{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_23735/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_23735","id":"gutenberg_23735","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23735","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Children's stories, English","Fairy tales"],"text":"Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper\nand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttp://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n[Transcriber's Note:  Lines 1712-1716 do not appear to be properly\nformatted but are a facsimile of the printed page.]\n\n\n\n\n\n       [Illustration: EACH SAW THAT THE OTHER WAS HIS BROTHER.]\n\n\n\n                           THE STORY-TELLER\n\n\n                           by MAUD LINDSAY\n\n\n\n                 ILLUSTRATED BY FLORENCE LILEY YOUNG\n\n\n\n\n\n                                BOSTON\n\n                      LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.\n\n\n\n\n                       Published, August, 1915\n\n                           Copyright, 1915,\n\n                    BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\n_To my cousin\n\nJudith Winston Sherrod\n\nin whose joyous company I journeyed\n\nthrough the wonderland of youth_\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nIt was a glad day in the olden time when the Story-Teller came to\ncottage or hall. At Christmas, or New Year; when the May-pole stood on\nthe village green; or the chestnuts were roasting in the coals on\nAll-hallows eve; come when he would, he was always welcome; and if,\nwhen he was least expected, he knocked at the door, what joy there\nwas!\n\nMany were the miles that the Story-Teller had traveled, and many were\nthe places where he had been; and many were the tales he had to tell\nof what he had seen and what he had heard in the wide world.\n\nSometimes his voice was deep and sweet as the organ in church on\nSunday; and sometimes it rang out clear as a bugle; and sometimes as\nthe tale went on he would take the harp which was ever by his side,\nand touching it with skilful fingers, would weave a gay little song or\na tender strain of music into his story, like a jeweled thread in a\ngolden web.\n\nAll the children gathered around him, sturdy Gilbert and rosy Jocelyn,\nroguish Giles and slender Rosalind, eager for a story. Mother and\nfather drew near, and in the background stood the servants, smiling\nbut silent. Oh, everything was still as the house at midnight as the\nStory-Teller began his magic words: \"Once upon a time.\"\n\nPerhaps the story brought with it laughter, or perhaps a tear, but\nLife, said the Story-Teller, is made up of smiles and tears; and the\nlittle ones, listening to him, learned to rejoice with those whose joy\nwas great, and to mourn with the sorrowful; and were the better and\nnot the worse for it. And so in due time grew into noble men and good\nwomen.\n\nIt is many and many a year since they lived and died; but\nstill--knock, knock, knock--the Story-Teller comes with his harp and\nhis story to every child's heart to-day.\n\nOpen the door and let him come in, give him a seat by the fire and\ngather close about him. And then you shall hear!\n\nMAUD LINDSAY.\n\n_Sheffield, Alabama._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORIES\n\nTHE TWO BROTHERS\n\nTHE JAR OF ROSEMARY\n\nTHE PROMISE\n\nTHE PLATE OF PANCAKES\n\nLITTLE MAID HILDEGARDE\n\nTHE APPLE DUMPLING\n\nTHE KING'S SERVANT\n\nTHE GREAT WHITE BEAR\n\nTHE SONG THAT TRAVELED\n\nTHE QUEST FOR THE NIGHTINGALE\n\nTHE MAGIC FLOWER\n\nTHE LIONS IN THE WAY\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\nEach saw that the other was his brother _Frontispiece_\n\nShe took the little prince in her arms and kissed him\n\nThe harper was happier than a king as he sat by his own fireside\n\nSomething seemed to whisper to him: \"Stop, Karl, and eat\"\n\nYes, there they came!\n\nShe saw an apple-tree as full of apples as her plum-tree was full of\n    plums\n\nOne of them took it in his mouth, and so brought it safely to Hans\n\n\"A bear!\" cried the tailor\n\nShe leaned on the fence that divided the two\n\nStraight to the Enchanted Wood they went\n\nWhile she was watching and waiting, the flower burst into bloom\n\nWhen he had come to the lions he found that they were chained\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY-TELLER\n\nTHE TWO BROTHERS\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived two brothers, who, when they were\nchildren, were so seldom apart that those who saw one always looked\nfor the other at his heels.\n\nBut when they had grown to manhood, and the time had come when they\nmust make their own fortunes, the elder brother said to the younger:\n\n\"Choose as you will what you shall do, and God bless your choice; but\nas for me I shall make haste to the court of the king, for nothing\nwill satisfy me but to serve him and my country.\"\n\n\"Good fortune and a blessing go with you,\" said the younger brother.\n\"I, too, should like to serve my country and the king, but I have\nneither words nor wit for a king's court. To hammer a shoe from the\nglowing iron while the red fire roars and the anvil rings--this is the\nwork that I do best, and I shall be a blacksmith, even as my father\nwas before me.\"\n\nSo when he had spoken the two brothers embraced and bade each other\ngood-bye and went on their ways; nor did they meet again till many a\nyear had come and gone.\n\nThe elder brother rode to the king's court just as he had said he\nwould; and as time went on he won great honor there and was made one\nof the king's counselors.\n\nAnd the younger brother built himself a blacksmith's shop by the side\nof a road and worked there merrily from early morn till the stars\nshone at night. He was called the Mighty Blacksmith because of his\nstrength, and the Honest Blacksmith because he charged no more than\nhis work was worth, and the Master Blacksmith because no other smith\nin the countryside could shoe a horse so well and speedily as he. And\nhe was envious of nobody, for always as he worked his hammer seemed to\nsing to him:\n\n    \"Cling, clang, cling! Cling, clang, cling!\n    He who does his very best,\n    Is fit to serve the king.\"\n\nNow in those days news came to the king of the country where the two\nbrothers lived that the duke of the next kingdom had made threats\nagainst him, and against his people; and there was great excitement in\nthe land.\n\nSome of the king's counselors wanted him to gather his armies and\nmarch at once into the duke's kingdom.\n\n\"If we do not make war upon him, he will make war upon us,\" they said.\n\nBut some of the king's counselors loved peace, and among these was the\nelder brother, in whom the king had great trust.\n\n\"Let me, I pray you, ride to the duke's castle,\" he said to the king,\n\"that we may learn from his own lips if he is friend or foe, for much\nis told that is not true; and it is easier to begin a fight than it is\nto end one.\"\n\nThe king was well pleased with all the elder brother said, and bade\nhim go.\n\n\"But if by the peal of the noon bells on the day before Christmas you\nhave neither brought nor sent a message of good will from the duke to\nme, then shall those who want war have their way,\" he said, and with\nthis the elder brother had to be content.\n\nDay and night he rode to the duke's castle, and day and night, when\nhis errand was done, he hastened home again. But the way was long and\na strong wind had blown away the sign-posts which guided travelers,\nso, though he stopped neither to sleep in a bed or eat at a table the\nwhole journey through, the early hours of the day before Christmas\nfound him still far from the king's palace.\n\nAnd to make matters worse, in the loneliest part of the road, the good\nhorse, that had carried him so well, lost a shoe.\n\n    \"Alack and alas! for the want of a nail\n    The horseshoe is lost; and my good horse will fail\n    For the want of the shoe; and I shall be late\n    For want of a steed; and my message must wait\n    For want of a bearer; and woe is our plight,\n    For want of the message the king needs must fight!\"[1]\n\ncried the elder brother then; and he bowed his head upon his saddle\nand wept, for where to turn for help he did not know.\n\nThe sun had not yet risen and no other traveler was on the road, nor\ncould he see through the dim light of dawn a house or watch-tower\nwhere he might ask aid. But as he wept he heard a distant sound that\nwas sweeter than music to his ears:\n\n    \"Cling, clang, cling! Cling, clang, cling!\"\n\n[Footnote 1: Adapted from the old proverb, \"For want of a nail, the\nshoe was lost,\" etc.]\n\n\"Only a blacksmith plays that tune!\" he cried; and he urged his horse\non joyfully, calling as he went:\n\n\"Smith, smith, if you love country and king, shoe my horse, and shoe\nhim speedily.\"\n\nIt was not long before he spied the fire of a roadside smithy glaring\nout upon him like a great red eye, and when he reached the door of the\nshop he found the smith ready and waiting for his task.\n\nCling, clang, cling! How the iron rang beneath his mighty stroke! And\ncling, clang, cling, how the hammer sang as the shoe was pounded into\nshape!\n\nBy the time the sun was over the hill the horse was shod, and the\nrider was in his saddle again.\n\nBut the blacksmith would take no money for his work.\n\n\"To serve my country and the king is pay enough for me,\" he said; and\nhe stood up straight and tall and looked the king's counselor in the\neyes.\n\nAnd lo! and behold, as the morning light fell on their faces, each saw\nthat the other was his brother.\n\n\"God bless you, brother,\" and \"God speed you, brother,\" was all that\nthey had time to say, but that was enough to show that love was still\nwarm in their hearts.\n\nThen away, and away, and away, through the sun and the dew rode the\nelder brother--away and away over hill and dale toward the king's\npalace.\n\nThe king and his counselors were watching and waiting there, and as\nthe sun climbed high and the message did not come, those who wanted\nwar said:\n\n\"Shall we not saddle our horses, and call up our men?\"\n\n\"The bells in the steeple have yet to ring for noon,\" said the\npeace-lovers; \"and we see a dust on the king's highway.\"\n\n\"Dust flies before wind,\" said the warriors, \"and it is likelier that\nour messenger lies in the duke's prison than rides on the king's\nhighway.\"\n\nBut with the dust came the sound of flying hoofs. Faster, faster,\nfaster, they came. When the first stroke of the noon hour pealed from\nthe church steeple the king's messenger was in sight, and the last\nbell had not rung when he stood before the palace gate to deliver the\nduke's message:\n\n    \"Peace and good will to you and yours;\n    And to all a Merry Christmas.\"\n\nThen the king sent for fine robes and a golden chain to be brought for\nthe elder brother, and put a purse of gold in his hand, for he was\nwell pleased with what he had done.\n\nBut the elder brother would have none of these things for himself\nalone.\n\n\"Try as I would, I must have failed had it not been for my brother,\nthe blacksmith, who shod my horse on the road to-day,\" he said; \"and,\nif it please your majesty, half of all you give to me I will give to\nhim.\"\n\n\"Two good servants are better than one,\" said the king, and he sent\nfor the younger brother that he might thank him also.\n\nThen the two brothers were clothed alike and feasted alike, and each\nhad a purse of gold; and whenever one was praised, so was the other.\n\nAnd they lived happily, each in his own work, all the days of their\nlives.\n\n\n\n\nTHE JAR OF ROSEMARY\n\n\nThere was once a little prince whose mother, the queen, was sick. All\nsummer she lay in bed, and everything was kept quiet in the palace;\nbut when the autumn came she grew better. Every day brought color to\nher cheeks, and strength to her limbs, and by and by the little prince\nwas allowed to go into her room and stand beside her bed to talk to\nher.\n\nHe was very glad of this for he wanted to ask her what she would like\nfor a Christmas present; and as soon as he had kissed her, and laid\nhis cheek against hers, he whispered his question in her ear.\n\n\"What should I like for a Christmas present?\" said the queen. \"A smile\nand a kiss and a hug around the neck; these are the dearest gifts I\nknow.\"\n\nBut the prince was not satisfied with this answer. \"Smiles and kisses\nand hugs you can have every day,\" he said, \"but think, mother, think,\nif you could choose the thing you wanted most in all the world what\nwould you take?\"\n\nSo the queen thought and thought, and at last she said:\n\n\"If I might take my choice of all the world I believe a little jar of\nrosemary like that which bloomed in my mother's window when I was a\nlittle girl would please me better than anything else.\"\n\nThe little prince was delighted to hear this, and as soon as he had\ngone out of the queen's room he sent a servant to his father's\ngreenhouses to inquire for a rosemary plant.\n\nBut the servant came back with disappointing news. There were\ncarnation pinks in the king's greenhouses, and roses with golden\nhearts, and lovely lilies; but there was no rosemary. Rosemary was a\ncommon herb and grew, mostly, in country gardens, so the king's\ngardeners said.\n\n\"Then go into the country for it,\" said the little prince. \"No matter\nwhere it grows, my mother must have it for a Christmas present.\"\n\nSo messengers went into the country here, there, and everywhere to\nseek the plant, but each one came back with the same story to tell;\nthere was rosemary, enough and to spare, in the spring, but the frost\nhad been in the country and there was not a green sprig left to bring\nto the little prince for his mother's Christmas present.\n\nTwo days before Christmas, however, news was brought that rosemary had\nbeen found, a lovely green plant growing in a jar, right in the very\ncity where the prince himself lived.\n\n\"But where is it?\" said he. \"Why have you not brought it with you? Go\nand get it at once.\"\n\n\"Well, as for that,\" said the servant who had found the plant, \"there\nis a little difficulty. The old woman to whom the rosemary belongs did\nnot want to sell it even though I offered her a handful of silver for\nit.\"\n\n\"Then give her a purse of gold,\" said the little prince.\n\nSo a purse filled so full of gold that it could not hold another piece\nwas taken to the old woman; but presently it was brought back. She\nwould not sell her rosemary; no, not even for a purse of gold.\n\n\"Perhaps if your little highness would go yourself and ask her, she\nmight change her mind,\" said the prince's nurse. So the royal carriage\ndrawn by six white horses was brought, and the little prince and his\nservants rode away to the old woman's house, and when they got there\nthe first thing they spied was the little green plant in a jar\nstanding in the old woman's window.\n\nThe old woman, herself, came to the door, and she was glad to see the\nlittle prince. She invited him in, and bade him warm his hands by the\nfire, and gave him a cooky from her cupboard to eat.\n\nShe had a little grandson no older than the prince, but he was sick\nand could not run about and play like other children. He lay in a\nlittle white bed in the old woman's room, and the little prince, after\nhe had eaten the cooky, spoke to him, and took out his favorite\nplaything, which he always carried in his pocket, and showed it to\nhim.\n\nThe prince's favorite plaything was a ball which was like no other\nball that had ever been made. It was woven of magic stuff as bright as\nthe sunlight, as sparkling as the starlight, and as golden as the moon\nat harvest time. And when the little prince threw it into the air, or\nbounced it on the floor or turned it in his hands it rang like a chime\nof silver bells.\n\nThe sick child laughed to hear it, and held out his hands for it, and\nthe prince let him hold it, which pleased the grandmother as much as\nthe child.\n\nBut pleased though she was she would not sell the rosemary. She had\nbrought it from the home where she had lived when her little\ngrandson's father was a boy, she said, and she hoped to keep it till\nshe died. So the prince and his servants had to go home without it.\n\nNo sooner had they gone than the sick child began to talk of the\nwonderfull ball.\n\n\"If I had such a ball to hold in my hand,\" he said, \"I should be\ncontented all the day.\"\n\n\"You may as well wish for the moon in the sky,\" said his grandmother;\nbut she thought of what he said, and in the evening when he was asleep\nshe put her shawl around her, and taking the jar of rosemary with her\nshe hastened to the king's palace.\n\nWhen she got there the servants asked her errand but she would answer\nnothing till they had taken her to the little prince.\n\n\"Silver and gold would not buy the rosemary,\" she said when she saw\nhim; \"but if you will give me your golden ball for my little\ngrandchild you may have the plant.\"\n\n\"But my ball is the most wonderful ball that was ever made!\" cried the\nlittle prince; \"and it is my favorite plaything. I would not give it\naway for anything.\"\n\nAnd so the old woman had to go home with her jar of rosemary under her\nshawl.\n\nThe next day was the day before Christmas and there was a great stir\nand bustle in the palace. The queen's physician had said that she\nmight sit up to see the Christmas Tree that night, and have her\npresents with the rest of the family; and every one was running to and\nfro to get things in readiness for her.\n\nThe queen had so many presents, and very fine they were, too, that the\nChristmas Tree could not hold them all, so they were put on a table\nbefore the throne and wreathed around with holly and with pine. The\nlittle prince went in with his nurse to see them, and to put his gift,\nwhich was a jewel, among them.\n\n\"She wanted a jar of rosemary,\" he said as he looked at the glittering\nheap.\n\n\"She will never think of it again when she sees these things. You may\nbe sure of that,\" said the nurse.\n\nBut the little prince was not sure. He thought of it himself many\ntimes that day, and once, when he was playing with his ball, he said\nto the nurse:\n\n\"If I had a rosemary plant I'd be willing to sell it for a purse full\nof gold. Wouldn't you?\"\n\n\"Indeed, yes,\" said the nurse; \"and so would any one else in his right\nsenses. You may be sure of that.\"\n\nThe little boy was not satisfied, though, and presently when he had\nput his ball up and stood at the window watching the snow which had\ncome to whiten the earth for Christ's birthday, he said to the nurse:\n\n\"I wish it were spring. It is easy to get rosemary then, is it not?\"\n\n\"Your little highness is like the king's parrot that knows but one\nword with your rosemary, rosemary, rosemary,\" said the nurse who was a\nlittle out of patience by that time. \"Her majesty, the queen, only\nasked for it to please you. You may be sure of that.\"\n\nBut the little prince was not sure; and when the nurse had gone to her\nsupper and he was left by chance for a moment alone, he put on his\ncoat of fur, and taking the ball with him he slipped away from the\npalace, and hastened toward the old woman's house.\n\nHe had never been out at night by himself before, and he might have\nfelt a little afraid had it not been for the friendly stars that\ntwinkled in the sky above him.\n\n\"We will show you the way,\" they seemed to say; and he trudged on\nbravely in their light, till, by and by, he came to the house and\nknocked at the door.\n\n[Illustration: SHE TOOK THE LITTLE PRINCE IN HER ARMS AND KISSED HIM.]\n\nNow the little sick child had been talking of the wonderful ball\nall the evening. \"Did you see how it shone, grandmother? And did you\nhear how the little bells rang?\" he said; and it was just then that\nthe little prince knocked at the door.\n\nThe old woman made haste to answer the knock and when she saw the\nprince she was too astonished to speak.\n\n\"Here is the ball,\" he cried, putting it into her hands. \"Please give\nme the rosemary for my mother.\"\n\nAnd so it happened that when the queen sat down before her great table\nof gifts the first thing she spied was a jar of sweet rosemary like\nthat which had bloomed in her mother's window when she was a little\ngirl.\n\n\"I should rather have it than all the other gifts in the world,\" she\nsaid; and she took the little prince in her arms and kissed him.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISE[2]\n\nA Christmas Wonder Story for Older Children\n\n\nThere was once a harper who played such beautiful music and sang such\nbeautiful songs that his fame spread throughout the whole land; and at\nlast the king heard of him and sent messengers to bring him to the\npalace.\n\n[Footnote 2: This story was suggested by an old poem, told to me by\nMiss Harriette Mills, which recounted the adventures of a father who\nbraved the snows of an Alpine pass to reach his home on Christmas\nday.]\n\n\"I will neither eat nor sleep till I have seen your face and heard the\nsound of your harp.\" This was the message the king sent to the harper.\n\nThe messengers said it over and over until they knew it by heart, and\nwhen they reached the harper's house they called:\n\n\"Hail, harper! Come out and listen, for we have something to tell\nyou that will make you glad.\"\n\nBut when the harper heard the king's message he was sad, for he had a\nwife and a child and a little brown dog; and he was sorry to leave\nthem and they were sorry to have him go.\n\n\"Stay with us,\" they begged; but the harper said:\n\n\"I _must_ go, for it would be discourtesy to disappoint the king; but\nas sure as holly berries are red and pine is green, I will come back\nby Christmas day to eat my share of the Christmas pudding, and sing\nthe Christmas songs by my own fireside.\"\n\nAnd when he had promised this he hung his harp upon his back and went\naway with the messengers to the king's palace.\n\nWhen he got there the king welcomed him with joy, and many things were\ndone in his honor. He slept on a bed of softest down, and ate from a\nplate of gold at the king's own table; and when he sang everybody and\neverything, from the king himself to the mouse in the palace pantry,\nstood still to listen.\n\nNo matter what he was doing, however, feasting or resting, singing or\nlistening to praises, he never forgot the promise that he had made to\nhis wife and his child and his little brown dog; and when the day\nbefore Christmas came, he took his harp in his hand and went to bid\nthe king good-bye.\n\nNow the king was loath to have the harper leave him, and he said to\nhim:\n\n\"I will give you a horse that is white as milk, as glossy as satin,\nand fleet as a deer, if you will stay to play and sing before my\nthrone on Christmas day.\"\n\nBut the harper answered, \"I cannot stay, for I have a wife and a child\nand a little brown dog; and I have promised them to be at home by\nChristmas day to eat my share of the Christmas pudding and sing the\nChristmas songs by my own fireside.\"\n\nThen the king said, \"If you will stay to play and sing before my\nthrone on Christmas day I will give to you a wonderful tree that\nsummer or winter is never bare; and silver and gold will fall for you\nwhenever you shake this little tree.\"\n\nBut the harper said, \"I must not stay, for my wife and my child and my\nlittle brown dog are waiting for me, and I have promised them to be at\nhome by Christmas day to eat my share of the Christmas pudding and\nsing the Christmas songs by my own fireside.\"\n\nThen the king said, \"If you will stay on Christmas day one tune to\nplay and one song to sing, I will give you a velvet robe to wear, and\nyou may sit beside me here with a ring on your finger and a crown on\nyour head.\"\n\nBut the harper answered, \"I _will_ not stay, for my wife and my child\nand my little brown dog are watching for me; and I have promised them\nto be at home by Christmas day to eat my share of the Christmas\npudding and sing the Christmas songs by my own fireside.\" And he\nwrapped his old cloak about him, and hung his harp upon his back, and\nwent out from the king's palace without another word.\n\nHe had not gone far when the little white snow-flakes came fluttering\ndown from the skies.\n\n    \"Harper, stay,\" they seemed to say,\n    \"Do not venture out to-day.\"\n\nBut the harper said, \"The snow may fall, but I must go, for I have a\nwife and a child and a little brown dog; and I have promised them to\nbe at home by Christmas day to eat my share of the Christmas pudding\nand sing the Christmas songs by my own fireside.\"\n\nThen the snow fell thick, and the snow fell fast. The hills and the\nvalleys, the hedges and hollows were white. The paths were all hidden,\nand there were drifts like mountains on the king's highway. The\nharper stumbled and the harper fell, but he would not turn back; and\nas he traveled he met the wind.\n\n    \"Brother Harper, turn, I pray;\n    Do not journey on to-day,\"\n\nsang the wind, but the harper would not heed.\n\n\"Snows may fall and winds may blow, but I must go on,\" he said, \"for I\nhave a wife and a child and a little brown dog; and I have promised\nthem to be at home by Christmas day to eat my share of the Christmas\npudding and sing the Christmas songs by my own fireside.\"\n\nThen the wind blew an icy blast. The snow froze on the ground and the\nwater froze in the rivers. The harper's breath froze in the air, and\nicicles as long as the king's sword hung from the rocks on the king's\nhighway. The harper shivered and the harper shook, but he would not\nturn back; and by and by he came to the forest that lay between him\nand his home.\n\nThe trees of the forest were creaking and bending in the wind, and\nevery one of them seemed to say:\n\n    \"Darkness gathers, night is near;\n    Harper, stop! Don't venture here.\"\n\nBut the harper would not stop. \"Snows may fall, winds may blow, and\nnight may come, but I have promised to be at home by Christmas day to\neat my share of the Christmas pudding and sing the Christmas songs by\nmy own fireside. I must go on.\"\n\nAnd on he went till the last glimmer of daylight faded, and there was\ndarkness everywhere. But the harper was not afraid of the dark.\n\n\"If I cannot see I can sing,\" said he, and he sang in the forest\njoyously:\n\n    \"Sing glory, glory, glory!\n      And bless God's holy name;\n    For 'twas on Christmas morning,\n      The little Jesus came.\n\n    \"He wore no robes; no crown of gold\n      Was on His head that morn;\n    But herald angels sang for joy,\n      To tell a King was born.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE HARPER WAS HAPPIER THAN A KING AS HE SAT BY HIS OWN\nFIRESIDE.]\n\nThe snow ceased its falling, the wind ceased its blowing, the trees of\nthe forest bowed down to listen, and, lo! dear children, as he sang\nthe darkness turned to wondrous light, and close at hand the harper\nsaw the open doorway of his home.\n\nThe wife and the child and the little brown dog were watching and\nwaiting, and they welcomed the harper with great joy. The holly\nberries were red in the Christmas wreaths; their Christmas tree was a\nyoung green pine; the Christmas pudding was full of plums; and the\nharper was happier than a king as he sat by his own fireside to sing:\n\n    \"O glory, glory, glory!\n      We praise God's holy name;\n    For 'twas to bring His wondrous love,\n      The little Jesus came.\n\n    \"And in our hearts it shines anew,\n      While at His throne we pray,\n    God bless us all for Jesus' sake,\n      This happy Christmas day.\"\n\n[Illustration: Music]\n\nTHE HARPER'S SONG\n\nWords, MAUD LINDSAY\n\nMusic, ELSIE A. MERRIMAN\n\n1. Sing glo-ry, glo-ry, glo-ry! And bless God's ho-ly name;\n2. O glo-ry, glo-ry,  glo-ry! We praise God's ho-ly name;\n\nFor 'twas on Christmas morn-ing, The lit-tle Je-sus came.\nFor 'twas to bring His wondrous love, The lit-tle Je-sus came.\n\nHe wore no robes; no crown of gold Was on His head that morn; But\nAnd in our hearts it shines a-new, While at His throne we pray, God\n\nher-ald an-gels sang for joy, To tell a King was born.\nbless us all for Je-sus' sake, This hap-py Christ-mas day.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PLATE OF PANCAKES\n\n\nOnce upon a time a woman was frying some pancakes, and as she turned\nthe last cake in the pan she said to her little boy:\n\n\"If you were a little older I should send you with some of these fine\ncakes for your father's dinner, but as it is, he must wait till supper\nfor them.\"\n\n\"Oh, do let me take them,\" said the little boy, whose name was Karl.\n\"Just see how tall I am. And only yesterday my grandmother said I was\nold enough to learn my letters. Do let me go!\"\n\nAnd he begged and begged till at last she selected the brownest and\ncrispest cakes, and putting them in a plate with a white napkin over\nthem she bade him take them.\n\nNow the path that led from Karl's home to the saw-mill where his\nfather worked was straight enough, and plain enough, but it ran\nthrough the wood that was called Enchanted. Fairies lived there, so\nsome people thought, and goblins that liked to work mischief; and\nnever before had the little boy been allowed to go there alone.\n\nAs he hurried along with the plate of pancakes in his hand he glanced\ninto every green thicket that he passed, half hopeful, and half\nfearful that he might find a tiny creature hidden in the leaves. Not a\nglimpse of fairy or goblin did he see, but when he came to the\nblackberry bushes where the sweetest berries grow something seemed to\nwhisper to him: \"Stop, Karl, and eat.\"\n\n\"But I am taking a plate of pancakes for my father's dinner,\" said\nKarl speaking aloud.\n\n\"A moment or two will make no difference. You can run fast,\" came the\nwhisper again.\n\n[Illustration: SOMETHING SEEMED TO WHISPER TO HIM: \"STOP, KARL, AND\nEAT.\"]\n\n\"Oh, yes, I can run fast,\" said Karl; and he put the plate down under\nthe bushes and began to pick the berries. They were as ripe and\nsweet as they had looked and every one that the little boy put into\nhis mouth made him wish for another; and if he turned away from the\nbushes the whisper was sure to come: \"One more and then go.\"\n\nThe pancakes grew cold in the plate, and the sun which had been high\nin the sky when Karl started from home slipped farther and farther\ninto the west; but still he lingered, till suddenly the evening\nwhistle of the mill sounded sharp and shrill in his ears.\n\n\"Why, it is time for my father to come home,\" he cried. \"Dear me, dear\nme, what shall I do?\"\n\nThere was nothing for him to do but to go home, so home he went with\nthe plate of cold pancakes in his hand and the tears rolling down his\ncheeks.\n\nWhen he told his mother and grandmother what had happened they looked\nat each other wisely as if they thought more about it than they would\nsay; but they bade him dry his tears.\n\n\"You will be more careful another time,\" they said; and so the matter\nended.\n\nBut Karl did not forget it. It was many a month before his mother\nfried pancakes again, but no sooner did he see her turning the cakes\nin the pan than he said:\n\n\"I wish my father had some of these fine cakes for his dinner, don't\nyou, mother?\"\n\n\"Indeed I do,\" said she, smiling at his grandmother as she spoke; and\nas soon as the cakes were done she selected the brownest and crispest,\nand putting them in a plate with a white napkin over them, she bade\nhim take them.\n\n\"I'll get there in time for my father's dinner to-day,\" he said as he\nstarted out; but in a very short while he was back with an empty plate\nin his hand, and the tears rolling down his cheeks.\n\n\"I only put the plate down for a minute while I chased a rabbit that\nsaid, 'If you catch me you may have me;' and when I came back every\npancake was gone,\" he sobbed.\n\nHis mother and grandmother looked at each other wisely when they heard\nthis.\n\n\"It is just as I thought the first time,\" said his mother. \"The\ngoblins are at work in the wood. He must never go there again.\"\n\nBut to this the grandmother would not agree.\n\n\"Leave it to me,\" she said, and the very next day she fried pancakes,\nand selecting the brownest and crispest she put them in a plate with a\nwhite napkin over them and bade Karl take them to his father.\n\n\"And if any bid you stop or stay, or turn your feet from out your way,\nsay but the word that is spelled with the fourteenth and fifteenth\nletters of the alphabet three times in a loud voice, and all will go\nwell with you,\" she said.\n\n\"All right,\" said Karl, nodding his head proudly, for he knew all his\nletters by this time and could spell hard words like c-a-t, cat,\nm-a-t, mat. \"All right,\" but he did not stop to count the letters then\nfor he was in a great hurry to be off.\n\n\"I guess my father will be glad to get such fine pancakes for his\ndinner,\" he said; and he ran so fast that he was half-way to the mill\nbefore he knew it.\n\nThere was no whispering voice in the wood that day and no talking\nrabbit to tempt him to a chase; but as he came to a place where\nanother path crossed his own, a bird called out from the heart of the\nwood:\n\n\"Quick, quick, come here, here, here----\"\n\n\"Where, where?\" cried Karl; and he was just about to start in search\nof the bird when he remembered what his grandmother had said:\n\n\"If any bid you stop or stay, or turn your feet from out your way, say\nbut the word that is spelled with the fourteenth and fifteenth letters\nof the alphabet three times in a loud voice, and all will go well with\nyou.\"\n\n\"A, B, C, D, E, F, G,\" he chanted, counting the letters on his fingers\nas he said them, \"H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O:\" N was the fourteenth letter\nand O was the fifteenth. N-O; that was easy.\n\n\"No! No! No!\" he shouted; and--do you believe it?--in less time than\nit takes to tell it he was at the mill door with every pancake safe\nand hot.\n\nAnd the story goes that though he came and went through the Enchanted\nWood all the days of his life he was never hindered by anything there\nagain; and he never saw a goblin though he lived to be as old as his\ngrandmother had been when he was a little boy.\n\n\n\n\nLITTLE MAID HILDEGARDE\n\n\nOne evening Little Maid Hildegarde's father came home with wonderful\nnews; the knights were coming to town. He had heard it as he came from\nthe forest where he cut wood all day and he hurried every step of the\nway home to tell Hildegarde and her mother.\n\n\"They are on the king's business and will be at the Church Square\nto-morrow morning at the hour of ten. Everybody in town will be there\nto see them. Old Grandmother Grey is going to ask them to ride in\nsearch of her little lamb that has gone astray; and the mayor will\ntell them of the wolves that come in the winter. The good knights are\nalways glad to help,\" he said.\n\nLittle Maid Hildegarde knew all about the knights. Her father was\nnever tired of telling, or she of hearing, how they fought and killed\nthe fierce dragon that had troubled the people of the border; and put\nout the forest fires in the time of the great drought and fed the\nhungry when the famine was in the land. And yet with all of their\ngreat deeds they were merry men, not too proud to sing at a feast or\nplay with a child.\n\nAnd many an evening, though Hildegarde was growing to be a great girl,\nher mother sat by her bed to sing a song that she had sung to her when\nshe was a babe in the cradle:\n\n    \"Hush, my baby, do not cry,\n    Five brave knights go riding by.\n    One is dressed in bonny blue;\n    He's the leader, strong and true.\n    One is clad from head to toe\n    In an armor white as snow.\n\n    \"One in crimson bright is drest,\n    With a star upon his breast.\n    One in gold and one in green,\n    Cloth of gold and satin sheen.\n    Hush, my baby, do not cry,\n    Five brave knights go riding by.\"\n\nOh, how Hildegarde had longed to see those splendid riders! And now at\nlast she was to have her heart's desire. It seemed almost too good to\nbe true.\n\n\"Shall we start to town as soon as the new day comes?\" she asked.\n\n\"Just as soon as the cows are taken to the pasture, and the little\nchicks are fed,\" said her mother; and the little maid went to bed well\nsatisfied.\n\nBut alas, for Hildegarde and her hopes! The morning sun had scarcely\nshone when her mother awoke with a terrible pain in her head, and her\nfather slipped on his way to the barn and sprained his foot so he\ncould not walk. And there was no one to take the child to the Church\nSquare. No, not even a neighbor, for Hildegarde and her mother and\nfather lived apart from every one else, and the wood that is called\nEnchanted lay between them and the town.\n\nThere was no help for it. Hildegarde knew herself, without a word from\nany one, that she could not go; but as she ran about the house to wait\non them, she heard her mother and father talking.\n\n\"It is not for the pain in my face that I grieve,\" said the good\nmother; \"but for the disappointment of our little maid.\"\n\n\"Aye,\" said the father, \"I would bear my hurt, and more too,\nwillingly, if only she might see the gallant knights.\"\n\nAnd when Hildegarde heard what they said she made haste to wipe away\nthe tears that threatened to roll down her cheeks, and went about her\nwork with a pleasant face.\n\nAll day long she was busy for there were the cows to take to the\npasture, and the little chicks to feed, and the eggs to gather; but at\nsunset her tasks were done, and with her doll in her arms she sat in\nthe doorway of the house and looked away toward the town, the towers\nof which just showed above the Enchanted Wood.\n\nHighest of all was the spire of the church that stood in the square\nwhere the knights had been; and as Hildegarde watched it change from\ngrey to gold in the sunset glow, she thought of them and wondered\nwhere they had gone when their business was done.\n\nSome day they would come again and then she should surely see them,\nher father said; and already she had begun to look forward to that\ntime.\n\n\"Perhaps they will come when the wolves do in the winter,\" she said to\nherself; but scarcely had she spoken when through an opening in the\nwood she spied a horseman riding at a stately pace. Behind him came\nanother, and another till she had counted five--five brave knights!\nYes, there they came with prancing steeds and shining shields, and\nsplendid clothes!\n\nOne bore a banner blue as the sky on a summer's day, and the next held\na wee lamb close within his arms. A dragon's head hung from another's\nsaddle, and two had bugles by their sides.\n\nNot a word was spoken. As silently as the stars shine out at evening\nthey passed the door where the child sat wonder-struck; and as quietly\nas the sun goes down at the day's end they vanished into the wood\nagain before she could move or call. But just as the green of the last\none's coat faded away into the green of the trees, Hildegarde thought\nshe heard a strain of sweetest music!\n\nNow there were those, and Hildegarde's mother and father were among\nthem, who believed that the little maid, tired from her long busy day,\nhad fallen asleep, and dreamed a beautiful dream.\n\nBut as for Hildegarde, she kept the vision in her heart alway; and\nwhen as the years went by she had little ones of her own to rock to\nsleep, she told them of it, and sang to them as her mother had sung to\nher:\n\n[Illustration: Music]\n\nFIVE BRAVE KNIGHTS\n\nWords, MAUD LINDSAY\n\nAir, Old Song\n\nHush, my ba-by, do not cry, Five brave knights go rid-ing by.\n\nOne is dressed in bon-ny blue; He's the lead-er, strong and true.\n\nOne is  clad from head to toe  In an ar-mor white as snow.\n\nOne in crim-son bright is drest, With a star up-on his breast.\n\nOne in gold and one in green, Cloth of gold and sat-in  sheen.\n\nHush, my ba-by, do not cry, Five brave knights go rid-ing by.\n\n[Illustration: YES, THERE THEY CAME!]\n\n\n\n\nTHE APPLE DUMPLING\n\n\nThere was once upon a time an old woman who wanted an apple dumpling\nfor supper. She had plenty of flour and plenty of butter, plenty of\nsugar and plenty of spice for a dozen dumplings, but there was one\nthing she did not have; and that was an apple.\n\nShe had plums, a tree full of them, the roundest and reddest that you\ncan imagine; but, though you can make butter from cream and raisins of\ngrapes, you cannot make an apple dumpling with plums, and there is no\nuse trying.\n\nThe more the old woman thought of the dumpling the more she wanted it,\nand at last she dressed herself in her Sunday best and started out to\nseek an apple.\n\nBefore she left home, however, she filled a basket with plums from\nher plum-tree and, covering it over with a white cloth, hung it on her\narm, for she said to herself: \"There may be those in the world who\nhave apples, and need plums.\"\n\nShe had not gone very far when she came to a poultry yard filled with\nfine hens and geese and guineas. Ca-ca, quawk, quawk, poterack! What a\nnoise they made; and in the midst of them stood a young woman who was\nfeeding them with yellow corn. She nodded pleasantly to the old woman,\nand the old woman nodded to her; and soon the two were talking as if\nthey had known each other always.\n\nThe young woman told the old woman about her fowls and the old woman\ntold the young woman about the dumpling and the basket of plums for\nwhich she hoped to get apples.\n\n\"Dear me,\" said the young woman when she heard this, \"there is nothing\nmy husband likes better than plum jelly with goose for his Sunday\ndinner, but unless you will take a bag of feathers for your plums he\nmust do without, for that is the best I can offer you.\"\n\n\"One pleased is better than two disappointed,\" said the old woman\nthen; and she emptied the plums into the young woman's apron and\nputting the bag of feathers into her basket trudged on as merrily as\nbefore; for she said to herself:\n\n\"If I am no nearer the dumpling than when I left home, I am at least\nno farther from it; and that feathers are lighter to carry than plums\nnobody can deny.\"\n\nTrudge, trudge, up hill and down she went, and presently she came to a\ngarden of sweet flowers; lilies, lilacs, violets, roses--oh, never was\nthere a lovelier garden!\n\nThe old woman stopped at the gate to look at the flowers; and as she\nlooked she heard a man and a woman, who sat on the door-step of a\nhouse that stood in the garden, quarreling.\n\n\"Cotton,\" said the woman.\n\n\"Straw,\" said the man.\n\n\"'Tis not--\"\n\n\"It is,\" they cried, and so it went between them, till they spied the\nold woman at the gate.\n\n\"Here is one who will settle the matter,\" said the woman then; and she\ncalled to the old woman:\n\n\"Good mother, answer me this: If you were making a cushion for your\ngrandfather's chair would you not stuff it with cotton?\"\n\n\"No,\" said the old woman.\n\n\"I told you so,\" cried the man. \"Straw is the thing, and no need to go\nfarther than the barn for it;\" but the old woman shook her head.\n\n\"I would not stuff the cushion with straw,\" said she; and it would\nhave been hard to tell which one was the more cast down by her\nanswers, the man or the woman.\n\nBut the old woman made haste to take the bag of feathers out of her\nbasket, and give it to them.\n\n\"A feather cushion is fit for a king,\" she said, \"and as for me, an\napple for a dumpling, or a nosegay from your garden will serve me as\nwell as what I give.\"\n\nThe man and the woman had no apples, but they were glad to exchange a\nnosegay from their garden for a bag of fine feathers, you may be sure.\n\n\"There is nothing nicer for a cushion than feathers,\" said the woman.\n\n\"My mother had one made of them,\" said the man; and they laughed like\nchildren as they hurried into the garden to fill the old woman's\nbasket with the loveliest posies; lilies, lilacs, violets, roses--oh!\nnever was there a sweeter nosegay.\n\n\"A good bargain, and not all of it in the basket,\" said the old woman,\nfor she was pleased to have stopped the quarrel, and when she had\nwished the two good fortune and a long life, she went upon her way\nagain.\n\nNow her way was the king's highway, and as she walked there she met a\nyoung lord who was dressed in his finest clothes, for he was going to\nsee his lady love. He would have been as handsome a young man as ever\nthe sun shone on had it not been that his forehead was wrinkled into a\nterrible frown, and the corners of his mouth drawn down as if he had\nnot a friend left in the whole world.\n\n\"A fair day and a good road,\" said the old woman, stopping to drop him\na courtesy.\n\n\"Fair or foul, good or bad, 'tis all one to me,\" said he, \"when the\ncourt jeweler has forgotten to send the ring he promised, and I must\ngo to my lady with empty hands.\"\n\n\"Empty hands are better than an empty heart,\" said the old woman; \"but\nthen we are young only once; so you shall have a gift for your lady\nthough I may never have an apple dumpling.\" And she took the nosegay\nfrom her basket and gave it to the young lord which pleased him so\nmuch that the frown smoothed away from his forehead, and his mouth\nspread itself in a smile, and he was as handsome a young man as ever\nthe sun shone on.\n\n\"Fair exchange is no robbery,\"[3] said he, and he unfastened a golden\nchain from round his neck and gave it to the old woman, and went away\nholding his nosegay with great care.\n\n[Footnote 3: An old saying.]\n\nThe old woman was delighted.\n\n\"With this golden chain I might buy all the apples in the king's\nmarket, and then have something to spare,\" she said to herself, as she\nhurried away toward town as fast as her feet could carry her.\n\nBut she had gone no farther than the turn of the road when she came\nupon a mother and children, standing in a doorway, whose faces were as\nsorrowful as her own was happy.\n\n\"What is the matter?\" she asked as soon as she reached them.\n\n\"Matter enough,\" answered the mother, \"when the last crust of bread\nis eaten and not a farthing in the house to buy more.\"\n\n\"Well-a-day,\" cried the old woman when this was told her. \"Never shall\nit be said of me that I eat apple dumpling for supper while my\nneighbors lack bread;\" and she put the golden chain into the mother's\nhands and hurried on without waiting for thanks.\n\nShe was not out of sight of the house, though, when the mother and\nchildren, every one of them laughing and talking as if it were\nChristmas or Candlemas day, overtook her.\n\n\"Little have we to give you,\" said the mother who was the happiest of\nall, \"for that you have done for us, but here is a little dog, whose\nbarking will keep loneliness from your house, and a blessing goes with\nit.\"\n\nThe old woman did not have the heart to say them nay, so into the\nbasket went the little dog, and very snugly he lay there.\n\n[Illustration: SHE SAW AN APPLE-TREE AS FULL OF APPLES AS HER\nPLUM-TREE WAS FULL OF PLUMS.]\n\n\"A bag of feathers for a basket of plums; a nosegay of flowers for a\nbag of feathers; a golden chain for a nosegay of flowers; a dog and a\nblessing for a golden chain; all the world is give and take, and who\nknows but that I may have my apple yet,\" said the old woman as she\nhurried on.\n\nAnd sure enough she had not gone a half dozen yards when, right before\nher, she saw an apple-tree as full of apples as her plum-tree was full\nof plums. It grew in front of a house as much like her own as if the\ntwo were peas in the same pod; and on the porch of the house sat a\nlittle old man.\n\n\"A fine tree of apples!\" called the old woman as soon as she was in\nspeaking distance of him.\n\n\"Aye, but apple-trees and apples are poor company when a man is\ngrowing old,\" said the old man; \"and I would give them all if I had\neven so much as a little dog to bark on my door-step.\"\n\n\"Bow-wow!\" called the dog in the old woman's basket, and in less time\nthan it takes to read this story he was barking on the old man's\ndoor-step, and the old woman was on her way home with a basket of\napples on her arm.\n\nShe got there in plenty of time to make the dumpling for supper, and\nit was as sweet and brown a dumpling as heart could desire.\n\n\"If you try long enough and hard enough you can always have an apple\ndumpling for supper,\" said the old woman; and she ate the dumpling to\nthe very last crumb; and enjoyed it, too.\n\n\n\n\nTHE KING'S SERVANT[4]\n\n\nThere was once upon a time a faithful servant whose name was Hans. He\nserved the king his master so long and so well that one day the king\nsaid to him:\n\n\"Speak, Hans, and tell me what three things do you most desire that I\nmay give them to you as a reward for your faithfulness.\"\n\n[Footnote 4: Adapted with a free hand from Grimm's \"White Snake.\"]\n\nIt did not take Hans long to answer the king.\n\n\"If you please, your majesty,\" he said, \"I should like best in all the\nworld to go to see my mother; to have a horse on which to ride upon my\njourney; and to taste the food that lies hidden in the silver dish\nthat comes each day to your majesty's table.\"\n\nAnd when the king heard this he made haste to send for the silver\ndish and lifting the lid with his own hand he bade Hans taste of the\nfood inside. What this food was, neither I nor anybody else can tell\nyou, but no sooner had Hans tasted it than he understood what\neverything in the world was saying, from the birds in the tree-tops to\nthe hens in the king's poultry yard.\n\n\"Good-bye, Hans,\" they called as Hans mounted the horse which the king\ngave him and rode away through the gate.\n\n\"Good-bye,\" said Hans, and he cantered off in fine style down the\nking's highway.\n\nBefore he had ridden far, however, he heard such a moaning and\ncomplaining by the roadside that he stopped his horse to see what the\nmatter was; and--do you believe it?--it was the ant people whose\nant-hill stood in the way, right where Hans was about to ride.\n\n\"See, see!\" they cried, running to and fro in great alarm. \"This giant\nof a man on his terrible horse will ride over our new house and crush\nus to death.\"\n\n\"Not I,\" said Hans. \"If so much as one of you gets under my horse's\nhoofs it will be your fault and not mine;\" and getting down from his\nhorse he led him around the ant-hill and into the road on the other\nside.\n\n\"One good turn deserves another,\" cried the ant people running to and\nfro in great joy. \"You have helped us, and we will help you some day;\"\nand they were still saying this when Hans mounted his horse and rode\naway.\n\nNow before long Hans came to a great forest and as he rode under the\nspreading branches of the trees he heard a cry for help in the woods.\n\n\"What can this be?\" said Hans; but the very next minute he saw two\nyoung birds lying beneath a tree, beating their wings upon the ground\nand crying aloud:\n\n\"Alas! Alas! Who will put us into the nest again?\"\n\n\"I, the king's servant and my mother's son; I will put you into the\nnest again,\" said Hans, and he was as good as his word.\n\n\"One good turn deserves another,\" called the birds when they were safe\nin their nest once more. \"You have helped us, and we will help you\nsome day.\"\n\nHans laughed to hear them, for though it was easy for him to help them\nhe could not think what they might do for him.\n\nTrot, trot, and gallop, gallop he rode through the forest till he came\nto a stream of water beside which lay three panting fishes.\n\n\"We shall surely die unless we can get into the water,\" they cried.\n\nTheir breath was almost gone and their voices were no louder than the\nfaintest whisper, but Hans understood every word that they said; and\nhe jumped from his horse and threw them into the stream.\n\n\"One good turn deserves another,\" they cried as they swam merrily\naway. \"You have helped us, and we will help you some day.\"\n\nNow it so happened that Hans came by and by to the land of a very\nwicked king who broke his promises as easily as if they were made of\nspun glass and who never thought of anybody but himself.\n\nNo sooner had Hans come into the land than the king stopped him and\nwould not let him go on.\n\n\"No one shall pass through my kingdom,\" he said, \"till he has done one\npiece of work for me.\"\n\nHans was not afraid of work. \"Show it to me that I may do it at once,\"\nhe said; \"for I am hastening to see my mother.\"\n\nThen the king took Hans into a room as large as a meadow where some of\nall the seeds in the world was stored. There were lettuce-seeds, and\nradish-seeds, flax-seeds and grains of rice, fine seeds of flowers and\nsmall seeds of grass, all mixed and mingled till no two alike lay\ntogether.\n\nHans had never seen so many seeds in all his life before; and when he\nhad looked at them the king bade him sort them, each kind to itself.\n\n\"The lettuce-seed must be here, and the radish-seed there; the\nflax-seed in this corner and the grains of rice in another; the fine\nseeds of flowers must be in their place, and the small seeds of grass\nall ready for planting before you can pass through my kingdom and go\non your way,\" he said; and when he had spoken he went out of the room\nand locked the door behind him.\n\nPoor Hans! He sat down on the floor and cried--the tears rolled down\nhis cheeks I do assure you--for he said to himself:\n\n\"If I live to be a hundred years old I can never do this thing that\nthe king requires. I shall never see my mother or the good king, my\nmaster, again.\"\n\nHow long he sat there, neither I nor anybody else can tell you, but by\nand by he saw a little black ant creeping in through a crack in the\nfloor. Behind it came another and another, like soldiers marching; one\nby one they came, till the whole floor was black with hundreds and\nhundreds of the ant people.\n\n\"You helped us, and we have come to help you,\" they said; and they set\nto work at once to sort the seed as the king required.\n\nBy the next day when the king came in to inquire how Hans was getting\non, the work was done. The lettuce-seed was here and the radish-seed\nwas there, the flax-seed in one corner, and the grains of rice in\nanother; the fine seeds of flowers were in their place and the small\nseeds of grass were all ready for planting.\n\nThe king was astonished. He could scarcely believe his eyes; but he\nwould not let Hans go.\n\n\"Such a fine workman must do one other piece of work before he passes\nthrough my kingdom,\" he said; and he took Hans out in the open country\nand pointed to an orchard far away.\n\n\"Bring me one golden apple that grows in that orchard and you shall go\nfree,\" he said.\n\n\"Ah, what an easy task is this,\" said Hans, and he set off at once to\nthe orchard.\n\nBut, alack, when he had come to the orchard gate it was guarded by a\nfiery dragon, the like of which he had never seen in all his life!\n\"Come and be devoured!\" it cried, as Hans came into sight.\n\nPoor Hans! He sat down by the roadside and held his head between his\nhands and cried--the tears rolled down his cheeks I do assure you--for\nhe said to himself:\n\n\"If I go into the orchard I shall be eaten alive by the dragon, and if\nI do not go I shall never see my mother or the good king, my master,\nagain.\"\n\nHow long he sat there, neither I nor anybody else can tell you, but by\nand by he saw two birds flying through the air. Nearer and nearer they\ncame till at last they reached the spot where Hans sat and lighted at\nhis feet. And they were the very birds that Hans had helped. Their\nwings had grown strong enough by this time to carry them wherever they\nwanted to go and they flapped them joyfully as they cried:\n\n\"One good turn deserves another. You helped us, and we have come to\nhelp you.\"\n\nIt was no trouble for them to fly into the orchard high above the\ndragon's head; and almost before Hans knew they were gone they were\nback again bringing with them the golden apple that the king desired.\n\nHe was astonished when Hans took it to him. He could scarcely believe\nhis eyes; but he would not let Hans go.\n\nInstead he took a ring from his finger and threw it to the very bottom\nof the sea.\n\n\"Go and fetch me that ring,\" he said, \"and you shall be free as the\nbirds and the bees; but until it is upon my finger again you shall not\npass through my kingdom.\"\n\nPoor Hans! He sat down on the seashore and cried--the tears rolled\ndown his cheeks I do assure you--for he said to himself:\n\n\"Who can do a task like this? I must either drown or stay here all the\ndays of my life. I shall never see my mother or the good king, my\nmaster, again.\"\n\nHow long he sat there, neither I nor anybody else can tell you, but by\nand by three little fishes came swimming to the shore.\n\n\"One good turn deserves another,\" they called, for they were the very\nfish that Hans had thrown into the stream. \"You helped us, and we have\ncome to help you.\"\n\nThen down they went to the very bottom of the sea where the king's\nring lay. One of them took it in his mouth and so brought it safely to\nHans who ran with it to the king.\n\n[Illustration: ONE OF THEM TOOK IT IN HIS MOUTH, AND SO BROUGHT IT\nSAFELY TO HANS.]\n\nAnd when the king saw the ring he knew that he must let Hans go; he\ndid not dare to keep him any longer.\n\nSo Hans mounted his horse and rode joyfully to his mother's home where\nhe stayed till the time came when he must return to the good king, his\nmaster, which he did by another road.\n\nHe worked well and was happy serving his master faithfully, and making\nfriends with birds and beasts, all the days of his life; but never\nagain did he go to the wicked king's country. And I for one think he\nshowed his good sense by that.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GREAT WHITE BEAR\n\n\nOnce upon a time the tailor of Wraye and the tinker of Wraye went to\nthe king's fair together; and when they had seen all the sights that\nwere there they started home together well pleased with their day's\nouting.\n\nThe sun was going down when they left the fair and when they came to\nthe Enchanted Wood through which they had to pass the moon was rising\nover the hill. And a fine full moon it was, so bright that the night\nwas almost as light as day.\n\n\"There are some people who would not venture in this wood at night\neven when the moon is shining,\" said the tinker; \"but as for me I do\nnot know what fear is.\"\n\n\"Nor I,\" said the tailor. \"I would that every one had as stout a heart\nas mine.\"\n\nAnd it was just then that Grandmother Grey's old white sheep that had\nwandered into the wood that eve came plodding through the bushes.\n\n\"Goodness me! What is that?\" said the tinker clutching his companion's\narm.\n\n\"A bear!\" cried the tailor casting one frightened glance toward the\nbushes. \"A great white bear! Run, run for your life.\"\n\nAnd run they did! The tailor was small and the tinker was tall, but it\nwas a close race between them, up hill and down hill, and into the\ntown.\n\n\"A bear, a great white bear!\" they called as they ran; and everybody\nthey met took up the cry: \"A bear, a bear!\" till the whole town was\nroused.\n\nThe mayor and his wife, the shoemaker and his daughter, the butcher,\nthe baker, the candlestick-maker, the blacksmith and the miller's\nson--indeed, to make a long story short, everybody who was awake in\nthe town of Wraye--came hurrying out of their houses to hear what the\nmatter was. There was soon as large a crowd as went to church on\nSunday gathered about the two friends; and the tailor and the tinker\ntalked as fast as they had run, to tell their thrilling tale.\n\n\"We were just coming through the wood,\" said the tailor, \"when there,\nas close to us as the shoemaker is to the blacksmith, we saw----\"\n\n\"A terrible creature,\" interrupted the tinker. \"'Tis as large as a\ncalf, I assure you----\"\n\n\"And white as the mayor's shirt,\" cried the tailor. \"It is a marvel\nthat we escaped and if it had not been that I----\"\n\n\"I saw it first,\" said the tinker; \"but I stood my ground. I did not\nrun till the tailor did.\"\n\nThe two would have been willing to talk till morning had not all the\nothers determined to go to the wood at once and kill the bear.\n\n[Illustration: \"A BEAR!\" CRIED THE TAILOR.]\n\n\"I cannot answer for the safety of the town till it is done,\" said the\nmayor; so every one ran for a weapon as fast as his feet could carry\nhim.\n\nThe mayor brought his long sword that the king had given him, and the\ncarpenter a hatchet, the blacksmith took his hammer, and the miller's\nson a gun; and the rest of the men whatever they could put their hands\non.\n\nThe women went, too, with mops and brooms to drive the bear away\nshould he run toward the town; and one little boy who had waked up in\nthe stir followed after them with stones in his hands.\n\nThey very soon came to the wood, and then the question was who should\ngo first.\n\n\"Let the tinker and the tailor lead the way,\" said the mayor, \"and we\nwill come close after.\"\n\n\"Oh, no, if you please, your honor,\" said the tinker and the tailor\nspeaking at the very same time. \"That will never do. We cannot think\nof going before you.\"\n\n\"I will go first if the mayor will lend me his sword,\" said the\nshoemaker.\n\n\"Aye, aye, let the shoemaker go,\" cried some.\n\n\"No, no, 'tis the mayor's place. The king gave the sword to him,\" said\nothers.\n\n\"I could kill the bear while you are talking about it,\" said the\nmiller's son.\n\nEvery one had something to say, but at last it was all settled and the\nmiller's son with the mayor's sword by his side and his own gun in his\nhand was just slipping into the wood when out walked the old white\nsheep!\n\n\"Baa, baa,\" she cried, as if to ask, \"Pray tell me what the stir's\nabout. Baa, baa!\"\n\n\"A sheep, a sheep, a great white sheep!\" cried the miller's son; and\nthen how the people of Wraye did laugh!\n\nThey laughed and they laughed and they laughed, so loud and so long\nthat their laughter was heard all the way to the king's fair and set\nthe people to laughing there.\n\nBut whether the tailor and the tinker laughed or not, I do not know.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SONG THAT TRAVELED\n\n\nOne day when all the world was gay with spring a king stood at a\nwindow of his palace and looked far out over his kingdom. And because\nhis land was fair to see, and he was a young king, and his heart was\nhappy, he made a song for himself and sang it loud and merrily:\n\n    \"The hawthorn's white, the sun is bright,\n    And blue the cloudless sky;\n    And not a bird that sings in spring\n    Is happier than I, than I,\n    Is happier than I.\"\n\nNow it chanced that a ploughboy at work in a field hard by the palace\nheard the king's song and caught the words and the air of it.\n\nHe was young and happy and as he followed his plough across the dewy\nfield, and thought of the corn that would grow, by and by, in the\nfurrows it made, and of his little black and white pig that would\nfeed and grow fat on the corn, he sang:\n\n    \"The hawthorn's white, the sun is bright,\n    And blue the cloudless sky;\n    And not a bird that sings in spring\n    Is happier than I, than I,\n    Is happier than I.\"\n\n\"A right merry song, Robin Ploughboy,\" called the goose-girl who\ntended the farmer's geese in the next field; and she leaned on the\nfence that divided the two, and sang with him, for she was as happy a\nlass as ever lived in the king's country.\n\nThe farmer's wife had given her a goose for her very own that day, and\nthe goose had made a nest in the alder bushes. There was already one\negg in it and soon there would be more. Then she would send them to\nmarket; and when they were sold she would buy a ribbon for her hair.\nIt was no wonder that she felt like singing:\n\n    \"The hawthorn's white, the sun is bright,\n    And blue the cloudless sky;\n    And not a bird that sings in spring\n    Is happier than I, than I,\n    Is happier than I.\"\n\nThe chapman,[5] from whom she bought her ribbon in all good time,\nlearned the king's song from her; and as he trudged along the king's\nhighway with his pack upon his back he, too, sang it; for there is no\nbetter weather for peddling or singing, either, than that which comes\nin the spring.\n\n[Footnote 5: A peddler.]\n\nA soldier just home from the wars, and glad enough to be there, had\nthe song from the chapman; and in turn he taught it to a sailor who\ntook it to sea with him.\n\nThe sailor was going to the far countries, but if all went well with\nhis ship, and with him, he would be at home in time to see the\nhawthorn bloom in his mother's yard another year and another spring.\n\n[Illustration: SHE LEANED ON THE FENCE THAT DIVIDED THE TWO.]\n\nHe kept the song in his heart for a year and a day, and then, because\nnothing had gone amiss and he was homeward bound, he sang it, too:\n\n    \"The hawthorn's white, the sun is bright,\n    And blue the cloudless sky;\n    And not a bird that sings in spring\n    Is happier than I, than I,\n    Is happier than I.\"\n\nOn the sailor's ship there was a minstrel bound for the king's court\nto sing on May Day; and the minstrel learned the song from the sailor.\n\nHe was a young minstrel and very proud to sing at the king's festival,\nso when it was his turn and he stood before the throne he could think\nof no better song to sing than:\n\n    \"The hawthorn's white, the sun is bright,\n    And blue the cloudless sky;\n    And not a bird that sings in spring\n    Is happier than I, than I,\n    Is happier than I.\"\n\nNow the king had been so busy about the affairs of his kingdom\ndeciding this question and that, sending messengers here and there,\nand listening to one and another, as all kings must do, that he had\nforgotten the song which he had made. But when he heard the minstrel\nit all came back to him; and then he was puzzled.\n\n\"Good minstrel,\" said he, \"ten golden guineas I will give you for your\nsong, and to the ten will add ten more if you will tell me where you\nlearned it.\"\n\n\"An easy matter that,\" said the minstrel. \"The sailor who rides in yon\nwhite ship in your harbor taught it to me.\"\n\n\"The soldier who even now stands guard at your majesty's gate gave me\nthe song,\" said the sailor when he was asked.\n\n\"I had it from the chapman who travels on the king's highway,\" said\nthe soldier.\n\n\"I heard the little goose-girl sing it,\" said the chapman when they\nfound him.\n\n\"'Tis Robin Ploughboy's song,\" laughed the goose-girl. \"Go ask him\nabout it.\"\n\n\"The king sang it first and I next,\" said the ploughboy.\n\nThen the king knew that he had made a good song that everybody with a\nhappy heart might sing; and because he was glad of this, he stood at\nhis window and sang again:\n\n[Illustration: Music]\n\nTHE SONG THAT TRAVELED\n\nWords, MAUD LINDSAY\n\nMusic, ELSIE A. MERRIMAN\n\n_Allegretto_\n\nThe hawthorn's white, the sun is bright, And blue the cloud-less\n\nsky; .   And not a bird that sings in spring Is\n\nhap-pi-er than I, than I, Is hap-pi-er than I. . .\n\n\n\nTHE QUEST FOR THE NIGHTINGALE[6]\n\n\n    Oh, who would go to fairyland?\n    The moon is shining bright, oh,\n    And who would go to fairyland\n    Upon a summer's night, oh!\n\n    Across a field of fragrant fern\n    All sparkling with the dew, oh!\n    Come trip it light to fairyland\n    And I will go with you, oh!\n\n    To fairyland, to fairyland,\n    Who seeks may find the way, oh,\n    And we shall see the fairies dance\n    Before the break of day, oh!\n\n[Footnote 6: I am indebted to one William Shakespeare, whose intimate\nacquaintance with fairyland none can dispute, for the name\n\"Pease-Blossom\"; to Joseph Rodman Drake for the idea of my story; and\nto some of the folk tales which suggested to me one or two of\nPease-Blossom's adventures.]\n\nIn the deepest dell of the Enchanted Wood, where the moss grew the\ngreenest and the violets bloomed the sweetest, the fairies lived.\nIt was they who kept the brooks and the springs free from dirt or\nclog, and tended the wild flowers and watched over the young trees.\nAnd they were friends with all the harmless birds and beasts from\nwood's end to wood's end.\n\nBut for those creatures that work harm to others, and for the goblins\nwho delight in mischief they had no love, and every day and every\nnight a watch was set to drive them from the fairy dell.\n\nEach fay in turn kept guard and all went well till one evening when\nPease-Blossom, the best-loved fairy in the dell, fell asleep at his\npost and the goblins stole away the nightingale that sang each night\nat the queen's court.\n\nGreat was the sorrow in fairyland when this was known.\n\n\"I will fly to catch them before they have had time to hide her away,\"\ncried a fay whose name was Quick-As-Lightning.\n\n\"I will go, too,\" said little Twinkle-Toes.\n\n\"And I, three,\" said Spice-of-Life; \"and my good thorn sword with me,\nwhich will make four against them.\"\n\nBut the fairy queen would not consent to this.\n\n    \"Pease-Blossom in his trust did fail;\n    And he must seek the nightingale,\"\n\nshe said; and no sooner had she spoken than the little fay bade his\ncompanions good-bye and hastened out upon his quest alone.\n\nThe goblins had left no trace behind them and Pease-Blossom wandered\nhither and thither over dewy fells and fields asking of every piping\ncricket and brown winged bat he met: \"Passed the goblins this way?\"\n\nNo one could aid him, and he was ready to drop from weariness and\nsorrow when the moon came over the hill and called:\n\n\"Whither away, Pease-Blossom? Whither away?\"\n\n\"In quest of the nightingale that the goblins have stolen; but where\nthey have taken her I cannot find,\" answered the little fay sadly.\n\nThen said the moon: \"Many a nightingale there is in the wide world,\nboth free and caged, and how may I know yours from any other? But this\nI can tell you: through a window in the castle of the Great Giant,\nwhich stands upon a high hill beside the Silver Sea, I spy a\nnightingale in a golden cage which was not there when I shone through\nthat same window yester eve; and moreover, at the World's End, which\nis beyond the Giant's castle, I see a band of goblins counting money.\"\n\n\"A thousand thanks to you, oh moon,\" cried Pease-Blossom joyfully when\nhe heard this; for he could put two and two together as well as any\nfay in fairyland, and he did not doubt that the goblins had sold the\nnightingale to the Great Giant.\n\n\"I shall be at the castle before you shine in the dell,\" he called to\nthe moon as he flew swift as a humming bird through the air.\n\nBut when he reached the hedge of thorns that guarded the palace of a\nlovely princess who was next neighbor to the Giant, he tripped against\na candle-fly that was hurrying to an illumination in the palace, and\ntumbled headlong into the thorns.\n\n\"Help! help!\" he cried as he struggled to get free, and a night-hawk\nthat was out in a search of a supper flew down to see what the matter\nwas.\n\n\"Oh, ho!\" said he when he saw who it was. \"Fairy folk like to have all\nthings their way, but 'tis my turn now to have a little fun.\"\n\nAnd he plucked Pease-Blossom from out the thorns and flew away with\nhim in his bill.\n\nUp and down, so high that the trees below looked no taller than corn\nstalks, and so low that their branches brushed his wings, he flew,\ntill Pease-Blossom was faint from dizziness.\n\n\"See what a great moth the hawk has in his bill,\" cried an owl that\nthey passed.\n\n\"'Tis no moth but a bug,\" said a whip-poor-will.\n\n\"Such an enormous gnat should make a meal for two,\" whispered a\nbrother hawk, flying close.\n\n\"Simpleton! Do you not know a fairy when you see one?\" said the\nnight-hawk who could keep quiet no longer.\n\nBut no sooner had he opened his bill to speak his very first word than\nout tumbled Pease-Blossom.\n\nThe other hawk made haste to catch the fay but before he could reach\nhim a fine breeze came blowing by.\n\n\"Is this not my little playmate, Pease-Blossom, who likes so well to\nride on the grasses and rock in the flowers?\" asked the breeze; and it\nwhisked the little fairy away and bore him along so fast that no bird\ncould keep up with him.\n\nThey were at the Silver Sea in the twinkling of a star, and\nPease-Blossom was just beginning to think that his troubles were\nended, when the breeze died away as quickly as it had come, and the\nlittle fay found himself in the sea before he knew what was happening.\n\nFortunately for him a great tarpon fish came swimming by just then.\n\n\"Catch fast hold of my tail, and I will take you safely to shore,\"\nsaid he; and Pease-Blossom lost no time in doing as he was bid.\n\nUgh! How salty the water was and how the billows roared as the fish\nplunged through them, sending the white spray far above his head!\n\nPoor Pease-Blossom was more dead than alive when they reached the\nshore, but as soon as he had gotten his breath again he said to his\nnew friend:\n\n\"If you will come with me to fairyland you may swim in a stream as\nclear as glass. There is no salt in it, and no rough waves and every\nfairy in the dell will guard you from harm.\"\n\n\"Water without salt! I cannot imagine it,\" said the great tarpon. \"And\nno waves! Why, I should die of homesickness there.\"\n\nSo when Pease-Blossom saw that there was nothing he could do for him,\nhe thanked him kindly, and turned his steps to the Giant's castle\nwhich stood on a high hill close beside the sea just as the moon had\nsaid.\n\nBut Pease-Blossom's wings were so wet and so weary that though he\ntried once, twice, and thrice he could not fly to the lowest window\nledge of the castle; and what he would have done nobody knows had not\na chimney-swift who was out late from home flown by just then.\n\nShe lived in the castle chimney and when she heard what the little fay\nwanted she offered to carry him to her nest.\n\n\"Once there all will be easy,\" she said; \"for there is no better way\nto get into the castle than through the chimney.\"\n\nSo Pease-Blossom seated himself between the swift's wings, and up they\nwent to the top of the chimney and then down through the opening to\nthe swift's home, which looked as if it were only half of a nest\nfastened against the wall.\n\n\"If you will come with me to fairyland,\" said Pease-Blossom when he\nsaw this, \"you shall have the greenest tree in the wood for your home.\nAnd the fairies will help you to build a whole nest there.\"\n\nBut the swift only laughed at him. \"There is no better place than a\nchimney to raise young birds. I should be uneasy about them every\nminute in a tree. And as for a whole nest, I don't know what you\nmean,\" said she.\n\nAnd when Pease-Blossom saw that she was well content with her home, he\nthanked her and bade her good-bye, and began his climb down the\nchimney.\n\nThere was no light to show him the way except the little that the moon\nsent through the opening high above the swift's nest; and on all\nsides of the little fay were the straight narrow walls of the chimney,\ncovered with black soot. He clung to them as closely as a lichen to a\nrock, putting his little toes into every crack and holding fast to the\nbits of cement that jutted out here and there from the bricks. If he\nrustled a wing he brought down a shower of soot upon himself, and when\nat last he stood in the Giant's room, he was as black as any goblin.\n\nHe had no time to think of himself though, for there asleep in the\ngolden cage which the moon had seen was the queen's nightingale. There\nwas no mistaking her, for there was a tiny feather missing from the\ntip of her right wing, and that missing feather was in Pease-Blossom's\nSunday cap hanging in an alder bush in the fairy dell that very\nminute.\n\nThe Giant was asleep, too, but the golden cage was on a table close\nbeside him, so close that poor Pease-Blossom, whose wings were not\nimproved by the soot from the chimney, could not reach it without\nclimbing upon the Giant's bed.\n\nHe was as careful as he could be, but no sooner had he stepped upon\nthe bed than he touched one of the Giant's toes; and the Giant gave a\ngreat start.\n\n\"What is the matter?\" called his wife.\n\n\"Oh, nothing,\" said he; \"I only dreamed that a little mouse was\ntickling my toes;\" and he fell asleep again.\n\nPease-Blossom did not dare to move till he heard him breathing\nheavily. Then, tiptoe across the counterpane he went, taking care at\nevery step; but in spite of his care his wings brushed against one of\nthe Giant's hands; and the Giant gave a great start.\n\n\"What is the matter?\" called his wife.\n\n\"Oh, nothing,\" said he; \"I only dreamed that a little leaf fell on my\nhand;\" and he closed his eyes, and turned over on his side and was\nsoon asleep.\n\nPease-Blossom was close under the cage by this time, but so tall was\nthe table on which it was, and so small was he that, to reach the\ndoor, he was forced to stand on the Giant's head.\n\nLight as thistle-down were his feet, but no sooner had the Giant felt\ntheir tread than he gave a great start, and lifting his hand struck\nhimself a tremendous blow upon his forehead. Pease-Blossom would have\nbeen crushed to death had he not managed to spring, just at that\ninstant, to the edge of the cage, where he stood trembling.\n\n\"What is the matter?\" called the Giant's wife.\n\n\"Oh, nothing,\" said he; \"I only dreamed that a fly lighted on my\nforehead,\" and he was soon breathing heavily again.\n\nThe nightingale, who was not used to sleeping at night, anyway, was\nwide awake by this time, but when she saw Pease-Blossom she did not\nknow him, so black was he.\n\n\"Do you not remember the fairy dell and the little fay to whom you\ngave a feather for his cap?\" said Pease-Blossom then; and when the\nnightingale heard that, she was so overjoyed that she could scarcely\nkeep from bursting into song.\n\nTo open the cage door was only a minute's work and the nightingale was\nsoon as free as air. Pease-Blossom seated himself upon her back and\nshe was just ready to fly through an open window near by when the\ngiant waked up in real earnest and saw the open cage.\n\n\"Thieves! Robbers!\" he called in such a terrible voice that the\nchimney-swift shook in her nest, and the big fish in the Silver Sea\njumped out of the water.\n\nIf the Giant had spied Pease-Blossom and the nightingale it would have\ngone hard with them; but luckily for them his wife, who was a\nkind-hearted woman, saw them before he did, and upset the golden cage\nright in his way.\n\n[Illustration: STRAIGHT TO THE ENCHANTED WOOD THEY WENT.]\n\n\"The whole place is bewitched,\" thundered he, stumbling over the\ncage; and in the stir which followed the nightingale slipped away\nunseen.\n\nOver the Silver Sea where the fish swam, over the hedge of thorns\nwhich guarded the palace of the lovely princess, over the fields and\nthe fells where the dew sparkled, straight to the Enchanted Wood they\nwent.\n\n\"Who comes here?\" called the fairy warder of the dell.\n\n\"Pease-Blossom and the nightingale,\" answered the fay; and great was\nthe joy in fairyland at their return.\n\n\"How long you have been!\" said Quick-As-Lightning.\n\n\"How fast you have come!\" said little Twinkle-Toes.\n\nBut as for Spice-of-Life he could not speak at all for laughing at\nsooty Pease-Blossom.\n\nThen Pease-Blossom made haste to bathe himself in the brook, and put\non his finest court suit of pink satin rose-petals trimmed with lace\nfrom a spider's web; for the fairy queen had ordered a grand court\nball in his honor, and there was no time to lose.\n\nA cricket band played merrily, the nightingale sang from a thicket\nclose at hand, and tripping and twirling the little folks went till\nthe cock crowed and the sun came up; and it was fairy bedtime.\n\n    In light of sun and light of moon\n    How different all things seem, oh!\n    Wake up, wake up, dear Sleepy Head,\n    'Twas nothing but a dream, oh.\n\n    But who can tell? Some other night\n    When mellow shines the moon, oh,\n    Perhaps we'll dream the dream again\n    And may that night come soon, oh!\n\n\n\n\nTHE MAGIC FLOWER\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a wee woman whose bit of a garden was a\ndelight to all eyes.\n\nSuch flowers as she had! And in the midst of them, green as an emerald\nand smooth as velvet, was a grass plot with never a weed upon it. And\nthrough the grass ran a garden walk as white as snow. Every one who\nsaw it declared there was no prettier garden in the king's country and\nwhat they said was no more than what was true.\n\nEarly and late the wee woman worked to keep her garden fair and lovely\nbut in spite of all her care whenever the east wind blew it brought\nwith it a whirl of trash from her neighbor's dooryard, and scattered\nit among her flowers.\n\nAlack and alas, what a dooryard was that! Except for the trash that\nwas always upon it, it was as bare as the palm of your hand; and there\nwas a heap of dirt and ashes as high as a hillock in front of the\ndoor. Everybody who passed it turned their eyes away from it, for\nthere was no uglier spot in the king's country; and that is nothing\nbut the truth of it.\n\nWhenever the wee woman looked from her windows or walked in her garden\nshe saw the dooryard and many was the day when she said to herself:\n\n\"I wish I were a thousand miles away from it;\" and if she made up her\nmind, as sometimes she did, that she would trouble no more about it,\nthe east wind was sure to come with a whirl of its trash. Oh, it\nseemed as if she were always cleaning because of that dooryard!\n\nAnd what to do about it she did not know. She puzzled and planned, she\nwished and she worked, but she had come to the end of her wits when,\none day, her fairy godmother came to see her.\n\n\"Never fret,\" said the godmother when she had heard the trouble. \"In\nyour own garden grows a magic flower that can set things right; and if\nyou will only tend it and watch it and wait long enough you shall see\nwhat you shall see.\"\n\nAnd when she had pointed out the flower she went on her way, leaving\nthe wee woman much comforted.\n\nShe tended the flower and watched it and waited to see what she should\nsee; and while she was watching and waiting, the flower burst into\nbloom. The loveliest bloom! Every blossom was as rosy as the little\nclouds at sunrise; and the wee woman's garden was more beautiful than\nbefore because of them.\n\n\"'Tis the prettiest garden in the king's country,\" said every one who\npassed; and what they said was no more than what was true.\n\nBut as for the neighbor's dooryard it was as bare and ugly as ever.\nThe heap of dirt and ashes grew larger every day; and whenever the\nwind blew from the east it brought a whirl of its trash into the wee\nwoman's garden just as it had always done.\n\nThe wee woman looked each morning to see if the magic of the flower\nhad begun to work but morning after morning nothing changed.\n\n\"It is long waiting and weary watching for magic things to work,\" said\nshe to herself; but because of what her fairy godmother had told her,\nshe tended the flower from day to day, and hoped in her heart that\nsomething might come of it yet.\n\nBy and by the blossoms of the flower faded and fell and after them\ncame the seed. Hundreds and hundreds of feathery seed there were, and\none day the wind from the west came by, and blew them away in a whirl\nover the fence and into the neighbor's dooryard. No one saw them go,\nnot even the wee woman knew what had become of them; and as for the\ndooryard, it was as ugly as ever with its ash heap and its trash.\nEverybody who passed it turned their eyes away from it.\n\n[Illustration: WHILE SHE WAS WATCHING AND WAITING, THE FLOWER BURST\nINTO BLOOM.]\n\nThe wee woman herself would look at it no longer.\n\n\"I will look at the magic flower instead,\" she said to herself, and so\nshe did. Early and late she tended the plant and worked to make her\ngarden fair and lovely; but she kept her eyes from the dooryard. And\nif the wind from the east blew trash among her flowers she raked it\naway and burned it up and troubled no more about it.\n\nSummer slipped into autumn and autumn to winter and the flowers slept;\nbut at the first peep of spring the wee woman's garden budded and\nbloomed once more; and one day as she worked there, with her back to\nthe dooryard, she heard passers-by call out in delight:\n\n\"Of all the gardens in the king's country there are none so pretty as these\ntwo,\" and when she looked around in surprise to see what they meant she saw\nthat the neighbor's dooryard was full of flowers--hundreds and hundreds of\nlovely blossoms, every one as rosy as the little clouds at sunrise. They\ncovered the heap of dirt and ashes, they clustered about the door stone;\nthey filled the corners; and in the midst of them was the neighbor, raking\nand cleaning as busily as if she were the wee woman herself.\n\n\"'Tis fine weather for flowers,\" said she, nodding and smiling at the\nwee woman.\n\n\"The finest in the world,\" said the wee woman; and she nodded and\nsmiled too, for she knew that the magic flower had done its work.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LIONS IN THE WAY[7]\n\n\nOnce upon a time three friends set out to go to the palace of the\nking, which was known as the House Beautiful.\n\n[Footnote 7: Founded upon the incident of the Lions in the Way in\nBunyan's \"Pilgrim's Progress.\"]\n\nThe king himself had invited them there, and that they might have no\ntrouble in finding the way he sent to them a scroll upon which the\npath was marked so plainly that it would have been a hard matter to\nhave missed it. And to make assurance doubly sure he wrote upon the\nscroll with his own hand, bidding them to keep to the path.\n\n\"Turn neither to the right nor to the left,\" his message said; \"but\nfollow the path and it will lead you safely to the House Beautiful,\nwhere I have prepared a place for you.\"\n\nAll their lives the three friends had heard of the wonders of the\nking's house. Some people said that it was built of gold bright as the\nsun itself, and others that it was made of gleaming pearl. Its windows\nwere said to overlook the whole world, and its towers to reach higher\nthan the sky. And every one agreed that there was naught within its\ngates but peace and joy.\n\nSo eager were the friends to see it that they could not journey fast\nenough to satisfy themselves, and from morning until night they urged\neach other on.\n\nThe path by which they were to go was a narrow path, with a rough\nplace now and then, and now and then a briar or sharp stone upon it,\nbut for the most part it was a pleasant way. The travelers hastened\njoyfully along it and all went well with them until, one day, they met\na man whose face was turned toward the land from which they had just\ncome.\n\n\"Good neighbors,\" he cried, \"why travel you so fast? Is a house afire\nor a friend ill; or does a feast wait till you come? Tell me, I pray\nyou, that I may sorrow with you, or rejoice, as your need may be.\"\n\n\"Rejoice, rejoice!\" cried the three; \"for we journey to the king's\nHouse Beautiful, where a place is prepared for us.\"\n\nBut when the man heard this he shook his head sorrowfully as if what\nthey told him was grievous news indeed.\n\n\"I, too, had thought of going there,\" he said; \"but that was before I\nknew of the lions in the way.\"\n\n\"Lions in the way!\" cried the travelers, looking at each other with\nstartled eyes.\n\n\"Aye, lions,\" repeated the man solemnly, \"the fiercest and largest\nthat ever man saw. Their very roaring shakes the ground, and many a\ntraveler has been devoured by them, so people say. As for myself, I\nhave not seen them. To hear of them is enough for me.\"\n\n\"And for me,\" said one of the travelers; and in spite of all his\ncompanions might do or say to persuade him, he would go no farther.\n\n\"The king's house may be beautiful as the morning and as full of\nwonders as the sky is full of stars, but what good will it be to me if\nI am eaten by the lions?\" said he.\n\nAnd his friends were forced to journey on without him.\n\nAs they went they talked of the lions in the way and the one said to\nthe other:\n\n\"Think you it is true, or but an idle tale?\"\n\n\"True or not we shall pass in safety. Have we not the king's own word\nfor it?\" said the other; and he led the way with such great strides\nthat his friend could scarcely keep pace with him.\n\nOn and on they traveled without stop or hindrance, till all at once\nthe air was filled with a great noise that shook the earth beneath\ntheir feet and set their knees to trembling.\n\nThere was no mistaking what it was. Even though they had never heard\nthe sound before, they knew it was the roaring of the lions.\n\nAnd the second traveler began to grow afraid.\n\n\"Let us go around by another way,\" he said. \"Surely there are more\npaths than one to the king's house.\"\n\nAnd though the other spread out before him the scroll on which the\npath was marked and read once more the message of the king: \"Turn\nneither to the right nor to the left but follow the path and it will\nlead you safely to the House Beautiful, where a place is prepared for\nyou,\" he would pay no heed to it but turned away into a by-path and\nfollowed it out of sight.\n\nThe other traveler was forced to journey on the path alone, with the\nroaring of the lions in his ears and the shaking of the earth beneath\nhis feet. Nor had he gone a furlong more when just ahead he spied the\nlions themselves. One on each side of the path they stood with flaming\neyes and yawning mouths; and at the very sight of them the traveler's\nheart beat quick and sharp and his feet faltered upon the way.\n\nBut his faith in the king's word was greater than his fear. \"Falter\nnot, oh, feet! Fear not, oh, heart! There is safety in the path. The\nking himself has said it,\" he cried as he pressed on.\n\nAnd lo! and behold, when he had come to the lions he found that they\nwere chained. Roar as they might and strive as they would, they could\nnot touch those who walked in the path that the king had marked; and\nthe traveler passed in safety.\n\n[Illustration: WHEN HE HAD COME TO THE LIONS HE FOUND THAT THEY WERE\nCHAINED.]\n\nBeyond the lions stood the House Beautiful, with walls of gold bright\nas the sun itself and gates of gleaming pearl. Its windows overlooked\nthe world, its towers reached above the sky, and of its wonders not\nthe half had ever been told him.\n\nThe traveler's place was prepared for him, and the king was waiting to\nwelcome him to his house; and he lived there in peace and joy forever\nafter.\n\n\nTHE END","title":"The Story-teller","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":16777}