was deafened andblinded for a moment by the rushing waters; along deep reaches, wherethe white water lilies tossed and flapped beneath the wind and hail;past sleeping villages; under dark bridge arches, and away and away tothe sea. And Tom could not stop, and did not care to stop; he would seethe great world below, and the salmon, and the breakers, and the wide, wide sea. And when the daylight came, Tom found himself out in the salmon river. A full hundred yards broad it was, sliding on from broad pool to broadshallow, and broad shallow to broad pool, over great fields of shingle, under oak and ash coverts, past low cliffs of sandstone, past greenmeadows, and fair parks, and a great house of gray stone, and brownmoors above, and here and there against the sky the smoking chimney of acolliery. [Illustration: THE SALMON, KING OF ALL THE FISH] But Tom thought nothing about what the river was like. All his fancywas, to get down to the wide, wide sea. And after a while he came to a place where the river spread out intobroad, still, shallow reaches, so wide that little Tom, as he put hishead out of the water, could hardly see across. And there he stopped. He got a little frightened. "This must be thesea, " he thought. "What a wide place it is! If I go on into it I shallsurely lose my way, or some strange thing will bite me. I will stop hereand look out for the otter, or the eels, or some one to tell me where Ishall go. " So he went back a little way, and crept into a crack of the rock, justwhere the river opened out into the wide shallows, and watched for someone to tell him his way; but the otter and the eels were gone on milesand miles down the stream. There he waited, and slept, too, for he was quite tired with his night'sjourney; and, when he woke, the stream was clearing to a beautiful amberhue, though it was still very high. And after a while, he saw a sightwhich made him jump up; for he knew in a moment it was one of the thingswhich he had come to look for. Such a fish! ten times as big as the biggest trout, and a hundred timesas big as Tom, sculling up the stream past him, as easily as Tom hadsculled down. Such a fish! shining silver from head to tail, and here and there acrimson dot; with a grand hooked nose and grand curling lip, and a grandbright eye, looking round him as proudly as a king, and surveying thewater right and left as if all belonged to him. Surely he must be thesalmon, the king of all the fish. Tom was so frightened that he longed to creep into a hole; but he neednot have been; for salmon are all true gentlemen, and, like truegentlemen, they look noble and proud enough, and yet, like truegentlemen, they never harm or quarrel with any one, but go about theirown business, and leave rude fellows to themselves. The salmon looked at him full in the face, and then went on withoutminding him, with a swish or two of his tail which made the stream boilagain. And in a few minutes came another, and then four or five, and soon; and all passed Tom, rushing and plunging up the cataract with strongstrokes of their silver tails, now and then leaping clean out of waterand up over a rock, shining gloriously for a moment in the bright sun;while Tom was so delighted that he could have watched them all day long. And at last one came up bigger than all the rest; but he came slowly, and stopped, and looked back, and seemed very anxious and busy. And Tomsaw that he was helping another salmon, an especially handsome one, whohad not a single spot upon it, but was clothed in pure silver from noseto tail. "My dear, " said the great fish to his companion, "you really lookdreadfuly tired, and you must not overexert yourself at first. Do restyourself behind this rock;" and he shoved her gently with his nose, tothe rock were Tom sat. You must know that this was the salmon's wife. For salmon, like othertrue gentlemen, always choose their lady, and love her, and are true toher, and take care of her and work for her, and fight for her, as everytrue gentleman ought; and are not like vulgar chub and roach and pike, who have no high feelings, and take no care of their wives. Then he saw Tom, and looked at him very fiercely one moment, as if hewas going to bite him. "What do you want here?" he said, very fiercely. "Oh, don't hurt me!" cried Tom. "I only want to look at you; you are sohandsome. " "Ah?" said the salmon, very stately but very civilly. "I really beg yourpardon; I see what you are, my little dear. I have met one or twocreatures like you before, and found them very agreeable and wellbehaved. Indeed, one of them showed me a great kindness lately, which Ihope to be able to repay. I hope we shall not be in your way here. Assoon as this lady is rested, we shall proceed on our journey. " What a well-bred old salmon he was! "So you have seen things like me before?" asked Tom. "Several times, my dear. Indeed, it was only last night that one at theriver's mouth came and warned me and my wife of some new stake-netswhich had got into the stream, I cannot tell how, since last winter, andshowed us the way round them, in the most charmingly obliging way. " "So there are babies in the sea?" cried Tom, and clapped his littlehands. "Then I shall have some one to play with there? How delightful!" "Were there no babies up this stream?" asked the lady salmon. "No! and I grew so lonely. I thought I saw three last night; but theywere gone in an instant, down to the sea. So I went, too; for I hadnothing to play with but caddises and dragon flies and trout, " "Ugh!" cried the lady, "what low company!" "My dear, if he has been in low company, he has certainly not learnttheir low manners, " said the salmon. "No indeed, poor little dear; but how sad for him to live among suchpeople as caddises, who have actually six legs, the nasty things; anddragon flies, too! why they are not even good to eat; for I tried themonce, and they are all hard and empty; and as for trout, every one knowswhat they are. " Whereon she curled up her lip, and looked dreadfullyscornful, while her husband curled up his, too, till he looked as proudas Alcibiades. [Footnote: Alcibiades was a particularly handsome andparticularly proud Greek, who lived in the time of the great warsbetween the two Greek states of Athens and Sparta. He took part in thesewars, first on the side of Athens, then on the side of Sparta, andfinally succeeded in gaining the hatred of both states by his treacheryand unscrupulousness. He went into exile, but was finally put to deathby the Persians at the command of the Athenians and Spartans (404 B. C. )] "Why do you dislike the trout so?" asked Tom. "My dear, we do not even mention them, if we can help it; for I am sorryto say they are relations of ours who do us no credit. A great manyyears ago they were just like us; but they were so lazy, and cowardly, and greedy, that instead of going down to the sea every year to see theworld and grow strong and fat, they chose to stay and poke about in thelittle streams and eat worms and grubs; and they are very properlypunished for it; for they have grown ugly and brown and spotted andsmall; and are actually so degraded in their tastes that they will eatour children. " CHAPTER IV So the salmon went up, after Tom had warned them of the wicked oldotter; and Tom went down, but slowly and cautiously, coasting along theshore. He was many days about it, for it was many miles down to the sea;and perhaps he would never have found his way, if the fairies had notguided him, without his seeing their faces, or feeling their gentlehands. And as he went, he had a very strange adventure. It was a clear, stillSeptember night, and the moon shone so brightly down through the waterthat he could not sleep, though he shut his eyes as tight as possible. So at last he came up to the top, and sat upon a little point of rock, and looked up at the broad yellow moon, and wondered what she was, andthought that she looked at him. And he watched the moonlight on therippling river, and the black heads of the firs, and the silver-frostedlawns, and listened to the owl's hoot, and the snipe's bleat, and thefox's bark, and the otter's laugh; and smelt the soft perfume of thebirches, and the wafts of heather honey off the grouse moor far above;and felt very happy. You, of course, would have been very cold sittingthere on a September night, without the least bit of clothes on your wetback; but Tom was a water baby, and therefore felt cold no more than afish. Suddenly he saw a beautiful sight. A bright red light moved along theriverside, and threw down into the water a long taproot of flame. Tom, curious little rogue that he was, must needs go and see what it was; sohe swam to the shore, and met the light as it stopped over a shallow runat the edge of a low rock. And there, underneath the light, lay five or six great salmon, lookingup at the flame with their great goggle eyes, and wagging their tails, as if they were very much pleased at it. Tom came to the top, to look at this wonderful light nearer, and made asplash. And he heard a voice say: "There was a fish rose. " He did not know what the words meant; but he seemed to know the sound ofthem, and to know the voice which spoke them; and he saw on the bankthree great two-legged creatures, one of whom held the light, flaringand sputtering, and another a long pole. And he knew that they were men, and was frightened, and crept into a hole in the rock, from which hecould see what went on. The man with the torch bent down over the water and looked earnestly in;and then he said: "Tak' that muckle fellow, lad; he's ower fifteen punds; and haud yourhand steady. " [Footnote: MUCKLE is an old English word meaning LARGE. ] Tom felt that there was some danger coming, and longed to warn thefoolish salmon, who kept staring up at the light as if he was bewitched. But before he could make up his mind, down came the pole through thewater; there was a fearful splash and struggle, and Tom saw that thepoor salmon was speared right through, and was lifted out of the water. And then, from behind, there sprang on these three men three other men;and there were shouts, and blows, and words which Tom recollected tohave heard before; and he shuddered and turned sick at them now, for hefelt somehow that they were strange, and ugly, and wrong, and horrible. And it all began to come back to him. They were men; and they werefighting; savage, desperate, up-and-down fighting, such as Tom had seentoo many times before. And he stopped his little ears, and longed to swim away; and was veryglad that he was a water baby, and had nothing to do any more withhorrid dirty men, with foul clothes on their backs, and foul words ontheir lips; but he dared not stir out of his hole, while the rock shookover his head with the trampling and struggling of the keepers and thepoachers. All of a sudden there was a tremendous splash, and a frightful flash, and a hissing, and all was still. For into the water, close to Tom, fell one of the men--he who held thelight in his hand. Into the swift river he sank, and rolled over andover in the current. Tom heard the men above run along, seeminglylooking for him; but he drifted down into the deep hole below, and therelay quite still, and they could not find him. Tom waited a long time, till all was quiet; and then he peeped out, andsaw the man lying. At last he screwed up his courage and swam down tohim. "Perhaps, " he thought, "the water has made him fall asleep, as itdid me. " Then he went nearer. He grew more and more curious, he could not tellwhy. He must go and look at him. He would go very quietly, of course; sohe swam round and round him, closer and closer; and, as he did not stir, at last, he came quite close and looked him in the face. The moon shone so bright that Tom could see every feature; and, as hesaw, he recollected, bit by bit; it was his old master, Grimes. Tom turned tail, and swam away as fast as he could, "Oh dear me!" he thought, "now he will turn into a water baby. What anasty, troublesome one he will be! And perhaps he will find me out, andbeat me again. " So he went up the river again a little way, and lay there the rest ofthe night under an alder root; but when morning came, he longed to godown again to the big pool, and see whether Mr. Grimes had turned into awater baby yet. So he went very carefully, peeping round all the rocks, and hiding underall the roots. Mr. Grimes lay there still; he had not turned into awater baby. In the afternoon Tom went back again. He could not rest tillhe had found out what had become of Mr. Grimes. But this time Mr. Grimeswas gone; and Tom made up his mind that he was turned into a water baby. He might have made himself easy, poor little man; Mr. Grimes did notturn into a water baby, or anything like one at all. But he did not makehimself easy; and a long time he was fearful lest he should meet Grimessuddenly in some deep pool. He could not know that the fairies hadcarried him away, and put him, where they put everything which fallsinto the water, exactly where it ought to be. Then Tom went on down, for he was afraid of staying near Grimes; and ashe went, all the vale looked sad. The red and yellow leaves showereddown into the river; the flies and beetles were all dead and gone; thechill autumn fog lay low upon the hills, and sometimes spread itself sothickly on the river that he could not see his way. But he felt his wayinstead, following the flow of the stream, day after day, past greatbridges, past boats and barges, past the great town, with its wharfs, and mills, and tall smoking chimneys, and ships which rode at anchor inthe stream; and now and then he ran against their hawsers, and wonderedwhat they were, and peeped out, and saw the sailors lolling on boardsmoking their pipes; and ducked under again, for he was terribly afraidof being caught by man and turned into a chimney-sweep once more. He didnot know that the fairies were close to him always, shutting thesailors' eyes lest they should see him, and turning him aside frommillraces, and sewer mouths, and all foul and dangerous things. Poorlittle fellow, it was a dreary journey for him; and more than once helonged to be back in Vendale, playing with the trout in the brightsummer sun. But it could not be. What has been once can never come overagain. And people can be little babies, even water babies, only once intheir lives. Besides, people who make up their minds to go and see the world, as Tomdid, must needs find it a weary journey. Lucky for them if they do notlose heart and stop halfway, instead of going on bravely to the end asTom did. For then they will remain neither boys nor men, neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring; having learnt a great deal too much, andyet not enough; and sown their wild oats, without having the advantageof reaping them. But Tom was always a brave, determined little English bulldog, who neverknew when he was beaten; and on and on he held, till he saw a long wayoff the red buoy through the fog. And then he found, to his surprise, the stream turned round, and running up inland. It was the tide, of course; but Tom knew nothing of the tide. He onlyknew that in a minute more the water, which had been fresh, turned saltall round him. And then there came a change over him. He felt as strong, and light, and fresh, as if his veins had run champagne; and gave, hedid not know why, three skips out of the water, a yard high, and headover heels, just as the salmon do when they first touch the noble, richsalt water, which, as some wise men tell us, is the mother of all livingthings. He did not care now for the tide being against him. The red buoy was insight, dancing in the open sea; and to the buoy he would go, and to ithe went. He passed great shoals of bass and mullet, leaping and rushingin after the shrimps, but he never heeded them, or they him; and once hepassed a great, black, shining seal, who was coming in after the mullet. The seal put his head and shoulders out of water, and stared at him, looking exactly like a fat old greasy negro with a gray pate. And Tom, instead of being frightened, said, "How d'ye do, sir; what a beautifulplace the sea is!" And the old seal, instead of trying to bite him, looked at him with his soft, sleepy, wink-eyes, and said, "Good tide toyou, my little man; are you looking for your brothers and sisters? Ipassed them all at play outside. " [Illustration] "Oh, then, " said Tom, "I shall have play-fellows at last, " and he swamon to the buoy, and got upon it (for he was quite out of breath) and satthere, and looked round for water babies; but there were none to beseen. The sea breeze came in freshly with the tide and blew the fog away; andthe little waves danced for joy around the buoy, and the old buoy dancedwith them. The shadows of the clouds ran races over the bright blue sky, and yet never caught each other up; and the breakers plunged merrilyupon the wide white sands, and jumped up over the rocks, to see what thegreen fields inside were like, and tumbled down and broke themselves allto pieces, and never minded it a bit, but mended themselves and jumpedup again. And the terns hovered over Tom like huge white dragon flieswith black heads, and the gulls laughed like girls at play, and the seapies, with their red bills and legs, flew to and fro from shore toshore, and whistled sweet and wild. And Tom looked and looked, andlistened; and he would have been very happy, if he could only have seenthe water babies. Then when the tide turned, he left the buoy, and swamround and round in search of them; but in vain. Sometimes he thought heheard them laughing, but it was only the laughter of the ripples. Andsometimes he thought he saw them at the bottom, but it was only whiteand pink shells. And once he was sure he had found one, for he saw twobright eyes peeping out of the sand. So he dived down, and beganscraping the sand away, and cried, "Don't hide; I do want some one toplay with so much!" And out jumped a great turbot with his ugly eyes andmouth all awry, and flopped away along the bottom, knocking poor Tomover. And he sat down at the bottom of the sea, and cried salt tearsfrom sheer disappointment. To have come all this way, and faced so many dangers, and yet to find nowater babies! How hard! Well, it did seem hard; but people, even littlebabies, cannot have all they want without waiting for it, and workingfor it too. And Tom sat upon the buoy long days, long weeks, looking out to sea, andwondering when the water babies would come back; and yet they nevercame. Then he began to ask all the strange things which came in out of the seaif they had seen any; and some said "Yes, " and some said nothing at all. He asked the bass and the pollock; but they were so greedy after theshrimps that they did not care to answer him a word. Then there came in a whole fleet of purple sea snails, floating along, each on a sponge full of foam; and Tom said, "Where do you come from, you pretty creatures? and have you seen the water babies?" And the sea snails answered, "Whence we come we know not; and whither weare going, who can tell? We float out our life in the mid-ocean, withthe warm sunshine above our heads, and the warm gulf stream below; andthat is enough for us. Yes; perhaps we have seen the water babies. Wehave seen many strange things as we sailed along. " And they floatedaway, the happy, stupid things, and all went ashore upon the sands. Then there came by a shoal of porpoises, rolling as they went--papas, and mammas, and little children--and all quite smooth and shiny, becausethe fairies French-polish them every morning; and they sighed so softlyas they came by, that Tom took courage to speak to them; but all theyanswered was, "Hush, hush, hush;" for that was all they had learnt tosay. [Illustration: PORPOISES] And then there came by a beautiful creature, like a ribbon of puresilver, with a sharp head and very long teeth; but it seemed very sickand sad. Sometimes it rolled helpless on its side; and then itdashed away, glittering like white fire; and then it lay sick again, andmotionless. "Where do you come from?" asked Tom. "And why are YOU so sick and sad?" "I come from the warm Carolinas, and the sand-banks fringed with pines;where the great owl-rays leap and flap, like giant bats, upon the tide. But I wandered north and north, upon the treacherous warm gulf stream, till I met with the cold icebergs, afloat in the mid-ocean. So I gottangled among the icebergs, and chilled with the frozen breath. But thewater babies helped me from among them, and set me free again. And now Iam mending every day; but I am very sick and sad; and perhaps I shallnever get home again to play with the owl-rays any more. " "Oh!" cried Tom. "And you have seen water babies! Have you seen any nearhere?" "Yes; they helped me again last night, or I should have been eaten by agreat black porpoise. " How vexatious! The water babies close to him, and yet he could not findone. And then he left the buoy, and used to go along the sands and round therocks, and come out in the night--like the forsaken Merman [Footnote:This beautiful poem which Kingsley speaks of here is Matthew Arnold'sThe Forsaken Merman, which you will find in Volume VII of these books. ]in Mr. Arnold's beautiful, beautiful poem, which you must learn by heartsome day--and sit upon a point of rock, among the shining sea weeds, inthe low October tides, and cry and call for the water babies; but henever heard a voice call in return. And at last, with his fretting andcrying, he grew quite lean and thin. But one day among the rocks he found a playfellow. It was not a waterbaby, alas! but it was a lobster; and a very distinguished lobster hewas; for he had live barnacles on his claws, which is a great mark ofdistinction in lobsterdom, and no more to be bought for money than agood conscience or the Victoria Cross. [Footnote: The Victoria Cross isa decoration awarded British soldiers or sailors for distinguishedbravery. The crosses are made from cannon captured in the Crimean War, and bear, under the crowned lion which is the British royal crest, thewords "For Valour". No other military decoration is so prized. ] Tom had never seen a lobster before; and he was mightily taken with thisone; for he thought him the most curious, odd, ridiculous creature hehad ever seen; and there he was not far wrong; for all the ingeniousmen, and all the scientific men, and all the fanciful men in the world, with all the old German bogy-painters into the bargain, could neverinvent, if all their wits were boiled into one, anything so curious, andso ridiculous, as a lobster. [Illustration: A LOBSTER] He had one claw knobbed and the other jagged; and Tom delighted inwatching him hold on to the seaweed with his knobbed claw, while he cutup salads with his jagged one, and then put them into his mouth, aftersmelling at them, like a monkey. And always the little barnacles threwout their casting-nets and swept the water, and came in for their shareof whatever there was for dinner. But Tom was most astonished to see how he fired himself off--snap! likethe leapfrogs which you make out of a goose's breastbone. Certainly hetook the most wonderful shots, and backwards, too. For, if he wanted togo into a narrow crack ten yards off, what do you think he did? If hehad gone in head foremost, of course he could not have turned round. Sohe used to turn his tail to it, and lay his long horns, which carry hissixth sense in their tips (and nobody knows what that sixth sense is), straight down his back to guide him, and twist his eyes back till theyalmost came out of their sockets, and then made ready, present, fire, snap!--and away he went, pop into the hole; and peeped out and twiddledhis whiskers, as much as to say, "You couldn't do that. " Tom asked him about water babies. "Yes, " he said. He had seen themoften. But he did not think much of them. They were meddlesome littlecreatures, and went about helping fish and shells which got intoscrapes. Well, for his part, he should be ashamed to be helped by littlesoft creatures that had not even a shell on their backs. He had livedquite long enough in the world to take care of himself. He was a conceited fellow, the old lobster, and not very civil to Tom;and you will hear how he had to alter his mind before he was done, asconceited people generally have. But he was so funny, and Tom so lonely, that he could not quarrel with him; and they used to sit in holes in therocks, and chat for hours. And about this time there happened to Tom a very strange and importantadventure--so important, indeed, that he was very near never finding thewater babies at all; and I am sure you would have been sorry for that. I hope that you have not forgotten the little white lady all this while. At least, here she comes, looking like a clean, white, good littledarling, as she always was and always will be. For it befell in thepleasant short December days, when the wind always blows from thesouthwest, till Old Father Christmas comes and spreads the great whitetablecloth, ready for little boys and girls to give the birds theirChristmas dinner of crumbs--it befell (to go on) in the pleasantDecember days, that Sir John was so busy hunting that nobody at homecould get a word out of him. Four days a week he hunted, and very goodsport he had; and the other two he went to the bench and the board ofguardians, and very good justice he did; and when he got home in time, he dined at five. It befell (to go on a second time), that Sir John, hunting all day anddining at five, fell asleep every evening, and snored so terribly thatall the windows in Harthover shook, and the soot fell down the chimneys. Whereon my Lady, being no more able to get conversation out of him thana song out of a dead nightingale, determined to go off and leave him andthe doctor and Captain Swinger, the agent, to snore in concert everyevening to their hearts' content. So she started for the seaside withall the children, in order to put herself and them into condition bymild applications of iodine. Now, it befell that, on the very shore and over the very rocks where Tomwas sitting with his friend the lobster, there walked one day the littlewhite lady, Ellie herself, and with her a very wise man indeed--Professor Ptthmllnsprts. He was a very worthy, kind, good-natured little old gentleman; and veryfond of children, and very good to all the world as long as it was goodto him. Only one fault he had, which cock-robins have likewise, as youmay see if you look out of the nursery window--that when any one elsefound a curious worm, he would hop round them, and peck them, andbristle up his feathers, just as a cock-robin would; and declare that hefound the worm first; and that it was his worm; and, if not, that thenit was not a worm at all. So Ellie and he were walking on the rocks, and he was showing her aboutone in ten thousand of all the beautiful and curious things which are tobe seen there. But little Ellie was not satisfied with them at all. Sheliked much better to play with live children, or even with dolls, whichshe could pretend were alive; and at last she said honestly, "I don'tcare about all these things, because they can't play with me, or talkwith me. If there were little children now in the water, as there usedto be, and I could see them, I should like that. " "Children in the water, you strange little duck?" said the professor. "Yes, " said Ellie. "I know there used to be children in the water, andmermaids too, and mermen. I saw them all in a picture at home, of abeautiful lady sailing in a car drawn by dolphins, and babies flyinground her, and one sitting in her lap; and the mermaids swimming andplaying, and the mermen trumpeting on conch-shells; and it is called'The Triumph of Galatea;' [Footnote: This picture which little Ellieloved so was a copy of a famous painting by the great Raphael. ] andthere is a burning mountain in the picture behind. It hangs on the greatstaircase, and I have looked at it ever since I was a baby, and dreamtabout it a hundred times; and it is so beautiful that it must be true. " The professor, however, was not the least of little Ellie's opinion. "But why are there not water babies?" asked Ellie. I trust and hope that it was because the professor trod at that momenton the edge of a very sharp mussel, and hurt one of his corns sadly, that he answered quite sharply, forgetting that he was a scientific man, "Because there ain't. " Which was not even good English, my dear little boy; for, as you mustknow, the professor ought to have said, if he was so angry as to sayanything of the kind--Because there are not: or are none: or are none ofthem. And he groped with his net under the weeds so violently, that hecaught poor little Tom. He felt the net very heavy; lifted it outquickly, with Tom all entangled in the meshes. "Dear me!" he cried. "What a large pink Holothurian; [Footnote: TheHolothurians are curious creatures, such as the sea cucumbers or the seaslugs. One genus or class of them is known as the Synapta. Thesecreatures are quite rudimentary, and have, as the professor's nextremark will tell you, no eyes. A Cephalopod is higher in the scale, andhas well-developed eyes. ] with hands, too! It must be connected withSynapta. " And he took him out. "It has actually eyes;" he cried. "Why, it must be a Cephalopod! This ismost extraordinary!" "No, I ain't, " cried Tom, as loud as he could; for he did not like to becalled bad names. "It is a water baby!" cried Ellie; and of course it was. "Water-fiddlesticks, my dear!" said the professor; and he turned awaysharply. Now, if the professor had said to Ellie, "Yes, my darling, it is a waterbaby, and a very wonderful thing it is; and it shows how little I knowof the wonders of nature in spite of forty years of honest labour;"--Ithink that, if the professor had said that, little Ellie would havebelieved him more firmly, and respected him more deeply, and loved himbetter, than ever she had done before. But he was of a differentopinion. He hesitated a moment. He longed to keep Tom, and yet he halfwished he never had caught him; and at last he quite longed to get ridof him. So he turned away and poked Tom with his finger, for want ofanything better to do; and said carelessly, "My dear little maid, youmust have dreamt of water babies last night, your head is so full ofthem. " [Illustration: ELLIE AND THE PROFESSOR] Now Tom had been in the most horrible and unspeakable fright all thewhile; for it was fixed in his little head that if a man with clothes oncaught him, he might put clothes on him too, and make a dirty blackchimney-sweep of him again. But when the professor poked him, it wasmore than he could bear; and, between fright and rage, he turned to bayvaliantly, and bit the professor's finger till it bled. "Oh! ah! yah!" cried he; and glad of an excuse to be rid of Tom, droppedhim on to the seaweed, and thence he dived into the water and was gonein a moment. "But it was a water baby, and I heard it speak!" criedEllie. "Ah, it is gone!" And she jumped off the rock to try and catchTom. Too late! and what was worse, as she sprang down, she slipped, and fellsome six feet with her head on a sharp rock, and lay quite still. Theprofessor picked her up, and tried to waken her, and called to her, andcried over her, for he loved her very much; but she would not waken atall. So he took her up in his arms and carried her to her governess, andthey all went home; and little Ellie was put to bed, and lay there quitestill; only now and then she woke up and called out about the waterbaby; but no one knew what she meant, and the professor did not tell, for he was ashamed to tell. And after a week, one moonlight night, the fairies came flying in at thewindow and brought her such a pretty pair of wings that she could nothelp putting them on; and she flew with them out of the window, and overthe land, and over the sea, and up through the clouds, and nobody heardor saw anything of her for a very long while. CHAPTER V But what became of little Tom? He slipped away off the rocks into the water, as I said before. But hecould not help thinking of little Ellie. He did not remember who shewas; but he knew that she was a little girl, though she was larger thanhe was now. That is not surprising; size has nothing to do with kindred. A tiny weed may be first cousin to a great tree; and a little dog likeVick knows that Lioness is a dog too, though she is twenty times largerthan herself. So Tom knew that Ellie was a little girl, and thought about her all thatday, and longed to have had her to play with; but he had soon to thinkof something else. And here is the account of what happened to him, as it was publishednext morning in the Waterproof Gazette, on the finest watered paper, forthe use of the great fairy, Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, who reads the newsvery carefully every morning, and especially the police cases. He was going along the rocks in three-fathom water, watching the pollockcatch prawns, and the wrasses nibble barnacles off the rocks, shells andall, when he saw a round cage of green withes; and inside it, lookingvery much ashamed of himself, sat his friend the lobster, twiddling hishorns, instead of thumbs. "What, have you been naughty, and have they put you in the lockup?"asked Tom. The lobster felt a little indignant at such a notion, but he was toomuch depressed in spirits to argue; so he only said, "I can't get out. " "Why did you get in?" "After that nasty piece of dead fish. " He had thought it looked andsmelt very nice when he was outside, and so it did, for a lobster; butnow he turned round and abused it because he was angry with himself. "Where did you get in?" "Through that round hole at the top. " "Then why don't you get out through it?" "Because I can't;" and the lobster twiddled his horns more fiercely thanever, but he was forced to confess. "I have jumped upwards, downwards, backwards, and sideways, at leastfour thousand times; and I can't get out. I always get up underneaththere, and can't find the hole. " Tom looked at the trap, and having more wit than the lobster, he sawplainly enough what was the matter; as you may if you will look at alobster-pot. [Footnote: You will understand from the lobster'sdescription of his attempt to get out of the "cage of green withes" inwhich he found himself, that the lobster pot had hooks or spikes whichwere bent in toward the center, so that the opening in the top was butsmall. ] "Stop a bit, " said Tom. "Turn your tail up to me, and I'll pullyou through hindforemost, and then you won't stick in the spikes. " But the lobster was so stupid and clumsy that he couldn't hit the hole. Like a great many fox hunters, he was very sharp as long as he was inhis own country; but as soon as they get out of it they lose theirheads; and so the lobster, so to speak, lost his tail. Tom reached and clawed down the hole after him, till he caught hold ofhim; and then, as was to be expected, the clumsy lobster pulled him inhead foremost. "Hullo! here is a pretty business, " said Tom. "Now take your greatclaws, and break the points off those spikes, and then we shall both getout easily. " "Dear me, I never thought of that, " said the lobster; "and after all theexperience of life that I have had!" You see, experience is of very little good unless a man, or a lobster, has wit enough to make use of it. For a good many people have seen allthe world, and yet remain little better than children after all. But they had not got half the spikes away when they saw a great darkcloud over them; and lo and behold, it was the otter. How she did grin and grin when she saw Tom. "Yah!" said she, "you littlemeddlesome wretch, I have you now! I will serve you out for telling thesalmon where I was!" And she crawled all over the pot to get in. Tom was horribly frightened, and still more frightened when she foundthe hole in the top, and squeezed herself right down through it, alleyes and teeth. But no sooner was her head inside than valiant Mr. Lobster caught her by the nose and held on. And there they were all three in the pot, rolling over and over, andvery tight packing it was. And the lobster tore at the otter, and theotter tore at the lobster, and both squeezed and thumped poor Tom tillhe had no breath left in his body; and I don't know what would havehappened to him if he had not at last got on the otter's back, and safeout of the hole. He was right glad when he got out, but he would not desert his friendwho had saved him; and the first time he saw his tail uppermost hecaught hold of it, and pulled with all his might. But the lobster would not let go. "Come along, " said Tom; "don't you see she is dead?" And so she was, quite drowned and dead. And that was the end of the wicked otter. But the lobster would not let go. "Come along, you stupid old stick-in-the-mud, " cried Tom, "or thefisherman will catch you!" And that was true, for Tom felt some oneabove beginning to haul up the pot. But the lobster would not let go. Tom saw the fisherman haul him up to the boat side, and thought it wasall up with him. But when Mr. Lobster saw the fisherman, he gave such afurious and tremendous snap, that he snapped out of his hand, and out ofthe pot, and safe into the sea. But he left his knobbed claw behind him;for it never came into his stupid head to let go after all, so he justshook his claw off as the easier method. Tom asked the lobster why he never thought of letting go. He said verydeterminedly that it was a point of honour among lobsters. And now happened to Tom a most wonderful thing; for he had not left thelobster five minutes before he came upon a water baby. A real, live water baby, sitting on the white sand, very busy about alittle point of rock. And when it saw Tom it looked up for a moment andthen cried, "Why, you are not one of us. You are a new baby! Oh, howdelightful!" And it ran to Tom, and Tom ran to it, and they hugged and kissed eachother for ever so long, they did not know why. But they did not want anyintroductions there under the water. At last Tom said, "Oh, where have you been all this while? I have beenlooking for you so long, and I have been so lonely. " "We have been here for days and days. There are hundreds of us about therocks. How was it you did not see us, or hear us when we sing and rompevery evening before we go home?" Tom looked at the baby again, and then he said: "Well, this is wonderful! I have seen things just like you again andagain, but I thought you were shells, or sea creatures. I never took youfor water babies like myself. " Now, was not that very odd? So odd, indeed, that you will, no doubt, want to know how it happened, and why Tom could never find a water babytill after he had got the lobster out of the pot. And, if you will readthis story nine times over, and then think for yourself, you will findout why. It is not good for little boys to be told everything, and neverto be forced to use their own wits. "Now, " said the baby, "come and help me, or I shall not have finishedbefore my brothers and sisters come, and it is time to go home. " "What shall I help you at?" "At this poor, dear little rock; a great clumsy boulder came rolling byin the last storm, and knocked all its head off, and rubbed off all itsflowers. And now I must plant it again with seaweeds, and coraline, andanemones, and I will make it the prettiest little rock-garden on all theshore. " So they worked away at the rock, and planted it, and smoothed the sanddown round it, and capital fun they had till the tide began to turn. Andthen Tom heard all the other babies coming, laughing and singing andshouting and romping; and the noise they made was just like the noise ofthe ripple. So he knew that he had been hearing and seeing the waterbabies all along; only he did not know them, because his eyes and earswere not opened. And in they came, dozens and dozens of them, some bigger than Tom andsome smaller, all in the neatest little white bathing dresses; and whenthey found that he was a new baby, they hugged and kissed him, and thenput him in the middle and danced around him on the sand, and there wasno one ever so happy as poor little Tom. "Now then, " they cried all at once, "we must come away home, we mustcome away home, or the tide will leave us dry. We have mended all thebroken seaweed, and put all the rock-pools in order, and planted all theshells again in the sand, and nobody will see where the ugly storm sweptlast week. " And this is the reason why the rock-pools are always so neat and clean;because the water babies come inshore after every storm to sweep themout, and comb them down, and put them all to rights again. Only where men are wasteful and dirty, and let sewers run into the seainstead of putting the stuff upon the fields like thrifty, reasonablesouls; or throw herrings' heads and dead dog-fish, or any other refuse, into the water; or in any way make a mess upon the clean shore--therethe water babies will not come, sometimes not for hundreds of years (forthey cannot abide anything smelly or foul), but leave the sea anemonesand the crabs to clear away everything till the good, tidy sea hascovered up all the dirt in soft mud and clean sand, where the waterbabies can plant live cockles and whelks and razor shells and seacucumbers and golden combs, and make a pretty live garden again, afterman's dirt is cleared away. And that, I suppose, is the reason why thereare no water babies at any watering place which I have ever seen. Now when Tom got to the home of the water babies, in Saint Brandan'sfairy isle, he found that the isle stood all on pillars, and that itsroots were full of caves. There were pillars of black basalt and pillarsof green and crimson serpentine; and pillars ribboned with red and whiteand yellow sandstone; and there were blue grottoes and white grottoes, all curtained and draped with seaweeds, purple and crimson, green andbrown; and strewn with soft white sand, on which the water babies sleepevery night. But, to keep the place clean and sweet, the crabs picked upall the scraps off the floor and ate them like so many monkeys; whilethe rocks were covered with ten thousand sea anemones, and corals andmadrepores, who scavenged the water all day long, and kept it nice andpure. But, to make up to them for having to do such nasty work, theywere not left black and dirty, as poor chimney-sweeps and dustmen are. No; the fairies are more considerate and just than that, and havedressed them all in the most beautiful colours and patterns, till theylook like vast flower beds of gay blossoms. And, instead of watchmen and policemen to keep out nasty things atnight, there were thousands and thousands of water snakes, and mostwonderful creatures they were. They were dressed in green velvet, and black velvet, and purple velvet;and were all jointed in rings; and some of them had three hundred brainsapiece, so that they must have been uncommonly shrewd detectives; andsome had eyes in their tails; and some had eyes in every joint, so thatthey kept a very sharp lookout; and when they wanted a baby snake, theyjust grew one at the end of their own tails, and when it was able totake care of itself it dropped off; so that they brought up theirfamilies very cheaply. But if any nasty thing came by, out they rushedupon it; and then out of each of their hundreds of feet there sprang awhole cutler's shop of Scythes, Creeses, Billhooks, Ghoorka swords, Pickaxes, Tucks, Forks, Javelins, Penknives, Lances, Rapiers, Halberts. Sabres, Gisarines, Yataghans, Poleaxes, Fishhooks, Corkscrews, Bradawls, Pins, Gimlets, Needles, And so forth, which stabbed, shot, poked, pricked, scratched, ripped, pinked, andcrimped those naughty beasts so terribly that they had to run for theirlives, or else be chopped into small pieces and be eaten afterwards. And there were the water babies in thousands, more than Tom, or youeither, could count. All the little children whom the good fairies taketo, because their cruel mothers and fathers will not; all who areuntaught and brought up heathens, and all who come to grief by ill usageor ignorance or neglect; all the little children in alleys and courts, and tumble-down cottages, who die by fever, and cholera, and measles, and scarlatina, and nasty complaints which no one has any business tohave, and which no one will have some day, when folks have common sense;and all the little children who have been killed by cruel masters andwicked soldiers; they were all there, except, of course, the babes ofBethlehem who were killed by wicked King Herod; for they were takenstraight to heaven long ago, as everybody knows, and we call them theHoly Innocents. [Illustration: MRS. BEDONEBYASYOUDID] But I wish Tom had given up all his naughty tricks, and left offtormenting dumb animals now that he had plenty of playfellows to amusehim. Instead of that, I am sorry to say, he would meddle with thecreatures, all but the water snakes, for they would stand no nonsense. So he tickled the madrepores, to make them shut up; and frightened thecrabs, to make them hide in the sand and peep out at him with the tipsof their eyes; and put stones into the anemones' [Footnote: The anemonesspoken of here are not to be confused with the flowers which grow onland. The sea anemones are alive, but the circles of tentacles abouttheir mouths make them look like flowers of the most beautiful colors. They have no eyes, and of course could not see what Tom was offeringthem. ] mouths, to make them fancy that their dinner was coming. The other children warned him, and said, "Take care what you are at. Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid is coming. " But Tom never heeded them, being quiteriotous with high spirits and good luck, till, one Friday morning early, Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid came indeed. A very tremendous lady she was; and when the children saw her they allstood in a row, very upright indeed, and smoothed down their bathingdresses, and put their hands behind them, just as if they were going tobe examined by the inspector. And she had on a black bonnet, and a black shawl, and no crinoline atall, and a pair of large green spectacles, and a great hooked nose, hooked so much that the bridge of it stood quite up above her eyebrows;and under her arm she carried a great birch-rod. Indeed she was so uglythat Tom was tempted to make faces at her, but did not, for he did notadmire the look of the birch-rod under her arm. And she looked at the children one by one, and seemed very much pleasedwith them, though she never asked them one question about how they werebehaving; and then began giving them all sorts of nice sea things--seacakes, sea apples, sea oranges, sea bullseyes, sea toffee; and to thevery best of all she gave sea ices, made out of sea-cows' cream, whichnever melt under water. Now little Tom watched all these sweet things given away, till his mouthwatered, and his eyes grew as round as an owl's. For he hoped that histurn would come at last; and so it did. For the lady called him up, andheld out her fingers with something in them, and popped it into hismouth; and lo and behold, it was a nasty, cold, hard pebble. "You are a very cruel woman, " said he, and began to whimper. "And you are a very cruel boy, who puts pebbles into the sea-anemones'mouths, to take them in, and make them fancy that they have caught agood dinner. As you did to them, so must I do to you. " "Who told you that?" said Tom. "You did yourself, this very minute. " Tom had never opened his lips; so he was very much taken aback indeed. "Yes; every one tells me exactly what they have done wrong; and thatwithout knowing it themselves, So there is no use trying to hideanything from me. Now go, and be a good boy, and I will put no morepebbles in your mouth, if you put none in other creatures'. " "I did notknow there was any harm in it, " said Tom. "Then you know now. People continually say that to me; but I tell them, if they don't know that fire burns, that is no reason that it should notburn you; and if you don't know that dirt breeds fever, that is noreason why the fevers should not kill you. The lobster did not know thatthere was any harm in getting into the lobster-pot; but it caught himall the same. " "Dear me, " thought Tom, "she knows everything!" And so she did, indeed. "And so, if you do not know that things are wrong, that is no reason whyyou should not be punished for them; though not as much, not as much, mylittle man" (and the lady looked very kindly, after all), "as if you didknow. " "Well, you are a little hard on a poor lad, " said Tom. "Not at all; I am the best friend you ever had in all your life. But Iwill tell you; I cannot help punishing people when they do wrong. I likeit no more than they do; I am often very, very sorry for them, poorthings; but I cannot help it. If I tried not to do it, I should do itall the same. For I work by machinery, just like an engine; and am fullof wheels and springs inside; and am wound up very carefully, so that Icannot help going. " "Was it long ago since they wound you up?" asked Tom. For he thought, the cunning little fellow, "She will run down some day; or they mayforget to wind her up, as old Grimes used to forget to wind up his watchwhen he came in from the public-house; and then I shall be safe. " "I was wound up once and for all, so long ago that I forgot all aboutit. " "Dear me, " said Tom, "you must have been made a long time!" "I never was made, my child; and I shall go for ever and ever; for I amas old as Eternity, and yet as young as Time. " And there came over the lady's face a very curious expression--verysolemn, and very sad; and yet very, very sweet. And she looked up andaway, as if she were gazing through the sea, and through the sky, atsomething far, far off; and as she did so, there came such a quiet, tender, patient, hopeful smile over her face that Tom thought for themoment that she did not look ugly at all. And no more she did; for shewas like a great many people who have not a pretty feature in theirfaces, and yet are lovely to behold, and draw little children's heartsto them at once; because though the house is plain enough, yet from thewindows a beautiful and good spirit is looking forth. And Tom smiled in her face, she looked so pleasant for the moment. Andthe strange fairy smiled too, and said: "Yes. You thought me very ugly just now, did you not?" Tom hung down his head, and got very red about the ears. "And I am very ugly. I am the ugliest fairy in the world; and I shallbe, till people behave themselves as they ought to do. And then I shallgrow as handsome as my sister, who is the loveliest fairy in the world;and her name is Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby. So she begins where I end, and I begin where she ends; and those who will not listen to her mustlisten to me, as you will see. Now, all of you run away, except Tom; andhe may stay and see what I am going to do. It will be a very goodwarning for him to begin with, before he goes to school. "Now, Tom, every Friday I come down here and call up all who have ill-used little children, and serve them as they served the children. " And first she called up all the doctors who give little children so muchphysic (they were most of them old ones; for the young ones have learntbetter), and she set them all in a row; and very rueful they looked; forthey knew what was coming. And first she pulled all their teeth out; and then she bled them allround; and then she dosed them with calomel, and jalap, and salts andsenna, and brimstone and treacle; and horrible faces they made; and thenshe gave them a great emetic of mustard and water, and began all overagain; and that was the way she spent the morning. And then she called up a whole troop of foolish ladies, who pinch theirchildren's waists and toes; and she laced them all up in tight stays, sothat they were choked and sick, and their noses grew red, and theirhands and feet swelled; and then she crammed their poor feet into themost dreadfully tight boots, and made them all dance; and then she askedthem how they liked it; and when they said not at all, she let them go;because they had only done it out of foolish fashion, fancying it wasfor their children's good, as if wasps' waists and pigs' toes could bepretty, or wholesome, or of any use to anybody. Then she called up all the careless nursery-maids, and stuck pins intothem all over, and wheeled them about in perambulators with tight strapsacross their stomachs and their heads and arms hanging over the side, till they were quite sick and stupid, and would have had sunstrokes;but, being under the water, they could only have water-strokes; which, Iassure you, are nearly as bad, as you will find if you try to sit undera mill wheel. And mind--when you hear a rumbling at the bottom of thesea, sailors will tell you that it is a ground swell; but now you knowbetter. It is the old lady wheeling the maids about in perambulators. And by this time she was so tired, she had to go to luncheon. And after luncheon she set to work again, and called up all the cruelschoolmasters--whole regiments and brigades of them; and when she sawthem, she frowned most terribly, and set to work in earnest, as if thebest part of the day's work was to come. And she boxed their ears, andthumped them over the head with rulers, and pandied their hands withcanes, and told them that they told stories, and were this and that badsort of people; and the more they were very indignant, and stood upontheir honour, and declared they told the truth, the more she declaredthey were not, and that they were only telling lies; and at last shebirched them all round soundly with her great birch-rod and set themeach an imposition of three hundred thousand lines of Hebrew to learn byheart before she came back next Friday. And at that they all cried andhowled so, that their breaths came all up through the sea like bubblesout of soda water; and that is one reason of the bubbles in the sea. There are others; but that is the one which principally concerns littleboys. And by that time she was so tired that she was glad to stop; and, indeed, she had done a very good day's work. Tom did not quite dislike the old lady; but he could not help thinkingher a little spiteful--and no wonder if she was, poor old soul; for ifshe has to wait to grow handsome till people do as they would be doneby, she will have to wait a very long time. Poor old Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid! she has a great deal of hard work beforeher, and had better have been born a washerwoman, and stood over a tuball day; but, you see, people cannot always choose their own profession. But Tom longed to ask her one question; and, after all, whenever shelooked at him, she did not look cross at all; and now and then there wasa funny smile in her face, and she chuckled to herself in a way whichgave Tom courage, and at last he said: "Pray, ma'am, may I ask you a question?" "Certainly, my little dear. " "Why don't you bring all the bad masters here and serve them out, too?The butties [Footnote: Butty, in the English coal-mining regions, is thename given to a man who takes a contract to work out a certain area ofcoal. He employs other people to work for him. A nailer is a man whomakes nails. ] that knock about the poor collier-boys; and the nailersthat file off their lads' noses and hammer their fingers; and all themaster sweeps, like my master Grimes? I saw him fall into the water longago; so I surely expected he would have been here. I'm sure he was badenough to me. " Then the old lady looked so very stern that Tom was quite frightened, and sorry that he had been so bold. But she was not angry with him. Sheonly answered, "I look after them all the week round; and they are in avery different place from this, because they knew that they were doingwrong. " She spoke very quietly; but there was something in her voice which madeTom tingle from head to foot, as if he had got into a shoal of seanettles. "But these people, " she went on, "did not know that they were doingwrong; they were only stupid and impatient; and therefore I only punishthem till they become patient, and learn to use their common sense likereasonable beings. But as for chimney-sweeps, and collier-boys, andnailer lads, my sister has set good people to stop all that sort ofthing; and very much obliged to her I am; for if she could only stop thecruel masters from ill-using poor children, I should grow handsome atleast a thousand years sooner. And now do you be a good boy, and do asyou would be done by, which they did not; and then, when my sister, Madame Doasyouwouldbedoneby, comes on Sunday, perhaps she will takenotice of you, and teach you how to behave. She understands that betterthan I do. " And so she went. Tom was very glad to hear that there was no chance of meeting Grimesagain, though he was a little sorry for him, considering that he usedsometimes to give him the leavings of the beer; but he determined to bea very good boy all Saturday; and he was; for he never frightened onecrab, nor tickled any live corals, nor put stones into the sea-anemones'mouths, to make them fancy they had got a dinner; and when Sundaymorning came, sure enough, Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby came too. Whereatall the little children began dancing and clapping their hands, and Tomdanced too with all his might. And as for the pretty lady, I cannot tell you what the colour of herhair was, or of her eyes; no more could Tom; for when people look ather, all they can think of is, that she has the sweetest, kindest, tenderest, funniest, merriest face they ever saw, or want to see. ButTom saw that she was a very tall woman, as tall as her sister; butinstead of being gnarly, and horny, and scaly, and prickly, like her, she was the most nice, soft, fat, smooth, pussy, cuddly, deliciouscreature who ever nursed a baby; and she understood babies thoroughly, for she had plenty of her own, whole rows and regiments of them, and hasto this day. And all her delight was, whenever she had a spare moment, to play with babies, in which she showed herself a woman of sense; forbabies are the best company and the pleasantest playfellows in theworld; at least, so all the wise people in the world think. Andtherefore when the children saw her, they naturally caught hold of her, and pulled her till she sat down on a stone, and climbed into her lap, and clung round her neck, and caught hold of her hands; and then theyall put their thumbs into their mouths, and began cuddling and purringlike so many kittens, as they ought to have done. While those who couldget nowhere else sat down on the sand, and cuddled her feet--for no one, you know, wears shoes in the water, except horrid old bathing-women, whoare afraid of the water babies pinching their horny toes. And Tom stoodstaring at them; for he could not understand what it was all about. "And who are you, you little darling?" she said. "Oh, that is the new baby!" they all cried, pulling their thumbs out oftheir mouths, "and he never had any mother;" and they all put theirthumbs back again, for they did not wish to lose any time. "Then I will be his mother, and he shall have the very best place; soget out, all of you, this moment. " And she took up two great armfuls of babies--nine hundred under one armand thirteen hundred under the other--and threw them away, right andleft, into the water. But they did not even take their thumbs out oftheir mouths, but came paddling and wriggling back to her like so manytadpoles, till you could see nothing of her from head to foot for theswarm of little babies. But she took Tom in her arms, and laid him in the softest place of all, andkissed him, and patted him, and talked to him, tenderly and low, suchthings as he had never heard before in his life; and Tom looked up intoher eyes, and loved her, and loved, till he fell asleep from pure love. [Illustration: SHE TOOK TOM IN HER ARMS] And when he woke she was telling the children a story. And what storydid she tell them? One story she told them, which begins every ChristmasEve, and yet never ends at all, for ever and ever; and as she went on, the children took their thumbs out of their mouths and listened quiteseriously, but not sadly at all; for she never told them anything sad;and Tom listened too, and never grew tired of listening. And he listenedso long that he fell fast asleep again, and when he awoke, the lady wasnursing him still. "Now, " said the fairy to Tom, "will you be a good boy for my sake, andtorment no more sea beasts till I come back?" "And you will cuddle me again?" said poor little Tom. "Of course I will, you little duck. I should like to take you with meand cuddle you all the way, only I must not;" and away she went. So Tom really tried to be a good boy, and tormented no sea beasts afterthat as long as he lived; and he is quite alive, I assure you, still. CHAPTER VI Here I come to the very saddest part of all my story. Now you may fancy that Tom was quite good, when he had everything thathe could want or wish; but you would be very much mistaken. Being quitecomfortable is a very good thing; but it does not make people good. Indeed, it sometimes makes them naughty, and I am very sorry to say thatthis happened to little Tom. For he grew so fond of the sea bullseyesand sea lollipops that his foolish little head could think of nothingelse; and he was always longing for more, and wondering when the strangelady would come again and give him some, and what she would give him, and how much, and whether she would give him more than the others. Andhe thought of nothing but lollipops by day, and dreamt of nothing elseby night--and what happened then? That he began to watch the lady to see where she kept the sweet things;and began hiding, and sneaking, and following her about, and pretendingto be looking the other way, or going after something else, till hefound out that she kept them in a beautiful mother-of-pearl cabinet awayin a deep crack of the rocks. And he longed to go to the cabinet, and yet he was afraid; and then helonged again, and was less afraid; and at last, by continual thinkingabout it, he longed so violently that he was not afraid at all. And onenight, when all the other children were asleep, and he could not sleepfor thinking of lollipops, he crept away among the rocks, and got to thecabinet, and behold! it was open. But when he saw all the nice things inside, instead of being delighted, he was quite frightened, and wished he had never come there. And then hewould only touch them, and he did; and then he would only taste one, andhe did; and then he would only eat one, and he did; and then he wouldonly eat two, and then three, and so on; and then he was terrified lestshe should come and catch him, and began gobbling them down so fast thathe did not taste them, or have any pleasure in them; and then he feltsick, and would have only one more; and then only one more again; and soon till he had eaten them all up. And all the while, close behind him, stood Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid. Some people may say, "But why did she not keep her cupboard locked?"Well, I know. It may seem a very strange thing, but she never does keepher cupboard locked; every one may go and taste for himself, and fareaccordingly. It is very odd, but so it is; and I am quite sure that sheknows best. Perhaps she wishes people to learn to keep their fingers outof the fire by having them burned. She took off her spectacles, becauseshe did not like to see too much; and in her pity she arched up hereyebrows into her very hair, and her eyes grew so wide that they wouldhave taken in all the sorrows of the world, and filled with great bigtears, as they too often do. [Illustration: TOM FOUND THE CABINET] But all she said was: "Ah, you poor little dear! you are just like allthe rest. " But she said it to herself, and Tom neither heard nor saw her. Now, youmust not fancy that she was sentimental at all. If you do, and thinkthat she is going to let off you, or me, or any human being when we dowrong, because she is too tender-hearted to punish us, then you willfind yourself very much mistaken, as many a man does every year andevery day. But what did the strange fairy do when she saw all her lollipops eaten? Did she fly at Tom, catch him by the scruff of the neck, hold him, hithim, poke him, pull him, pinch him, pound him, put him in the corner, shake him, slap him, set him on a cold stone to reconsider himself, andso forth? Not a bit. You may watch her at work if you know where to find her. Butyou will never see her do that. For, if she had, she knew quite well Tomwould have fought and kicked, and bit, and said bad words, and turnedagain that moment into a naughty little heathen chimney-sweep, with hishand, like Ishmael's of old, against every man, and every man's handagainst him. Did she question him, hurry him, frighten him, threaten him, to make himconfess? Not a bit. You may see her, as I said, at her work often enoughif you know where to look for her; but you will never see her do that. For if she had, she would have tempted him to tell lies in his fright;and that would have been worse for him, if possible, than even becominga heathen chimney-sweep again. No. She leaves that for anxious parents and teachers (lazy ones, somecall them), who, instead of giving children a fair trial, such as theywould expect and demand for themselves, force them by fright to confesstheir own faults--which is so cruel and unfair that no judge on thebench dare do it to the wickedest thief or murderer, for the goodBritish law forbids it--ay, and even punish them to make them confess, which is so detestable a crime that it is never committed now. So the fairy just said nothing at all about the matter, not even whenTom came next day with the rest for sweet things. He was horribly afraidof coming, but he was still more afraid of staying away, lest any oneshould suspect him. He was dreadfully afraid, too, lest there should beno sweets--as was to be expected, he having eaten them all--and lestthen the fairy should inquire who had taken them. But behold! she pulledout just as many as ever, which astonished Tom, and frightened him stillmore. And when the fairy looked him full in the face, he shook from head tofoot; however she gave him his share like the rest, and he thoughtwithin himself that she could not have found him out. But when he put the sweets into his mouth, he hated the taste of them;and they made him so sick that he had to get away as fast as he could;and terribly sick he was, and very cross and unhappy, all the weekafter. Then, when next week came, he had his share again; and again thefairy looked him full in the face; but more sadly than she had everlooked. And he could not bear the sweets; but took them again in spiteof himself. And when Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby came, he wanted to be cuddled likethe rest; but she said very seriously: "I should like to cuddle you, butI cannot; you are so horny and prickly. " And Tom looked at himself; and he was all over prickles, just like a seaegg. Which was quite natural; for you must know and believe that people'ssouls make their bodies just as a snail makes its shell (I am notjoking, my little man; I am in serious, solemn earnest). And therefore, when Tom's soul grew all prickly with naughty tempers, his body couldnot help growing prickly too, so that nobody would cuddle him, or playwith him, or even like to look at him. What could Tom do now but go away and hide in a corner and cry? Fornobody would play with him, and he knew full well why. And he was so miserable all that week that when the ugly fairy came andlooked at him once more full in the face, more seriously and sadly thanever, he could stand it no longer, and thrust the sweetmeats away, saying, "No, I don't want any: I can't bear them now;" and then burstout crying, poor little man, and told Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid every wordas it happened. He was horribly frightened when he had done so; for he expected her topunish him very severely. But instead, she only took him up and kissedhim, which was not quite pleasant, for her chin was very bristly indeed;but he was so lonely-hearted, he thought that rough kissing was betterthan none. "I will forgive you, little man, " she said. "I always forgive people themoment they tell me the truth of their own accord. " "Then you will take away all these nasty prickles?" "That is a very different matter. You put them there yourself, and onlyyou can take them away. " "But how can I do that?" asked Tom, crying afresh. "Well, I think it is time for you to go to school; so I shall fetch youa schoolmistress, who will teach you how to get rid of your prickles. "And so she went away. Tom was frightened at the notion of a schoolmistress; for he thought shewould certainly come with a birch-rod or a cane; but he comfortedhimself, at last, that she might be something like the old woman inVendale--which she was not in the least; for when the fairy brought her, she was the most beautiful little girl that ever was seen, with longcurls floating behind her like a golden cloud, and long robes floatingall round her like a silver one. "There he is, " said the fairy; "and you must teach him to be good, whether you like or not. " "I know, " said the little girl; but she did not seem quite to like, forshe put her finger in her mouth, and looked at Tom under her brows; andTom put his finger in his mouth, and looked at her under his brows, forhe was horribly ashamed of himself. The little girl seemed hardly to know how to begin; and perhaps shewould never have begun at all if poor Tom had not burst out crying, andbegged her to teach him to be good and help him to cure his prickles;and at that she grew so tender-hearted that she began teaching him asprettily as ever child was taught in the world. And what did the little girl teach Tom? She taught him, first, what youhave been taught ever since you said your first prayers at your mother'sknees; but she taught him much more simply. For the lessons in thatworld, my child, have no such hard words in them as the lessons in this, and therefore the water babies like them better than you like yourlessons, and long to learn them more and more; and grown men cannotpuzzle nor quarrel over their meaning, as they do here on land; forthose lessons all rise clear and pure, out of the everlasting ground ofall life and truth. So she taught Tom every day in the week; only on Sundays she always wentaway home, and the kind fairy took her place. And before she had taughtTom many Sundays, his prickles had vanished quite away, and his skin wassmooth and clean again. "Dear me!" said the little girl; "why, I know you now. You are the verysame little chimney-sweep who came into my bedroom. " "Dear me!" cried Tom, "And I know you, too, now. You are the very littlewhite lady whom I saw in bed. " And he jumped at her, and longed to hugand kiss her; but did not, remembering that she was a lady born; so heonly jumped round and round her till he was quite tired. And then they began telling each other all their story--how he had gotinto the water, and she had fallen over the rock; and how he had swumdown to the sea, and how she had flown out of the window; and how this, that, and the other, till it was all talked out. And then they bothbegan over again, and I can't say which of the two talked fastest. And then they set to work at their lessons again, and both liked them sowell that they went on well till seven full years were past and gone. You may fancy that Tom was quite content and happy all those sevenyears; but the truth is, he was not. He had always one thing on hismind, and that was--where little Ellie went, when she went home onSundays. To a very beautiful place, she said. But what was the beautiful place like, and where was it? Ah! that is just what she could not say. And it is strange, but true, that no one can say; and that those who have been oftenest in it, oreven nearest to it, can say least about it, and make people understandleast what it is like. But the dear, sweet, loving, wise, good, self-sacrificing people, whoreally go there, can never tell you anything about it, save that it isthe most beautiful place in all the world; and if you ask them more, they grow modest, and hold their peace, for fear of being laughed at;and quite right they are. So all that good little Ellie could say was, that it was worth all therest of the world put together. And of course that only made Tom themore anxious to go likewise. "Miss Ellie, " he said at last, "I will know why I cannot go with youwhen you go home on Sundays, or I shall have no peace, and give you noneeither. " "You must ask the fairies that. " So when the fairy, Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, came next, Tom asked her. "Little boys who are only fit to play with sea beasts cannot go there, "she said. "THOSE WHO GO THERE MUST GO FIRST WHERE THEY DO NOT LIKE, ANDDO WHAT THEY DO NOT LIKE, AND HELP SOMEBODY THEY DO NOT LIKE. " "Why, did Ellie do that?" "Ask her. " And Ellie blushed, and said, "Yes, Tom, I did not like coming here atfirst; I was so much happier at home, where it is always Sunday. And Iwas afraid of you, Tom, at first, because--because--" "Because I was all over prickles? But I am not prickly now, am I, MissEllie?" "No, " said Ellie. "I like you very much now; and I like coming here, too. " "And perhaps, " said the fairy, "you will learn to like going where youdon't like, and helping some one that you don't like, as Ellie has. " But Tom put his finger in his mouth, and hung his head down; for he didnot see that at all. So when Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby came, Tom asked her; for he thought inhis little head, "She is not so strict as her sister, and perhaps shemay let me off more easily. " Ah, Tom, Tom, silly fellow! and yet I don't know why I should blame you, while so many grown people have got the very same notion in their heads. But when they try it, they just get the same answer as Tom did. For whenhe asked the second fairy, she told him just what the first did, and inthe very same words. Tom was very unhappy at that. And when Ellie went home on Sunday, hefretted and cried all day, and did not care to listen to the fairy'sstories about good children, though they were prettier than ever. Indeed, the more he overheard of them, the less he liked to listen, because they were all about children who did what they did not like, andtook trouble for other people, and worked to feed their little brothersand sisters instead of caring only for their play. And when she began totell a story about a holy child in old times, who was martyred by theheathen because it would not worship idols, Tom could bear no more, andran away and hid among the rocks. And when Ellie came back, he was shy with her, because he fancied shelooked down on him, and thought him a coward. And then he grew quitecross with her, because she was superior to him, and did what he couldnot do. And poor Ellie was quite surprised and sad; and at last Tomburst out crying; but he would not tell her what was really in his mind. And all the while he was eaten up with curiosity to know where Elliewent to; so that he began not to care for his playmates, or for the seapalace or anything else. But perhaps that made matters all the easierfor him; for he grew so discontented with everything round him that hedid not care to stay, and did not care where he went. "Well, " he said, at last, "I am so miserable here, I'll go, if only youwill go with me. " "Ah!" said Ellie, "I wish I might; but the worst of it is, that thefairy says that you must go alone if you go at all. Now don't poke thatpoor crab about, Tom" (for he was feeling very naughty and mischievous), "or the fairy will have to punish you. " Tom was very near saying, "I don't care if she does;" but he stoppedhimself in time. "I know what she wants me to do, " he said, whining most dolefully. "Shewants me to go after that horrid old Grimes. I don't like him, that'scertain. And if I find him, he will turn me into a chimney-sweep again, I know. That's what I have been afraid of all along. " "No, he won't--I know as much as that. Nobody can turn water babies intosweeps, or hurt them at all, as long as they are good. " "Ah, " said naughty Tom, "I see what you want; you are persuading me allalong to go, because you are tired of me, and want to get rid of me. " Little Ellie opened her eyes very wide at that, and they were allbrimming over with tears. "Oh, Tom, Tom!" she said, very mournfully--and then she cried, "Oh, Tom, where are you?" And Tom cried, "Oh, Ellie, where are you?" For neither of them could see the other--not the least. Little Ellievanished quite away, and Tom heard her voice calling him, and growingsmaller and smaller, and fainter and fainter, till all was silent. Who was frightened then but Tom? He swam up and down among the rocks, into all the halls and chambers, faster than ever he swam before, butcould not find her. He shouted after her, but she did not answer; heasked all the other children, but they had not seen her; and at last hewent up to the top of the water and began crying and screaming for Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid--which perhaps was the best thing to do, for she camein a moment. "Oh!" said Tom. "Oh dear, oh dear! I have been naughty to Ellie, and Ihave killed her--I know I have killed her. " "Not quite that, " said the fairy; "but I have sent her away home, andshe will not come back again for I do not know how long. " And at that Tom cried bitterly. "How cruel of you to send Ellie away!" sobbed Tom. "However, I will findher again, if I go to the world's end to look for her. " The fairy did not slap Tom, and tell him to hold his tongue; but shetook him on her lap very kindly, just as her sister would have done; andput him in mind how it was not her fault, because she was wound upinside, like watches, and could not help doing things whether she likedor not. And then she told him how he had been in the nursery longenough, and must go out now and see the world, if he intended ever to bea man; and how he must go all alone by himself, as every one else thatever was born has to go, and see with his own eyes, and smell with hisown nose, and make his own bed and lie on it, and burn his own fingersif he put them into the fire. And then she told him how many fine thingsthere were to be seen in the world, and what an odd, curious, pleasant, orderly, respectable, well-managed, and, on the whole, successful (as, indeed, might have been expected) sort of a place it was, if peoplewould only be tolerably brave and honest and good in it; and then shetold him not to be afraid of anything he met, for nothing would harm himif he remembered all his lessons, and did what he knew was right. And atlast she comforted poor little Tom so much that he was quite eager togo, and wanted to set out that minute. "Only, " he said, "if I might seeEllie once before I went!" "Why do you want that?" "Because--because I should be so much happier if I thought she hadforgiven me. " And in the twinkling of an eye there stood Ellie, smiling, and lookingso happy that Tom longed to kiss her; but was still afraid it would notbe respectful, because she was a lady born. "I am going, Ellie!" said Tom. "I am going, if it is to the world's end. But I don't like going at all, and that's the truth. " "Pooh! pooh! pooh!" said the fairy. "You will like it very well indeed, you little rogue, and you know that at the bottom of your heart. But ifyou don't I will make you like it. Come here, and see what happens topeople who do only what is pleasant. " And she took out of one of her cupboards (she had all sorts ofmysterious cupboards in the cracks of the rocks) the most wonderfulwater-proof book, full of such photographs as never were seen. For shehad found out photography (and this is a fact) more than 13, 598, 000years before anybody was born; and what is more, her photographs did notmerely represent light and shade, as ours do, but colour also. Andtherefore her photographs were very curious and famous, and the childrenlooked with great delight at the opening of the book. And on the title-page was written, "The History of the great and famousnation of the Doasyoulikes, who came away from the country of Hardwork, because they wanted to play on the Jew's-harp all day long. " In the first picture they saw these Doasyoulikes living in the land ofReadymade, at the foot of the Happy-go-lucky Mountains, where flapdoodle[Footnote: Flapdoodle is the food on which fools are supposed to befed. ] grows wild; and if you want to know what that is, you must readPeter Simple. [Footnote: Peter Simple is a novel by Captain Marryat. ] They were very fond of music, but it was too much trouble to learn thepiano or the violin; and as for dancing, that would have been too greatan exertion. So they sat on ant-hills all day long, and played on theJew's-harp; and if the ants bit them, why they just got up and went tothe next anthill, till they were bitten there likewise. And they sat under the flapdoodle trees, and let the flapdoodle dropinto their mouths; and under the vines, and squeezed the grape juicedown their throats; and if any little pigs ran about ready roasted, crying, "Come and eat me, " as was their fashion in that country, theywaited till the pigs ran against their mouths, and then took a bite, andwere content, just as so many oysters would have been. They needed no weapons, for no enemies ever came near their land; and notools, for everything was ready-made to their hand; and the stern oldfairy Necessity never came near them to hunt them up, and make them usetheir wits, or die. "Well, that is a jolly life, " said Tom. "You think so?" said the fairy. "Do you see that great peaked mountainthere behind, with smoke coming out of its top?" "Yes. " "And do you see all those ashes, and slag, and cinders lying about?" "Yes. " "Then turn over the next five hundred years, and you will see whathappens next. " And behold, the mountain had blown up like a barrel of gunpowder, andthen boiled over like a kettle; whereupon one-third of the Doasyoulikeswere blown into the air, and another third were smothered in ashes; sothat there was only one-third left. And then she turned over the next five hundred years; and there were theremnant of the Doasyoulikes, doing as they liked, as before. They weretoo lazy to move away from the mountain; so they said, "If it has blownup once, that is all the more reason that it should not blow up again. "And they were few in number; but they only said, "The more, the merrier, but the fewer, the better fare. " However, that was not quite true; forall the flapdoodle trees were killed by the volcano, and they had eatenall the roast pigs, who, of course, could not be expected to have littleones. So they had to live very hard, on nuts and roots which theyscratched out of the ground with sticks. Some of them talked of sowingcorn, as their ancestors used to do, before they came into the land ofReadymade; but they had forgotten how to make ploughs (they hadforgotten even how to make Jew's-harps by this time), and had eaten allthe seed corn which they had brought out of the land of Hardwork yearssince; and of course it was too much trouble to go away and find more. So they lived miserably on roots and nuts, and all the weakly littlechildren died. "Why, " said Tom, "they are growing no better than savages. " And the fairy turned over the next five hundred years. And there theywere all living up in trees, and making nests to keep off the rain. Andunderneath the trees lions were prowling about. "Why, " said Ellie, "the lions seem to have eaten a good many of them, for there are very few left now. " "Yes, " said the fairy; "you see, it was only the strongest and mostactive ones who could climb the trees, and so escape. " "But what great, hulking, broad-shouldered chaps they are, " said Tom;"they are a rough lot as ever I saw. " "Yes, they are getting very strong now; for the ladies will not marryany but the very strongest and fiercest gentlemen, who can help them upthe trees out of the lions' way. " And she turned over the next five hundred years. And in that they werefewer still, and stronger, and fiercer; but their feet had changed shapevery oddly, for they laid hold of the branches with their great toes, asif they had been thumbs, just as a Hindoo tailor uses his toes to threadhis needle. The children were very much surprised, and asked the fairy whether thatwas her doing. "Yes, and no, " she said, smiling. "It was only those who could use theirfeet as well as their hands who could get a good living; or, indeed, getmarried; so that they got the best of everything, and starved out allthe rest; and those who are left keep up a regular breed of toe-thumb-men, as a breed of shorthorns, or skye terriers, or fancy pigeons iskept up. " "But there is a hairy one among them, " said Ellie. "Ah!" said the fairy, "that will be a great man in his time, and chiefof all the tribe. " And when she turned over the next five hundred years, it was true. For this hairy chief had had hairy children, and they hairier childrenstill; and every one wished to marry hairy husbands, and have hairychildren, too; for the climate was growing so damp that none but thehairy ones could live; all the rest coughed and sneezed, and had sorethroats, and went into consumptions, before they could grow up to be menand women. Then the fairy turned over the next five hundred years. And they werefewer still. "Why, there is one on the ground picking up roots, " said Ellie, "and hecannot walk upright. " No more he could; for in the same way that the shape of their feet hadaltered, the shape of their backs had altered also. "Why, " cried Tom, "I declare they are all apes. " "Something fearfully like it, poor foolish creatures, " said the fairy. "They are grown so stupid now, that they can hardly think; for none ofthem have used their wits for many hundred years. They have almostforgotten, too, how to talk. For each stupid child forgot some of thewords it heard from its stupid parents, and had not wits enough to makefresh words for itself. Beside, they are grown so fierce and suspiciousand brutal that they keep out of each other's way, and mope and sulk inthe dark forests, never hearing each other's voice, till they haveforgotten almost what speech is like. I am afraid they will all be apesvery soon, and all by doing only what they liked. " And in the next five hundred years they were all dead and gone, by badfood and wild beasts and hunters; all except one tremendous old fellowwith jaws like a jack, who stood full seven feet high; and M. Du Chaillu[Footnote: Paul du Chaillu, who was born in 1835, in New Orleans, Louisiana, made some very remarkable discoveries during his explorationsin Africa--so wonderful, in fact, that people refused to believe them. He was the first man to observe the habits of gorillas, and to obtainspecimens. ] came up to him, and shot him, as he stood roaring andthumping his breast. And he remembered that his ancestors had once beenmen, and tried to say, "Am I not a man and a brother?" but had forgottenhow to use his tongue; and then he tried to call for a doctor, but hehad forgotten the word for one, So all he said was "Ubboboo!" and died. And that was the end of the great and jolly nation of the Doasyoulikes. And when Tom and Ellie came to the end of the book, they looked very sadand solemn; and they had good reason so to do, for they really fanciedthat the men were apes. "But could you not have saved them from becoming apes?" said littleEllie, at last. "At first, my dear, if only they would have behaved like men, and set towork to do what they did not like. But the longer they waited, andbehaved like the dumb beasts, who only do what they like, the stupiderand clumsier they grew; till at last they were past all cure, for theyhad thrown their own wits away. It is such things as this that help tomake me so ugly, that I know not when I shall grow fair. " "And where are they all now?" asked Ellie. "Exactly where they ought to be, my dear. " CHAPTER VII "Now, " said Tom, "I am ready to be off, if it's to the world's end. " "Ah!" said the fairy, "that is a brave, good boy. But you must gofarther than the world's end if you want to find Mr. Grimes; for he isat the Other-end-of-Nowhere. You must go to Shiny Wall, and through thewhite gate that never was opened; and then you will come to Peace-pool, and Mother Carey's Haven, where the good whales go when they die. Andthere Mother Carey will tell you the way to the Other-end-of-Nowhere, and there you will find Mr. Grimes. " "Oh, dear!" said Tom. "But I do not know my way to Shiny Wall, or whereit is at all. " "Little boys must take the trouble to find out things for themselves, orthey will never grow to be men; so that you must ask all the beasts inthe sea and the birds in the air, and if you have been good to them, some of them will tell you the way to Shiny Wall. " "Well, " said Tom, "it will be a long journey, so I had better start atonce. Good-bye, Miss Ellie; you know I am getting a big boy, and I mustgo out and see the world. " "I know you must, " said Ellie; "but you will not forget me, Tom. I shallwait here till you come. " And she shook hands with him, and bade him good-bye. Tom longed verymuch again to kiss her; but he thought it would not be respectful, considering she was a lady born. So he promised not to forget her; buthis little whirl-about of a head was so full of the notion of going outto see the world, that it forgot her in five minutes; however, thoughhis head forgot her, I am glad to say his heart did not. [Illustration: Tom looking up at a bird wearing glasses on a boulder. ] So he asked all the beasts in the sea, and all the birds in the air, butnone of them knew the way to Shiny Wall. For why? He was still too fardown south. But for that there was a remedy. And so he swam northward, day after day, till at last he met the King of the Herrings, with acurrycomb growing out of his nose, and a sprat in his mouth for a cigar, and asked him the way to Shiny Wall; so he bolted the sprat headforemost, and said: "If I were you, young gentleman, I should go to the Allalonestone, andask the last of the Gairfowl. [Footnote: Gairfoul, or garefowl, wasanother name for the great auk. This bird was about thirty inches long, and its wings were so small in proportion to its body that it could notfly. There have been no great auks since about the middle of thenineteenth century. ] She is of a very ancient clan, very nearly asancient as my own; and knows a good deal which these modern upstartsdon't, as ladies of old houses are likely to do. " Tom asked his way to her, and the King of the Herrings told him verykindly, for he was a courteous old gentleman of the old school, thoughhe was horribly ugly, and strangely bedizened too, like the old dandieswho lounge in clubhouse windows. But just as Tom had thanked him and set off, he called after him, "Hi! Isay, can you fly?" "I never tried, " said Tom. "Why?" "Because, if you can, I should advise you to say nothing to the old ladyabout it. There; take a hint. Good-bye. " And away Tom went for seven days and seven nights due northwest, till hecame to a great cod-bank, the like of which he never saw before. And there he saw the last of the Gairfowl, standing up on theAllalonestone, all alone. And a very grand old lady she was, full threefeet high, and bolt upright, like some old Highland chieftainess. Shehad on a black velvet gown, and a white pinner and apron, and a veryhigh bridge to her nose (which is a sure mark of high breeding), and alarge pair of white spectacles on it, which made her look rather odd;[Footnote: The great auks were dark above and white beneath, and hadhuge white spots about their eyes. ] but it was the ancient fashion ofher house. And instead of wings, she had two little feathery arms, with which shefanned herself, and complained of the dreadful heat. Tom came up to her very humbly, and made his bow; and the first thingshe said was: "Have you wings? Can you fly?" "Oh, dear, no, ma'am; I should not think of such a thing, " said cunninglittle Tom. "Then I shall have great pleasure in talking to you, my dear. It isquite refreshing nowadays to see anything without wings. They must allhave wings, forsooth, now, every new upstart sort of bird, and fly. Whatcan they want with flying, and raising themselves above their properstation in life? In the days of my ancestors no birds ever thought ofhaving wings, and did very well without; and now they all laugh at mebecause I keep to the good old fashion. " And so she was running on, while Tom tried to get in a word edgeways;and at last he did, when the old lady got out of breath, and beganfanning herself again. And then he asked if she knew the way to ShinyWall. "Shiny Wall? Who should know better than I? We all came from Shiny Wall, thousands of years ago, when it was decently cold, and the climate wasfit for gentlefolk; but now, we have quite gone down in the world, mydear, and have nothing left but our honour. And I am the last of myfamily. A friend of mine and I came and settled on this rock when wewere young, to be out of the way of low people. Once we were a greatnation, and spread over all the Northern Isles. But men shot us so, andknocked us on the head and took our eggs--why, if you will believe it, they say that on the coast of Labrador the sailors used to lay a plankfrom the rock on board the thing called their ship, and drive us alongthe plank by hundreds, till we tumbled down in the ship's waist inheaps, and then, I suppose, they ate us, the nasty fellows! Well--but--what was I saying? At last, there were none of us left, except on theold Gairfowlskerry, just off the Iceland coast, up which no man couldclimb. Even there we had no peace; for one day, when I was quite a younggirl, the land rocked, and the sea boiled, and the sky grew dark, andall the air was filled with smoke and dust, and down tumbled the oldGairfowlskerry into the sea. The dovekies and marrocks, [Footnote: Thedovekies and the marrocks, or marrots, are smaller birds belonging tothe auk family. ] of course, all flew away; but we were too proud to dothat. Some of us were dashed to pieces, and the rest drowned, and sohere I am left alone. And soon I shall be gone, my little dear, andnobody will miss me; and then the poor stone will be left all alone. " "But, please, which is the way to Shiny Wall?" said Tom. "Oh, you must go, my little dear--you must go. Let me see--I am sure--that is--really, my poor old brains are getting quite puzzled. Do youknow, my little dear, I am afraid, if you want to know, you must asksome of these vulgar birds about, for I have quite forgotten. " And the poor old Gairfowl began to cry tears of pure oil; and Tom wasquite sorry for her, and for himself too, for he was at his wit's endwhom to ask. But there came by a flock of petrels, who are Mother Carey's ownchickens; and Tom thought them much prettier than Lady Gairfowl, and soperhaps they were; for Mother Carey had had a great deal of freshexperience between the time that she invented the Gairfowl and the timethat she invented them. They flitted along like a flock of blackswallows, and hopped and skipped from wave to wave, lifting up theirlittle feet behind them so daintily, and whistling to each other sotenderly, that Tom fell in love with them at once, and called to them toknow the way to Shiny Wall. "Shiny Wall? Do you want Shiny Wall? Then come with us, and we will showyou. We are Mother Carey's own chickens, and she sends us out over allthe seas, to show the good birds the way home. " Tom was delighted, and swam off to them, after he had made his bow tothe Gairfowl. But she would not return his bow, but held herself boltupright, and wept tears of oil. Then the petrels asked this bird and that whether they would take Tom toShiny Wall; but one set was going to Sutherland, and one to theShetlands, and one to Norway, and one to Spitzbergen, and one toIceland, and one to Greenland; but none would go to Shiny Wall. So thegood-natured petrels said that they would show him part of the waythemselves, but they were only going as far as Jan Mayen's Land; andafter that he must shift for himself. On the way, in a wrecked ship Tom found a little black and tan terrierdog, which began barking and snapping at him, and would not let him comenear. Tom knew the dog's teeth could not hurt him; but at least it could shovehim away, and did; and he and the dog fought and struggled, and he didnot want to throw the dog overboard; but as they were struggling, therecame a tall green sea, and walked in over the weather side of the ship, and swept them both into the waves. And the poor little dog? Why, after he had kicked and coughed a little, he sneezed so hard, thathe sneezed himself clean out of his skin, and turned into a water dog, and jumped and danced around Tom, and ran over the crests of the waves, and snapped at the jellyfish and the mackerel, and followed Tom thewhole way to the Other-end-of-Nowhere. Then they went on again, till they began to see the peak of Jan Mayen'sLand, standing up like a white sugar loaf, two miles above the clouds. And there they fell in with a whole flock of mollymocks, [Footnote: Themollymocks, or mallemawks, are petrels, larger than the stormy petrels. ]who were feeding on a dead whale. "These are the fellows to show you the way, " said Mother Carey'schickens; "we cannot help you farther north. We don't like to get amongthe ice pack, for fear it should nip our toes; but the mollys dare flyanywhere. " So the petrels called to the mollys; but they were so busy and greedy, gobbling and packing and spluttering and fighting over the blubber, thatthey did not take the least notice. "Come, come, " said the petrels, "you lazy, greedy lubbers, this younggentleman is going to Mother Carey, and if you don't attend to him, youwon't earn your discharge from her, you know. " "Greedy we are, " said a great, fat old molly, "but lazy we ain't; and asfor lubbers, we're no more lubbers than you. Let's have a look at thelad. " And he flapped right into Tom's face, and stared at him in the mostimpudent way (for the mollys are audacious fellows, as all whalersknow), and then asked him where he hailed from, and what land he sightedlast. And when Tom told him, he seemed pleased, and said he was a good pluckedone to have got so far. "Come along, lads, " he said to the rest, "and give this little chap acast over the pack, for Mother Carey's sake. We've eaten blubber enoughfor to-day, and we'll e'en work out a bit of our time by helping thelad. " So the mollys took Tom up on their backs, and flew off with him, laughing and joking--and oh, how they did smell of train oil! And now they came to the edge of the pack, and beyond it they could seeShiny Wall looming, through mist, and snow, and storm. But the packrolled horribly upon the swell, and the ice giants fought and roared, and leapt upon each other's backs, and ground each other to powder, sothat Tom was afraid to venture among them, lest he should be ground topowder too. But the good mollys took Tom and his dog up, and flew with them safeover the pack and the roaring ice giants, and set them down at the footof Shiny Wall. "And where is the gate?" asked Tom. "There is no gate, " said the mollys. "No gate?" cried Tom, aghast. "None; never a crack of one, and that's the whole of the secret, asbetter fellows, lad, than you have found to their cost; and if there hadbeen, they'd have killed by now every right whale [Footnote: A rightwhale is a whale which yields much whalebone and much oil; it is socalled because it is the "right" whale to take. ] that swims the sea. " "What am I to do, then?" "Dive under the floe, to be sure, if you have pluck, " "I've not come so far to turn now, " said Tom; "so here goes for aheader. " "A lucky voyage to you, lad, " said the mollys; "we knew you were one ofthe right sort. So good-bye. " "Why don't you come too?" asked Tom. But the mollys only wailed sadly, "We can't go yet, we can't go yet, "and flew away over the pack. So Tom dived under the great white gate which never was opened yet, andwent on in black darkness, at the bottom of the sea, for seven days andseven nights. And yet he was not a bit frightened. Why should he be? Hewas a brave English lad, whose business is to go out and see all theworld. And at last he saw the light, and clear, clear water overhead; and up hecame a thousand fathoms, among clouds of sea moths, which flutteredround his head. There were moths with pink heads and wings and opalbodies, that flapped about slowly; moths with brown wings that flappedabout quickly; yellow shrimps that hopped and skipped most quickly ofall; and jellies of all the colours in the world, that neither hoppednor skipped, but only dawdled and yawned, and would not get out of hisway. The dog snapped at them till his jaws were tired; but Tom hardlyminded them at all, he was so eager to get to the top of the water, andsee the pool where the good whales go. And a very large pool it was, miles and miles across, though the air wasso clear that the ice cliffs on the opposite side looked as if they wereclose at hand. All round it the ice cliffs rose, in walls and spires andbattlements, and caves and bridges, and stories and galleries, in whichthe ice fairies live, and drive away the storms and clouds, that MotherCarey's pool may lie calm from year's end to year's end. And the sunacted policeman, and walked round outside every day, peeping just overthe top of the ice wall, to see that all went right; and now and then heplayed conjuring tricks, or had an exhibition of fireworks, to amuse theice fairies. For he would make himself into four or five suns at once, or paint the sky with rings and crosses and crescents of white fire, andstick himself in the middle of them, and wink at the fairies; and Idaresay they were very much amused, for anything's fun in the country. And there the good whales lay, the happy, sleepy beasts, upon the stilloily sea. They were all right whales, you must know, and finners, andrazor-backs, and bottle-noses, and spotted sea unicorns with long ivoryhorns. But the sperm whales are such raging, ramping, roaring, rumbustious fellows, that, if Mother Carey let them in, there would beno more peace in Peacepool. So she packs them away in a great pond bythemselves at the South Pole, two hundred and sixty-three miles south-southeast of Mount Erebus, the great volcano in the ice; and there theybutt each other with their ugly noses, day and night from year's end toyear's end. Tom swam up to the nearest whale, and asked the way to Mother Carey. "There she sits in the middle, " said the whale. Tom looked; but he could see nothing in the middle of the pool but onepeaked iceberg, and he said so. "That's Mother Carey, " said the whale, "as you will find when you get toher. There she sits making old beasts into new all the year round. " "How does she do that?" "That's her concern, not mine, " said the old whale; and yawned so wide(for he was very large) that there swam into his mouth 943 sea moths, 13, 846 jellyfish no bigger than pins' heads, a string of salpae nineyards long, and forty-three little ice crabs, who gave each other aparting pinch all round, tucked their legs under their stomachs, anddetermined to die decently, like Julius Caesar. "I suppose, " said Tom, "she cuts up a great whale like you into a wholeshoal of porpoises?" At which the old whale laughed so violently that he coughed up all thecreatures; who swam away again, very thankful at having escaped out ofthat terrible whalebone net of his, from which bourne no travelerreturns; and Tom went on to the iceberg, wondering. And when he came near it, it took the form of the grandest old lady hehad ever seen--a white marble lady, sitting on a white marble throne. And from the foot of the throne there swam away, out and out into thesea, millions of newborn creatures, of more shapes and colours than manever dreamed. And they were Mother Carey's children, whom she makes outof the sea water all day long. She sat quite still with her chin upon her hand, looking down into thesea with two great, grand blue eyes, as blue as the sea itself. Her hairwas as white as the snow, for she was very, very old--in fact, as old asanything which you are likely to come across, except the differencebetween right and wrong. And when she saw Tom, she looked at him verykindly. "What do you want, my little man? It is long since I have seen a waterbaby here. " Tom told her his errand, and asked the way to the Other-end-of-Nowhere. "You ought to know yourself, for you have been there already, " "Have I, ma'am? I'm sure I forgot all about it. " "Then look at me. " And as Tom looked into her great blue eyes, he recollected the wayperfectly. Now, was not that strange? "Thank you, ma'am, " said Tom. "Then I won't trouble your ladyship anymore; I hear you are very busy. " "And now, my pretty little man, " said Mother Carey, "you are sure youknow the way to the Other-end-of-Nowhere?" Tom thought; and behold, hehad forgotten it utterly. "That is because you took your eyes off me. " Tom looked at her again, and recollected; and then looked away, andforgot in an instant. "But what am I to do, ma'am? For I can't keep looking at you when I amsomewhere else. " "You must do without me, as most people have to do, for nine hundred andninety-nine thousandths of their lives; and look at the dog instead; forhe knows the way well enough, and will not forget it. Besides, you maymeet some very queer-tempered people there, who will not let you passwithout this passport of mine, which you must hang round your neck andtake care of; and, of course, as the dog will always go behind you, youmust go the whole way backward. " "Backward!" cried Tom. "Then I shall not be able to see my way. " "On the contrary, if you look forward, you will not see a step beforeyou, and be certain to go wrong; but if you look behind you, and watchcarefully whatever you have passed, and especially keep your eye on thedog, who goes by instinct, and therefore can't go wrong, then you willknow what is coming next, as plainly as if you saw it in a looking-glass. " Tom was very much astonished; but he obeyed her, for he had learntalways to believe what the fairies told him. Tom was very sorely tried; for though, by keeping the dog to heels (orrather to toes, for he had to walk backward), he could see pretty wellwhich way the dog was hunting, yet it was much slower work to gobackwards than to go forwards. But I am proud to say that, though Tom had not been to Cambridge--for ifhe had he would have certainly been senior wrangler--he was such alittle dogged, hard, gnarly, foursquare brick of an English boy, that henever turned his head round once all the way from Peacepool to theOther-end-of-Nowhere; but kept his eye on the dog, and let him pick outthe scent, hot or cold, straight or crooked, wet or dry, up hill or downdale; by which means he never made a mistake, or had to retrace a singlestep. CHAPTER VIII AND LAST Now, as soon as Tom had left Peacepool, he came to the white lap of thegreat sea mother, ten thousand fathoms deep; where she makes world-papall day long, for the steam giants to knead, and the fire giants tobake, till it has risen and hardened into mountain-loaves and island-cakes. And there Tom was very near being kneaded up in the world-pap, andturned into a fossil water baby; which would have astonished theGeological Society of New Zealand some hundreds of thousands of yearshence. For as he walked along in the silence of the sea twilight, on the softwhite ocean floor, he was aware of a hissing, and a roaring, and athumping, and a pumping, as of all the steam engines in the world atonce. And when he came near, the water grew boiling hot; not that thathurt him in the least; but it also grew as foul as gruel; and everymoment he stumbled over dead shells, and fish, and sharks, and seals, and whales, which had been killed by the hot water. And at last he came to the great sea serpent himself, lying dead at thebottom; and as he was too thick to scramble over, Tom had to walk roundhim three quarters of a mile and more, which put him out of his pathsadly; and when he had got round, he came to the place called Stop. Andthere he stopped, and just in time. For he was on the edge of a vast hole in the bottom of the sea, up whichwas rushing and roaring clear steam enough to work all the engines inthe world at once; so clear, indeed, that it was quite light at moments, and Tom could see almost up to the top of the water above, and downbelow into the pit for nobody knows how far. But as soon as he bent his head over the edge, he got such a rap on thenose from pebbles, that he jumped back again; for the steam, as itrushed up, rasped away the sides of the hole, and hurled it up into thesea in a shower of mud and gravel and ashes; and then it spread allaround, and sank again, and covered in the dead fish so fast, thatbefore Tom had stood there five minutes he was buried in silt up to hisankles, and began to be afraid that he should have been buried alive. And perhaps he would have been, but that while he was thinking, thewhole piece of ground on which he stood was torn up and blown upwards, and away flew Tom a mile up through the sea, wondering what was comingnext. At last he stopped--thump! and found himself tight in the legs of themost wonderful bogy which he had ever seen. It had I don't know how many wings, as big as the sails of a windmill, and spread out in a ring like them; and with them it hovered over thesteam which rushed up, as a ball hovers over the top of a fountain. Andfor every wing before it had a leg below, with a claw like a comb at thetip, and a nostril at the root; and in the middle it had no stomach andone eye; and as for its mouth, that was all on one side, as themadreporiform tubercle in a starfish is. Well, it was a very strangebeast; but no stranger than some dozens which you may see. "What do you want here, " it cried quite peevishly, "getting in my way?"and it tried to drop Tom; but he held on tight to its claws, thinkinghimself safer where he was. So Tom told him who he was, and what his errand was. And the thingwinked its one eye, and sneered: "I am too old to be taken in in that way. You are come after gold--Iknow you are. " "Gold! What is gold!" And really Tom did not know; but the suspiciousold bogy would not believe him. But after a while Tom began to understand a little. For, as the vapourscame up out of the hole, the bogy smelt them with his nostrils, andcombed them and sorted them with his combs; and then, when they steamedup through them against his wings, they were changed into showers andstreams of metal. From one wing fell gold dust, and from another silver, and from another copper, and from another tin, and from another lead, and so on, and sank into the soft mud, into veins and cracks, andhardened there. Whereby it comes to pass that the rocks are full ofmetal. But, all of a sudden, somebody shut off the steam below, and the holewas left empty in an instant; and then down rushed the water into thehole, in such a whirlpool that the bogy spun round and round as fast asa teetotum. But that was all in his day's work, like a fair fall withthe hounds; so all he did was to say to Tom: "Now is your time, youngster, to get down, if you are in earnest, whichI don't believe. " "You'll soon see, " said Tom; and away he went, as bold as BaronMunchausen, and shot down the rushing cataract like a salmon atBallisodare. And when he got to the bottom, he swam till he was washed on shore safeupon the Other-end-of-Nowhere; and he found it, to his surprise, as mostother people do, much more like This-end-of-Somewhere than he had beenin the habit of expecting. There Tom saw ploughs drawing horses, nails driving hammers, birds'nests taking boys, books making authors, bulls keeping china shops, monkeys shaving cats, dead dogs drilling live lions, and, in short, every one set to do something which he had not learnt, because in whathe had learnt, or pretended to learn, he had failed. On the borders of that island he found Gotham, where the wise men live;the same who dragged the pond because the moon had fallen into it, andplanted a hedge round the cuckoo, to keep spring all the year. And hefound them bricking up the town gate, because it was so wide that littlefolks could not get through. So he went on, for it was no business of his; only he could not helpsaying that in his country if the kitten could not get in at the samehole as the cat, she might stay outside and mew. Then Tom came to a very famous island, which was called, in the days ofthe great traveler Captain Gulliver, the Isle of Laputa. [Footnote:Swift describes, in Gulliver's Travels, a flying island, called Laputa. The inhabitants were quacks, so absorbed in their false science thatthey had eyes and ears for nothing else, and were therefore followedabout by servants who "flapped" them with a blown-up bladder, when theywere expected to hear or to see or to say anything. ] But Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid has named it over again, the Isle of Tomtoddies, allheads and no bodies. And when Tom came near it, he heard such a grumbling and grunting andgrowling and wailing and weeping and whining that he thought people mustbe ringing little pigs, or cropping puppies' ears, or drowning kittens;but when he came nearer still, he began to hear words among the noise;which was the Tomtoddies' song which they sing morning and evening, andall night too, to their great idol Examination-- "I CAN'T LEARN MY LESSON; THE EXAMINER'S COMING!" And that was the only song which they knew. And when Tom got on shore the first thing he saw was a great pillar, onone side of which was inscribed, "Playthings not allowed here;" at whichhe was so shocked that he would not stay to see what was written on theother side. Then he looked round for the people of the island; butinstead of men, women, and children, he found nothing but turnips andradishes, beets and mangold wurzel, without a single green leaf amongthem, and half of them burst and decayed, with toadstools growing out ofthem. Those which were left began crying to Tom, in half a dozendifferent languages at once, and all of them badly spoken, "I can'tlearn my lesson; do come and help me!" "And what good on earth would it do you if I did help you?" quoth Tom. Well, they didn't know that; all they knew was the examiner was coming. Then Tom stumbled on the hugest and softest nimblecomequick turnip youever saw filling a hole in a crop of swedes, and it cried to him, "Canyou tell me anything at all about anything you like?" "About what?" says Tom. "About anything you like; for as fast as I learn things I forget themagain. So my mamma says that my intellect is not adapted for methodicscience, and says that I must go in for general information. " Tom told him that he did not know general information, nor any officersin the army; only he had a friend once that went for a drummer; but hecould tell him a great many strange things which he had seen in histravels. So he told him prettily enough, while the poor turnip listened verycarefully; and the more he listened, the more he forgot, and the morewater ran out of him. Tom thought he was crying; but it was only his poor brains running away, from being worked so hard; and as Tom talked, the unhappy turnipstreamed down all over with juice, and split and shrank till nothing wasleft of him but rind and water; whereat Tom ran away in a fright, for hethought he might be taken up for killing the turnip. But, on the contrary, the turnip's parents were highly delighted, andconsidered him a saint and a martyr, and put up a long inscription overhis tomb about his wonderful talents, early development, andunparalleled precocity. Were they not a foolish couple? But there wasstill a more foolish couple next to them, who were beating a wretchedlittle radish, no bigger than my thumb, for sullenness and obstinacy andwilful stupidity, and never knew that the reason why it couldn't learnor hardly even speak was, that there was a great worm inside it eatingout all its brains. But even they are no foolisher than some hundredscore of papas and mammas, who fetch the rod when they ought to fetch anew toy, and send to the dark cupboard instead of to the doctor. Tom was so puzzled and frightened with all he saw, that he was longingto ask the meaning of it; and at last he stumbled over a respectable oldstick lying half covered with earth. But a very stout and worthy stickit was, for it belonged to good Roger Ascham [Footnote: Roger Ascham wasa famous English scholar and writer of the sixteenth century. He wasteacher of languages to Princess, afterward Queen, Elizabeth, and later, was Latin secretary to both Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. ] in oldtime. "You see, " said the stick, "they were as pretty little children once asyou could wish to see, and might have been so still if they had beenonly left to grow up like human beings, and then handed over to me; buttheir foolish fathers and mothers, instead of letting them pick flowers, and make dirt-pies, and get birds' nests, and dance round the gooseberrybush, as little children should, kept them always at lessons, working, working, working, learning week-day lessons all week-days, and Sundaylessons all Sunday, and weekly examinations every Saturday, and monthlyexaminations every month, and yearly examinations every year, everythingseven times over, as if once was not enough, and enough as good as afeast--till their brains grew big, and their bodies grew small, and theywere all changed into turnips, with little but water inside; and stilltheir foolish parents actually pick the leaves off them as fast as theygrow, lest they should have anything green about them. " "Ah!" said Tom, "if Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby knew of it she would sendthem a lot of tops, and balls, and marbles, and nine-pins, and make themall as jolly as sand-boys. " "It would be no use, " said the stick. "They can't play now, if theytried. Don't you see how their legs have turned to roots and grown intothe ground, by never taking any exercise, but sapping and moping alwaysin the same place. "But here comes the Examiner-of-all-Examiners. So you had better getaway, I warn you, or he will examine you and your dog into the bargain, and set him to examine all the other dogs, and you to examine all theother water babies. There is no escaping out of his hands, for his noseis nine thousand miles long, and can go down chimneys, and throughkeyholes, upstairs, downstairs, in my lady's chamber, examining alllittle boys, and the little boys' tutors likewise. But when he isthrashed--so Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid has promised me--I shall have thethrashing of him; and if I don't lay it on with a will it's a pity. " Tom went off, but rather slowly and surlily; for he was somewhat mindedto face this same Examiner-of-all-Examiners, who came striding among thepoor turnips, binding heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and layingthem on little children's shoulders, like the Scribes and Pharisees ofold, and not touching the same with one of his fingers; for he hadplenty of money, and a fine house to live in; which was more than thepoor turnips had. And next he came to Oldwisefabledom, where the folks were all heathens, and worshipped a howling ape. And there he found a little boy sitting in the middle of the road, andcrying bitterly. "What are you crying for?" said Tom. "Because I am not so frightened as I could wish to be. " "Not frightened? You are a queer little chap; but, if you want to befrightened, here goes--Boo!" "Ah, " said the little boy, "that is very kind of you; but I don't feelthat it has made any impression. " Tom offered to upset him, punch him, stamp on him, fettle him over thehead with a brick, or anything else whatsoever which would give him theslightest comfort. But he only thanked Tom very civilly, in fine long words which he hadheard other folk use, and which, therefore, he thought were fit andproper to use himself; and cried on till his papa and mamma came. Then Tom came to a very quiet place, called Leaveheavenalone. And therethe sun was drawing water out of the sea to make steam-threads, and thewind was twisting them up to make cloud-patterns, till they had workedbetween them the loveliest wedding veil of Chantilly lace, and hung itup in their own Crystal Palace for any one to buy who could afford it;while the good old sea never grudged, for she knew they would pay herback honestly. So the sun span, and the wind wove, and all went wellwith the great steam loom; as is likely, considering--and considering--and considering--- And at last, after innumerable adventures, each more wonderful than thelast, Tom saw before him a huge building. He walked towards it, wondering what it was, and having a strange fancythat he might find Mr. Grimes inside it, till he saw running toward him, and shouting "Stop!" three or four people, who, when they came nearer, were nothing else than policemen's truncheons, running along withoutlegs or arms. Tom was not astonished. He was long past that. Neither was hefrightened; for he had been doing no harm. So he stopped; and when the foremost truncheon came up and asked hisbusiness, he showed Mother Carey's pass; and the truncheon looked at itin the oddest fashion; for he had one eye in the middle of his upperend, so that when he looked at anything, being quite stiff, he had toslope himself, and poke himself, till it was a wonder why he did nottumble over; but, being quite full of the spirit of justice (as allpolicemen, and their truncheons, ought to be), he was always in aposition of stable equilibrium, whichever way he put himself. "All right--pass on, " said he at last. And then he added: "I had bettergo with you, young man. " And Tom had no objection, for such company wasboth respectable and safe; so the truncheon coiled its thong neatlyround its handle, to prevent tripping itself up--for the thong had gotloose in running--and marched on by Tom's side. "Why have you no policeman to carry you?" asked Tom after a while. "Because we are not like those clumsy-made truncheons in the land world, which cannot go with-out having a whole man to carry them about. We doour own work for ourselves; and do it very well, though I say it whoshould not. " "Then why have you a thong to your handle?" asked Tom. "To hang ourselves up by, of course, when we are off duty. " Tom had got his answer, and had no more to say, till they came up to thegreat iron door of the prison. And there the truncheon knocked twice, with its own head. A wicket in the door opened, and out looked a tremendous old brassblunderbuss charged up to the muzzle with slugs, who was the porter; andTom started back a little at the sight of him. "What case is this?" he asked in a deep voice, out of his broad bellmouth. "If you please, sir, it is no case; only a young gentleman from herladyship, who wants to see Grimes, the master sweep. " "Grimes?" said the blunderbuss. And he pulled in his muzzle, perhaps tolook over his prison lists. "Grimes is up chimney No. 345, " he said from inside. "So the younggentleman had better go on to the roof. " Tom looked up at the enormous wall, which seemed at least ninety mileshigh, and wondered how he should ever get up; but when he hinted that tothe truncheon, it settled the matter in a moment. For it whisked round, and gave him such a shove behind as sent him up to the roof in no time, with his little dog under his arm. And there he walked along the leads, till he met another truncheon, andtold him his errand. "Very good, " it said. "Come along; but it will be of no use. He is themost unremorseful, hard-hearted, foul-mouthed fellow I have in charge;and thinks about nothing but beer and pipes, which are not allowed here, of course. " So they walked along over the leads, and very sooty they were, and Tomthought the chimneys must want sweeping very much. But he was surprisedto see that the soot did not stick to his feet, or dirty them in theleast. Neither did the live coals, which were lying about in plenty, burn him; for he was a water baby. And at last they came to chimney No. 345. Out of the top of it, his headand shoulders just showing, stuck poor Mr. Grimes, so sooty, andbleared, and ugly, that Tom could hardly bear to look at him. And in hismouth was a pipe; but it was not alight, though he was pulling at itwith all his might. "Attention, Mr. Grimes, " said the truncheon; "here is a gentleman cometo see you. " But Mr. Grimes only said bad words, and kept grumbling, "My pipe won'tdraw. My pipe won't draw. " "Keep a civil tongue, and attend!" said the truncheon; and popped upjust like Punch, hitting Grimes such a crack over the head with itself, that his brains rattled inside like a dried walnut in its shell. Hetried to get his hands out, and rub the place; but he could not, forthey were stuck fast in the chimney. Now he was forced to attend. "Hey!" he said, "why, it's Tom! I suppose you have come here to laugh atme, you spiteful little atomy?" Tom assured him he had not, but only wanted to help him. "I don't want anything except beer, and that I can't get; and a light tothis bothering pipe, and that I can't get either. " "I'll get you one, " said Tom; and he took up a live coal (there wereplenty lying about) and put it to Grimes' pipe; but it went outinstantly. "It's no use, " said the truncheon, leaning itself up against the chimneyand looking on. "I tell you, it is no use. His heart is so cold that itfreezes everything that comes near him, You will see that presently, plain enough. " "Oh, of course, it's my fault. Everything's always my fault, " saidGrimes. "Now don't go to hit me again" (for the truncheon startedupright, and looked very wicked); "you know, if my arms were only free, you daren't hit me then. " The truncheon leant back against the chimney, and took no notice of thepersonal insult, like a well-trained policeman as it was, though it wasready enough to avenge any transgression against morality or order. "But can't I help you in any other way? Can't I help you to get out ofthis chimney?" said Tom. "No, " interposed the truncheon; "he has come to the place whereeverybody must help himself; and he will find it out, I hope, before hehas done with me. " "Oh, yes, " said Grimes, "of course it's me. Did I ask to be brought hereinto the prison? Did I ask to be set to sweep your foul chimneys? Did Iask to have lighted straw put under me to make me go up? Did I ask tostick fast in the very first chimney of all, because it was soshamefully clogged up with soot? Did I ask to stay here--I don't knowhow long--a hundred years, I do believe, and never get my pipe, nor mybeer, nor nothing fit for a beast, let alone a man?" "No, " answered a solemn voice behind. "No more did Tom, when you behavedto him in the very same way. " It was Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid. And when the truncheon saw her, it startedbolt upright--Attention!--and made such a low bow, that if it had notbeen full of the spirit of justice, it must have tumbled on its end, andprobably hurt its one eye. And Tom made his bow too. "Oh, ma'am, " he said, "don't think about me; that's all past and gone, and good times and bad times and all times pass over. But may not I helppoor Mr. Grimes? Mayn't I try and get some of these bricks away, that hemay move his arms?" "You may try, of course, " she said. So Tom pulled and tugged at the bricks, but he could not move one. Andthen he tried to wipe Mr. Grimes' face, but the soot would not come off. "Oh, dear!" he said. "I have come all this way, through all theseterrible places, to help you, and now I am of no use at all. " "You had best leave me alone, " said Grimes; "you are a good-natured, forgiving little chap, and that's truth; but you'd best be off. Thehail's coming on soon, and it will beat the eyes out of your littlehead. " "What hail?" "Why, hail that falls every evening here; and till it comes close to me, it's like so much warm rain; but then it comes to hail over my head, andknocks me about like small shot. " "That hail will never come any more, " said the strange lady. "I havetold you before what it was. It was your mother's tears, those which sheshed when she prayed for you by her bedside; but your cold heart frozeit into hail. But she is gone to heaven now, and will weep no more forher graceless son. " Then Grimes was silent awhile; and then he looked very sad. "So my old mother's gone, and I never there to speak to her! Ah! a goodwoman she was, and might have been a happy one, in her little schoolthere in Vendale, if it hadn't been for me and my bad ways. " "Did she keep the school at Vendale?" asked Tom. And then he told Grimesall the story of his going to her house, and how she could not abide thesight of a chimney-sweep, and then how kind she was, and how he turnedinto a water baby. "Ah!" said Grimes, "good reason she had to hate the sight of a chimney-sweep. I ran away from her and took up with the sweeps, and never lether know where I was, nor sent her a penny to help her, and now it's toolate--too late!" said Mr. Grimes. And he began crying and blubbering like a great baby, till his pipedropped out of his mouth, and broke all to bits. "Oh, dear, if I was but a little chap in Vendale again, to see the clearbeck, and the apple orchard, and the yew hedge, how different I would goon! But it's too late now. So you go along, you kind little chap, anddon't stand to look at a man crying, that's old enough to be yourfather, and never feared the face of man, nor of worse neither. But I'mbeat now, and beat I must be. I've made my bed, and I must lie on it. Foul I would be, and foul I am. As an Irishwoman said to me once; andlittle I heeded it. It's all my own fault: but it's too late. " And hecried so bitterly that Tom began crying too. "Never too late, " said the fairy, in such a strange soft, new voice thatTom looked up at her; and she was so beautiful for the moment, that Tomhalf fancied she was her sister. No more was it too late. For as poor Grimes cried and blubbered on, hisown tears did what his mother's could not do, and Tom's could not do, and nobody's on earth could do for him; for they washed the soot off hisface and off his clothes; and then they washed the mortar away frombetween the bricks; and the chimney crumbled down; and Grimes began toget out of it. Up jumped the truncheon, and was going to hit him on the crown atremendous thump, and drive him down again like a cork into a bottle. But the strange lady put it aside. "Will you obey me if I give you a chance?" "As you please, ma'am. You're stronger than me--that I know too well, and wiser than me, I know too well also. And as for being my own master, I've fared ill enough with that as yet. So whatever your ladyshippleases to order me; for I'm beat, and that's the truth. " "Be it so then--you may come out. But remember, disobey me again, andinto a worse place still you go. " "I beg pardon, ma'am, but I never disobeyed you that I know of. I neverhad the honour of setting eyes upon you till I came to these uglyquarters. " "Never saw me? Who said to you, 'Those that will, be foul, foul theywill be'?" Grimes looked up; and Tom looked up too; for the voice was that of theIrishwoman who met them the day that they went out together toHarthover. "I gave you your warning then, but you gave it yourself athousand times before and since. Every bad word that you said--everycruel and mean thing that you did--every time that you got tipsy--everyday that you went dirty--you were disobeying me, whether you knew it ornot. " "If I'd only known, ma'am---" "You knew well enough that you were disobeying something, though you didnot know it was me. But come out and take your chance. Perhaps it may beyour last. " So Grimes stepped out of the chimney, and really, if it had not been forthe scars on his face, he looked as clean and respectable as a mastersweep need look. "Take him away, " she said to the truncheon, "and give him his ticket ofleave. " "And what is he to do, ma'am?" "Get him to sweep out the crater of Etna; he will find some very steadymen working out their time there, who will teach him his business: butmind, if that crater gets choked again, and there is an earthquake inconsequence, bring them all to me, and I shall investigate the case veryseverely. " So the truncheon marched off Mr. Grimes, looking as meek as a drownedworm. And for aught I know, or do not know, he is sweeping the crater of Etnato this very day. "And now, " said the fairy to Tom, "your work here is done. You may aswell go back again. " "I should he glad enough to go, " said Tom, "but how am I to get up thatgreat hole again, now the steam has stopped blowing?" "I will take you up the back stairs, but I must bandage your eyes first;for I never allow anybody to see those back stairs of mine. " "I am sure I shall not tell anybody about them, ma'am, if you bid menot. " "Aha! So you think, my little man. But you would soon forget yourpromise if you got back into the land world. I never put things intolittle folks' heads which are but too likely to come there ofthemselves. So come--now I must bandage your eyes. " So she tied the bandage on his eyes with one hand, and with the othershe took it off. "Now, " she said, "you are safe up the stairs. " Tom opened his eyes verywide, and his mouth, too; for he had not, as he thought, moved a singlestep. But, when he looked round him, there could be no doubt that he wassafe up the back stairs, whatsoever they may be, which no man is goingto tell you, for the plain reason that no man knows. The first thing which Tom saw was the black cedars, high and sharpagainst the rosy dawn; and Saint Brandan's Isle reflected double in thestill, broad, silver sea. The wind sang softly in the cedars, and thewater sang among the caves: the sea birds sang as they streamed out intothe ocean, and the land birds as they built among the boughs; and theair was so full of song that it stirred Saint Brandan and her hermits, as they slumbered in the shade; and they moved their good old lips, andsang their morning hymn amid their dreams. But among all the songs onecame across the water more sweet and clear than all; for it was the songof a young girl's voice. And what was the song which she sang? Ah, my little man, I am too old tosing that song, and you too young to understand it. But have patience, and keep your eye single, and your hands clean, and you will learn someday to sing it yourself, without needing any man to teach you. And as Tom neared the island, there sat upon a rock the most gracefulcreature that ever was seen, looking down, with her chin upon her hand, and paddling with her feet in the water. And when they came to her shelooked up, and behold, it was Ellie. "Oh, Miss Ellie, " said he, "how you are grown!" "Oh, Tom, " said she, "how you are grown, too!" And no wonder; they were both quite grown up--he into a tall man, andshe into a beautiful woman. "Perhaps I may be grown, " she said. "I have had time enough; for I havebeen sitting here waiting for you many a hundred years, till I thoughtyou were never coming. " "Many a hundred years?" thought Tom; but he had seen so much in histravels that he had quite given up being astonished; and, indeed, hecould think of nothing but Ellie. So he stood and looked at Ellie, andEllie looked at him; and they liked the employment so much that theystood and looked for seven years more, and neither spoke nor stirred. At last they heard the fairy say, "Attention, children. Are you nevergoing to look at me again?" "We have been looking at you all this while, " they said. And so theythought they had been. "Then look at me once more, " she said. They looked--and both of them cried out at once, "Oh, who are you, afterall?" "You are our dear Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby. " "No, you are good Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid; but you are grown quitebeautiful now!" "To you, " said the fairy. "But look again. " "You are Mother Carey, " said Tom, in a very low, solemn voice; for hehad found out something which made him very happy, and yet frightenedhim more than all that he had ever seen. "But you are grown quite young again. " "To you, " said the fairy. "Look again. " "You are the Irishwoman who met me the day I went to Harthover!" And when they looked she was neither of them, and yet all of them atonce. "My name is written in my eyes, if you have eyes to see it there. " And they looked into her great, deep, soft eyes, and they changed againand again into every hue, as the light changes in a diamond. "Now read my name, " said she, at last. And her eyes flashed, for one moment, clear, white, blazing light; butthe children could not read her name; for they were dazzled, and hidtheir faces in their hands. "Not yet, young things, not yet, " said she, smiling; and then she turnedto Ellie. "You may take him home with you now on Sundays, Ellie. He has won hisspurs in the great battle, and become fit to go with you and be a man, because he has done the thing he did not like. " So Tom went home with Ellie on Sundays, and sometimes on week-days, too;and he is now a great man of science, and can plan railroads, and steamengines, and electric telegraphs, and rifled guns, and so forth; andknows everything about everything, except why a hen's egg doesn't turninto a crocodile, and two or three other little things. And all thisfrom what he learnt when he was a water baby, underneath the sea. "And of course Tom married Ellie?" My dear child, what a silly notion! Don't you know that no one evermarries in a fairy tale, under the rank of a prince or a princess? "And Tom's dog?" Oh, you may see him any clear night in July; for the old dog star was soworn out by the last three hot summers that there have been no dog dayssince; so that they had to take him down and put Tom's dog up in hisplace. Therefore, as new brooms sweep clean, we may hope for some warmweather this year. And that is the end of my story. MORAL And now, my dear little man, what should we learn from this parable? We should learn thirty-seven or thirty-nine things, I am not exactlysure which; but one thing, at least, we may learn, and that is this--when we see efts in the pond, never to throw stones at them, or catchthem with crooked pins. For these efts are nothing else but the waterbabies who are stupid and dirty, and will not learn their lessons andkeep themselves clean; and therefore, their skulls grow flat, their jawsgrow out, and their brains grow small, and their tails grow long, andtheir skins grow dirty and spotted, and they never get into the clearrivers, much less into the great wide sea, but hang about in dirtyponds, and live in the mud, and eat worms, as they deserve to do. But that is no reason why you should ill-use them; but only why youshould pity them, and be kind to them, and hope that some day they willwake up, and be ashamed of their nasty, dirty, lazy, stupid life, andtry to amend, and become something better once more. For, perhaps, ifthey do so, then after 379, 423 years, nine months, thirteen days, twohours, and twenty-one minutes, if they work very hard and wash very hardall that time, their brains may grow bigger, and their jaws growsmaller, and their tails wither off, and they will turn into waterbabies again, and perhaps after that into land babies; and after thatperhaps into grown men. Meanwhile, do you learn your lessons, and thank God that you have plentyof cold water to wash in; and wash in it too, like a true Englishman. And then, if my story is not true, something better is; and if I am notquite right, still you will be, as long as you stick to hard work andcold water. But remember always, as I told you at first, that this is all a fairytale, and only fun and pretence; and, therefore, you are not to believea word of it, even if it is true. THE MILKMAID By Jeffreys Taylor A milkmaid, who poised a full pail on her head, Thus mused on her prospects in life, it is said:"Let me see, --I should think that this milk will procureOne hundred good eggs, or fourscore, to be sure. "Well then, --stop a bit, --it must not be forgotten, Some of these may be broken, and some may be rotten;But if twenty for accident should be detached, It will leave me just sixty sound eggs to be hatched. "Well, sixty sound eggs, --no, sound chickens, I mean:Of these some may die, --we'll suppose seventeen;Seventeen! not so many, --say ten at the most, Which will leave fifty chickens to boil or to roast. "But then there's their barley; how much will they need?Why, they take but one grain at a time when they feed, --So that's a mere trifle; now then, let us see, At a fair market price how much money there'll be. "Six shillings a pair--five--four--three-and-six--To prevent all mistakes, that low price I will fix;Now what will that make? fifty chickens, I said, --Fifty times three-and-sixpence--I'LL ASK BROTHER NED. "Oh, but stop, --three-and-sixpence a PAIR I must sell 'em;Well, a pair is a couple, --now then let us tell 'em;A couple in fifty will go (my poor brain!)Why, just a score times, and five pair will remain. "Twenty-five pair of fowls--now how tiresome it isThat I can't reckon up so much money as this!Well, there's no use in trying, so let's give a guess, --I'll say twenty pounds, AND IT CAN'T BE NO LESS. "Twenty pounds, I am certain, will buy me a cow, Thirty geese, and two turkeys, --eight pigs and a sow;Now if these turn out well, at the end of the year, I shall fill both my pockets with guineas, 'tis clear. " Forgetting her burden, when this she had said, The maid superciliously tossed up her head:When, alas for her prospects! her milk-pail descended, And so all her schemes for the future were ended. This moral, I think, may be safely attached, --"Reckon not on your chickens before they are hatched. " This amusing little poem may be made to seem even funnier if we stop tothink what an absurd little milkmaid she really was! Let us askourselves a few questions: How many quarts of milk were probably in the pail? How many dozen eggsin a hundred? What is milk worth a quart? What are eggs worth a dozen?Was she carrying enough milk to buy a hundred, or even fourscore, goodeggs? Does a farmer count on having sixty out of eighty eggs hatchsuccessfully? If he has sixty chickens hatched, can he count withcertainty on fifty growing big enough to boil or roast? Is it true that the cost of the grain to feed them is a mere trifle? How much is an English shilling in our money? Is a dollar and a half apair too much to expect for good chickens? Is eighty-seven and a halfcents too small a price for a pair? Is twenty pounds too much or toolittle for twenty-five pairs of chickens at three shillings and sixpenceper pair? If she could get twenty pounds for her chickens, could she buy a cow, thirty geese, two turkeys and a sow with a litter of eight pigs for themoney? HOLGER DANSKE By Hans Christian Andersen NOTE. --The first paragraphs of this story contain an old Danish legendwhich Hans Christian Andersen uses very skilfully. We can imagine thatthe story would mean a great deal more to boys of Denmark than it doesto us, for they would be a great deal more familiar with the peoplereferred to than we are; but there is so much in the story that is notconfined to Denmark, and it is told in such a fascinating way, that eventhe boys of the United States will find it interesting. In Denmark there lies a castle named Kronenburgh. It lies close by theOer Sound, where the ships pass through by hundreds every day--English, Russian, and likewise Prussian ships. And they salute the old castlewith cannons--'Boom!' And the castle answers with a 'Boom!' for that'swhat the cannons say instead of 'Good day' and 'Thank you!' In winter noships sail there, for the whole sea is covered with ice quite across tothe Swedish coast; but it has quite the look of a highroad. There wavethe Danish flag and the Swedish flag, and Danes and Swedes say 'Goodday' and 'Thank you!' to each other, not with cannons, but with afriendly grasp of the hand; and one gets white bread and biscuits fromthe other--for strange fare tastes best. "But the most beautiful of all is the old Kronenburgh; and here it isthat Holger Danske sits in the deep, dark cellar, where nobody goes. Heis clad in iron and steel, and leans his head on his strong arm; hislong beard hangs down over the marble table, and has grown into it. Hesleeps and dreams, but in his dreams he sees everything that happens upthere in Denmark. Every Christmas Eve comes an angel, and tells him thatwhat he has dreamed is right, and that he may go to sleep in quiet, forthat Denmark is not yet in any real danger; but when once such a dangercomes, then old Holger Danske will rouse himself, so that the tableshall burst when he draws out his beard! Then he will come forth andstrike, so that it shall be heard in all the countries in the world. " An old grandfather sat and told his little grandson all this aboutHolger Danske; and the little boy knew that what his grandfather toldhim was true. And while the old man sat and told his story, he carved animage which was to represent Holger Danske, and to be fastened to theprow of a ship; for the old grandfather was a carver of figureheads, that is, one who cuts out the figures fastened to the front of ships, from which every ship is named. And here he had cut out Holger Danske, who stood there proudly with his long beard, and held the broad battle-sword in one hand, while with the other he leaned upon the Danish arms. And the old grandfather told him so much about distinguished men andwomen, that it appeared at last to the little grandson as if he knew asmuch as Holger Danske himself, who, after all, could only dream; andwhen the little fellow was in his bed, he thought so much of it, that heactually pressed his chin against the coverlet, and fancied he had along beard that had grown fast to it. But the old grandfather remained sitting at his work, and carved away atthe last part of it; and this was the Danish coat of arms. When he hadfinished, he looked at the whole, and thought of all he had read andheard, and that he had told this evening to the little boy; and henodded, and wiped his spectacles, and put them on again, and said: "Yes, in my time Holger Danske will probably not come; but the boy inthe bed yonder may get to see him, and be there when the struggle reallycomes. " And the good old grandfather nodded again; and the more he looked atHolger Danske, the more plain did it become to him that it was a goodimage he had carved. It seemed really to gain color, and the armorappeared to gleam like iron and steel; the hearts in the Danish armsbecame redder and redder, and the lions with the golden crowns on theirheads leaped up. [Footnote: The Danish arms consist of three lions andnine hearts. ] "That's the most beautiful coat of arms there is in the world!" said theold man. "The lions are strength, and the heart is gentleness and love!" And he looked at the uppermost lion, and thought of King Canute, whobound great England to the throne of Denmark; and he looked at thesecond lion, and thought of Waldemar, who united Denmark and conqueredthe Wendish lands; and he glanced at the third lion, and rememberedMargaret, who united Denmark, Sweden and Norway. But while he looked atthe red hearts, they gleamed more brightly than before; they becameflames, and his heart followed each of them. [Illustration: HOLGER DANSKE] The first heart led him into a dark, narrow prison; there sat aprisoner, a beautiful woman, the daughter of King Christian IV, EleanorUlfeld; [Footnote: This princess was the wife of Corfitz Ulfeld, who wasaccused of high treason. Her only crime was the most faithful love toher unhappy consort; but she was compelled to pass twenty-two years in ahorrible dungeon, until her persecutor, Queen Sophia Amelia, was dead. ]and the flame, which was shaped like a rose, attached itself to herbosom and blossomed, so that it became one with the heart of her, thenoblest and best of all Danish women. And his spirit followed the second flame, which led him out upon thesea, where the cannons thundered and the ships lay shrouded in smoke;and the flame fastened itself in the shape of a ribbon of honor on thebreast of Hvitfeld, as he blew himself and his ship into the air, thathe might save the fleet. [Footnote: In the naval battle in Kjoge Baybetween the Danes and the Swedes, in 1710, Hvitfeld's ship, theDanebrog, took fire. To save the town of Kjoge, and the Danish fleet, which was being driven by the wind toward his vessel, he blew himselfand his whole crew into the air. ] And the third flame led him to the wretched huts of Greenland, where thepreacher Hans Egede [Footnote: Hans Egede went to Greenland in 1721, andtoiled there during fifteen years among incredible hardships andprivations. Not only did he spread Christianity, but exhibited inhimself a remarkable example of a Christian man. ] wrought, with love inevery word and deed; the flame was a star on his breast, another heartin the Danish arms. And the spirit of the old grandfather flew on before the waving flames, for his spirit knew whither the flames desired to go. In the humble roomof the peasant woman stood Frederick VI. , writing his name with chalk onthe beam. [Footnote: On a journey on the west coast of Jutland, the Kingvisited an old woman. When he had already quitted her house, the womanran after him, and begged him, as a remembrance, to write his name upona beam; the King turned back, and complied. During his whole lifetime hefelt and worked for the peasant class; therefore the Danish peasantsbegged to be allowed to carry his coffin to the royal vault atRoeskilde, four Danish miles from Copenhagen. ] The flame trembled on hisbreast, and trembled in his heart; in the peasant's lowly room hisheart, too, became a heart in the Danish arms. And the old grandfatherdried his eyes, for he had known King Frederick with the silvery locksand honest blue eyes, and had lived for him; he folded his hands, andlooked in silence straight before him. Then came the daughter-in-law of the old grandfather, and said it waslate, and he ought now to rest; for the supper table was spread. "But it is beautiful, what you have done, grandfather!" said she. "Holger Danske, and all our old coat of arms! It seems to me just as ifI had seen that face before!" "No, that can scarcely be, " replied the old grandfather; "but I haveseen it, and I have tried to carve it in wood as I have kept it in mymemory. It was when the English lay in front of the wharf, on the Danish2d of April [Footnote: On the 2d of April, 1801, occurred the navalbattle between the Danes and the English, under Sir Hyde Parker andNelson. ] when we showed that we were old Danes. In the Denmark, on boardwhich I was, in Steen Bille's squadron, I had a man at my side--itseemed as if the bullets were afraid of him! Merrily he sang old songs, and shot and fought as if he were something more than a man. I rememberhis face yet; but whence he came, and whither he went, I know not--nobody knows. I have often thought he might have been old Holger Danskehimself, who had swum down from the Kronenburgh, and aided us in thehour of danger; that was my idea, and there stands his picture. " And the statue threw its great shadow up against the wall, and even overpart of the ceiling; it looked as though the real Holger Danske werestanding behind it, for the shadow moved, but this might have beenbecause the flame of the candle did not burn steadily. And the daughter-in-law kissed the old grandfather, and led him to thegreat armchair by the table; and she and her husband, who was the son ofthe old man, and father of the little boy in bed, sat and ate theirsupper; and the grandfather spoke of the Danish lions and of the Danishhearts, of strength and of gentleness; and quite clearly did he explainthat there was another strength besides the power that lies in thesword; and he pointed to the shelf on which were the old books, wherestood the plays of Kolberg, which had been read so often, for they werevery amusing; one could almost fancy one recognized the people of bygonedays in them. "See, he knew how to strike, too, " said the grandfather; "he scourgedthe foolishness and prejudice of the people so long as he could. " Andthe grandfather nodded at the mirror, above which stood the calendar, with the "Round Tower" [Footnote: The astronomical observatory atCopenhagen. ] on it, and said, "Tycho Brahe was also one who used thesword, not to cut into flesh and bone, but to build up a plainer wayamong all the stars of heaven. And then HE, whose father belonged to mycalling, the son of the figurehead carver, he whom we have ourselvesseen, with his silver hairs and his broad shoulders, he whose name isspoken of in all lands! Yes, HE was a sculptor; _I_ am only a carver. Yes, Holger Danske may come in many forms, so that one hears in everycountry of Denmark's strength. Shall we now drink the health of Bertel?"[Footnote: Bertel Thorwaldsen, the great Danish sculptor. ] [Illustration: THE FIGUREHEAD] But the little lad in the bed saw plainly the old Kronenburgh, with theOer Sound, and the real Holger Danske, who sat deep below, with hisbeard grown through the marble table, dreaming of all that happens uphere. Holger Danske also dreamed of the little, humble room where thecarver sat; he heard all that passed, and nodded in his sleep, and said: "Yes, remember me, ye Danish folk; remember me. I shall come in the hourof need. " And without, by the Kronenburgh, shone the bright day, and the windcarried the note of the hunting horn over from the neighboring land; theship sailed past, and saluted, "Boom! boom!" and from the Kronenburghcame the reply, "Boom! boom!" But Holger Danske did not awake, howeverloudly they shot, for it was only "Good day" and "Thank you!" There must be another kind of shooting before he awakes; but he willawake, for there is faith in Holger Danske. Can you see Holger Danske "clad in iron and steel?" Where have you seena picture of such clothing? Is it not curious that his beard is said tohave grown into the marble? He must have been sitting there for manycenturies for such a thing to happen! Do you not understand that thelittle boy did not KNOW that Holger Danske was in the deep cellar, butmerely believed it to be true? If so, why does the story say he KNEW it? When you read that the Danish Arms consist of "three lions and ninehearts, " what do you see? Has the United States any arms? What are they? Do you know a legend about King Canute and the waves of the sea? Can youfind out anything more about Waldemar and Margaret? Do you think the man whose face was carved into a figurehead was reallyHolger Danske? Do you think it possible that the grandfather could meanthat every brave man who fights for his country is a Holger Danske? Canyou imagine the great figure of Holger Danske throwing its shadow on thewall and seeming to move about in the candle light? Does the grandfatherbelieve that such heroes can do other things than fight? What do you know about Thorwaldsen? Did you ever see a picture of hisbeautiful statue of Christ? Did the little boy see any other HolgerDanske than the one whose beard was grown into the marble table? Has a Holger ever come to save this United States from great danger?Would you call Washington and Longfellow and Hawthorne, Holgers? Why?Can you name a few men whom the grandfather, had he been an American, might have said were Holgers? Do you not believe that if the people ofthe United States need a great man he will be forthcoming if we havefaith that he will come? Do you not think that the little Danish boy, by his dreaming aboutHolger Danske, might have come to be the very one to aid his countrymost? Is it worth while for each of us to try to be a Holger? WHAT THE OLD MAN DOES IS ALWAYS RIGHT By Hans Christian Andersen I will tell you the story which was told to me when I was a little boy. Every time I thought of the story it seemed to me to become more andmore charming; for it is with stories as it is with many people--theybecome better as they grow older. I take it for granted that you have been in the country, and have seen avery old farmhouse with a thatched roof, and mosses and small plantsgrowing wild upon the thatch. There is a stork's nest on the summit ofthe gable; for we can't do without the stork. The walls of the house aresloping, and the windows are low, and only one of the latter is made sothat it will open. The baking-oven sticks out of the wall like a littlefat body. The elder tree hangs over the paling, and beneath itsbranches, at the foot of the paling, is a pool of water in which a fewducks are disporting themselves. There is a yard dog, too, who barks atall comers. Just such a farmhouse stood out in the country; and in this house dweltan old couple--a peasant and his wife. Small as was their property, there was one article among it that they could do without--a horse, thatlived on the grass it found by the side of the highroad. The old peasantrode into the town on this horse; and often his neighbors borrowed it ofhim, and rendered the old couple some service in return for the loan ofit. But they thought it would be best if they sold the horse, orexchanged it for something that might be more useful to them. But whatmight this SOMETHING be? "You'll know that best, old man, " said the wife. "It is fair day to-day, so ride into town, and get rid of the horse for money, or make a goodexchange; whichever you do will be right to me. Ride off to the fair. " And she fastened his neckerchief for him, for she could do that betterthan he could; and she tied it in a double bow, for she could do thatvery prettily. Then she brushed his hat round and round with the palm ofher hand, and gave him a kiss. So he rode away upon the horse that wasto be sold or to be bartered for something else. Yes, the old man knewwhat he was about. The sun shone hotly down, and not a cloud was to be seen in the sky. Theroad was very dusty, for many people, who were all bound for the fair, were driving, or riding, or walking upon it. There was no shelteranywhere from the sunbeams. Among the rest, a man was trudging along, driving a cow to the fair. Thecow was as beautiful a creature as any cow can be. "She gives good milk, I'm sure, " said the peasant. "That would be a verygood exchange--the cow for the horse. " "Hallo, you there with the cow!" he said; "I tell you what--I fancy ahorse costs more than a cow, but I don't care for that; a cow would bemore useful to me. If you like, we'll exchange. " "To be sure I will, " returned the man; and they exchanged accordingly. So that was settled, and the peasant might have turned back, for he haddone the business he came to do; but as he had once made up his mind togo to the fair, he determined to proceed, merely to have a look at it;and so he went on to the town with his cow. Leading the animal, he strode sturdily on; and after a short time heovertook a man who was driving a sheep. It was a good fat sheep, with afine fleece on its back. "I should like to have that fellow, " said our peasant to himself. "Hewould find plenty of grass by our palings, and in the winter we couldkeep him in the room with us. Perhaps it would be more practical to havea sheep instead of a cow. Shall we exchange?" The man with the sheep was quite ready, and the bargain was struck. Soour peasant went on in the highroad with his sheep. Soon he overtook another man, who came into the road from a field, carrying a great goose under his arm. "That's a heavy thing you have there. It has plenty of feathers andplenty of fat, and would look well tied to a string, and paddling in thewater at our place. That would be something for my old woman; she couldmake much profit out of it. How often she has said, 'If we only had agoose!' Now, perhaps, she can have one. Shall we exchange? I'll give youmy sheep for your goose, and thank you into the bargain. " The other man had not the least objection; and accordingly theyexchanged, and our peasant became the owner of the goose. By this time he was very near the town. The crowd on the highroad becamegreater and greater; there was quite a crush of men and cattle. Theywalked in the road, and close by the paling; and at the barrier theyeven walked into the tollman's potato field, where his own fowl wasstrutting about with a string to its legs, lest it should take fright atthe crowd, and stray away, and so be lost. This fowl had short tailfeathers, and winked with both its eyes, and looked very cunning. "Cluck! cluck!" said the fowl. What it thought when it said this Icannot tell you; but as soon as our good man saw it, he thought, "That'sthe finest fowl I've ever seen in my life! Why, it's finer than ourparson's brood hen. On my word, I should like to have that fowl. A fowlcan always find a grain or two, and can almost keep itself. I think itwould be a good exchange if I could get that in exchange for my goose. Shall we exchange?" he asked the toll taker. "Exchange!" repeated the man; "well, that would not be a bad thing. " And so they exchanged; the toll taker at the barrier kept the goose, andthe peasant carried away the fowl. Now, he had done a good deal of business on his way to the fair, and hewas hot and tired. He wanted something to eat and to drink; and soon hewas in front of the inn. He was just about to step in, when the hostlercame out; so they met at the door. The hostler was carrying a sack. "What have you in that sack?" asked the peasant. "Rotten apples, " answered the hostler; "a whole sackful of them--enoughto feed the pigs with. " "Why, that's terrible waste! I should like to take them to my old womanat home. Last year the old tree by the turf-hole only bore a singleapple, and we kept it in the cupboard till it was quite rotten andspoiled, 'It was always property, ' my old woman said; but here she couldsee a quantity of property--a whole sackful. Yes, I shall be glad toshow them to her. " "What will you give me for the sackful?" asked the hostler. "What will I give? I will give my fowl in exchange. " And he gave the fowl accordingly, and received the apples, which hecarried into the guest room. He leaned the sack carefully by the stove, and then went to the table. But the stove was hot; he had not thought ofthat. Many guests were present--horse dealers, ox-herds, and twoEnglishmen--and the two Englishmen were so rich that their pocketsbulged out with gold coins, and almost burst; and they could wager, too, as you shall hear. Hiss-s-s! hiss-s-s! What was that by the stove? The apples werebeginning to roast. "What is that?" "Why, do you know---" said our peasant. And he told the whole story of the horse that he had exchanged for acow, and all the rest of it down to the apples. "Well, your old woman will give it you well when you get home, " said oneof the Englishmen. "There will be a disturbance. " "What?--give me what?" said the peasant. "She will kiss me, and say, 'What the old man does is always right. '" "Shall we wager?" said the Englishman. "We'll wager coined gold by theton--a hundred pounds to the hundredweight!" "A bushel will be enough, " replied the peasant. "I can only set thebushel of apples against it; and I'll throw myself and my old woman intothe bargain--and I fancy that's piling up the measure. " "Done--taken!" And the bet was made. The host's carriage came up, and the Englishmengot in, and the peasant got in; away they went, and soon they stoppedbefore the peasant's hut. "Good evening, old woman. " "Good evening, old man. " "I've made exchange. " "Yes, you understand what you're about, " said the woman. And she embraced him, and paid no attention to the stranger guests, nordid she notice the sack. "I got a cow in exchange for the horse, " said he. "Heaven be thanked!" said she. "What glorious milk we shall now have, and butter and cheese upon the table! That was a most capital exchange!" "Yes, but I exchanged the cow for a sheep. " "Ah, that's better still!" cried the wife. "You always think ofeverything; we have just pasture enough for a sheep. Ewe's milk andcheese, and woolen jackets and stockings! The cow cannot give those, andher hairs will only come off. How you think of everything!" "But I changed away the sheep for a goose. " "Then this year we shall have really roast goose to eat, my dear oldman. You are always thinking of something to give me pleasure. Howcharming that is! We can let the goose walk about with a string to herleg, and she'll grow fatter still before we roast her. " "But I gave away the goose for a fowl, " said the man. [Illustration: "MY DEAR GOOD HUSBAND!"] "A fowl? That WAS a good exchange!" replied the woman. "The fowl willlay eggs and hatch them, and we shall soon have chickens; we shall havea whole poultry yard! Oh, that's just what I was wishing for. " "Yes, but I exchanged the fowl for a sack of shriveled apples. " "What!--I must positively kiss you for that, " exclaimed the wife, "Mydear, good husband! Now I'll tell you something. Do you know, you hadhardly left me this morning, before I began thinking how I could giveyou something very nice this evening. I thought it should be pancakeswith savory herbs. I had eggs, and bacon too; but I wanted herbs. So Iwent over to the schoolmaster's--they have herbs there, I know--but theschoolmistress is a mean woman, though she looks so sweet. I begged herto lend me a handful of herbs, 'Lend!' she answered me; 'nothing at allgrows in our garden, not even a shriveled apple. I could not even lendyou a shriveled apple, my dear woman. ' But now _I_ can lend HER twenty, or a whole sackful. That I'm very glad of; that makes me laugh!" Andwith that she gave him a sounding kiss. "I like that!" exclaimed both the Englishmen together. "Always goingdownhill, and always merry; that's worth the money. " So they paid a hundredweight of gold to the peasant, who was notscolded, but kissed. Yes, it always pays, when the wife sees and always asserts that herhusband knows best, and that whatever he does is right. You see, that is my story. I heard it when I was a child; and now youhave heard it too, and know that "What the old man does is alwaysright. " THE FAIRIES OF THE CALDON-LOW By Mary Howitt "And where have you been, my Mary, And where have you been from me?""I've been to the top of the Caldon-Low, The midsummer night to see!" "And what did you see, my Mary, All up on the Caldon-Low?""I saw the blithe sunshine come down, And I saw the merry winds blow. " "And what did you hear, my Mary, All up on the Caldon-Hill?""I heard the drops of water made, And I heard the corn-ears fill. " "Oh, tell me all, my Mary-- All, all that ever you know; For you must have seen the fairies Last night on the Caldon-Low. " "Then take me on your knee, mother, And listen, mother of mine: A hundred fairies danced last night, And the harpers they were nine; "And merry was the glee of the harp-strings, And their dancing feet so small; But, oh! the sound of their talking Was merrier far than all!" [Illustration] "And what were the words, my Mary, That you did hear them say?""I'll tell you all, my mother, But let me have my way. "And some they played with the water, And rolled it down the hill; 'And this, ' they said, 'shall speedily turn The poor old miller's mill; "'For there has been no water Ever since the first of May; And a busy man shall the miller be By the dawning of the day! "'Oh, the miller, how he will laugh, When he sees the milldam rise! The jolly old miller, how he will laugh, Till the tears fill both his eyes!' "'And some they seized the little winds, That sounded over the hill, And each put a horn into his mouth, And blew so sharp and shrill! [Illustration] "'And there, ' said they, 'the merry winds go Away from every horn; And those shall clear the mildew dank From the blind old widow's corn: "'Oh, the poor blind widow-- Though she has been blind so long, She'll be merry enough when the mildew's gone, And the corn stands stiff and strong!' "And some they brought the brown linseed, And flung it down from the Low; 'And this, ' said they, 'by the sunrise, In the weaver's croft shall grow! "'Oh, the poor lame weaver! How will he laugh outright When he sees his dwindling flax field All full of flowers by night!' "And then up spoke a brownie, With a long beard on his chin; 'I have spun up all the tow, ' said he, 'And I want some more to spin. "'I've spun a piece of hempen cloth, And I want to spin another-- A little sheet for Mary's bed And an apron for her mother!' "And with that I could not help but laugh, And I laughed out loud and free; And then on the top of the Caldon-Low There was no one left but me. "And all on the top of the Caldon-Low The mists were cold and gray, And nothing I saw but the mossy stones That round about me lay. "But as I came down from the hilltop, I heard, afar below, How busy the jolly miller was, And how merry the wheel did go. "And I peeped into the widow's field, And, sure enough, was seen The yellow ears of the mildewed corn All standing stiff and green! "And down by the weaver's croft I stole, To see if the flax were high; But I saw the weaver at his gate With the good news in his eye! "Now, this is all that I heard, mother, And all that I did see; So, prithee, make my bed, mother, For I'm tired as I can be!" WHO STOLE THE BIRD'S NEST? By L. Maria Child "To-whit! to-whit! to-whee! Will you listen to me? Who stole four eggs I laid, And the nice nest I made?" "Not I, " said the cow; "Moo-oo!Such a thing I'd never do. I gave you a wisp of hay, But didn't take your nest away. Not I, " said the cow; "Moo-oo!Such a thing I'd never do. " "To-whit! to-whit! to-whee! Will you listen to me? Who stole four eggs I laid, And the nice nest I made?" "Bob-o'-link! Bob-o'-link! Now, what do you think? Who stole a nest away From the plum tree, to-day?" "Not I, " said the dog; "Bow-wow!I wouldn't be so mean, anyhow!I gave hairs the nest to make, But the nest I did not take. Not I, " said the dog; "Bow-wow!I'm not so mean, anyhow. " [Illustration] "To-whit I to-whit! to-whee! Will you listen to me? Who stole four eggs I laid, And the nice nest I made?" "Bob-o'-link! Bob-o'-link! Now what do you think? Who stole a nest away From the plum tree, to-day?" "Coo-coo! Coo-coo! Coo-coo! Let me speak a word, too! Who stole that pretty nest From little yellow-breast?" "Not I, " said the sheep; "Oh, no!I wouldn't treat a poor bird so. I gave wool the nest to line, But the nest was none of mine. Baa! Baa!" said the sheep; "Oh, no. I wouldn't treat a poor bird so. " "To-whit! to-whit! to-whee! Will you listen to me? Who stole four eggs I laid, And the nice nest I made?" [Illustration] "Bob-o'-link! Bob-o'-link! Now, what do you think? Who stole a nest away From the plum tree, to-day?" "Coo-coo! Coo-coo! Coo-coo! Let me speak a word, too! Who stole that pretty nest From little yellow-breast?" "Caw! Caw!" cried the crow; "I should like to know What thief took away A bird's nest to-day?" "Cluck! Cluck!" said the hen, "Don't ask me again. Why, I haven't a chickWould do such a trick. We all gave her a feather, And she wove them together. I'd scorn to intrudeOn her and her brood. Cluck! Cluck!" said the hen, "Don't ask me again. " "Chirr-a-whirr! Chirr-a-whirr! All the birds make a stir! Let us find out his name, And all cry, 'For shame!'" "I would not rob a bird, " Said little Mary Green; "I think I never heard Of anything so mean. " "It is very cruel, too, " Said little Alice Neal; "I wonder if he knew How sad the bird would feel?" A little boy hung down his head, And went and hid behind the bed;For HE stole that pretty nestFrom poor little yellow-breast;And he felt so full of shame, He didn't like to tell his name. In this little dialogue, what part do the birds take? What part do theanimals take? THE FIRST SNOWFALL By James Russell Lovell The snow had begun in the gloaming, And busily all the nightHad been heaping field and highway With a silence deep and white. Every pine and fir and hemlock Wore ermine too dear for an earl, And the poorest twig on the elm tree Was ridged inch deep with pearl. From sheds new-roofed with Carrara Came Chanticleer's muffled crow, The stiff rails were softened to swan's-down, And still fluttered down the snow. I stood and watched by the window The noiseless work of the sky, And the sudden flurries of snowbirds, Like brown leaves whirling by. I thought of a mound in sweet Auburn Where a little headstone stood;How the flakes were folding it gently, As did robins the babes in the wood. Up spoke our own little Mabel, Saying, "Father, who makes it snow?"And I told of the good All-father Who cares for us here below. [Illustration] Again I looked at the snowfall, And thought of the leaden skyThat arched o'er our first great sorrow, When that mound was heaped so high. I remembered the gradual patience That fell from that cloud like snow, Flake by flake, healing and hiding The scar of our deep-plunged woe. And again to the child I whispered, "The snow that husheth all, Darling, the merciful Father Alone can make it fall!" Then, with eyes that saw not, I kissed her; And she, kissing back, could not knowThat MY kiss was given to her sister, Folded close under deepening snow. [Footnote: Lowell refers here to a daughter, Blanche, who died shortlybefore the birth of his daughter Rosa. ] THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER By John Ruskin I In a secluded and mountainous part of Styria there was, in old time, avalley of the most surprising and luxuriant fertility. It was surroundedon all sides by steep and rocky mountains, rising into peaks, which werealways covered with snow, and from which a number of torrents descendedin constant cataracts. One of these fell westward, over the face of acrag so high that, when the sun had set to everything else, and allbelow was darkness, his beams still shone full upon this waterfall, sothat it looked like a shower of gold. It was therefore called by thepeople of the neighborhood the Golden River. It was strange that none ofthese streams fell into the valley itself. They all descended on theother side of the mountains, and wound away through broad plains and bypopulous cities. But the clouds were drawn so constantly to the snowyhills, and rested so softly in the circular hollow, that, in time ofdrought and heat, when all the country round was burned up, there wasstill rain in the little valley; and its crops were so heavy, and itshay so high, and its apples so red, and its grapes so blue, and its wineso rich, and its honey so sweet, that it was a marvel to every one whobeheld it, and was commonly called the Treasure Valley. The whole of this little valley belonged to three brothers, calledSchwartz, Hans, and Gluck. Schwartz and Hans, the two elder brothers, were very ugly men, with overhanging eyebrows and small, dull eyes, which were always half shut, so that you couldn't see into them, andalways fancied they saw very far into you. They lived by farming theTreasure Valley, and very good farmers they were. They killed everythingthat did not pay for its eating. They shot the blackbirds, because theypecked the fruit; and killed the hedgehogs, lest they should suck thecows; they poisoned the crickets for eating the crumbs in the kitchen;and smothered the cicadas, which used to sing all summer in the limetrees. They worked their servants without any wages, till they would notwork any more, and then quarrelled with them, and turned them out ofdoors without paying them. It would have been very odd if, with such afarm, and such a system of farming, they hadn't got very rich; and veryrich they did get. They generally contrived to keep their corn by themtill it was very dear, and then sell it for twice its value; they hadheaps of gold lying about on their floors, yet it was never known thatthey had given so much as a penny or a crust in charity; they never wentto mass; grumbled perpetually at paying tithes; and were, in a word, ofso cruel and grinding a temper, as to receive from all those with whomthey had any dealings, the nickname of the "Black Brothers. " The youngest brother, Gluck, was as completely opposed, in bothappearance and character, to his seniors as could possibly be imaginedor desired. He was not above twelve years old, fair, blue-eyed. And kindin temper to every living thing. He did not, of course, agreeparticularly well with his brothers, or, rather, they did not agree withhim. He was usually appointed to the honorable office of turnspit, whenthere was anything to roast, which was not often; for, to do thebrothers justice, they were hardly less sparing upon themselves thanupon other people. At other times he used to clean the shoes, thefloors, and sometimes the plates, occasionally getting what was left onthem, by way of encouragement, and a wholesome quantity of dry blows, byway of education. Things went on in this manner for a long time. At last came a very wetsummer, and everything went wrong in the country round. The hay hadhardly been got in, when the haystacks were floated bodily down to thesea by an inundation; the vines were cut to pieces with the hail; thecorn was all killed by a black blight; only in the Treasure Valley, asusual, all was safe. As it had rain when there was rain nowhere else, soit had sun when there was sun nowhere else. Everybody came to buy cornat the farm, and went away pouring maledictions on the Black Brothers. They asked what they liked, and got it, except from the poor people, whocould only beg, and several of whom were starved at their very door, without the slightest regard or notice. It was drawing toward winter, and very cold weather, when one day thetwo elder brothers had gone out, with their usual warning to littleGluck, who was left to mind the roast, that he was to let nobody in, andgive nothing out. Gluck sat down quite close to the fire, for it wasraining very hard, and the kitchen walls were by no means dry orcomfortable looking. He turned and turned, and the roast got nice andbrown. "What a pity, " thought Gluck, "my brothers never ask anybody todinner. I'm sure, when they've got such a nice piece of mutton as this, and nobody else has got so much as a piece of dry bread, it would dotheir hearts good to have somebody to eat it with them. " Just as he spoke, there came a double knock at the house door, yet heavyand dull, as though the knocker had been tied up--more like a puff thana knock. "It must be the wind, " said Gluck; "nobody else would venture to knockdouble knocks at our door. " No; it wasn't the wind; there it came again very hard, and, what wasparticularly astounding, the knocker seemed to be in a hurry, and not tobe in the least afraid of the consequences. Gluck went to the window, opened it, and put his head out to see who it was. It was the most extraordinary-looking little gentleman he had ever seenin his life. He had a very large nose, slightly brass-colored; hischeeks were very round and very red, and might have warranted asupposition that he had been blowing a refractory fire for the lasteight-and-forty hours; his eyes twinkled merrily through long silkyeyelashes, his mustaches curled twice round like a corkscrew on eachside of his mouth, and his hair, of a curious mixed pepper-and-saltcolor, descended far over his shoulders. He was about four feet six inheight, and wore a conical-pointed cap of nearly the same altitude, decorated with a black feather some three feet long. His doublet wasprolonged behind into something resembling a violent exaggeration ofwhat is now termed a "swallow-tail, " but was much obscured by theswelling folds of an enormous black, glossy-looking cloak, which musthave been very much too long in calm weather, as the wind, whistlinground the old house, carried it clear out from the wearer's shoulders toabout four times his own length. [Illustration: "HELLO, I'M WET, LET ME IN"] Gluck was so perfectly paralyzed by the singular appearance of hisvisitor that he remained fixed without uttering a word, until the oldgentleman, having performed another and a more energetic concerto on theknocker, turned round to look after his fly-away cloak. In so doing hecaught sight of Gluck's little yellow head jammed in the window, withhis mouth and eyes very wide open indeed. "Hello!" said the little gentleman, "that's not the way to answer thedoor; I'm wet, let me in. " To do the little gentleman justice, he was wet. His feather hung downbetween his legs like a beaten puppy's tail, dripping like an umbrella;and from the ends of his mustaches the water was running into his waistcoat pockets, and out again like a mill-stream. "I beg pardon, sir, " said Gluck; "I'm very sorry, but I really can't. " "Can't what?" said the old gentleman, "I can't let you in, sir--I can't indeed; my brothers would beat me todeath, sir, if I thought of such a thing. What do you want, sir?" "Want?" said the old gentleman petulantly; "I want fire and shelter; andthere's your great fire there blazing, crackling, and dancing on thewalls, with nobody to feel it. Let me in, I say; I only want to warmmyself. " Gluck had had his head, by this time, so long out of the window that hebegan to feel it was really unpleasantly cold, and when he turned, andsaw the beautiful fire rustling and roaring, and throwing long brighttongues up the chimney, as if it were licking its chops at the savorysmell of the leg of mutton, his heart melted within him that it shouldbe burning away for nothing. "He does look very wet, " said little Gluck;"I'll just let him in for a quarter of an hour. " Round he went to thedoor, and opened it; and as the little gentleman walked in, through thehouse came a gust of wind that made the old chimneys totter. "That's a good boy, " said the little gentleman. "Never mind yourbrothers. I'll talk to them. " "Pray, sir, don't do any such thing, " said Gluck. "I can't let you staytill they come; they'd be the death of me!" "Dear me, " said the old gentleman, "I'm very sorry to hear that. Howlong may I stay?" "Only till the mutton's done, sir, " replied Gluck, "and it's verybrown. " Then the old gentleman walked into the kitchen, and sat himself down onthe hob, with the top of his cap accommodated up the chimney, for it wasa great deal too high for the roof. "You'll soon dry there, sir, " said Gluck, and sat down again to turn themutton. But the old gentleman did NOT dry there, but went on drip, drip, dripping among the cinders, and the fire fizzed and sputtered, and beganto look very black and uncomfortable; never was such a cloak; every foldin it ran like a gutter. "I beg pardon, sir, " said Gluck at length, after watching the waterspreading in long quicksilver-like streams over the floor for a quarterof an hour; "mayn't I take your cloak?" "No, thank you, " said the old gentleman. "Your cap, sir?" "I'm all right, thank you, " said the old gentleman, rather gruffly. "But--sir--I'm very sorry, " said Gluck hesitatingly; "but--really, sir--you're putting the fire out. " "It'll take longer to do the mutton then, " replied his visitor, dryly. Gluck was very much puzzled by the behavior of his guest; it was such astrange mixture of coolness and humility. He turned away at the stringmeditatively for another five minutes. "That mutton looks very nice, " said the old gentleman, at length. "Can'tyou give me a little bit?" "Impossible, sir, " said Gluck. "I'm very hungry, " continued the old gentleman; "I've had nothing to eatyesterday, nor to-day. They surely couldn't miss a bit from theknuckle!" He spoke in so very melancholy a tone that it quite melted Gluck'sheart. "They promised me one slice to-day, sir, " said he; "I can giveyou that, but not a bit more. " "That's a good boy, " said the old gentleman again. Then Gluck warmed a plate and sharpened a knife. "I don't care if I doget beaten for it, " thought he. Just as he had cut a large slice out ofthe mutton, there came a tremendous rap at the door. The old gentlemanjumped off the hob, as if it had suddenly become inconveniently warm. Gluck fitted the slice into the mutton again, with desperate efforts atexactitude, and ran to open the door. "What did you keep us waiting in the rain for?" said Schwartz, as hewalked in, throwing his umbrella in Gluck's face. "Ay! what for, indeed, you little vagabond?" said Hans, administering aneducational box on the ear, as he followed his brother into the kitchen. "Bless my soul!" said Schwartz, when he opened the door. "Amen, " said the little gentleman, who had taken his cap off, and wasstanding in the middle of the kitchen, bowing with the utmost possiblevelocity. "Who's that?" said Schwartz, catching up a rolling-pin, and turning toGluck with a fierce frown. "I don't know, indeed, brother, " said Gluck, in great terror. "How did he get in?" roared Schwartz. "My dear brother, " said Gluck deprecatingly, "he was so very wet!" The rolling-pin was descending on Gluck's head; but, at the instant, theold gentleman interposed his conical cap, on which it crashed with ashock that shook the water out of it all over the room. What was veryodd, the rolling-pin no sooner touched the cap, than it flew out ofSchwartz's hand, spinning like a straw in a high wind, and fell into thecorner at the further end of the room. "Who are you, sir?" demanded Schwartz, turning upon him. "What's your business?" snarled Hans. "I'm a poor old man, sir, " the little gentleman began very modestly, "and I saw your fire through the window, and begged shelter for aquarter of an hour. " "Have the goodness to walk out again, then, " said Schwartz. "We've quitewater enough in our kitchen, without making it a drying-house. " "It's a cold day to turn an old man out in, sir; look at my gray hairs. "They hung down to his shoulders, as I told you before. "Ay!" said Hans, "there are enough of them to keep you warm. Walk!" "I'm very, very hungry, sir; couldn't you spare me a bit of bread beforeI go?" "Bread, indeed!" said Schwartz; "do you suppose we've nothing to do withour bread but to give it to such red-nosed fellows as you?" "Why don't you sell your feather?" said Hans, sneeringly. "Out withyou. " "A little bit, " said the old gentleman. "Be off!" said Schwartz. "Pray, gentlemen. " "Off, and be hanged!" cried Hans, seizing him by the collar. But he hadno sooner touched the old gentleman's collar, than away he went afterthe rolling-pin, spinning round and round, till he fell into the corneron the top of it. Then Schwartz was very angry, and ran at the oldgentleman to turn him out; but he also had hardly touched him, when awayhe went after Hans and the rolling-pin, and hit his head against thewall as he tumbled into the corner. And so there they lay, all three. Then the old gentleman spun himself round with velocity in the oppositedirection; continued to spin until his long cloak was all wound neatlyabout him; clapped his cap on his head, very much on one side (for itcould not stand upright without going through the ceiling), gave anadditional twist to his corkscrew mustaches, and replied with perfectcoolness: "Gentlemen, I wish you a very good morning. At twelve o'clockto-night I'll call again; after such a refusal of hospitality as I havejust experienced, you will not be surprised if that visit is the last Iever pay you. " "If I ever catch you here again, " muttered Schwartz, coming, halffrightened, out of the corner--but before he could finish his sentence, the old gentleman had shut the house door behind him with a great bang;and past the window, at the same instant, drove a wreath of raggedcloud, that whirled and rolled away down the valley in all manner ofshapes; turning over and over in the air: and melting away at last in agush of rain. "A very pretty business, indeed, Mr. Gluck!" said Schwartz. "Dish themutton, sir. If ever I catch you at such a trick again--Bless me, whythe mutton's been cut!" "You promised me one slice, brother, you know, " said Gluck. "Oh! and you were cutting it hot, I suppose, and going to catch all thegravy. It'll be long before I promise you such a thing again. Leave theroom, sir; and have the kindness to wait in the coal-cellar till I callyou. " Gluck left the room melancholy enough. The brothers ate as much muttonas they could, locked the rest in the cupboard, and proceeded to getvery drunk after dinner. Such a night as it was! Howling wind and rushing rain withoutintermission. The brothers had just sense enough left to put up all theshutters, and double bar the door, before they went to bed. They usuallyslept in the same room. As the clock struck twelve, they were bothawakened by a tremendous crash. Their door burst open with a violencethat shook the house from top to bottom. "What's that?" cried Schwartz, starting up in his bed. "Only I, " said the little gentleman. The two brothers sat up on their bolster, and stared into the darkness. The room was full of water, and by a misty moonbeam, which found its waythrough a hole in the shutter, they could see, in the midst of it, anenormous foam globe, spinning round, and bobbing up and down like acork, on which, as on a most luxurious cushion, reclined the little oldgentleman, cap and all. There was plenty of room for it now, for the roof was off. "Sorry to incommode you, " said their visitor ironically. "I'm afraidyour beds are dampish; perhaps you had better go to your brother's room;I've left the ceiling on there. " They required no second admonition, but rushed into Gluck's room, wetthrough, and in an agony of terror. "You'll find my card on the kitchen table, " the old gentleman calledafter them. "Remember, the LAST visit. " "Pray Heaven it may be!" said Schwartz, shuddering. And the foam globedisappeared. Dawn came at last, and the two brothers looked out of Gluck's littlewindow in the morning. The Treasure Valley was one mass of ruin anddesolation. The inundation had swept away trees, crops, and cattle, andleft, in their stead, a waste of red sand and gray mud. [Illustration with caption: "SORRY TO INCOMMODE YOU"] The two brothers crept, shivering and horror-struck, into the kitchen. The water had gutted the whole first floor: corn, money, almost everymovable thing had been swept away, and there was left only a small whitecard on the kitchen table. On it, in large, breezy, long-legged letters, were engraved the words: Southwest Wind, Esquire. II Southwest Wind, Esquire, was as good as his word. After the momentousvisit above related, he entered the Treasure Valley no more; and, whatwas worse, he had so much influence with his relations, the West Windsin general, and used it so effectually, that they all adopted a similarline of conduct. So no rain fell in the valley from one year's end toanother. Though everything remained green and flourishing in the plainsbelow, the inheritance of the Three Brothers was a desert. What had oncebeen the richest soil in the kingdom became a shifting heap of red sand;and the brothers, unable longer to contend with the adverse skies, abandoned their valueless patrimony in despair, to seek some means ofgaining a livelihood among the cities and people of the plains. Alltheir money was gone, and they had nothing left but some curious, old-fashioned pieces of gold plate, the last remnants of their ill-gottenwealth. "Suppose we turn goldsmiths?" said Schwartz to Hans, as they entered thelarge city. "It is a good knave's trade: we can put a great deal ofcopper into the gold, without any one's finding it out. " The thought was agreed to be a very good one; they hired a furnace, andturned goldsmiths. But two slight circumstances affected their trade:the first, that people did not approve of the coppered gold, the second, that the two elder brothers, whenever they had sold anything, used toleave little Gluck to mind the furnace, and go and drink out the moneyin the alehouse next door. So they melted all their gold, without makingmoney enough to buy more, and were at last reduced to one largedrinking-mug, which an uncle of his had given to little Gluck, and whichhe was very fond of, and would not have parted with for the world;though he never drank anything out of it but milk and water. The mug wasa very odd mug to look at. The handle was formed of two wreaths offlowing golden hair, so finely spun that it looked more like silk thanlike metal, and these wreaths descended into, and mixed with, a beardand whiskers, of the same exquisite workmanship, which surrounded anddecorated a very fierce little face, of the reddest gold imaginable, right in the front of the mug, with a pair of eyes in it which seemed tocommand its whole circumference. It was impossible to drink out of themug without being subjected to an intense gaze out of the side of theseeyes; and Schwartz positively averred that once, after emptying it fullof Rhenish seventeen times, he had seen them wink! When it came to themug's turn to be made into spoons, it half broke poor little Gluck'sheart; but the brothers only laughed at him, tossed the mug into themelting pot, and staggered out to the alehouse; leaving him, as usual, to pour the gold into bars, when it was all ready. When they were gone, Gluck took a farewell look at his old friend in themelting pot, The flowing hair was all gone; nothing remained but the rednose, and the sparkling eyes, which looked more malicious than ever. "And no wonder, " thought Gluck, "after being treated in that way. " Hesauntered disconsolately to the window, and sat himself down to catchthe fresh evening air, and escape the hot breath of the furnace. Nowthis window commanded a direct view of the range of mountains which, asI told you before, overhung the Treasure Valley, and more especially ofthe peak from which fell the Golden River. It was just at the close ofthe day, and, when Gluck sat down at the window, he saw the rocks of themountain tops all crimson and purple with the sunset; and there werebright tongues of fiery cloud burning and quivering about them; and theriver, brighter than all, fell, in a waving column of pure gold, fromprecipice to precipice, with the double arch of a broad purple rainbowstretched across it, flushing and fading alternately in the wreaths ofspray. "Ah!" said Gluck aloud, after he had looked at it for a little while, "if that river were really all gold, what a nice thing it would be!" "No, it wouldn't, Gluck, " said a clear, metallic voice, close at hisear. "Bless me, what's that?" exclaimed Gluck, jumping up. There was nobodythere. He looked round the room, and under the table, and a great manytimes behind him, but there was certainly nobody there, and he sat downagain at the window. This time he didn't speak, but he couldn't helpthinking again that it would be very convenient if the river were reallyall gold. "Not at all, my boy, " said the same voice, louder than before. "Bless me!" said Gluck again, "what IS that?" He looked again into allthe corners and cupboards, and then began turning round and round, asfast as he could, in the middle of the room, thinking there was somebodybehind him, when the same voice struck again on his ear. It was singingnow very merrily, "Lala-lira-la"; no words, only a soft runningeffervescent melody, something like that of a kettle on the boil. Glucklooked out of the window. No, it was certainly in the house. Upstairs, and downstairs. No, it was certainly in that very room, coming inquicker time and clearer notes every moment, "Lala-lira-la. " All at onceit struck Gluck that it sounded louder near the furnace. He ran to theopening and looked in; yes, he saw right; it seemed to be coming, notonly out of the furnace, but out of the pot. He uncovered it, and ranback in a great fright, for the pot was certainly singing! He stood inthe furthest corner of the room, with his hands up, and his mouth open, for a minute or two, when the singing stopped, and the voice becameclear and pronunciative. "Hollo!" said the voice. Gluck made no answer. "Hollo, Gluck, my boy, " said the pot again. Gluck summoned all his energies, walked straight up to the crucible, drew it out of the furnace, and looked in. The gold was all melted, andits surface as smooth and polished as a river; but instead of itsreflecting little Gluck's head, as he looked in, he saw meeting hisglance, from beneath the gold, the red nose and the sharp eyes of hisold friend of the mug, a thousand times redder and sharper than ever hehad seen them in his life. "Come, Gluck, my boy, " said the voice out of the pot again, "I'm allright; pour me out. " But Gluck was too much astonished to do anything of the kind. "Pour me out, I say, " said the voice rather gruffly, Still Gluck couldn't move. "WILL you pour me out?" said the voice passionately, "I'm too hot. " By a violent effort, Gluck recovered the use of his limbs, took hold ofthe crucible, and sloped it so as to pour out the gold. But instead of aliquid stream, there came out, first, a pair of pretty little yellowlegs, then some coat tails, then a pair of arms stuck akimbo, and, finally, the well-known head of his friend the mug; all which articles, uniting as they rolled out, stood up energetically on the floor, in theshape of a little golden dwarf, about a foot and a half high. "That's right;" said the dwarf, stretching out first his legs, and thenhis arms, and then shaking his head up and down, and as far round as itwould go, for five minutes, without stopping, apparently with the viewof ascertaining if he were quite correctly put together; while Gluckstood contemplating him in speechless amazement. He was dressed in aslashed doublet of spun gold, so fine in its texture that the prismaticcolors gleamed over it, as if on a surface of mother-of-pearl; and overthis brilliant doublet his hair and beard fell full halfway to theground, in waving curls, so exquisitely delicate that Gluck could hardlytell where they ended; they seemed to melt into air. The features of theface, however, were by no means finished with the same delicacy; theywere rather coarse, slightly inclining to coppery in complexion, andindicative, in expression, of a very pertinacious and intractabledisposition in their small proprietor. When the dwarf had finished hisself-examination, he turned his small, sharp eyes full on Gluck, andstared at him deliberately for a minute or two. "No, it wouldn't, Gluck, my boy, " said the little man. This was certainly rather an abrupt and unconnected mode of commencingconversation. It might indeed be supposed to refer to the course ofGluck's thoughts, which had first produced the dwarf's observations outof the pot; but whatever it referred to, Gluck had no inclination todispute the dictum. "Wouldn't it, sir?" said Gluck, very mildly and submissively indeed. "No, " said the dwarf conclusively. "No, it wouldn't. " And with that, thedwarf pulled his cap hard over his brows, and took two turns of threefeet long, up and down the room, lifting his legs very high, and settingthem down very hard. This pause gave time for Gluck to collect histhoughts a little, and, seeing no great reason to view his diminutivevisitor with dread, and feeling his curiosity overcome his amazement, heventured on a question of peculiar delicacy. "Pray, sir, " said Gluck, rather hesitatingly, "were you my mug!" On which the little man turned sharp round, walked straight up to Gluck, and drew himself up to his full height. "I, " said the little man, "amthe King of the Golden River. " Whereupon he turned about again, and tooktwo more turns, some six feet long, in order to allow time for theconsternation which this announcement produced in his auditor toevaporate. After which he again walked up to Gluck and stood still, asif expecting some comment on his communication. Gluck determined to say something, at all events. "I hope your majestyis very well, " said Gluck. "Listen!" said the little man, deigning no reply to this polite inquiry. "I am the King of what you mortals call the Golden River. The shape yousaw me in was owing to the malice of a stronger king, from whoseenchantments you have this instant freed me. What I have seen of you, and your conduct to your wicked brothers, renders me willing to serveyou; therefore attend to what I tell you. Whoever shall climb to the topof that mountain from which you see the Golden River issue, and shallcast into the stream at its source three drops of holy water, for him, and for him only, the river shall turn to gold. But no one failing inhis first can succeed in a second attempt; and if any one shall castunholy water into the river, it will overwhelm him, and he will become ablack stone. " So saying, the King of the Golden River turned away, anddeliberately walked into the center of the hottest flame of the furnace. His figure became red, red, white, transparent, dazzling--a blaze ofintense light--rose, trembled, and disappeared. The King of the GoldenRiver had evaporated. "Oh!" cried poor Gluck, running to look up the chimney after him; "ohdear, dear, dear me! My mug! my mug! my mug!" III The King of the Golden River had hardly made his extraordinary exitbefore Hans and Schwartz came roaring into the house, very savagelydrunk. The discovery of the total loss of their last piece of plate hadthe effect of sobering them just enough to enable them to stand overGluck, beating him very steadily for a quarter of an hour; at theexpiration of which period they dropped into a couple of chairs, andrequested to know what he had got to say for himself. Gluck told themhis story, of which of course they did not believe a word. They beat himagain, till their arms were tired, and staggered to bed. In the morning, however, the steadiness with which he adhered to his story obtained himsome degree of credence; the immediate consequence of which was, thatthe two brothers, after wrangling a long time on the knotty questionwhich of them should try his fortune first, drew their swords, and beganfighting. The noise of the fray alarmed the neighbors, who, finding theycould not pacify the combatants, sent for the constable. Hans, on hearing this, contrived to escape, and hid himself; butSchwartz was taken before the magistrate, fined for breaking the peace, and having drunk out his last penny the evening before, was thrown intoprison till he should pay. When Hans heard this, he was much delighted, and determined to set outimmediately for the Golden River. How to get the holy water was thequestion. He went to the priest, but the priest could not give any holywater to so abandoned a character. So Hans went to vespers in theevening for the first time in his life, and, under pretence of crossinghimself, stole a cupful, and returned home in triumph. Next morning he got up before the sun rose, put the holy water into astrong flask, and two bottles of wine and some meat in a basket, slungthem over his back, took his alpine staff in his hand, and set off forthe mountains. On his way out of the town he had to pass the prison, and as he lookedin at the windows, whom should he see but Schwartz himself peeping outof the bars, and looking very disconsolate. "Good morning, brother, " said Hans; "have you any message for the Kingof the Golden River?" Schwartz gnashed his teeth with rage, and shook the bars with all hisstrength; but Hans only laughed at him, and advising him to make himselfcomfortable till he came back again, shouldered his basket, shook thebottle of holy water in Schwartz's face till it frothed again, andmarched off in the highest spirits in the world. It was, indeed, a morning that might have made any one happy, even withno Golden River to seek for. Level lines of dewy mist lay stretchedalong the valley, out of which rose the massy mountains--their lowercliffs in pale gray shadow, hardly distinguishable from the floatingvapor, but gradually ascending till they caught the sunlight, which ranin sharp touches of ruddy color along the angular crags, and pierced, inlong level rays, through their fringes of spear-like pine. Far aboveshot up red splintered masses of castellated rock, jagged and shiveredinto myriads of fantastic forms, with here and there a streak of sunlitsnow, traced down their chasms like a line of forked lightning; and, farbeyond, and far above all these, fainter than the morning cloud, butpurer and changeless, slept, in the blue sky, the utmost peaks of theeternal snow. The Golden River, which sprang from one of the lower and snowlesselevations, was now nearly in shadow; all but the uppermost jets ofspray, which rose like slow smoke above the undulating line of thecataract, and floated away in feeble wreaths upon the morning wind. On this object, and on this alone, Hans's eyes and thoughts were fixed;forgetting the distance he had to traverse, he set off at an imprudentrate of walking, which greatly exhausted him before he had scaled thefirst range of the green and low hills. He was, moreover, surprised, onsurmounting them, to find that a large glacier, of whose existence, notwithstanding his previous knowledge of the mountains, he had beenabsolutely ignorant, lay between him and the source of the Golden River. He entered on it with the boldness of a practiced mountaineer; yet hethought he had never traversed so strange or so dangerous a glacier inhis life. The ice was excessively slippery; and out of all its chasmscame wild sounds of gushing water: not monotonous or low, but changefuland loud, rising occasionally into drifting passages of wild melody, then breaking off into short, melancholy tones, or sudden shrieks, resembling those of human voices in distress or pain. The ice was brokeninto thousands of confused shapes, but none, Hans thought, like theordinary forms of splintered ice. There seemed a curious EXPRESSIONabout all their outlines--a perpetual resemblance to living features, distorted and scornful. Myriads of deceitful shadows and lurid lightsplayed and floated about and through the pale blue pinnacles, dazzlingand confusing the sight of the traveler; while his ears grew dull andhis head giddy with the constant gush and roar of the concealed waters. These painful circumstances increased upon him as he advanced; the icecrashed and yawned into fresh chasms at his feet, tottering spiresnodded around him, and fell thundering across his path; and though hehad repeatedly faced these dangers on the most terrific glaciers, and inthe wildest weather, it was with a new and oppressive feeling of panic-terror that he leaped the last chasm, and flung himself, exhausted andshuddering on the firm turf of the mountain. He had been compelled to abandon his basket of food, which became aperilous incumbrance on the glacier, and had now no means of refreshinghimself but by breaking off and eating some of the pieces of ice. This, however, relieved his thirst; an hour's repose recruited his hardyframe, and, with the indomitable spirit of avarice, he resumed hislaborious journey. His way now lay straight up a ridge of bare, red rocks, without a bladeof grass to ease the foot or a projecting angle to afford an inch ofshade from the south sun. It was past noon, and the rays beat intenselyupon the steep path, while the whole atmosphere was motionless, andpenetrated with heat. Intense thirst was soon added to the bodilyfatigue with which Hans was now afflicted; glance after glance he caston the flask of water which hung at his belt. "Three drops are enough, "at last thought he; "I may, at least, cool my lips with it. " He opened the flask, and was raising it to his lips, when his eye fellon an object lying on the rock beside him; he thought it moved. It was asmall dog, apparently in the last agony of death from thirst. Its tonguewas out, its jaws dry, its limbs extended lifelessly, and a swarm ofblack ants were crawling about its lips and throat. Its eye moved to thebottle which Hans held in his hand. He raised it, drank, spurned theanimal with his foot, and passed on. And he did not know how it was, buthe thought that a strange shadow had suddenly come across the blue sky. The path became steeper and more rugged every moment; and the high hillair, instead of refreshing him, seemed to throw his blood into a fever. The noise of the hill cataracts sounded like mockery in his ears; theywere all distant, and his thirst increased every moment. Another hourpassed, and he again looked down to the flask at his side; it was halfempty, but there was much more than three drops in it. He stopped toopen it, and again, as he did so, something moved in the path above him. It was a fair child, stretched nearly lifeless on the rock, its breastheaving with thirst, its eyes closed, and its lips parched and burning. Hans eyed it deliberately, drank, and passed on. And a dark gray cloudcame over the sun, and long snake-like shadows crept up along themountain sides. Hans struggled on. The sun was sinking, but its descentseemed to bring no coolness; the leaden weight of the dead air pressedupon his brow and heart, but the goal was near. He saw the cataract ofthe Golden River springing from the hillside, scarcely five hundred feetabove him. He paused for a moment to breathe, and sprang on to completehis task. At this instant a faint cry fell on his ear. He turned, and saw a gray-haired old man extended on the rocks. His eyes were sunk, his featuresdeadly pale, and gathered into an expression of despair. "Water!"--hestretched his arms to Hans, and cried feebly--"Water! I am dying. " [Illustration: THOU HAST HAD THY SHARE OF LIFE] "I have none, " replied Hans; "thou hast had thy share of life. " Hestrode over the prostrate body, and darted on. And a flash of bluelightning rose out of the east, shaped like a sword; it shook thriceover the whole heaven, and left it dark with one heavy, impenetrableshade. The sun was setting; it plunged toward the horizon like a red-hotball. The roar of the Golden River rose on Hans's ear. He stood at the brinkof the chasm through which it ran. Its waves were filled with the redglory of the sunset; they shook their crests like tongues of fire, andflashes of bloody light gleamed along their foam. Their sound camemightier and mightier on his senses; his brain grew giddy with theprolonged thunder. Shuddering, he drew the flask from his girdle, andhurled it into the centre of the torrent. As he did so, an icy chillshot through his limbs; he staggered, shrieked, and fell. The waterclosed over his cry. And the moaning of the river rose wildly into thenight, as it gushed over The Black Stone. IV Poor little Gluck waited very anxiously alone in the house for Hans'sreturn. Finding he did not come back, he was terribly frightened, andwent and told Schwartz in the prison all that had happened. ThenSchwartz was very much pleased, and said that Hans must certainly havebeen turned into a black stone, and he should have all the gold tohimself. But Gluck was very sorry, and cried all night. When he got upin the morning, there was no bread in the house, nor any money; so Gluckwent and hired himself to another goldsmith, and he worked so hard, andso neatly, and so long every day, that he soon got money enough togetherto pay his brother's fine, and he went and gave it all to Schwartz, andSchwartz got out of prison. Then Schwartz was quite pleased, and said heshould have some of the gold of the river. But Gluck only begged hewould go and see what had become of Hans. Now when Schwartz had heard that Hans had stolen the holy water, hethought to himself that such a proceeding might not be consideredaltogether correct by the King of the Golden River, and determined tomanage matters better. So he took some more of Gluck's money, and wentto a bad priest, who gave him some holy water very readily for it. ThenSchwartz was sure it was all quite right. So Schwartz got up early inthe morning before the sun rose, and took some bread and wine in abasket, and put his holy water in a flask, and set off for themountains. Like his brother, he was much surprised at the sight of the glacier, andhad great difficulty in crossing it, even after leaving his basketbehind him. The day was cloudless, but not bright; a heavy purple haze was hangingover the sky, and the hills looked lowering and gloomy. And as Schwartzclimbed the steep rock path, the thirst came upon him, as it had uponhis brother, until he lifted his flask to his lips to drink. Then he sawthe fair child lying near him on the rocks, and it cried to him, andmoaned for water. "Water, indeed, " said Schwartz; "I haven't half enough for myself, " andpassed on. And as he went he thought the sunbeams grew more dim, and hesaw a low bank of black cloud rising out of the west; and when he hadclimbed for another hour the thirst overcame him again, and he wouldhave drunk. Then he saw the old man lying before him on the path, andheard him cry out for water. "Water, indeed, " said Schwartz; "I haven't half enough for myself, " andon he went. [Illustration: HE CAST THE FLASK INTO THE STREAM] Then again the light seemed to fade from before his eyes, and he lookedup, and, behold, a mist, of the color of blood, had come over the sun;and the bank of black cloud had risen very high, and its edges weretossing and tumbling like the waves of the angry sea. And they cast longshadows, which flickered over Schwartz's path. Then Schwartz climbed for another hour, and again his thirst returned;and as he lifted his flask to his lips, he thought he saw his brotherHans lying exhausted on the path before him, and, as he gazed, thefigure stretched its arms to him, and cried for water. "Ha, ha!" laughedSchwartz, "are you there? Remember the prison bars, my boy. Water, indeed! do you suppose I carried it all the way up here for you?" And hestrode over the figure; yet, as he passed, he thought he saw a strangeexpression of mockery about its lips. And when he had gone a few yardsfarther, he looked back; but the figure was not there. And a sudden horror came over Schwartz, he knew not why; but the thirstfor gold prevailed over his fear, and he rushed on. And the bank ofblack cloud rose to the zenith, and out of it came bursts of spirylightning, and waves of darkness seemed to heave and float between theirflashes, over the whole heavens. And the sky where the sun was settingwas all level, and like a lake of blood; and a strong wind came out ofthat sky, tearing its crimson clouds into fragments, and scattering themfar into the darkness. And when Schwartz stood by the brink of theGolden River, its waves were black like thunder-clouds, but their foamwas like fire; and the roar of the waters below and the thunder abovemet, as he cast the flask into the stream. And, as he did so, thelightning glared in his eyes, and the earth gave way beneath him, andthe waters closed over his cry. And the moaning of the river rose wildlyinto the night, as it gushed over The Two Black Stones. V When Gluck found that Schwartz did not come back, he was very sorry, anddid not know what to do. He had no money, and was obliged to go and hirehimself again to the goldsmith, who worked him very hard, and gave himvery little money. So, after a month or two, Gluck grew tired, and madeup his mind to go and try his fortune with the Golden River. "The littleking looked very kind, " thought he. "I don't think he will turn me intoa black stone. " So he went to the priest, and the priest gave him someholy water as soon as he asked for it. Then Gluck took some bread in hisbasket, and the bottle of water, and set off very early for themountains. If the glacier had occasioned a great deal of fatigue to his brothers, it was twenty times worse for him, who was neither so strong nor sopracticed on the mountains. He had several very bad falls, lost hisbasket and bread, and was very much frightened at the strange noisesunder the ice. He lay a long time to rest on the grass, after he had gotover, and began to climb the hill just in the hottest part of the day. When he had climbed for an hour, he got dreadfully thirsty, and wasgoing to drink like his brothers, when he saw an old man coming down thepath above him, looking very feeble, and leaning on a staff. "My son, " said the old man, "I am faint with thirst; give me some ofthat water. " Then Gluck looked at him, and when he saw that he was pale and weary, hegave him the water. "Only pray don't drink it all, " said Gluck. But the old man drank agreat deal, and gave him back the bottle two thirds empty. Then he badehim good speed, and Gluck went on again merrily. And the path becameeasier to his feet, and two or three blades of grass appeared upon it, and some grasshoppers began singing on the bank beside it; and Gluckthought he had never heard such merry singing. Then he went on for another hour, and the thirst increased on him sothat he thought he should be forced to drink. But, as he raised theflask, he saw a little child lying panting by the roadside, and it criedout piteously for water. Then Gluck struggled with himself anddetermined to bear the thirst a little longer; and he put the bottle tothe child's lips, and it drank it all but a few drops. Then it smiled onhim and got up, and ran down the hill; and Gluck looked after it, tillit became as small as a little star, and then turned, and began climbingagain. And then there were all kinds of sweet flowers growing on therocks, bright green moss, with pale pink starry flowers, and soft-belledgentians, more blue than the sky at its deepest, and pure whitetransparent lilies. And crimson and purple butterflies darted hither andthither, and the sky sent down such pure light that Gluck had never feltso happy in his life. Yet, when he had climbed for another hour, his thirst became intolerableagain; and, when he looked at his bottle, he saw that there were onlyfive or six drops left in it, and he could not venture to drink. And ashe was hanging the flask to his belt again, he saw a little dog lying onthe rocks, gasping for breath--just as Hans had seen it on the day ofhis ascent. And Gluck stopped and looked at it, and then at the GoldenRiver, not five hundred yards above him; and he thought of the dwarf'swords, that no one could succeed, except in his first attempt; and hetried to pass the dog, but it whined piteously, and Gluck stopped again. "Poor beastie, " said Gluck, "it'll be dead when I come down again, if Idon't help it. " Then he looked closer and closer at it, and its eyeturned on him so mournfully that he could not stand it. "Confound theKing and his gold too, " said Gluck; and he opened the flask, and pouredall the water into the dog's mouth. The dog sprang up and stood on its hind legs. Its tail disappeared, itsears became long, longer, silky, golden; its nose became very red, itseyes became very twinkling; in three seconds the dog was gone, andbefore Gluck stood his old acquaintance, the King of the Golden River. "Thank you, " said the monarch; "but don't be frightened, it's allright"; for Gluck showed manifest symptoms of consternation at thisunlooked-for reply to his last observation. "Why didn't you comebefore, " continued the dwarf, "instead of sending me those rascallybrothers of yours, for me to have the trouble of turning into stones?Very hard stones they make, too. " "Oh dear me!" said Gluck; "have you really been so cruel?" "Cruel?" said the dwarf; "they poured unholy water into my stream; doyou suppose I'm going to allow that?" [Illustration: THE DWARF SHOOK THE DROPS INTO THE FLASK] "Why, " said Gluck, "I am sure, sir--your Majesty, I mean--they got thewater out of the church font. " "Very probably, " replied the dwarf; "but, " and his countenance grewstern as he spoke, "the water which has been refused to the cry of theweary and dying is unholy, though it had been blessed by every saint inheaven; and the water which is found in the vessel of mercy is holy, though it had been denied with corpses. " So saying, the dwarf stooped and plucked a lily that grew at his feet. On its white leaves hung three drops of clear dew, and the dwarf shookthem into the flask which Gluck held in his hand. "Cast these into theriver, " he said, "and descend on the other side of the mountains intothe Treasure Valley. And so good speed. " As he spoke, the figure of the dwarf became indistinct. The playingcolors of his robe formed themselves into a prismatic mist of dewylight; he stood for an instant veiled with them as with the belt of abroad rainbow. The colors grew faint, the mist rose into the air; themonarch had evaporated. And Gluck climbed to the brink of the Golden River, and its waves wereas clear as crystal and as brilliant as the sun. And when he cast the three drops of dew into the stream, there openedwhere they fell a small circular whirlpool, into which the watersdescended with a musical noise. Gluck stood watching it for some time, very much disappointed, becausenot only the river was not turned into gold, but its waters seemed muchdiminished in quantity. Yet he obeyed his friend the dwarf, anddescended the other side of the mountains, toward the Treasure Valley;and, as he went, he thought he heard the noise of water working its wayunder the ground. And when he came in sight of the Treasure Valley, behold, a river, like the Golden River, was springing from a new cleftof the rocks above it, and was flowing in innumerable streams among thedry heaps of red sand. And as Gluck gazed, fresh grass sprang beside the new streams, andcreeping plants grew, and climbed among the moistening soil. Youngflowers opened suddenly along the river sides, as stars leap out whentwilight is deepening, and thickets of myrtle and tendrils of vine castlengthening shadows over the valley as they grew. And thus the TreasureValley became a garden again, and the inheritance which had been lost bycruelty was regained by love. And Gluck went and dwelt in the valley, and the poor were never drivenfrom his door; so that his barns became full of corn, and his house oftreasure. And, for him, the river had, according to the dwarf's promise, become a River of Gold. And to this day the inhabitants of the valley point out the place wherethe three drops of holy dew were cast into the stream, and trace thecourse of the Golden River under the ground, until it emerges in theTreasure Valley. And at the top of the cataract of the Golden River arestill to be seen two black stones, round which the waters howlmournfully every day at sunset; and these stones are still called, bythe people of the valley, The Black Brothers. It would be a rather hard thing to choose the very best fairy story, butthere are a great many persons who would say that, everythingconsidered, The King of the Golden River is the finest. Many like TheUgly Duckling, by Hans Christian Andersen, and it certainly is abeautiful story. We must remember in comparing the two that The UglyDuckling has probably lost something in being translated into theEnglish, for it is almost impossible to make a translation as perfect asthe original. For the reason just given, perhaps, The King of the GoldenRiver excels as literature, and almost every boy or girl is glad tostudy the story enough to understand what makes it so very fine. As soon as we have read it we feel that it is an interesting story, andthat we are really the better for reading it. We cannot follow thefortunes of little Gluck without feeling our hearts grow warmer at hiskindly acts, or without knowing that the hospitality, self-denial, sympathy and generosity that he shows are some of the finest traits ofhuman character. Moreover, we are inspired with the desire to be likeGluck, and to curb any inclination to become like his two dark brothers. What we wish to do, however, in this brief study, is to try to find someother points less noticeable, perhaps, but equally interesting, in whichthis story excels many others. Now, one of these points is theremarkably brilliant way in which things are described by Mr. Ruskin. We remember that he was a famous English writer who had a very highregard for painting, and who wrote about pictures until he made theworld believe many of the sensible things he said. Naturally, the writerwho had such an appreciation for pictures would be particular indescription. In other words, we should expect him to paint for usbeautiful word pictures. In this we are not disappointed, when we reach, for instance, the description of the beautiful morning when Hans startedout on his journey to the Golden River. You will find it in an earlypart of the third section of the story. It is not necessary for Ruskin to describe the view that lay beforeHans, but his love for the beautiful and his passion for colors made himsketch for us the imaginary beauties that lay before the selfish andavaricious man. On our part we must try to see the picture as the authorsaw it when he wrote. Imagine rising before us a valley, surrounded on both sides by massivemountains. The valley, we may say, runs north and south, and we are atthe south end of it, for on the cliffs at the west side the sun isshining, its long level rays piercing the fringe of pines and touchingwith a ruddy color the tops of the mountains. It would be a difficultmatter to climb the masses of castellated rock shivered into numberlesscurious forms, for they extend far into the region of eternal snow, andfrom where we stand it seems as though they pierce the blue heavens. Thesnow line is not level along the cliffs, for in places the drifts liedeep in chasms which, from a distance, look like branching rivers ofpure white, or, as Ruskin says, when lighted by the sun, appear like"lines of forked lightning. " At one end of the valley we may see theGolden River, surging, possibly, from the eastern wall, as it is almostwholly in the shadow; yet there are dashes of spray which the shiningsun turns to gold. Between the Golden River and ourselves lie some broadfields of ice. In fact, the picture is not altogether one of beauty, forthere is a suggestion of sublimity and awe mixed with the view whichcauses us to shudder in spite of the glowing radiance of the morning. Inthe next paragraph Hans is shown proceeding on his journey, and then thedepressing elements in the picture become clearer. What did Hans find that surprised him? Did it appear a longer walk tothe Golden River than he had anticipated? What was the nature of theice? If a person were crossing a glacier, would sounds of rushing watertend to frighten him? Was the surface of the glacier smooth? Were theremany fragments of ice that seemed to take human form? Why are theshadows called deceitful? What are lurid lights? What effect did thesights and sounds have upon Hans? Had Hans been in similar dangersbefore? Were these dangers worse than ever before, or was Hans in themood to be disturbed by them? When you have answered the questions in the last paragraph, finish foryourselves the picture of the valley as we first sketched it. Close youreyes and try to see the valley, mountains, sunlight, great rocks, yawning chasms, and the enormous fragments of ice that looked liketerrible beings ready to devour any one who came near them. When youhave done this, you will realize the power of Ruskin's descriptions. Now compare the valley as Hans saw it with the valley as Schwartz andGluck saw it. What changes are there in the picture? There are other descriptions in the story besides those of the valleyand the Golden River. It would be interesting to go through and comparethe different pictures which Ruskin gives us of the King of the GoldenRiver. If we should do this we might gather our information and put itinto a table something like this: THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER I. First Appearance. 1. He is an extraordinary-looking little gentleman. 2. Nose, --large and slightly brass-colored. 3. Cheeks, --round and very red. 4. Eyes, --twinkling under silky lashes. 5. Mustaches, --curled twice around. 6. Hair, --long and of a curious mixed pepper-and-salt color. 7. Height, --four feet six. 8. Clothing: a. Cap, --conical-pointed, four feet six inches (nearly). (1) Black feather, three feet long. B. Doublet. C. Coat, --exaggerated swallow-tail. D. Cloak, --enormous, black, glossy-looking, eighteen feet long. II. Second Appearance (spinning on the globe of foam). 1. Cap and all as before. III. Third Appearance. 1. The drinking-mug. A. The handle of two wreaths of golden hair descending and mixing with the beard and whiskers. B. Face, --small, fierce, reddish-gold. C. Nose, --red. D. Eyes, --sharp. 2. The King. A. Height, --one and a half feet; a golden dwarf. B. Legs, --little and yellow. C. Face, --as before. D. Doublet, --slashed, of spun gold, prismatic colors. E. Hair, --exquisitely delicate curls. F. Features, --coppery, fierce and determined in expression. IV. Fourth Appearance. 1. Same as in third appearance. V. Different Forms the King Assumes: 1. To Hans:a. A small dog, dying of thirst; tongue hanging out, jaws dry; almost lifeless; ants crawling about its lips and throat. B. A fair child, nearly lifeless; breast heaving with thirst; eyes closed; lips parched and burning. C. An old man; sunken features; deadly pale and expressing despair. 2. To Schwartz: a. The fair child as it appeared to Hans. B. The old man who appeared to Hans. C. Brother Hans exhausted and begging for water. 3. To Gluck: a. An old man leaning on a staff. B. A little child panting by the roadside. C. A little dog gasping for breath, which changes into the king. There are a great many things besides vivid descriptions that make TheKing of the Golden River a fine story. But it is not a good idea tostudy any selection in literature too long or too hard, for in so doingwe are likely to lose our interest in the selection or even to take adislike to it. You know if we look too long at a beautiful sunset oureyes grow weary and we seem to lose our power to admire it, but when thenext evening comes, with another glorious sunset, we are just as muchinterested in it as ever. So it is with reading. If a thing is reallybrilliant, we may look at it so long that our minds become tired; but wecan leave it for a while and come back to it with renewed interest. Accordingly, when we have studied the descriptions of The King of theGolden River we have probably done enough for one day or one time, atleast. Some other time we shall enjoy returning to it and finding newthings. For instance, we might like to see how many beautiful sentences, or what great thoughts we can find well expressed. Of the fine quotations here are two: "And there were bright tongues of fiery cloud burning and quiveringabout them; and the river, brighter than all, fell, in a waving columnof pure gold. " "A flash of blue lightning rose out of the east, shaped like a sword; itshook thrice over the whole heaven, and left it dark with one heavy, impenetrable shade. " THE STORY OF ESTHER I Now it came to pass in the third year of the reign of Ahasuerus, whenthe king sat on the throne which is in Shushan the palace, he made afeast unto all his princes and servants, and showed the riches of hisglorious kingdom for many days. And when these days were expired, the king made a feast in Shushan thepalace, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace. The silken hangings were white, green, and blue, fastened with cords offine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble; and thecouches were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, andwhite, and black marble. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry, he commandedthe chamberlains that served in his presence to bring Vashti the queenbefore the king with the crown royal, to show the people and the princesher beauty; for she was fair to look on. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by hischamberlains; therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned inhim. Then the king said to the wise men, "What shall I do unto Queen Vashtibecause she has not performed the commandment of the King?" And they answered before the king, "Vashti the queen hath done wrong notto the king only, but also to the princes and to all the people in allthe provinces of the king's dominions. Therefore, if it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written amongthe laws of the Persians and the Medes, which may not be altered, 'Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus;' and let the king giveher royal estate unto another that is better than she. " And the saying pleased the king and the princes, and the king didaccording to the word of the wise men. II After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was appeased, theservants that ministered unto the king said, "Let there be fair youngvirgins sought for the king. And let the king appoint officers in allthe provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fairyoung virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, untothe custody of Hege the king's chamberlain, and let the maiden whichpleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. " And the thing pleased the king; and he did so. Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name wasMordecai, who had been carried from Jerusalem into captivity byNebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and who brought up Esther, hisuncle's daughter. She had neither father nor mother, and the maid wasfair and beautiful; whom Mordecai took for his own daughter. So it cameto pass, when the king's commandment and his decree were heard, and whenmany maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, that Estherwas brought also unto the king's house, to the custody of Hege. The maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him, and hepreferred her and her maids unto the best in the house of the women. AndMordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to knowhow Esther did, and what should become of her. So Esther was taken unto King Ahasuerus, and the king loved Esther aboveall the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more thanall the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head, and made herqueen instead of Vashti. Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther's feast. And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, thenMordecai sat in the king's gate. Esther had not yet told her kindred nor her people, as Mordecai hadcharged her; for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, like as whenshe was brought up by him. In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, two of the king'schamberlains, who kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hand onthe king Ahasuerus. And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther the queen;and Esther told the king thereof in Mordecai's name. And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found true;therefore they were both hanged on a tree. III After these things did King Ahasuerus promote Haman the son ofHammedatha, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princesthat were with him. And all the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed, andreverenced Haman; for the king had so commanded concerning him. ButMordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence. Then the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, said untoMordecai, "Why transgressest thou the king's commandment?" Now it came to pass, when they spake daily unto him, and he hearkenednot unto them, that they told Haman, for Mordecai had told them that hewas a Jew. And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, thenwas Haman full of wrath. And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; wherefore Hamansought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom ofAhasuerus, even all the people of Mordecai. And Haman said unto King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scatteredabroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thykingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people, neither keep theythe king's laws; therefore it is not for the king's profit to sufferthem. "If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those thathave the charge of the business, to bring it into the king'streasuries. " [Illustration: MORDECAI IN THE KING'S GATE] And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman, theson of Hammedatha, the Jews' enemy, and said: "The people are given to thee to do with them as it seemeth good tothee. " Then were the king's scribes called, and there was written according toall that Haman had commanded, unto the king's lieutenants, governors andrulers of every province, and to every people in the kingdom after theirown language. And it was written in the name of King Ahasuerus andsealed with the king's ring. And the letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, todestroy and to kill all Jews, both young and old, little children andwomen, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, and to take the spoil of them for a prey. IV When Mordecai perceived all that was done, he rent his clothes, and puton sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, andcried with a loud and a bitter cry; and came even before the king'sgate, for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and hisdecree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, andweeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. So Esther's maids and her chamberlains came and told her about Mordecai. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clotheMordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him; but he received itnot. Then called Esther for the chamberlain whom the king had appointed toattend upon her, and sent him to Mordecai to know what it was, and whyit was that he mourned. And the chamberlain went forth to Mordecai untothe street of the city which was before the King's gate. And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him. Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given atShushan to destroy the Jews, to show it unto Esther, and to charge herthat she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, andto make request before him for her people. The chamberlain came and told Esther the words of Mordecai, and againEsther sent to Mordecai, saying: "All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, doknow, that for every one, whether man or woman, that shall come unto theking into the inner court, when he is not called, there is one law toput him to death; except those to whom the king shall hold out thegolden sceptre; but I have not been called to come in unto the kingthese thirty days. " And they told to Mordecai Esther's words. Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, "Think not with thyself thatthou shalt escape in the king's house, more than the other Jews. "For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shalldeliverance arise to the Jews from another source; but thou and thyfather's house shall be destroyed. Who knoweth whether thou art not cometo the kingdom for such a purpose as this?" [Illustration: HE PUT ON SACKCLOTH WITH ASHES] Then Esther bade them return this answer: "Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fastye for me, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day; Ialso, and my maidens, will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto theking, although it is not according to the law; and if I perish, Iperish. " So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther hadcommanded him. V Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royalapparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house; and the kingsat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate ofthe house. And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight; and the king held out to Estherthe golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, andtouched the top of the sceptre. Then said the king unto her, "What wiltthou, Queen Esther? and what is thy request? It shall be given thee evento the half of my kingdom. " And Esther answered, "If it seem good unto the king, let the king andHaman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him. " Then the king said, "Cause Haman to make haste, that he may do as Estherhath said. " So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. And the king said unto Esther at the banquet, "What is thy petition andthy request, and it shall be given thee even to the half of my kingdom. " Then answered Esther, and said, "My petition and my request is: If Ihave found favour in the sight of the king, and if it please the king togrant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Hamancome to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and on the morrow Iwill make my request as the king hath said. " Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart; but whenHaman saw, in the king's gate, that Mordecai stood not up, nor moved forhim, he was full of indignation against Mordecai. Nevertheless Hamanrefrained himself; and when he came home, he sent and called for hisfriends, and his wife. And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the kinghad promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes andservants of the king. Haman said moreover, "Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in withthe king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and to-morrow am I invited unto her also with the king. "Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jewsitting at the king's gate. " Then said his wife and all his friends, "Let a gallows be made of fiftycubits high, and to-morrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may behanged thereon; then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet. "And the thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made. VI On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring thebook of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. And it was found written therein that Mordecai had told of the twokeepers of the door who had sought to lay hand on King Ahasuerus. And the king said, "What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecaifor this?" Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, "There isnothing done for him. " And the king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman was come into the outward court of the king's house, to askthe king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. And the king's servants said unto Ahasuerus, "Behold, Haman standeth inthe court. " And the king said, "Let him come in. " So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, "What shall be done untothe man whom the king delighteth to honour?" Now Haman thought in his heart, "To whom would the king delight to dohonour more than to myself?" And Haman answered the king, "For the manwhom the king delighteth to honour, let the royal apparel be broughtwhich the king weareth, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and thecrown royal which is set upon his head. And let this apparel and horsebe delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, thatthey may array the man whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring himon horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, 'Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour. '" Then the king said to Haman, "Make haste, and take the apparel and thehorse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, thatsitteth at the king's gate; let nothing fail of all that thou hastspoken. " Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, andbrought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimedbefore him, "Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delightethto honour. " And Mordecai came again to the king's gate. But Haman hasted to hishouse, mourning, and having his head covered. And Haman told his wife and all his friends everything that had befallenhim. Then said his wise men and his wife, "If Mordecai be of the seed of theJews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevailagainst him, but shalt surely fall before him. " And while they were yet talking with him, came the king's chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared. VII So the king and Haman came to the banquet with Esther the queen. And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet ofwine, "What is thy petition, Queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee;and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half ofthe kingdom. " Then Esther the queen answered and said, "If I have found favour in thysight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at mypetition, and my people at my request, for we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold forbondmen and bondwomen only, I had held my tongue. " Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, "Who ishe, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?" And Esther said, "The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. " ThenHaman was afraid before the king and the queen. And one of the chamberlains said before the king, "Behold, the gallowsfifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spokengood for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. " Then the king said, "Hang him thereon. " So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified. VIII And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was untoher. And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, andgave it unto Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. And Esther spake yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief that Haman haddevised against the Jews. Then the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther. So Esther aroseand stood before the king, and said, "If it please the king, and if Ihave found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before theking, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse theletters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote todestroy the Jews which are in all the king's provinces; for how can Iendure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can Iendure to see the destruction of my kindred?" [Illustration: THEN HAMAN WAS AFRAID] Then the king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen, and to Mordecai theJew, "Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they havehanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews. "Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, andseal it with the king's ring; for the writing which is written in theking's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse. " Then were the king's scribes called, and it was written according to allthat Mordecai commanded, unto the Jews, unto every province and untoevery people according to their writing, and according to theirlanguage. And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel ofblue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment offine linen and purple; and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad. The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour. And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king'scommandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feastand a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for thefear of the Jews fell upon them. The story of Esther as told here is taken from the book of Esther in theBible. It has been abridged slightly, and a few words changed. THE DARNING-NEEDLE By Hans Christian Andersen There was once a Darning-Needle who thought herself so fine, sheimagined she was an embroidering needle. "Take care, and mind you hold me tight!" she said to the Fingers whichtook her out. "Don't let me fall! If I fall on the ground I shallcertainly never be found again, for I am so fine!" "That's as it may be, " said the Fingers; and they grasped her round thebody. "See, I'm coming with a train!" said the Darning-Needle, and she drew along thread after her, but there was no knot in the thread. The Fingers pointed the needle just at the cook's slipper, in which theupper leather had burst, and was to be sewn together. "That's vulgar work, " said the Darning-Needle. "I shall never getthrough. I'm breaking! I'm breaking!" And she really broke. "Did I notsay so?" said the Darning-Needle; "I'm too fine. " "Now it's quiteuseless, " said the Fingers; but they were obliged to hold her fast, allthe same; for the cook dropped some sealing wax upon the needle, andpinned her kerchief about her neck with it. "So now I'm a breastpin!" said the Darning-Needle. "I knew very wellthat I should come to honor; when one is something, one comes tosomething. " And she laughed quietly to herself--and one can never see when aDarning-Needle laughs. There she sat, as proud as if she were in a statecoach, and looked all about her. "May I be permitted to ask if you are gold?" she inquired of the Pin, her neighbor. "You have a very pretty appearance, and a peculiar head, but it is only little. You must take pains to grow, for it's not everyone that has sealing wax dropped upon him. " And the Darning-Needle drew herself up so proudly that she fell out ofthe handkerchief right into the sink, which the cook was rinsing out. "Now we're going on a journey, " said the Darning-Needle. "If I onlydon't get lost!" But she really was lost. "I'm too fine for this world, " she observed, as she lay in the gutter. "But I know who I am, and there's always something in that. " So the Darning-Needle kept her proud behavior, and did not lose her goodhumor. And things of many kinds swam over her--chips and straws andpieces of old newspapers. "Only look how they sail!" said the Darning-Needle. "They don't knowwhat is under them! I'm here; I remain firmly here. See, there goes achip thinking of nothing in the world but himself--of a chip! There's astraw going by now. How he turns? How he twirls about! Don't think onlyof yourself; you might easily run up against a stone. There swims a bitof newspaper. What's written upon it has long been forgotten, and yet itgives itself airs. I sit quietly and patiently here. I know who I am, and I shall remain what I am. " One day something lay close beside her that glittered splendidly; thenthe Darning-Needle believed that it was a diamond; but it was a Bit ofbroken Bottle; and because it shone, the Darning-Needle spoke to it, introducing herself as a breastpin. "I suppose you are a diamond?" she observed. "Why, yes, something of that kind. " And then each believed the other to be a very valuable thing; and theybegan speaking about the world, and how very conceited it was. "I have been in a lady's box, " said the Darning-Needle, "and this ladywas a cook. She had five fingers on each hand, and I never saw anythingso conceited as those five fingers. And yet they were only there thatthey might take me out of the box, and put me back into it. " "Were they of good birth?" asked the Bit of Bottle. "No, indeed, " replied the Darning-Needle, "but very haughty. There werefive brothers, all of the Finger family. They kept very proudlytogether, though they were of different lengths. The outermost, theThumbling, was short and fat; he walked out in front of the ranks, andhad only one joint in his back, and could only make a single bow; but hesaid if he were hacked off from a man, that man was useless for servicein war. Dainty-Mouth, the second finger, thrust himself into sweet andsour, pointed to the sun and moon, and gave the impression when theywrote. Longman, the third, looked at all the others over his shoulder. Goldborder, the fourth, went about with a golden belt round his waist;and little Playman did nothing at all, and was proud of it. There wasnothing but bragging among them, and therefore I went away. " "And now we sit here and glitter!" said the Bit of Bottle. At that moment more water came into the gutter, so that it overflowed, and the Bit of Bottle was carried away. "So, he is disposed of, " observed the Darning-Needle. "I remain here; Iam too fine. But that's my pride, and my pride is honorable. " Andproudly she sat there, and had many great thoughts. "I could almostbelieve I had been born of a sunbeam, I'm so fine. It really appears tome as if the sunbeams were always seeking for me under the water. Ah!I'm so fine that my mother cannot find me. If I had my old eye, whichbroke off, I think I should cry; but no, I should not do that; it's notgenteel to cry. " One day a couple of street boys lay grubbing in the gutter, where theysometimes found old nails, farthings, and similar treasures. It wasdirty work, but they took great delight in it. "Oh!" cried one, who had pricked himself with the Darning-Needle. "There's a fellow for you. " "I'm not a fellow, I'm a young lady, " said the Darning-Needle. But nobody listened to her. The sealing wax had come off, and she hadturned black; but black makes one look slender, and she thought herselffiner even than before. "Here comes an eggshell sailing along, " said the boys; and they stuckthe Darning-Needle fast into the eggshell. "White walls, and black myself! that looks well, " remarked the Darning-Needle. "Now one can see me. I only hope I shall not be seasick!" Butshe was not seasick at all. "One is proof against seasickness if one hasa steel stomach and does not forget that one is a little more than anordinary person! The finer one is, the more one can bear. " "Crack!" went the eggshell, for a hand-barrow went over her. "How it crushes one!" said the Darning-Needle. "I'm getting seasick now--I'm quite sick. " But she was not really sick, though the hand-barrow had run over her;she lay there at full length, and there she may lie. THE POTATO By Thomas Moore I'm a careless potato, and care not a pin How into existence I came; If they planted me drill-wise, or dibbled me in, To me 'tis exactly the same. The bean and the pea may more loftily tower, But I care not a button for them; Defiance I nod with my beautiful flower When the earth is hoed up to my stem. THE QUEEN OF THE UNDER-WORLD Ceres, goddess of agriculture, had one daughter, named Proserpina, whomshe loved more than anything else in earth or sky. Sometimes Proserpinaaccompanied her mother as she journeyed over the earth in her dragon-car, making the corn grow; sometimes she traveled about the earth byherself, tending the flowers, which were her special care; but what sheliked best was to stray with her companions, the nymphs, on the slopesof Mount AEtna, "I, a maiden, dwelt With loved Demeter[FN below] on the sunny plains Of our own Sicily. There, day by day, I sported with my playmate goddesses In virgin freedom. Budding age made gay Our lightsome feet, and on the flowery slopes We wandered daily, gathering flowers to weave In careless garlands for our locks, and passed The days in innocent gladness. " [Footnote: The Greeks and Romans, while they believed in many of thesame gods, had different names for them. The Latin names are the onesmost commonly used. Thus the goddess whom the Romans called Ceres, theGreeks knew as Demeter, while her daughter, Proserpina, was by theGreeks called Persephone. The poetic quotations used in this story arefrom the Epic of Hades, by Lewis Morris. ] All the year round the maidens enjoyed these pleasures, for never yethad the change of seasons appeared upon the earth; never had the cold, sunless days come to make the earth barren. "There was then Summer nor winter, springtide nor the time Of harvest, but the soft unfailing sun Shone always, and the sowing time was one With reaping; fruit and flower together sprung Upon the trees; and the blade and ripened ear Together clothed the plains. " One day while they played and laughed and sang, vying with each other asto which could make the most beautiful garlands, they were startled by astrange rumbling sound. Nearer it came, louder it grew; and suddenly tothe frightened eyes of the maidens there appeared a great chariot, drawnby four wild-looking, foam-flecked black steeds. Not long did the girlsgaze at the horses or the chariot--all eyes were drawn in fascination tothe driver of the car. He was handsome as only a god could be, and yetso gloomy that all knew instantly he could be none other than Pluto, king of the underworld. Suddenly, while his horses were almost at full speed, he jerked them toa standstill. Then he sprang to the ground, seized Proserpina in hisarms, mounted his chariot, and was off before the frightened nymphscould catch their breath to cry out. Poor Prosperina screamed and wept, but no one was near to help her or even to hear her. On they flew, Plutodoing his best to console the weeping girl, but refusing, with a sternshake of the head and a black frown, her plea that she might be allowedto return to her own home, or at least to bid farewell to her mother. [Illustration: PLUTO SEIZED PROSERPINA] "Never!" he exclaimed. "I have as much right as the other gods to abeautiful wife; and since I knew that you, whom I had seen and loved, would not go with me willingly, I took this way to compel you. " When they came at last to the bank of a raging river, and were obligedto halt, Proserpina redoubled her cries, but still no one heard. Pluto, fuming and fretting and calling down curses on the River Cyane, whichthus opposed his passage, seized his great two-pronged fork and struckthe earth a terrific blow. To Proserpina's horror a great cavern openedbefore them, into which they were rapidly whirled. Then, with a crash, the chasm closed behind them, and they moved on in utter darkness. Thehorses seemed to find their way as easily as in the light, however, andPluto heaved a sigh of relief as the last of the daylight disappeared. "Do not tremble so, my fair Proserpina, " he said, in a voice far fromunkind. "When your eyes become accustomed to the gloom, you will find itmuch more restful than the glare we have left behind us. " Proserpina's only reply was "My mother! O, my poor mother!" And trulyCeres deserved pity. She had hastened at evening back to her home inSicily, happy in the thought of seeing her daughter, only to find thatdaughter gone. The nymphs had retreated, long before, to their beds ofseaweed in the green ocean, and no one else could give the poordistracted mother any news. When black night had really settled over theearth, Ceres closed the door of her home, vowing never to open it untilshe returned with Proserpina. Then, lighting a torch, she set forth, alone and on foot, to seek her daughter. From country to country she roamed, all over the earth, neither eatingnor sleeping, but spending day and night in her search. Of every one shemet she demanded, "Have you seen my daughter?" No one recognized her; and small wonder, for her grief had changed herin appearance from a radiant goddess to a haggard, sad-eyed old woman. "Mad, " whispered people as they passed her; for her clothes were raggedand flapping about her, and always, even in the brightest sunlight, shebore in her hand the lighted torch. One day, weary and hopeless, she sank upon a stone by the roadside, andsat there with her head in her hands, wondering to what land she couldnext turn her footsteps. A soft, pitying voice broke in upon her grief, and she raised her headto see two young girls standing before her. "Poor old woman, " said one, "why are you so sad?" "Ah, " cried Ceres, "when I look upon you I am sadder still, for I havelost my only child. " Impulsively the older girl held out her hand. "Come with us, " she urged. "We are the daughters of the king of this country, and were but nowseeking through the city for a nurse for our baby brother, Triptolemus. You, who have lost the child you loved--will you not take charge of ourbrother and bestow on him some of your love?" Touched by their kindness, Ceres followed them; and indeed, she felt thefirst joy she had known since the disappearance of her daughter when thelittle prince was put into her arms. But such a weak, puny, wailingprincelet as he was! Ceres smiled down at him, and bent her head andkissed him; when, to the utter amazement of those gathered about, heceased the crying which he had kept up for days, smiled, and clapped hislittle hands. And, unless their eyes much deceived them, he began to grow round androsy and well! "Will you give this child entirely into my keeping?" asked Ceres. "Gladly, gladly!" exclaimed the mother, Metanira. For who would not havebeen glad to engage a nurse whose mere touch worked such wonders? But as the child's bedtime drew near, Metanira became worried andrestless. No one but herself had ever tended him before--was it reallysafe to trust this stranger? At least, she would watch; and quietly shestole to the door which separated her own apartment from that which hadbeen given to Ceres. The stranger sat before the hearth, with thecrowing, happy baby on her knee. Gently she drew off his clothing, gently she anointed him with some liquid, the delicious perfume of whichreached Metanira. Then, murmuring some sounding, rhythmic words, sheleaned forward and placed him on the glowing coals. Shrieking, Metanira rushed into the room and caught up her baby, burningherself badly in the act; and furiously she turned to the aged nurse. "How dare you--" she began; but there she stopped; for before her stood, not the ragged stranger, but a woman taller than mortal, with flowingyellow hair, bound with a wreath of wheat ears and red poppies. And fromher face shone a light so bright that Metanira was well-nigh blinded. "O queen, " she said gravely, "thy curiosity and thy lack of faith havecost thy son dear. Immortality was the gift I meant to bestow upon him, but now he shall grow old and die at last as other men. " And with thesewords the goddess vanished. [Footnote: Although Ceres was unable to doall she wished for Triptolemus, she did not forget him. When he grew upshe loaned him her dragon-car and sent him about the world teachingpeople how to till the soil, and, in particular, to use the plow. It wasTriptolemus who instituted the great festival at Eleusis which was heldin honor of Ceres. ] Still finding no trace of her daughter, Ceres cursed the earth andforbade it to bring forth fruit until Proserpina should be found. "Then on all lands She cast the spell of barrenness; the wheat Was blighted in the ear, the purple grapes Blushed no more on the vines. " Great indeed must have been the anguish of this kindest of all goddesseswhen she could bring herself to adopt such measures. Even the grief andwant of the people among whom she moved could not waken her pity. One day, when her wanderings had brought her back to Italy, Ceres cameto the bank of the Cyane River, and there, glittering at her feet, wasthe girdle which she had watched her daughter put on the last day shesaw her. Torn between hope and fear, Ceres snatched it up. HadProserpina, then, been drowned in this raging river? At any rate, it wasmuch, after all these months, to find something which her dear daughterhad touched, and with renewed energy she started on. As she rested, latein the day, by the side of a cool, sparkling fountain, she fancied sheheard words mingling with the splashing of the water. Holding herbreath, she listened: "O Ceres, " came the words, scarcely distinguishable, "I made a longjourney underground, to cool my waters ere they burst forth at thispoint. As I passed through the lower world, I saw, seated beside Plutoon his gloomy throne, a queen, crowned with stars and poppies. Strangelylike Proserpina she looked. " The words died away, and Ceres, knowing well that none but the king ofgods could help her now, hastened to Olympus and cast herself at thefeet of Jupiter. "Listen, O father of gods and men, " she said. "What is that sound whichyou hear rising from the earth?" "It sounds to me, " replied Jupiter, "like the wailing of men, joinedwith the bleating of sheep and the lowing of cattle. Who is afflictingmy people on earth?" "It is I, " replied Ceres sternly; "I, of old their best friend. Nevershall spear of grass or blade of corn show above the ground, never shallblossom or fruit appear on any tree, until my beloved daughter isbrought back to me from the realm of Pluto. " Then indeed there was consternation on Olympus; for Jupiter did not wishto anger his brother, and yet, how could he let the earth continue to bebarren? There was much consulting of the Fates, those three dreadsisters whose decrees even Jupiter could not break, and finally Jupitercalled Mercury to him, and said: "Hasten to the lower world, and lead thence Proserpina, the daughter ofCeres. Only, if during her stay there she have allowed food to pass herlips, she shall not return. " Meanwhile, Proserpina had been dwelling in gloom. How could one whosechief care had been the flowers, whose chief joy had been to strayabroad in the sunshine with gay companions, be happy in a realm wherethe sun never shone, where no flowers ever grew save the white, sleep-bringing poppies, where she had no companions except the gloomy king ofthe dead? Pluto was kind to her, he showered jewels upon her, andgorgeous raiment; but what meant such things to her when she could notdelight with them the eyes of her mother and her friends? The dead overwhom she reigned she could not even make happy, and the only one whoseemed to have profited at all by her coming to Hades was Pluto, who wasof a certainty somewhat less stern and gloomy. Of all the food that had been set before Proserpina since she enteredHades, nothing had tempted her but a pomegranate, and of that she hadeaten but six seeds. This one taste of food, however, she soon hadreason to regret, for ere long Mercury, Jupiter's messenger, stoodbefore Pluto and cried with a flourish: "Hear the decree of mighty Jupiter and of the Fates, powerful over all. The Lady Proserpina shall return with me, the messenger of mightyJupiter, to the upper world. Only, if she have allowed food to pass herlips, she shall not return, but shall remain queen of the dead forever. " Proserpina turned pale--paler than her months underground had made her--but she said nothing. Then, from the throng of spirits who had crowdedround to see the messenger of the gods, stepped forth one, Ascalaphus. No pity for the white-faced, sad-eyed queen moved him as he told how hehad seen Proserpina eat of the pomegranate. Poor Proserpina felt thatshe would never see her beloved mother again, and was overwhelmed withgrief when the messenger of the gods, the first cheerful personage shehad seen since leaving earth, turned to depart. Mercury was a kindly god, and he described to his father and the Fatesmost touchingly the grief of Proserpina. Ceres joined her tears withthose of her daughter, and the Fates finally decreed that whileProserpina must spend underground one month of every year for eachpomegranate seed she had eaten, she might spend the rest of her time onearth. Back hastened Mercury with the new decree, and Pluto unwillinglylet his wife go. She bade him an almost affectionate farewell, for afterall, he had been good to her, and she might quite have loved him had hisabode been a less gloomy place. Up the dark and dangerous passages toearth Mercury conducted her, and it was strange to see how, as shestepped forth into the sunshine, her pallor and her sadness left her, and she became the bright-eyed, happy Proserpina of old. And not only inher did the change appear. About her, on all sides, the grass and corncame shooting through the dry brown earth. Violets, hyacinths, daisieswere everywhere, and Proserpina stooped and caressed them, with a gaylaugh. But what was her joy when she saw at the door of her home MotherCeres, with arms outstretched to greet her! Not even the thought of theseparation which must surely come again could sadden their meeting. Forthat day they sat together and talked of all that had happened in theweary months gone by; but the next morning Ceres mounted her dragon-carfor the first time in many, many days, and set forth to the fields totend the new grain, while Proserpina ran to the seashore and with ahappy shout called the nymphs, her old companions, from their seaweedbeds. Each year thereafter, when Proserpina was led by Mercury to Pluto'skingdom, Ceres, in grief and anger, shut herself up and would not attendto her duties, so that the earth was barren and drear. Each year, withthe return of Proserpina, the flash of green ran across the fields andannounced her coming before she appeared in sight. And all the people, weary and depressed after the hard, bitter months, joyed with Ceres ather daughter's approach, and cried with her, "She comes! She comes!Proserpina!" This story, like that of Phaethon, is a nature myth; that is, itaccounts for natural phenomena which the Greeks saw about them. As theyconceived of Ceres, the earth goddess, as the kindest of the immortals, and of her daughter, Proserpina, the goddess of flowers and beautifyingvegetation, as always young and happy, they found it hard to explain thebarrenness of the winter months. Why should Ceres and Proserpina neglectthe earth during a part of the year, so that it would bring forthnothing, no matter how much care was bestowed upon it? We must remember that the people who invented these stories reallybelieved that the earth produced grain and fruit because some goddessbestowed upon it her care. They even fancied, sometimes, as they enteredtheir fields, that they saw Ceres, with her dragon-car and her crown ofwheat ears, vanishing before them. And they did not say, during wintermonths, "The ground is hard and frozen, and thus cannot give food to theplants;" or, "The seed must lie underground for a time before it cansend its roots down and its leaves up, and bring forth fruit. " Theysaid, "Mother Ceres is neglecting the earth. " What more natural, then, than that they should imagine that the earthgoddess was mourning for the loss of something and refusing to attend toher duties? And since the flowers, the special care of Ceres's daughter, disappeared at the same time, it seemed most likely that it was thisdaughter who had disappeared, stolen and held captive underground. When, each year, the time of her captivity was at an end, Ceres went joyfullyback to her work, the flowers and grass once more appeared--in a word, it was spring. Looked at in a slightly different way, Proserpina represented the seedwhich is placed underground. For a time it is held there, apparentlygone forever; but at last it appears above the earth in fresher, brighter guise, just as the daughter of Ceres reappeared. It is held by some that this myth is a symbol or allegory of the deathof man and his ultimate resurrection. That, however, does not seemextremely likely, as the ancients, although they believed in the life ofthe soul after death, conceived of that life as something far frompleasant, even for those who had led good lives. The story of Proserpina has been used as a subject for many paintings. One of the best-known of these is Rosetti's "Persephone, " which showsher as she stands, sad-eyed, with the bitten fruit in her hand. ORIGIN OF THE OPAL A dewdrop came, with a spark of flame He had caught from the sun's last ray, To a violet's breast, where he lay at rest Till the hours brought back the day. The rose looked down, with a blush and frown; But she smiled all at once, to viewHer own bright form, with its coloring warm, Reflected back by the dew. Then the stranger took a stolen look At the sky, so soft and blue;And a leaflet green, with its silver sheen, Was seen by the idler too. A cold north wind, as he thus reclined, Of a sudden raged around;And a maiden fair, who was walking there, Next morning, an OPAL found. IN TIME'S SWING By Lucy Larcom Father Time, your footsteps goLightly as the falling snow. In your swing I'm sitting, see!Push me softly; one, two, three, Twelve times only. Like a sheet, Spread the snow beneath my feet. Singing merrily, let me swingOut of winter into spring. Swing me out, and swing me in!Trees are bare, but birds beginTwittering to the peeping leaves, On the bough beneath the eavesWait, --one lilac bud I saw. Icy hillsides feel the thaw;April chased off March to-day;Now I catch a glimpse of May. Oh, the smell of sprouting grass!In a blur the violets pass. Whispering from the wildwood comeMayflower's breath and insect's hum. Roses carpeting the ground;Thrushes, orioles, warbling sound:Swing me low, and swing me high, To the warm clouds of July. Slower now, for at my sideWhite pond lilies open wide. Underneath the pine's tall spireCardinal blossoms burn like fire. They are gone; the golden-rodFlashes from the dark green sod. Crickets in the grass I hear;Asters light the fading year. [Illustration: Father Time pushes the swing] Slower still! October weavesRainbows of the forest leaves. Gentians fringed, like eyes of blue, Glimmer out of sleety dew. Meadow-green I sadly miss:Winds through withered sedges hiss. Oh, 'tis snowing, swing me fast, While December shivers past! Frosty-bearded Father Time, Stop your footfall on the rime!Hard you push, your hand is rough;You have swung me long enough. "Nay, no stopping, " say you? Well, Some of your best stories tell, While you swing me--gently, do!--From the Old Year to the New. The title tells you that this poem is not about a real swing, under anapple tree. Why is Time asked to push "twelve times only"? What month isit when the swinging begins? How many times does the swing move in thefirst stanza? How many times in the second? Do the birds begin totwitter while the trees are still bare? Should we expect to see lilacbuds in February or March? Do you know the "smell of sprouting grass"? Do the violets pass in May?Does it seem to you that the author has chosen the right flowers andbirds to represent each month? Do the pond lilies, the cardinalblossoms, the golden-rod, the asters, and the gentians follow each otherin that order? If you are familiar with the flowers mentioned, you will know that theyalmost all grow in damp, marshy places. Where do sedges grow? Does itnot seem to you that the illustrations are particularly well chosen? There is a series of beautiful little pictures in the words, "underneaththe pine's tall spire cardinal blossoms burn like fire"; "the golden-rodflashes from the dark green sod"; "asters light the fading year";"gentians fringed . .. Glimmer out of sleety dew. " WHY THE SEA IS SALT By Mary Howitt There were, in very ancient times, two brothers, one of whom was rich, and the other poor. Christmas was approaching, but the poor man hadnothing in the house for a Christmas dinner; so he went to his brotherand asked him for a trifling gift. The rich man was ill-natured, and when he heard his brother's request helooked very surly. But as Christmas is a time when even the worst peoplegive gifts, he took a fine ham down from the chimney, where it washanging to smoke, threw it at his brother, and bade him be gone andnever show his face again. The poor man thanked his brother for the ham, put it under his arm, andwent his way. He had to pass through a great forest on his way home, andwhen he reached the thickest part of it, he saw an old man, with a long, white beard, hewing timber. "Good evening, " said the poor man. "Good evening, " returned the old man, raising himself from his work, andlooking at him. "That is a fine ham you are carrying. " On hearing this, the poor man told him all about the ham and how it wasobtained. "It is lucky for you, " says the old man, "that you have met with me. Ifyou will take that ham into the land of the dwarfs, the entrance towhich lies just under the roots of this tree, you can make a capitalbargain with it; for the dwarfs are very fond of ham, and rarely getany. But mind what I say; you must not sell it for money, but demand forit the old hand-mill which stands behind the door. When you come backI'll show you how to use it. " The poor man thanked his new friend, who showed him the door under astone below the roots of the tree, and by this door he entered into theland of the dwarfs. No sooner had he set foot in it than the dwarfsswarmed about him, attracted by the smell of the ham. They offered himqueer, old-fashioned money and gold and silver ore for it; but herefused all their tempting offers, and said that he would sell it onlyfor the old hand-mill behind the door. At this the dwarfs held up theirlittle old hands and looked quite perplexed. "We cannot make a bargain, it seems, " said the poor man, "so I'll bidyou all good day. " The fragrance of the ham had by this time reached the remote parts ofthe land. The dwarfs came flocking around in little troops, leavingtheir work of digging out precious ores, eager for the ham. "Let himhave the old mill, " said some of the newcomers; "it is quite out oforder, and he does not know how to use it. Let him have it, and we willhave the ham. " So the bargain was made. The poor man took the old hand-mill, which wasa little thing, not half so large as the ham, and went back to thewoods. Here the old man showed him how to use it. All this had taken upa great deal of time, and it was midnight before he reached home. "Where in the world have you been?" said his wife. "Here I have beenwaiting and waiting, and we have no wood to make a fire, nor anything toput into the porridge-pot for our Christmas supper. " [Illustration: SO THE BARGAIN WAS MADE] The house was dark and cold; but the poor man bade his wife wait and seewhat would happen. He placed the little hand-mill on the table, andbegan to turn the crank. First, out there came some grand, lighted waxcandles, and a fire on the hearth, and a porridge-pot boiling over it, because in his mind he said they should come first. Then he ground out atablecloth, and dishes, and spoons, and knives and forks, and napkins. He was himself astonished at his good luck, as you may believe; and hiswife was almost beside herself with joy and astonishment. Well, they hada capital supper; and after it was eaten, they ground out of the millevery possible thing to make their house and themselves warm andcomfortable. So they had a merry Christmas eve and morning, made merrierby the thought that they need never want again. When the people went by the house to church the next day, they couldhardly believe their eyes. There was glass in the windows instead ofwooden shutters, and the poor man and his wife, dressed in new clothes, were seen devoutly kneeling in the church. "There is something very strange in all this, " said every one. "Something very strange indeed, " said the rich man, when three daysafterwards he received an invitation from his once poor brother to agrand feast. And what a feast it was! The table was covered with a clothas white as snow, and the dishes were all of silver or gold. The richman could not in his great house, and with all his wealth, set out sucha table, or serve such food. "Where did you get all these things?" exclaimed he. His brother told himall about the bargain he had made with the dwarfs, and putting the millon the table, ground out boots and shoes, coats and cloaks, stockings, gowns, and blankets, and bade his wife give them to the poor people thathad gathered about the house to get a sight of the grand feast the poorbrother had made for the rich one, and to sniff the delightful odorsthat came from the kitchen. The rich man was very envious of his brother's good fortune, and wantedto borrow the mill, intending--for he was not an honest man--never toreturn it again. His brother would not lend it, for the old man with thewhite beard had told him never to sell or lend it to any one, no matterwhat inducements might be offered. Some years went by, and at last the possessor of the mill built himselfa grand castle on a rock by the sea, facing west. Its windows, reflecting the golden sunset, could be seen far out from the shore, andit became a noted landmark for sailors. Strangers from foreign partsoften came to see this castle and the wonderful mill, of which the mostextraordinary tales were told. At length a great foreign merchant came, and when he had seen the mill, inquired whether it would grind salt. Being told that it would, hewanted to buy it, for he traded in salt, and thought that if he ownedthe mill he could supply all his customers without taking long anddangerous voyages. The man would not sell it, of course. He was so rich now that he did notwant to use it for himself; but every Christmas he ground out food andclothes and coal for the poor, and nice presents for the littlechildren. So he rejected all the offers of the rich merchant, who, however, determined to have it. He bribed one of the man's servants tolet him go into the castle at night, and he stole the mill and sailedaway in triumph, feeling certain that his fortune was made. He had scarcely got out to sea before he determined to set the mill towork. "Now, mill, grind salt, " said he; "grind salt with all yourmight!--Salt, salt, and nothing but salt!" The mill began to grind, andthe sailors to fill the sacks; but these were soon full, and in spite ofall that could be done, it began to fill the ship. The dishonest merchant was now very much frightened. What was to bedone? The mill would not stop grinding; and at last the ship wasoverloaded, and down it went, making a great whirlpool where it sank. The ship went to pieces; but the mill stands on the bottom of the sea, and keeps grinding out "salt, salt, nothing but salt!" That is thereason, say the peasants of Denmark and Norway, why the sea is salt.