{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_54159/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_54159","id":"gutenberg_54159","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54159","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's stories","Fairies -- Juvenile fiction","Fantasy fiction"],"text":"[Illustration: BUSY BROWNIES\n\n              ILLUSTRATIONS BY\n                  PALMER\n                    COX\n                 AUTHOR OF\n               THE BROWNIES\n\n                STORIES BY\n                 E. VEALE\n                   THE\n           FAIRY TALES AUTHORESS.\n\n             _COPYRIGHTED 1896_]\n\n\n\n\nTHE FAIRY QUEEN\u2019S PALACE.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll the Brownies had promised to help, and when a Brownie undertakes a\nthing he works as busily as a beaver until it is accomplished. Now this\nis what they determined to do.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Fairy Queen\u2019s palace had been destroyed--a wind that had swept\nthrough the forest carrying trees before it, and spreading ruin as it\ntraveled, had lifted up the Fairy Queen\u2019s home and dashed it all to\npieces. Poor little Queen; how sorrowful she felt to lose the pretty\nhouse where the royal family of Fairyland had so long lived.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut true to their nature the Brownies came to the rescue, promising\nto build a palace far more beautiful than the one that was lost. Such\nhelpful little creatures as the Brownies never lived. No chance of doing\ngood to one in trouble ever escapes these generous little fellows and\ncertainly this was a work to be hailed with much joy.\n\nFor a long while before they commenced, you could see them gathered in\ngroups, discussing how and where they should begin, and how they could\nmake the palace more beautiful. They were a funny looking set when they\nstarted out for the place where the house was to be built. Each one\ncarried something. One little fellow had an axe, another, hammer and\nnails, one the mortar hod and still another the plane, while the master\nworker could be seen with the square in his hand giving directions to the\nwhole crowd.\n\nThey commenced their work one beautiful moonlight night. Brownies, you\nknow, work when the darkness has put all the world to sleep. What a time\nthey had getting all the things together. Arriving at the spot, some fell\nto chopping wood, while others mixed the mortar and rigged up the pulleys\nby which they were to raise the stuff to the roof. How the hammers rang\nout as they struck the bright little nails. The grindstone went spinning\naround so fast it hummed quite a tune, as the carpenter sharpened his\ntools, for the Brownies had so much to do they must work their very\nfastest. The plasterer mixed the mortar, the painters made their brushes\nfly over the house; the masons worked with a will at the chimney, and the\npaper hanger\u2019s scissors shut with a click as he cut off the paper for the\npalace walls, which were to be so prettily decorated.\n\nWhen morning came all was finished and the Brownies felt proud and happy\nas they looked at their night\u2019s work. They worked as if by Magic and\nalmost before you could think, the palace rose high in the air. The\nBrownies don\u2019t have accidents very often but they must have been nervous\nthis time for while four or five of them were seated on a \u201cJack\u201d painting\nthe outside, over went the paint, brushes and all, and the little fellows\nwho were standing on a ladder underneath had an unexpected bath.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey were only sorry to think that they had left their camera at home for\nthey would have been happy to give the children a picture of the house as\nit looked when it was finished.\n\nAlthough they were tired and their eyes were growing heavy with sleep\nthey felt repaid for all their efforts, especially when the Fairy Queen\nseemed the proudest and happiest of them all. She thanked them heartily\nfor their loving service, and when they had seen her safely settled in\nher new home, they all disappeared, to be seen no more until there was\nmore good work to be done.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BROWNIES\u2019 VISITORS.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Isle of Fun and Frolic was the home of the Brownie boys and girls,\nand no one can e\u2019er deny that the island was well named. These youngsters\nhad no thought but to run and play, to sleep and to eat. They loved the\nflowers and they loved the birds--and the butterflies led them lively\nchases in their games of hide and seek. But one day came a change in\ntheir lives, and they learned that others lived in the world besides\nthemselves. Little Peak Hat discovered it, as she stood on the rock\nlooking out toward the sea. It was a great vessel ploughing the waves,\nits white sails flapping in the winds, and as she watched she saw it\nmoving steadily towards the island. All the Brownies came rushing at\nher call, and their wonder knew no limit. On came the vessel closer and\ncloser, the Brownies watched as long as they dared, and then fearful of\nbeing seen hurried away to hide themselves where they might occasionally\ntake a peep. What great big creatures were landing on the island, and\nwhat loud voices they had as they called to each other. It sounded to the\nBrownies like the roar of distant thunder. All day long the little people\nremained hidden, but when night came they stole from their hiding places\nto talk it over. What kind little hearts these Brownies had. All the nice\npieces of wood should be piled up for these strange people\u2019s comfort, the\nbest grapes should be saved for them, they would coax the fish to nibble,\nand do all in their power to make these queer guests happy. Indeed they\nseemed to think of nothing else, and had you visited their home in the\nold forest, you would have found them busily engaged in planning how they\ncould add to the comfort of their strange guests. The Brownies are never\nso happy as when they are busy making others happy. They believe that\nthe best way to enjoy life, is to give pleasure to those they meet. Of\ncourse the visitors did not know what was making their visit so pleasant,\nfor these busy little creatures always work quietly and secretly. The\nvisitors did not stay long, but the Brownies did good service, and when\nthey had gone they quite missed the pleasure they had felt in making\nothers happy, and they were continually wishing that some favoring wind\nwould bear some other ship to their shores that they might again have an\nopportunity of renewing their acquaintance with these queer people.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE BROWNIES\u2019 PLUM PUDDING.\n\n\n\u2019Twas the evening of the twenty-fourth of December. The clouds had been\ngray and heavy all day, and now the snow flakes were beginning to fall\nthick and fast; so fast that already quite a white blanket was spread\nover the earth.\n\nThis did not please the Brownies; they had work to do, and a snow storm\nwould hinder rather than help its progress.\n\nSomewhere in the woods nobody knew where, for the Brownies kept the\nsecret all to themselves, was a great big Christmas Pudding full of plums\nand citron, raisins and spices, and the Brownies wanted to bring that\npudding home.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIt was so big and heavy that they had built something that made one think\nof a raft or perhaps a ladder with the sides very far apart. How they put\nthe pudding on it would be hard to tell, but they managed it and bravely\nthey struggled with their burden perched on their little shoulders. They\ntook turns so that no one got too tired, but all were glad when they were\nsafely out of the woods and had landed the pudding in the hollow of the\nold tree back of the school house, for this had been the spot chosen for\nthe grand feast of the morrow. Then to their homes they skipped away to\ndream of the good times in store for them, and if their backs did ache\nand their poor little feet felt sore and weary, the vision of the pudding\ndancing in their heads made them forget all their woes.\n\nAnd what a treat they had on Christmas Day! The pudding was so good,\nand the day was so merry that the Brownies wished as they shut their\nsleepy eyes that Christmas came more than once a year. They made up their\nminds that they would never let a Christmas go by without having a plum\npudding, for it was the best thing they had ever tasted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE RAID OF THE INSECTS.\n\n\nShe was Queen of the garden, this beautiful creature, and all the flowers\nloved her. Each vied with the other in trying to please her. The tall\nwhite lillies held their heads still higher as she passed by, the tiny\nbud opened its curled petals further and further until it burst into a\nglorious rose, the blue bells tinkled their sweetest music, and the shy,\ngentle mignonette shed forth its loveliest perfume--every flower did all\nin its power for her sake.\n\nAnd the Queen loved all the flowers, too. She begged the sun to shine\ndown upon them, and she asked the morning dews to bathe their bright\nfaces, and the gentle rains to give them plenty to drink.\n\nAt last there came a day when the lillies hung their heads; blue bell\nand heart ease fell from their stems, the poppies that had gleamed so\nbrightly in the sun light covered their faces and shone no more, and all\nthe garden seemed full of gloom and sadness.\n\nThe Insects had done it all. With their sharpest weapons they had\nattacked the flowers, making them one by one yield to their violence.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHow this grieved the flower Queen, but at last she thought of the\nBrownies, and she smiled for well she knew these clever little workers.\nShe found a trumpet flower that had escaped the cruel foe, and blew one\ngentle blast. Quick as a wink the Brownies came running. Their faces\nlooked sad when they heard the trouble, but they promised to do all in\ntheir power to help their gentle Queen, and bravely they went to work.\nThey took turns at the grindstone and sharpened their spears and swords\nand axes until they glistened in the moonlight, and the insects might\nwell have trembled had they seen them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn the morning when the sun peeped out to waken the flowers, the insects\nonce more started on their raid, but they were not prepared for what\nfollowed. Curled up underneath flowers and bushes hid the Brownies.\nOut they rushed and war raged fiercely, but the Brownies came off the\nvictors, and the bees and the beetles, the hornets, ants and caterpillars\nlay dead upon the ground.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE BROWNIES\u2019 WEDDING GIFT.\n\n\nOnce upon a time, long, long years ago, there lived somewhere the other\nside of the Atlantic Ocean, a maiden who was as beautiful as an angel,\nand better than being beautiful, she was also good and gentle.\n\nElsie and her father lived alone, for her mother had died many years\nbefore, and this beautiful maid kept her father\u2019s house, and managed\nall things like some wise and noble queen. The poor people of the\nvillage loved her, for it was her gentle hands that brought broths and\nstrengthening food to the sick mothers, her beautiful eyes that read\ncomforting words to the old women, and in her untiring arms many a poor\nlittle baby had been rocked to the land of dreams.\n\nThere was somebody in the village who loved her better than all the\npeople put together, but he dared not tell her, for he was poor, very\npoor, and she was rich as a young princess. Now it happened that the\nmaiden loved the youth as much as he loved her, but she was too proud to\nshow her love because she thought that the young man did not care for her.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOne day great changes came to the home of Elsie. Her father had gone on a\njourney and when he returned he did not come alone but brought with him a\nwife and she brought with her two proud and unlovely daughters.\n\nIt was a great trial for the maiden, she and her father had always been\nso happy together, and she wept when she thought of how little of his\ntime and love could now be spared for her. Well might she weep--for\nthe new mother set right to work to put her daughters in the place of\nElsie, and with cruel words and taunts compelled her to wait upon these\nstep-sisters, until her life became one dreadful burden. Tales, unkind\nand untrue were carried to the father, and when his wrath was turned upon\nher she could stand it no longer, and made up her mind to leave her home\nforever.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOne night when they all had gone to a ball, to which Elsie also had been\ninvited but from which she had been compelled to stay away because her\nbeauty so far out-shone the gaudy make up of the sisters--she packed a\nfew treasures and with many tears and farewell glances, for the spot she\nloved so well, she went alone into the great wide world.\n\nIt chanced that Earnest, the youth who loved the maiden with all his\nheart, had grown restless and unhappy thinking of his sweetheart, and yet\nnot daring to tell her his love, and he had come to her home thinking\nthat perhaps he might find comfort in being thus near her. He wandered up\nand down, when all at once he stopped, looked around him, and then rubbed\nhis eyes--for he surely must have been dreaming, this could not be Elsie\nwho stood before him. But it was she and no other--poor Elsie leaving her\nhome, sad and broken hearted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPride no longer held the youth speechless, and sorrow made Elsie see the\ntenderness and sympathy in her lovers eyes. Oh, how happy she was as she\npoured out to him all her troubles and found comfort and rest in his\nloving arms.\n\nWhile the lovers stood together planning a life for the future--things\nhad been entirely taken out of their hands by the good little Brownies.\n\nThey had known Elsie and worshipped her for her goodness, and now the\ntime had come when they might show their appreciation, and while the\nlovers talked they had gathered silently around them. Then the Queen of\nthe Brownies spoke, \u201cGood and lovely maiden, and noble youth,\u201d said she,\n\u201cwe know of your troubles and we want to help you. Listen to what I tell\nyou, and you shall have riches in abundance. Go, when I have finished\ntalking, enter the Briarly woods. There in the hollow tree you will find\na casket filled with bright and shining gold, take it, spend it wisely\nand take with it the blessings and good will of the Brownies.\u201d It was a\nwonderful wedding present, and filled the lovers hearts with gratitude.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BROWNIES AND THE FARMER.\n\n\nThe Brownies were sorrowful, more sorrowful than they had ever been in\ntheir lives before, and that is saying a great deal, for Brownies you\nknow, live such a long, long while, and the saddest part of all was that\nthere seemed no way out of their trouble. The Brownies who lived in the\napple orchard saw it first and when they told their friends, all with one\nvoice, cried out, \u201cThe wrong must be righted!\u201d\n\nNow this was the trouble. Farmer Grump had bought the Old Clover Farm\nwhere the Brownies had lived happily for years, and now each day was\nfull of trials and discomforts, for this cruel farmer seemed always to\nbe finding a way to make the life of his stock miserable. The cows had\ngreat boards tied over their eyes--so large that they could not see and\nso heavy that when the poor creatures went to crop the grass, Bang! Bang!\nwent the board against their noses.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe pigs suffered too. Into their noses had been driven rings that almost\nmade them bleed when rooting in the ground. And what happiness do you\nsuppose life holds for a pig if he cannot root?\n\nThe Brownies liked the donkey for he seemed such a patient, long\nsuffering animal but the farmer\u2019s children made his life wretched--they\nbeat him, they stoned him, they even took their naughty little feet and\nkicked him.\n\nThe sheep suffered, and the horses as they dragged the plough through the\nhard earth or hauled heavy loads along the sandy roads felt constantly\nthe slash, slash of the farmer\u2019s cow-hide whip.\n\nEverything on the place suffered, so do you wonder the Brownies looked\nsorrowful?\n\nAt last they could stand it no longer, and all met one night at the \u201cSeek\nus further\u201d tree where the oldest Brownies lived. He had gotten up in\nthe limbs so that all might hear, or at any rate see him, and announced\nthat they had long witnessed these scenes of cruelty in silence, but\nnow something must be done, and they wanted all the Brownies to help.\nHe thought it would be a good plan if they went when no one was around\nand whispered in the sufferers ear that the time had come when they must\nrebel. They must stand up for their rights.\n\n\u201cHurrah!\u201d and \u201cThree Cheers,\u201d cried the Brownies in chorus, as they waved\ntheir funny little hats. The farmer heard the noise but he thought it was\nonly the wind blowing through the trees in the apple orchard.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe meeting was dismissed, and quietly and carefully the Brownies went\nabout their work--and they did it well, too, for the next morning when\nthe farmer went to harness his horses, and as usual brought the cruel\nwhip down on their back--he found that two could play at the same game\nfor up went the horses heels and sorry trouble Farmer Grump had to get\nthem harnessed.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen the pigs took their turn. They showed their long white tusks and\nacted so savagely that the farmer left them in fright. Even Ned the\npatient donkey, kicked up his heels, galloped away and no one could come\nnear him. Everything seemed possessed with the same spirit and Farmer\nGrump went to his breakfast the most puzzled man you could possibly\nfind. But the animals won the day, for that very afternoon the farmer\nwent to town and when he came back he was carrying a large board painted\nin great big letters telling all the neighbors that his stock was to be\nsold the very next day. This he hung up by the road side, and as it was\nmarket day, the farmers learned the news, as their tired horses jogged\nslowly along towards home. They decided that they would attend the sale,\nand were on hand bright and early the next day. The old farm place was\ncrowded with buyers, anxious to get horses and pigs and other animals for\nlittle money.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHow happy the Brownies were as they crowded around, for the new owners\nhad thrown the cruel devices of Farmer Grump away. They were happy when\nthey thought of the good homes these poor animals had found--but gladdest\nof all where they when they thought of Ned, for Widow Love had bought him\nto cart to market the beautiful butter that she made every week. They\nknew that she would be very kind and gentle to their old friend. That he\nwould have the softest of straw for his bed at night, and the finest of\noats for his dinner, while there would be no cruel children to beat and\nkick him and make his life miserable. Ned lived a long while to enjoy\nthis beautiful home, and the Brownies always found him a faithful servant.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE BROWNIES RIDE.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cAre you in the humor for a lark, boys?\u201d It was Dot, the very smallest\nand as everybody knows, the most mischievous of all the Brownies, who\nsaid it.\n\n\u201cWe are that!\u201d was the reply.\n\nThey were coming home from school, these Brownie boys, and dinner pails\nand books were thrown down at once while they crowded around Dot to hear\nof the prospective fun.\n\n\u201cYou know that clover field to the right of the big stone house,\u201d he\nbegan, \u201cwell some time ago Grimes put up a sign which read \u2018Horses taken\nto Pasture.\u2019 You should see the luck he has had. I guess as many as a\ndozen horses are running around in that pasture field. It\u2019s bad for\nthem to do nothing but eat all day, so I thought we would be doing a\ngood thing for them, and for ourselves too, if to-night, you know it is\nmoonlight, we borrow these horses and go for a ride.\u201d\n\nYou should have heard the yells of delight with which this scheme was\ngreeted. No body but approved, except of course Croak, he always objects\nto everything.\n\nThe plan was for them to meet at the school house at ten o\u2019clock, then go\ntogether to the pasture lot. A number of the Brownies were to bring ropes\nwhich they would tie around the horses\u2019 necks and haul them into the road.\n\nThe hour came; the Brownies met, and the work began. They had forgotten\nsaddles, but some of them crawled through the windows in the harness\nmaker\u2019s shop and came back loaded with both saddles and bridles. Such a\ntime as they had getting them on, and so many Brownies had been invited\nthat there were not enough horses to go around so two and sometimes three\nsaddles must be put on one horse.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll was ready at last and off they started. It was so funny to see them.\nSome of them actually hung on to the stirrup straps. Things went pretty\nsmoothly at first, but Oh my! what a difference by and by. Saddles\nslipped, bridles came undone, and the Brownie boys and even the poor\nhorses went over and rolled around in the mud. But the bitter must be\ntaken with the sweet so nobody dared complain, when the ride was over\nand the horses and harness were put in their proper places, everybody\npronounced it one of the best frolics he had ever had in his life.\n\n\n\n\nBROWNIES AT SCHOOL.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThere was a great commotion in Brownie land, for the good Queen had\njust sent forth a command that all the Brownie lads and lasses must go\nto school. She had sent her messenger to all the mothers and fathers,\nbearing her orders that they must send the children to the old school\nhouse early the next evening. They could use the same room that real\nchildren used, for they would go to school when most little people were\nasleep. The Brownies were greatly excited. They could be seen talking\ntogether in the most earnest manner; some pleased, others sorry over the\nunusual event.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHowever, all the children and a good many of the parents assembled the\nnext evening and listened with great interest to the words of Prof.\nLofty, as he told them what he expected them to do during the winter.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBrownies have no names you know, so the teacher had to ask the scholars\nto put a letter on their backs so she could tell them apart. They, looked\nquite funny running around with this kind of a mark; quite like the\nkindergarten children when they go on a picnic and have the tags tied to\ntheir dresses, so they can be identified when it comes time to go home.\nThe Brownies proved good students, and soon became very wise.\n\n[Illustration]","title":"Busy Brownies","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":3950}