{"collection":"folklore-oral-tradition","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_66948/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_66948","id":"gutenberg_66948","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66948","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Humour","Category: Short Stories","Children's stories","Fairy tales"],"text":"THE\n  GARNET STORY BOOK\n\n  _Tales of Cheer Both Old and New_\n\n  COMPILED AND EDITED BY\n  ADA M. SKINNER\n  AND\n  ELEANOR L. SKINNER\n\n  _Editors of \u201cThe Emerald Story Book\u201d \u201cThe Topaz Story Book\u201d\n  \u201cThe Turquoise Story Book\u201d and \u201cThe Pearl Story Book\u201d_\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  NEW YORK\n  DUFFIELD AND COMPANY\n\n  1920\n\n\n\n\n  Copyright, 1920, by\n  DUFFIELD & COMPANY\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                   PAGE\n\n  THE GOOD-NATURED BEAR\n         (adapted and abridged)           _Richard H. Horne_         3\n\n  CHRISTMAS WISHES                          _Louise Chollet_        73\n\n  THE MAN OF SNOW (adapted)                 _Harriet Myrtle_        93\n\n  BUTTERWOPS (adapted)                 _Edward Abbott Parry_       120\n\n  FINIKIN AND HIS GOLDEN PIPPINS      _Madame De Chatelaine_       138\n\n  THE STORY OF FAIRYFOOT                    _Frances Browne_       173\n\n  THE SNOW-QUEEN (abridged)        _Hans Christian Andersen_       192\n\n  THE MERRY TALE OF THE KING AND THE COBBLER\n         (adapted)           _From Gammer Gurton\u2019s Historie_       253\n\n  THE STORY OF MERRYMIND                    _Frances Browne_       267\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nAbout the middle of the last century there was printed in England\na children\u2019s story with the attractive title, \u201cThe Good Natured\nBear.\u201d This story, written by Robert H. Horne, was reviewed by\nWilliam Makepeace Thackeray, who at that time signed his criticisms\nM. A. Titmarsh. Mr. Thackeray wrote an article entitled \u201cOn Some\nIllustrated Children\u2019s Books\u201d for _Fraser\u2019s Magazine_ in which he\nmade the following comment: \u201cLet a word be said in conclusion about\nthe admirable story of \u2018The Good Natured Bear,\u2019 one of the wittiest,\npleasantest, and kindest of books that I have read for many a long day.\u201d\n\nA few years ago the editors of this collection of stories found\nout-of-print copies of \u201cThe Good Natured Bear,\u201d \u201cThe Man of Snow,\u201d\nand \u201cFinikin and His Golden Pippins\u201d--all old-fashioned tales for\nchildren. Believing that young readers of to-day will enjoy the good\ncheer and merry humour of these stories, the editors have included them\nin this volume with other happy tales which are perhaps much better\nknown.\n\nThe excellent humourous stories in the folklore of all nations point\nout to us that good cheer and merriment were favourite themes of the\nolden-time story-teller. Some of his rarest treasures were nonsense\nrhymes, fables, and allegories which enlisted the sympathy of his\naudience by inducing them to laugh with him. With a merry twinkle in\nhis eye we can hear him addressing the tiniest listeners:\n\n  \u201cHey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle,\n  The cow jumped over the moon;\n  The little dog laughed to see such sport\n  And the dish ran away with the spoon.\u201d\n\nWide-eyed children pressing close to the enchanter were not the only\npersons in that appreciative audience who smiled at the first picture\nsuggested by the rhyme, laughed with the little dog, and enjoyed with\nwholesome abandon the merriment called forth by the incongruous\nsurprise of the last line. The story-teller knew the refreshing value\nof hearty laughter at pure nonsense.\n\nThe stories in this collection were written by authors who had the\nprecious gift of knowing how to entertain young readers with narratives\nof good cheer and happy frolic. Such stories are valuable because they\nkeep alive and develop a wholesome sense of humour. It is perfectly\nnatural for a normal child to laugh heartily at the grotesque antics\nof a circus clown. But this elemental response to merry fun should be\ntrained and quickened into a rich and varied sense of humour which\ncan laugh with Gareth when Lancelot unhorses him; revel with Puck in\nFairyland; and enjoy a merry Christmas with the Cratchits.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GARNET STORY BOOK\n\n\n  Oh, for a nook and a story book,\n    With tales both new and old;\n  For a jolly good book whereon to look\n    Is better to me than gold!\n\n                       OLD ENGLISH SONG.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GOOD-NATURED BEAR\n\nRICHARD H. HORNE\n\n\n_The First Evening_\n\nOne Christmas evening a number of merry children were invited to a\nparty at Dr. Littlepump\u2019s country residence. The neat white house with\nblue shutters stood on the best street of the village. Nancy and her\nyounger brother, little Valentine, were the children of Dr. Littlepump,\nand they had invited several other children to come and spend Christmas\nevening with them. Very happy they all were. They danced to the music\nof a flute and fiddle; they ran about and sang and squeaked and hopped\nupon one leg and crept upon all fours and jumped over small cushions\nand stools. Then they sat down in a circle round the stove and laughed\nat the fire.\n\nBesides Dr. and Mrs. Littlepump and the children there were several\nothers in the room who joined in the merriment. First there was\nMargaret who was seated in the middle of the group of children. She\nwas the pretty governess of Nancy and little Valentine and one of the\nnicest girls in the village. Then there were Lydia, the housemaid,\nDorothea, the cook, Wallis, the gardener, and Uncle Abraham, the\nyounger brother of Dr. Littlepump.\n\nUncle Abraham was always doing kind things in his quiet way, and\neverybody was very fond of him. He sat in one corner of the room, with\nhis elbow resting upon a little round table, smoking a large Dutch\npipe, and very busy with his own thoughts. Now and then his eyes gave a\ntwinkle, as if he was pleased with something in his mind.\n\nThe children now all asked Margaret to sing a pretty song, which she\ndid at once with her sweet voice; but the words were very odd. This was\nthe song:\n\n  \u201cThere came a rough-faced Stranger\n    From the leafless winter woods,\n  And he told of many a danger\n    From the snow-storms and black floods.\n\n  \u201cOn his back he bore the glory\n    Of his brothers, who were left\n  In a secret rocky cleft--\n    Now guess his name, and story!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut who was the rough-faced Stranger?\u201d asked Nancy.\n\n\u201cAnd what was the glory he carried pick-a-back?\u201d cried little Valentine.\n\n\u201cWho were his brothers?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere was the rocky cleft?\u201d cried three or four of the children.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said Margaret, \u201cyou must guess!\u201d\n\nSo all the children began guessing at this song-riddle; but they could\nmake nothing of it.\n\n\u201cDo tell us the answer to the riddle Margaret,\u201d they coaxed.\n\nAt last Margaret said, \u201cWell, I promise to tell you all about the\nrough-faced Stranger in half an hour, if nothing happens to make you\nforget to ask me!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! we shall not forget to ask,\u201d said Nancy.\n\nThere was now a silence for a few minutes as if the children were all\nthinking. Uncle Abraham, who sometimes went to bed very early, slowly\nrose from his chair, lighted his candle, carefully snuffed it (and, as\nhe did so, his eyes gave a twinkle), and walking round the outside of\nall the circle, wished them good-night, and away he went to bed.\n\nAbout eight o\u2019clock in the evening, when the snow lay deep upon the\nground, a very stout gentleman in a very rough coat and fur boots got\ndown from the outside of a carriage which had stopped in front of Dr.\nLittlepump\u2019s door. In a trice all the children crowded around the\nwindows to look at the carriage and the gentleman who had got down.\n\nBesides his very rough coat and fur boots, the stout gentleman wore a\nshort cloak, a hunting cap, and a pair of large fur gloves. The cap was\npulled down almost over his eyes, so that his face could not be seen,\nand round his throat he had an immense orange-coloured comforter.\n\nThe carriage now drove on, and left the stout gentleman standing in the\nmiddle of the street. He first shook the snow from his cloak. After\nthis he began to stamp with his feet to warm them. This movement looked\nlike a clumsy dance in a little circle and all the children laughed.\nThe next thing he did was to give himself a good rubbing on the breast\nand he hit it so awkwardly that it looked like a great clumsy paw on\nsome creature giving itself a scratch. At this the children laughed\nlouder than before. They were almost afraid he would hear it through\nthe windows. The stout gentleman next drew forth an immense pocket\nhandkerchief and with this he began to dust his face, to knock off\nthe frost, and also to warm his nose, which seemed to be very large\nand long and to require great attention. When the children saw the\ngentleman do this they could keep quiet no longer; all burst out into a\nloud shout of laughter.\n\nThe stout gentleman instantly stopped, and began to look around him\nin all directions, to see where the laughing came from. The children\nsuddenly became quiet. The stout gentleman turned round and round,\nlooking up and down at the windows of every house near him. At last his\neyes rested on the three parlour windows of Dr. Littlepump\u2019s house,\nwhich were crowded with faces. No sooner had he done this than he\nwalked towards the house with a long stride and an angry air.\n\nIn an instant all the children ran away from the windows crying out,\n\u201cHere he comes! Here he comes!\u201d\n\nPresently a scraping was heard upon the steps of the door, then a\nloud knock! The children all ran to their seats and sat quite silent,\nlooking at one another. There was a loud ringing of the bell.\n\n\u201cI am sorry,\u201d said Mrs. Littlepump, \u201cthat the stout gentleman is so\nmuch offended.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know very well what to say to him,\u201d said Dr. Littlepump.\n\nAgain came the ringing of the bell!\n\nNot one of them liked to go to open the door.\n\nMargaret rose to go and little Val cried out, \u201cOh, don\u2019t you go,\nMargaret, dearest; let Wallis go.\u201d But when Margaret promised to run\naway as soon as she had opened the door, she was allowed to go. Both\nNancy and Valentine called after her, \u201cBe sure to run back to us as\nfast as ever you can.\u201d\n\nThe children sat listening with all their ears. Presently they did hear\nsomething. It was the snap of the lock, the creaking of the door, and a\nscrambling noise. Margaret came running back into the room quite out of\nbreath, crying out, \u201cOh, such a nose! Such a dirty face! Don\u2019t ask me\nanything!\u201d\n\nThere was no time for any questions. A slow, heavy footstep was heard\nin the hall, then in the passage, then the parlour door opened wide\nand in walked the stout gentleman with the rough coat! He had, indeed,\nan immense nose,--both long and broad and as dark as the shadow of a\nhill. He stepped only a pace or two into the room and then stood still,\nlooking at Dr. Littlepump, who was the only other person who ventured\nto stand up.\n\n\u201cI believe I have the honour,\u201d said the stout gentleman, making a low\nbow, \u201cI believe I have the honour of addressing Dr. Littlepump.\u201d\n\nThe doctor bowed but said nothing.\n\nThe stout gentleman continued, \u201cIf I had not known it was impossible\nthat anyone so learned as Dr. Littlepump could allow anybody to be\ninsulted from the windows of his house, I should have felt very angry\non the present occasion. It may have made merriment for our young\nfriends here; but it is a serious thing to me.\u201d\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d said Dr. Littlepump, \u201cit grieves me that your feelings should\nhave been hurt by the laughter of these children. But, sir, I can\nassure you no harm was meant by it. This is holiday time, and, though\nyou appear to be a foreign gentleman, yet you are no doubt also a\ngentleman who has seen much of the world, and of society.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, sir; no, Mr. Doctor!\u201d exclaimed the stout gentleman, \u201cI have not\nseen much of society. It is true, too true, that I am a foreigner, in\nsome respects, but from society the misfortune of my birth has excluded\nme.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, pray, sir, do not concern yourself any further on this matter,\u201d\nsaid Mrs. Littlepump, in a courteous voice.\n\n\u201cMadam,\u201d said the stout gentleman, \u201cyou are too kind. It is such very\namiable persons as yourself, that reconcile me to my species--I mean,\nto the human species. What have I said? Not of my species would I\nwillingly speak. But in truth, madam, it is my own knowledge of what\nI am, under my coat, that makes me always fear my secret has been\ndiscovered. I thought the children with their little, quick eyes,\nalways looking about, had seen who it was that lived under this rough\ncoat I wear.\u201d\n\nSo saying the stout gentleman put one of his fur gloves to his left eye\nand wiped away a large tear.\n\n\u201cThen, my dear sir,\u201d said Mrs. Littlepump, \u201cdo take off your coat, and\npermit us to have the pleasure of seeing you take a seat among us round\nthe stove.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, ye green woods, dark nights, and rocky caves hidden with hanging\nweeds, why do I so well remember ye!\u201d exclaimed the stout gentleman,\nclasping his fur gloves together. \u201cI will relieve my mind and tell you\nall. My rough coat, the companion of my childhood, and which has grown\nwith my growth, I cannot lay aside. It grows to my skin, madam. My fur\ngloves are nature\u2019s gift. They were bought at no shop, Mrs. Littlepump.\nMy fur boots are as much a part of me as my beard. Lady, I am, indeed,\na foreigner, as to society; I was born in no city, town, or village,\nbut in a cave full of dry leaves and soft twigs. The truth is, I am not\na man--but a _Bear_!\u201d\n\nAs he finished speaking he took off his comforter, coat, and cap--and\nsure enough a Bear he was, and one of the largest that was ever seen!\n\nIn a very soft voice, so as scarcely to be heard by anyone except the\nchildren who had crowded around her, Margaret began to sing:\n\n  \u201cThere came a rough-faced Stranger\n    From the leafless winter woods.\u201d\n\nThe children heard Margaret sing, and ventured to look up at the Bear.\nHe continued to stand near the door, and as he hadn\u2019t the least sign\nof anything savage in his appearance, their fear began to change to\ncuriosity. Two of the youngest had hidden themselves in the folds of\nMrs. Littlepump\u2019s dress, and little Val had crept under the table. But\nwhen these found that nothing was going to happen, and that the other\nchildren did not cry out or seem terrified, they peeped out at the\nBear,--then they peeped again. At about the seventh peep they all three\nleft their hiding places and crowded in among the rest--all looking at\nthe Bear!\n\n\u201cI trust,\u201d said Dr. Littlepump, \u201cthat this discovery--this casting\noff all disguise--produces no change in the nature and habits you\nhave learned in civilized society. I feel sure that I am addressing a\ngentleman, that is to say, a most gentlemanly specimen of bear.\u201d\n\n\u201cBanish all unkind suspicion from your breast, Mr. Doctor,\u201d said the\nBear. \u201cNo one ever need fear from me a single rude hug,--such as my\nancestors were too apt to give.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, we feel quite satisfied,\u201d said Mrs. Littlepump, \u201cthat your conduct\nwill be of the very best kind. Pray take a seat near the fire. The\nchildren will all make room for you.\u201d\n\nThe children all made room enough in a trice, and more than enough, as\nthey crowded back as far as they could and left a large open circle\nopposite the stove.\n\nThe Bear laid one paw upon his grateful breast and advanced towards the\nfireplace.\n\n\u201cPermit me to begin with warming my nose,\u201d he said.\n\nAs the door of the stove was now closed, the Bear bent his head down,\nand moved his nose backwards and forwards in a sort of a semi-circle,\nseeming to enjoy it very much.\n\n\u201cAs my nose is very long,\u201d said he, \u201cthe tip of it is the first part\nthat gets cold because it is so far away from my face. I fear it may\nnot seem a well-shaped one, but it is a capital smeller. I used to be\nable, when at a distance of several miles, to smell--ahem!\u201d\n\nHere the Bear checked himself suddenly. He was going to say something\nabout his life at home in the woods that would not be thought very nice\nin Dr. Littlepump\u2019s parlour. But he just caught himself up in time. In\ndoing this, however, his confusion at the moment had made him neglect\nto observe that a part of the stove was again red hot. He came a little\ntoo close and all at once burnt the tip of his nose!\n\nThe children would certainly have laughed, but as the Bear started back\nhe looked quickly round the room. So everybody was afraid to laugh.\n\n\u201cAnd you have, no doubt, a very fine ear for music,\u201d said Mrs.\nLittlepump, wishing to relieve the Bear from his embarrassment.\n\n\u201cI have, indeed, madam, a fine pair of ears, though I know too well\nthat they are rather large as to size,\u201d said the Bear.\n\n\u201cBy no means too large, sir,\u201d answered Mrs. Littlepump.\n\n\u201cIf the whole world were hunted through and through,\u201d said the Bear,\n\u201cI\u2019m sure we should never find any other lady so amiable in speaking\ngraciously to one of the humblest of her servants as Lady Littlepump.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe shall be proud, sir, to place you in the list of our most\nparticular friends. You are so modest, so polite, so handsome a Bear.\u201d\n\nAs Mrs. Littlepump finished this last speech, the Bear looked at her\nfor a moment--then made three great steps backwards, and made a deep\nbow. His bow was so very low, and he remained so very long with his\nnose pointing to the floor that all the children were ready to die with\nlaughter. Little Val fell upon the floor trying to keep his laugh in,\nand there he lay kicking, and Margaret, who had covered her face with\nher handkerchief, was heard to give a sort of a little scream; and\nNancy had run to the sofa, and covered her head with one of the pillows.\n\nAt length the Bear raised his head. He looked very pleasant even\nthrough all that rough hair. Turning to Dr. Littlepump, he said, \u201cMr.\nDr. Littlepump, the extreme kindness of this reception of one who is\na stranger wins me completely. If you permit me, I will tell you the\nwhole story of my life.\u201d\n\nAt this speech everybody said, \u201cDo let us hear the Bear\u2019s story!\u201d\n\nIt was agreed upon, with many thanks from Dr. and Mrs. Littlepump. They\nplaced a large chair for the Bear in the middle of the room. The Doctor\ntook down Uncle Abraham\u2019s Dutch pipe, filled it with the very best\nTurkey tobacco and handed it to the Bear. After carefully lighting it\nand taking a few whiffs, and stopping a little while to think, the Bear\ntold the following story:\n\n\u201cI was born in one of the largest caves in a forest. My father and\nmother were regarded not only by all other bears, but by every other\nanimal, as persons of some consequence. My father was a person of proud\nand resentful disposition, though of the greatest courage and honour.\nBut my mother was one in whom all the qualities of the fairer sex were\nunited. I shall never forget the patience, the gentleness, the skill,\nand the firmness with which she first taught me to walk alone--I mean\nto walk on all fours, of course; the upright manner of my present\nwalking was learned afterwards. As this infant effort, however, is one\nof my very earliest recollections, I will give you a little account of\nit.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, do, Mr. Bear,\u201d cried Margaret. And no sooner had she uttered the\nwords, than all the children cried out at the same time, \u201cOh, please\ndo, sir.\u201d\n\nThe Bear took several long whiffs at his pipe and thus continued:\n\n\u201cMy mother took me to a retired part of the forest, and told me that\nI must now stand alone. She slowly lowered me towards the earth. The\nheight as I looked down seemed terrible, and I felt my legs kick\nin the air with fear of I know not what. Suddenly I felt four hard\nthings, and no motion. It was the fixed earth beneath my legs. \u2018Now\nyou are standing alone!\u2019 said my mother. But what she said I heard as\nin a dream. My back was in the air, my nose was poking out straight,\nsnuffing the fresh breezes, my ears were pricking and shooting with\nall sorts of new sounds, to wonder at, to want to have, to love, or to\ntumble down at,--and my eyes were staring before me full of light and\ndancing things. Soon the firm voice of my mother came to my assistance,\nand I heard her tell me to look upon the earth beneath me, and see\nwhere I was.\n\nFirst I looked up among the boughs, then sideways at my shoulder, then\nI squinted at the tip of my nose, then I bent my nose in despair, and\nsaw my fore paws standing. The first thing I saw distinctly was a\nlittle blue flower with a bright jewel in the middle,--a dewdrop. The\nnext thing I saw upon the ground was a soft-looking little creature,\nthat crawled alone with a round ball upon the middle of its back. It\nwas of a beautiful white colour with brown and red curling stripes.\nThe creature moved very, very slowly, and appeared always to follow\ntwo long horns on its head, that went feeling about on all sides.\nPresently, it approached my right fore paw, and I wondered how I should\nfeel, or smell, or hear it, as it went over my toes. But the instant\none of the horns touched the hair of my paw, both horns shrank into\nnothing, and presently came out again, and the creature slowly moved\naway in another direction. I wondered at this strange action--for\nI never thought of hurting the creature, not knowing how to hurt\nanything. While I was wondering what made the horn think I should hurt\nit, my attention was suddenly drawn to a tuft of moss on my right near\na hollow tree trunk. Out of this green tuft looked a pair of very\nbright, small, round eyes which were staring up at me. I stood looking\nat the eyes, and, presently, I saw that the head was yellow, and all\nthe face and throat yellow, and that it had a large mouth.\n\n\u2018What you saw a little while ago,\u2019 said my mother, \u2018we call a snail.\nAnd what we see now we call a frog.\u2019\n\nThe names, however, did not help me at all to understand. Why the first\nshould have turned from my paw so suddenly, and why this creature\nshould continue to stare up at me in such a manner puzzled me very\nmuch. I now observed that its body and breast were double somehow, and\nthat its paws had no hair upon them. I thought this was no doubt caused\nby its slow crawling which had probably rubbed it all off. Suddenly, a\nbeam of bright light broke through the trees and this creature gave a\ngreat hop right under my nose and I, thinking the world was at an end,\ninstantly fell flat down on one side and lay there waiting!\u201d\n\nAt this all the children laughed; they were so delighted. The Bear\nlaughed, too, and soon went on with his story.\n\n\u201cI tell you these things,\u201d he said, \u201cin as clear a manner as I can,\nthat you may rightly understand them. My dear mother caught me up in\nher arms, saying, \u2018Oh, thou small bear! thou hast fallen flat down, on\nfirst seeing a frog hop.\u2019\n\nThe next day my mother gave me my first lesson in walking. She took me\nto a nice, smooth, sandy place in the forest, not far from home, and\nsetting me down carefully, said, \u2018Walk.\u2019 But I remained just where I\nwas.\n\nIf a child with only _two_ legs feels puzzled which leg it should\nmove first, judge of the many puzzles of a young bear under such\ncircumstances. Said I to myself, \u2018Shall I move my right front paw first\nor my left; or my right hind leg or my left? Shall I first move the two\nfront legs both at the same time, then the two hind legs; or my two\nhind legs first, and then my two front legs? Shall I move the right\nfront leg, and the right hind leg at the same time; or the left front\nleg and the right hind leg? Shall I try to move all four at once, and\nhow, and which way? Or shall I move three legs at once, in order to\npush myself on, while one leg remains for me to balance my body upon;\nand if so, which three legs should move and which one should be the\nleg to balance upon?\u2019 Amidst all these confusing thoughts and feelings,\nI was afraid to move in any way. I believe I should have been standing\nthere to this day, had not my mother, with a slow bowing and bending\nmotion of the head and backbone, gracefully passed and repassed me\nseveral times, saying, \u2018Do _so_, child!--leave off thinking, and walk!\u2019\n\nMy mother was right. As soon as I left off thinking about it, I found\nmyself walking. Oh, what a wonderful and clever young gentleman I found\nmyself! I went plowing along with such a serious face upon the ground!\nI soon ran my head against one or two trees, and a bit of rock, each of\nwhich I saw very well before I did so; but I thought they would get out\nof my way or slip aside, or that my head would go softly through them.\nMy mother, therefore, took me up and carried me till we arrived within\na short distance of our cave. In front of it there was a large space of\nhigh, green grass, through which a regular path had been worn by the\nfeet of my father and mother. At the beginning of this path, my mother\nplaced me on the ground, and told me I must walk to the cave along the\npathway all by myself. This was a great task for me. I thought I should\nnever be able to keep in such a straight line. I felt dizzy as I looked\nfirst on one side, and then on the other, expecting every instant to\ntumble over into the high, green grass, on the right or left. However,\nI managed to get to the cave without any accident.\u201d\n\nAs the Bear finished the last sentence he suddenly rose, and drew out\nfrom beneath a thick tuft of hair on his right side, a very large\nwatch, with a broad gold face and a tortoise-shell back.\n\n\u201cI must go,\u201d said he, hurrying on his short cloak, his cap, and\ncomforter, \u201cfor it is nearly ten o\u2019clock, and before I go to bed I\nhave some work to do. But I will come again to-morrow night and finish\nmy story. Mrs. Littlepump, I am your respectful and grateful, humble\nservant! Mr. Dr. Littlepump, I am also yours. Good-night to you, Miss\nNancy, and to you, little Val, and to you, pretty Miss Margaret, and to\nall my young friends, and all the rest. May you all sleep well, and\nwith happy dreams!\u201d\n\n\u201cGood-night,\u201d cried all the children in a loud chorus. \u201cOh, be sure to\ncome to-morrow evening!\u201d\n\n\u201cGood-night, Mr. Bear!\u201d cried everybody, while the stout gentleman\nbustled, and hustled, and rustled, and scuffled out of the room, and\nalong the passage, and out of the street-door, and into the street,\nwhere he was soon lost sight of in the snow which was now falling very\nfast.\n\n\n_Second Evening_\n\nThe next evening, about dusk, all the children who had been visiting\nNancy and Valentine came again in a troop, scrambling and crowding at\nthe door to get in first. They were so anxious to hear the remainder of\nthe Bear\u2019s story. As they all came into the room, they cried out, \u201cIs\nhe come?--When will he come?\u201d\n\nDr. Littlepump walked up and down the room with an air of serious\nanxiety; anyone could see he had something on his mind. Mrs.\nLittlepump also said more than once that she hoped no accident would\nhappen on the road to prevent the coming of Mr. Bear. Margaret now\nbecame very anxious and fidgetty, and looked at Uncle Abraham, as\nthough she was a little vexed at his indifference about the event\nin which everybody else took so much interest. Dorothea, Lydia, and\nWallis, all said they, for their parts, had been unable to sleep all\nlast night for thinking of the stout gentleman\u2019s story. But nothing of\nall this seemed to move Uncle Abraham, who sat smoking his Dutch pipe\nand twinkling his eyes. Presently, however, the clock struck five, and\nhe rose from his chair, saying he must go and make a little visit a few\ndoors off before he went to bed. They all begged him very hard to stay\nand see Mr. Bear, but he shook his head, and said, \u201cPooh\u201d and walked\naway. Margaret looked pleased when he was gone, but the children said\nit was very naughty of him not to stay.\n\nMargaret said, \u201cLet us play a little game until Mr. Bear arrives.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said all the children.\n\nThey began to play the game, but they did not attend to it. Their minds\nwere too much filled with the expectation of Mr. Bear.\n\n\u201cOh, I do hope the gentleman Bear will be sure to come,\u201d cried little\nVal.\n\nAs he said this they very plainly heard the sound of a horse\u2019s hoofs\ncoming up the street. They all ran to the window. What was their\nsurprise and delight to see that it was the Bear on horseback! As the\nhorse stopped before Dr. Littlepump\u2019s door, the stout gentleman in\nthe rough coat bent forward, then let himself slowly down, hanging\ncarefully till his fur boots touched the ground. At this all the\nchildren burst out laughing; but instantly recollecting themselves,\nthey ran away from the windows, and scrambled into seats round the\nstove, coughing a little, to pretend it had been only that. And now a\nknock was heard at the door and a loud ring! Margaret ran and opened\nthe door and in came the Bear.\n\nEverybody was so glad to see him. Wallis and Margaret helped him to\ntake off his cloak and comforter. Mrs. Littlepump begged him to take\na seat near the stove. Dorothea presented him with a large cup of nice\ncoffee, hot, and strong, and very sweet, and Dr. Littlepump handed him\nUncle Abraham\u2019s pipe.\n\nEverybody being now comfortably settled, the Bear rose from his chair,\nand, bowing all round, looked at Dr. Littlepump and said, \u201cMr. Dr.\nLittlepump, let me know what is the wish of our young friends here?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, Mr. Good-Natured Bear!\u201d cried Nancy, \u201cdo please continue your\ndelightful story!\u201d\n\nThe Bear laid one paw upon his heart,--bowed--sat down--and after\nlooking thoughtfully into the bowl of his pipe for a few minutes, as if\nto collect his ideas, thus continued:\n\n\u201cAt the foot of our cave, there was, as I have told you, a plot of\nhigh, green grass with a path through it up to the entrance. At the\nback of the rock in which the cave was, there grew several fine old\noak trees, and some young elms, all promising to become very tall and\nbeautiful. My father was very fond of walking alone among those fine\ntrees.\n\nOne afternoon he was taking a nap on our bed of leaves in the cave,\nwhen he was aroused by a noise at the back of the rock, among the\ntrees. The sound was that of a number of hard blows one after another.\nMy father went to see what it was, and there he saw a woodman with an\naxe cutting down the young elms. In perfect rage, my father ran towards\nthe man, who instantly scampered away as fast as he could, crying out:\n\u2018Oh! Oh! Oh!\u2019\n\nThe next morning as soon as it was light the same noise was heard\nagain among the trees. Up jumped my father, but my mother, fearing\nsome danger, went with him. It was a good thing she did so, as the\nforester had brought his two sons with loaded guns to watch for my\nfather while the woodman was at work. My mother saw the two youths each\nhiding behind a large tree and she begged my father, both for her sake\nand mine, to come away. At last he did so, though not without much\ngruffness and grumbling.\n\nBy the evening the woodman had cut down about a third part of the\nyoung elms. Then he went away, intending to come and carry them off in\nthe morning. My mother tried to persuade my father not to interfere\nbecause it was too near our home. But my father said they were _his_\ntrees and he could not bear to lose them. So at night he collected all\nthe trees that were cut down, and carried them, one or two at a time,\nto a river, at a short distance, where the current was strong, and\nthrew them in with a great splash. Long before morning the current had\ncarried them all far away.\n\nThe next day the woodman came with his two sons, a team of horses, and\nropes to drag the trees away. But there was not one to be seen! After\nwondering and sitting under an oak for an hour, the woodman again went\nto work with his axe and cut down more young elm trees. He sent one son\nback with the horses, as they were needed for the plow.\n\nIn the evening the woodman went away as before, leaving the trees,\nand thinking no one would steal them a second time. But at night my\nfather went as before and threw them all into the river. In the morning\nthe woodman came again with the team. \u2018What!\u2019 cried he, \u2018All gone\nagain!--it must be the work of some fairy! Thieves could never carry\naway clean out of sight all those heavy young trees,--unless, indeed,\nit were the Forty Thieves, for it would need as many.\u2019\n\nAgain the woodman cut down the trees and now there was not an elm left\nstanding. He went away in the evening, as before, leaving the trees\nupon the ground. My father was sallying out to carry them off in the\nsame way as before when my mother said, \u2018Do _not_ go, Benjamin (we\nalways spoke in Bear language, you know, and not as I talk to you), do\n_not_ go to-night, Benjamin, I beg you!\u2019\n\n\u2018Why, that unfeeling rascal has cut down all my young elms and the next\nthing you know he will cut down my oaks. I will _not_ endure it,\u2019 said\nmy father angrily.\n\n\u2018But this is by no means certain,\u2019 reasoned my mother. \u2018He seems to\nwant only the elms. And at the worst we could find another cave with\noaks near it.\u2019\n\n\u2018But not with oaks and a nice river, too!\u2019 said my father.\n\n\u2018Then the child (meaning me) and I must go with you and help to do it\nas quickly as possible. After it is done we will go and sleep for a\nfew nights in the forest over the northern hills, for my mind is very\nuneasy about matters,\u2019 said my mother.\n\nMy father laughed and said \u2018GOOFF-ZUGDT,\u2019 which, in Bear language,\nmeans \u2018Nonsense!\u2019\n\nSo we all went out of the cave and worked away at a great rate. My\nfather and mother carried the largest of the young trees, and I such\nof the smallest as my tender years would allow. By midnight we had\njust finished and my father was carrying the last tree, when suddenly\na shout was heard and we saw a flash of torches! The trees had been\nseen floating downstream, by some men who were coming to watch for the\nthieves, or to see if it was the work of fairies.\n\n\u2018Cross the stream, higher up, and run for the northern hills,\u2019 shouted\nmy mother. At the same time she seized me by one ear in her mouth and\nlugged me along till we came to the river bank. Instantly she soused\nme into the water. When I came to the surface, I instantly felt my ear\nagain in my mother\u2019s warm mouth, and we soon landed on the other side.\nMy father was not with us. We took it for granted that he had run in\nsome other direction, and would rejoin us shortly. The shouts, however,\nfollowed us and so did the men with torches. My mother never once\nlooked behind, but ran, lugging me along by one ear, through fields and\nwoods, up hill and down dale. At last she laid me on some warm leaves\nunder thick bushes. But my father did not join us. We never saw him\nagain. He was captured and taken to the village.\n\nMy poor father was now lost to us; therefore, my mother set herself\nbusily to work at my education. She divided every day into various\nportions; and although a large share was given to amusement in which\nI played with several young bears of my own age, and had sometimes a\ngambol with other young animals, still there was nothing that gave me\nmore pleasure than the lessons I received from her. For this purpose\nshe would generally take me into some quiet part of the wood. There,\nunder a wide-spreading tree, she taught my young ideas \u2018how to shoot!\u2019\nOne lesson in particular, I remember, as she took great pains to\nimpress it on my memory. I have followed the idea in all my conduct\nthrough life and I can truly say with the best results to myself. I\nwill recite for you the verse which tells the lesson she taught\n\n      Oh! thou small Bear,\n      Learn to bear, and forbear,\n  And of good luck, or good friends, never despair.\n\nA few days after I had received this lesson, I found myself placed\nin a situation which needed the good advice of the little verse. An\nextremely well-behaved young pig, and a very merry little fox, with\nwhom I was playing, asked me what I had been doing the other day near\na certain hollow tree. I told them I often collected acorns there in\nthe morning and went in the evening to eat them. They said no more,\nand we went on playing round about the trees--and sometimes climbing\nup them--that is--the merry little fox and I did this. The young wild\npig could not. But after that day, whenever I collected acorns in the\nmorning and put them into the hollow tree, and then went at night to\neat them, they were all gone!\n\nOne evening, however, as I was returning home after my disappointment\nand wondering who it could be, I heard a laughing in the thickets, and\nentering suddenly there I saw the little fox and my friend the wild\npig who were just going to run away when they saw me. They both looked\nvery foolish as our eyes met. So the thought struck me that they were\nthe thieves, and I at once accused them. The wild pig became angry\nand denied that he had stolen a single acorn. He said he would not be\ncalled a thief by anybody. The little fox said he had never eaten a\nsingle acorn in all his life, nor had his father before him. Also, he\nsaid he would not be called a glutton by anybody.\n\nOn hearing this I understood how it all was. \u2018Jemmy,\u2019 said I, fixing my\neyes upon the little fox, \u2018Jemmy! you know very well that you stole my\nacorns. We have often played together and this is the first bad trick\nyou have served me. You know I am quite able to punish you severely,\nand take your tail away from you. But I forgive you this time.\u2019\n\nThen I turned to the young wild pig and said, \u2018Hugo, you have _eaten_\nmy acorns. You know that I am stronger than you, that I could throw\nmy arms around your neck and give you _such_ a one! (meaning a hard\nhug)--but I forbear for the sake of our old friendship. I feel sure\nthis will never happen again, and, no doubt, we shall all be better\nfriends than ever.\u2019\n\nAt this, the little fox shed a great many tears, and continued to rub\nhis eyes with his little yellow brush for five minutes afterwards. The\nwild young pig stood silently for some time, as if he were trying to\nunderstand all about it. When he did speak it was only \u2018_ouff_\u2019--but I\nthought he felt what I had said.\n\nAt night, when we were going to bed, I told the whole story to my\nmother. She said I had acted rightly, according to what she had taught\nme in the verse. \u2018For what,\u2019 said she, \u2018would have been the use of\nbeating and squeezing the young thieves? It would not have brought back\nthe acorns, and would have made them both enemies in the future, ready\nto steal anything. But as it is you have got two friends, and lost\nnothing.\u2019\n\nAfter thinking a moment, I said, \u2018Yes, Mother, but I\u2019ve lost my acorns!\u2019\n\n\u2018They are not more lost than if you had eaten them,\u2019 said my mother.\n\u2018When a thing is eaten, it is lost. All you have to complain of is that\nthe wild young pig ate them for you. But as you have forgiven him of\ncourse you ought to think no more of the matter. Act thus through life\ntoward your fellow creatures. Do so for the sake of the verse I taught\nyou, and trust to nature for good results. Now, child, go to sleep.\u2019\n\nIn this manner I passed my early youth and was just coming to my full\nsize and strength when the dreadful thing happened which I spoke of\nwhen I first had the honour of talking to the present company. It was\nthe terrible thing which made me an orphan in the world.\n\nWe were greeted one evening by a very ragged but wise old ape who had\nmanaged to escape from the menagerie in the big city. He was disguised\nas a Chinese tea-merchant, and he begged a night\u2019s lodging, as he\nthought himself out of all danger. He told us news about my poor\nfather. He was put in a menagerie in the village and there he grieved\nhimself to death.\n\nMy mother never recovered after this sad news. She made no complaint,\nnor did she appear to give way to grief, but she gradually sank, and\nsank. Her feet failed her and her teeth fell out. One night, in a more\nthan usually affectionate manner she had her last talk with me. She\ntold me to act always with honesty, truth, and good feeling towards\neveryone; to bear all injuries and misfortunes as firmly as I could.\nShe begged me in all dealings to keep from feelings of revenge and\nhatred. She then gave me an embrace, and told me to sleep well, and\nremember her words. In the morning I found her lying dead upon the\nmoist green grass, with her head gently resting upon one paw.\u201d\n\nAs the Bear uttered these last words, he seemed overcome with many\nfeelings and thoughts of other years. Then, suddenly rising from his\nchair, he hastily put on his hat and cloak, and hurried out of the\nroom. His friends heard the sound of the street-door closing, and two\nof the children ran on tiptoe to the window; but he was out of sight.\n\n\n_Third Evening_\n\nThe next evening the children all met again, in the hope that the\nGood-Natured Bear would come to finish his story.\n\n\u201cI am so much afraid he will never come again,\u201d said Nancy. \u201cWhat\n_shall_ we do?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat _shall_ we do?\u201d echoed all the children.\n\n\u201cFor my part, I think that he will come,\u201d said Mrs. Littlepump.\n\n\u201cI am sure I hope so,\u201d said Margaret. \u201cDear, how my heart beats!\u201d\n\n\u201cYour heart beats for Mr. Bear?\u201d said Dr. Littlepump, looking hard at\nMargaret, who instantly blushed up to her eyes, and her ears were as\nred as ripe cherries.\n\n\u201cOh, I do so wish----\u201d said little Valentine, and then he stopped.\n\n\u201cWhat do you wish, Valentine?\u201d asked Mr. Doctor, looking at his watch.\n\n\u201cI wish we had Jemmy here!\u201d\n\n\u201cJemmy! what Jemmy?\u201d inquired Mr. Doctor with a serious face.\n\n\u201cWhy, Jemmy, the merry little fox with the yellow brush tail!\u201d said Val.\n\nAt this moment the clock struck six, and without any knocking, or\nringing, or any other announcement, the parlour door opened and in\nwalked Mr. Bear!\n\nHe bowed with his usual politeness; but he had a more than usual air of\ngravity and some appearance of anxiety. Margaret placed his chair for\nhim and this seemed to please him.\n\n\u201cI thank you, Miss Margaret,\u201d said he, and he soon became cheerful.\n\nLooking around with a smile, and particularly at Margaret, he asked if\nhe might go on with his story.\n\n\u201cOh, do, Sir!--please do!\u201d cried a dozen voices at once. So he\ncontinued as follows:\n\n\u201cI must now tell you about my own captivity, and I fear there were\nseveral times when I did not follow my mother\u2019s advice but really lost\nmy temper for some minutes. I had scarcely reached my full growth when\na party of hunters came to the forest where I lived and surprising me\nwhile I was asleep, caught me fast in a very strong rope net. I made\na great struggle. Three of the hunters stepped a few paces back and\nleveled their guns with the intention of shooting me. At this moment\nan immense wild pig rushed out of a thicket and crying \u2018ouff!\u2019 charged\nright upon the three hunters--knocked them all three flat upon their\nbacks like ninepins--and then dashed into the thicket on the opposite\nside! Up jumped the three hunters, very angry, and instantly fired\ntheir guns into the thicket after the wild pig. But he was out of their\nreach. Another of the hunters was now about to thrust his spear at me\nwhen suddenly he gave a loud cry, and flung his spear at a tree, close\nto the foot of which we saw a large yellow and red brush tail whisk\nround.\n\n\u2018Oh,\u2019 cried the hunter. \u2018Some rascal of a fox has bitten me in the\nfoot!\u2019\n\nI need not tell you who these two forest friends were who had thus\nsaved my life. You have already guessed.\u201d\n\n\u201cJemmy and Hugo,\u201d whispered the children.\n\n\u201cJemmy and Hugo, grown up!\u201d nodded Mr. Bear.\n\n\u201cThe hunters now began to talk together about whether I might not be of\nmore value to them alive in a menagerie than if they killed me. They\nspoke of my rich, bright, brown-coloured fur, my large size, my youth.\nAt length they decided to send me to a menagerie. Some of them said\nthat a live bear was a great trouble on a long journey.\n\nI now saw that it was of no use to make any further struggle among so\nmany armed men, so I became very quiet. The cords that bound me had\nbecome partially loose at the arms. The son of the hunter, who had\nbeen about to kill me with his spear, happened to come close to me. I\nslowly freed one paw and instead of seizing the boy roughly, I slowly\nraised myself to an upright position behind his back and then patted\nhim gently upon the top of his head. This surprised, amused, and won\nthe hearts of all the hunters. They said it was quite impossible to\nkill such a _good-natured bear_, and from that day they called me _The\nGood-Natured Bear_.\n\nI remember very well an event of my journey with my captors, which\nled to my learning to dance. We were all seated in a pleasant wood at\nsunset. One of the men drew forth a clarionet, another a horn and began\nto play. For the first time in my life I heard what you call music. I\nwas filled with joy, and, being quite unable to control myself, I rose\non my hind legs of my own accord, and stepped in time to the music.\nAt this the hunters loosened the ropes which held me and gave me more\nfreedom. In this upright position I stepped to the middle of an open\ngreen space and continued to keep time to the merry tune which was\nplayed. The hunters shouted and laughed and laughed and shouted. The\nmusic became faster and louder. Round and round I waltzed, and the\ntrees all began to dance round me, too. Then the green ground span\nround about, carrying all the hunters and the music in a swift, dizzy\ncircle round me. I feared I was going mad and I determined to save\nmyself. Therefore, I collected all my willpower and stopped turning.\nThe instant I stood still, the ground slipped from beneath my feet, and\naway I rolled to the bottom of a hill, where I fell asleep.\n\nFrom this time, I continually practised walking upright. At first it\nwas very difficult to walk for any distance on my hind feet. I could\nnot help bending my nose and looking all down my right side, then all\ndown my left side, and so from side to side, for I seemed such a height\nabove the ground. Also, in order to keep my balance, I was obliged to\ngive my weight first on one leg, then on the other, without lifting\nthem from the ground.\n\nMy captors took me to a menagerie, where I was more than comfortable.\nMy food was very good and my water was always clear and fresh. I also\nhad far more liberty than any other animal. I believe this kindness was\nshown me because I showed no anger or hatred towards anyone, also, I\nwas very careful not to frighten or hurt any of the children, who came\nnear me.\n\nIn time I became the principal object of attraction in this menagerie.\nCrowds came daily and stood in front of my cell and looked, and\npointed, and often spoke to me till at last I came to see that I\nwas regarded as a surprising example of wisdom, although I did not\nunderstand one word they spoke to me, except when they also made signs.\nSometimes, however, I was able to connect sounds with signs, so that I\nactually learned the meaning of many words. Then first came to me the\ngreat desire to learn human speech. I thought since I had learned the\nmeaning of many words why could I not learn many more? And when I had\nlearned certain sounds thoroughly why could I not imitate those words,\nso as to speak as well as understand?\n\nI determined to do this if possible and I studied very hard. I listened\nvery carefully all day to those whom I heard speaking and at night I\npractised my voice. At first I could make no sound at all like words,\nbut only strange noises, so that it woke some of the animals, who made\na great grumbling, and three of the monkeys mocked me for a week after,\nchattering, pointing, and making mouths at me. However, I went on\ntrying, and at the end of four years, I understood nearly all that was\nsaid to me, even without signs, and could pronounce a number of words\nvery well, though, of course, with rather a foreign accent. I proved\nthis to myself upon two or three occasions, when it was dark and no\none knew where the voice came from. By the answers I received I always\nfound that what I had said was understood. Nevertheless, I kept all\nthis a secret.\n\nBy this time I was made a show of by myself, and separated from all\nthe other animals in one large corner, which was parted off by a green\ncurtain in front. An additional price was charged to see me. I did\nnot know what in the world they might do with me, if they found they\npossessed a Bear who could talk! I often longed to be free. I was very\ntired indeed of this kind of crowding and staring life, and I longed\nfor the beautiful quiet of my native woods. But there seemed no hope of\nescape.\n\nIn the ninth year of my captivity and, I may add, of my private\nstudies, I was sent round the country in a caravan with three keepers\nwho made a great deal of money by me, at the various fairs and markets.\nI was called on the placards outside, \u2018The Intellectual Bear!\u2019\n\nThere was also another captive in the caravan,--a large serpent. I\ntried to be friendly with him but he never noticed me. He was usually\nasleep, rolled up on a heap of blankets, in a box. When he was awake\nhis eyes were generally shut, and he seemed in a sort of a stupid\ntrance so that we formed no acquaintance. I longed more than ever for\nmy liberty.\n\nOne night--it was a hot night in June--after a long journey, while our\nkeepers were away at supper the serpent broke open his box. Presently\nhis head went slowly gliding up to one of the windows, and moved all\nover the inside shutter. It had not been properly locked, and it opened\na little way. Upon this, the serpent raised himself upwards by his\nmouth, opening the shutter gradually as he rose, till he had coiled\nabout half his body up against the window-frame, and then, with a\nslow pressure--he burst it open. The next moment he dropped silently\nthrough the opening--and was gone!\n\nIn an instant the thought of liberty flashed through my mind! I grasped\nthe wooden bars of my cell, with both arms, and crushed three of them\ntogether. I jumped down upon the floor of the caravan, and scrambled up\nto the window. It was too small to let my body through, but I tore away\nthe framework and out I got, and leaped down upon fresh, cool grass\nin the fresh, cool, night air! Oh, what delight after that steaming\nhot caravan! I ran off as fast as I could. A few stars were shining.\nLuckily there was no moon. Our caravan had fortunately been fixed\noutside the town, so that I had no gates to pass through. I scampered\nalong, dodging between the trees of the avenue just as if I had been\npursued, though not a soul was to be seen at that hour; then I cut\nacross some fields and reached a vineyard. Scrambling on through garden\nand orchard and wood, I came to the highroad which led to a large city.\nAgain I plunged into some vineyards till suddenly I came to a great\nriver which I swam quickly across and landed a little above a village.\nAgain I lost myself in the vineyards, but I did the best I could to\navoid villages and pathways leading to towns, for I feared I might meet\na party of travelers who would make it known where they had seen me.\nI knew there would be a wide search for me. So I made my way upward\ntowards some distant mountains. At last I came to a forest where the\ntrees were very large. Up one of them I slowly climbed, being careful\nnot to scrape or leave any marks upon the bark of the tree. Choosing a\nsnug place where several large boughs crossed each other, I bent some\nof the smaller ones round about, so that I was carefully hidden from\nall eyes below.\n\nThe next morning, as I was sure would be the case, I heard all sorts\nof noises of hunters and dogs all over the country. Several parties\npassed directly beneath the tree where I was seated. I heard one of\nthe dogs give such a sniff. Oh! how closely I hugged the trunk of that\ntree, with my nose pointing up the stem, and not once venturing to look\ndown! I hoped with all my heart not to be seen. This search continued\nfor several days round about me. I never descended and I had nothing to\neat. Once it rained in the night, and I drank the water off the leaves,\ntaking whole bunches at a time into my mouth. This quite refreshed me.\nNobody ever found me out, except that one morning an old crow with a\nbright, black eye, came and peeped at me, but as soon as he saw who it\nwas he flew away, crying out, \u2018_Lawk! Lawk!_\u2019\n\nAt length the search after me was continued in other parts of the\ncountry, and one night I came down to stretch my legs, and sniff about\na bit, and see what the world was made of--ahem! I had not walked\nfar before I came to a spot where the hunters had paused to rest and\nrefresh themselves. Here I found two things which had been dropped by\nsome accident--namely, a purse with some money in it and a very large\npork pie! The purse I placed in a thicket under a stone, but I had\nimmediate need of the pie. I ate half of it that night; I was so very\nhungry. The remainder I carried with me up the tree, and made it last\nfive days.\n\nThough I never stopped watching or forgot my caution, the fear I at\nfirst had of being discovered and recaptured was very much lessened,\nso that my mind was free to follow its own course of self-improvement.\nI continued to practice speaking with the greatest care, repeating all\nthe sentences I knew, and every word I could recollect. I did this so\noften in order to master the pronunciation that sometimes when I ceased\nI had a pain in my lower jaw, which lasted for half an hour. However, I\ncontinually persevered. I had now practised speaking a human language\nfor nearly twelve years. I spoke very badly I knew; still, I had\nsometimes found what I said in the dark when I was in the menagerie,\nhad been understood and I was full of hope. How and in what manner to\nmake my first appearance among mankind, was quite a puzzle to me. One\npreparation as to my personal appearance I knew I must make. I grieved\nat it. I objected to the narrowness of mind which I knew made it\nnecessary,--yet I knew also that it must be done.\n\nIn the early morning of the world, everything was new and wonderful\nbeyond all doubt; but not more new and wonderful than useful and\nnecessary to carry out the future business of creation. Who can\ndeny the high origin of tails? The first animal who was active and\nwell-formed must have had a tail. Of its great importance it would\ntake too much time at present to speak. But even in these modern times\nhow much use and ornament it possesses must be seen by everybody when\nthey think of the lion, the dog, the eagle, the swallow, the monkey,\nthe squirrel, and the fish. Running, leaping, flying, swimming are all\nhelped very much indeed by the tail. Of its use as a fan in sultry\nweather, as a whisker-away of gnats and flies, I will make no mention.\nThen, what a tail the beaver has and who is more skilful than he? I\nwill stop. You see I have no tail. Since I had made up my mind to live\nwith mankind it was necessary to accept most of their customs. In\nshort, I found I must give up my tail. This I did at the sacrifice of\nsome private feelings, I assure you.\n\nYou must be curious, I think, to hear how I made my first appearance\namong the circles of mankind, and I will hasten to tell you. Most\nfortunately, I had a little money, the value of which I knew pretty\nwell. I made my way cautiously across the country into a town one dark\nevening of a market-day, and with my money I managed to purchase a\nlarge pair of shoes, a pair of cow-skin gloves, a piece of gingerbread,\nand a sheet of white paper. With these materials I made my way to a\nlarge city where a great fair was being held.\n\nI chose a dark corner on the outskirts of the fair and spread my sheet\nof white paper upon the ground. On this white paper I placed a score\nof gingerbread pills, and, with beating heart and shaking limbs, I\naddressed the human race on the subject of pills, for I had heard\npeople were very much interested in this subject. I was so alarmed at\nspeaking to a group of such wise beings that even at the time I did\nnot well know what I was saying. However, the moment I began to speak,\na number of persons came round me and laughed loudly. I thought I was\nfound out, and stopped.\n\n\u2018Go on, Doctor! Go on!\u2019 cried they. So I went on. A crowd soon\ncollected, all of whom laughed very much, saying, \u2018What a voice! Look\nat his nose! Did you ever hear such language! What a figure!\u2019\n\nThey bought all my gingerbread pills in a very short time, and I was\nonly able to make my escape by telling them I must go to my lodgings\nfor some more.\n\nOh, how shall I describe the joy and exultation I felt at the great\nsuccess of my experiment upon the wise and generous human race! I was\nobliged to double the price of my gingerbread pills in order to prevent\nthem from going so fast. Everything I said produced immense laughter,\neven when I myself knew I had said no witty or sensible thing at all,\nwhile any ordinary reply was received with shouts of applause. They\nbelieved that my strange voice, dialect, face, figure, and behaviour\nwere all a part of my make-up, and that I was acting a part! In fact,\nthey thought I could speak and appear very differently, if I liked. I\ndid not feel altogether pleased at this discovery; but I was obliged to\ntake what came and make the most of it. I, therefore, spoke as well as\nI could, and when I made some shocking blunder, I allowed the people to\nsuppose that I knew better.\n\nI now took my position in society. I had lodgings in a house, and I\nslept in a bed! I shall never forget the first night I slept in a bed.\nHow I stood looking at the snow-white luxury! and walked round it\nsoftly, holding my breath. I touched it very gently, but at last I did\nmuster courage and actually got between the sheets!\n\nI visited other large fairs with increased success, so that in the\ncourse of a year or two I had gained a great sum of money.\n\nI soon became famous at all the great fairs where, by some, I was\ncalled the Whimsical Doctor, on account of my odd dress, face, and\nvoice, all of which people regarded as my make-up. Several wealthy\npeople whom I met at these fairs offered to go into partnership with\nme. At last I consented. I took as my partner a clever man named\nTobias, who was a jeweller. He sold all his jewels, or rather, he\nturned all his jewels into gingerbread, and we made wagon-loads of\ngingerbread pills. In making the large quantities of these, however,\nTobias talked to me in a way which caused me to feel, for the first\ntime, that this method of dealing with the human race was not\nhonourable. I began to see that human beings were not so wise as I had\nimagined, and that nobody ought to cheat them. The more my partner\ntalked over our success the more I felt we were rogues. So one morning\nI told him that I wished to dissolve our partnership. \u2018Ah,\u2019 said he,\n\u2018then, as you leave me, of course you will leave with me all the stock\nin trade, and all the money, too.\u2019 \u2018No,\u2019 said I, \u2018not all the money.\nTake all the pills, and welcome; but give me back half the money.\u2019 He\nrefused. We spoke sharply to each other and suddenly he said to me,\nangrily, \u2018You shall have nothing. If you say anything more I will tell\nwhat I have found out about you. I know what you are. You are not a\nman--but a _bear_!\u2019\n\nI was thunderstruck! I fell back into my infant years as if I had\nfallen over a cliff. I felt I was a bear! But the next moment I\nseized Tobias in my arms, and lifted him up in the air, saying in a\nloud voice: \u2018Wicked fellow! what shall I do to you?\u2019 At this moment,\nhowever, I recollected my mother\u2019s words. I set him down upon the\nground, where he stood quite breathless with fright. Then I said to\nhim, \u2018Ungrateful man--dishonest partner,--take my money and go thy ways\nin peace.\u2019\n\nNot knowing what to do, and certainly not knowing what to think, I\nwandered about the country. Sometimes I sat under hedges and puzzled\nmy brains to understand what sort of thing human reason was. I never\ncould make it out. However, I knew that I was an imposter,--though an\ninnocent imposter, since I could not help wearing a fur coat and a long\nnose.\n\nOne day when I was seated under a tree, eating a turnip, who should\npass by but Tobias, all in rags, and looking very ill. Suddenly, he saw\nme, uttered a cry, and fell down in a fit. I went to him and placed\nthe cool wet leaves of my turnip across his temples. This seemed to\nrevive him and do him good. When he saw that I had no intention to\nhurt him he asked me to carry him to the nearest peasant\u2019s cottage. I\ndid so and was going away when he called me back and said, \u2018I behaved\nvery badly to you, but I was punished. When you left me nobody would\nbuy the pills. The people called loudly for the Wonderful Doctor with\nthe fur coat and the large nose who talked so oddly. As you were not\nto be found, they said I was a rascal, and an impostor, and they drove\nme out of the town. I was quite ruined. They seized all our pills and\nflung them about and the boys pelted each other with pill-boxes in the\nstreets for at least three hours. The very same wonderful pills the\nworld had just before been running after.\u2019\n\nIn a few months after this Tobias had a fortune left him by a relation.\nHe sent for me, begged my pardon for his previous behaviour, set me up\nin business as a merchant, and took great pains to instruct me. In the\nwinter I dealt in pickles and preserves; and in the summer I carried\non a wholesale trade in silks and velvets. He wanted me to sell furs\nalso, but I declined that. These occupations I have followed ever\nsince, with great industry and good success. Meantime, however, at all\nleisure hours I have tried to improve my mind by various studies, and,\namong others, I even managed to make some progress in mathematics.\u201d\n\nAs Mr. Bear said this, all the children thought directly of Uncle\nAbraham, the mathematician, and were so sorry he was not present to\nhear about these studies.\n\n\u201cI should now,\u201d continued the stout gentleman, \u201cconsider myself very\nhappy, but for one circumstance. I confess I do not like to mention it.\n\n  How can this small heart contain\n  So large a world of joy and pain;\n  And how can this small tongue declare\n  All that is felt so deeply there!\n  Alas, poor Bear!--Alas, poor Bear!\n\nYou will all readily understand that to have raised myself by my own\nefforts so much above the rest of my species, I must have had a nature\nopen to many thoughts and feelings; and that the peculiar tenderness\ninstilled by my mother had grown with my growth, and made me open to\nall the softer emotions.\u201d\n\nMr. Bear here paused and gave a deep sigh. Several of the younger\nchildren sighed too. Gretchen fixed her eyes upon the floor.\n\n\u201cI was not aware for some time,\u201d said the sorrowful gentleman in the\nrough coat, \u201cof what kind of feelings had begun to possess me. I felt\nI was alone in the world. I had long felt that,--but I had so much\nto do, so much to learn and struggle with, and work at, and so much\ntravelling about and business to attend to, that I did not feel this\nbeing alone as any great grief. Besides, as I had been successful in\nthe various difficult things I had attempted, and had for a long time\nbeen very fortunate in all my affairs of business, I was in the habit\nof regarding myself as a happy person. And I _was_ happy, until I\nbegan to think that others were more so, and then I saw it was because\nothers, who were happy, could share it with those they loved and also\ngive happiness to the dear object. But I was alone in the world. I\nhad nobody to love. Nobody would ever love me,--except another bear.\nAnd you know that the love of another bear was out of the question to\none in my advanced state of refinement. What was I to do? I could have\nloved a dear object--a great many, I am sure--I was going to say--I beg\npardon--I do not quite well know _what_ I say at this exciting moment.\nBut--let me try to tell you, that I felt it impossible to live all my\nlife without some tender acquaintance with the little god of love, and\nas I was by this time long past the season of youth, I was resolved to\nlet my heart be lost with the first object that should present herself\nto my fancy.\n\nBut, strange to relate, no sooner had I made up my mind to fall in love\nwith the first amiable and lovely person I saw than I ceased to meet\nwith any such as I often used to see before. So I began to think the\nwish had left me, and I determined to study something very difficult\nin order to occupy my mind, and perhaps cure myself of these lovely\nfancies. I, therefore, decided to take a course of studies under Mr.\nProfessor Abraham Littlepump, and with that view I first came to this\nvillage. I arrived in the evening as you know, but did not intend to\nhave made my visit till next morning, had I not been attracted by the\nloud merriment of our young friends here. It has always happened that\nMr. Professor Abraham Littlepump has been absent when I paid you a\nvisit; but this does not concern me in regard to the mathematics. I\nhave seen one here in this room--who has put all the mathematics clean\nout of my head. And now comes the end of my story.\u201d\n\nAs Mr. Bear uttered those words everybody began to look all round the\nroom and then at each other and then all round the room again.\n\n\u201cWho can Mr. Good-Natured Bear mean?\u201d said Nancy in a whisper to one of\nthe older boys.\n\n\u201cMargaret dear,\u201d said little Valentine, \u201cyour ears are as red as my\nscarlet-runner.\u201d\n\n\u201cSilence!\u201d said Dr. Littlepump.\n\n\u201cPity an unfortunate creature,\u201d said the stout gentleman. \u201cI have at\nlength seen the object of my devout wishes. Yes, in this very room in\nthis house--have I seen just exactly what I have been speaking of. You\nunderstand me?\u201d There was no answer.\n\n\u201cOh, that I could have had the honour and happiness of being your\nbrother Abraham! I would have devoted my mind to far more beautiful\nthoughts. Seated in his arm-chair and thinking about mathematical\nproblems he never dreamed of the charming object that was continually\nbefore him, sometimes singing to the children, sometimes teaching them\nto read, and to dance, sometimes working with her delightful needle.\nOh, let me change places with him--the cold, insensible, stick of a\nslate pencil! Now I know what I am saying--or rather I do not very well\nknow what I am saying.\u201d\n\nPoor Mr. Bear here began to cry, and several of the children cried too.\nBut he went on with his strange speech all the same.\n\n\u201cLet Mr. Professor Uncle Abraham stay where he is, with his problems\nand dumps, and let me be allowed to remain in his place and sit in\nhis chair, so that I may enjoy the happy society of the sweet-voiced\nMargaret, nursery-governess in the amiable family of Mr. Dr.\nLittlepump.\u201d\n\nAs he concluded the last sentence the unhappy gentleman sank back in\nhis chair, and Gretchen covered her face entirely with both hands.\n\n\u201cI only dare to speak of my affection for this sweet creature. I know I\nam old for her, too ugly, besides being a Bear. I know I have no hope,\nbut what can I do? How can I help this beating heart? What is to become\nof me?\u201d\n\nBy this time all the children had tears in their eyes. Nancy and little\nValentine, however, got close to Gretchen, holding her fast on each\nside, for fear that perhaps poor Mr. Bear might want to carry her away.\nEverybody was silent.\n\nAt last Nancy ventured to say in a trembling voice, \u201cPerhaps, dear Mr.\nBear, you might find somebody else?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, that I had eloquence!\u201d exclaimed the Bear. \u201cOh, that the best\nwords would come of themselves in the best places, while other best\nwords were getting themselves ready to be poured out! Then I should\nbe able to touch the human heart. But, as it is, all my hopes are\nvanity,--are in fact nothing at all. I must leave this busy scene and\ngo to some quiet place where I am not known. I will again visit the\nhaunts of my childhood and stay there. Oh! my native woods! Ye silent\nnights, ye small bright stars playing bo-peep through the boughs into\nhollow caves! I will go back among you, and in the cool, green grass\nwill I lay my head. Farewell! Farewell!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut can nothing be done for you, sir?\u201d said Mrs. Littlepump in a soft\nvoice.\n\n\u201cMy dear Margaret,\u201d said Doctor Littlepump, \u201cyou hear what Mrs.\nLittlepump asks. It is for you to make some kind of an answer. I wish\nmy brother Abraham were here!\u201d\n\n\u201cI can never love the gentleman in the rough coat,\u201d said Margaret,\nstill holding one hand before her face. \u201cI do not mind his being much\nolder than myself, nor do I think him so very, very ugly--only, he is a\nBear!\u201d\n\n\u201cI am a devoted Bear!\u201d declared the stout gentleman with enthusiasm,\n\u201cand I will be anything else I can, that the dear object may command.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have had a dream!\u201d said Margaret timidly looking up and waiting. \u201cI\nhave had a dream!\u201d\n\n\u201cSo have I,\u201d said Dr. Littlepump sternly. \u201cCome, come, I begin to feel\nuncomfortable.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo not feel so!\u201d exclaimed Mr. Bear, clasping his paws together.\n\n\u201cMake haste!\u201d continued the Doctor, fixing his eyes upon Margaret.\n\u201cMake haste! Let us hear your dream.\u201d\n\n\u201cI dreamed,\u201d said Margaret, trembling, \u201cthat Mr. Bear must go into that\ncloset, and be locked in. Then, all the children were to form a magic\ncircle in the middle of the room, and move slowly round, hand in hand,\nnine times, saying:\n\n  \u2018Oh, Mr. Bear!\n  Cupid hears your fond prayer!\n  Remember your mother\u2019s words,--never despair!\u2019\n\nAfter this, a glass of lemonade and a slice of cake were to be placed\nready for each to take the moment the door was opened, and they saw\nthat the charm was complete. I dreamed this would cause Mr. Bear to be\nmade happy somehow. And then----\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd then?\u201d said Dr. Littlepump, \u201cwhat then? I repeat I am beginning to\nfeel very uncomfortable. I smell a plot!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, we shall soon see what the dream will do,\u201d said Mrs. Littlepump.\n\u201cMr. Bear, will you run all risks of what may happen, and go into the\ncloset?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will do anything, dear Mrs. Littlepump!\u201d exclaimed Mr. Bear. Saying\nthis, he ran towards the closet headforemost. The door was open. The\nchildren all peeped in and looked round cautiously to see if anybody\nwas there, but it was quite empty. A large mirror hung on the wall, at\nthe further end. Mr. Bear stepped in, and waited for what might happen\nto him.\n\n\u201cAll in the dark!\u201d said little Valentine, \u201cand the door locked!\u201d\n\nThe children now formed a circle in the middle of the room, and while\nMargaret was pouring out glasses of lemonade, and Lydia and Dorothea\nwere cutting slices of cake, and Wallis was cleaning his spectacles,\nand Dr. and Mrs. Littlepump were standing silently holding each other\nby both hands--the children turned in a circle nine times, repeating\nthe words of the charm:\n\n  \u201cOh, Mr. Bear!\n  Cupid hears your fond prayer!\n  Remember your mother\u2019s words--never despair.\u201d\n\nWhen they had finished Mrs. Littlepump unlocked the closet door.\nEverybody was so silent.\n\n\u201cMargaret,\u201d whispered Mrs. Littlepump, \u201cgo and tap at the door.\u201d\n\nMargaret did so, and then the door slowly began to open. It stopped\nopening, and a voice inside said, \u201cYou must take my hand, or I cannot\ncome out.\u201d\n\nAnd then a well-formed hand was put forth. With a face all scarlet with\nblushes Margaret gently took it. And then--who should come out of the\ncloset but dear Uncle Abraham!\n\n\u201cHere is dear Uncle Abraham!\u201d shouted all the children, \u201cbut where is\nthe Bear?\u201d\n\nThe children all ran right into the closet, scrambling, squeaking, and\nsearching all about, but finding nothing! Soon they came crowding, and\nbegan to run round Uncle Abraham.\n\n\u201cWhere is the fascinating rough gentleman?\u201d cried everybody in the room.\n\n\u201c_Here I am!_\u201d exclaimed a soft hoarse voice, as if from a great\ndistance.\n\nThey all looked round and round. Nobody like Mr. Bear was to be seen.\n\n\u201c_I am become a happy Shadow!_\u201d continued the voice, \u201c_and I have left\nmy dear friend and mathematical tutor in my place!_\u201d\n\nThe voice seemed still as distant as before; and yet, somehow, it\nappeared to come from the closet. Into the closet, therefore, all the\nchildren again rushed pell mell. They were no sooner in than they\nsuddenly gave a great shout;--and then became quite silent as with some\nnew wonder.\n\nThe rest of the party hastened to the closet. The children were all\nlooking in the mirror which hung at the other end, and in it were\ndistinctly seen the reflection in miniature of Mr. Bear, very nicely\nshaved round the chin, and dressed as a nobleman in a court dress.\nHe was dancing a polka on the lawn of a castle made of clouds, with\nanother Shadow dressed exactly like Margaret, only still prettier,\nwhile the figure of Cupid sat on the tip-top of one of the turrets,\nholding his quiver like a violin, and playing delightfully upon it with\nhis bow.\n\nPresently the whole vanished. There was nothing to be seen in the\nmirror except the wondering faces of those who went close up to it.\n\nOut came all the children, one by one, with looks of equal pleasure and\nbewilderment.\n\n\u201cI was not altogether prepared for this,\u201d said Dr. Littlepump.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said Mrs. Littlepump, \u201cthe Land of Shadows is full of delights\nof all kinds; and as to your brother\u2019s affair of the heart, it is not\nthe first time that a grave man fell in love with a merry girl. It was,\nat least, as natural in him as in Mr. Bear--not to speak unkindly or\ndisrespectfully of our dear departed friend.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut it certainly is the first time,\u201d said Dr. Littlepump, \u201cthat a\nBear, however good-natured, was so lucky as to become a Happy Shadow,\nsuch as you describe, and to be able to bequeath a young bride to his\ntutor. In fact, my brain is confused upon several points. And the more\nI reflect, the more my head goes round. Brother! I always used to\nconsider you a strong-minded man--but now----\u201d\n\n\u201cYou will dance at my wedding!\u201d said Abraham Littlepump.\n\n\u201cI will,\u201d said Dr. Littlepump. \u201cGod bless you, brother Abraham.\nGood-natured Bear, indeed! Poor gentleman! I do not mean to say\nanything at all unkind--but I _do_ say, bless my soul!\u201d\n\n\u201cMy good brother,\u201d said Abraham Littlepump, \u201cas for Mr. Bear, we shall\never retain the tenderest recollections of him. He was thrown upon an\nunfeeling world, and was unhappy. But he is very happy now, somewhere\nelse. For has he not vanished into the Land of Shadows, there to dance\nforever on a green lawn, with the image of his adorations!\u201d\n\n\u201cI rejoice extremely to hear it!\u201d cried Dr. Littlepump, catching up his\nflute; \u201cand I feel persuaded that I am at this moment inspired to play\nthe very same polka which Cupid has just played to Mr. Bear and his\nbride!\u201d\n\nAt this the children all set up a long hearty shout of applause; and\nwhen they were quite done Dr. Littlepump applauded himself--at which\nthey all began again. Then the children, still laughing, formed a\ncircle, hand in hand, round Dr. and Mrs. Littlepump, and Abraham\nLittlepump and Margaret, and danced round and round them. And they sang\nthe following rhyme, in which the Bear was lovingly included, just as\nif he had been present, because his memory was so dear to them all. The\nDoctor accompanied them on his flute.\n\n    \u201cOh, Doctor! Oh, Bear!\n    Oh, new-married pair!\n  Of good luck and good friends\n    Oh, never despair!\u201d\n\nAbraham Littlepump now became so overjoyed, that he was unable to\ncontain himself. He hugged them all round, and finally catching the\nDoctor in his arms, made him get up behind him pick-a-back. Then Mrs.\nLittlepump and Margaret joined hands with the circle of children, and\nthey all danced round the two brothers, singing the rhyme again, while\nthe Doctor flourished his flute in the air, like the conductor of some\ngreat band of music.\n\n\n\n\nCHRISTMAS WISHES\n\nLOUISE CHOLLET\n\n\nKing Nutcracker prepared for the Christmas feast with uncommon\nsplendour, for on that day Santa Claus had promised his three\nsons--what do you suppose? A pony or a boat apiece? Of what use to\nbring such things to Prince Nutcracker and Prince Buttons, who were\nmen, while for the little Prince Pepin, he had everything that he\nwanted since he first learned to cry for it! No, Santa Claus had\npromised them each a wish! What would the princes wish? Nobody knew.\nFor though the Court Journal declared that of course their wishes would\ninsure the happiness of their subjects, the Court Journal _knew_ no\nmore of the matter than you or I; and as all this happened before we\nwere born, that is just nothing. Nevertheless, for weeks beforehand,\nthe entire court was in a state of preparation. The Duke of the Powder\nCloset powdered the comb wigs at such a rate that they were obliged\nto station a line of pages from the Powder closet to the pantry, who\npassed up refreshments continually to keep his strength up. The Queen\nwore her hair in curl-papers for a week, and spent the most of her time\nin the kitchen where the pies and plum-pudding were in making; and\nhis Majesty grumbled that he could not stir without stumbling over a\ntrumpeter, practising his bit of the Christmas chorus in a corner. For\nhimself, the king ordered a new blue-velvet coat, and sent his crown\nand sceptre to be mended and rubbed up at a goldsmith\u2019s. All the pink\npages had new green slippers. Ten of these pages were to help Santa\nClaus out of his sleigh and ten were to hold the reindeer; and all the\ntime they were to sing a song of welcome, and to step all together. So\nthey practised five hours a day with the Lord High Fiddlesticks; and\nthe Lord High Fiddle-stick bawled himself hoarse, while the pages lost\nflesh and temper in trying to learn.\n\nWhat a pity, after all this pains, that Santa Claus left his reindeer\nbehind him, and, slipping in just when nobody was looking for him,\nstood among them, not with his Christmas face, but looking sad and\nsurly! \u201cIf you were my boys,\u201d said he gruffly, \u201ccatch me giving you a\nwish. I would shut you up in an iceberg first! However, a promise is a\npromise. Let us hear what you have to say.\u201d\n\nAll the courtiers stood on tiptoe, and you might have heard a pin drop,\nthey were so anxious to know what the princes wished.\n\nPepin, though the youngest, being a saucy, spoiled boy, spoke first.\n\u201cA prince should always have his own way,\u201d said Pepin. \u201cNow there are\na great many things that vex me. Sometimes, when I am flying my kite,\nthere is no wind. Now I think that a prince should always be able to\nfly his kite: if not, I might as well be any other boy. In the same\nway, it rains when I am going to drive, and the sun sets before I am\nready; and my ball will tumble down when I want it to stay up, and\nsometimes it is too warm, and sometimes it is too cold; in short,\nthere is no end to my annoyances, and I want to regulate these things\nmyself.\u201d\n\nSanta Claus looked hard at Pepin to see if he was quite in earnest.\nPepin looked back at Santa Claus with a serious face. \u201cHave your wish\nwhile you remain a prince,\u201d said Santa Claus.\n\nThe courtiers stared, but no one had time to make any remarks; for\nPrince Nutcracker, in a violent hurry lest Buttons should get ahead of\nhim, wished for the luck-penny. Now you know whoever has a luck-penny\nwill make money, more money, much money, and will never lose any.\n\n\u201cBut there is one objection,\u201d remarked Santa Claus. \u201cBy continual use,\nthe luck-penny by and by will look larger to you than anything else.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is nothing,\u201d said Nutcracker, slipping the luck-penny into his\npocket.\n\nPrince Buttons, blushing to the tips of his ears, wished \u201cto marry the\nshoemaker\u2019s sweet daughter, and that the spirit of Christmas might live\nin their house the year round.\u201d\n\n\u201cGive us your hand!\u201d cried Santa Claus, pulling out the holly-sprig\nfrom his cap, and giving it to Buttons, but the King jumped up, fuming\nand spluttering: \u201cYou idiot! You ninny! The daughter of the shoemaker\nand the Christmas spirit, indeed. Christmas fiddlestick and fol-de-rol!\nOut of my sight!\u201d\n\nHis Royal Highness was in such a rage that he actually lifted his\nroyal foot to kick the prince. The Queen fainted; the courtiers cried,\n\u201cOh!\u201d Prince Buttons ran away in the midst of the hubbub; Santa Claus\ndisappeared; and, to make matters better, the court suddenly found\nitself in darkness. It was high noon, but the sun had popped out\nof the sky like a snuffed-out candle. Nobody could find candles or\nmatches, and if the confusion was great in the palace, it was worse\nin the city. People were left standing in darkness at the shops and\nferries and depots. People who were eating dinners, and people who were\ngetting them, and people who had just come out to see Christmas, were\nall served alike. Everybody was in a fright; some screamed one thing\nand some another; and all the time there was nothing the matter, only\nPrince Pepin, who was in a hurry to see the arch of Chinese lanterns,\nhad ordered the sun to set.\n\n\u201cSee here, Pepin,\u201d cried the King in a passion, \u201corder the sun up\nagain, and if I catch you doing such a thing----\u201d\n\nPepin, who was afraid of his father, did not wait for the rest of the\nsentence; so, just as everybody had lighted candles, or turned on the\ngas, there was the sun again.\n\n\u201cSeems to me,\u201d said Pepin, sulkily, \u201cI am not having my own way\nafter all,\u201d and he went in a wretched humour to play battle-door and\nshuttlecock. He made bad strokes, and the shuttlecock tumbled on the\nground. \u201cHateful thing, forever coming down!\u201d cried Pepin.\n\n\u201cIt only obeys the law of gravitation, my dear,\u201d said the Queen.\n\n\u201cI wish there was no law of gravitation,\u201d snapped Pepin.\n\nWhisk! Pepin was flying through the air as if he had been shot from\na gun. Kicking frantically, he saw the King, the Queen, everything,\ncoming after him! Something hit him hard on the nose. He was in a\nperfect storm of great round apples, flying in all directions! Bang!\nbump! on his head, in his mouth, on his shoulders! How he wished they\nhad stayed in the market! Pepin dodged and squalled; the air was full\nof stones and timbers; a horse was kicking just over his head; somebody\nhad him by the hair, and somebody else by the legs, for, of course,\neverybody clutched in all directions to save himself.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d screamed Pepin amidst the general uproar of barking, neighing,\nbraying, clucking and shouting, \u201cI wish the law of gravitation was back\nagain.\u201d\n\nAt once Pepin, the King, the Queen, and the people, were on their\nfeet. Everything was in its accustomed place,--everybody a little\nrumpled, but nobody hurt. The King was disposed to be angry, but the\nQueen declared that Pepin was only a little thoughtless, the courtiers\nmurmured, \u201cQuite natural,\u201d and the Court Journal pronounced the affair\nthe best joke of the season; but the people looked very glum over it.\n\nThat made no difference to Pepin, who continued his jokes very much\nat his ease. Often, when he was lazy, the sun did not rise until noon;\nand people might twist and turn in bed, or go about their business by\ncandle-light, as they chose; when, on the contrary, he found his play\namusing, he sometimes kept the sun in the sky till nine o\u2019clock at\nnight, while all the children in the city were crying for sleepiness.\nThree nations declared war on King Nutcracker, because Pepin sometimes\nordered a dead calm for weeks, and sometimes had the winds blowing\nfrom all quarters at once, and navigation was quite impossible. The\ndoctors were almost worn out, and the people died on all sides from\nconstant violent changes of weather, for, if my young master got heated\nin his play, he made nothing of ordering the thermometer down to sixty\ndegrees. The farmers were all in despair, for Pepin hardly allowed a\ndrop of rain to fall; and having a fancy for skating in summer, he\nruined what harvest there was by a week of ice and snow in July.\n\nRemonstrance was quite useless, for Pepin was no longer afraid of his\nfather, since he could leave him at any time in total darkness. So\none night there was heard a loud knocking at the palace gate, and,\nthough the pages and the guards and the watchmen turned over on the\nother side, and tried very hard to go to sleep again, the knocking grew\nso loud that they were obliged to get up and see what was the matter.\nThere was a mob at the gates; the people, tired of Pepin\u2019s jokes, had\nrebelled. Some ran one way and some another. Prince Nutcracker put his\nluck-penny in his pocket and walked out of the back door; no one stayed\nto look after the King and Queen, who were running about in nightcap\nand slippers, in a terrible fright; and if it had not been for Buttons,\nwho, on the first alarm, ran to the palace, from which he had been\nkicked out six months before, they would have been in a sorry case, I\nthink.\n\nOn the next day the Court Journal came out with a new heading. It was\ncalled now the People\u2019s Journal, and it said that, on the night before,\nold Mr. and Mrs. Nutcracker and their boy Pepin had escaped, nobody\nknew how, and nobody cared; and that young Mr. Nutcracker, the former\nheir to the throne, had opened a fine new store on Main Street.\n\nSo, you perceive, there was no longer a royal family.\n\nAs Nutcracker had the luck-penny, of course he made money in his new\nstore. Every day, and all day long, he looked straight at the penny.\nAt first he used to see other things; but as he took no notice of\nthem, by and by the penny grew so large that it covered them all, and\nthen he had no more trouble. He made money all the year round and he\ngave none of it away. None to Pepin, because he had brought about\ntheir misfortunes. None to Buttons, because he might have wished for\nsomething better, if he liked, than a holly-bush and the shoemaker\u2019s\ndaughter. None to anybody, because why should not people work and earn\nmoney, as he had done, if they wanted it? And every day he grew more\nand more like his penny,--that is, of less and less use for anything\nthat was not buying and selling. For Santa Claus, he had not seen him\nin ten years, till one Christmas eve, when hearing a sudden jingling\nof sleigh-bells, he looked up and saw Santa Claus just coming down on\nthe hearth-rug.\n\n\u201cI stopped my sleigh,\u201d said Santa Claus, \u201cto see if you had anything to\nsend your father and brothers.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy should I send them anything?\u201d answered Nutcracker, surlily.\n\nSanta Claus put his hands down deep in his fur pockets, as if he was\ntrying to hold himself. \u201cWhat for! Aren\u2019t you rich and they poor? Your\nown flesh and blood? Confound it, man! if you have not the instinct of\na son and a brother, you must feel the Christmas spirit at least once\na year in your heart, urging you to love and kindness towards your\nfellow-men.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, I don\u2019t, then,\u201d snarled Nutcracker. \u201cMen need holidays to rest,\nI suppose, though I don\u2019t; but for Christmas being any better, or\nhaving anything more in it than any other day, I say, bosh! Give me\nplenty of money, and I can buy all the love and kindness I want! And if\nother folks want it, let them work and earn money as I do, and----\u201d\n\nNutcracker never finished this speech, because--he could not. A\nsingular dumb, dry and hard feeling had taken possession of him. His\nlegs were gone. At least he could see them nowhere; so were his arms.\nSomething wrapped him around. He had a strange notion that he had\ngrown round, and that--it sounds ridiculous--but Nutcracker was quite\npositive that he was in a table drawer among some coin, and that he\nwas--a copper penny.\n\nBy and by he heard a shrill voice, \u201cMr. Nutcracker, Mr. Nutcracker!\u201d\nThat was his wife. Then he heard his children calling, \u201cPapa, papa!\u201d\nThen a running up and down stairs. They were searching for him. Then\nsomebody declared that he had disappeared, somebody else said that he\nmust be advertised for, and, taking a handful of money from the drawer,\nNutcracker among the rest, carried him to a newspaper office, and paid\nhim in at a window for an advertisement about his own disappearance.\nTwo minutes after, the man at the window gave him in change to a\ngentleman, who paid him out to a newsboy, who bought an apple with him\nof a grocer, who gave him in change again to a shoemaker, who dropped\nhim into his soiled and patched pocket, where Nutcracker found nothing\nelse but a five-dollar gold-piece.\n\nThis shoemaker was Buttons. Was not this a charming way for two\nbrothers to meet?\n\nThe pocket into which Nutcracker dropped was a very poor\npocket,--soiled and patched, as I said; but Nutcracker had not been in\nit five minutes when he felt--how shall I tell you? It is not easy to\ndescribe feelings, but this shoemaker, who walked in the biting wind\nwith no overcoat and his hands in his pockets, had warmth and sparkle\nin his heart that made Nutcracker feel brighter, though he could not\ntell why. There were Christmas trees on all corners, and Christmas\nwreaths piled on the stands, and at every tree and wreath Buttons\nwarmed more and more. There were women going home from market, with\na broad grin on their faces, and a drum or a little bedstead on the\ntop of the cranberries and turkey and Buttons laughed back at them as\nhe walked, whistling and looking around him; and splendid ladies came\nsmiling out of the shops, and Buttons smiled at them; till between the\nsigns of Christmas and the pleasant faces he got in such a glow that\nNutcracker would hardly have said that he needed an overcoat.\n\nAll this time Buttons walked very fast and very straight till he came\nto a certain shop with a low door. Outside of this door was a clothes\nstand, and on this stand hung an overcoat, marked \u201cOnly Five Dollars.\u201d\n\nButtons stopped. \u201cNow,\u201d said he to himself, \u201cI need an overcoat. I have\ngot five dollars in my pocket. Shall I buy this overcoat?\u201d\n\nThen Buttons imagined himself in the overcoat. His coat-tails would\nnot fly out, and of course he could not put his hands in his pockets;\nand if not, where should he put them? Buttons took another look at the\ncoat. It was certainly good for five dollars.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said Buttons, \u201cif I buy it they will have no Christmas dinner,\nand Ma Nutcracker has set her heart on chicken and pudding. My little\nwife will never know the difference between Christmas and any other\nday. Poor Pepin, in his bed, will never know any difference. I shall\ncome home in my brutal overcoat and that will be all.\u201d\n\nThen he began checking off on his fingers like this: \u201cA dressing-gown\nfor father, a shawl for mother, a new gown for the little wife, goodies\nfor the children, a box of paints for Pepin, and the dinner.\u201d Then he\ngave a little sigh, and, putting his hands again in his pockets, walked\naway as fast as he came. Do you suppose that he bought all these things\nwith the five-dollar gold-piece? Nutcracker could not see, of course,\nbut he thought not, for how could he?\n\nButtons lived upstairs, in a mean little house in a dirty street. His\nrooms were small, and they were crowded. There were old Mr. and Mrs.\nNutcracker, who never forgot that they had been king and queen, and\nthat Buttons\u2019 wife was a shoemaker\u2019s daughter, and never remembered\nthat Buttons had returned their cruelty with kindness, and I think were\nnot very nice people to live with. There was Pepin, who had been hurt,\npoor boy! in escaping from the palace, and who had never risen since\nfrom his bed. There was Buttons\u2019 pleasant-faced wife; there were three\nfat children; there was the holly-bush, which had grown into a great\ntree; and there was--Nutcracker did not know what--but something, he\nwas quite sure, for which he had been searching all his life.\n\nThe three fat children seized upon Buttons; one by each hand and one by\nhis coat-tails.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said Buttons, pretending to groan. \u201cI am so tired. Let the best\nchild look outside of the door and see what he finds.\u201d\n\nThe best child opened the door cautiously, half afraid, and set up\na shout. \u201cMa, come quick! here\u2019s a chicken, and cranberries, and a\npaper,--it\u2019s raisins!\u201d\n\n\u201cRaisins!\u201d screamed the other children.\n\n\u201cA chicken!\u201d cried old Mrs. Nutcracker.\n\n\u201cChristmas wreaths!\u201d exclaimed his wife, peeping out into the little\ndark hall. \u201cWhy, surely, you never----\u201d\n\n\u201cMade them? Yes, I did,\u201d said Buttons, his eyes dancing. \u201cIn the woods.\nThe cedars gave me boughs for nothing.\u201d\n\n\u201cChristmas wreaths!\u201d repeated Pepin from his bed. \u201cGive me one,\u201d and,\nseizing it in his thin fingers, \u201cAh! how nice it smells,--like the\nwoods!\u201d he said, laying his pale cheek on it. \u201cI wish I could see a\ntree once more.\u201d\n\nButtons jumped up and ran downstairs very fast, and they heard him\ncoming back dragging something after him, bump, bump! The something\nrustled and cracked and filled the room with a strong, spicy scent of\nthe woods. Buttons lifted it so that it stood just in front of Pepin\u2019s\nbed. It was a spruce-tree. Its thick, strong branches spread out wide.\nIts top brushed the ceiling. Birds had built nests in its branches,\nmosses had lived about its roots. It knew all the secrets of the woods\nand the sky and the rains, and it told you about them, as well as it\ncould, whenever you stirred its branches. The little wife hung the\nwreaths all about the room,--one on every nail, one over each window,\none over Pepin, one each on the backs of grandpa\u2019s and grandma\u2019s\nchairs. It was getting dark, and the firelight came out and danced\non the ceiling and on the white cover of the little table. Pepin lay\nlooking at the tree. The children chattered like little birds; even\nGrandpa and Grandma Nutcracker were smiling. The room was like a spicy\ncosy little nest. What was it, Nutcracker wondered more and more, here\nin these people\u2019s faces for which he had laboured all his life?\n\nSuddenly Pepin cried out, \u201cO, there is something here hanging on a\nbranch of the tree!\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it possible?\u201d answered Buttons. \u201cThen you had better take it down,\nPepin.\u201d\n\nPepin took it down. \u201cWhy, it is for me,\u201d he said, looking at the name\non the wrapper.\n\n\u201cThen you had better open it,\u201d answered Buttons in just the same tone\nas before.\n\nPepin untied the string, but his hands shook. \u201cIt is square,\u201d he said,\nfeeling it. He took off one wrapper. \u201cIt is hard,\u201d he said again,\ntrembling all over. He took off the second wrapper, and it nearly\ndropped from his fingers.\n\n\u201cA box of paints!\u201d screamed the children, dancing around.\n\nPepin tried to speak, but he could not get out a word. He kissed the\nbox, he laughed, but you could see he was near crying. The little\nwife\u2019s eyes were full of tears also.\n\n\u201cCome! come!\u201d said Buttons. \u201cDo people cry over Christmas gifts?\u201d\nThere were no tears in his eyes. He was ready to dance, though now he\nwould have no overcoat. As for Nutcracker, he had a curious tingling\nsensation all over him, though he was only a copper penny; and,\nhappening to look towards the hearth, he saw Santa Claus. The old\nfellow had tied up his reindeer and slipped down the chimney, and was\nwinking hard, and wiping his eyes, while pretending to blow his nose.\n\n\u201cI have it! I have got it, and know what it is!\u201d cried Nutcracker, at\nthe top of his lungs. \u201cThe Christmas spirit lives here all the year\nround, and these people love one another, and are happy. That is what I\nnever had at home--happiness; that is what my money could not buy. That\nis why I was every day trying to make more money--always hoping to make\nmoney enough to buy it.\u201d\n\nShould you not think that Buttons would have been very much frightened\nto hear such a voice coming out of his pocket? No doubt he would,\nonly, in some mysterious way, Nutcracker found himself on his legs\nagain, and he was walking as fast as he could with a pocketful of\nmoney, to buy a monstrous turkey, and the best overcoat in the city,\nand boots and a hat to match, and a new gown, and a dressing-gown,\nand a shawl and a set of paints, and a great bouquet, and a basket of\ntoys, and candies--for whom? Why, for Buttons, and Grandpa and Grandma\nNutcracker, and the pleasant little wife, and Pepin, and the children,\nof course!\n\n\n\n\nTHE MAN OF SNOW\n\nHARRIET MYRTLE\n\n\nWhen I was a little girl we lived entirely in the country for several\nyears, and one winter there was a great fall of snow. The snow covered\nthe roof of the house, the roofs of the stable and cow shed, and the\nbranches of every tree were so thickly covered with the beautiful white\nsnow that sometimes in the morning, when I looked out of the window, I\ncould, at first, have fancied the trees were all apple and pear trees\nfull of blossoms. You may, therefore, believe that the snow lay very\ndeep in the fields.\n\nWe had three fields; one was adjoining our kitchen; and there was often\na cow, or horse, or pony allowed to walk in it when the grass was\ngood. This field sloped down into a second which was parted off by a\ngate; and then by a pathway along the side of a high hedge, we came\nto a stile, and on the other side of the stile was our largest field.\nNo cattle were allowed to enter this field, as the grass was kept for\nhay-making. Here, then, the deep snow lay all broad and white and\nsoft, without the marks of a single footstep all over the whole bright\nexpanse, where all was whiteness and silence.\n\nNow there lived in a pretty lane very near us an old parish clerk named\nDownes. He lived in his cottage with his little granddaughter, and a\nblackbird. He was a tall, thin old man with straight white hair. His\nname was Godfred, but we always called him Gaffer Downes.\n\nOne morning during this great snow time Mr. Gaffer Downes came to my\nfather and asked permission to make something curious in his large\nfield. He explained what it was and had leave given him directly, for\neverybody was fond of Gaffer Downes. He had been parish clerk in our\nvillage for nearly forty years.\n\nAway went Mr. Downes to get assistants for what he wished to do, and he\nsoon found two who were willing to help him. One was the coachman of\nSquire Turner\u2019s family, who were neighbors and friends of ours; and the\nother was the parish sexton. Gaffer brought his spade with him; and the\nthree went off together through the snow.\n\nThey took their way down into our great field, and there they each made\na great snow ball. Following the directions of Gaffer Downes, these\nsnow balls were rolled along until they collected more and more snow\nupon their sides all round, and, of course, began to get very large.\nEach man\u2019s snow ball was soon as large as his head. They went rolling\non, and soon each of the snow balls was as large as two heads; then as\nlarge as a cow\u2019s head; then as large as a very great cow\u2019s head; and\nthen each man was obliged to stop, as he could roll his snow ball along\nno more, it was so large and heavy. Mr. Downes then told the coachman\nand the sexton to leave their snow balls and come and help him to roll\nhis. So all three pushed away, and rolled it nearly all round the\ngreat field, by which time it was as large as the head of an elephant.\n\nThey stopped to rest and take breath. Mr. Downes now informed them that\nhe wished this large ball to be rolled to the middle of the field, and\nto remain there while they rolled the others to the same size, and\nthen brought them to the same spot. They were just beginning their\nwork again when they heard a loud, merry laugh at the other side of\nthe hedge, and whom should they see looking over and showing his white\nteeth and making a funny face at them but George Poole, the black\nfootman at Squire Turner\u2019s.\n\n\u201cAha!\u201d said George, \u201cAha, Massa Down, me see you! how you do, Massa\nGaffer Down? and how do you do? Is your pretty granddaughter at\nhome? and how you do, you blackbird, Massa Down? aha! very fond of\nblackybird; he just my colour. How you do, you cold finger, Massa\nGaffer Down--and Massa Sexton, and coachy man, too, with cold fingers,\nall so red, like scraped carrots?\u201d\n\n\u201cGeorge Poole,\u201d said Mr. Downes with a serious look, \u201cGeorge Poole, you\ninterrupt. Come and assist us, or return home to your fire in a quiet\nand proper manner, I beg of you.\u201d\n\n\u201cMe go home to proper fire,\u201d answered George, \u201cbut what you make there\nwith great snow ball, Massa Down?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not intend to let anyone know at present,\u201d answered Mr. Downes.\n\u201cGood day, George,\u201d and as he said this he made a sign to the coachman\nand sexton, and they continued their work of rolling.\n\n\u201cMe come and see him when him finished,\u201d said George. \u201cGood day, Massa\nDown,\u201d and as he said this the laughing black face of George Poole\ndisappeared from the top of the hedge.\n\nThis work of rolling continued all the morning, and, as they found they\nhad nothing else to do, they worked at it all the afternoon, also. By\nthis time they had made seven balls of snow, each as large as the head\nof an elephant, and had rolled them all into the very middle of the\nfield. But to do this they had been obliged to ask for the help of two\nmen from our house. This my father readily gave; indeed, I believe he\nhimself helped at the last rolling of each ball, as they were so very\nheavy and moved so slowly. Mr. Downes then took the spade and patted\nevery ball with the flat part of it, in order to make them even and\nhard, and so left them for the night.\n\nThe next morning while we were at breakfast Gaffer Downes passed by\nthe window, with a spade over his shoulder, followed by the sexton and\ncoachman each with a spade over his shoulder, and after them came the\nbeadle, the church bell ringer, and the young man who blew the bellows\nfor the organ.\n\nThey all followed Mr. Downes into the large field.\n\nUp we all jumped from the breakfast table and hurried on our things;\npapa, mamma and I, and Ellen Turner, who had heard of something that\nwas to be done in our field, and had come over to breakfast with us to\nsee. Away we all went, mamma carrying me where the snow was too deep,\nand papa carrying Ellen.\n\nWhen we came into the large field, there we saw them all busy indeed,\nworking under the directions of Gaffer Downes, who was not working\nhimself now, but standing still in the attitude of an artist, giving\norders to his pupils. They soon made a sort of flat bank of snow, about\na foot and a half high, and patted it down very hard with their spades.\nThe pupils, that is to say, the coachman and sexton and bell ringer\nand beadle, and the young man who blew the bellows for the organ, then\nrolled three of the great balls of snow up on this bank, close to one\nanother, so as to form a sort of circle, but leaving a hollow place in\nthe middle of the form of a triangle, which the beadle remarked was\nvery much the figure of the coachman\u2019s Sunday hat. Mr. Downes now came\nwith his spade, and made this three-cornered hollow larger, in fact,\nlarge enough for a man to stand in very easily. He then desired the\ncoachman and sexton to assist him with their spades in making the tops\nof these three balls quite flat. When this was done he directed them to\nmake three more of the balls flat at top and bottom; this also being\ndone, he called all his party together and told them to lift these\nthree balls, one at a time, and carefully place them upon the top of\nthose three that were already placed, as I have told you. So the pupils\ndid as they were directed and Mr. Downes made three notches, like\nsteps, in the side of two of the balls, and up them he slowly walked\nwith his spade, and again made the three-cornered hole in the middle of\nthe three top snow balls, as large as he had made it in those at the\nbottom. We all thought he was going to get into it, but he did not. He\nonly looked in. He now came down with a very important look, and went\nup to the one large ball of snow, which still lay there in its round\nshape. This he trimmed and patted all about into the form he wished,\nand then all the pupils were called to carry it and lift it by degrees\nand to place at the very top where it was intended to be made the head\nof the Man of Snow. It was a great job to get the head safely up, for\nit was very heavy. However, after much time and many narrow escapes of\nthe head, and all the pupils tumbling down together, they did manage to\nget it to the top, just over the hole which it covered up and its own\nweight kept it there safely.\n\nIt was now time to go to dinner. We all went but we finished as soon as\nwe could and returned to the large field. Gaffer Downes, the coachman,\nand sexton moved round and round with their spades, cutting and shoving\nor patting up the snow to make the figure of a man. And as there were\nseveral hollow places where you could look into the inside, they\nfilled them up with hard lumps of snow; all except one hole, which Mr.\nDownes said he wished left open to let the air in, though, on second\nthought, he said he would cover it over himself, and so he did, but\nvery lightly. They made a few trenches and ridges down the middle and\nat the sides of the Man, and this they called his legs and arms, at\nwhich we all laughed. Lastly, Mr. Downes went climbing up the sides\nwith his spade and went to work at the head. What he tried to do was\nto make a face to it, but it was very difficult. He cut out the nose\nand chin, very large and broad; but some unlucky cut just as he was\nfinishing made them fall off. He then asked the beadle to bring him\ntwo short sticks from the hedge; this being done, he stuck them into\nthe face and covered them over with handfuls of snow, which he pressed\nand patted into the shape of a nose and chin. But when he had finished\nthe weight of the snow made the sticks come out and down they fell.\nHe went on trying again and again, and we all looked on and hoped he\nwould succeed, though we laughed very much also for the nose fell off\nsix times and the chin four. At last, however, with a sudden thought,\nwhich could only have occurred to one who had quite a genius for making\na Man of Snow, Mr. Downes stuck the two short sticks in not pointing\ndownwards or straight out, but pointing rather upwards, so that the\nweight of the nose and chin were supported upon the face and they held\nfast. And a very strange face it was!\n\nTwo things were still to be done. Mr. Downes drew from his coat pocket\na couple of large round stones of a blue-grey color, and these he fixed\nin the face for eyes; and over the head, at each side, he stuck a\nnumber of small hedge twigs and a wreath from a thorny wild rose-tree,\nfor hair. If more snow should fall he assured us the hair would look\nquite beautiful. Down came Mr. Gaffer Downes, looking so seriously and\nmodestly upon the snow clumps on his shoes, while we all praised his\nwork and told him how much we liked his Man of Snow.\n\nIt was now evening. We all went back through the fields and when we\narrived at the house my papa sent out a quantity of hot ale, with sugar\nand toast in it, for the pupils, and we made Mr. Downes come in to tea\nwith us though he wanted to go home. He said his little granddaughter\nand the blackbird would think he was lost in the snow.\n\nThere did happen to be a slight fall of snow again in the night and we\nall went down to the large field next morning after breakfast to see\nwhat change it had made in the appearance of the great Man. And a fine\nchange, indeed, it had made. He looked much larger and rounder and\nwhiter and colder and seemed more \u201cat home\u201d in the great white field.\nAnd he had a wonderful head of hair!\n\nThe very same evening as we were all sitting round the fire, about an\nhour before supper time, Mr. Downes came to our house and sent in word\nthat he had something very important to say. Mamma said, \u201cPray tell Mr.\nDownes to come directly.\u201d In came Gaffer Downes, looking rather paler\nthan usual, and with his face looking longer than usual, and his white\nhair looking straighter than usual, and his chin sticking out with some\nfrost upon it. He remained standing in the middle of the room without\nsaying a word.\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter, Mr. Downes?\u201d asked papa.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d said Mr. Downes, without moving from the place where he stood,\n\u201csomething has happened!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat has happened?\u201d said papa, rising from his chair.\n\n\u201cAn event!\u201d said Mr. Downes.\n\n\u201cWhat event?\u201d said mamma, rising from her chair, \u201cand where has it\nhappened?\u201d\n\n\u201cIn the large field,\u201d answered Mr. Gaffer Downes. \u201cAn event has\nhappened to the Snow Man.\u201d\n\nAt this we all ran up to Gaffer Downes, exclaiming, \u201cWhat has happened\nto him, tell us at once.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Snow Man,\u201d said Mr. Downes in a low voice, \u201cThe Snow Man talks.\u201d\n\n\u201cTalks?\u201d cried we all.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said he, \u201cthe Man speaks. He was addressing the field in a long\nspeech when I passed on the other side of the hedge. It is a fine\nmoonlight night. You can all come and hear him yourselves.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat we will!\u201d exclaimed my papa. \u201cWe will all go directly.\u201d\n\nSo mamma called for bonnets and shawls and handkerchiefs and cloaks and\nmuffs, and tippets and gloves and fur boots and all sorts of things for\nthere were several young ladies staying on a visit with us. And outside\nthe door we found Squire Turner\u2019s coachman with the sexton and the\nbeadle and bell ringer and the young man who blew the bellows for the\norgan; in fact, all Gaffer Downes\u2019 pupils, waiting to go with us into\nthe large field.\n\nOff we all set, Mr. Downes leading the way. At the end of the first\nfield he made us all stop to listen. He asked us if any of us could\nhear the Man of Snow speaking. We all listened and at last said, \u201cNo!\u201d\nHe then told us to follow him slowly along the hedge of the second\nfield listening all the way. We heard nothing, and again Mr. Downes\nstopped us at the stile leading into the great field. Very attentively\nwe listened, but all was as silent as possible.\n\nMr. Downes now told us we had better wait a little and let him go\nfirst, and as soon as the Man of Snow spoke he would return and tell us\nto come softly. So over the stile got Mr. Downes and we soon lost sight\nof him as he went creeping round closely by the hedge. Well, we waited\nand waited but Mr. Downes did not return. We listened but we could hear\nnothing. Still we waited but at last papa got out of patience and said,\n\u201cWhat can have become of Mr. Downes?\u201d\n\n\u201cI hope,\u201d said mamma, \u201cnothing has happened to him.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am determined to go and see after him,\u201d said papa.\n\n\u201cLet us all go together,\u201d said mamma. \u201cLet us all go together, straight\nup towards the Man of Snow, and ask for Mr. Downes.\u201d\n\nIt was agreed upon and we all got over the stile and went crowding\ntogether along the field, nobody liking to go first, but all keeping\nclose, like sheep when they do not know what to do for the best.\n\nAt last we came near the great Man of Snow. Papa and the young man who\nblew the bellows for the organ stood in front, and next to them came\nthe sexton, and then mamma, with all us girls climbing close around\nher, wrapped up in our cloaks, with only our eyes and noses to be seen;\nand behind us stood the rest of the pupils--and behind all, at some\ndistance, stood the beadle. Well, there we all stood in silence, in the\ngreat, silent snow field, looking at the great silent Man of Snow with\nthe moon shining upon his head!\n\nThe young man who blew the bellows for the organ was the first who\nspoke; and he said in a very respectful voice, \u201cI ask your pardon, sir;\nbut could you be so kind as to tell us what has become of Mr. Downes?\u201d\n\nNo answer was returned. Everything was as silent as before.\n\nThe sexton next spoke; and in a very humble tone he said, \u201cMay it\nplease your Majesty! we have lost the clerk of the parish!\u201d\n\nAgain we all remained in the same suspense and silence. The moon now\nwent partly behind a cloud so that only a little pale light came across\none side of the head and shoulders of the Man of Snow. At last papa was\nobliged to speak, and he said, \u201cOh, Man of Snow, we came not to disturb\nthy tranquillity, but if thy gracious whiteness hath once already\nspoken to these fields, permit us also to hear thy silent voice!\u201d\n\nThere was again a pause and then, would you believe it?--you hardly\ncan--would you believe it, the Man of Snow answered! He did, indeed. In\na very slow and solemn voice he said, \u201cPeace be upon ye all--and the\nsilent thoughtfulness of these white fields.\u201d\n\nYou may suppose how fearful and astonished and quiet we all stood at\nhearing these words. Presently, however, my papa took courage, and\nagain addressed the Man of Snow.\n\n\u201cWho art thou--and whence comest thou, oh, most serene Highness of the\nfrost?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am a spirit of Winter!\u201d answered the Man of Snow, in the same solemn\ntone. \u201cOnce in Lapland I was one of the most renowned giants. There my\nimage is built up with white stone, and because this likeness of me has\nbeen made, therefore, on the wings of the wind hath my spirit crossed\nthe bleak seas to dwell for a little time in this body of snow. But now\ndepart! I would be alone!--retire! To-morrow, at moon-rise, ye may come\nagain.\u201d\n\nWe did not dare to disobey this command to depart, you may be sure; so\nwe all went homewards, too full of thoughts to speak.\n\nJust as we had reached the stile one of the young ladies cried out,\n\u201cOh, what\u2019s that under the hedge!\u201d We all looked, and there we saw\nthe head of a man rising out of the dry ditch by the side of the\nhedge! Who do you think it was? It was the poor beadle. He had been so\nfrightened when the Man of Snow spoke that he had run back, but, being\nunable to get over the stile, in his confusion, he got into the dry\nditch and sat there upon the dead leaves and snow, with his chin just\nlevel with the top of the bank. However, the pupils soon lifted him\nout and comforted him and took him home. They also went to the cottage\nof Gaffer Downes to know if he had returned safely. But he had not\nreturned.\n\nBefore we went to supper, however, we sent to the cottage, as we were\ngetting very anxious; and his granddaughter answered from the window\nthat her dear grandfather had returned and had a basin of warm broth\nand was now in bed.\n\nWe could hardly eat our supper, any of us, for talking of the Man of\nSnow and what he had said about having been once upon a time a Lapland\ngiant! For my part I could not sleep for thinking of it, and all the\nyoung ladies said the same thing the next morning at breakfast.\n\nYou may be sure we were all very anxious for the evening to come when\nwe were again to go and hear what the Man of Snow had to say. He told\nus, you recollect, to come again at moon-rise; and the moon, papa\nsaid, would rise about seven o\u2019clock.\n\nWe had a dinner party at our house and nearly all the time we talked\nof little else except the Man of Snow or rather what he had done when\nhe was a giant in Lapland; and we thought that, perhaps, he might tell\nus the history of his life. We determined every one of us to go all\ntogether down to the great field when the moon rose.\n\nAs the time approached we became so anxious that we got ready too soon,\nand then, as we were all ready, we thought we might just as well go and\nwait there till the white giant chose to speak. So off we all set, and\nwent very merrily, and yet not without some little fears, down toward\nthe large field.\n\nBut when we had all got over the stile who should come running after\nus but Mr. Downes. He was quite out of breath, but as soon as he could\nspeak he said, \u201cIndeed, you are too soon. It\u2019s too soon by half an\nhour. You had much better get over the stile again and go into the\nother field a little while.\u201d\n\nNow this made some of us laugh, for, do you know, we now began to\nsuspect that it was Mr. Downes himself who had spoken for the Man of\nSnow.\n\nWe thought perhaps he had got behind somewhere, or perhaps into the\nside of the great figure and thus spoken for him. But now, as we had\ncome too soon he had no time to get ready. We were sorry for poor\nGaffer Downes, yet still we could not help laughing at the scrape he\nwas in. He went on assuring us the Man of Snow would not speak at all\nas we had come before the time he ordered. But this made us laugh the\nmore, as we were now almost sure how it had been continued. Meantime,\nwe had slowly advanced toward the Man of Snow, poor Mr. Downes telling\nus all the time that the Man would be sure not to utter a word as we\nhad disobeyed his directions.\n\n\u201cBut see,\u201d said papa, \u201cthe moon is now rising!\u201d\n\n\u201cAha! \u2019tis no matter now,\u201d answered Mr. Downes in a melancholy tone.\n\u201cThe Man of Snow will not speak a single word.\u201d Mr. Downes had scarcely\nsaid this when a voice from the Man of Snow called out in a loud tone:\n\n\u201cHow you do, Massa Down--how you lilly granddaughter do--and how you do\nyou black bird, Massa Gaffer Downes?\u201d\n\nAll burst into laughter except Mr. Downes, who walked backwards and\nforwards once or twice saying, \u201cDear me, how very vexatious!\u201d\n\nPapa and mamma now both went up to Mr. Downes and told him they saw how\nvexed he was at the change that had somehow or other taken place in\nthe voice of the Man of Snow, because the spirit of the Lapland Giant\nhad certainly flown away and quite a different one had gotten into its\nplace. However, they begged him not to take it to heart, but to go and\nspeak to the Man of Snow, and ask him to explain a little.\n\nMr. Downes thought for a minute, and then seeming to make up his mind\nto it, walked a few paces nearer to the Man of Snow, and this curious\ndialogue took place between them.\n\nMr. Downes: \u201cWho art thou, oh, rude, familiar voice, who has usurped\nthe place of the frosty Spirit of last night?\u201d\n\nMan of Snow: \u201cMe the King of Lapland! speaky more respectful to him\nSnow-ball Majesty, Massa Down!\u201d\n\nMr. Downes: \u201cNo Majesty of Snow hast thou, nor art thou Lapland\u2019s king,\nnor ever wert, nor shalt be.\u201d\n\nMan of Snow: \u201cWhy you say so you Massa Gaffer man! Me come from own\ncountry Lapland late last night after supper.\u201d\n\nMr. Downes: \u201cWhat, then, for supper did the king of Lapland eat?\u201d\n\nMan of Snow: \u201cBerry good supper to be sure--great supper in great big\npalace surrounded with orange trees and plantain and banana tree. Me\nhave curried chicken plenty and hot rice with treacle, and a pineapple,\nand watermelon from own garden close by; and then me have chocolate,\nberry sweet. What you t\u2019ink now, Massa Downes?\u201d\n\nMr. Downes: \u201cI think the King of Lapland dreams.\u201d\n\nMan of Snow: \u201cWhat he dream of then?\u201d\n\nMr. Downes: \u201cHe dreams that he had supper in some West Indian\nisle; for in Lapland no oranges, no pinies, no watermelons grow, no\nplantains, no banana.\u201d\n\nMan of Snow: \u201cMe never say they did grow there.\u201d\n\nWhen the Man of Snow said this we all of us together cried out, \u201cOh!\nOh!\u201d meaning what a story he was telling.\n\nMan of Snow: \u201cMe never mean to say so. Me have great big hothouse, all\nglass, where fruit grow; and other t\u2019ing me have brought over in fine\nlarge ship. Me very rich king; hab everything me wish.\u201d\n\nMr. Downes: \u201cRich, dost thou say, in money or in land?\u201d\n\nMan of Snow: \u201cIn money, to be sure. Me have large chest full of\ngold--Lapland gold and guineas, too--my friend and brother, the King\nof England, send me; and me have plenty land, too. Large fields of\nrice--no, not rice; rice not grow in Lapland--me know dat very well. Me\nmean to say, large plantation of sugar cane.\u201d\n\nMr. Downes: \u201cNor doth the sugar cane in Lapland grow.\u201d\n\nMan of Snow: \u201cMe know that very well--me just going to say so. But\nme try to make him grow; me try to bring new tings into my country;\nme try to get horses and oxen, and sheep, and deer, and dogs, and\nmany bullfrogs, and rattlesnakes. Me want to change scorpions and\nmosquitoes into butterflies and lady-birds. Me want to have all manner\nof fine house for fine birds--parrots and macaws, with green wings and\nscarlet tails and blue breasts, and topknots; and peacocks and birds\nof paradise and a great pond of gold and silver fishes. And me mean to\nbuild great big bamboo house for all these, twice as high as my head.\u201d\n\nAs the Man of Snow said this, we all saw his head shake a little, as if\nhe was in a great fuss with what he was thinking about doing; and we\neven thought we saw the upper part of the figure shake a little, and\nsome pieces of snow began to crumble and fall. But he went on speaking\nagain.\n\nMan of Snow: \u201cAnd me mean to have elephants and rhinoceroses and\napes with long arms and blue noses. And me mean to build a house for\nelephants very large and very strong; so that when we catch wild\nelephant, he no can get out. He try, and try--but he can\u2019t.\u201d\n\nHere we all saw the Man of Snow shake again.\n\nMan of Snow: \u201cMakey house all sides very strong bamboo. See him\nangry-trunk poke through the bars of cage--but all too fast and strong.\nHe no can get out. Then he make trumpet noise with trunk, and him lilly\ncunning eye look so very angry; and then he run him head right against\nthe front of cage to try and push him down! but it is all too strong,\nand he can\u2019t--yet he push! and push!--and trumpet with trunk--and push!\nand, oh, Massa Down!\u201d\n\nAs the Man of Snow uttered these words off rolled his head and broke\ninto twenty pieces!--and the next instant the whole figure cracked,\nand opened in the middle and fell to pieces--and out rolled George\nPoole upon the snow, crying out: \u201cOh, Massa Down, why you no build him\nstronger?\u201d\n\nYou may suppose how we all laughed. One of the young ladies almost went\ninto a fit of laughing and most of us laughed till we had a pain at\nboth sides of the face, and yet we were unable to stop.\n\nEven Mr. Downes laughed; not at first, though; at first he made a very\nlong face, then he began, \u201cte! he! he!\u201d--and \u201che! he! he!\u201d till at last\nhe went into \u201cha! ha! ha! Oh, dear me!\u201d--and was obliged to sit down\nupon the snow and wipe his forehead to recover himself.\n\nWe all returned to the house very merrily laughing all the way. We\nbrought the King of Lapland with us, for George had always been a\nfavourite in the village. So we told the cook to give his Majesty a\nlarge basin of rice, milk, and sugar, and mamma sent him afterwards a\nlarge slice of plum cake, and a tumbler with some sugar and lemons.\nPapa requested Mr. Downes to come in to supper with us, but he said\nthat he really must go home, as his granddaughter and the blackbird\nwould think something had happened to him. Papa, however, would take no\ndenial, so we made Mr. Downes come in, and then we sent a man for his\ngranddaughter with a message that she was to bring the blackbird with\nher.\n\nSo, in a few minutes afterwards, in came a pretty little girl of ten\nyears of age, with blue eyes and flaxen hair, and a complexion like\na rose, bringing in her hand a large milk-white wicker cage with the\nblackbird sitting in the middle. He was as black as coal with a yellow\nbill, and oh! such a bright, black eye. He sat on his perch with his\nhead bent on one side a little, then he jumped down to the bottom\nof the cage, and, poking his head between the bars, gave a look all\nround. He then hopped back into the middle of the cage, bowed very low\nand very quickly several times, and then hopped upon his perch with\nhis tail toward us, but instantly whisked round, as if he was afraid\nsomebody was going to touch his tail. Then he began to sing. He sang\nnearly all supper time, and flapped his black wings while we all stood\nup and drank the health of Mr. Gaffer Downes, the artist who had made\nthe Man of Snow.\n\n\n\n\nBUTTERWOPS\n\nEDWARD ABBOTT PARRY\n\n[Used by permission of the author.]\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a black beetle named Butterwops. He was very\nold, very wise, and had seen a great deal of the world. He had lived\nin a number of different houses, and was said to know more about the\nvarious qualities of sugar than a blue-bottle, and to understand the\nways of men better than a cricket. Therefore, it is not to be wondered\nat that he became the leader of a small army of beetles, who called\nhim \u201cThe General.\u201d He had a thick hoarse laugh, and could tell many\ntales, both fierce and merry, of battles he had fought against earwigs,\ncockroaches, and caterpillars. But for some time his laugh had not\nbeen heard, and he had been sad and melancholy, for his army were dying\nby the thousands, and if things went on in the way they were going,\nthere would soon be not a single beetle left to listen to the tales of\n\u201cThe General.\u201d\n\nThe kitchen he lived in had plenty to eat in it, and was warm and\ncomfortable, with lots of cracks in the walls and ceiling to live\nin during the day; but lately the master of the house had taken to\nspreading yellow powder over the floor and the young beetles would\neat it, and it disagreed with them and they died. This yellow powder,\nso Butterwops told me, smelled deliciously of sugar and cheese and\nall the young beetles, being greedy, ate it up wherever they could\nfind it. What happened to them after they tasted it was this: as soon\nas they had three mouthfuls, they felt a bad pain underneath their\nshell, turned over on their backs, kicked a little and died, and in\nthe morning the cook swept them up and threw them into the garden.\nNo wonder that Butterwops felt sad. He himself never tasted anything\nunless he had seen another beetle try it first and had watched him\nwalk about for quite five minutes. That is how he came to live to be\nold and became general; but he told nobody about that, keeping it a\nsecret.\n\nButterwops had a great-grandson called little Jimmy. He was very lively\nand adventurous, and was always trotting across the floor in the\ndaytime to frighten the cook; so it is a wonder he had lived as long as\nhe had. He did not eat the yellow powder, for he was an obedient little\nbeetle, and always did what Butterwops told him to do. As he ran about\nso much in the daytime he was generally the first to hear the news, and\none day, about this time, he came to Butterwops and told him that the\nhouse on the other side of the street was rented, and he had seen some\npeople moving into it while he was sitting on the window-sill in the\ngloaming on Thursday evening, which was the cook\u2019s night out.\n\n\u201cFancy that!\u201d said Butterwops. \u201cWhy I used to live in that house when\nI was a tiny little beetle just your size. It\u2019s a grand old house.\nNot a skirting board within half an inch of the floor, cracks in all\nthe walls and holes in the plaster. I wonder what sort of people are\nliving in it.\u201d\n\n\u201cNewly married people,\u201d said little Jimmy, \u201cwhatever that may mean. I\nheard the cook say so, and the policeman told her about it.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said Butterwops, rubbing his hind legs together thoughtfully;\n\u201cnewly married people. They will do for us. They will have lots of\nsugar and leave it about, and then they will get some children to live\nwith them, and the children won\u2019t eat fat and will make crumbs all over\nthe floors; there will be lots to eat. We shall move.\u201d\n\nThat night \u201cThe General\u201d called all the beetles round him after the\ncook had rolled the rug up and had gone to bed, and, sitting on the\nheel of one of the master\u2019s boots which were drying on the fender,\nexplained to all the beetles that they must move across the road.\n\u201cFor,\u201d said he, \u201cthere is a newly married couple over the way. Now this\nkind of human being eats little else than sugar, and knows nothing of\nthe ways of the world or the habits of the beetle. Their hearts are\nfull of kindliness, and believing others to be as good as they are,\nthey leave the best food in the easiest places. So happy are they\ntogether, that they would not interfere with the happiness of others,\neven though they are black and wear shells. With them we may live for\nmany years in health and comfort, whereas, here we die by tens and\ntwenties every night. Arise, therefore, and follow me carefully and\nquickly. But when you are on the pavements in the road listen carefully\nfor the tread of the policeman. If he comes among us while we are on\nthe pavements he will kill many of us, for policemen have bigger feet\nthan any other kind of men; only, luckily, they wear squeaky boots\nso that they may be heard coming a long way off. Now follow me and\nremember what I have said.\u201d\n\nSo speaking he crawled off the boot, down across the floor, under the\nscullery door, along the garden walk, across the pavements, in at the\nopposite gateway, round to the back door of the other house; and in\nhalf an hour Butterwops, little Jimmy, and two hundred and forty-nine\nof the beetles were safe in their new house, having crossed the road\nwith the loss of only three beetles. Two tumbled down a drain, and a\nthird lost his way in trying to make a short cut across a flower bed.\n\nThey all set to work to get comfortable in their new quarters, and\nButterwops, who liked to be near the fire, found a crack in the wall on\ntop of the oven where they dried the wood. From this place of safety,\nhe could come out and walk about among the warm wood and enjoy the\nheat, and yet run away on the first alarm.\n\n\u201cThis is capital,\u201d he said, as he sat warming himself and watching\ntwenty-five beetles climbing into the sugar basin at once; \u201cthis is\npeace and quiet, and here we shall be very happy.\u201d\n\nAs for the master of the old house they had lived in, he was very happy\ntoo, and wrote and told the man from whom he had bought the yellow\npowder: \u201cYour powder has killed all the beetles in my house.\u201d And the\nman who sold the powder printed that in all the newspapers, and other\npeople bought it; but it did not kill all their beetles, and that made\nthem angry. Now if they read this story they will know how it really\nhappened.\n\nAlthough, as I have said, the house itself was very old, and suitable\nfor beetles in every respect, yet all the things in the house were\nnew, and perhaps the newest thing of all was the young servant, who\nseemed rather jealous of the other new things and often broke them. At\npresent they had no cat, and as there was no one else to blame, the new\nmistress scolded the new servant, and then they both cried; especially\nif it happened, as it often did, that what was broken was a wedding\npresent. However, the mistress was far too happy to be angry for long,\nand too proud of all the beautiful pots and pans in the kitchen, which\nshe loved better than any of the lovely furniture in the drawing-room,\nto keep away from them for many hours. Besides, the young servant\ndid not know much about anything, and the mistress used to help her\nto cook, and especially to get the master\u2019s tea ready when he came\nhome. Indeed, in spite of the breakages, they were all very happy. The\nmistress used to go about the house singing brightly and cheerfully;\nwhile the young servant had four lumps of sugar in her tea and a\nlarge slice of cake with it every night, so that she was quite happy,\nalthough singing was out of the question. As for the master, you had\nonly to see him running up the house steps to see how glad he was to\nget home again after his day\u2019s work.\n\nAnd dear old Butterwops! Why, it did his kind heart good to see so much\nhappiness. The food was left about in easy places, and the larder door\nwas always wide open so that you did not have to scrape your shell\ngetting underneath it. It was a grand place for beetles, and Butterwops\ntold them that if they kept quiet during the day and came out only at\nnight, things would go well with them. Indeed, I have no doubt it would\nhave been as he said, if they had only obeyed his instructions; but\nbeetles, like children, sometimes forget to do what they are told.\n\nLittle Jimmy, for instance, was never happy unless he was frightening\nwomenkind, and one afternoon three or four days after they had arrived,\nwhen the mistress and her servant were getting tea ready, he scuttled\nacross the room, helter-skelter, right under their eyes. The girl\nsaw him first and threw the toasting fork on to the best tea-things,\nbreaking two cups and saucers with it; she bounded on to a chair,\npulled her skirts tight round her legs and screamed out, \u201cBeetles!\nBlack ones.\u201d\n\nIn a moment the mistress dropped the kettle, which nearly crushed\nlittle Jimmy, and jumped on to the table herself, screaming louder than\nthe servant. Little Jimmy could hardly get under the skirting board, he\nwas laughing so, and old Butterwops, looking out cautiously from the\nwood pile grunted to himself, \u201cLittle Jimmy again,\u201d for he knew who\nmust have done it as soon as he heard the women screaming.\n\nHow long the two ladies might have stayed there screaming before they\nwould have dared to step down on to the floor again I do not know, but\nthe master of the house came in just then, and hearing the cause of the\ntrouble laughed aloud and said. \u201cIf there are beetles, I will get a\nbeetle trap.\u201d And he did so.\n\nThat night he brought one into the kitchen, and before they went to\nbed he and his wife mixed up a dose of treacle and sugar and put it in\nthe trap and left the trap on the floor. Butterwops was looking on all\nthe time from out of the wood pile, and he laughed all down the back\nof his shell at them. He had seen that kind of beetle trap before. It\nwas a box of wood, with sloping sides to walk up and a sort of inkstand\nin the middle, leading to the sugar and treacle. When you walk up the\nsides, you smelled the mixture and if you went to the edge of the glass\ninkstand, you stepped in and got drowned. There was no getting out of\nit.\n\nThat night Butterwops was very anxious about the other beetles, for he\nknew what duffers they were, so he got down right away and sat on the\nedge of the trap and told them all about it. As the master of the house\nhad been foolish enough to leave the sugar and treacle on the table,\nno one bothered about the trap. They had a merry feast, only spoilt by\none giddy young beetle tumbling head first into the treacle pot, and\nthere the master found him when he came down to light the fire. When he\nfound nothing in the trap, and the dead beetle in the treacle pot on\nthe table, he seemed very angry and threw both treacle and trap out of\nthe scullery window, across the garden into the ashpit.\n\n\u201cTo-night,\u201d he said, \u201cwe will have a hedge-hog!\u201d\n\nButterwops, who had stuck his head out of his crack to see what was\ngoing on, drew it back quickly and shuddered at this, for he knew what\nhedge-hogs were. His grandfather had been eaten by one in a garden\nclose to the house, and he had heard they were terrible fellows for\ncatching beetles, as indeed they are.\n\nSure enough, that night the master brought home a hedge-hog, a little\nprickly round ball in a basket. He unrolled himself by the fire and had\na cup of milk.\n\n\u201cLet us call him Curlywig,\u201d said the mistress, as she poured out the\nmilk; \u201che is such a little darling. See him drink.\u201d\n\nSo they called him Curlywig; but he paid no attention to them, and\ncurled up on the rug and went to sleep.\n\nThat night Butterwops did not come down from the fireplace, but looked\nout from the wood pile in great trouble. When all his army of beetles\nwere creeping and crawling over the floor, picking up food and having\na rare good time, he kept shouting out from the edge of a log: \u201cDo go\nhome! Do go in! There\u2019s a hedge-hog in the corner.\u201d\n\nBut some of the beetles went close to Curlywig to look at him, and came\nback and said to Butterwops: \u201cNonsense, it\u2019s only a mop-head. You are\ngrowing old and nervous, General. Go to bed and let us eat in peace.\u201d\n\nAlmost as soon as they had spoken, Curlywig unrolled himself, and\ndarting here and there and everywhere, went round the room cracking up\nbeetles furiously while poor old Butterwops sat wringing his feelers\nand crying out from the wood pile: \u201cI told you so! I told you so!\u201d\n\nFrom that time onwards, there was no peace for beetles. If one put his\nhead up above a crack in the floor, Curlywig was on to him and he was\nsnapped up. In three days, one hundred and four beetles had been eaten,\nand the rest were all starving. Butterwops himself had not tasted bite\nor sup all the time, and you could hear little Jimmy crying behind the\nskirting board that he had nothing to eat and was very hungry.\n\nHow long this might have gone on no one can say, but at last Butterwops\nhit on a bright idea, and the next night as soon as the people of the\nhouse were in bed, he came to the edge of the wood pile and said to the\nhedge-hog: \u201cMr. Curlywig, sir!\u201d\n\nCurlywig looked up, and seeing a beetle, snapped his jaws at him but\nsaid nothing.\n\n\u201cMr. Curlywig, sir, can you explain to me why you are here?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo eat beetles, I suppose. What better job can you have? I\u2019d eat you\nif you would come down, though you look rather old and tough, and there\nare lots of young ones left yet.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, but I sha\u2019n\u2019t come down, thank you,\u201d said Butterwops, smiling\nblandly. \u201cI suppose,\u201d he continued, as if he was merely thinking it\nout, \u201cyou don\u2019t know what it is like to be eaten, do you?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot I,\u201d said Curlywig, \u201cHow should I?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, of course not,\u201d said Butterwops. \u201cPoor little fellow, how should\nhe! It seems a cruel shame to bring him here for that. Poor little\nfellow!\u201d\n\n\u201cWho is a poor little fellow?\u201d asked Curlywig, rather angrily.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what the mistress said, while you were asleep,\u201d said\nButterwops, innocently, \u201cas she was making the pie-crust. She said,\n\u2018Poor little fellow, I hope they won\u2019t hurt him skinning him!\u2019\u201d\n\nCurlywig shivered in every prickle. \u201cWho is to be skinned?\u201d he snapped\nout, looking round nervously.\n\n\u201cThe cookery book was open at Hedge-hog Tart,\u201d went on Butterwops,\nquite coolly, as though he was talking about the weather, \u201cand the\nservant said at the rate you were eating beetles she thought you would\nbe fat enough by to-morrow.\u201d\n\n\u201cDear me! dear me!\u201d said Curlywig; \u201cwhat wicked things these men are.\nI remember now when the master of the house bought me, he said: \u2018Lean\nlittle beggar this, but he\u2019ll soon fatten up at our house for we are\nfull of black beetles,\u2019 What wretches they are! What shall I do?\u201d\n\n\u201cAs far as I can learn,\u201d continued Butterwops, \u201cit is done like this.\nYou take a young hedge-hog, the fatter the better, first remove the\nprickles and skin quickly----\u201d\n\n\u201cDo be quiet,\u201d groaned Curlywig, rolling himself up into a ball. \u201cWhat\nshall I do? What shall I do?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is to say,\u201d said Butterwops, \u201cthat is how it is done if they\ndecide on tart. If it\u2019s to be curry you won\u2019t be skinned, only then you\nwill catch it hotter in the saucepan.\u201d\n\n\u201cShut up!\u201d shouted Curlywig, running round the kitchen table in\ndespair. \u201cOh my poor prickles! What shall I do?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, if I were you,\u201d continued the General, calmly, \u201cI do not think\nI should stay on, but do not go on my account. You might squeeze under\nthe scullery door if you wanted to, or you may stay and be eaten and I\nhave no doubt you will look as handsome in a tart as you do out of it.\nBut after all, handsome is as handsome does, and the real question is\nwhat will you taste like. Now you will never know, but I shall hear all\nabout it. Yes,\u201d chuckled Buttercups, \u201cI shall hear all about it.\u201d\n\nCurlywig was now galloping round the room mad with terror, shouting\nout: \u201cOh, my poor prickles! Oh, my poor prickles!\u201d\n\nButterwops continued slowly as though he was addressing a dear friend.\n\u201cI am really very sorry for you, but don\u2019t worry so much. They are\ngoing to put some steak and kidney in the pie, so you will have\ncompany; and I dare say being baked is not bad, though I fear you won\u2019t\nlike the skinning, especially this chilly weather. But it will soon be\nover, and once inside the oven you will be warm again in a jiffy.\u201d\n\nCurlywig did not hear all this. He had heard enough. The foolish\nfellow believed every word Butterwops said to him, and when he came\nto the word skinning, Curlywig uttered a wild shriek and away he fled\nunderneath the scullery door, across the garden, out into the fields\nbeyond the church, where he hid in a dry ditch for three days, and\ndared not move out for fear the people of the house were hunting him.\n\nThen the beetles had peace and grew up with the children who came to\nstay at that house, and cleaned up the floors, and kept out of sight as\nmuch as might be. Even little Jimmy grew wiser and gave up frightening\nthe mistress. No one ever heard of Curlywig any more. And everyone in\nthat house, from the master of it down to little Jimmy, lived happily\never afterwards.\n\nThis much more there is to tell: that if you can make friends with a\nblack beetle you should get him to tell you stories of Butterwops. And\nthis any good beetle will do willingly, for there never has been such\na General as he was before or since. But of all the many tales of his\nvalour and wisdom, there is none they love to tell better than the\nstory of how he outwitted Curlywig the Hedge-hog. \u201cThat,\u201d as little\nJimmy said at a dinner given by all the beetles to their General to\ncelebrate Curlywig\u2019s flight, \u201cis a story fit to be written in letters\nof Treacle on the Skirting Boards of Time.\u201d (Adapted.)\n\n\n\n\nFINIKIN AND HIS GOLDEN PIPPINS\n\nMADAME DE CHATELAINE\n\n\nIn a quiet little village surrounded by woods, there once lived a poor\ncouple who owned nothing in the world but their cottage which sheltered\nthem and a bit of ground where a few vegetables grew. They were blessed\nwith two pretty little twin boys, much alike in face, though very\ndifferent in character. One was a tidy, diligent, active little fellow,\nwhom, on account of his delicate beauty, his mother used to call\nFinikin. The other was an idle, careless child, who always loitered if\nsent on an errand, and grumbled when asked to do any kind of work. This\none the mother called Winikin.\n\nThe father earned a little money by going out to work as a day\nlabourer. As long as he remained hale and hearty, he managed to\nprovide for the wants of his family. But one summer he fell ill, and\nas they were too poor to buy good food and medicine he grew worse and\nworse, till at length his recovery seemed almost hopeless.\n\nOne day the patient wife thought of a good old hermit who lived in the\nneighboring forest, and who often gave advice to the poor cottagers. He\nhad cured many a one with medicine made from plants and other homely\nremedies. She, therefore, called her boys and bade them go and ask the\nhermit what could be done for their sick father.\n\n\u201cThe good man may send you to gather healing plants,\u201d she said,\n\u201csuch as he often points out to the villagers. Be sure to follow his\ndirections carefully and above all, do not loiter on the way.\u201d She\ndivided a rye-cake between them, to eat by the way, and off started the\ntwo boys for the forest. No sooner had they reached it than they saw\nfrom afar an old huntsman smoking his pipe under a tree.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d cried Winikin, forgetting his mother\u2019s caution, \u201cthere is old\nRoger! Let\u2019s go to him instead of to the hermit. He always tells us\nsuch pleasant stories.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut father is very sick and mother told us not to loiter on the way,\u201d\nsaid Finikin.\n\n\u201cSurely,\u201d said Winikin, \u201cRoger\u2019s advice will be as good as the\nhermit\u2019s. I shall not go any farther.\u201d\n\nSo Finikin trudged on alone to the good old man\u2019s cell where he found\nhim making medicine from herbs he had gathered in the forest.\n\n\u201cGood hermit,\u201d said Finikin eagerly, \u201cwill you not give me some of your\nmedicine for my sick father?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will, indeed,\u201d said the old man. \u201cBut my child there is something\nmore than these herbs needed to cure your father; and it must be\nfetched from a long distance.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will go anywhere for it,\u201d declared Finikin, quickly.\n\n\u201cThen my son,\u201d replied the hermit, \u201cyou must go to a garden five or\nsix miles off. None but little children like yourself can enter;\ntherefore, it would be of no use if I or any other grown person\nattempted to go with you. This garden is situated on top of a cluster\nof high rocks. Should you have the perseverance to reach it, you will\nfind it full of trees, bearing all kinds of fruit which several little\nboys always keep gathering. You must ask them to give you some golden\npippins for your father. If they consent all will be well; but if they\ntry to keep you to play with them, you must not stay, for the hours\nwould pass so quickly, that your father might die before you returned.\u201d\n\nFinikin listened very carefully. \u201cPlease tell me the way to this\nwonderful garden,\u201d he said.\n\nThe hermit opened the door at the back of his cell, which led to a\nsmall piece of ground where he grew his vegetables. He showed Finikin\na kind of tunnel hollowed out in a grotto through which he could see\na distant view of green meadows and blue mountains, and told him that\nway would lead him in the right direction. He then described carefully\nall the objects the lad was to pass on the road, and told him above all\nthings neither to idle as he went along nor listen to anyone who should\noffer to show him a shorter way. Finikin promised he would not, and\nthanking the hermit, lost no time in starting off to find the wonderful\ngarden where the golden pippins grew.\n\nWinikin, meanwhile, after losing at least half an hour talking to the\nold huntsman, and playing with his dog, suddenly thought how heartless\nhe had been, and asked Roger to tell what he had better do to help his\nfather to get well.\n\n\u201cDo not stand idling here, youngster, for one thing,\u201d said Roger; \u201cand\nnext go and ask advice of the hermit, who knows better than anyone else\nwhat can be done to save your father!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! but my brother has gone there, so it is of no use for me to go\ntoo,\u201d said Winikin; \u201cand he is too far for me to catch him, so please\ntell me something else I can do instead!\u201d\n\nThe huntsman thought awhile, and at last said: \u201cI have heard of a\nwonderful garden some three miles east of the forest, where all kinds\nof fruits made of precious stones grow all the year round. The currants\nare rubies, the apples are topazes, and the plums are amethysts or\nsapphires. If you are able to reach this garden and gather a basketful\nof cherries you might enrich yourself and family for life; and then\nyour father might have the best doctors. He would want for nothing and\nmight soon get well.\u201d\n\nWinikin was delighted at the idea of such a garden, and asked Roger to\nshow him the way to it.\n\nThe old huntsman then took him to a kind of grotto that was so\ncompletely hidden by brushwood that the little boy had never seen it\nbefore though he had often crossed that part of the forest. When the\ntwigs that choked up the entry had been put aside he saw a hollow\npassage and a view of distant meadows and hills. Then Roger carefully\ndescribed all the objects the lad was to pass on the road, so that he\ncould not miss the way. Also, he bade him not to loiter on the way for\nfear he should not be back by nightfall.\n\nWinikin now entered the grotto but kept stopping every minute to admire\nits pretty sparkling walls, which glistened like diamonds and rubies as\na sunbeam shone through the narrow opening. At last, however, he came\nout into the open meadows, in a part of a country which he had never\nseen before. Here he met a beautiful little boy with golden locks and\ncheeks as blooming as a ripe peach. He was carrying a couple of hoops\non his arm.\n\n\u201cWill you come and play with me?\u201d asked the little stranger whose name\nwas Goldlocks.\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d said Winikin slowly, thinking of the huntsman\u2019s advice not to\nloiter on the way, \u201cI should like that very much, but I\u2019m going to a\nbeautiful garden beyond the hills and I\u2019m afraid of being too late.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, don\u2019t fear that,\u201d said the little boy, \u201cfor we will trundle our\nhoops that way. You will get on much faster with a hoop than without\none. Come!\u201d\n\nThe lad offered Winikin one of the hoops which were made of finely\nworked silver. Also, there was a small ivory stick to trundle it with.\n\nWinikin could not resist. He took a beautiful hoop and stick from\nGoldlocks who said:\n\n\u201cOnce, twice, thrice, away!\u201d and off they went like the wind.\n\nWinikin thought to reach the hills in about five minutes, but at a turn\nin the road little Goldlocks kept trundling on his hoop faster than\nbefore.\n\nWinikin suspected they were not taking the shortest road to the hills,\nbut fearing Goldlocks would win the game he sped after him as fast as\nhe could.\n\nAt length Winikin stopped and was panting for breath. Goldlocks laughed\nand stopped, too, saying, \u201cThere\u2019s enough of hoop-trundling!\u201d and he\nflung them over a hedge into a neighbouring field. \u201cNow we\u2019ll stop and\nrest and play at marbles.\u201d\n\nThen he drew from his pocket some pearls as large and round as other\nchildren\u2019s marbles and Winikin, who dearly loved this game, could not\nresist playing.\n\n\u201cI have come along so fast,\u201d he said to himself, \u201cthat no time will be\nlost.\u201d\n\nIt was now high noon and the sun had grown so hot that Winikin felt\ntired and thirsty.\n\n\u201cLet us go into this wood and gather strawberries,\u201d said Goldlocks.\n\nWinikin thought the idea was excellent, so he said, \u201cYes, we shall get\non faster after we have eaten some fruit.\u201d\n\nAccordingly, the little boys went into the wood, and, in about five\nminutes, Goldlocks had gathered enough strawberries to fill Winikin\u2019s\nhat. They were larger and more delicious than any he had ever tasted\nbefore.\n\nWhen Winikin had eaten his fill, he wished to go on.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said his companion, \u201cit is still too hot to walk fast. If you\nwait awhile under the shade of this pretty wood, you will get on all\nthe better a little later in the afternoon.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll right,\u201d said Winikin, and the lads sat down on the grass.\nGoldlocks now drew from his pocket a humming top and set it spinning.\nIt was made of a single carbuncle and was topped at each end with a\ndiamond. It was called a humming top but it should have been called a\nmusical top for the sounds it gave forth were as beautiful as an Eolian\nharp, and they formed distinct tunes. Winikin listened in speechless\njoy, till at length, tired out with play and amusement, he fell fast\nasleep.\n\nLittle Finikin, meanwhile, on getting out into the meadows, carefully\nnoticed all the objects the hermit had described, so as to be sure to\nlose neither time nor way till at last he came to a field where he saw\na little boy sitting on a bank, and crying bitterly.\n\nFinikin felt so sorry for him that he stopped and said, \u201cWhat is the\nmatter?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d cried he, \u201cI am waiting for someone to play with. My name is\nBrownlocks. Who are you?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am Finikin,\u201d said our little friend, \u201cbut I cannot stop to play. I\nam trying to find an orchard of wonderful fruit. I shall take some of\nit back to my sick father. The fruit will help to cure him.\u201d\n\n\u201cPlay with me awhile,\u201d said Brownlocks. \u201cI can take you to a garden\nwhere you will find better fruit than that which grows in the orchard\nyou are looking for.\u201d\n\nBut Finikin remembered the hermit\u2019s words and persisted in going on his\nway. When he looked to see if the little boy was following him, Finikin\nfound he had disappeared.\n\nFinikin hurried on, and at length the scenery began to grow wilder as\nhe came near the end of his journey. The rocks were higher and more\nabrupt and the vegetation more luxuriant, and soon in great joy he\nstopped, looked at the top of a great pile of rocks, and cried out,\n\u201cThere is the wonderful garden! It looks like a giant basket of fruit\nand flowers! How shall I ever climb up to it!\u201d\n\nFinikin went round the base of the rocks and looked carefully to see\nif he could find a path leading to the summit. No such thing was to be\nfound but he saw a cleft between two rocks over which fell a cascade.\nThe water had shrunk to a mere thread because the season had been very\ndry. Either the work of nature or the hand of man had formed rocks\ninto rough steps, which were almost covered with a sheet of water.\nFinikin determined to climb the steps although they were slippery and\ndangerous. Slowly and carefully he made his way to the top where a\nhedge formed a circle round the garden. He crept through the prickly\nbushes and saw before him an earthly paradise. The grass was dotted\nover with every variety of rare, richly coloured flowers; the trees\nwere loaded with fruit that shone like precious stones; the air was\nstudded with the gayest butterflies; and birds with gold and silver\nplumage were hopping from branch to branch and trilling the sweetest\nsongs.\n\nThough Finikin was dazzled and charmed by all he saw, he walked on\nwithout stopping until he came to some little boys who were gathering\nplums.\n\n\u201cWho comes here?\u201d said the boys on seeing the little stranger. \u201cAnd\nhow did you get into our garden?\u201d\n\n\u201cI come from the hermit in the forest,\u201d cried Finikin. \u201cHe said you\ncould give me some pippins that would cure my father.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! if you come from the hermit you shall have some pippins,\u201d said one\nof the boys who was Brownlocks. \u201cOnly you must gather them yourself.\u201d\n\nThen they led Finikin to another tree with a trunk as smooth and\nshining as glass. Golden pippins grew on the great branches at the top\nof the tree.\n\n\u201cGather as many as you like,\u201d said the little boys.\n\nFinikin then began to climb the tree. He kept slipping down every\nmoment and, strange to say, the trunk kept growing higher and higher as\nif it would reach the sky.\n\nNow it happened that Finikin had a lot of chalk in his pocket. By\ncrumbling it to pieces in his hands he managed to grasp the tree trunk\nfirmly and after many patient efforts he reached the top of the tree.\nHe now filled his hat and pockets with pippins that were as clear as\ntopazes. The fruit was very heavy and when Finikin began to descend the\ntree his load of pippins was so heavy that it dragged him down faster\nand faster until he reached the ground. It was now twilight. The boys\nhad picked up all their plums and had gone.\n\nFinikin looked around in all directions, and finally, he discovered in\nthe distance a gleam of light. He walked quickly up to it and found it\ncame from a fruit storehouse of white marble. Here were silver filigree\nbaskets filled with every kind of fruit and arranged neatly on shelves.\nAll the fruit in the silver baskets was soft and eatable, while that in\nthe golden baskets was turned to precious stones! The dark plums were\nsapphires and amethysts; the greengages and gooseberries, emeralds;\nthe cherries, garnets; the white-hearts, rubies, dark on one side and\nalmost white on the other; the black currants, black pearls. A number\nof beautiful empty baskets were hanging on gold and silver hooks.\n\nHere Finikin found one of the boys, who wished him joy of his success,\nand after helping him to empty his pippins into a gold basket, the lad\nled Finikin down a flight of greenish marble steps into a beautiful\nhall which was lighted up with mother-of-pearl lamps hanging from the\nceiling. Here in the center of the room supper was laid. The table was\nof citron-wood, and round the board were set cedar stools. On the walls\ncountless toys of every description hung on golden hooks.\n\nFinikin was so hungry after his day\u2019s work that he was glad enough to\nsit down and eat his supper.\n\nWhen their meal was over Brownlocks said: \u201cNow, Finikin, we will play\nsome games.\u201d\n\nBut Finikin begged leave to go, as it was already late and he was\nafraid he could not reach home till the night was half spent.\n\n\u201cIf you are afraid of being out in the night,\u201d said one of the little\nfriends, \u201cyou may stay and sleep in the empty bed of one of our\ncomrades who is absent; and to-morrow, at sunrise, we will go with you\na part of the way, and play together as we go along.\u201d\n\n\u201cI must not stay,\u201d said Finikin. \u201cMy father is very ill, dear friends,\nand I hope to reach home before it is too late.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou shall do as you like,\u201d said the boys. Then one of them took down\nfrom the wall a stick with a nag\u2019s head.\n\n\u201cTake this toy with you,\u201d he said.\n\nIt was a very simple toy, but Finikin was delighted with the gift.\n\n\u201cIt will carry you six times as fast as a horse, wherever you wish to\ngo,\u201d cried the little boys.\n\nFinikin clapped his hands for joy and said, \u201cMay I have a toy for\nWinikin, my brother?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d they said, \u201cWinikin must come himself for a toy. We cannot send\nhim one.\u201d\n\nFinikin thanked the lads and wished them good-night.\n\n\u201cGood-night, Finikin,\u201d they cried; \u201cyou may come to see us every\nMidsummer Eve on your nag. _He_ will always find the way although you\ncouldn\u2019t. Good-night!\u201d\n\nSo Finikin left Magic Toyland. As soon as he was out-of-doors and had\nplaced his basket of pippins on his arm he mounted his stick with the\nnag\u2019s head.\n\nAway he started! He had scarcely time to wonder how he should manage to\nride down the steep rocks. He seemed to be sinking deeper and deeper\nand without knowing how, he found himself in the long narrow passage\nleading to the hermit\u2019s garden.\n\nAll this time Winikin lay asleep in the woods. The sun was low in the\nwestern sky when he opened his eyes and saw Goldlocks sitting on the\ngrass playing with a cup and ball.\n\n\u201cLend me that plaything,\u201d said Winikin.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Goldlocks, \u201cI have something which two of us can play with.\u201d\n\nHe pointed to a couple of golden drums covered with finest vellum that\nwere lying in the grass. The drumsticks were of ebony inlaid with\nmother-of-pearl.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll play hide-and seek,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll hide first and then I will\nbeat my drum and you must try to guess from the sound where I am.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat will be good fun,\u201d said Winikin.\n\nGoldlocks ran and hid himself. At the beating of the drum Winikin found\nhim quite easily. Then Winikin hid but he had hardly struck the drum\nwith his stick until there was Goldlocks! So they played for some time\nbut at last Goldlocks hid himself so well that, though he kept beating\nhis drum, Winikin could not find him. He ran to the right and to the\nleft but it was of no use. The sound seemed to come from all directions\nat once. He tapped his own drum, and cried out, \u201cCome back, Goldlocks!\nWhere are you? Come back!\u201d\n\nHe beat his drum so hard that it snapped! It was growing very dark! The\nbrambles grew thicker at every step! The sound of Goldlocks\u2019 drum was\ngrowing fainter and fainter until at last Winikin could not hear it at\nall. He scratched his hands and tore his clothes at every step, but at\nlast he found a path which led out of the thick wood.\n\nHe walked along until he came to a small lake; \u201cOh! what shall I do,\u201d\nhe cried. \u201cI\u2019ve missed the way old Roger told me to take! Where shall I\nstay to-night!\u201d\n\nIn a little while he saw Goldlocks with smiling face coming towards\nhim. The lad carried a couple of battledores, covered with silver nets.\nThe handles were of richly carved gold. He had a shuttlecock, too,\nwhich was made from the plumes of a hummingbird.\n\n\u201cWhy, what is the matter?\u201d asked Goldlocks.\n\n\u201cOh! I thought you had run away, and left me,\u201d cried Winikin. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve\nlost my way! I don\u2019t know what to do.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s play a game of battledore,\u201d was Goldlocks\u2019 answer.\n\nWinikin dried his tears and said. \u201cTell me where you get such pretty\ntoys.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve plenty more at home, and prettier ones than these,\u201d replied his\ncompanion.\n\n\u201cI wish you would take me home with you,\u201d said Winikin. \u201cWhere do you\nlive?\u201d\n\n\u201cThere across the lake,\u201d said the little boy, pointing to some distant\nhills.\n\nThe lads now played a game of battledore and kept tossing the\nshuttlecock higher and higher till at last it fell into the lake at a\ngreat distance, but remained floating on the surface.\n\n\u201cLet us jump in and see who will catch it first,\u201d said Goldlocks.\n\nAway he darted into the water, and soon swam out of sight among the\nbulrushes that grew on an islet in the middle of the lake. Winikin\nbelieved he could swim, too, so into the water he jumped. In the dusk\na white water-lily looked like the lost shuttlecock. Poor Winikin\nsnatched at it, lost his balance, and fell down in the water. He tried\nto scream out to his companion, but he could not make a sound. After\nthis he could not remember what took place.\n\nLuckily the lake was not deep; he quickly rose to the surface and the\ngentle waves bore him to the shore where he lay insensible for several\nhours.\n\nIt was near daybreak when Winikin came to his senses again. He\nstared about wondering whether it was all a dream, or whether he had\nreally played with Goldlocks the day before. Then he saw one of the\nbattledores lying besides him and the lost shuttlecock.\n\n\u201cI had better stop here, or else he won\u2019t find me if he returns,\u201d\nthought Winikin.\n\nHe looked up and saw a little boy galloping along as fast as his wooden\nhorse would carry him! It was Finikin!\n\nThe good little fellow had carried home his basket of fruit and had\nseen his father improve after eating one of the golden pippins. Then\nhe had gone to find Roger, the huntsman, who said he had sent Winikin\nto the magical garden. Away went Finikin at full speed, like a small\nknight-errant, to seek his brother.\n\nOf course Winikin was ashamed when he heard what his brother had done.\n\n\u201cI shall go to the wonderful garden and bring back a basket of\ncherries,\u201d he cried. \u201cPerhaps they will give me a hobby-horse! Nothing\nshall tempt me again to idle on the way. Will you not lend me your\nwooden nag, brother!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, take it and hurry along,\u201d said Finikin.\n\n\u201cGee-ho!\u201d cried Winikin striding the stick. But the nag would not stir\na bit faster than other sticks that children play with.\n\n\u201cCome!\u201d said Finikin. \u201cGet up behind me!\u201d\n\nAway went the little lads on the wooden horse. In a little while they\ncame to the foot of the rocks, where Finikin left his brother. Then\nFinikin galloped home for the little boys had told him not to come\nagain until Midsummer Eve.\n\nWhen he was gone Winikin sat down and wondered how he should ever reach\nthe garden. Perhaps the little boys would come out and help him. At\nleast he would let them know where he was. He began to toss up the\nshuttlecock. Away it soared as if it had wings and lighted on a tree\nin the garden. At this moment a few red streaks were seen in the sky\nand the little boys came out into the garden. One of them saw the\nshuttlecock!\n\n\u201cWho is there?\u201d he cried.\n\n\u201cMy name is Winikin. I am Finikin\u2019s twin brother,\u201d was the answer.\n\n\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d asked the boy in the garden.\n\n\u201cI want to see your pretty toys! and I want a basket of cherries,\u201d said\nWinikin.\n\nThe garden lads let down a basket and drew him up. There was Goldlocks\nas merry and mischievous looking as ever.\n\n\u201cYou left me in the water, Goldlocks!\u201d said Winikin to his playfellow.\n\n\u201cYes, I had lost too much time to stay any longer,\u201d said Goldlocks.\n\u201cCome, let us have breakfast.\u201d\n\nThey all sat down on the grass under the trees and feasted on\nstrawberries and cream served in the finest porcelain bowls.\n\nAfter breakfast Winikin said, \u201cNow let us play.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! we must gather fruit first! There is work to be done. You had\nbetter gather your basket of cherries,\u201d said one of the lads. \u201cThe\ncherry trees are over there. Gather a basketful from the one which\nstands in the middle.\u201d The lads then went about their work.\n\nWith his usual idle habits Winikin began plucking flowers and chasing\nbutterflies. When his little friends came to fetch him to play games,\nthey found he was not a jot farther than when they left him.\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t play with you, Winikin, until you have gathered your fruit,\u201d\nsaid Goldlocks.\n\nAnd then he laid a golden trap-ball down on the grass, and the five\nlittle boys began to play merrily.\n\nWinikin saw that he must work before he could join them at play so he\nbegan to climb the tree. What a long time it took him to reach the\ntop. The fine cherries which were white-hearts were so ripe and juicy\nyou may be sure he ate a good many of them. But at last he filled his\npockets, descended the tree and lay down on the grass tired out with\nhis work.\n\nAfter a time the lads came to fetch him to dinner. They first led him\nthrough the fruit-chamber where they helped him to empty his pockets\ninto a silver filigree basket.\n\n\u201cPut all you have brought into the basket,\u201d said one of the lads; \u201cfor\nyour cherries will harden into rubies in two or three days. Come now\ninto the hall where dinner is ready.\u201d\n\nWinikin could scarcely eat for looking at the toys in the magical hall.\nWhen the meal was over he asked leave to play with some of them.\n\nThe boys showed him a great many playthings he had never seen before\nbut at last one of them said, \u201cIt is time to start, Winikin, if you\nwish to reach home before night.\u201d\n\n\u201cWon\u2019t you give me a little wooden nag like my brother\u2019s?\u201d asked\nWinikin.\n\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t another in our collection but you may have this toy,\u201d they\nanswered giving him an agate cup and ball fastened to a delicate gold\nchain.\n\nWinikin was well pleased with this toy and taking up his basket, he\nfollowed the little boys down a long, long flight of steps which\nbrought them to the bottom of the rocks where he saw a little crack\njust large enough for him to creep through.\n\n\u201cDo you see that large brown butterfly whose wings are tipped with dark\nblue?\u201d asked Goldlocks. \u201cFollow him. If you don\u2019t lose sight of him he\nwill show you the way.\u201d\n\nSo Winikin started. The butterfly kept bobbing up and down, now\nlighting on this flower, and now on that. In fact Winikin could very\neasily keep up with him. But at a turn in the road a splendid butterfly\nrose out of a bush. Away darted Winikin after him although the lad\nnoticed that the brown butterfly went in the opposite direction.\n\n\u201cI can soon catch up with old Browncoat again,\u201d thought Winikin.\n\nSunwings, the beautiful butterfly, led Winikin a fine dance over bank\nand bush, but at last the lad was obliged to give up the chase. He was\na little surprised to find that he had lost some of his cherries in\nrunning after the golden butterfly.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll go back and find old Browncoat,\u201d he said to himself. \u201cAfter all\nthe loss of a few cherries does not matter much. How thirsty I am. A\nfew cherries will refresh me.\u201d\n\nSo he sat down and ate several and then took out his cup and ball to\namuse himself. After awhile he got up and again tried to find his way.\n\n\u201cHow hungry and thirsty I am,\u201d he thought, taking one cherry after\nanother from his basket until it was almost emptied.\n\nAfter wandering about until twilight he found himself at the foot of\nthe rocks on top of which was the magic garden. He tried to find the\ncrevice through which he had crept out that morning but a foaming\ncascade was dashing down over it.\n\nHe shouted at the top of his voice, \u201cI\u2019ve lost my way, boys. Let me eat\nsupper with you in the hall of toys and sleep here for the night.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have eaten supper,\u201d answered the boys; \u201cbut you shall have some. We\ncan\u2019t let you stay all night for we have no spare bed.\u201d\n\nThey let down a basket and drew Winikin up as before and after taking\nhim into the hall they went to bed. After he had eaten a hearty meal\nthe boys called out to him to put out the lights and leave.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said Winikin, \u201chow am I to get out of the garden?\u201d\n\nGoldlocks peeped out of his snowy bed and said, \u201cThere is a bat outside\nwhich will show you the way, and if you follow him better than you did\nthe butterfly you will reach home in fairly good time.\u201d\n\nThen Winikin put out the lamps in the sleeping-room, but before he put\nout the lights in the large hall he couldn\u2019t resist sauntering around\nonce more to look at the toys. When he reached the door that led to the\nfruit-chamber he thought he might as well fill up his basket again, as\na few cherries could not be missed from such a quantity. This he did.\nThen fearing the boys would chide him for his delay he began to put out\nthe lights. Very foolishly he started with the one nearest the outer\ndoor, so that by the time he reached the end of the long hall and put\nout the last lamp, he found himself in the dark.\n\nWinikin was now so frightened that he didn\u2019t know what to do, for, if\nhe tried to move in the dark he would be sure to overturn the table or\nthe stools, so he cowered down in the corner hoping the boys would fall\nasleep and forget him, and that next morning he might escape before\nthey were up. But presently he heard the boys get up very softly and\ncome into the hall saying, \u201cThere\u2019s a thief here!\u201d Winikin held his\nbreath, and hoped to escape without notice; but they marched up to the\ncorner where he lay hid just as if it had been broad daylight. Each had\na rod in his hand and Winikin received a sound thrashing. At last he\ncried out, \u201cIt is only I. Don\u2019t hurt me!\u201d\n\nThen they stopped and dragged Winikin out of the hall. They emptied the\nbasket of the cherries he had taken, which were easily distinguished\nfrom the others, as in his hurry he had helped himself out of a golden\nbasket to some cherries that had hardened into rubies. Then the lads\nfetched an ivory ladder of great length and putting it over the hedge\nthey forced him to leave the garden at once.\n\nWinikin cried bitterly when he saw the ladder taken up again but at\nlast he began to think he had better make the best of a bad bargain.\nSo he set off and, as Goldlocks had promised, a bat flew before him to\nshow him the way.\n\nFor awhile he followed his leader carefully and made good resolutions\nas he went along, but alas! Suddenly a troop of fireflies flitted past\nhim, and he said to himself, \u201cHow much better they would light me\nthan this tiresome bat which keeps flapping his wings in my eyes! The\nfireflies are like so many lanterns and surely they\u2019ll know the way\nbest.\u201d But they led him into a bog where he spent the night.\n\nWhen morning dawned, he looked round for some hut where he could ask\nhis way, but he recollected to his horror that neither yesterday nor\nthe day before had he seen even a single being stirring anywhere.\nHe saw that he was within a charmed circle, and kept turning to no\npurpose. After toiling for some time he again recognized familiar\nobjects, and the well-known garden in the distance. Winikin hardly\ndared again apply to the little boys, yet having eaten all the cherries\nto appease his hunger, and seeing no chance of freeing himself from his\ndesperate position, he went to the rocks and clapped hands. Presently\nthe boys appeared.\n\n\u201cWho dares to come a third time unbidden?\u201d said they.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d cried the foolish wanderer, \u201cI have again lost my way, and\neaten all the cherries. Please take pity and let me come up.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said they, \u201cyou do not deserve to come into our garden any more;\nand as you are not to be trusted to go home, and we don\u2019t wish to be\ndisturbed by you again, we shall now send you back.\u201d\n\nSo saying, they disappeared for a moment, and soon crept out at the\nfoot of the rocks, bringing with them a go-cart, into which they put\nWinikin.\n\n\u201cAll right,\u201d they cried out, and away it darted, at the speed which\nwould shame an express train.\n\nThe go-cart, which was indeed worthy of its name, ran over hill and\ndale, rocks and water till Winikin thought every moment he would be\ndashed to pieces. At length it stopped when it reached his native\nvillage, before the door of a fine large farmhouse, and then, as if to\nmake up for the lost time the moment Winikin had got out, it darted\naway again at double speed and went back to the magical garden.\n\n\u201cHow is this?\u201d said Winikin. \u201cI don\u2019t see our cottage anywhere.\u201d And\nthen he stopped a passer-by, and said to him: \u201cWhere do my parents\nlive? For some reason I can\u2019t find the house!\u201d\n\n\u201cStraight before your nose, you young idler,\u201d said the man.\n\nAt the same moment his mother appeared at the door of the farm house.\n\n\u201cWell, Winikin,\u201d she said, putting her arms around him, \u201cyou have\nbeen a long time, but I suppose you have brought something worth the\ntrouble.\u201d\n\nIt must be explained, that what had appeared three days to Winikin was,\nin fact, three weeks, for in that enchanted region a single day was\nequal in time to a week in the ordinary world. Finikin had escaped from\nthis law, because he had returned before midnight, and consequently,\nhad not spent a whole day away from home.\n\nThe mother then led Winikin into the house where he found Finikin and\nhis father, who had quite recovered since he had eaten one of the\ngolden pippins. All the rest of them had hardened into topazes, and had\nbeen sold by the parents to a rich jeweler in the nearest town. The\nmoney received had served to buy and stock the farm where they were\nliving. The old cottage had been pulled down, and a barn was going to\nbe built on its site.\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d said the father, \u201cthough you are too late, Winny, to do me\nany good, let us see what you have brought.\u201d\n\nWinikin was very much ashamed to have nothing to show but an empty\nbasket nor did he improve matters by telling his parents that \u201cthere\nhad been some very fine cherries in it.\u201d However, what was done could\nnot now be mended, and the only thing left for Winikin was to try to\nimprove.\n\nFor a long time after, whenever he went on a message, the villagers\nwould say: \u201cDon\u2019t be three weeks on the road, as when you went to fetch\ncherries for your sick father.\u201d\n\nHe was still further ashamed when midsummer came round again and his\nbrother set off for the beautiful garden on his little nag, while\nWinikin had only a cup and ball, that gave him a rap on the head every\ntime he played with it when he ought to have been doing something else!\n\nAfter receiving many raps, however, he learned that he must not take\nout his toy except at the proper time.\n\nAs long as their childhood lasted Finikin continued to visit the\nlittle boys, but when he began to grow too big to play with them, they\nbade him affectionately farewell, and as a parting gift they gave\nhim branches of their apple-tree and cherry-tree. When these were\ngrafted on two trees at the farmhouse they produced the finest fruit\never eaten. The cherries were the first white-hearts and the apples\nwere ever since called golden pippins, on account of their origin.\n(Adapted.)\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF FAIRYFOOT\n\nFRANCES BROWNE\n\n\nOnce upon a time, there stood far away in the west country a town\ncalled Stumpinghame. It contained seven windmills, a royal palace, a\nmarket-place, and a prison, with every other convenience befitting\nthe capital of a kingdom. It stood in the midst of a great plain,\nwhich for three leagues round its walls was covered with corn, flax,\nand orchards. Beyond that lay a great circle of pasture land, and it\nwas bounded on all sides by a forest so thick and old that no man in\nStumpinghame knew its extent; and the opinion of the learned was, that\nit reached to the end of the world.\n\nThere were strong reasons for this opinion. First, that forest was\nknown to be inhabited time out of mind by the fairies, and no hunter\ncared to go beyond its borders--so all the west country believed it\nto be solidly full of old trees from end to end. Secondly, the people\nof Stumpinghame were no travellers--man, woman, and child had feet so\nlarge and heavy that it was by no means convenient to carry them far.\nGreat feet had been the fashion there from time immemorial, and the\nhigher the family the larger were their feet.\n\nStumpinghame had a king of its own, and his name was Stiffstep; his\nfamily was very ancient and large-footed. His subjects called him Lord\nof the World, and he made a speech to them every year concerning the\ngrandeur of his mighty empire. His queen, Hammerheel, was the greatest\nbeauty in Stumpinghame. Her majesty\u2019s shoe was not much less than a\nfishing-boat. Their six children promised to be quite as handsome, and\nall went well with them till the birth of their seventh son.\n\nFor a long time nobody about the palace could understand what was the\nmatter--the ladies-in-waiting looked so astonished, and the king so\nvexed; but at last it was whispered through the city that the queen\u2019s\nseventh child had been born with such miserably small feet that they\nresembled nothing ever seen or heard of in Stumpinghame, except the\nfeet of the fairies.\n\nAll the relations of the king and queen assembled at the palace to\nmourn with them over the singular misfortune. The whole court and most\nof the citizens helped in this mourning; but when it had lasted seven\ndays they all found out it was of no use. So the relations went to\ntheir homes, and the people took to their work, and to cheer up the\nqueen\u2019s spirits, the young prince was sent privately out to the pasture\nlands, to be nursed among the shepherds.\n\nThe chief man there was called Fleecefold, and his wife\u2019s name was\nRough Ruddy. They lived in a snug cottage with their son Blackthorn and\ntheir daughter Brownberry, and were thought great people, because they\nkept the king\u2019s sheep. Moreover, Fleecefold\u2019s family were known to be\nancient; and Rough Ruddy boasted that she had the largest feet in all\nthe pastures. The shepherds held them in high respect, and it grew\nstill higher when the news spread that the king\u2019s seventh son had been\nsent to their cottage.\n\nThe king and queen had given him fourteen names, beginning with\nAugustus--such being the fashion in the royal family; but the honest\ncountry people could not remember so many, so they called him\nFairyfoot. At court it was not thought polite to speak of him at all.\nThey did not keep his birthday, and he was never sent for at Christmas,\nbecause the queen and her ladies could not bear the sight. Once a year\nthe undermost scullion was sent to see how he did, with a bundle of his\nnext brother\u2019s cast-off clothes; and, as the king grew old and cross,\nit was said he had thoughts of disowning him.\n\nSo Fairyfoot grew in Fleecefold\u2019s cottage. Perhaps the country air made\nhim fair and rosy--for all agreed that he would have been a handsome\nboy but for his feet, with which nevertheless, he learned to walk, and\nin time to run and to jump, thereby amazing everybody, for such doings\nwere not known among the children of Stumpinghame. The news of court,\nhowever, travelled to the shepherds, and Fairyfoot was despised among\nthem. The old people thought him unlucky; the children refused to play\nwith him. Fleecefold was ashamed to have him in his cottage, but he\ndurst not disobey the king\u2019s orders. Moreover, Blackthorn wore most of\nthe clothes brought by the scullion. At last, Rough Ruddy found out\nthat the sight of such horrid jumping would make her children vulgar;\nand, as soon as he was old enough she sent Fairyfoot every day to watch\nsome sickly sheep that grazed on a wild, weedy pasture, near the forest.\n\nPoor Fairyfoot was lying in the shadow of a mossy rock one warm\nsummer\u2019s noon, with the sheep feeding round, when a robin, pursued by a\ngreat hawk, flew into the old velvet cap which lay on the ground beside\nhim. Fairyfoot covered it up, and the hawk, frightened by his shout,\nflew away.\n\n\u201cNow you may go, poor robin!\u201d he said, opening the cap; but instead\nof the bird, out sprang a little man dressed in russet-brown, and\nlooking as if he were a hundred years old. Fairyfoot could not speak\nfor astonishment, but the little man said:\n\n\u201cThank you for your shelter, and be sure I will do as much for you.\nCall on me if you are ever in trouble, my name is Robin Goodfellow;\u201d\nand darting off he was out of sight in an instant.\n\nFor days the boy wondered who that little man could be, but he told\nnobody, for the little man\u2019s feet were as small as his own, and it\nwas clear he would be no favorite in Stumpinghame. Fairyfoot kept\nthe story to himself, and at last midsummer came. That evening was a\nfeast among the shepherds. There were bonfires on the hills, and fun\nin the villages. But Fairyfoot sat alone beside his sheepfold, for the\nchildren of the village had refused to let him dance with them about\nthe bonfire, and he had never felt so lonely in all his life. But\nremembering the little man, he plucked up spirit, and cried:\n\n\u201cHo! Robin Goodfellow!\u201d\n\n\u201cHere I am,\u201d said a shrill voice at his elbow; and there stood the\nlittle man himself.\n\n\u201cI am very lonely, and no one will play with me, because my feet are\nnot large enough,\u201d said Fairyfoot.\n\n\u201cCome, then, and play with us,\u201d said the little man. \u201cWe lead the\nmerriest lives in the world, and care for nobody\u2019s feet; but there are\ntwo things you must mind among us; first, do as you see the rest doing;\nand, secondly, never speak of anything you may hear or see.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will do that, and anything more you like,\u201d said Fairyfoot; and the\nlittle man, taking his hand, led him over the pasture into the forest,\nand along a mossy path among old trees wreathed with ivy, till they\nheard the sound of music, and came upon a meadow where the moon shone\nas bright as day, and all the flowers of the year--snowdrops, violets,\nprimroses, and cowslips--bloomed together in the thick grass. There\nwas a crowd of little men and women, some clad in russet colour, but\nfar more in green, dancing round a little well as clear as crystal.\nAnd under great rose-trees which grew here and there in the meadow,\ncompanies were sitting round low tables covered with cups of milk and\ndishes of honey. All the little people about the well cried:\n\n\u201cWelcome, welcome!\u201d and everyone said: \u201cCome and dance with me!\u201d So\nFairyfoot was as happy as a prince, and drank milk and ate honey till\nthe moon was low in the sky, and then the little man took him by the\nhand, and never stopped nor stayed till he was at his own bed of straw\nin the cottage corner.\n\nNext morning Fairyfoot was not tired for all his dancing. Nobody in the\ncottage had missed him, and he went out with the sheep as usual; but\nevery night all that summer, when the shepherds were safe in bed, the\nlittle man came and took him away to dance in the forest.\n\nThe wonder was that he was never tired nor sleepy, as people are apt\nto be who dance all night; but before the summer was ended Fairyfoot\nfound out the reason. One night, when the moon was full, and the last\nof the ripe corn rustling in the fields, Robin Goodfellow came for him\nas usual, and away they went to the flowery green. The fun there was\nhigh, but never in all his life did Fairyfoot find such hard work as to\nkeep pace with the company. Their feet seemed to move like lightning.\nFairyfoot did his best, for he never gave in easily; but at length, his\nbreath and strength being spent, the boy was glad to steal away and sit\ndown behind a mossy oak, where his eyes closed for very weariness. When\nhe awoke the dance was nearly over, but two little ladies clad in green\ntalked close behind him.\n\n\u201cWhat a beautiful boy!\u201d said one of them. \u201cHe is worthy to be a king\u2019s\nson. Only see what handsome feet he has!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the other, with a laugh that sounded spiteful; \u201cthey are\njust like the feet Princess Maybloom had before she washed them in the\nGrowing Well. Her father has sent far and wide throughout the whole\ncountry searching for a doctor to make them small again, but nothing\nin this world can do it except the water on the Fair Fountain. And only\nthe nightingales and I know where it is.\u201d\n\n\u201cOne would not care to let the like be known,\u201d said the first little\nlady. \u201cBut you will surely send word to the sweet princess--she was so\nkind to our birds and butterflies, and danced so like one of ourselves!\u201d\n\n\u201cNot I, indeed!\u201d said the spiteful fairy. \u201cHer old skinflint of a\nfather cut down the cedar which I loved best in the whole forest, and\nmade a chest of it to keep his money in; besides, I never liked the\nprincess--everybody praised her so. But come, we shall be too late for\nthe last dance.\u201d\n\nWhen they were gone, Fairyfoot could sleep no more with astonishment.\nHe did not wonder at the fairies admiring his feet, because their own\nwere much the same; but it amazed him that Princess Maybloom\u2019s father\nshould be troubled at hers growing large. Moreover, he wished to see\nthat same princess and her country.\n\nWhen Robin Goodfellow came to take him home as usual he durst not\nlet him know that he had overheard anything; but never was the boy so\nunwilling to get up as on that morning, and all day he was so weary\nthat in the afternoon Fairyfoot fell asleep, with his head on a clump\nof rushes. But it so happened that towards evening the old shepherd,\nFleecefold, thought he would see how things went on in the pastures.\nThe shepherd had a bad temper and a thick staff, and no sooner did he\ncatch sight of Fairyfoot sleeping, and his flock straying away, than he\nshouted all the ill names he could remember, and woke up the boy who\njumped up and ran away. The shepherd ran after him as fast as his great\nfeet would allow. Fairyfoot, seeing no other shelter from Fleecefold\u2019s\nfury, fled into the forest, and never stopped nor stayed till he\nreached the banks of a little stream.\n\nThinking it might lead him to the fairies\u2019 dancing ground, he followed\nthat stream for many an hour, but it wound away into the heart of the\nforest flowing through dells, falling over mossy rocks, and at last\nleading Fairyfoot, when he was tired and the night had fallen, to\na grove of great rose-trees, with the moon shining on it as bright\nas day, and thousands of nightingales singing in the branches. In\nthe midst of that grove was a clear spring, bordered with banks of\nlilies, and Fairyfoot sat down by it to rest himself and listen. The\nsinging was so sweet he could have listened forever, but as he sat the\nnightingales left off their songs, and began to talk together in the\nsilence of the night.\n\n\u201cWhat boy is that?\u201d said one on a branch above him. \u201cHe cannot have\ncome from Stumpinghame with such small and handsome feet.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I\u2019ll warrant you,\u201d said another, \u201che has come from the west\ncountry. How in the world did he find the way?\u201d\n\n\u201cHow simple you are!\u201d said a third nightingale. \u201cWhat had he to do but\nfollow the ground-ivy, which grows over height and hollow, bank and\nbush, from the lowest gate of the king\u2019s kitchen-garden to the root\nof this rose-tree. He looks a wise boy, and I hope he will keep the\nsecret, or we shall have all the west country here, dabbling in our\nfountain, and leaving us no rest to either talk or sing.\u201d\n\nFairyfoot listened in great astonishment, but when the talk ceased and\nthe songs began, he thought it might be as well for him to follow the\nground-ivy, and see the Princess Maybloom, not to speak of getting rid\nof Rough Ruddy, the sickly sheep, and the crusty old shepherd. It was\na long journey; but he went on, eating wild berries by day, sleeping\nin the hollows of old trees by night, and never losing sight of the\nground-ivy, which led him to a great city, and to a low old-fashioned\ngate of the king\u2019s kitchen-garden, which was thought too mean for the\nscullions, and had not been opened for seven years.\n\nHe climbed over, and walked through the garden, till a white fawn came\nfrisking by, and he heard a soft voice saying sorrowfully:\n\n\u201cCome back, come back, my fawn! I cannot run and play with you now, my\nfeet have grown so heavy\u201d; and, looking round, he saw the loveliest\nyoung princess in the world, dressed in snow-white, and wearing a\nwreath of roses on her golden hair; but walking slowly, as the great\npeople did in Stumpinghame, for her feet were as large as the best of\nthem.\n\nAfter her came six young ladies, dressed in white and walking slowly,\nfor they could not go before the princess; but Fairyfoot was amazed to\nsee that their feet were as small as his own. At once he guessed that\nthis must be the Princess Maybloom, and made her a bow, saying:\n\n\u201cRoyal princess, I have heard of your trouble because your feet have\ngrown large; in my country that\u2019s all the fashion. For seven years past\nI have been wondering to no purpose what would make mine grow. But\nI know of a certain fountain that will make yours smaller and finer\nthan ever they were, if the king, your father, will give you leave to\ncome with me. You may be accompanied by two of your maids that are\nthe least given to talking, and the most prudent officer in all the\nking\u2019s household; for it would grievously offend the fairies and the\nnightingales to make that fountain known.\u201d\n\nWhen the princess heard this, she danced for joy in spite of her\nlarge feet, and she and her six maids brought Fairyfoot before the\nking and queen, where they sat in their palace hall, with all the\ncourtiers paying their morning compliments. At first the king would\nnot believe that there could be any use in this offer, because so many\ngreat physicians had failed to give any relief. The courtiers laughed\nFairyfoot to scorn, and he wished himself safe in the forest again; but\nthe queen said:\n\n\u201cI pray your majesty to notice what fine feet this boy has. There\nmay be some truth in his story. For the sake of our only daughter,\nI will choose two maids who talk the least of all our train, and my\nchamberlain, who is the most discreet officer in our household. Let\nthem go with the princess. Who knows but our sorrow may be lessened?\u201d\n\nAfter some persuasion the king consented, though all his councillors\nadvised the contrary. So the two silent maids, the discreet\nchamberlain, and her fawn, which would not stay behind, were sent with\nthe princess Maybloom, and they all set out after dinner. Fairyfoot\nhad hard work guiding them along the track of the ground-ivy; but at\nlast they reached the grove of rose-trees and the spring bordered with\nlilies.\n\nThe chamberlain washed--and though his hair had been grey and his face\nwrinkled, the young courtiers envied his beauty for years after. The\nmaids washed--and from that day they were esteemed the fairest in all\nthe palace. Lastly, the princess washed also--it could make her no\nfairer, but the moment her feet touched the water they grew less, and\nwhen she had washed and dried them three times, they were as small and\nfinely shaped as Fairyfoot\u2019s own. There was great joy among them, but\nthe boy said sorrowfully:\n\n\u201cOh! if there had been a well in the world to make my feet large, my\nfather and mother would not have cast me off, nor sent me to live among\nthe shepherds.\u201d\n\n\u201cCheer up!\u201d said the Princess Maybloom. \u201cIf you want large feet, there\nis a well in this forest that will do it. Last summer-time I came with\nmy father and his foresters to see a great cedar cut down, of which\nhe meant to make a money chest. While they were busy with the cedar,\nI saw a bramble branch covered with berries. Some were ripe and some\nwere green, but it was the longest bramble that ever grew. For the\nsake of the berries, I went on and on to its root, which grew near a\nmuddy-looking well, with banks of dark green moss, in the deepest part\nof the forest. The day was warm and dry, and my feet were sore with the\nrough ground, so I took off my scarlet shoes, and washed my feet in the\nwell; but as I washed they grew larger every minute, and nothing could\never make them less again. I have seen the bramble this day; it is not\nfar off, and as you have shown me the Fair Fountain, I will show you\nthe Growing Well.\u201d\n\nUp rose Fairyfoot and Princess Maybloom, and went together till\nthey found the bramble, and came to where its root grew, near the\nmuddy-looking well, with banks of dark moss in the deepest dell of the\nforest. Fairyfoot sat down to wash, but at that minute he heard a sound\nof music, and knew it was the fairies going to their dancing ground.\n\n\u201cIf my feet grow large,\u201d said the boy to himself, \u201chow shall I dance\nwith them?\u201d So, rising quickly, he took the Princess Maybloom by the\nhand. The fawn followed them; the maids and the chamberlain followed\nit, and all followed the music through the forest. At last they came\nto the flowery green. Robin Goodfellow welcomed the company for\nFairyfoot\u2019s sake, and they danced from sunset till the grey morning,\nand nobody was tired; but before the lark sang, Robin Goodfellow took\nthem all safe home, as he used to take Fairyfoot.\n\nThere was great joy that day in the palace because Princess Maybloom\u2019s\nfeet were made small again. The king gave Fairyfoot all manner of fine\nclothes and rich jewels; and when they heard his wonderful story,\nhe and the queen asked him to live with them and be their son. In\nprocess of time Fairyfoot and Princess Maybloom were married, and\nstill live happily. When they go to visit at Stumpinghame, they always\nwash their feet in the Growing Well, lest the royal family might think\nthem a disgrace, but when they come back, they make haste to the Fair\nFountain; and the fairies and the nightingales are great friends to\nthem, as well as the maids and the chamberlain, because they have told\nnobody about it, and there is peace and quiet yet in the grove of\nrose-trees. (Adapted.)\n\n\n\n\nTHE SNOW-QUEEN\n\nHANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN\n\n\nFIRST STORY\n\n_Which Treats of a Mirror and of the Splinters_\n\nNow, then, let us begin. When we are at the end of the story, we shall\nknow more than we know now; but to begin:\n\nOnce upon a time there was a wicked Sprite, indeed, he was the most\nmischievous of all sprites. One day he was in a very good humour,\nfor he had made a mirror with the power of causing all that was\ngood and beautiful, when it was reflected therein, to look poor and\nmean; but that which was good for nothing and looked ugly, was shown\nmagnified and increased in ugliness. In this mirror the most beautiful\nlandscapes looked like boiled spinach, and the best persons were turned\ninto frights, or appeared to stand on their heads; their faces were\nso distorted that they were not to be recognized; and if anyone had a\nmole, you might be sure that it would be magnified and spread over both\nnose and mouth.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s glorious fun!\u201d said the Sprite.\n\nIf a good thought passed through a man\u2019s mind, then a grin was seen in\nthe mirror, and the Sprite laughed heartily at his clever discovery.\n\nAll the little sprites who went to his school--for he kept a\nsprite-school--told one another that a miracle had happened; and that\nnow only, as they thought, it would be possible to see how the world\nreally looked. They ran about with the mirror; and at last there\nwas not a land or a person who was not represented distorted in the\nmirror. So then they thought they would fly up to the sky, and have a\njoke there. The higher they flew with the mirror, the more terribly\nit grinned; they could hardly hold it fast. Higher and higher still\nthey flew, nearer and nearer to the stars, when suddenly, the mirror\nshook so terribly with grinning that it flew out of their hands and\nfell to the earth, where it was dashed in a hundred million and more\npieces. And now it worked much more evil than before; for some of these\npieces were hardly so large as a grain of sand, and they flew about in\na wide world, and when they got into people\u2019s eyes, there they stayed;\nand then people saw everything perverted, or only had an eye for that\nwhich was evil. This happened because the very smallest bit had the\nsame power which the whole mirror had possessed. Some persons even got\na splinter in their hearts, and then it made one shudder, for their\nhearts became like lumps of ice. Some of the broken pieces were so\nlarge that they were used for window-panes, through which one could not\nsee one\u2019s friends. Other pieces were put in spectacles; and that was a\nsad affair when people put on their glasses to see well and rightly.\nThen the wicked Sprite laughed till he almost choked, for all this\ntickled his fancy. The fine splinters still flew about in the air: and\nnow we shall hear what happened next.\n\n\nSECOND STORY\n\n_A Little Boy and a Little Girl_\n\nIn a large town, where there are so many houses, and so many people,\nthat there is no room left for everybody to have a little garden, and\nwhere, on this account, most persons are obliged to content themselves\nwith flowers in pots, there lived two little children, who had a garden\nsomewhat larger than a flower-pot. They were not brother and sister;\nbut they cared for each other as much as if they were. Their parents\nlived exactly opposite. They inhabited two garrets; and where the roof\nof the one house joined that of the other, and the gutter ran along the\nextreme end of it, there was to each house a small window: one needed\nonly to step over the gutter to get from one window to the other.\n\nThe children\u2019s parents had large wooden boxes there, in which\nvegetables for the kitchen were planted, and little rose-trees,\nbesides; there was a rose in each box, and they grew splendidly. They\nnow thought of placing the boxes across the gutter, so that they nearly\nreached from one window to the other, and looked just like two walls\nof flowers. The tendrils of the peas hung down over the boxes, and the\nrose-trees shot up long branches, twined around the windows, and then\nbent toward each other: it was almost like a triumphal arch of foliage\nand flowers. The boxes were very high, and the children knew that they\nmust not creep over them; so they often obtained permission to get out\nof the windows to each other, and to sit on their little stools among\nthe roses, where they could play delightfully. In winter there was an\nend of this pleasure. The windows were often frozen over; but then they\nheated copper farthings on the stove, and laid the hot farthings on\nthe window-pane, and then they had a capital peep-hole, quite nicely\nrounded; and out of each peeped a gentle, friendly eye--it was the\nlittle boy and the little girl who were looking out. His name was Kay,\nhers was Gerda. In summer, with one jump, they could get to each other;\nbut in winter they were obliged first to go down the long stairs, and\nthen up the long stairs again: and out-of-doors there was quite a\nsnow-storm.\n\n\u201cIt is the white bees that are swarming,\u201d said Kay\u2019s old grandmother.\n\n\u201cDo the white bees choose a queen?\u201d asked the little boy; for he knew\nthat the honey-bees always have one.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the grandmother, \u201cshe flies where the swarm hangs in the\nthickest clusters. She is the largest of all; and she can never remain\nquietly on the earth, but goes up again into the black clouds. Many a\nwinter\u2019s night she flies through the streets of the town, and peeps in\nat the windows; and they then freeze in so wondrous a manner that they\nlook like flowers.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I have seen it,\u201d said both the children; and so they knew that it\nwas true.\n\n\u201cCan the Snow-Queen come in?\u201d said the little girl.\n\n\u201cOnly let her come in!\u201d said the little boy; \u201cthen I\u2019d put her on the\nstove, and she\u2019d melt.\u201d\n\nAnd then his grandmother patted his head, and told him other stories.\n\nIn the evening, when little Kay was at home, and half undressed, he\nclimbed upon the chair by the window, and peeped out of the little\nhole. A few snowflakes were falling, and one, the largest of all,\nremained lying on the edge of a flower-pot. The flake of snow grew\nlarger and larger; and, at last, it was like a young lady, dressed in\nthe finest white gauze, made of a million little flakes, like stars.\nShe was so beautiful and delicate, but she was of ice, of dazzling,\nsparkling ice; yet she lived; her eyes gazed fixedly, like two stars;\nbut there was neither quiet nor repose in them. She nodded toward the\nwindow, and beckoned with her hand. The little boy was frightened, and\njumped down from the chair; it seemed to him as if, at the same moment,\na large bird flew past the window.\n\nThe next day it was a sharp frost; and then the spring came; the sun\nshone, the green leaves appeared, the swallows built their nests, the\nwindows were opened, and the little children again sat in their pretty\ngarden, high up on the leads at the top of the house.\n\nThat summer the roses flowered in wondrous beauty. The little girl had\nlearned a hymn, in which there was something about roses; and then she\nthought of her own flowers; and she sang the verse to the little boy,\nwho then sang it with her:\n\n  \u201cThe rose in the valley is blooming so sweet,\n  The Christ-child is there the children to greet.\u201d\n\nAnd the children held each other by the hand, kissed the roses, and\nlooked up at the clear sunshine. What lovely summer days those were!\nHow delightful to be out in the air, near the fresh rosebushes, that\nseemed as if they would never finish blossoming!\n\nKay and Gerda looked at the picture-book full of beasts and of birds;\nand it was then--the clock in the church-tower was just striking\nfive--that Kay said, \u201cOh, I feel such a sharp pain in my heart; and now\nsomething has flown into my eye!\u201d\n\nThe little girl put her arms round his neck. He winked his eyes: now\nthere was nothing to be seen.\n\n\u201cI think it is out now,\u201d said he; but it was not. It was just one of\nthose pieces of glass from the magic mirror that had flown into his\neye. Another piece had pierced his heart, where it soon became like\nice. It did not hurt any longer, but there it was.\n\n\u201cWhat are you crying for?\u201d asked he. \u201cYou look so ugly! There\u2019s nothing\nthe matter with me. Ah!\u201d said he at once, \u201cthat rose is cankered! and,\nlook, this one is quite crooked! after all, these roses are very ugly!\nthey are just like the box they are planted in!\u201d And then he gave the\nbox a good kick with his foot, and pulled both the roses up.\n\n\u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d cried the little girl; and as he perceived her\nfright, he pulled up another rose, got in at the window, and hastened\naway from dear little Gerda.\n\nAfterwards, when she brought her picture-book, he asked, \u201cWhat horrid\nbeasts have you there?\u201d And if his grandmother told him stories, he\nalways interrupted her; besides, if he could manage it, he would get\nbehind her, put on her spectacles, and imitate her way of speaking:\nhe copied all her ways, and then everybody laughed at him. He was\nsoon able to imitate the gait and manner of everyone in the street.\nEverything that was peculiar and displeasing in them,--that Kay knew\nhow to imitate; and at such times all the people said, \u201cThe boy is\ncertainly very clever!\u201d But it was the glass he had in his eye; the\nglass that was sticking in his heart, which made him tease even little\nGerda, whose whole soul was devoted to him.\n\nHis games now were quite different to what they had formerly been, they\nwere so very knowing. One winter\u2019s day, when the flakes of snow were\nflying about, he spread the skirts of his blue coat, and caught the\nsnow as it fell.\n\n\u201cLook through this glass, Gerda,\u201d said he. And every flake seemed\nlarger, and appeared like a magnificent flower, or a beautiful star: it\nwas splendid to look at!\n\n\u201cLook, how clever!\u201d said Kay. \u201cThat\u2019s much more interesting than real\nflowers! They are as exact as possible; there is not a fault in them,\nif only they did not melt!\u201d\n\nIt was not long after this that Kay came one day with large gloves on,\nand his little sledge at his back, and called right into Gerda\u2019s ears,\n\u201cI have permission to go out into the square, where the others are\nplaying\u201d; and off he was in a moment.\n\nThere, in the market-place, some of the boldest of the boys used to\ntie their sledges to the carts as they passed by. In this way they\nwere pulled along, and got a good ride. It was capital sport! Just as\nthey were in the very height of their amusement, a large sledge passed\nby: it was painted white, and there was someone in it wrapped up in a\nrough white mantle of fur, with a rough white fur cap on his head. The\nsledge drove round the square twice, and Kay tied on his as quickly as\nhe could, and off he drove with it. On they went quicker and quicker\ninto the next street; and the person who drove turned round to Kay, and\nnodded to him in a friendly manner, just as if they knew each other.\nEvery time he was going to untie his sledge the person nodded to him,\nand then Kay sat quiet; and so on they went till they came outside the\ngates of the town. Then the snow began to fall so thickly that the\nlittle boy could not see an arm\u2019s length before him, but still on he\nwent; then suddenly, he let go the string he held in his hand in order\nto get loose from the sledge, but it was of no use; still the little\nvehicle rushed on with the quickness of the wind. He then cried as loud\nas he could, but no one heard him; the snow drifted and the sledge\nflew on, and sometimes it gave a jerk as though they were driving over\nhedges and ditches. He was quite frightened, and he tried to repeat the\nLord\u2019s Prayer; but in spite of his efforts he was able only to remember\nthe multiplication table.\n\nThe snowflakes grew larger and larger, till at last they looked just\nlike great white fowls. Suddenly they flew on one side; the large\nsledge stopped, and the person who drove rose up. It was a lady. Her\ncloak and cap were of snow. She was tall, of slender figure, and of a\ndazzling whiteness. It was the Snow-Queen.\n\n\u201cWe have travelled fast,\u201d said she; \u201cbut it is terribly cold. Come\nunder my bearskin.\u201d And she put him in the sledge beside her, wrapped\nthe fur round him, and he felt as though he were sinking in a\nsnow-wreath.\n\n\u201cAre you still cold?\u201d asked she; and then she kissed his forehead. Ah!\nit was colder than ice; it penetrated to his very heart, which was\nalready almost a frozen lump; it seemed to him as if he were about to\ndie,--but a moment more and it was quite congenial to him, and he did\nnot notice the cold that was around him.\n\n\u201cMy sledge! Do not forget my sledge!\u201d It was the first thing he thought\nof. It was there, tied to one of the white chickens, who flew along\nwith it on his back behind the large sledge. The Snow-Queen kissed Kay\nonce more, and then he forgot little Gerda, grandmother, and all whom\nhe had left at his home.\n\n\u201cNow you shall have no more kisses,\u201d said she, \u201cor else I should kiss\nyou to death!\u201d\n\nKay looked at her. She was very beautiful; a more clever or a more\nlovely countenance he could not fancy to himself; and she no longer\nappeared of ice as before, when she sat outside the window, and\nbeckoned to him; in his eyes she was perfect; he did not fear her\nat all, and told her that he could calculate in his head, and with\nfractions even; that he knew the number of square miles there were in\nthe different countries, and how many inhabitants they contained; and\nshe smiled while he spoke. It then seemed to him as if what he knew\nwas not enough, and he looked upwards in the large, huge, empty space\nabout him, and on she flew with him; flew high over the black clouds,\nwhile the storm moaned and whistled as though it were singing some old\ntune. On they flew over woods and lakes, over seas and many lands; and\nbeneath them the chilling storm rushed fast, the wolves howled, the\nsnow crackled; above them flew large screaming crows, but higher up\nappeared the moon, quite large and bright; and it was on it that Kay\ngazed during the long, long winter\u2019s night, while by day he slept at\nthe feet of the Snow-Queen.\n\n\nTHIRD STORY\n\n_Of the Flower-garden at the Old Woman\u2019s Who Understood Witchcraft_\n\nBut what became of little Gerda when Kay did not return? Where could he\nbe? Nobody knew. The boys said that they had seen him tie his sledge to\nanother large and splendid one, which drove down the street and out of\nthe town. But they did not know where he was. Many sad tears were shed,\nand little Gerda wept long and bitterly; at last she said he must be\ndead; that he had been drowned in the river which flowed close to the\ntown. Oh, those were very long and dismal winter evenings!\n\nAt last spring came with its warm sunshine.\n\n\u201cKay is dead and gone!\u201d said little Gerda.\n\n\u201cThat I don\u2019t believe,\u201d said the Sunshine.\n\n\u201cKay is dead and gone!\u201d said she to the Swallows.\n\n\u201cThat we don\u2019t believe,\u201d said they; and at last little Gerda did not\nthink so any longer either.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll put on my red shoes,\u201d said she one morning; \u201cKay has never seen\nthem, and then I\u2019ll go down to the river and ask there.\u201d\n\nIt was quite early: she kissed her old grandmother, who was still\nasleep, put on her red shoes, and went alone to the river.\n\n\u201cIs it true that you have taken my little playfellow? I will make you a\npresent of my red shoes if you will give him back to me.\u201d\n\nAnd, as it seemed to her, the blue waves nodded in a strange manner;\nthen she took off her red shoes, the most precious things she\npossessed, and threw them both into the river. But they fell close to\nthe bank, and the little waves bore them immediately to land; it was\nas if the stream would not take what was dearest to her; for in reality\nit had not taken little Kay: but Gerda thought that she had not thrown\nthe shoes out far enough, so she clambered into a boat which lay among\nthe rushes, went to the farthest end, and threw out the shoes. But the\nboat was not fastened, and the motion which she occasioned made it\ndrift from the shore. She observed this, and hastened to get back; but\nbefore she could do so, the boat was more than a yard from the land,\nand was gliding quickly onward.\n\nLittle Gerda was very much frightened, and began to cry; but no one\nheard her except the Sparrows, and they could not carry her to land;\nbut they flew along the bank, and sang as if to comfort her, \u201cHere we\nare! here we are!\u201d The boat drifted with the stream, little Gerda sat\nquite still without shoes, for they were swimming behind the boat, but\ncould not reach it, because it went much faster than they.\n\nThe banks on both sides were beautiful. There were lovely flowers,\nvenerable trees, and slopes with sheep and cows, but there was not a\nhuman being to be seen anywhere.\n\n\u201cPerhaps the river will carry me to little Kay,\u201d said she; and then she\ngrew less sad. She rose, and looked for many hours at the beautiful\ngreen banks. Presently, she sailed by a large cherry-orchard, where\nthere was a little cottage with curious red and blue windows; it was\nthatched, and before it two wooden soldiers stood sentry, and presented\narms when anyone went past.\n\nGerda called to them, for she thought they were alive; but they, of\ncourse, did not answer. She came close to them, for the stream drifted\nthe boat quite near the land.\n\nGerda called still louder and then an old woman leaning upon a crooked\nstick came out of the cottage. She had a large, broad-brimmed hat on,\npainted with the most splendid flowers.\n\n\u201cPoor little child!\u201d said the old woman, \u201chow did you get upon the\nlarge, rapid river, to be driven about so in the wide world!\u201d And then\nthe old woman went into the water, caught hold of the boat with her\ncrooked stick, drew it to the bank, and lifted little Gerda out. And\nGerda was glad to be on dry land again, but she was rather afraid of\nthe strange old woman.\n\n\u201cBut come and tell me who you are, and how you came here,\u201d said she.\n\nAnd Gerda told her all; and the old woman shook her head and said,\n\u201cA-hem! a-hem!\u201d and when Gerda had told her everything, and asked\nher if she had not seen little Kay, the woman answered that he had\nnot passed there, but he no doubt would come; and she told her not\nto be cast down, but to taste her cherries, and look at her flowers,\nwhich were finer than any in a picture-book, for each could tell a\nwhole story. She then took Gerda by the hand, led her into the little\ncottage, and locked the door.\n\nThe windows were very high up; the glass was red, blue, and green, and\nthe sunlight shone through quite wondrously in all sorts of colours. On\nthe table stood the most exquisite cherries, and Gerda ate as many as\nshe chose, for she had permission to do so. While she was eating, the\nold woman combed her hair with a golden comb, and her hair curled and\nshone with a lovely golden colour around that sweet little face, which\nwas so round and so like a rose.\n\n\u201cI have often longed for such a dear little girl,\u201d said the old woman.\n\u201cNow you shall see how well we agree together;\u201d and while she combed\nlittle Gerda\u2019s hair, the child forgot her foster-brother Kay more and\nmore, for the old woman understood magic; but she was no evil being,\nshe only practised witchcraft a little for her own amusement, and she\nwished very much to keep little Gerda. She, therefore, went out into\nthe garden, stretched out her crooked stick towards the rosebushes,\nwhich, beautifully as they were growing, all sank into the earth, and\nno one could tell where they had stood. The old woman feared that if\nGerda should see the roses, she would then think of her own, would\nremember little Kay, and run away from her.\n\nShe now led Gerda into the flower-garden. Oh, what odour and what\nloveliness was there! Every flower that one could think of, and of\nevery season, stood there in fullest bloom; no picture-book could be\ngayer or more beautiful. Gerda jumped for joy, and played till the sun\nset behind the tall cherry-tree; she then had a pretty bed, with a red\nsilken coverlet filled with blue violets. She fell asleep, and had as\npleasant dreams as ever a queen on her wedding-day.\n\nThe next morning she went to play with the flowers in the warm\nsunshine, and thus passed away a day. Gerda knew every flower; and,\nnumerous as they were, it still seemed to Gerda that one was wanting,\nthough she did not know which. One day, while she was looking at the\nold woman\u2019s hat which was painted with flowers, the most beautiful of\nthem all seemed to her to be a rose. The old woman had forgotten to\ntake it from her hat when she made the others vanish in the earth. But\nso it is when one\u2019s thoughts are not collected. \u201cWhat!\u201d said Gerda,\n\u201care there no roses here?\u201d and she ran about amongst the flower-beds,\nand looked, and looked, but there was not one to be found. She then sat\ndown and wept. Her hot tears fell just where a rosebush had sunk; and\nwhere her warm tears watered the ground, the rosebush shot up suddenly\nas fresh and blooming as when it had been swallowed up. Gerda kissed\nthe roses, thought of her own dear roses at home, and with them of\nlittle Kay.\n\n\u201cOh, how long I have stayed!\u201d said the little girl. \u201cI intended to look\nfor Kay! Don\u2019t you know where he is?\u201d asked she of the roses. \u201cDo you\nthink he is dead and gone?\u201d\n\n\u201cDead he certainly is not,\u201d said the roses. \u201cWe have been in the earth\nwhere all the dead are, but Kay is not there.\u201d\n\n\u201cMany thanks!\u201d said little Gerda; and she went to the other flowers,\nlooked into their cups, and asked, \u201cDon\u2019t you know where little Kay\nis?\u201d But every flower stood in the sunshine, and dreamed its own\nfairy-tale or its own story; and they all told her very many things;\nbut not one knew anything of Kay.\n\nThen Gerda questioned the little snowdrop.\n\n\u201cBetween the trees a long board is hanging--it is a swing. Two little\ngirls are sitting in it, and are swinging themselves backward and\nforward: their frocks are as white as snow, and long green silk ribbons\nflutter from their bonnets. Their brother, who is older than they\nare, stands up in the swing; he twines his arms round the cords to\nhold himself fast, for in one hand he has a little cup, and in the\nother a clay pipe. He is blowing soap-bubbles. The swing moves. The\nlittle black dog, as light as a soap-bubble, jumps up on his hind legs\nto try to get into the swing. It moves, the dog falls down, barks,\nand is angry. They tease him; the bubble bursts! A swing--a bursting\nbubble--such is my song!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat you relate may be very pretty, but you tell it so sorrowfully,\nand you don\u2019t even mention little Kay.\u201d\n\nThen Gerda went to the buttercups, that looked forth from among the\nshining green leaves.\n\n\u201cYou are a little bright sun!\u201d said Gerda. \u201cTell me if you know where\nI can find my playfellow.\u201d\n\nAnd the buttercups shone brightly, and looked again at Gerda. What song\ncould they sing? It was one that said nothing about Kay either.\n\n\u201cIn a small court the bright sun was shining in the first days of\nspring. The beams glided down the white walls of a neighbour\u2019s house,\nand close by the fresh yellow flowers were growing, shining like gold\nin the warm sun-rays. An old grandmother was sitting in the air, with\nher granddaughter, the poor and lovely servant just come for a short\nvisit. She knows her grandmother. There was gold, pure, virgin gold\nin that blessed kiss. There, that is our little story,\u201d said the\nbuttercups.\n\n\u201cMy poor old grandmother!\u201d sighed Gerda. \u201cYes, she is longing for me,\nno doubt; she is sorrowing for me, as she did for little Kay. But I\nwill soon come home, and then I will bring Kay with me. It is of no use\nasking the flowers; they know only their own old rhymes, and can tell\nme nothing.\u201d And then off she ran to the further end of the garden.\n\nThe gate was locked, but she shook the rusted bolt till it was\nloosened, and the gate opened; and little Gerda ran off barefooted\ninto the wide world. She looked round her thrice, but no one followed\nher. At last she could run no longer; she sat down on a large stone,\nand when she looked about her, she saw that the summer had passed; it\nwas late in the autumn, but that one could not remark in the beautiful\ngarden, where there was always sunshine, and where there were flowers\nthe whole year round.\n\n\u201cDear me, how long I have stayed!\u201d said Gerda. \u201cAutumn is come. I must\nnot rest any longer.\u201d And she got up to continue her journey.\n\nOh, how tender and weary her little feet were! All around it looked so\ncold and raw; the long willow-leaves were quite yellow, and the fog\ndripped from them like water; one leaf fell after the other; the sloes\nonly stood full of fruit which set one\u2019s teeth on edge. Oh, how dark\nand comfortless it was in the dreary world!\n\n\nFOURTH STORY\n\n_The Prince and Princess_\n\nGerda was obliged to rest herself again, when, exactly opposite to\nher, a large raven came hopping over the white snow. He had long been\nlooking at Gerda and shaking his head; and now he said, \u201cCaw! caw! Good\nday! good day!\u201d He could not say it better; but he felt a sympathy for\nthe little girl, and asked her where she was going all alone. The world\n\u201calone\u201d Gerda understood quite well, and felt how much was expressed by\nit; so she told the Raven her whole history, and asked if he had not\nseen Kay.\n\nThe Raven nodded very gravely, and said, \u201cIt may be--it may be!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat! do you really think so?\u201d cried the little girl; and she nearly\nsqueezed the Raven to death, so much did she kiss him.\n\n\u201cGently, gently,\u201d said the Raven. \u201cI think I know; I think that it may\nbe little Kay. But now he has forgotten you for the Princess.\u201d\n\n\u201cDoes he live with a princess?\u201d asked Gerda.\n\n\u201cYes,--listen,\u201d said the Raven; \u201cbut it will be difficult for me to\nspeak your language. If you understand the Raven language, I can tell\nyou better.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I have not learnt it,\u201d said Gerda; \u201cbut my grandmother understands\nit. I wish I had learnt it.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo matter,\u201d said the Raven; \u201cI will tell you as well as I can;\nhowever, it will be bad enough.\u201d And then he told all he knew.\n\n\u201cIn the kingdom where we now are there lives a princess who is\nextraordinarily clever; for she has read all the newspapers in the\nwhole world, and has forgotten them again,--so clever is she. She\nwas lately, it is said, sitting on her throne,--which is not so very\namusing, after all,--when she began humming an old tune, and it was\njust \u2018Oh, why should I not be married?\u2019 \u2018That song is not without\nits meaning,\u2019 said she, and then she was determined to marry; but she\nwould have a husband who knew how to give an answer when he was spoken\nto,--not one who looked only as if he were a great personage, for\nthat is so tiresome. She then had all the ladies of the court drummed\ntogether; and when they heard her intention, all were well pleased,\nand said, \u2018We are quite glad to hear it; it is the very thing we were\nthinking of.\u2019 You may believe every word I say,\u201d said the Raven, \u201cfor I\nhave a tame sweetheart that hops about in the palace quite free, and it\nwas she who told me all this.\n\n\u201cThe newspapers appeared forthwith with a border of hearts and the\ninitials of the Princess; and therein you might read that every\ngood-looking young man was at liberty to come to the palace and speak\nto the Princess; and he who spoke in such wise as showed he felt\nhimself at home there, that one the Princess would choose for her\nhusband.\n\n\u201cYes--yes,\u201d said the Raven, \u201cyou may believe it; it is as true as I am\nsitting here. People came in crowds; there was a crush and a hurry,\nbut no one was successful either on the first or second day. They could\nall talk well enough when they were out in the street; but as soon as\nthey came inside the palace-gates, and saw the guard richly dressed\nin silver, and the lackeys in gold, on the staircase, and the large,\nilluminated saloons, then they were abashed; and when they stood before\nthe throne on which the Princess was sitting, all they could do was to\nrepeat the last word they had uttered, and to hear it again did not\ninterest her very much. It was just as if the people within were under\na charm, and had fallen into a trance till they came out again into\nthe street; for then,--yes, then they could chatter enough. There was\na whole row of them standing from the town-gates to the palace. I was\nthere myself to look,\u201d said the Raven. \u201cThey grew hungry and thirsty:\nbut from the palace they got nothing whatever, not even a glass of\nwater. Some of the cleverest, it is true, had taken bread and butter\nwith them; but none shared it with his neighbour, for each thought,\n\u2018Let him look hungry, and then the Princess won\u2019t have him.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cBut Kay--little Kay,\u201d said Gerda, \u201cwhen did he come? Was he among the\nnumber?\u201d\n\n\u201cPatience, patience; we are just come to him. It was on the third day,\nwhen a little personage, without horse or equipage, came marching right\nboldly up to the palace; his eyes shone like yours, he had beautiful\nlong hair, but his clothes were very shabby.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat was Kay,\u201d cried Gerda, with a voice of delight. \u201cOh, now I\u2019ve\nfound him!\u201d and she clapped her hands for joy.\n\n\u201cHe had a little knapsack at his back,\u201d said the Raven.\n\n\u201cNo, that was certainly his sledge,\u201d said Gerda; \u201cfor when he went away\nhe took his sledge with him.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat may be,\u201d said the Raven; \u201cI did not examine him so minutely: but\nI know from my tame sweetheart that when he came into the courtyard\nof the palace, and saw the bodyguard in silver, the lackeys on the\nstaircase, he was not the least abashed; he nodded, and said to them,\n\u2018It must be very tiresome to stand on the stairs; for my part, I shall\ngo in.\u2019 All the rooms were ablaze with light; privy-councilors and\nexcellencies were walking about barefoot, and bearing gold vases; it\nwas enough to make anyone feel uncomfortable. His boots creaked, too,\nso loudly; but still he was not at all afraid.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s Kay, for certain,\u201d said Gerda. \u201cI know he had on new boots; I\nhave heard them creaking in grandmamma\u2019s room.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, they creaked,\u201d said the Raven. \u201cAnd on he went boldly up to the\nPrincess, who was sitting on a pearl as large as a spinning-wheel.\nAll the ladies of the court, with their attendants and attendants\u2019\nattendants, and all the cavaliers, with their gentlemen and gentlemen\u2019s\ngentlemen, stood round; and the nearer they stood to the door, the\nprouder they looked. It was hardly possible to look at the gentlemen\u2019s\ngentleman, so very haughtily did he stand in the doorway.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt must have been terrible,\u201d said little Gerda. \u201cAnd did Kay get the\nPrincess?\u201d\n\n\u201cWere I not a Raven, I should have taken the Princess myself, although\nI am promised. It is said he spoke as well as I speak when I talk Raven\nlanguage; this I learned from my tame sweetheart. He was bold and\nnicely behaved; he had not come to woo the Princess, but only to hear\nher wisdom. She pleased him, and he pleased her.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, yes; for certain that was Kay,\u201d said Gerda. \u201cHe was so clever;\nhe could reckon fractions in his head. Oh, won\u2019t you take me to the\npalace?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is very easily said,\u201d answered the Raven. \u201cBut how are we to\nmanage it? I\u2019ll speak to my tame sweetheart about it; she must advise\nus; for so much I must tell you, such a little girl as you are will\nnever get permission to enter.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes, I shall,\u201d said Gerda; \u201cwhen Kay hears that I am here, he will\ncome out directly to fetch me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWait for me here on these steps,\u201d said the Raven. He moved his head\nbackward and forward, and flew away.\n\nThe evening was closing in when the Raven returned.\n\n\u201cCaw! caw!\u201d said he. \u201cShe sends you her compliments; and here is a roll\nfor you. She took it out of the kitchen, where there is bread enough.\nYou are hungry, no doubt. It is not possible for you to enter the\npalace, for you are barefoot; the guards in silver and the lackeys in\ngold would not allow it; but do not cry, you shall come in still. My\nsweetheart knows a little back stair that leads to the bedroom, and she\nknows where she can find the key.\u201d\n\nAnd they went into the garden by the large avenue, where one leaf\nafter another was falling; and when the lights in the palace had all\ngradually disappeared, the Raven led little Gerda to the back door,\nwhich stood half open. Oh, how Gerda\u2019s heart beat with longing! It was\njust as if she had been about to do something wrong; and yet she only\nwanted to know if little Kay was there. Yes, he must be there. She\ncalled to mind his intelligent eyes and his long hair so vividly, she\ncould quite see him as he used to laugh when they were sitting under\nthe roses at home. \u201cHe will, no doubt, be glad to see you,--to hear\nwhat a long way you have come for his sake; to know how unhappy all at\nhome were when he did not come back.\u201d\n\nHer heart thrilled with fear and joy.\n\nThey were now on the stairs. A single lamp was burning there; and on\nthe floor stood the tame Raven, turning her head on every side and\nlooking at Gerda, who bowed as her grandmother had taught her to do.\n\n\u201cMy intended has told me so much good of you, my dear young lady,\u201d said\nthe tame Raven. \u201cYour tale is very affecting. If you will take the\nlamp, I will go before. We will go straight on, for we shall meet no\none.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think there is somebody just behind us,\u201d said Gerda; and something\nrushed past: it was like shadowy figures on the wall; horses with\nflowing manes and thin legs, huntsmen, ladies and gentlemen on\nhorseback.\n\n\u201cThey are only dreams,\u201d said the Raven. \u201cThey come to fetch the\nthoughts of the high personages to the chase: \u2019tis well, for now you\ncan look at them in their beds quite safely.\u201d\n\nThey now entered the first room, which was of rose-coloured satin,\nembroidered with flowers. Here the dreams were rushing past, but they\nhastened by so quickly that Gerda could not see the high personages.\nOne hall was more magnificent than the other; and at last they came to\na bedroom. The ceiling of the room was like a large palm-tree, with\nleaves of costly glass; and in the middle of the floor two beds shaped\nlike lilies hung from thick, golden stems. One was white, and in this\nlay the Princess: the other was red, and it was there that Gerda was\nto look for little Kay. She bent back one of the red leaves, and saw a\nbrown neck--Oh, that was Kay! She called him quite loud by name, held\nthe lamp toward him, he awoke, turned his head, and--it was not little\nKay!\n\nThe Prince was only like him about the neck; but he was young and\nhandsome. And out of the white lily leaves the Princess peeped, too,\nand asked what was the matter. Then little Gerda cried and told her her\nwhole history, and all that the Ravens had done for her.\n\n\u201cPoor little thing!\u201d said the Prince and the Princess. They praised the\nRavens very much, and told them they were not at all angry with them,\nbut they were not to do so again. However, they should have a reward.\n\n\u201cWill you fly about here at liberty,\u201d asked the Princess; \u201cor would you\nlike to have a fixed appointment as court ravens, with all the broken\nbits from the kitchen?\u201d\n\nAnd both the Ravens nodded, and begged for a fixed appointment; for\nthey thought of their old age, and said, \u201cIt was a good thing to have a\nprovision for their old days.\u201d\n\nAnd the Prince got up and let Gerda sleep in his bed, and more than\nthis he could not do. She folded her little hands, and thought, \u201cHow\nkind all are to me, people and animals as well,\u201d and she then fell\nasleep and slept soundly. All the dreams flew in again, and they now\nlooked like the angels; they drew a little sledge, in which little Kay\nsat and nodded his head; but the whole was only a dream, and therefore\nit all vanished as soon as she awoke.\n\nThe next day she was dressed from head to foot in silk and velvet. They\noffered to let her stay at the palace, and lead a happy life; but she\nbegged to have a little carriage with a horse in front, and for a small\npair of shoes: then, she said, she would again go forth in the wide\nworld and look for Kay.\n\nShoes and a muff were given her; she was dressed very nicely, too; and\nwhen she was about to set off, a new carriage stopped before the door.\nIt was of pure gold, and the arms of the Prince and Princess shone\nlike a star upon it; the coachman, the footman, and the outriders, for\noutriders were there, too, all wore golden crowns. The Prince and the\nPrincess assisted her into the carriage themselves, and wished her\nall success. The Raven of the woods, who was now married, accompanied\nher for the first three miles. He sat beside Gerda, for he could\nnot bear riding backward. The other Raven stood in the doorway; and\nflapped her wings; she could not accompany Gerda, because she suffered\nfrom headache since she had a fixed appointment and ate so much. The\ncarriage was lined inside with sugar-plums, and in the seats were\nfruits and gingerbread.\n\n\u201cFarewell! farewell!\u201d cried Prince and Princess; and Gerda wept, and\nthe Raven wept. Thus passed the first three miles; and then the Raven\nbade her farewell, and this was the most painful separation of all. He\nperched upon a tree, and flapped his black wings as long as he could\nsee the coach.\n\n\nFIFTH STORY\n\n_The Little Robber-Maiden_\n\nNow Gerda was driven through a gloomy forest, but the coach shone like\na torch, and it dazzled the eyes of some robbers who were in the woods\nso that they could not bear to look at it.\n\n\u201c\u2019Tis gold! \u2019Tis gold!\u201d cried they; and they rushed forward, seized\nthe horses, knocked down the little postilion, the coachman, and the\nservants, and pulled little Gerda out of the carriage.\n\n\u201cHow plump, how beautiful she is! She must have been fed on\nnut-kernels,\u201d said an old robber-woman, who had a long, scrubby beard,\nand bushy eyebrows that hung down over her eyes. \u201cShe will taste as\ngood as a fatted lamb!\u201d And then she drew out a knife, the blade of\nwhich shone so that it was quite dreadful to behold.\n\n\u201cLet her alone,\u201d called out a little robber-child. \u201cShe will give me\nher muff, and her pretty frock; she shall sleep in my bed!\u201d\n\n\u201cI will have a ride in her carriage,\u201d said the little robber-maiden.\nShe would have her will, for she was very spoiled, and very\nheadstrong. She and Gerda got in; and then away they drove over the\nstumps of felled trees, deeper and deeper into the woods. The little\nrobber-maiden was as tall as Gerda, but stronger, broader-shouldered,\nand of dark complexion; her eyes were quite black. She embraced\nlittle Gerda, and said, \u201cThey shall not kill you as long as I am not\ndispleased with you. You are, doubtless, a princess?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said little Gerda, who then related all that had happened to her,\nand how much she cared about little Kay.\n\nThe little robber-maiden looked at her with a serious air, nodded her\nhead slightly, and said, \u201cThey shall not kill you, even if I am angry\nwith you: then I will do it myself;\u201d and she dried Gerda\u2019s eyes, and\nput both her hands in the handsome muff, which was so soft and warm.\n\nAt length the carriage stopped. They were in the midst of the courtyard\nof a robber\u2019s castle. It was full of cracks from top to bottom; and out\nof the openings magpies and rooks were flying; and the great bulldogs,\neach of which looked as if he could swallow a man, jumped up, but they\ndid not bark, for that was forbidden.\n\nIn the midst of the large, old, smoking hall burnt a great fire on the\nstone floor. The smoke disappeared under the stones, and had to seek\nits own egress. In an immense cauldron soup was boiling; and rabbits\nand hares were being roasted on a spit.\n\n\u201cYou shall sleep with me to-night, with my little animals,\u201d said the\nlittle robber-maiden. They had something to eat and drink; and then\nwent into a corner, where straw and carpets were lying. Beside them, on\nperches, sat nearly a hundred pigeons, all asleep, seemingly, but yet\nthey moved a little when the robber-maiden came. \u201cThey are all mine,\u201d\nsaid she, at the same time seizing one that was next to her by the\nlegs, and shaking it so that its wings fluttered.\n\n\u201cKiss it!\u201d cried the little girl, flapping the pigeon in Gerda\u2019s face.\n\u201cThere are a lot of them,\u201d continued she, pointing to a hole high up\nin the wall. \u201cThey would all fly away immediately, if they were not\nwell fastened in. And here is my dear old Bac.\u201d She laid hold of the\nhorns of a reindeer, that had a bright copper ring round its neck, and\nwas tethered to the spot. \u201cWe are obliged to lock this fellow in, too,\nor he would make his escape. Every evening I tickle his neck with my\nsharp knife, which he is very much afraid of!\u201d and the little girl drew\nforth a long knife from a crack in the wall, and let it glide gently\nacross the reindeer\u2019s neck. The poor animal began to kick and the girl\nlaughed, and pulled Gerda into bed with her.\n\n\u201cDo you intend to keep your knife while you sleep?\u201d asked Gerda,\nlooking at it rather fearfully.\n\n\u201cI always sleep with the knife,\u201d said the little robber-maiden: \u201cthere\nis no knowing what may happen. But tell me now, once more, all about\nlittle Kay; and why you have started off in the wide world alone.\u201d And\nGerda related all, from the very beginning. The little robber-maiden\nwound her arm round Gerda\u2019s neck, held the knife in the other hand, and\nsnored so loud that everybody could hear her. But Gerda could not close\nher eyes, not knowing whether she was to live or die. The robbers sat\nround the fire, and the old robber-woman jumped about so, that it was\ndreadful for Gerda to see her.\n\nThen the wood-pigeons said, \u201cCoo! coo! we have seen little Kay! A\nwhite hen carries his sledge; he himself sat in the carriage of the\nSnow-Queen, which passed right over the forest as we lay in our nests.\nShe blew upon us young ones, and all died except we two. Coo! coo!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is that you say up there?\u201d cried little Gerda. \u201cWhere did the\nSnow-Queen go to? Do you know anything about it?\u201d\n\n\u201cShe is no doubt gone to Lapland; for there are always snow and ice\nthere. Only ask the Reindeer, who is tethered here.\u201d\n\n\u201cAye, ice and snow indeed! There it is glorious and beautiful!\u201d said\nthe Reindeer. \u201cOne can spring about in the large, shining valleys! The\nSnow-Queen has her summer-tent there; but her fixed abode is high up\ntowards the North Pole, on the island called Spitzbergen.\u201d\n\n\u201cO Kay! poor little Kay!\u201d sighed Gerda.\n\n\u201cDo you choose to be quiet?\u201d said the robber-maiden. \u201cIf you don\u2019t, I\nshall make you.\u201d\n\nIn the morning Gerda told her all that the wood-pigeons had said; and\nthe little maiden looked very serious, but she nodded her head, and\nsaid, \u201cThat\u2019s no matter--that\u2019s no matter. Do you know where Lapland\nlies?\u201d asked she of the Reindeer.\n\n\u201cWho should know better than I?\u201d said the animal; and his eyes rolled\nin his head. \u201cI was born and bred there; there I leapt about on the\nfields of snow.\u201d\n\n\u201cListen,\u201d said the robber-maiden to Gerda. \u201cYou see that the men are\ngone; but my mother is still here, and will remain. As soon as she\nsleeps a little I will do something for you.\u201d She now jumped out\nof bed, flew to her mother; and with her arms round her neck said,\n\u201cGood-morning, you old stupid! good-morning.\u201d And her mother in return\ntook hold of her nose, and pinched it till it was red and blue,--and\nall this was out of pure love.\n\nWhen the mother had taken a sup, and was having a nap, the little\nrobber-maiden went to the Reindeer, and said, \u201cI should very much like\nto give you still many a tickling with a sharp knife, for then you are\nso amusing; however, I will untether you, and help you out, so that you\nmay get back to Lapland. But you must make good use of your legs; and\ntake this little girl for me to the palace of the Snow-Queen, where her\nplayfellow is. You have heard, I suppose, all she said; for she spoke\nloud enough, and you were listening.\u201d\n\nThe Reindeer gave a bound for joy. The robber-maiden lifted up little\nGerda, and took the precaution to bind her fast on the Reindeer\u2019s back;\nshe even gave her a small cushion to sit on. \u201cHere are your worsted\nleggins, for it will be cold; but the muff I shall keep for myself, for\nit is so very pretty. But I do not wish you to be cold. Here is a pair\nof lined gloves belonging to my mother; they will just reach up to your\nelbow.\u201d\n\nAnd Gerda wept for joy.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t bear to see you fretting,\u201d said the little robber-maiden.\n\u201cThis is just the time when you ought to look pleased. Here are two\nloaves and a ham for you, so now you won\u2019t starve.\u201d The bread and the\nmeat were fastened to the Reindeer\u2019s back; the little maiden opened the\ndoor, called in all the dogs, and then with her knife cut the rope that\nfastened the animal, and said to him, \u201cNow off with you; but take good\ncare of the little girl!\u201d\n\nAnd Gerda stretched out her hands with the large, wadded gloves toward\nthe robber-maiden, and said, \u201cFarewell!\u201d and the Reindeer flew on over\nbush and bramble, through the great wood, over moor and heath, as fast\nas he could go.\n\n\nSIXTH STORY\n\n_The Lapland Woman and the Finland Woman_\n\nSuddenly they stopped before a little house which looked very\nmiserable: the roof reached to the ground; and the door was so low,\nthat the family was obliged to creep on all fours when they went in or\nout. Nobody was at home except an old Lapland woman, who was dressing\nfish by the light of an oil lamp. And the Reindeer told her the whole\nof Gerda\u2019s history, but first of all, his own; for that seemed to him\nof much greater importance. Gerda was so chilled that she could not\nspeak.\n\n\u201cPoor thing,\u201d said the Lapland woman, \u201cyou have far to run still. You\nhave more than a hundred miles to go before you get to Finland; there\nthe Snow-Queen has her country-house, and burns blue lights every\nevening. I will give you a few words from me, which I will write on a\ndried fish, for paper I have none. This you can take with you to the\nFinland woman, and she will be able to give you more information than I\ncan.\u201d\n\nWhen Gerda had warmed herself, and had eaten and drunk, the Lapland\nwoman wrote a few words on a dried fish, begged Gerda to take care of\nthem, put her on the Reindeer, bound her fast, and away sprang the\nanimal. The most charming blue lights burned the whole night in the\nsky, and at last they came to Finland. They knocked at the chimney of\nthe Finland woman; for as to a door, she had none.\n\nThere was such a heat inside that the Finland woman herself went about\nalmost naked. She was diminutive and dirty. She immediately loosened\nlittle Gerda\u2019s clothes, pulled off her thick gloves and boots; for\notherwise the heat would have been too great; and after laying a piece\nof ice on the Reindeer\u2019s head, read what was written on the fishskin.\nShe read it three times; she then knew it by heart; so she put the fish\ninto the cupboard--for it might very well be eaten, and she never threw\nanything away.\n\nThen the Reindeer related his own story first, and afterwards that of\nlittle Gerda; and the Finland woman winked her eyes, but said nothing.\n\n\u201cYou are so clever,\u201d said the Reindeer: \u201cyou can, I know, twist all\nthe winds of the world together in a knot. If the seaman loosens one\nknot, then he has a good wind; if a second, then it blows pretty\nstiffly; if he undoes the third and fourth, then it rages so that the\nforests are upturned. Will you give the little maiden a potion, that\nshe may possess the strength of twelve men, and be able to conquer the\nSnow-Queen?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe strength of twelve men!\u201d said the Finland woman; \u201cmuch good that\nwould be!\u201d Then she went to a cupboard, and drew out a large skin\nrolled up. When she had unrolled it, strange characters were to be\nseen written thereon; and the Finland woman read at such a rate, that\nthe perspiration trickled down her forehead. But the Reindeer begged\nso hard for little Gerda, and Gerda looked so imploringly with tearful\neyes at the Finland woman, that she winked and drew the Reindeer aside\ninto a corner, where they whispered together, while the animal got some\nfresh ice put on his head.\n\n\u201c\u2019Tis true little Kay is at the Snow-Queen\u2019s and finds everything there\nquite to his taste; and he thinks it the very best place in the world:\nbut the reason of that is, he has a splinter of glass in his eye and in\nhis heart. These must be gotten out first; otherwise he will never go\nback to mankind, and the Snow-Queen will always retain her power over\nhim.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you can give little Gerda nothing to take which will endue her\nwith power over the whole?\u201d\n\n\u201cI can give her no more power than what she has already. Don\u2019t you\nsee how great it is? Don\u2019t you see how men and animals are forced to\nserve her; how well she gets through the world barefooted? She must not\nhear of her power from us: that power lies in her heart, because she\nis a sweet and innocent child! If she cannot get to the Snow-Queen by\nherself, and rid little Kay of the glass, we cannot help her. Two miles\nhence the garden of the Snow-Queen begins; thither you may carry the\nlittle girl. Set her down by the large bush with red berries, standing\nin the snow; don\u2019t stay talking, but hasten back as fast as possible.\u201d\nAnd now the Finland woman placed little Gerda on the Reindeer\u2019s back,\nand off he ran with all imaginable speed.\n\n\u201cOh! I have not got my boots! I have not brought my gloves!\u201d cried\nlittle Gerda. She remarked she was without them from the cutting frost;\nbut the Reindeer dared not stand still; on he ran till he came to the\ngreat bush with the red berries; and there he set Gerda down, kissed\nher mouth, while large, bright tears flowed from the animal\u2019s eyes,\nand then back he went as fast as possible. There stood poor Gerda now,\nwithout shoes or gloves, in the very middle of dreadful, icy Finland.\n\nShe ran on as fast as she could. There then came a whole regiment of\nsnowflakes, but they did not fall from above, and they were quite\nbright and shining from the Aurora Borealis. The flakes ran along the\nground, and the nearer they came the larger they grew. Gerda well\nremembered how large and strange the snowflakes appeared when she\nonce saw them through a magnifying-glass; but now they were large and\nterrific in another manner--they were all alive. They were the outposts\nof the Snow-Queen. They had the most wondrous shapes; some looked like\nlarge, ugly porcupines; others like snakes knotted together, with\ntheir heads sticking out; and others, again, like small, fat bears,\nwith the hair standing on end: all were of dazzling whiteness--all were\nliving snowflakes.\n\nThe cold was so intense that little Gerda could see her own breath,\nwhich came like smoke out of her mouth. It grew thicker and thicker,\nand took the form of little angels, that grew more and more when they\ntouched the earth. All had helmets on their heads, and carried lances\nand shields in their hands. They increased in numbers; and soon Gerda\nwas surrounded by a host of them. They pierced the frightful snowflakes\nwith their spears, so that they flew into a thousand pieces; and little\nGerda walked on bravely and in security. The angels patted her hands\nand feet; and then she felt the cold less, and went on quickly towards\nthe palace of the Snow-Queen.\n\nBut now we shall see how Kay fared. He never thought of Gerda, and\nleast of all that she was standing before the palace.\n\n\nSEVENTH STORY\n\n_What Took Place in the Palace of the Snow-Queen, and What Happened\nAfterward_\n\nThe walls of the palace were of driving snow, and the windows and doors\nof cutting winds. There were more than a hundred halls there, according\nas the snow was driven by the winds. The largest was many miles in\nextent; all were lighted up by the powerful Aurora Borealis, and all\nwere large, empty, icy cold, and resplendent! Mirth never reigned\nthere; there was never even a little ball for the bears, with the storm\nof music, while the polar bears went on their hind-legs and showed off\ntheir steps. Never a little tea-party of white young lady foxes; vast,\ncold, and empty were the halls of the Snow-Queen. The northern lights\nshone with such precision that one could tell exactly when they were\nat their highest or lowest degree of brightness. In the middle of the\nempty, endless hall of snow was a frozen lake; it was cracked in a\nthousand pieces, but each piece was so like the other, that it seemed\nthe work of a cunning artificer. In the middle of this lake sat the\nSnow-Queen when she was at home. But just now she had gone away in a\nfar distant land.\n\nLittle Kay was quite blue, yes, nearly black, with cold; but he did not\nobserve it, for she had kissed away all feeling of cold from his body,\nand his heart was a lump of ice. He was dragging along some pointed,\nflat pieces of ice, which he laid together in all possible ways, for\nhe wanted to make something with them; just as we have little flat\npieces of wood to make geometrical figures with, called the Chinese\nPuzzle. Kay made all sorts of figures, the most complicated, for it\nwas an ice-puzzle for the understanding. In his eyes the figures were\nextraordinarily beautiful, and of the utmost importance; for the bit of\nglass which was in his eye caused this. He found whole figures which\nrepresented a written word; but he never could manage to represent just\nthe word he wanted--that word was \u201cEternity\u201d; and the Snow-Queen had\nsaid, \u201cIf you can discover that figure, you shall be your own master,\nand I will make you a present of the whole world and a pair of new\nskates.\u201d But he could not find it out.\n\n\u201cI am going now to the warm lands,\u201d said the Snow-Queen. \u201cI must have\na look down into the black cauldrons.\u201d It was the volcanoes Vesuvius\nand Etna that she meant. \u201cI will just give them a coating of white, for\nthat is as it ought to be; besides, it is good for the oranges and the\ngrapes.\u201d And then away she flew, and Kay sat quite alone in the empty\nhalls of ice that were miles long, and looked at the blocks of ice.\nThere he sat quite benumbed and motionless; one would have imagined he\nwas frozen to death.\n\nSuddenly little Gerda stepped through the great portal into the palace.\nThe gate was formed of cutting winds; but Gerda repeated her evening\nprayer, and the winds were laid as though they slept; and the little\nmaiden entered the vast, empty, cold halls. There she beheld Kay: she\nrecognized him, flew to embrace him, and cried out, her arms firmly\nholding him the while, \u201cKay, sweet little Kay! Have I then found you at\nlast!\u201d\n\nBut he sat quite still, benumbed and cold. Then little Gerda shed\nburning tears; and they fell on his bosom, they penetrated to his\nheart, they thawed the lumps of ice, and consumed the splinters of the\nlooking-glass; he looked at her, and she sang the hymn:--\n\n  \u201cThe rose in the valley is blooming so sweet,\n  The Christ-child is there the children to greet.\u201d\n\nHereupon Kay burst into tears; he wept so much that the splinter rolled\nout of his eye, and he recognized her, and shouted, \u201cGerda, sweet\nlittle Gerda! where have you been so long? And where have I been?\u201d He\nlooked round him, \u201cHow cold it is here!\u201d said he: \u201chow empty and cold!\u201d\nAnd he held fast by Gerda, who laughed and wept for joy. It was so\nbeautiful, that even the blocks of ice danced about for joy; and when\nthey were tired and laid themselves down, they formed exactly the\nletters which the Snow-Queen had told him to find out; so now he was\nhis own master, and he would have the whole world and a pair of new\nskates into the bargain.\n\nGerda kissed his cheeks, and they grew quite blooming; she kissed his\neyes, and they shone like her own; she kissed his hands and feet, and\nhe was again well and merry. The Snow-Queen might come back as soon as\nshe liked; there stood his discharge written in resplendent masses of\nice.\n\nThey took each other by the hands, and wandered forth out of the large\nhall; they talked of their old grandmother, and of the roses upon the\nroof; and wherever they went, the winds ceased raging, and the sun\nburst forth. And when they reached the bush with the red berries,\nthey found the Reindeer waiting for them. He had brought another, a\nyoung one, with him, whose udder was filled with milk, which he gave\nto the little ones, and kissed their lips. They then carried Kay and\nGerda,--first to the Finland woman, where they warmed themselves in\nthe warm room, and learned what they were to do on their journey home;\nand then they went to the Lapland woman, who made some new clothes for\nthem and repaired their sledges.\n\nThe Reindeer and the young hind leaped along beside them, and\naccompanied them to the boundary of the country. Here the first\nvegetation peeped forth; here Kay and Gerda took leave of the Lapland\nwoman. \u201cFarewell! farewell!\u201d said they all. And the first green buds\nappeared, the first little birds began to twitter; and out of the wood\ncame, riding on a magnificent horse which Gerda knew (it was one of the\nleaders in the golden carriage), a young damsel with a bright red cap\non her head, and armed with pistols. It was the little robber-maiden,\nwho, tired of being at home, had determined to make a journey to the\nnorth; and afterwards in another direction, if that did not please her.\nShe recognized Gerda immediately, and Gerda knew her, too. It was a\njoyful meeting.\n\n\u201cYou are a fine fellow for tramping about,\u201d said she to little Kay; \u201cI\nshould like to know whether you deserve that one should run from one\nend of the world to the other for your sake!\u201d\n\nBut Gerda patted her cheeks, and inquired for the Prince and Princess.\n\n\u201cThey are gone abroad,\u201d said the other.\n\n\u201cBut the Raven?\u201d asked little Gerda.\n\n\u201cOh! the Raven is dead,\u201d answered she. \u201cHis tame sweetheart is a widow,\nand wears a bit of black worsted round her leg; she laments most\npiteously, but it\u2019s all mere talk and stuff! Now tell me what you\u2019ve\nbeen doing, and how you managed to catch him.\u201d\n\nAnd Gerda and Kay both told her their story.\n\nAnd \u201cSnip, snap, snorum!\u201d said the robber-maiden; and she took the\nhands of each, and promised that if she should some day pass through\nthe town where they lived, she would come and visit them; and then away\nshe rode. Kay and Gerda took each other\u2019s hand: it was lovely spring\nweather, with abundance of flowers and of verdure. The church-bells\nrang, and the children recognized the high towers, and the large town;\nit was that in which they dwelt. They entered, and hastened up to\ntheir grandmother\u2019s room, where everything was standing as formerly.\nThe clock said, \u201cTick! tock!\u201d and the finger moved round; but as they\nentered, they remarked that they were now grown up. The roses on the\nroof hung blooming in at the open window; there stood the little\nchildren\u2019s chairs, and Kay and Gerda sat down on them, holding each\nother by the hand; they both had forgotten the cold, empty splendour of\nthe Snow-Queen, as though it had been a dream. The grandmother sat in\nthe bright sunshine, and read aloud from the Bible: \u201cUnless ye become\nas little children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.\u201d\n\nAnd Kay and Gerda looked in each other\u2019s eyes, and all at once they\nunderstood the old hymn:--\n\n  \u201cThe rose in the valley is blooming so sweet,\n  The Christ-child is there the children to greet.\u201d\n\nThere sat the two grown-up persons; grown up, and yet children;\nchildren at least in heart: and it was summer-time; summer, glorious\nsummer!\n\n\n\n\nA MERRY TALE OF THE KING AND THE COBBLER\n\n\nIt was the custom of King Henry the Eighth to disguise himself and\nwalk late in the night into the city of London, to observe how the\nconstables, and watchmen performed their duty, not only in guarding\nthe city gates, but also, in diligently watching the inner part of\nthe city, to observe what went on in the streets. This he did oftimes\nreturning home to Whitehall early in the morning without its being\ndiscovered who he was. Now, on returning home through the Strand he\noften took notice of a certain cobbler who was always up at work,\nwhistling and singing every morning. So, resolving to see him, the\nking knocked off the heel of his shoe, by hitting it against a stone.\nHaving so done he bounced against the stall.\n\n\u201cWho is there?\u201d cried the cobbler opening his stall door. The king\nasked him if he could fit on his heel.\n\n\u201cYes, that I can,\u201d said the cobbler. \u201cSo sit thee down and I will do it\nfor thee straightway.\u201d\n\nThe cobbler laid aside his awls and old shoes to make room for the king\nto sit by him. The king was hardly able to keep from laughing at the\ncobbler\u2019s manner. He then asked him, \u201cIs there not a house near where I\ncan get a cup of good ale, and the people up?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the cobbler, \u201cthere is an inn over the way, where I think\nthe folks are up, for carriers go from there very early every morning.\u201d\n\nWith that the king borrowed an old shoe of the cobbler and went with\nhim over to the inn, desiring him to bring his shoe over there, as soon\nas he had mended it. The cobbler promised that he would; so making as\nmuch haste as he could, he carried it over to the king saying, \u201cHonest\nblade, here is thy shoe. I\u2019ll warrant thee, the heel will not come off\nagain in haste.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the king, \u201cas thou art an honest, merry fellow, here is\nsixpence for thee. Come, sit down by me and I will drink with thee.\nHere\u2019s a good health to the king!\u201d\n\n\u201cWith all my heart,\u201d said the cobbler. \u201cI will pledge thee that were it\nonly in water.\u201d\n\nSo the cobbler sat down by the king and was very merry. He sang some of\nhis merry songs and catches at which the king laughed heartily, and was\nvery pleasant with the cobbler, telling him, withal, that his name was\nHarry Tudor and that he belonged to the court and that if the cobbler\nwould come to see him there, he would make him very welcome because he\nwas such a merry companion. He charged him to come and not forget his\nname, and to ask anyone about the court for him. \u201cFor,\u201d said the king,\n\u201cI am well known there. They will bring you to me.\u201d\n\nNow the cobbler little dreamed that it was the king that spoke to him,\nmuch less that the king\u2019s name was Harry Tudor. Therefore, with a\ngreat deal of confidence, he stood up, and pulled off his hat and gave\nthe king many thanks, telling him that he was one of the most honest\nfellows he had ever met in all his life, and that, though he had never\nbeen at court, it would not be long before he would make a holiday and\ncome to see him. Whereupon the king, having discharged the reckoning\nfor what he had had, would have taken leave, but the cobbler, taking\nthe king by the hand said, \u201cBy my faith! thou shalt not go yet; thou\nshalt first go and see my poor habitation, for thou art the most honest\nblade I ever met, and I love an honest, merry companion with all my\nheart.\u201d\n\nSo the cobbler took the king with him, over the way, where he had a\ncellar adjoining his stall; which was handsomely furnished for a man of\nhis calling. Into the cellar he led the king.\n\n\u201cThere,\u201d said he, \u201csit thee down, thou art welcome; but I must desire\nthee to speak softly for fear of waking my wife, Joan, who is in her\nbed nearby, for, if she should wake, she would certainly make our ears\nring.\u201d\n\nAt this speech of the cobbler\u2019s the king laughed, and told him he would\nbe mindful to follow his directions.\n\nSo the cobbler kindled a fire and fetched a brown loaf, from which\nhe cut a large slice of bread. This he set before the fire. Then he\nbrought forth a Cheshire cheese.\n\n\u201cCome,\u201d said he, \u201cwilt thou eat some cheese? There\u2019s as much good\nfellowship in eating, as in drinking.\u201d This made the king admire the\nfreedom of the cobbler. Having eaten a piece, the cobbler began,\n\u201cHere\u2019s a health to all true hearts and merry companions,\u201d at which the\nking smilingly said, \u201cI\u2019ll pledge thee, old friend, I\u2019ll pledge thee.\u201d\n\nIn this manner they ate and drank together, until almost break of day.\nThe cobbler became very free with the king, pleasing the king with\nseveral of his old stories.\n\nBut suddenly, the cobbler\u2019s old wife, Joan, began to show signs of\nwaking.\n\n\u201cIn faith,\u201d said the cobbler, \u201cyou must be gone now, for my wife,\nJoan, begins to grumble. She will wake presently and I would not, for\nall the shoes in my shop, that she should find thee here.\u201d\n\nSo taking the king upstairs he said, \u201cFarewell, honest blade, it shall\nnot be long before I make a holiday and come to see thee at court.\u201d\n\nThe king replied, \u201cThou shalt be kindly welcome.\u201d\n\nSo they parted, the king going on his way to Whitehall, and the cobbler\nback to his cellar where he put all things to rights before his wife,\nJoan, appeared. He went to work again whistling and singing as merry\nas he used to do, much satisfied that he had happened on such a good\ncompanion, and very much delighted at thinking of the merry time he\nwould have when he went to court.\n\nAs soon as the king reached home, he gave orders to all about the court\nthat if anyone inquired for him by the name of Harry Tudor, the person\nshould be brought before him, without further examination.\n\nTo the cobbler every day seemed a month until he had been at court to\nsee his new acquaintance. But he was much troubled how he should get\nleave of his wife, Joan. He could not go without her knowledge for he\nhad resolved to make himself as fine as ever he could and his wife,\nJoan, always kept his holiday clothes. One evening as they sat at\nsupper, she being in good humour, he began to lay open his mind to her\nand tell her the whole story of the acquaintance, repeating over and\nover again that Harry Tudor was the most honest man he had ever met.\n\n\u201cHusband,\u201d said Joan, \u201cbecause you have been so generous as to tell me\nthe truth, I shall give you leave to take a holiday. You shall go to\ncourt and I will make you as fine as possible.\u201d\n\nSo it was agreed that he might go the next day.\n\nJoan arose the next morning to brush her husband\u2019s clothes and to make\nhim look as snug as could be. She washed and ironed his lace band, and\nmade his shoes shine, till he could see his face in them. When this\nwas done she made her husband arise and dressed him carefully in his\nbest clothes.\n\nThe cobbler being thus equipped in his best strutted through the\nstreets, like a crow, thinking himself very fine indeed. In this manner\nhe came to court, staring at this person and that, as he walked up and\ndown, and not knowing anyone to ask for but Harry Tudor. At last he\nspied one as he thought in the dress of a serving man. To him he made\nhis address, saying, \u201cDost thou hear, honest fellow, dost thou know one\nHarry Tudor who belongs to the court?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the man, \u201cfollow me; and I will take you to him.\u201d\n\nWith that he took him presently into the guard-chamber, telling one of\nthe yeomen of the guard that here was a man who was inquiring for Harry\nTudor.\n\nThe yeoman replied, \u201cI know him very well, and if you please to go\nalong with me, I will bring you to him immediately.\u201d\n\nSo the cobbler followed the yeoman much admiring the finery of the\nrooms through which he passed and thinking within himself that the\nyeoman was not very unlike the person he inquired after. \u201cHe, whom I\nlook for,\u201d said he, \u201cis a plain, merry, honest fellow. His name is\nHarry Tudor. I suppose he may be some fine lord or other about the\ncourt.\u201d\n\n\u201cI tell you, friend,\u201d replied the yeoman, \u201cI do not know him very well.\nDo but follow me and I will bring you to him straightway.\u201d\n\nSo they went on and soon reached the room where the king sat surrounded\nby many of his nobles. As soon as the yeoman had drawn aside the\ncurtains he called out saying, \u201cMay it please your majesty, here is one\nthat inquires for Harry Tudor.\u201d\n\nThe cobbler hearing this and thinking he had committed no less\nthan treason took to his heels and ran for his life. But not being\nacquainted with the several turnings and rooms through which he had\ncome, he was soon overtaken and brought before the king, whom the\ncobbler little thought to be the person he was inquiring for. He\ntherefore, fell on his knees saying, \u201cMay it please your Grace, I am\na poor cobbler and inquired for one called Harry Tudor, who is a very\nhonest fellow. I mended the heel of his shoe not long ago, for which\nhe paid me nobly. I had him afterwards to my own cellar, where we were\nvery merry, till my wife, Joan, began to wake, which put an end to our\nmerriment, for that time. But I told him that I surely would come to\ncourt to see him, as soon as I conveniently could.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the king, \u201crise up and be not afraid! Look well about you.\nPerhaps you may find the fellow in this company.\u201d\n\nThe cobbler arose and looked wistfully upon the king and his nobles,\nbut to no purpose; for, although he thought he saw something in the\nking\u2019s face which he had seen before, yet, he could not imagine him to\nbe Harry Tudor, the heel of whose shoe he had mended, and who had been\nso merry with him, both at the inn and in his own cellar.\n\nHe therefore told the king he did not expect to find Harry Tudor among\nsuch fine folks as he saw there, but the person that he looked for was\na plain, honest, true-hearted fellow, adding withal, that he was sure\nif Harry Tudor did but know that he had come to court he would make him\nwelcome.\n\nAt this speech of the cobbler, the king had much to do to forbear\nlaughing; but keeping his countenance as well as he could, he said to\nthe yeoman of the guard, \u201cHere, take this honest cobbler down into\nthe cellar and I will give orders that Harry Tudor shall come to him\npresently.\u201d\n\nSo away went the cobbler ready to leap out of his skin for joy, not\nonly that he had gotten off so well in his meeting with the king, but\nalso that he should soon see his friend, Harry Tudor, again.\n\nThe cobbler had not been long in the cellar before the king came into\nhim, in the same clothes he had on when the cobbler mended his shoe.\nThe cobbler knew him immediately and ran to him and kissed him, saying,\n\u201cHonest Harry, I have made a holiday on purpose to come and see you,\nbut I had much to do to get leave of my wife, Joan, who was loathe I\nshould lose so much time from my work, but I was resolved to see you.\nSo I made myself as fine as I could. But I\u2019ll tell you, Harry, when I\ncame to court, I was in a pack of trouble how to find you out. At last\nI met a man who told me he knew you very well, and that he would bring\nme to you. But instead of doing so he brought me before the king, who\nhas almost frightened me to death. But in good faith,\u201d continued the\ncobbler, \u201cI am resolved to be merry with you, since I have the good\nfortune to find you at last.\u201d\n\n\u201cAy, so you shall,\u201d replied the king, \u201cwe will be as merry as princes.\u201d\n\nWith that they drank together the king\u2019s health.\n\n\u201cHonest Harry, I will pledge thee with all my heart.\u201d\n\nNow after the cobbler had made merry, he began to sing some of his old\nsongs and catches. This pleased the king very much and made him laugh\nmost heartily. All of a sudden a group of nobles came into the cellar\nrichly dressed. They stood with heads uncovered bowing before Harry\nTudor. This amazed the cobbler very much but recovering himself he\nlooked more closely upon Harry Tudor and presently he knew him to be\nthe king whom he had seen in the Presence Chamber.\n\nHe immediately fell upon his knees, saying, \u201cMay it please your\nMajesty, I am an honest cobbler and meant no harm.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no,\u201d said the king, \u201cnor shall receive any here, I promise you.\u201d\n\nHe commanded the cobbler, therefore, to rise and be as merry as he\nwas before; and though he knew him to be the king yet he should use\nthe same freedom with him as he did when he mended his shoe. This\nkind speech of the king\u2019s put the cobbler in as good humour as he was\nbefore. He told the king many of his best stories and he sang more of\nhis jolly songs, very much to the satisfaction of the king and his\nnobles.\n\nNow the king, considering the pleasant humours of the cobbler, how\ninnocently merry he was, and free from any design, and how he laboured\nvery hard, and took a great deal of pains for a small livelihood, was\npleased, out of his princely grace and favour to allot him a liberal\nannuity of forty marks a year for the better support of his jolly\nhumours and the maintenance of himself and his wife Joan. The king\nordered that he should be admitted as one of the courtiers.\n\nThis was so much beyond his highest expectations that it pleased him\ngreatly, much to the satisfaction of the king.\n\nSo after some bows and scrapes, he returned to his wife, Joan, with the\njoyful news of his kind reception at court.\n\n                                          From GAMMER GURTON\u2019S HISTORIE.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF MERRYMIND\n\nFRANCES BROWNE\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived in the north country a certain poor man\nand his wife, who had two corn-fields, three cows, five sheep, and\nthirteen children. Twelve of these children were called by names common\nin the north country--Hardhead, Stiffneck, Tightfingers, and the like;\nbut when the thirteenth came to be named, either the poor man and his\nwife could remember no other name, or something in the child\u2019s look\nmade them think it proper, for they called him Merrymind, which the\nneighbours thought a strange name, and very much above their station;\nhowever, as they showed no other signs of pride, the neighbours let\nthat pass. Their thirteen children grew taller and stronger every year,\nand they had hard work to keep them in bread; but when the youngest\nwas old enough to look after his father\u2019s sheep, there happened the\ngreat fair, to which everybody in the north country went, because it\ncame only once in seven years. It was held on midsummer-day, not in any\ntown or village, but on a green plain, lying between a broad river and\na high hill, where it was said the fairies used to dance in old and\nmerry times.\n\nMerchants and dealers of all sorts crowded to that fair from far and\nnear. There was nothing known in the north country that could not be\nbought or sold in it, and neither old nor young were willing to go\nhome without a fairing. The poor man who owned this large family could\nafford them little to spend in such ways; but as the fair happened\nonly once in seven years, he would not show a poor spirit. Therefore,\ncalling them about him, he opened the leathern bag in which his savings\nwere stored, and gave every one of the thirteen a silver penny.\n\nThe boys and girls had never before owned so much pocket-money; and,\nwondering what they should buy, they dressed themselves in their\nholiday clothes, and set out with their father and mother to the fair.\nWhen they came near the ground that midsummer morning, the stalls,\nheaped up with all manner of merchandise, from gingerbread upwards, the\ntents for fun and feasting, the puppet-shows, the rope-dancers, and the\ncrowd of neighbours and strangers, all in their best attire, made those\nsimple people think their north country fair the finest sight in the\nworld. The day wore away in seeing wonders, and in chatting with old\nfriends. It was surprising how far silver pennies went in those days;\nbut before evening twelve of the thirteen had got fairly rid of their\nmoney. One bought a pair of brass buckles, another a crimson riband,\na third green garters; the father bought a tobacco-pipe, the mother\na horn snuffbox--in short, all had provided themselves with fairings\nexcept Merrymind.\n\nThe cause of the silver penny remaining in his pocket was that he had\nset his heart upon a fiddle; and fiddles enough there were in the\nfair--small and large, plain and painted: he looked at and priced\nmost of them, but there was not one that came within the compass of a\nsilver penny. His father and mother warned him to make haste with his\npurchase, for they must all go home at sunset because the way was long.\n\nThe sun was getting low and red upon the hill; the fair was growing\nthin, for many dealers had packed up their stalls and departed; but\nthere was a mossy hollow in the great hillside, to which the outskirts\nof the fair had reached, and Merrymind thought he would see what\nmight be there. The first thing was a stall of fiddles, kept by a\nyoung merchant from a far country, who had many customers, his goods\nbeing fine and new; but hard by sat a little gray-haired man, at whom\neverybody had laughed that day, because he had nothing on his stall but\none old dingy fiddle, and all its strings were broken. Nevertheless,\nthe little man sat as stately, and cried, \u201cFiddles to sell!\u201d as if he\nhad the best stall in the fair.\n\n\u201cBuy a fiddle, my young master?\u201d he said, as Merrymind came forward.\n\u201cYou shall have it cheap: I ask but a silver penny for it; and if the\nstrings were mended, its like would not be in the north country.\u201d\n\nMerrymind thought this a great bargain. He was a handy boy, and could\nmend the strings while watching his father\u2019s sheep. So down went the\nsilver penny on the little man\u2019s stall, and up went the fiddle under\nMerrymind\u2019s arm.\n\n\u201cNow, my young master,\u201d said the little man, \u201cyou see that we merchants\nhave a deal to look after, and if you help me to bundle up my stall, I\nwill tell you a wonderful piece of news about that fiddle.\u201d\n\nMerrymind was good-natured and fond of news, so he helped him to tie up\nthe loose boards and sticks that composed his stall with ah old rope,\nand when they were hoisted on his back like a fagot, the little man\nsaid:\n\n\u201cAbout that fiddle, my young master: it is certain the strings\ncan never be mended, nor made new, except by threads from the\nnight-spinners, which, if you get, it will be a good pennyworth,\u201d and\nup the hill he ran like a greyhound.\n\nMerrymind thought that was queer news, but being given to hope the\nbest, he believed the little man was only jesting, and made haste to\njoin the rest of the family, who were soon on their way home. When they\ngot there everyone showed his bargain, and Merrymind showed his fiddle;\nbut his brothers and sisters laughed at him for buying such a thing\nwhen he had never learned to play. His sisters asked him what music he\ncould bring out of broken strings; and his father said:\n\n\u201cThou hast shown little prudence in laying out thy first penny, from\nwhich token I fear thou wilt never have many to lay out.\u201d\n\nIn short, everybody threw scorn on Merrymind\u2019s bargain except his\nmother. She, good woman, said if he laid out one penny ill, he might\nlay out the next better; and who knew but his fiddle would be of use\nsome day? To make her words good, Merrymind fell to repairing the\nstrings--he spent all his time, both night and day, upon them; but,\ntrue to the little man\u2019s parting words, no mending would stand, and\nno string would hold on that fiddle. Merrymind tried everything, and\nwearied himself to no purpose. At last he thought of inquiring after\npeople who spun at night; and this seemed such a good joke to the north\ncountry people that they wanted no other till the next fair.\n\nIn the meantime, Merrymind lost credit at home and abroad. Everybody\nbelieved in his father\u2019s prophecy; his brothers and sisters valued\nhim no more than a herd-boy; the neighbours thought he must turn out\na scape-grace. Still the boy would not part with his fiddle. It was\nhis silver pennyworth, and he had a strong hope of mending the strings\nfor all that had come and gone; but since nobody at home cared for him\nexcept his mother, and as she had twelve other children, he resolved to\nleave the scorn behind him, and go to seek his fortune.\n\nThe family were not very sorry to hear of that intention, being in a\nmanner ashamed of him; besides, they could spare one out of thirteen.\nHis father gave him a barley cake, and his mother her blessing. All his\nbrothers and sisters wished him well. Most of the neighbours hoped\nthat no harm would happen to him; and Merrymind set out one summer\nmorning with the broken-stringed fiddle under his arm.\n\nThere were no highways then in the north country--people took whatever\npath pleased them best; so Merrymind went over the fair ground and up\nthe hill, hoping to meet the little man, and learn something of the\nnight-spinners. The hill was covered with heather to the top, and he\nwent up without meeting anyone. On the other side it was steep and\nrocky, and after a hard scramble down, he came to a narrow glen all\novergrown with wild furze and brambles. Merrymind had never met with\nbriars so sharp, but he was not the boy to turn back readily, and\npressed on in spite of torn clothes and scratched hands, till he came\nto the end of the glen, where two paths met: one of them wound through\na pinewood, he knew not how far, but it seemed green and pleasant. The\nother was a rough, stony way leading to a wide valley surrounded by\nhigh hills, and overhung by a dull, thick mist, though it was yet early\nin the summer evening.\n\nMerrymind was weary with his long journey, and stood thinking of what\npath to choose, when, by the way of the valley, there came an old man\nas tall and large as any three men of the north country. His white hair\nand beard hung like tangled flax about him! his clothes were made of\nsackcloth; and on his back he carried a heavy burden of dust heaped\nhigh in a great pannier.\n\n\u201cListen to me, you lazy vagabond!\u201d he said, coming near to Merrymind.\n\u201cIf you take the way through the wood I know not what will happen to\nyou; but if you choose this path you must help me with my pannier, and\nI can tell you it\u2019s no trifle.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, father,\u201d said Merrymind, \u201cyou seem tired, and I am younger than\nyou, though not quite so tall; so, if you please, I will choose this\nway, and help you along with the pannier.\u201d\n\nScarce had he spoken when the huge man caught hold of him, firmly bound\none side of the pannier to his shoulders with the same strong rope\nthat fastened it on his own back, and never ceased scolding and calling\nhim names as they marched over the stony ground together. It was a\nrough way and a heavy burden, and Merrymind wished himself a thousand\ntimes out of the old man\u2019s company, but there was no getting off; and\nat length, in hopes of beguiling the way, and putting him in better\nhumour, he began to sing an old rhyme which his mother had taught him.\nBy this time they had entered the valley, and the night had fallen very\ndark and cold. The old man ceased scolding, and by a feeble glimmer of\nthe moonlight, which now began to shine, Merrymind saw that they were\nclose by a deserted cottage, for its doors stood open to the night\nwinds. Here the old man paused, and loosed the rope from his own and\nMerrymind\u2019s shoulders.\n\n\u201cFor seven times seven years,\u201d he said, \u201chave I carried this pannier,\nand no one ever sang while helping me before. Night releases all men,\nso I release you. Where will you sleep--by my kitchen-fire, or in that\ncold cottage?\u201d\n\nMerrymind thought he had got quite enough of the old man\u2019s society, and\ntherefore answered:\n\n\u201cThe cottage, good father, if you please.\u201d\n\n\u201cA sound sleep to you, then!\u201d said the old man, and he went off with\nhis pannier.\n\nMerrymind stepped into the deserted cottage. The moon was shining\nthrough door and window, for the mist was gone, and the night looked\nclear as day; but in all the valley he could hear no sound, nor was\nthere any trace of inhabitants in the cottage. The hearth looked as\nif there had not been a fire there for years. A single article of\nfurniture was not to be seen; but Merrymind was sore weary, and, laying\nhimself down in a corner, with his fiddle close by, he fell fast asleep.\n\nThe floor was hard, and his clothes were thin, but all through his\nsleep there came a sweet sound of singing voices and spinning-wheels\nand Merrymind thought he must have been dreaming when he opened his\neyes next morning on the bare and solitary house. The beautiful night\nwas gone, and the heavy mist had come back. There was no blue sky,\nno bright sun to be seen. The light was cold and grey, like that of\nmid-winter; but Merrymind ate the half of his barley cake, drank from a\nstream hard by, and went out to see the valley.\n\nIt was full of inhabitants, and they were all busy in houses, in\nfields, in mills, and in forges. The men hammered and delved; the\nwomen scrubbed and scoured; the very children were hard at work; but\nMerrymind could hear neither talk nor laughter among them. Every face\nlooked careworn and cheerless, and every word was something about work\nor gain.\n\nMerrymind thought this unreasonable, for everybody there appeared\nrich. The women scrubbed in silk, the men delved in scarlet. Crimson\ncurtains, marble floors, and shelves of silver tankards were to be seen\nin every house; but their owners took neither ease nor pleasure in\nthem, and everyone laboured as it were for life.\n\nThe birds of that valley did not sing--they were too busy pecking\nand building. The cats did not lie by the fire--they were all on the\nwatch for mice. The dogs went out after hares on their own account. The\ncattle and sheep grazed as if they were never to get another mouthful;\nand the herdsmen were all splitting wood or making baskets.\n\nIn the midst of the valley there stood a stately castle, but instead\nof park and gardens, brew-houses and washing-greens lay round it. The\ngates stood open, and Merrymind ventured in. The courtyard was full\nof coopers. They were churning in the banquet hall. They were making\ncheese on the dais, and spinning and weaving in all its principal\nchambers. In the highest tower of that busy castle, at a window from\nwhich she could see the whole valley, there sat a noble lady. Her dress\nwas rich, but of a dingy drab colour. Her hair was iron-grey; her look\nwas sour and gloomy. Round her sat twelve maidens of the same aspect,\nspinning on ancient distaffs, and the lady spun as hard as they, but\nall the yarn they made was jet black.\n\nNo one in or out of the castle would reply to Merrymind\u2019s salutations,\nnor answer him any questions. The rich men pulled out their purses,\nsaying, \u201cCome and work for wages!\u201d The poor men said, \u201cWe have no time\nto talk!\u201d and a child by a cottage-door said it must go to work. All\nday Merrymind wandered about with his broken-stringed fiddle, and all\nday he saw the great old man marching round and round the valley with\nhis heavy burden of dust.\n\n\u201cIt is the dreariest valley that ever I beheld!\u201d he said to himself.\n\u201cAnd no place to mend my fiddle in; but one would not like to go away\nwithout knowing what has come over the people, or if they have always\nworked so hard and heavily.\u201d\n\nBy this time the night again came on: he knew it by the clearing mist\nand the rising moon. The people began to hurry home in all directions.\nSilence came over house and field; and near the deserted cottage\nMerrymind met the old man.\n\n\u201cGood father,\u201d he said, \u201cI pray you tell me what sport or pastime have\nthe people of this valley?\u201d\n\n\u201cSport and pastime!\u201d cried the old man, in great wrath. \u201cWhere did you\nhear of the like? We work by day and sleep by night. There is no sport\nin Dame Dreary\u2019s land!\u201d and, with a hearty scolding for his idleness\nand levity, he left Merrymind to sleep once more in the cottage.\n\nThat night the boy did not sleep so sound: though too drowsy to open\nhis eyes, he was sure there had been singing and spinning near him all\nnight; and, resolving to find out what this meant before he left the\nvalley, Merrymind ate the other half of his barley cake, drank again\nfrom the stream, and went out to see the country.\n\nThe same heavy mist shut out sun and sky; the same hard work went\nforward wherever he turned his eyes; and the great old man with the\ndust-pannier strode on his accustomed round. Merrymind could find no\none to answer a single question; rich and poor wanted him to work still\nmore earnestly than the day before; and fearing that some of them\nmight press him into service, he wandered away to the furthest end of\nthe valley.\n\nThere there was no work, for the land lay bare and lonely, and was\nbounded by grey crags, as high and steep as any castle-wall. There\nwas no passage or outlet but through a great iron gate secured with a\nheavy padlock: close by it stood a white tent, and in the door a tall\nsoldier, with one arm, stood smoking a long pipe. He was the first idle\nman Merrymind had seen in the valley, and his face looked to him like\nthat of a friend; so coming up with his best bow, the boy said:\n\n\u201cHonourable master soldier, please to tell me what country is this, and\nwhy do the people work so hard?\u201d\n\n\u201cAre you a stranger in this place, that you ask such questions?\u201d\nanswered the soldier.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Merrymind, \u201cI came but the evening before yesterday.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I am sorry for you, for here you must remain. My orders are to\nlet everybody in and nobody out; and the giant with the dust-pannier\nguards the other entrance night and day,\u201d said the soldier.\n\n\u201cThat is bad news,\u201d said Merrymind, \u201cbut since I am here, please to\ntell me why were such laws made, and what is the story of this valley?\u201d\n\n\u201cHold my pipe, and I will tell you,\u201d said the soldier, \u201cfor nobody else\nwill take the time. This valley belongs to the lady of yonder castle,\nwhom, for seven times seven years, men have called Dame Dreary. She\nhad another name in her youth--they called her Lady Littlecare; and\nthen the valley was the fairest spot in all the north country. The sun\nshone brightest there; the summers lingered longest. Fairies danced\non the hill-tops; singing-birds sat on all the trees. Strongarm, the\nlast of the giants, kept the pine-forest, and hewed yule logs out of\nit, when he was not sleeping in the sun. Two fair maidens, clothed\nin white, with silver wheels on their shoulders, came by night and\nspun golden threads by the hearth of every cottage. The people wore\nhomespun, and drank out of horn; but they had merry times. There were\nMay-games, harvest-homes, and Christmas cheer among them. Shepherds\npiped on the hillsides, reapers sang in the fields, and laughter came\nwith the red firelight out of every house in the evening. All that\nwas changed, nobody knows how, for the old folks who remembered it\nare dead. Some say it was because of a magic ring which fell from the\nlady\u2019s finger; some, because of a spring in the castle-court which\nwent dry. However it was, the lady turned Dame Dreary. Hard work and\nhard times overspread the valley. The mist came down; the fairies\ndeparted; the giant Strongarm grew old, and took up a burden of dust;\nand the night-spinners were seen no more in any man\u2019s dwelling. They\nsay it will be so till Dame Dreary lays down her distaff, and dances;\nbut all the fiddlers of the north country have tried their merriest\ntunes to no purpose. The king is a wise prince and a great warrior. He\nhas filled two treasure-houses, and conquered all his enemies; but he\ncannot change the order of Dame Dreary\u2019s land. I cannot tell you what\ngreat rewards he offered to one who could do it; but when no good came\nof his offers, the king feared that similar fashions might spread among\nhis people, and therefore made a law that whomsoever entered should not\nleave it. His majesty took me captive in war, and placed me here to\nkeep the gate, and save his subjects trouble. If I had not brought my\npipe with me, I should have been working as hard as any of them by this\ntime, with my one arm. Young master, if you take my advice you will\nlearn to smoke.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf my fiddle were mended it would be better,\u201d said Merrymind; and he\nsat talking with the soldier till the mist began to clear and the moon\nto rise, and then he went home to sleep in the deserted cottage.\n\nIt was late when he came near it, and the moonlight looked lovely\nbeside the misty day. Merrymind thought it was a good time for trying\nto get out of the valley. There was no foot abroad, and no appearance\nof the giant; but as Merrymind drew near to where the two paths\nmet, there was he fast asleep beside a fire of pinecones, with his\npannier at his head, and a heap of stones close by him. \u201cIs that your\nkitchen-fire?\u201d thought the boy to himself, and he tried to steal past;\nbut Strongarm started up, pursued him with stones, and called him bad\nnames halfway back to the cottage.\n\nMerrymind was glad to run the whole way for fear of him. The door was\nstill open, and the moon was shining in; but by the lifeless hearth\nthere sat two fair maidens, all in white, spinning on silver wheels,\nand singing together a blithe and pleasant tune like the larks on\nMay-morning. Merrymind could have listened all night, but suddenly he\nbethought him that these must be the night-spinners, whose threads\nwould mend his fiddle; so, stepping with reverence and good courage, he\nsaid:\n\n\u201cHonourable ladies, I pray you give a poor boy a thread to mend his\nfiddle-strings.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor seven times seven years,\u201d said the fair maidens, \u201chave we spun by\nnight in this deserted cottage, and no mortal has seen or spoken to us.\nGo and gather sticks through all the valley to make a fire for us on\nthis cold hearth, and each of us will give you a thread for your pains.\u201d\n\nMerrymind took his broken fiddle with him, and went through all the\nvalley gathering sticks by the moonlight; but so careful were the\npeople of Dame Dreary\u2019s land, that scarce a stick could be found, and\nthe moon was gone and the misty day had come before he was able to come\nback with a small fagot. The cottage-door was still open; the fair\nmaidens and their silver wheels were gone; but on the floor where they\nsat lay two long threads of gold.\n\nMerrymind first heaped up his fagot on the hearth, to be ready against\ntheir coming at night, and next took up the golden threads to mend his\nfiddle. Then he learned the truth of the little man\u2019s saying at the\nfair, for no sooner were the strings fastened with those golden threads\nthan they became firm. The old dingy fiddle, too, began to shine and\nglisten, and at length it was golden also. This sight made Merrymind\nso joyful that, unlearned as he was in music, the boy tried to play.\nScarce had his bow touched the strings when they began to play of\nthemselves the same blithe and pleasant tune which the night-spinners\nsang together.\n\n\u201cSome of the workers will stop for the sake of this tune,\u201d said\nMerrymind, and he went out along the valley with his fiddle. The music\nfilled the air; the busy people heard it; and never was such a day\nseen in Dame Dreary\u2019s land. The men paused in their delving, the women\nstopped their scrubbing; the little children dropped their work; and\neveryone stood still in their places while Merrymind and his fiddle\npassed on. When he came to the castle, the coopers cast down their\ntools in the court; the churning and cheese-making ceased in the\nbanquet hall; the looms and spinning-wheels stopped in the principal\nchambers; and Dame Dreary\u2019s distaff stood still in her hand.\n\nMerrymind played through the halls and up the tower-stairs. As he\ncame near, the dame cast down her distaff, and danced with all her\nmight. All her maidens did the like; and as they danced she grew young\nagain--the sourness passed from her looks, and the greyness from her\nhair. They brought her the dress of white and cherry colour she used\nto wear in her youth, and she was no longer Dame Dreary, but the Lady\nLittlecare, with golden hair, and laughing eyes, and cheeks like summer\nroses.\n\nThen a sound of merrymaking came up from the whole valley. The heavy\nmist rolled away from the hills; the sun shone out; the blue sky was\nseen; a clear spring gushed up in the castle-court; a white falcon came\nfrom the east with a golden ring, and put it on the lady\u2019s finger.\nAfter that Strongarm broke the rope, tossed the pannier of dust from\nhis shoulder, and lay down to sleep in the sun. That night the fairies\ndanced on the hill-tops; and the night-spinners, with their silver\nwheels, were seen by every hearth, and no more in the deserted cottage.\nEverybody praised Merrymind and his fiddle; and when news of his\nwonderful playing came to the king\u2019s ears, he commanded the iron gate\nto be taken away; he made the captive soldier a freeman; and promoted\nMerrymind to be his first fiddler, which under that wise monarch was\nthe highest post in his kingdom.\n\nAs soon as Merrymind\u2019s family and neighbours heard of the high\npreferment his fiddle had gained for him, they thought music must be\na good thing, and man, woman, and child took to fiddling. It is said\nthat none of them ever learned to play a single tune except Merrymind\u2019s\nmother, on whom her son bestowed great presents.\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES:\n\n\n  Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.\n\n  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.\n\n  Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.\n\n  Page number errors in the Table of Contents have been corrected.","title":"The Garnet Story Book: Tales of Cheer Both Old and New","tradition":"folklore-oral-tradition","translated_text":null,"word_count":53348}