{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_65841/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_65841","id":"gutenberg_65841","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65841","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Dryads -- Fiction","Fairy tales -- United States","Villages -- Fiction"],"text":"THE LOST DRYAD\n\n\n\n\nONE THOUSAND COPIES OF THIS BOOK HAVE BEEN PRINTED AT HILLACRE FOR THE\nUNITED WORKERS OF GREENWICH\u2015\u2015EASTERN BRANCH, INCORPORATED.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: Sincerely yours\nFrank R. Stockton]\n\n\n\n\n                            THE LOST DRYAD\n\n                                  BY\n\n                           FRANK R. STOCKTON\n\n\n                            [Illustration]\n\n\n                          PRINTED AT HILLACRE\n                       FOR THE EASTERN BRANCH OF\n                    THE UNITED WORKERS OF GREENWICH\n                           RIVERSIDE, CONN.\n                                 1912\n\n\n\n\n             Copyright, 1911, by The Curtis Publishing Co.\n         Copyright, 1912, by The United Workers of Greenwich.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIN EXPLANATION\n\n\nA dozen years ago, when every one was still reading _Rudder Grange_ and\n_The Merry Chanter_, Frank R. Stockton asked Mrs. Frederick Gotthold\nwhich of his stories she liked best. Her choice of the fairy tale, _Old\nPipes and The Dryad_, pleased him. The fanciful stories he wrote for\nchildren were very near to his own heart.\n\nSome time after this, when the publishers were preparing a new edition\nof Stockton, Mrs. Gotthold persuaded them to have printed for her\na copy of _Old Pipes_, each page on a leaf of vellum. This she\nilluminated and decorated, bound it in leather and sent it to Mr.\nStockton.\n\nOne day Mrs. Gotthold\u2019s mail contained a parcel. Being opened, this\nproved to be a small leather-bound book of neatest manuscript, bearing\non the inside cover this inscription:\n\n    To Mrs. Florence W. Gotthold, this little story\u2015\u2015which was\n    written for her, and of which there is no other copy\u2015\u2015is\n    gratefully presented by\n\n                                             FRANK R. STOCKTON\n\n    Claymont, Nov. 3, 1901.\n    Transcribed by E. W. Tuttle.\n\nA title-page, also in Mr. Stockton\u2019s handwriting, read:\n\n    The | Lost Dryad | By | Frank R. Stockton | Only Copy. |\n    Claymont | Charles Town, W. Va. | 1901\n\nThe book consisted of twenty pages written by Mr. Stockton\u2019s\nsister-in-law from his dictation.\n\nTen years have passed. Mr. Stockton died in April, 1902. None of his\nimmediate family remain. The friend for whom he dictated this quaint\nlittle tale has regretted that her pleasure in it was not being shared\nby others. Her interest in the Eastern Branch of The United Workers of\nGreenwich, Connecticut, has prompted her now to give the story to them\nfor publication. The magazine rights were sold to the Curtis Publishing\nCompany. The money thus obtained has been expended in producing this\nedition of one thousand copies\u2015\u2015the first edition of one of the last\ntales of America\u2019s well-loved story-teller.\n\nThe proceeds from the sale of this book will go into the construction\nof a children\u2019s club-house and playground in a very poor little\nvillage, where some of the little ones wander through childhood almost\nas forlornly as the Lost Dryad bereft of her oak-tree. To prolong the\nyouth and bring joy to the lives of these children is the purpose of\nthis publication of the troubles and adventures of The Lost Dryad.\n\n    COS COB, CONNECTICUT,\n    Thanksgiving day, 1911.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE LOST DRYAD.\n\n\nThere was once a dryad who was truly lost. The summer was drawing to a\nclose; the nights were becoming cool, she had no home, and she did not\nknow where she was.\n\nNot long before, while she was still in her oak tree, there had been a\nterrible storm; the tree had been dashed to the ground and splintered\nto pieces, while the poor dryad had been blown away, and away, and\naway, she did not know where. Now she was looking for another oak tree\nto live in, but she was lost, absolutely lost. One tree she found,\nwhich she thought might shelter her, but when she examined it she found\nthat it was getting old and its trunk was badly cracked. After her\nterrible experience she was afraid to go into a cracked tree, and so\nshe kept on her way.\n\nAt a little distance, she saw a village, shaded by trees, and the\nthought came to her that she might possibly find a home in a big oak\nthere. That would be fine, truly. She had never lived in a village, it\nwould be a new experience.\n\nSo she kept on, but when she reached the place she found that few of\nthe trees were oaks, and these were not very well grown and too small\nfor her. It was nearly supper-time in the village and, therefore, there\nwere not many people in the street, but presently she met a big man\nwith a cross face.\n\n\u201cOho! Oho!\u201d he cried, \u201cwho are you? You cannot go about the street\nlike that!\u201d\n\nThe poor dryad was terribly frightened. \u201cLike what?\u201d she asked.\n\n\u201cYou must go home and dress,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cI am dressed,\u201d said she; \u201cthese are all the clothes I ever wear.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you call these clothes?\u201d he said. \u201cCome along with me! I am a\nconstable. I will take you to the lock-up. You must be crazy! But they\nwill take care of you there and, at any rate, will dress you properly.\u201d\n\nThe poor dryad trembled from head to foot. She did not know what a\nlock-up was, but she knew it must be a terrible place, and she had\nnever seen anyone look so cruel as this man. He had already seized her\nby the arm, and if his grasp should become tighter, she believed her\narm would break in two. Poor, weak, beautiful dryad! What could she do?\n\n\nShe thought of something. It was her only hope! It must be remembered\nthat there is a peculiar property pertaining to the kiss of a dryad.\nWhenever a dryad kisses a human being, that person becomes ten years\nyounger. So all good mothers are very careful to keep their children\naway from large oak trees. If a girl, of a dozen years, were to sit in\nthe shade of one of these trees, she might attract the attention of an\naffectionate tree dweller; and then, if this dryad should kiss her, the\nlittle toddler of two years might go home\u2015\u2015if perchance, she remembered\nwhere she lived\u2015\u2015and astound her parents. But if a child who was not\nyet ten should be kissed, it would disappear utterly.\n\nThe dryad remembered her rare gift, as she looked up tearfully into the\nstern face of the constable.\n\n\u201cPlease, sir,\u201d she said, \u201cdon\u2019t take me away; I shall be frightened to\ndeath if you do. I have something to tell you, but only you must hear\nit. Please let me whisper it to you.\u201d\n\nThe constable looked at her. He was fond of hearing secrets, and it\nwas quite proper that people should confide in him. So he bent down\nhis head to hear what the dryad had to say. In a moment she kissed him\ntwice, and, before he had time to notice the change, he was a man of\nthirty years of age, vigorous and handsome. He released his grasp upon\nher arm and stood up, straight and tall.\n\n\u201cOho!\u201d he cried, \u201cand who are you?\u201d\n\n\u201cPut down your head,\u201d said the dryad, \u201cand let me tell you.\u201d Then she\ngave him two more kisses.\n\nNow there stood before her a boy of ten, very much troubled.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know what is the matter with my clothes,\u201d said he, \u201cmy\nbreeches are all down about my feet. They are like an old man\u2019s\ntrousers. And my shoes and stockings! Where did I get such big shoes\nand stockings? And this great jerkin, it is too big for me. I am going\nto throw it off.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is right, little boy,\u201d said the dryad, \u201cthrow it off, and pull\noff those shoes and stockings; you can walk a great deal better in your\nbare feet. You must have been asleep and in a dream you put on your\nfather\u2019s clothes.\u201d\n\n\u201cI expect that was it,\u201d said he, \u201cit must have been that.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow run along home, little boy,\u201d said the dryad, \u201cand carry carefully\nyour father\u2019s jerkin and his shoes and stockings. Perhaps if you put\nthem where you found them, he may never know. Now run along!\u201d\n\nAnd the little boy ran along.\n\nThe dryad was now alone, but she was still frightened. She was sure\nthere were no trees here which would suit her and she was afraid of\nmeeting some other cruel person, so she slipped into a side street, and\nthere she saw a light coming through a glass door. This was the only\nlight in the street and she went up to it and looked in.\n\n\nInside was a small room, not very well furnished, and by a table, with\na light on it, there sat a girl, trimming a hat. The dryad smiled with\npleasure; she was not afraid of a girl, especially one who was so\npretty, and looked so gentle. Perhaps she might tell her where there\nwas a good oak tree; so she opened the door, without making any noise,\nand stepped in.\n\nAt first the girl was startled and dropped the hat she was trimming,\nbut when the dryad quickly told her who she was and what a sad plight\nshe was in, she was reassured. She had heard of dryads and was glad to\nsee one.\n\n\u201cBut you must remember this,\u201d she exclaimed, \u201con no account must you\nkiss me. I am engaged to be married and I would not have you kiss me,\nfor the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no! no! no!\u201d said the dryad, \u201cno matter how good you are to me, I\nshall be very careful. And can you tell me where there is a large oak\ntree?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not remember any,\u201d said the girl, \u201cbut I expect you sorely need\none for you must feel cold in the evening.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no!\u201d said the dryad, \u201cI am not cold. But what a beautiful hat you\nare making! Such lovely silk and lace you are putting on it!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the girl, holding up the hat before the lamp, \u201cI am trying\nto make it pretty, but this silk is tarnished; it has lost a good deal\nof its color. My step-mother thinks it is good enough for me and so I\nmust do the best I can with it.\u201d\n\n\u201cPoor girl!\u201d said the dryad, \u201cshe ought to give you the nicest stuffs\nthere are in the village, you are so pretty.\u201d And, moved by pity and\naffection, she was about to give the girl a kiss of sympathy, but\nremembering just in time that that would never do, she kissed the hat.\nInstantly the silk and the lace were as bright and new as if they had\njust come out of the shop. The dryad exclaimed with delight.\n\n\u201cLook! look!\u201d she cried, \u201cdid you ever see more charming colors?\u201d\n\nThe girl had never seen more charming colors, but her countenance fell.\n\n\u201cThey are very pretty,\u201d she said, \u201cbut what an old-fashioned hat! It\nlooks like one of those hats people used to wear ten years ago.\u201d\n\nNow the poor dryad was greatly troubled. \u201cHave I spoiled it?\u201d she said.\n\u201cOh! I shall be too sorry if I have done that.\u201d\n\nThe girl turned the hat around and looked at it on every side.\n\n\u201cOf course, I could not wear it as it is,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I am sure\nI can alter it. Yes, I can change the shape and then, with these new\ntrimmings, it will be perfectly lovely. I thank you ever so much. But\nplease do not come any nearer; you might forget yourself.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd you are going to be married?\u201d asked the dryad.\n\n\u201cYes, truly, if I can,\u201d said the girl, \u201cbut my step-mother does not\nwish it; she wants me to stay here and work for her. But I shall be\npatient and, in the meantime, I am so glad that he will see me in my\nnew hat.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd is your step-mother so very cross?\u201d asked the dryad.\n\n\u201cOh, very! If she were at home I could not let you stay here, and as I\nexpect her to come back shortly, I am afraid\u2015\u2015\u201d\n\nThe poor dryad clasped her hands. \u201cYou do not mean,\u201d she said, \u201cthat\nI must go away? I hoped that I might stay here until the people of the\nvillage were all in bed.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am very sorry,\u201d said the girl, \u201cbut really, if my step-mother should\ncome back and see you here I don\u2019t know what would happen; but I will\ntell you what I will do: I will lend you one of my frocks and a cape,\nand you can put on my sun-bonnet; then you can go out and look for a\ntree and people will not be apt to notice you, and if you will come\nback after a while, when my step-mother has gone to bed, I will go out\nwith you and help you to find a tree if you have not found one. Oh, now\nplease don\u2019t! People can be very grateful without kissing, you know,\nand I will bring you the clothes in a minute.\u201d\n\n\nWhen the dryad had put on the frock and the little cape and the\nsun-bonnet, she looked very much like an ordinary person, and when she\nwent out on the street nobody noticed her, for there were girls in that\nvillage who were so poor that they were obliged to go barefooted.\n\nThis lost dryad had no very good idea of time and, after she had walked\nabout the streets, and even a little way into the country, looking\nfor a tree and finding none, she thought that the cruel step-mother\nmust surely have gone to bed, and so she went back to the house of her\nfriend the girl, and opening the door she slipped in. There she saw the\ncruel step-mother scolding the girl. As she entered, the step-mother\nstopped short in her scolding, and the poor girl looked as if she was\nabout to faint.\n\n\u201cHeigho!\u201d cried the woman, \u201cand who is this? How dare you come in\nwithout knocking? What! Where did you get that sun-bonnet? You wretched\ncreature!\u201d she cried, addressing her step-daughter, \u201cwhat does this\nmean? And your cape and your frock?\u201d And without waiting for an answer\nshe stepped up to the dryad.\n\n\u201cTake that off this minute, whoever you are!\u201d she cried, and as she\nsaid this she grasped the sun-bonnet and pulled it from the dryad\u2019s\nhead.\n\nThe girl almost fainted and sank into a chair, while the poor dryad,\nnearly scared out of her wits, had barely sense enough left to throw\nher arms around the step-mother\u2019s neck and give her four kisses, as\nquick as lightning.\n\nThe next day was the step-mother\u2019s birthday, and she intended to\ncelebrate the occasion by inviting some of her old cronies to sup with\nher; but now there was a little girl standing on the floor, beginning\nto cry. The dryad clapped her hands with delight.\n\n\u201cSo many clothes,\u201d she exclaimed, \u201cand such a dear little body in the\nmiddle of them all!\u201d\n\nThe girl with the hat cried out, \u201cOh, what have you done!\u201d But, in\nspite of her consternation, she could not help laughing.\n\n\u201cShe does look funny,\u201d said she. There was such a difference between\nthe little child and the cross step-mother, that it was impossible for\nany one to be really sorry.\n\n\u201cHow queer it is!\u201d said the dryad. \u201cShe knows nothing at all of the\nlife she has lived.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course not,\u201d said the girl, \u201cshe could not look back on her future,\nyou know.\u201d\n\n\u201cI want to go to bed,\u201d said the little one, rubbing her eyes, \u201cand\nplease take these things off.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is what we must do,\u201d cried the dryad, \u201cwe must undress her and\nput her to bed.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, let me do it alone, you might forget,\u201d said the girl.\n\nSo the little child was put to bed in the back room and, in a moment,\nwas asleep.\n\n\u201cNow I need not go away,\u201d cried the dryad.\n\n\u201cNo, indeed,\u201d said the girl, \u201cI should be afraid to be left alone with\nthat little thing who was my step-mother.\u201d\n\n\nThe dryad threw aside the uncomfortable gown and cape, and her face\nsparkled with delight; she was so glad that she need not go away and\nwas so happy at what she had done.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said she to the girl, \u201cyou can be married, and you two can take\ncare of the little girl.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I can be married,\u201d said the other, \u201cbut not immediately, and in\nthe meantime I must support this little child and myself. I have no\nmoney and how am I going to do that?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, I wish I could help you,\u201d cried the dryad. \u201cCould not I live here\nuntil you are married? I really ought to do something for you, and I\nwill never kiss you or the child.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut how could you help me?\u201d said the girl, smiling.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d said the dryad, reflecting, \u201cperhaps there are some\npeople in the village who would like to be younger.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the girl, \u201cthat might do. We could live here together and\nsetup a kisserie. It will be very pleasant for me to have everything my\nown way and not to be scolded, and I shall take the best possible care\nof the child. I know there are people who would like to be kissed, but\nyou will have to be very, very careful not to make mistakes.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, I will do that!\u201d cried the dryad. \u201cI promise you, that, from this\nmoment, I will never kiss anybody, old or young, unless you tell me to.\u201d\n\n\nAt this moment, there was a sound of hurrying feet outside. The door\nwas thrown open and an excited group of men and women rushed into the\nroom.\n\n\u201cA dreadful thing has happened,\u201d cried one of the women; \u201cthe\nconstable, Johann Milder, has disappeared. He left his clothes behind\nhim. Stranger yet, there is a little boy at his house who says he lives\nthere, and who he is and where he came from nobody knows. We have come\nto see your step-mother; she is a wise woman and perhaps she may help\nus. Where is she? Call her quickly!\u201d\n\n\u201cShe is here,\u201d said the girl, and stepping to the bed, she turned down\nthe covering.\n\nThen all the people pushed into the back room and when they saw the\nsleeping child, two women fainted, just where they stood. The others\nwere so much astounded that not one of them could speak a word. Then\nthe dryad, who, so far, had not been noticed, laughed out merrily. It\nwas all so funny that she could not help it.\n\nAt this the people turned and stared at her. There were some among them\nwho had seen dryads and they set up a great shout.\n\n\u201cA dryad!\u201d they cried, \u201ca wicked spirit, a tree witch! She has done\nthis! She has been about with her sinful kisses.\u201d\n\nWith one accord the villagers dashed at the dryad as if they would\npound her into pieces and trample them upon the floor.\n\nBut the dryad was in the door way, between the two rooms, and she moved\nso quickly that they could not touch her. Had she felt free to do as\nshe pleased, she might have rushed in among them and, in a very few\nminutes, have made a kindergarten of the whole company, but she had\npromised her dear friend, the girl, that, without her permission, she\nwould never kiss anybody, and she could not break her word. So she fled\nthrough the open door and away, and away, and away, until she was far\nfrom the village.\n\nIt was not long before the dryad came to the great oak which was old\nand whose trunk was cracked.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d she cried, \u201chere is this tree which I would not enter, but I\nshall not despise it again. It will shelter me, for a time, and I must\nno longer remain out in this cruel world.\u201d\n\nSo she slipped into the oak, and was so glad to feel herself safe that\nshe kissed the inside of the tree, over and over again, telling it how\nthankful she was to have its protection, and to feel again as if she\nwas at home.\n\n\nIt was not long before the aged oak was a hundred years younger;\nstrong, vigorous, clad in the brightest green and able to withstand the\nfiercest storm.\n\nNow, when the villagers knew what had happened, they thought it quite\nright that the girl should marry and take care of the child who had\nbeen her step-mother, and when the boy who had been the constable grew\nup, he married this child, and there was a great deal more happiness in\nthat village than there would have been, if the lost dryad had not come\nto it, looking for a tree.\n\n\n\n\n Transcriber\u2019s Notes:\n\n \u2015\u2015Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).\n\n \u2015\u2015Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.\n\n \u2015\u2015Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.\n\n \u2015\u2015Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.","title":"The Lost Dryad","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":3496}