RINCESSES 
 
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 GIFT OF 
 Ella Sterling Mighels 
 
Famous Books for Girls 
 
 NEW EDITION, t907 
 
 1 A Very N&'ushty Girl 
 
 By L. T. Meade 
 
 2 A Girl in Ten Thousand 
 
 By L. T. Meade 
 
 3 A Sweet Girl Graduate 
 
 By L. T. Meade 
 
 4 Aunt Diana 
 
 By Rosa N. Carey 
 
 5 Averil 
 
 By Rosa N. Carey 
 
 6 Chums 
 
 By Maria Louise Pool 
 
 7 Daddy's Girl 
 
 By L. T. Meade 
 
 8 Six Little Princesses 
 
 By Prentiss 
 
 9 Rebel of the School, The 
 
 By L. T. Meade 
 
 10 Girls of the True Blue 
 
 By L. T. Meade 
 
 1 1 House that Grew, The 
 
 By Mrs. Molesworth 
 
 12 Lamplighter, The 
 
 By Maria S. Cummins 
 
 13 Little Minister, The 
 
 By James M. Barrie 
 
 14 Margery Keith 
 
 By Virginia F. Townsend 
 
 15 Kitty Landon's Girlhood 
 
 By Jessie Armstrong 
 
 16 Not Like Other Girls 
 
 By Rosa N. Carey 
 
 17 Our Bessie 
 
 By Rosa N. Carey 
 
 18 Forced Acquaintances 
 
 By Edith Robinson 
 
 19 Polly 
 
 By L. T. Meade 
 
 20 Queechy 
 
 By Elizabeth Wetherell 
 
 21 Six to Sixteen 
 
 By J, H. Ewing 
 
 22 Three Bright Girls 
 
 By Annie E. Armstrong 
 
 23 Whom Kathie Married 
 
 By Amanda M. Douglas 
 
 24 First Violin, The 
 
 By Jessie Fothergill 
 
 25 Wide, Wide World 
 
 By Elizabeth Wetherell 
 
 26 World of Girls 
 
 By L, T. Meade 
 
 27 Yellow Violin, The 
 
 By Mary A. Denison 
 
 28 Wild Kitty 
 
 By L. T. Meade 
 
 29 An Honorable Miss 
 
 By L. T. Meade 
 
 30 A Girl of the People 
 
 By L. T. Meade 
 
 H. M. CALDWELL COMPANY 
 
 Publishers 
 NEW YORK AND BOSTON 
 
Six Little Princesses 
 
 and 
 
 What They Turned Into 
 
 And Other Fairy Tales 
 
 B) 
 
 The Author of " Susy's Six Birthdays'* 
 
 Illustrated 
 
 New York and Boston 
 
 H. M. Caldwell Company 
 
 Publishers 
 
SIFT OF 
 
 ^/ /V 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Six Little Princesses : 
 
 I. The Queen's Wish 5 
 
 II. The Countess' Gifts ....... 13 
 
 III. A Wicked Fairy 24 
 
 IV. Strength in Union 39 
 
 Little Ella and the Fire-King 46 
 
 The Wonderful Apple Tree 62 
 
 Hazel and Fair ; or, The Flies' Hospital 71 
 
 A Pig for an Hour 84 
 
 Amabel and the Cherries 92 
 
 The Golden Cow 104 
 
 The Silver Dog and His Puppies 114 
 
 The Lumber Room : 
 
 I. The Lumber Room 122 
 
 II. An Excursion 127 
 
 III. The Moon Dance > 132 
 
 The Story of the Little Pond 137 
 
 What the Animals Said 141 
 
 The Story of Little Maggie 150 
 
 A Story about a Wasp 156 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE queen's wish. 
 
 On a clear, frosty clay :of Uhe' tweiitieth winter 
 of her life, the beautiful Queen' Anitta sat in her 
 sledge enveloped in errhine,:and iiihaled th-S 'air with 
 smiles of satisfaction;' ''Before alid behind her a 
 retinue of attendants made a brilliant parade of gay 
 trappings and many-colored garments, which con- 
 trasted finely with the white snow over which they 
 flew. 
 
 The young queen had almost everything in the 
 world to make her happy. The king gratifie(^ her 
 everv wish, as far as it was possible to do so ; her 
 people always received her with acclamations ; when 
 she was tired of living in one palace she could go 
 to another. It follows, then, as a natural conse- 
 quence, that she was happy. 
 
 By no means. She had one wish that had never 
 been gratified, and never would be ; for whereas the 
 king delighted in dogs and horses, her great pleas- 
 ure was in little children, and of these she had none. 
 Now it might seem, at first blush, that queens are 
 the last persons in the world to possess such tastes. 
 It is generally understood that they spend their 
 lives, during the day, sitting on thrones, with golden 
 
6 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 crowns on their heads, which serve them at night 
 as luxurious nightcaps, and act as constant re- 
 minders that the heads that wear them are heads 
 of no common sort. It is true we have the highest 
 authority for the fact that there once existed on 
 earth a queen who went into the kitchen, Hke other 
 mortals, to eat bread and honey, while the king 
 counted out his money in the parlor. But such 
 queens are rare, and so is the queen of our story, 
 who actually fancied that even on the stately floors 
 of palaces the patter of little feet would be musical. 
 In fact, Queen Anitta was, and always had been, 
 an exception to all rules. She had been known to 
 jump into her carnage v/ith a hop and a skip which 
 sent her .'Grown- rolling nobody knows where; she 
 had been' scOn to laugh wiih a fresh girlish hearti- 
 ness that made her governess turn pale ; and once, 
 but this fact once published, had been suppressed 
 by the king, she had snatched a gypsy-looking baby, 
 with cheeks like two peaches, from its mother's 
 arms, and actually kissed it ! It is to be hoped and 
 believed that there are not many such queens on 
 the face of the earth, for hearts are inconvenient 
 things on state occasions, and the life of royalty is 
 all state. 
 
 On this particular morning she was all smiles, 
 for she had just completed negotiations with a 
 poor woman, who, for the sake of getting rid of 
 some trouble, and gaining some ease, had consented 
 to give up to her a great fat baby, who was straight- 
 way to be made a prince. 
 
 On reaching home the queen sent a special mes- 
 sage for her dearest friend, the Countess Reynosa, 
 to whom she wished to display her new possession. 
 
 *' The child is a perfect monster ! " cried the 
 countess, the moment her eyes fell upon this huge 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINX'ESSES. 7 
 
 mass of flesh. ''-In the first place, it is all body, 
 without a soul of the smallest conceivable style. 
 In the second place, its heart, if it has any, is as hard 
 as the nether millstone. How can it be otherwise, 
 since it was born of a mother who was willing to 
 sell her own flesh and blood for money ? " 
 
 She who spake these sagacious words was not 
 six feet high, as one might suppose, nor was her 
 hair silvered by age. She was exactly one year 
 older than the queen, and so little that if she had 
 not been a woman, she would have been a hum- 
 ming-bird. Her eyes were like two stars, and saw 
 almost as much ; as to her penetration, it was al- 
 most supernatural. 
 
 To keep the baby after she had pronounced 
 against it was not to be thought of. The whole 
 kingdom would be up in arms at such an error. 
 The creature was accordingly wrapped in one of 
 the royal blankets, handed over to a royal page, and 
 restored to its mother, who, as she was allowed to 
 keep the price of her goods, and the goods into the 
 bargain, was tolerably content with her share of the 
 operation. 
 
 The queen, however, sat pensively in a chair 
 whose back was twelve feet high, her hands folded 
 in her lap, and regretted that with so many ex- 
 cellent qualities, her dear friend, the countess, pos- 
 sessed such sagacity. 
 
 " No doubt I should have awakened a soul in 
 the child in time ! " she said. " And as for a heart ! 
 ah, Reynosa, you do not know what it is to have 
 one so empty as mine." 
 
 " Nonsense ! " cried the countess, whose bump of 
 reverence was as hollow as a teacup, " as if at your 
 age you could instruct me on the subject of human 
 affections! It is not to babies in general I object, 
 
8 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 but to this infant in particular. Leave the matter 
 to me. I will fill your heart — with a vengeance.'' 
 
 For answer the queen jumped down from her seat 
 of state, and looked and acted so much like common 
 people that the prime minister had to be sent for to 
 remind her that she was uncommon. 
 
 ]\Ieanwhile, the countess, nibbling at a bit of 
 straw, tossed her head and floated out of the palace 
 and into her chariot, whether on wings or on her 
 feet it would be hard to say. In less than an hour 
 she came back with a basket, which, with mock cere- 
 mony and profound salutations, she placed at the 
 feet of the queen. 
 
 " May it please your majesty," said she, '' here 
 is a little baby — I entreat pardon — a babe, which I 
 have the honor to present to your majesty on bended 
 knees." 
 
 The " babe " was a charming little creature, with 
 a brown skin, under which the red blood could be 
 seen as plainly as under the fairest ; it had large 
 brown eyes, a pretty mouth, and dimples where 
 other people have knuckles. 
 
 '' This child has a heart," continued the countess, 
 resuming her usual gay tone, " for when I took it 
 from its mother's arms she gave three such ter- 
 rific wails that I nearly let it fall to the floor. As 
 for tears, the poor thing is wet with them still, as 
 if it had been out in the rain." 
 
 " I cannot accept a child thus torn from its 
 mother," said the queen, shrinking back. 
 
 " Listen before you decide ! " cried the countess. 
 " The mother lay upon her deathbed. She but 
 parted with her child a few days in advance. She 
 is overwhelmed with gratitude that she can leave it 
 in such hands." 
 
 Thus reassured, the queen gave herself up to 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 9 
 
 the enjoyment of her new acquisition, while she 
 did not forget to send to the dying mother every 
 solace her tender heart could conceive of. Nurses 
 were at once sought, dainty garments replaced the 
 coarse clothing of the child, and several apartments 
 were made ready for its use. An hour sufficed to 
 transform the unconscious little sleeper into a 
 princess. Pure water, perfumes, white robes, a 
 host of attendants : are not these advantages equal 
 to royal blood? 
 
 It was necessary, however, to select names for 
 the child. While the daughter of an obscure 
 widow one name had, it is true, sufficed. But here 
 lies the distinction between plebeians and aristocrats. 
 The one may be Polly or Sally. The other must 
 bear the titles of her ancestors, and stagger through 
 life with their honors upon Her. In this case there 
 were, of course no ancestors. Children born in 
 poverty have only fathers and mothers. But what 
 the baby lacked the queen possessed, and she en- 
 dowed it with all the best names of her own high- 
 born race. But for everyday wear and tear it was 
 only the Princess Novella. 
 
 For some weeks the queen was in raptures over 
 her child ; and its infantine graces, wherein it bid 
 defiance to ministers of state, and all the princi- 
 palities and powers on earth, afforded her infinite 
 delight. Even the king felt some respect for a 
 being who at so tender an age ventured to yawn 
 while he was addressing it, and to seize his nose in 
 its hands, and pull his hair without the smallest 
 compunction. He began to flatter himself that such 
 royal airs denoted royal blood, and it was not long 
 before he almost forgot its plebeian origin. 
 
 Now everybody knows that the gratification of 
 one want does not preclude the uprising of another. 
 
10 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 The human soul is hydra-headed ; what you crop off 
 here will sprout out there. Consequently the queen 
 began to say to herself that a princess was next to 
 no princess at all, and that one more at least would 
 be necessary to complete her felicity. 
 
 When the Countess Reynosa heard this piece of 
 news she shook her sagacious little head and said : 
 
 " Yes, yes, I thought so ! " 
 
 Indeed, it was quite impossible that anything 
 under the sun should happen of which she had not 
 thought. " This time, I suppose, it must be a 
 prince ! " she said to the queen. 
 
 But the queen declared that, young and inexper- 
 ienced as she was, she could not venture on the 
 fearful responsibility of undertaking the charge of 
 boys. 
 
 "But what does the king say?" asked the 
 countess. 
 
 " The king, alas, is so absorbed in his horses, his 
 dogs, and his hunts, that he leaves all domestic 
 arrangements to me. If I choose to adopt as many 
 princesses as he possesses four-footed favorites, he 
 will not thwart me." 
 
 The countess shook her head again. But what 
 this shake portended she would not explain. Only 
 it was not long before she brought to the palace a 
 man who looked frightened out of his wits, and who 
 had something in his hand tied up in a large red 
 cotton handkerchief. 
 
 In his terror at the idea of speaking face to face 
 with a live queen, he gave her to understand a num- 
 ber of impossible things, the most important being 
 the fact that this handkerchief contained an infant 
 who not only possessed no parents, but never had 
 had any, and was now left destitute and forlorn to 
 his care, he being its uncle in a remote way. 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. H 
 
 The queen received the gift with as much dehght 
 as if it were the only baby on earth. The process 
 of turning it into a princess of the blood royal was 
 gone through with, and in a few hours there slum- 
 bered by the side of her dusky sister a fair-haired, 
 pale little maiden, whom everybody treated with 
 respect, and called the Princess ]vIosella. 
 
 To make a long story short, the queen took such 
 pleasure in her children that she could not rest 
 satisfied with only two. In a very short space 
 of time the Countess Reynosa had ransacked the 
 kingdom to such purpose that six little cradles 
 rocked gallantly in as many royal nurseries. 'Dark- 
 haired and light-haired, blue-eyed and black-eyed, 
 there they were, and, for all they knew or cared, had 
 a king for their father and a queen for their mother. 
 
 They all bore the same marks of royalty in a 
 supreme disregard of place and position ; every 
 one of the six took its turn at discomfiting the prime 
 minister and routing the secretary of state ; and there 
 was not one who thought the king made for any 
 earthly purpose but to pick up their toys as fast as 
 they threw them down. 
 
 When the queen had made all the dainty fingers 
 in the land embroider garments sufficientlv costly 
 and beautiful for the purpose, she resolved to 
 have a grand christening, and display her daugh- 
 ters to the court. 
 
 All the nobles and grandees were invited to 
 witness this remarkable sight. The whole king- 
 dom was in commotion. The men put on their 
 court garments, and the women exhausted them- 
 selves in inventing new dresses. Some of the ladies 
 had to have their hair dressed a week beforehand, 
 and it is to be presumed did not go to bed during 
 that period ; silks and satins and laces and diamonds 
 
12 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 formed the staple of conversation, and filled all the 
 heads and hands that were not already full. One 
 would need to write a whole book if one would 
 describe the crush and the rush, the wear and the 
 tear, the destruction and the ruin. 
 
 The end of it all was ten extra Court 'Journals, 
 and six princesses, each with more names than 
 it had fingers and toes. Somehow, in spite of the 
 splendor of the scene, the display of jewels, and the 
 destruction of robes, the young creatures got ac- 
 tually christened, and were borne away in triumph 
 to their own domains. 
 
 As to the presents laid at their unconscious feet, 
 and which they all received with that sublime in- 
 difference peculiar to high breeding, time would 
 fail to enumerate the tithe of them. It is only on 
 those who already possess everything that costly 
 gifts are lavished. What should poor people do 
 with such things ? 
 
 The Countess Reynosa alone, of all the friends 
 of the king and queen, presented the royal infants 
 with no gift whatever. One shake of her saga- 
 cious head answered the purpose and explained 
 this omission. Ah ! what a thing it is to have a 
 reputation ! The only difficulty is when one 
 possesses without deserving it. Then indeed one 
 has to float one banner in public and fight under 
 another in secret. For instance, when one has the 
 credit of being amiable, can one box everybody's 
 cars when one is out of humor with everybody ? 
 
11. 
 
 THE countess' GIFTS. 
 
 After the grand christening was over, things 
 subsided gradually into the old routine. The six 
 babios were washed and dressed, and taken out for 
 an airing every morning; what happened to one 
 happened to all without regard to any natural dif- 
 ferences of constitution. And as the queen chose 
 to dress them exactly alike, and blue was her fa- 
 vorite color, Novella, who was as brown as a gy^psy, 
 had to wear sashes that made her look yellower 
 than ever. However, she cared not a whit what 
 she wore, and in process of time she had a mouth- 
 ful of little white pearls intended for teeth, that 
 made her as pretty as her fair sister ]\Iosella. A 
 charming little set they were, and in her devotion 
 to them the queen was in danger of forgetting 
 affairs of state and all the formalities due to her 
 station. It was whispered abroad that as soon as 
 the princesses got upon their feet there were seven 
 children in the palace instead of six — the queen 
 being coaxed into romping with her pets instead of 
 training them in the way they should go. 
 
 The Countess Reynosa, meanwhile, studied the 
 children while the queen amused herself with them, 
 and rnade herself mistress of the characters and 
 dispositions of each. She then announced that her 
 long-delayed gifts were now to be presented. Not 
 a little curiosity was felt to know what these gifts 
 might be. The Court Journal stopped the press in 
 
14: SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 order to learn the news, and to convey it at once to all 
 parts of the kingdom. If a nod of the head of the 
 countess was significant, what must it be with her 
 presents ! She was well known to be very rich, 
 and to possess old family jewels o^ fabulous value, 
 and as she had taken a vow never to marry, what 
 could be more natural than that she should divide 
 these treasures among the princesses ? What then 
 was the consternation of the whole court when her 
 gift to Novella proved to be nothing but a pen ! 
 
 To Mosella, nothing daunted by the suppressed 
 whispers of amazement about her, she presented an 
 old piano that had stood unmolested in one corner 
 of her palace half a dozen years. 
 
 To Reima, the third sister, she gave a box of 
 colors and a handful of pencils. 
 
 To Papeta she offered all the half-worn sheets 
 her own singing-master had left behind him, when 
 he had fled from her palace declaring that mortal 
 man never heard such a voice. 
 
 To Moina, a pair of scissors, a thimble, and 
 some needles. 
 
 Last of all it was the turn of Delicieuse, and 
 the little creature was led by her nurse to receive 
 what every one felt was to be the crowning gift of 
 all. For the child held every heart at her fingers' 
 ends ; whether it was her extraordinary beauty, or 
 her sweet, graceful manners and winning way, or 
 all together, she was the favorite of the king, the 
 idol of the queen, the pride and the gloory of the 
 whole court. As she approached the countess, curi- 
 osity made everyone silent, yet even the grim prime 
 minster would have been glad to press the charming 
 creature to his heart. A murmur of surprise and dis- 
 pleasure ran through the court when the countess 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 15 
 
 Stooped and kissed the young princess, and then only 
 gave her one of her sagacious nods ! 
 
 Delicieuse herself seemed perfectly satisfied. She 
 rejoined her sisters with a brow as serene as ever, 
 and took leave of the king and queen with her usual 
 grace and sweetness, soon disappearing among the 
 little princesses, each of whom contended for the 
 privilege of walking hand in hand with her. 
 
 The queen, used as she was to the vagaries of 
 Reynosa, found it hard to submit to this new 
 freak, looking, as it did, so much like child's play. 
 But as she felt a sincere respect and affection for 
 her, and was, besides, too kind-hearted to wish to 
 wound even an enemy, if she had one, she thanked 
 her friend for her interest in her children, and 
 promised that her gifts should be carefully preserved 
 and cared for. 
 
 " By no means ! " cried the countess. " Each 
 child is to have charge of its own gift. Other- 
 wise my object in presenting it will be defeated." 
 
 The queen smiled and yielded. It was not 
 really worth while to dispute about such trifles. 
 The ancestral diamonds of the countess would 
 have been quite another affair. She had quite 
 forgotten the whole thing, when one morning she 
 saw Novella perched at a table in a high chair, so 
 intent upon business as to take no heed of her 
 presence. 
 
 On approaching the child, what was her sur- 
 prise to find the little creature engaged in copving, 
 from a book before her, the letters of the alphabet. 
 As, thus far, no attempt had been made to educate 
 the young princesses, this spectacle was wonderfully 
 quaint, and the queen, after gazing upon it a mo- 
 ment in silence, burst forth in a merry laugh. The 
 attendants hastened to explain that the princess 
 
16 BIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 would have ink, and paper, as well as the pen the 
 
 countess had given her, and that the delight of the 
 child in their use made it quite impossible to keep 
 her robes and her hands in the immaculate con- 
 dition due to her rank. 
 
 As to the princess, she could hardly spare time 
 to look at the queen or answer her questions. Her 
 little hands trembled with eagerness, and her eyes 
 glowed like suns and stars, as she formed the rude 
 characters upon the paper, sighed at their want of 
 perfection, and patiently studied her model. 
 
 The queen could not help sympathizing with 
 the child's pleasure, though she wished the countess 
 had not, by her gift, suggested an amusement that 
 made its fingers such a sight to behold. 
 
 Passing into the next apartment she found Moina 
 seated on the carpet, with half a dozen dolls about 
 her, and a little workbasket by her side. 
 
 In her small white hands she held the scissors 
 given her by Reynosa, and fashioning a garment, 
 tiny in form, but exquisite in shape. Delicieuse, 
 with her arms full of dolls, sat beside her, looking 
 on. 
 
 " What are you two little darlings playing ? " 
 asked the queen, stooping down to caress them. 
 
 " I have such nice things ! " cried Moina. 
 " See ! scissors, thimble, needles, thread ! I am 
 making new dresses for all the dolls in the palace." 
 
 And as she spoke she used the scissors with a 
 deft and womanly air that set the queen laughing 
 once more with that musical laugh of hers that 
 would have scandalized the court. 
 
 " I am doing nothing," said Delicieuse, rising, 
 and throwing herself into the arms of her royal 
 mother. " When Moina has dressed all the dolls 
 Ave shall play with them together." 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINX'ESSES. 17 
 
 ^Meanwhile, she wound the queen's curls around 
 her fingers, kissed her twenty or thirty times, and 
 looked Hke a httle white angel that never soiled 
 its fingers with ink, or littered the carpet with 
 scraps. " What a beautiful, what a lovely child 
 she is ! " thought the queen, and then, with the little 
 princess by the hand, she passed on to the room 
 devoted to Reima. 
 
 Here she found new cause for surprise and amuse- 
 ment, for Reima had spread out her box of colors, 
 and was making vigorous daubs on an enormous 
 sheet of paper, with such zeal that she did not hear 
 the approach of her visitors. 
 
 Her nurse came forward to excuse herself for 
 permitting such employment. She declared that 
 all the interest the princess now took in her toys 
 was as models for copy ; her dolls, in fact, had 
 all been turned into lay figures, and were arranged 
 in attitudes for the purpose. 
 
 After greeting the child, and bidding her good- 
 morning, the queen, who began to find the aspect 
 of things growing serious, proceeded to the apart- 
 ment of the Princess Mosella. As she approached 
 it she heard sounds not, on the whole, unmusical, 
 pealing from it, and beheld this small scrap of hu- 
 manity gravely occupied at her piano, with the air 
 of a master. Xear her stood Papeta, music in hand, 
 singing in a clear, sweet voice that transfixed the 
 queen upon the threshold. Delicieuse ran up to 
 them with kisses and caresses. The two little mites 
 stopped playing and singing, to glance upon her 
 with condescension, and to return her caress, though 
 with a somewhat preoccupied air. The concert then 
 proceeded. 
 
 At this moment the Countess Reynosa came 
 flying in ; she fluttered from one to another, saluted- 
 
18 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 the queen with mock reverence, kissed Mosella and 
 Papeta, and then snatching at Dehcieuse, she folded 
 the charming child in her arms in a transport of 
 affection. 
 
 It was now the hour for the morning airing of 
 the princesses, and with great labor their attendants 
 were coaxing, threatening, and conjuring them to 
 tear themselves away from their employments, in 
 order to be arrayed for the purpose. Moina begged 
 for one moment in which to put in order the lit- 
 tle garment she was cutting; Reima was afraid 
 someone would touch her colors in her absence ; 
 Novella wanted to finish her page, and Mosella and 
 Papeta their song. Delicieuse alone, having noth- 
 ing of such vast importance to do, thought of the 
 drive with pleasure, and was docile under the in- 
 fliction of dressing. 
 
 At last, after long bustle and parade, during 
 which some tears were shed, and some frowns dis- 
 played, all six were got comfortably off, the scraps 
 Vv'ere gathered from Moina's carpet, Novella's pen 
 and ink were put away, the piano closed, and the 
 music laid in order. Reima's possessions alone re- 
 mained untouched ; she had won a promise to that 
 effect before she could be persuaded to leave her 
 treasures. 
 
 The queen led Reynosa to her own apartments, 
 and the two sat down to talk like other mortals. 
 
 " Well ! " cried the countess, " I wish you joy 
 of your five geniuses ! " 
 
 " My five geniuses ! " repeated the queen. 
 
 " Oh, I am willing to allow that there are six, 
 if that pleases you better. Indeed, one may almost 
 say with truth that Delicieuse is a genius as well as 
 her sisters. For her power of winning everybody's 
 heart is almost like an inspiration." 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 19 
 
 " What can you mean, you barbarous creature ? " 
 cried the queen. 
 
 '' Onlv that Novella will one day astonish you 
 with her writings, Mosella and Papeta with their 
 music, Reima with her paintings, and :Moina with 
 a skill only inferior to theirs because so practical 
 in its character/' 
 
 The queen hardly knew what to say. Reynosa, 
 however, hummed a tune, and went and looked out 
 of the window with a nonchalant air. 
 
 " I suppose it is too late to help it now," the 
 queen said at last. 
 
 " It is, indeed," replied the countess, returnmg 
 to her seat. " Genius may not be needed by 
 princesses; in fact, I can see that it may have its 
 inconveniences. But you must remember that your 
 daughters were not made to order. When nature 
 endowed them with these choice gifts she did not 
 know that you were going to present them with roy- 
 
 altv also." 
 
 '' But they are still very young. Education may 
 modify, if it does not positively alter, their tastes." 
 
 " I advise you to try," replied the countess dryly, 
 and she gave one of those dreadful little nods that 
 mean just the contrary. 
 
 For once in her life, which, as she was a queen, 
 seems rather singular, her majesty determined to 
 have her own way, nod who might. She summoned 
 all the wisest, most skillful masters in the land to 
 the palace, and directed them to take charge -of the 
 education of the princesses forthwith. Their 
 studies were to be alike, and they were to learn 
 everything save needlework, and all were to become 
 alike accomplished. 
 
 The princesses were not angels; they were only 
 geniuses. They cried and pouted over their lessons 
 
^0 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 very much like other children, wore out an unac- 
 countable number of books, used up a stock of 
 stationery, and thrummed six pianos out of tune. 
 Moina learned to read and to write, and got a 
 smattering of a number of other things. She drew 
 and painted horribly, and played and sang like a 
 machine. Reima learned all that Moina did, and 
 a good deal beside, but it was through floods of tears 
 that she fixed in her brain the lasks assigned her. 
 Most of her masters found her very dull, and 
 thought it a mercy that she could hide this dullness 
 under the glitter and show of royalty. But he 
 whose happy lot it was to guide her fingers over 
 the canvas deplored the fate that had made her a 
 princess, and envied her the talents she did not 
 need. 
 
 Mosella and Papeta learned also a little of every- 
 thing. But they flew from books as birds fly from 
 cages. Mosella made her piano obedient to every 
 throb of her heart. Papeta sang in a way that al- 
 most drew angels down to listen. 
 
 As to Novella, she picked up everything with 
 enthusiasm. Her paintings were not execrable 
 like those of Moina, and music was not without 
 some charm for her. She: devoured rather than 
 read the books selected for her, and outran the 
 tasks assigned by her m?.sters, in her eagerness 
 to know more. Yet she contrived to be in dis- 
 grace half the time. Her fingers, that should 
 have been white, were always black ; her dresses 
 had an innate faculty of getting torn and soiled ; 
 she never saw anything an inch before her nose, 
 and was constantly tumbling about in a most 
 inglorious way. As to etlquettr;, no mortal could 
 teach her the meaning of the word. She never 
 knew where to put her hands, never sat straight 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 21 
 
 in her chair, never looked as if she had just come 
 out of a bandbox. 
 
 DeHcieuse, meanwhile, learned nicely of every- 
 thing a little. She had some respectable draw- 
 ings, could sing and play with a certain precision, 
 and never vexed her masters by dullness or in- 
 attention. Her sisters all fancied her to be vastly 
 superior to themselves, since she was as beautiful 
 as a fairy, never got into disgrace, said her les- 
 sons without ever a failure, and wrote her copies 
 with never a blot. Withal she had caresses and 
 gav words for everybody, and was always in good 
 humor. 
 
 Thus the childhood of the six sisters passed away 
 amid the sorrows and the joys, the tears and the 
 smiles that are inseparable from that period of life. 
 At sixteen a rnote charming little group could be 
 found nowhere, blasters attended them no longer, 
 petty childish follies were outgrown; they loved 
 each other dearly, and were seldom separated. By 
 degrees, in spite of the efforts of the queen to make 
 them all alike, each fell into the place designed for 
 her by nature. ^loina sat all day with her scissors 
 or her needle in her hand, and fashioned her own 
 dresses and those of her sisters. She could not find 
 time to read, she said, nor to ])ractice, and wondered 
 how others could. She made herself and the other 
 princesses look as if their garments grew upon 
 their youthful figures. Once having worn one of 
 her dresses, they quarreled with their seamstress, 
 complained of being pinched here and pulled there, 
 and kept her completely busy and completely 
 happv. The queen no longer resisted the tide ; 
 she had a spacious apartment fitted up for the use 
 of the princesses, and sat among them, watching 
 them with admiration and delight. In her cor- 
 
22 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 ner Moina sat at her work, saying little, but hear- 
 ing all that went en, and accomplishing a great 
 deal. Reima had her easel not far off ; no one 
 was allowed to touch her portion of the sanctuary, 
 and her skillful hand produced in exquisite colors 
 the creations of her brain. Mosella and Papeta 
 sang and played and composed, and made the 
 lofty apartment resound with wondrous harmony. 
 Novella, in a remote corner, sat at her desk and 
 wrote. Sometimes as her pen flew over her 
 paper, she laughed aloud, and sometimes she cried ; 
 then when the mood was over, and the inspiration 
 fled, her sisters liked to rouse her flagging spirits 
 by making her read aloud to them the tales and 
 verses she had written. While she read, Moina 
 worked patiently and cheerfully in her corner, and 
 Reima painted in hers, wdiile Mosella and Papeta 
 copied music in theirs. As for Delicieuse, she 
 wanted no corner of her own, but was any and 
 everywhere as her mood led her. Sometimes she 
 watched Moina while she fashioned the dresses 
 destined for her own graceful figure, beguiling the 
 time with lively chat ; at others she hovered near 
 Reima, admiring the skill and the enthusiasm with 
 which she pursued her art. She was welcomed by 
 all, for as she had no decided taste of her own, 
 she had no hobbies to thrust in people's way, nor 
 was she ever so busy that she was not glad at any 
 moment to listen to Novella when she read, or to 
 Papeta when she sang. Her facile nature made 
 her drop whatever she had in hand, to seize what- 
 ever the world threw at and asked her to catch. 
 
 Nothing could be more delightful than this in- 
 nocent family group; it came near being a little 
 heaven below. 
 
 But the king complained that the queen kept 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINCESESS. 23 
 
 his charming daughters all to herself. He had 
 pretty nearly forgotten that they were not his 
 own children ; and sometimes, when a little off his 
 guard, was known to boast that Delicicuse had in- 
 herited her beauty and her extraordinary power to 
 please from his mother, the illustrious Queen 
 Ariana. Reima's love of art was also derived from 
 one of his ancestors, as were the musical powers of 
 IMosella and Papeta. As to Aloina, that good and 
 useful creature, he was sure he should have had 
 some relative precisely like her had not royal eti- 
 quette forbidden the display of such homely talents. 
 The queen found these little delusions of his some- 
 what amusing, but on the whole they gave her 
 pleasure, as showing that the king was proud and 
 fond of their adopted children. To gratify him 
 she had them introduced at court, where, arrayed 
 in the graceful folds of Moina's disposing, and the 
 charms of a simple, unspoiled girlhood, they were 
 received almost with acclamations. The Countess 
 Reynosa's sagacity in the choice of six such rare 
 maidens was the admiration of everyone ; people 
 said there never was a little head so full of wit as 
 herg. 
 
III. 
 
 A WICKED FAIRY. 
 
 After a dazzling evening, spent in the most 
 brilliant society, the sisters went to bed, tired and 
 more or less out of sorts. Moina was the first to 
 awake next morning. She rose at once, and 
 after a time, took her work and sat down with it 
 in her usual place. Many costly and beautiful 
 fabrics lay scattered about her, from which she 
 was to fashion new robes for the second appear- 
 ance of herself and sisters at court. The scissors 
 moved in her skillful hands as by magic ; she 
 seemed to cut and slash at random, while she 
 really used them with precision. Presently she 
 took her pretty golden thimble from her basket, 
 and would have placed it on her finger but that 
 some substance entirely filled it. 
 
 '* How tiresome ! " said she, and with the point 
 of her scissors she picked at the obstruction a little 
 impatiently. Moina was not an angel. She was 
 only a kind-hearted little workwoman. She re- 
 coiled in some alarm when, at the touch of the 
 scissors, there flew from the thimble what she at 
 first supposed to be a horrible winged insect. It 
 lighted on the edge of the table, and looked at 
 her out of two large, greenish eyes. She saw 
 now that it was no insect, but a diminutive, fear- 
 fully ugly little creature in human shape : its wings 
 suggested the idea of a cherub, its face that of a 
 d^mon, 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINX'ESSES. 25 
 
 " Poor child ! " it began, in a voice as fine and 
 as sharp as a number twelve needle ; " here you 
 sit, stitch, stitch, stitch, while your sisters preserve 
 their beauty by lying in bed. How exquisite your 
 work is ! How industrious and patient you are ! 
 It is strange that the world overlooks such merit 
 as yours." 
 
 '' I do not work in order to please the world," 
 returned Moina, recovering from her terror. *' I 
 do so because I have no talent like my sisters, and 
 because I thus make myself useful to them." 
 
 " I know how unselfish you are," replied the 
 other, whom we will call Xeida ; and her hideous 
 yellow face grew yellower as she spoke. " It is 
 on this very account I feel such sympathy with 
 and pity for you. I saw you last night sit alone and 
 neglected, while all the young princes and noble- 
 men paid homage to your sisters." 
 
 Xow, ^loina, absorbed in the novelty of the 
 brilliant scene about her, had not asked herself 
 how much attention she had received, nor felt her- 
 self neglected. But it is the easiest thing in the 
 world to persuade people that they are miserable, 
 and that justice is not done them. 
 
 " It is true," she replied thoughtfully, " that 
 I sat alone and neglected nearly the whole even- 
 ing. People gathered about my sisters, and 
 quite forgot me." 
 
 " You were too modest, and allowed your sis- 
 ters to put forth all their efforts to shine, and to 
 win admiration. And not one of them would 
 have been fit to be seen but for you. The Princess 
 Novella never knows what she has on ; as long as 
 she can scribble as if her life depended upon it, 
 she would be content to go clothed in sackcloth. 
 With the Princesses ^losella and Papeta, it is al- 
 
26 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 most as bad. The Princess Reima has no taste, 
 and never has put on a sash otherwise than awry. 
 As to the Princess Dehcieuse, she is a mere butter- 
 fly — all wings and gay colors ; well enough to look 
 at and admire, but the idlest, most useless creature 
 imaginable. Think, now, that this worthless 
 character attracts everybody, while your sterling 
 virtues are despised." 
 
 Moina might have replied, if she had had her 
 wits about her, that to be admired is not the main 
 business of life. But she only threw down the 
 robe she had just cut so tastefully, saying: 
 
 " My sisters shall see that, if I have not their 
 talents and their beauty, I am yet of some import- 
 ance, after all. I will not sit at work all day like 
 a common seamstress." 
 
 Neida, quite satisfied with her morning's work, 
 flew away, leaving Moina sitting moping in her 
 chair. Some insects, not content wnth stinging their 
 victims, must needs leave their sting behind. Neida 
 took care to leave hers wherever she went. 
 
 When Mosella came to her piano half an hour 
 later, she found Moina seated at it, making all 
 sorts of discords. She stood waiting a few mo- 
 ments, expecting her sister to rise and give her 
 the place she always occupied at this time. As 
 she stood, Moina's execution really distressed her. 
 
 '* Moina, dear," she said at last, " music does not 
 seem to be your forte — does it ? " 
 
 " It is time I became something more than a 
 mere seamstress," said Moina, drumming away. 
 " Why should you monopolize all the music ? " 
 
 Before Mosella had time to answer, her atten- 
 tion was attracted by a strange buzzing at one of 
 the windows. 
 
 " What hideous noise is that ? " thought she ; 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 27 
 
 and she ran to the window, where Xeida was 
 making these sounds in order to draw her away to 
 this corner. 
 
 '* Good-morning, my child," she began ; " are 
 you feeHng quite yourself after last night's fa- 
 tigue ? " 
 
 " I was not much fatigued," Mosella replied in 
 great surprise. 
 
 " Indeed ! People said that being forced to play 
 for such a length of time must have been weari- 
 some. Indeed, it seemed almost cruel to let you 
 exert yourself so much where so few listened to 
 your performances." 
 
 Mosella colored. 
 
 " I did not observe that people failed to listen." 
 she said. " However, I enjoyed playing because 
 I am so fond of music." 
 
 " But is it not strange that, rather than listen 
 to such music as yours, everybody should run 
 wild after that pretty sister of yours, who 
 hasn't a talent or an accomplishment of any sort ? " 
 
 '* Do you mean the Princess Delicieuse ? " 
 asked Mosella. " Ah, but she has something 
 better than talent. She has the art of making every- 
 body like her." 
 
 " That is just what I am saying. Real genius 
 like yours passes unnoticed, unrewarded ; while a 
 pleasing face, a few soft purrs, a pat of a velvet 
 paw, draw crowds of worshipers." 
 
 " I wish, indeed, that I were as charming as 
 Delicieuse," said ]\Iosella. She forgot, for the 
 moment, all the unalloyed delight she had had in 
 the exercise of the gift nature had lavished upon 
 her. To win admiration and applause seemed 
 now the only object worthy pursuit. 
 
 She stood looking listlessly from the window, 
 
28 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 that poor resource of the disconsolate ; and Neida 
 flew off to finish her work. 
 
 Papeta sat at her piano and composed a song. 
 Her voice rose clear and sweet, and filled the lofty 
 apartment with melody. Neida hovered near, ready 
 to put in a word, and finally alighted on the shoulder 
 of the princess, where she could whisper in her 
 ear. 
 
 " Your voice is perfectly exquisite ! " she cried. 
 " I was at court last night, and heard you sing. 
 But I could not fully enjoy it, such a chattering and 
 talking went on all the time." 
 
 '' I sang for those only who preferred not to 
 talk," replied Papeta. 
 
 " But how could people talk when such heavenly 
 sounds filled the rooms ? I looked at the Princess 
 Novella with amazement. She had a troop of 
 young noblemen about her, and kept them intent on 
 every word that fell from her lips. Their ears 
 were for her alone." 
 
 " It must be delightful to have such a flow of 
 speech as the Princess Novella," replied Mosella. 
 " And she writes with as much ease as she talks. 
 I do not wonder people like to be in her company." 
 
 " You speak like a loyal, true-hearted sister, as 
 I am sure you are," returned Neida. " But it is 
 hard that such a voice as yours should not silence 
 every other voice. Why, in the midst of one of 
 your most touching tender songs, when every 
 sound should have been hushed, I heard the Count- 
 ess Montanelle whisper to her neighbor : ' This, 
 singing and thrumming is all very well, but the 
 Princess Moina is worth all her sisters put together. 
 She actually makes with her own hands all the ex- 
 quisite dresses they wear ! ' " 
 
 Mosella smiled. 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 29 
 
 " Poor Moina ! Her mind is so empty that 
 she finds her scissors and thimble quite a re- 
 source ! " she said. 
 
 As she uttered these words she felt no little 
 contempt for the Countess ^lontanelle. 
 
 While this conversation was going on Reima 
 stood before her easel, her fine face all in a glow. 
 A conception of wondrous beauty had come to 
 her during the early hours of the night, when 
 unusual excitement kept her awake. 
 
 She had made a hasty sketch, and now with 
 eager joy had prepared her colors, and was ready for 
 the details of her work. A bee, as she fancied, 
 alighted on the canvas ; and she was about to brush 
 it ofif, when Xeida, for she it was, cried out : 
 
 " Do not drive me away, beautiful princess ! I 
 have much to say to you before you begin your 
 day's work." 
 
 '' Another time will do as well," said Reima. 
 " Pray do not disturb me." 
 
 " I saw your paintings as they were exhibited 
 last night," said Xeida. " Among them are works 
 of real genius. But genius is not worth much in 
 this world. A pretty face, a winning address, a 
 thrum or two of music, an agreeable voice — these 
 attract the multitude, while such as you are passed 
 by and overlooked." 
 
 " One cannot expect to have genius and beauty, 
 and all the gifts of nature," returned Reima. 
 ** For my part, I am content with the share that 
 has fallen to me. Xo tongue can tell the delight 
 I take in my art." 
 
 " That is all very well while the enthusiasm of 
 youth sustains you," replied Xeida. '' But, ere 
 long, your heart will assert its rights. It will 
 
30 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 cry out for love, and will not be pacified by ad- 
 miration." 
 
 " Admiration ! " cried Reima ; " who talks of ad- 
 miration ?" 
 
 " Everybody talks of it. Your sister, the Prin- 
 cess Delicieuse, does more. She wins it." 
 
 " Let her have it, then," said Reima, a little pen- 
 isively. " I for one can do without it." 
 
 " Can you do without love ? " 
 
 *' Nay, I cannot and do not," cried Reima. 
 " My sisters all love me. And so does the queen, 
 my mother." 
 
 Neida laughed. Her laugh was more horrible 
 than words can tell. 
 
 " Paint away, then ! " she cried ; " and, while 
 you are absorbed in your art, let the world pass 
 you by and forget you. The merest daub from 
 the Princess Delicieuse will be fought for, while 
 you, a child of genius, must remain sufficient unto 
 yourself." 
 
 So saying, Neida flew off. Reima remained silent 
 and perplexed. 
 
 " I, too, crave the joy of winning love and favor, 
 but it is denied me ! " she thought. " Delicieuse 
 wins both without an effort. Why should she pos- 
 sess so divine a gift, and I have merely the power to 
 spread colors over canvas." 
 
 As she spoke she threw her brushes from her 
 in disgust. 
 
 " What can have happened to my ink ? " cried 
 Novella. " It has all dried up, and I am in such 
 haste to write. Ah, such beautiful images are 
 floating in my brain ! They will be gone forever 
 if I do not seize them at once ! " 
 
 " It is I who have dried up your ink, noble lady," 
 
six LITTLE PRINCESSES. 31 
 
 said Neida, coming forth and sitting down on the 
 desk of the princess. 
 
 ''And who are you?" asked Novella, looking 
 with disgust at the hateful little figure. 
 
 " I am one who cannot bear the injustice of the 
 world," replied Neida. '' When I listen to your 
 words, so full of fire and passion ; when I look 
 over your shoulder and read what you write in 
 those favored moments when you enchain and 
 imprison the exquisite images that come to you 
 as by an inspiration ; when I do this, I say, I am 
 lost in amazement and filled with shame. Half 
 the world prefers to you a simple girl who has 
 not a thought beyond her needle. The other half 
 runs after a beautiful face or an agreeable voice. 
 You may talk like an oracle, and write with a pen 
 dipped in fire, yet only here and there will you 
 find a worshiper." 
 
 " I do not write because I want worshipers," 
 returned Novella, much amused. '' I write be- 
 cause I cannot help it. I enjoy the thoughts that 
 come to me as dreams come, I know not how or 
 whence. I put forth my hand to catch them, as I 
 would catch the birds that fly over my head." 
 
 " Yet I see you often retire to a hidden cor- 
 ner, there to sit in darkness and sadness. This 
 does not look like enjoyment." 
 
 " I believe," replied Novella, " that a certain 
 sadness ever follows, if it does not accompany, 
 moments of inspiration. Perfect, unalloyed fe- 
 licity I do not expect to find on earth." 
 
 *' Your sister Papeta has no hours of despond- 
 ency. She is as joyous as the birds like which 
 she sings. The Princess Moina sits all day in calm 
 content, the victim of no moods and tense like 
 yours. The Princess Delicieuse, without a ray of 
 
32 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 genius, is preferred before you by high and low, 
 the learned as well as the unlearned." 
 
 Novella sighed. 
 
 " I should gladly be beloved, as she is ! " she 
 said. " I should like Moina's calm and placid 
 nature ; at least, there are times when I would 
 gladly exchange my gifts for hers. 
 
 " I feel for you ! " cried Neida. " Your hap- 
 pines. is a fitful thing, that comes and goes with 
 the passing moment. You are on the mountain 
 tops one day and down in the abyss the next." 
 
 '' It is true ! " cried Novella. '' But I riot on 
 the mountain tops when I am there ! " 
 
 " I have still busines on hand ; I must go. Think 
 of all I have said," returned Neida, fluttering off. 
 
 Novella threw herself back in a chir. 
 
 " What would I not give," she thought, " to be 
 as beautiful, as charming, as Delicieuse. Every- 
 thing she says delights everybody, yet she talks 
 only little nothings. As for me, nobody understands 
 me. My heart is as warm as hers, nay, warmer ; it 
 is a furnace in full glow ; but because I do not 
 carry it about in my hands, as she carries her, no- 
 body believes in it. I am not happy ! No, I am 
 wretched ! " 
 
 At this moment Delicieuse was putting one foot 
 out of bed. She had made up, in a long morning 
 nap, all the sleep she had lost the previous night, 
 and looked as fresh and pretty as a rose just opened. 
 Peace and good-will towards everybody, including 
 herself, filled her heart. As she thrust her little 
 foot in her slipper, she perceived some foreign 
 substance there, and sprang back into bed, where 
 she sat, half-frightened, half amused, the prettiest 
 picture imaginable. 
 
SIX LITTLE PRI^'CESSES. 33 
 
 " I verily believe a mouse has taken up its abode 
 in my slipper," thought she. 
 
 As she spoke, Xeida bounded out of her hiding- 
 place and seated herself on the bed, face to face 
 with the young princess. 
 
 " You are a beautiful creature ! " she began. 
 " More so at this moment, in your simple night- 
 dress, with your hair floating over your shoulders, 
 than you were last evening, when arrayed in robes 
 of state." 
 
 '' I wish I could return the compliment," said 
 Delicieuse good-humoredly. 
 
 '' I make no pretensions to beauty," repHed Neida, 
 with a fearful roll of her great green eyes. " I 
 am, therefore, the more dazzled by yours. But, my 
 poor child, beauty is an evanescent charm. When 
 old age and disease have destroyed yours, all your 
 sisters will retain a power to please, which you 
 will desire in vain. Even now you see what crowds 
 cluster about the Princesses Mosella and Papeta, 
 and what homage is paid by men of genius to the 
 gifts of Reima and Novella. A certain class of 
 admirers will always be yours, but the most culti- 
 vated minds will ever prefer the society of your 
 sisters." 
 
 Delicieuse replied by leaning over a little, and 
 with her finger and thumb she sent Neida spin- 
 ning through the air at a rate quite fitted to turn 
 her brain, if she had any. Then, springing out of 
 bed, the gay young princess rang a silver bell to 
 summon her attendants to assist her in dressing. 
 While this process was going on she tried, by chat- 
 ting half to herself, half to them, to escape the un- 
 pleasant fancies Neida had awakened in her. 
 
 W'hen at last she joined her sisters she was as- 
 
34 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 tonished that not one of them came to meet and 
 caress her as usual. 
 
 " Their heads were all turned last evening, I 
 suppose," she said to herself. " Good-morning 
 Moina ! What ! not at work ? It is not possible 
 that my dress for to-night is already finished ? " 
 
 " I am not the family seamstress," replied Moina. 
 " Why should I rise early to prepare your dresses, 
 while you lie idling in bed ? Do you really imagine, 
 because you happen to be prettier than I, that I am 
 to spend my whole time in serving you ? " 
 
 Delicieuse made no answer, but her eyes filled 
 with tears. Never before had such harsh language 
 fallen upon her ears. She hurried away, hoping to 
 find refuge with Reima. 
 
 " You see I am behind you all 'this morning," 
 she said approaching her sister. " Are you at 
 work on a new picture ? Have you finished my 
 portrait ? " 
 
 " Your portrait ? " cried Reima scornfully ; 
 " not I ! Why should I finish it, pray ? Are you 
 not content with seeing everybody at your feet, 
 but must you see yourself on canvas also ? " 
 
 " My dear, you must have eaten something that 
 disagreed with you last night," said Delicieuse. 
 " Otherwise I do not see what makes you so ill- 
 humored." 
 
 '' 1 am not ill-humored," said Reima. " I am 
 only out of spirits. Do go away, child, and leave 
 me in peace." 
 
 " I am going, you may depend," returned Deli- 
 cieuse. " For my part, I am quite willing to leave 
 you to yourself." 
 
 " Delicieuse is getting positively disagreeable ! " 
 thought Reima. " She thinks that because she 
 is so handsome she can talk as she likes. And^ 
 
SIX LITTLE PRI^X'ESSES. 35 
 
 to be sure, so she can. Ah ! I wish I were as 
 beautiful ! But all I am good for is to stand here 
 and daub ! " 
 
 Delicieuse passed on, ruffled and displeased. 
 " I suppose Reima takes airs upon herself because 
 so much was said of her genius last evening," 
 thought she. *' It must be delightful to be a genius ! 
 As to beauty. I must own that I am tired already of 
 mine. What an amount of nonsense it makes peo- 
 ple talk ! " 
 
 At this moment she espied Mosella, who sat 
 reading by herself, and Papeta, who picked a faded 
 bouquet to pieces, at a little distance. 
 
 " Have you inseparables quarreled also ? " she 
 cried. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " asked Mosella. " Can- 
 not one take up a book without being taken to 
 task ? " 
 
 " And is picking a bouquet to pieces worse than 
 lying in bed all the morning ? " demanded Papeta. 
 
 " Everybody seems out of humor,'' said Deli- 
 cieuse. " I feel low-spirited myself. If I could 
 sing and play as you two can I would soon cheer 
 myself up. Come, do play a little, Mosella ! And 
 you, Papeta, pray sing, till you charm us all into 
 good spirits again." 
 
 " There's no use in playing. Nobody will lis- 
 ten," replied ^losella. 
 
 " Xor in singing, for it sets everybody to talk- 
 ing," said Papeta. " Ah, Delicieuse ! you lucky 
 creature ! Why should you have all the beauty of 
 the family ? " 
 
 " And why should the rest of you have all the 
 talent ? " asked Delicieuse, half crying. '' But 
 where is Novella ?" 
 
 " Novella," replied Papeta, " is meditating suicide. 
 
3(j SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 She has lowered like a thunder-cloud all the morn- 
 ing. I saw her with my own eyes tear up all her 
 papers and throw them away." 
 
 " All her amusing tales and lovely poems ? " cried 
 Delicieuse. " Oh, if I could but write as she does ! 
 But I can do nothing. I cannot cut in the mag- 
 ical way Moina does, nor paint like Reima, nor sing 
 and play like you two gifted creatures. All I am 
 fit for is to be dressed like a doll, and to hear peo- 
 ple say silly things about my face and my figure." 
 
 So saying, Delicieuse, hitherto the gayest, glad- 
 dest of mortals, began to cry in good earnest. 
 
 In the midst of this scene the queen, who also 
 had slept late, came to rejoice in the sight of her 
 darling children, and was shocked to find the state 
 they were in. In vain she coaxed, scolded, and at 
 last shed tears. Not one would confess the cause of 
 her melancholy. 
 
 In her despair the queen sent for the Countess 
 Reynosa, who soon made her appearance with her 
 usual nonchalant air. 
 
 *' You dear creatures ! " she cried, on seeing the 
 six woeful faces, "each of you shall confess to me 
 in turn, and I will promise to put you out of misery 
 before this day closes. Come, Moina, I will begin 
 with you." 
 
 She drew the reluctant princess away to the 
 queen's private cabinet, and caressed and condoled 
 with her, until at last she learned all about the visit 
 of Neida. 
 
 " Has that little monster really made you a 
 visit ? " she exclaimed. " You should know her, 
 then, by her real name, and never again permit her 
 so much as to whisper a word in your ear. Her 
 name is Envy.'' 
 
 Moina shuddered. 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 37 
 
 " She has made me very unhappy," said she, 
 " and made me lose all pleasure in the only gift I 
 really possess. And, indeed, why should I, a prin- 
 cess royal, sit always at work like a common seam- 
 stress ? " 
 
 " Like an uncommon seamstress, you mean," 
 replied the countess. '' Indeed, I know of no reason 
 save this : People who have gifts always exercise 
 them, as babies do their arms and legs. They find 
 pleasure in this exercise themselves, and give pleas- 
 ure to others besides." 
 
 '* But mv sisters are all admired so much more 
 than I ! " ' 
 
 "Yes, they, too, have their gifts. \^'hy not? 
 Why should nature give you a talent and with- 
 hold her gifts from them ? " 
 
 '• But my talent is so small when compared with 
 theirs ! " 
 
 "' Then, because it is small, you fancy it best to 
 let it lie idle. Then how will vou emplov vour- 
 self ? " 
 
 '• I do not know," said Moina despondently. 
 '* I cannot draw, I have no ear for music ; I am not 
 fond of reading, and, if I were, could not read all 
 the time. But when I get an idea of a new dress 
 in my head the scissors seem to move of their own 
 accord, and I am quite happy, as I sit at my work, 
 both at my success and at the pleasure I can give 
 others. Ivly sisters cannot bear to wear anything 
 that is not of my workmanship." 
 
 " Then, my dear Moina, go back to your own 
 little corner. Exercise your gift, humble though 
 it be. The time may come when you will see that 
 nature has dealt as kindly with you as with your 
 sisters." 
 
38 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 In like manner the countess encouraged and set 
 right each of the princesses. 
 
 Moina caught up the robe she was preparing for 
 DeHcieuse, and took pleasure in completing it. 
 Mosella and Papeta returned to their music with 
 fresh ardor ; while Reima drew forth the half- 
 finished portrait of DeHcieuse, which she had begun 
 as a work of love, and put to it some finishing 
 touches. 
 
 Novella seized her pen as a lost mariner seizes 
 the compass he has thought gone overboard in the 
 storm. All her papers had indeed perished in the 
 tempest, but her brain was full of images of grace 
 and beauty, and her imagination did not care a whit 
 that its sails had been taken in during stress of 
 weather. 
 
 The countess went from one to another, admir- 
 ing their work, and putting in the right word 
 here and there. 
 
 " This family circle is nearly perfect ! " she 
 cried at last. " We have not here a race of work- 
 women, nor half a dozen musicians, nor a set of 
 artists, nor a row of authors, nor six good-for-noth- 
 ings like DeHcieuse. We have a little of every sort, 
 and if I can catch and kill the hideous creature who 
 disturbed your peace, I see nothing to prevent your 
 complete felicity." 
 
 " I believe she is already dead," said DeHcieuse. 
 " Here she lies, shriveled and shrunken, and does 
 not move a limb." 
 
 " Give me the corpse, then," said the countess, 
 laughing. '' She shall have a state funeral." 
 
IV. 
 
 STRENGTH IX UNION. 
 
 From this time the princesses led a happy and 
 harmonious Hfe together, and the queen, when 
 weary with the burden of royalty, found among 
 them, with all their refreshing variety of char- 
 acter, a solace and a joy that made her Hfe a 
 continual feast. One morning, however, the 
 king, when he set forth to hunt, entreated the 
 queen to accompany him, to witness some rare sport. 
 
 '' I am ashamed to refuse you," she said, '' but 
 my heart misgives me. I have a presentiment that 
 some misfortune will befall our children." 
 
 " One should put no confidence in presentiments," 
 replied the king. " For my part I have a forebod- 
 ing of evil as awaiting myself ! I own it is weak 
 to yield to it, yet it makes me shrink from going 
 forth to the hunt without you." 
 
 These words decided the queen, yet she took 
 leave of her daughters with a tenderness that 
 bordered on sadness. The princesses, on their 
 part, responded with unusual warmth to her 
 caresses ; never had she seemed to them so dear. 
 They employed themselves in her absence with 
 little devices for her pleasure. Moina began a 
 bit of choice embroidery ; Reima designed a pic- 
 ture for her private cabinet; 2vlosella and Papeta 
 
 39 
 
4:0 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 composed music for a song of welcome, written by 
 Novella, as her welcome home; Delicieuse ran to 
 the window every five minutes to see if she were 
 coming. But night fell, and the gay cavalcade was 
 neither seen nor heard. 
 
 The princesses assured each other that the delay 
 betokened no evil. To beguile themselves of the 
 time they worked with more industry. At bed- 
 time there was still no news of the absent party. 
 
 " What can it mean ? " they whispered to each 
 other, while Delicieuse cried herself to sleep. 
 
 At midnight wheels were heard, and the Countess 
 Reynosa appeared, pale and tearful. 
 
 " My children ! " she cried, and could say no 
 more. 
 
 They clustered about her, and clung to her, with- 
 out daring to ask a question. She gathered them in 
 her arms, spoke a few incoherent words, and then, 
 pushing them away, began pacing the room like one 
 beside herself. 
 
 Then came confused sounds from without. 
 
 " They are bringing them home ! " she said in a 
 whisper. 
 
 One cannot dwell on such scenes. The king and 
 the queen had been thrown from their chariot. Both 
 were dead. 
 
 The days of public mourning and ceremony were 
 over. Their private grief the young princesses con- 
 cealed in the retirement of their own apartments. 
 They did not ask themselves, for their lives had 
 been simple and unworldly, who should reign over 
 the desolate kingdom. But others, less simple, 
 more worldly, did ask the question, and presently 
 dissension and clamor arose and filled the land. 
 Some of the people looked upon Novella as 
 heiress to the throne. It was she whom the king 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 41 
 
 and queen had first adopted as their child ; she ex- 
 celled her sisters in learning if not in talent ; if the 
 blood in her veins was not royal her education was. 
 Others contended that Delicieuse, as the favorite of 
 the queen and the people, was best fitted to ascend 
 the throne. A third party clung to the aristocracy 
 of birth, and clamored for the rights of the young 
 nephew of the king. 
 
 The Countess Reynosa weighed these conflicting 
 opinions, and her clear judgment assured her that the 
 third party had justice on its side and would finally 
 prevail. But what was to become of the six prin- 
 cesses? Had any prov'sion been made for them? 
 Alas ! none. The king and the queen, like other 
 mistaken souls, had expected to live forever. It 
 turned out that they were not princesses after all ; 
 merely six nobodies. The worst of it was that 
 not one of them seriously lamented this circum- 
 stance, ^loina fancied she could enjoy her scissors, 
 her thimble, her needle quite as much when stripped 
 of her title as she had done with it. Reima went 
 on painting a portrait of the queen from memory, 
 and found consolation in the task. ^losella and 
 Papeta set to music many plaintive little songs, 
 composed by Novella after the first days of speech- 
 less agony were over, and their plebeian hands and 
 voices made as sweet melody as ever. Novella be- 
 gan a long poem, wherein she tried to prove that life 
 is a dream ; only, being a genius, she did it in an 
 original way. Delicieuse looked charming in her 
 simple black dress, and softened and sanctified by 
 sufifering, was more attractive, more lovely than 
 ever. 
 
 " Aly dear children," said the Countess Reynosa, 
 " I foresaw this day and made provision for it. In 
 the first place, I avoided introducing boys into the 
 
42 SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 palace, for what might prove only temporary gran- 
 deur. Less flexible, more ambitious than girls, 
 reverses would have been a far greater shock to 
 them than to you. In the second place, I selected 
 each of you with a reasonable prospect that you 
 would inherit the gifts and graces of the parents 
 who gave you birth. In this I hope I have not been 
 disappointed. Last of all, I ever urged the queen 
 to educate you, as far as possible, to find happiness 
 in each other, and in the exercise of the gifts with 
 which you were endowed by nature. You are, 
 therefore, almost entirely independent of this people, 
 by whom the designs of the king and queen for you 
 are set at naught." 
 
 '' All I want," said Novella, '' is some little corner 
 where I can read and write, and have no trouble 
 about dress, or talk about etiquette." 
 
 *' As for me, I shall travel in foreign lands," said 
 Reima, " study the old masters, and perfect myself 
 in my art. Royalty under such circumstances 
 would only be a burden. I shall then settle down 
 somewhere and spend my life in painting." 
 
 " And we shall devote ourselves to music," said 
 Mosella and Papeta, " and forget the court and all 
 its tiresome observances." 
 
 " Meanwhile I will see that you are all clothed 
 neatly," said Moina. 
 
 " That is the first sensible speech I have heard 
 yet," said the countess. " Pray, my dear Novella, 
 while you sit reading and writing who is to shelter 
 and who to feed you? And you, Reima, how will 
 you travel ? On foot ? " 
 
 The twain looked a little foolish, but not half so 
 anxious as penniless maidens ought to have looked. 
 
 " Well, well, you are not quite destitute," con- 
 tinued the countess. " You have the gifts pre- 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 43 
 
 sented you at your christening and other personal 
 property. You can, with their help, secure a home, 
 where you can all live together, or you can separate, 
 and each face the world for herself." 
 
 '' Oh, let us all keep together," said Delicieuse, 
 " and live exactly as we have done." 
 
 '' And have you a palace for this purpose, my 
 child?" 
 
 It was now the turn of Delicieuse to look foolish. 
 
 " You shall live with me, darling," said Reima, 
 "and so shall Moina. All the others can take care 
 of themselves, or join us, as they like." 
 
 " But we shall want Moina and Delicieuse to live 
 with us," cried the two musicians. 
 
 " That would leave me quite alone," said Novella, 
 " and that I could not think of. I do not know 
 how to manage a needle nor what to wear. And in 
 my hours of weariness and sadness no one can cheer 
 and arouse me like Delicieuse." 
 
 Thus there was the same strife for the possession 
 of the useless as of the useful sister. 
 
 " I see how it is," said Reynosa. '' You must 
 live together. Each feels herself incomplete with- 
 out the others. Novella needs somebody to take 
 care of her and somebody to love. In return she 
 will give love and endless entertainment. Reima, 
 too, needs looking after, and someone who will 
 watch with a friendly eye the growth of her paint- 
 ings. Our two musicians must not become one- 
 sided by thinking only of melody and of song. 
 They must enjoy being clothed by ^loina's kind 
 hands, listening to Novella's poems, and discussing 
 Reima's works. And you must all train your ears 
 to appreciate the talents of these two marvelous 
 creatures who sing and play with such rare, such ex- 
 quisite harmony." 
 
4A SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 
 
 " And what shall I do? " cried Delicieuse. 
 
 " You shall do a little of everything, dear child. 
 You shall help Moina to guide the house and Reima 
 to mix the colors. You shall take care that the 
 piano is never out of tune, or Novella at a loss for 
 pens and paper. In a word, you si ill be what you 
 have always been, always ready with the oil of 
 gladness, wherever you see friction, the sweetest, 
 the most lovable creature in the world." 
 
 Delicieuse smiled, and ran to embrace all her sis- 
 ters, hardly knowing which she loved best. 
 
 It was not long before these royal maidens, royal 
 only in their virtues and their talents, found them- 
 selves in a home in a vine-clad land, where each 
 could live as nature had designed she should live. 
 
 Moina, whose practical skill was not confined to 
 her needle, kept the house with such exquisite care 
 and neatness that her sisters preferred it to a palace. 
 She found happiness in forgetting herself, in her 
 pride in them, and in the freedom from petty cares 
 from which she shielded them. Her calm, serene 
 character was a continual repose to the varying 
 moods of Reima and Novella ; a balance-wheel to 
 works that, running fast, often ran irregularly. 
 Reima studied the old masters with no need for fur- 
 ther travel, for her home lay among their works. 
 
 Mosella and Papeta composed music, made Deli- 
 cieuse listen to and admire it when other hearers 
 were wanting, and were satisfied with her criti- 
 cisms. 
 
 Novella wrote books, and had her frenzies. She 
 had her gentle and her gay moods, also, and made 
 laughter ring through the house at her will. Not 
 one of these four was conscious of her powers or 
 asked for fame. Nor did their aristocratic breed- 
 ing make them ashamed to work for their bread. 
 
SIX LITTLE PRINCESSES. 45 
 
 They even fancied that bread thus won needed less 
 butter to help it down than that of charity. 
 
 As to DeHcieuse, she was the bright, the golden 
 link that bound the household together in peace and 
 harmony. Her smiles, her caresses, the love that 
 flowed forth from her as from a living fountain, 
 made their home glad with perpetual sunshine. 
 Thank God for the gifts of genius He has scat- 
 tered abroad with a bountiful hand ; but thank Him 
 also that, without such gifts, one may become a joy 
 and a benediction ! 
 
LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-KING. 
 
 Once upon a time there was a little girl named 
 Ella. She was an only child, and lived with her 
 widowed mother, who, having no one else to love 
 in all the world, lavished the fondest affection on 
 her darling ; and, to tell the truth, spoiled her sadly. 
 
 Ella was very beautiful ; she had large dark eyes, 
 and golden curls that hung gracefully over her 
 white dimpled shoulders, and her cheeks and lips 
 were like rosebuds to look at ; but she had been so 
 often told of her beauty, that I am sorry to say she 
 had become extremely vain, and liked nothing so 
 much as to be well dressed, and to hear people ex- 
 claim, as she walked along the streets, "What a 
 lovely little lady ! " Vanity was not Ella's only 
 fault; she was also far from industrious, and she 
 would let her mother wear her eyes out in making 
 the fine clothes she was always asking for, while she 
 sat idly on her stool in the warm chimney corner, 
 and looked into the bright fire, till she fancied she 
 could see hills and valleys, trees and houses, and 
 even little men and women, in the glowing embers. 
 
 One winter's afternoon when the snow was on 
 the ground, Ella's mother said to her : " It will 
 soon be Christmas time, and I wish my darling to 
 choose what she would like best for a New Year's, 
 gift." " Oh," cried the little girl, " I want a new 
 hat, with cherry-colored ribbons, and a blue velvet 
 
 46 
 
LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-KING. 4t 
 
 pelisse, trimmed with ermine." " Nay," said her 
 mother, '' I will buy yoii one of these things, my 
 child, but I cannot afford to give you both ; for you 
 know, dear Ella, I am far from rich." " Never 
 mind," said Ella impatiently ; " a new hat and a new 
 pelisse I must and zi'ill have, and I am sure that I 
 shall neither eat, sleep, nor play for thinking of 
 them ; so do go out this very afternoon, there's a 
 dear, kind mother, and buy them for me See, it 
 has almost left off snowing, and I will keep a good 
 fire to warm you when you come home, and make 
 some of the nice tea and toast of which you are so 
 fond." And the little puss began to coax her 
 mother, throwing her white arms around her neck 
 and kissing her, till she could no longer resist her 
 winning ways. So, fondly patting her daughter's 
 rosy cheek, she put on her bonnet and cloak, and 
 trudged out into the winter cold to get the finery 
 which Ella wished for. 
 
 Now Ella had not a bad heart; she really loved 
 her mother dearly, but much indulgence had made 
 her thoughtless and selfish. She looked out of the 
 window and nodded a smiling good-by to her kind 
 parent, and then ran shivering back to the warm 
 chimney corner. '' Ah ! how cold and dreary it 
 looks outside," said she ; " for my part, I shall 
 armise myself with looking at this nice, clear fire 
 till mamma comes back ;" and quite forgetting the 
 tea and toast she had promised to get ready, she 
 drew her stool to the hearth and sat looking at the 
 flames which leaped and sparkkd so merrily, and 
 into the very depths of the glowing fire, where the 
 trees, the gardens, and the palaces seemed more 
 wonderful and beautiful than ever to her earnest 
 gaze. The hail pattered against the window panes, 
 and the wind whistled drearily outside, but the fire 
 
48 LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-KING. 
 
 trees had not lost their foHage, and all appeared 
 summer in that cheerful spot. " I wish, I wish," 
 sighed the wayward Ella, '* that I could always 
 live in the fire, it is so cold and miserable here ; and 
 I should like of all things to wander in that lovely 
 garden which I see yonder, and to dwell in that fine 
 palace with the tiny door of glittering gold which 
 stands in the midst of it." 
 
 Scarcely had the words passed her lips when 
 the golden door of the palace flew open, and, breath- 
 less with astonishment, Ella beheld a noble train 
 of lords and ladies no higher than her little finger, 
 who, bowing to her as they passed from the palace 
 gate, formed a brilliant line on each side of the ave- 
 nue which led to this enchanted castle. Next came 
 a troop of young maidens, bearing on their heads 
 small baskets of filigree coal containing black dia- 
 monds of rare value. Then followed grooms in wait- 
 ing, equerries, and attendants of every description 
 in gorgeous liveries, and these were succeeded by 
 twelve of the most exquisite pages that can be imag- 
 ined, who advanced, bowing low and waving their 
 plumed and jeweled caps to the ground. Lastly, a 
 flourish of drums and trumpets announced the ap- 
 proach of royalty, and what was Ella's joy and sur- 
 prise when there rode forth from the palace gates 
 a superb young prince, far handsomer than any she 
 had ever thought or dreamed of, mounted on a 
 prancing fiery steed, which he managed with won- 
 derful grace and skill. When he had reached the 
 center of the avenue he dismounted, and, throwing 
 the reins of his charger to an attendant, walked 
 gracefully forward to the front of the grate and 
 gazed at the blushing Ella — majesty and love speak- 
 ing in every glance. The Fire-King was magnifi- 
 cently dressed in royal robes of blue flame bordered 
 
LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-KING. 49 
 
 with golden sparks, and wore on his head a crown 
 of brilliants. His appearance was altogether most 
 dazzling ; for though his face might be considered a 
 trifle too red, yet this was forgotten in the brightness 
 of his eves. 
 
 '' Fairest of mortals," said he as he knelt be- 
 fore Ella, " I am the King of the Salamanders, and 
 I have come to woo you for my queen. Often have 
 I watched vou in the evening time as you looked 
 into mv dominions with longing eyes, sighing to live 
 forever there. And who could gaze upon your 
 beauty and not love you? Yes, Ella, the wish of 
 your heart is granted. I offer you my hand and 
 royal crown. Come, be my bride this day, and 
 dwell with me forever in my kingdom of flame." 
 Now, Ella was not in the least frightened by the 
 king's address, for she had heard his voice many 
 times before, but had then mistaken it for the pop- 
 ping of the coals, to which, it must be owned, it 
 bore no small resemblance; but though her heart 
 leaped with delight at the thought of being married 
 to the handsome'king,and wearing a diamond crown, 
 yet she almost feared that she might be burned if 
 she ventured into the fire, and even if she escaped 
 that danger, her size was another obstacle to her 
 wishes; for she saw plainly enough that it would 
 be quite impossible for her even so much as to 
 enter the kingdom, much more to dwell in a palace 
 a hundred times smaller than herself. Ready to cry 
 with vexation and disappointment, she was about 
 to refuse the offer of the Salamander, when she felt 
 herself to be growing smaller every instant, and 
 soon she became even more diminutive than the king 
 himself, while the heat of the fire, which before had 
 sadlv scorched her face, now seemed to her no 
 greater than the pleasant warmth of a summer's day. 
 
50 LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-KING. 
 
 Yet, as she stood on the topmost bar of the grate, 
 and hfted her dainty httle foot, clad in the tiniest 
 and most exquisite of red sUppers, to spring into 
 fireland, she paused once more; for the recollection 
 of her doting mother, who had ventured out on this 
 dreary day, regardless of wind and storm, merely 
 to gratify a selfish whim of hers, shot a pang of 
 remorse through her heart, and a tear gathered in 
 her eye and fell on the prince's head as he stood 
 below awaiting her with impatience. It must be 
 confessed he looked rather black at this, for water 
 did not at all agree with his constitution ; and Ella's 
 tear, though a very small one, threatened to put him 
 out for the day. '' Do not weep, my love," said he 
 in a hissing voice, w^hich he tried to render as agree- 
 able as possible ; '' I assure you that your mother 
 will not miss you so much as you imagine. She is 
 going to marry a new husband, and then she will 
 have other children and love them better than you. 
 Besides which, she shall not think you ungrateful, for 
 I will take care to scatter some ashes on the hearth 
 rug, which will cause her to think that you have 
 ventured too near the fire, and so have been burned 
 to death." Now, though Ella could not in her 
 heart believe all this, or think that her poor mother 
 would ever again love any other creature in the 
 world, yet vanity and curiosity had got possession 
 of her foolish little head, and hesitating no longer, 
 she sprang into the open arms of her fiery lover, 
 who clasped her in a warm embrace, and showered 
 kisses on her ruby lips. 
 
 The lords and ladies now approached, and kneel- 
 ing at Ella's feet, saluted her as their queen ; and 
 next the young maidens advanced with their basket 
 of jewels, the king's wedding gift to his fair young 
 bride. Twelve of the noblest ladies of the court. 
 
LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-iQNG. 5I 
 
 who were appointed to be maids of honor, respect- 
 fully begged Ella to tell them how they mightserve 
 her majesty. '' Attend your royal mistress to her 
 robing room," said the king, and then we must to 
 horse, for we have far to travel this night before we 
 can reach our palace in the bowels of the earth. You 
 must know, my sweet queen," continued he, " that 
 this fireplace of your mother's is only one of my 
 many country houses, and my state residence is far 
 more vast and magnificent ; thither shall we go this 
 night, that our wedding-feast may be all the 
 grander. The banquet w^aits our coming, so haste, 
 I pray you, love, and don your wedding dress." 
 " Can we not stay in this palace to-night ? " said 
 Ella, who did not altogether relish going so far from 
 her old home. '* Xo, no, silly one," said the king. 
 *' Pray, is not the fire raked out every night? and 
 then what would become of us? A pretty mess 
 you would make of our wedding-feast. But do not 
 look so sad, dear love ; you shall often return to this 
 place if it pleases you ; for it is only at night that 
 we are forced to leave it for our palace in the earth." 
 Ella brightened up at this, and gayly entered the 
 palace she had so much longed to live in. Her 
 maids of honor followed, and conducted her to her 
 apartments, where they decked her as became a 
 royal bride in rich robes of white flame. A circlet 
 of sparks surrounded her golden curls, and over her 
 head she wore a long veil of exquisitely transparent 
 smoke. Thus attired, she looked more beautiful 
 than the morning star, and could scarcely tear her- 
 self away from the mirror which reflected her 
 charms, though the king was impatiently calling for 
 her, and her horse stood saddled at the castle gate. 
 At last she was ready, and, joining the impatient 
 bridegroom, mounted her steed, and the whole train 
 
52 LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-KING. 
 
 departed with royal pomp — Ella and the king at 
 the head, drums beating and trumpets sounding. 
 
 '' Are you happy and content, my Ella ? " said 
 the handsome king, fixing his piercing eyes ten- 
 derly on her blushing face as they rode away. 
 " That indeed I am, sweet prince," returned Ella ; 
 but she was not really so ; her heart felt heavy amid 
 all this splendor. She tried to think it was only the 
 fear of spoiling her complexion which troubled her ; 
 but conscience whispered that an ungrateful child 
 could never hope to be happy again. After riding 
 a long way they arrived at the king's palace in the 
 depths of the earth. The magnificence of this sub- 
 terranean dwelling quite overpowered the youthful 
 queen with awe, as she began to realize the splendid 
 extent of her new dominions, and she ceased to won- 
 der at the dreadful earthquakes of which she had 
 sometimes read, when she saw the flames that raged 
 in the earth's center beneath the fields, the rocks, 
 and the houses, which appeared so safe to mortal 
 eyes. While these thoughts were passing through 
 her mind, an attendant bounced out suddenly before 
 the king and said : " Supper is served, your gra- 
 cious majesty." '' And you too shall be served for 
 your insolence, sirrah," said his gracious majesty; 
 who, without more ado, put an untimely end to the 
 forward young spark with a single blow. Ella was 
 not a little frightened by this very unpleasant in- 
 terruption to the wedding gayeties, but the cour- 
 tiers took no notice whatever of their companion's 
 fate, and did not seem in the least astonished ; for 
 to let you into a secret, if everything was hot in 
 fireland, the king's temper was about the hottest 
 thing of all. The banquet was served in right 
 royal style with every dainty that could tempt a 
 Salamander's palate.- But Ella was not quite a 
 
LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-KING. 53 
 
 Salamander yet, and she certainly did not find the 
 dishes of which the king pressed her to eat half so 
 delicious as the plum pudding- and mince pies she 
 used to have at home. The king noticed that she 
 did not eat with a good appetite, and as nothing 
 could be too hot to please him, he took it into his 
 head that Ella did not relish her supper because it 
 was cold, and he flew into a terrible passion in con- 
 sequence ; and though Ella, trembling from head to 
 foot at his grim looks, begged him not to disturb 
 himself on her account, and tried her utmost to swal- 
 low the scalding food as if she liked it, a dozen or 
 so of courtiers were blown out before the dreadful 
 supper came to an end. But after this followed fire- 
 works and diversions in honor of the wedding, and 
 Ella was so delighted with the wonderful sight that 
 the king almost forgot his ill-temper when he saw 
 her sweet face dimpled with such rosy smiles, and 
 the night was far spent in these amusements, when 
 Ella was conducted by her maids of honor to her 
 splendid sleeping room in the glittering palace ; 
 so that she laid her head on her crimson and gold 
 pillow, feeling that after all it was a very grand 
 thing to be a queen and a bride, even though her 
 lover might not be quite such a charming prince as 
 he had appeared at first. 
 
 In the morning the king told Ella that he had 
 not forgotten hie promise of allowing her to spend 
 part of her honeymoon in her mother's fireplace, and 
 she gladly accepted his offer of going thither at 
 once. The horses therefore were brought out, and 
 away they rode, to the sound of trumpet and horn, 
 along the road of flint, and through the iron gates 
 which opened into the grate, till at last they drew 
 rein before the shining gold gates of the Sala- 
 mander's palace, which was gayly decked with ban- 
 
54: LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE- KING. 
 
 ners and wreaths of flame to welcome the coming of 
 the royal bride. 
 
 Now the king, who was a very vain prince, was 
 in a great hurry to lead Ella into the palace so that 
 he might show her all his treasures, and make her 
 feel what a grand king she had married, but she, 
 having her own reasons for being left by herself for 
 a while, tried all sorts of excuses to remain behind. 
 '' It is very pleasant out here," said she, '' and I 
 should like to sit and watch the smoke curling up 
 the chimney, so that I may know which way the 
 wind blows." '' The wind is nothing to you or me," 
 returned the king, " and it is not proper for my bride 
 to remain by herself, so I will not allow it." " But 
 I will stay by myself as long as I choose, too," said 
 the queen, her eyes beginning to sparkle, for she 
 was not accustomed to contradiction ; " do you 
 imagine I am always going to have either you or a 
 parcel of black, sooty maids of honor forever at my 
 heels ? " '' No more sooty than you are yourself," 
 said the king in a pet. Saying this, he sent a large 
 coal flying in the queen's face, which fairly knocked 
 her down ; and she who had never received so much 
 as a harsh word in her life, lay upon the ground 
 sobbing with grief and passion. The king, how- 
 ever, was only a young husband and a lover still ; 
 therefore when he saw how much his fair ygung 
 wife took his unkindness to heart, he felt ashamed 
 of his violence, and, raising her tenderly from the 
 ground, begged her pardon humbly enough, and 
 asked what he could do to make her amends. 
 " Leave me by myself," was all that Ella would 
 answer, and deeming it better to feign obedience, 
 the king at last entered the palace with his train of 
 nobles ; but he made up his mind to watch well 
 
LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-KING. 55 
 
 from some sly corner all that went on outside, for 
 he felt quite certain that mischief was brewing. 
 
 As soon as Ella found herself alone she ran as 
 fast as she could to the front of the grate, and 
 gazed with a beating heart into the dear old room 
 which had once been her home ; but what was her 
 grief and horror at the sight which there met her 
 eyes ! A heap of ashes was on the hearth rug, 
 amid which Ella could see scorched and blackened 
 fragments of the dress she had worn the night be- 
 fore, and near it lay her mother, cold, pale, and 
 senseless. Her soft brown hair had in a single 
 night changed to silvery gray, her eyes were closed, 
 and it was only by a faint shudder which now and 
 then passed over her frame that Ella could tell she 
 was yet alive. An old servant, who had once been 
 Ella's nurse, knelt near her mistress, and chafed her 
 cold hands while tears streamed down her cheeks, 
 and on the ground near them lay the beautiful hat 
 with cherry-colored ribbons, and the blue velvet 
 pelisse, which had been the poor woman's last er- 
 rand of love for her cruel little daughter. 
 
 Full of grief and repentance at this sad sight 
 Ella tried with all her might to jump into the room 
 and run to her dear mamma's assistance ; but the 
 king, who, as I told you, was watching her from 
 the castle with all his eyes, sprang quickly forward 
 and caught her in his arms. " Your folly had nearly 
 cost you your life," said he angrily. " Remember, 
 ungrateful Ella, that you are now a Salamander and 
 my queen, and that you can no longer exist out of 
 the fire." With many a sigh Ella was forced to 
 hide her misery from her husband, whom she now 
 began to fear even more than she had before ad- 
 mired ; and as he was unwilling to trust her anv 
 longer so near her old home, he ordered the horses 
 
56 LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-KING. 
 
 to be got ready with all dispatch, and rode with her 
 at once to his palace in the earth's center. That 
 beautiful palace seemed to Ella nothing better than 
 a prison, now that she could never hope to see her 
 dear mamma again ; and indeed from that time for- 
 ward there was no more happiness for the con- 
 science-stricken Fire-Queen. No one could live in 
 so hot a country without having a proportionably 
 warm temper; and the king began to get weary of 
 Ella and her fretfulness, especially as her beauty 
 changed visibly and daily. Her pretty rosy face 
 grew quite scorched and heated-looking, and her 
 once glossy and golden curls became rough and friz- 
 zled in this trying climate. After a time the king 
 used to pretend that he had a great many state mat- 
 ters to regulate in a large mountain called Vesuvius, 
 where he had a fine palace, and was always going 
 off on long journeys by himself to Italy, where this 
 mountain stood. Ella did not believe a word of his 
 excuses, and their quarrels grew to be the scandal of 
 the court and the talk of all the Salamanders. When- 
 ever the king proposed going to Vesuvius the cour- 
 tiers were fain to hide themselves, for neither king 
 nor queen were very particular who came in for a 
 share of their blows when they had one of their 
 angry quarrels with each other. Now, the truth of 
 the matter was, as Ella imagined, that the king was 
 as much in love with a beautiful Italian princess 
 as he had once been with herself. He would not 
 have continued to care for her even if she had smiled 
 as sweetly, and tried to please him as much as ever ; 
 but her wicked passions made him hate her, so that 
 he longed to be rid of her, and contradicted her in 
 everything she wished for. 
 
 You may be sure that Ella desired more and more 
 to revisit her home and her mother, but for a long 
 
LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-KING. 57 
 
 time she sought in vain for an opportunity : the king 
 having given strict orders that when he was away 
 she should on no account be allowed to leave the 
 palace. On one occasion, however, he was absent 
 for so many weeks that all the Salamanders began 
 to hope he was dead. Xow Ella had been so fortu- 
 nate as to find the large golden key which opened 
 his treasure chests, and which he had forgotten to 
 take with him on his last journey. She begged 
 therefore very hard to be allowed to leave the palace, 
 and told the courtiers that they might take as much 
 treasure as they chose, if they would only permit 
 her to escape. When they saw the shining heaps of 
 gold and silver they thought of nothing but filling 
 their pockets and quarreling for the largest share. 
 So Ella ran off unperceived, and saddling her horse 
 with her own hands, leaped joyfully on his back, 
 and rode as fast as she could gallop till she once 
 more found herself in the fireplace of her mother's 
 house. 
 
 When she peeped into the well-known room from 
 between the bars she beheld her mother, old, worn, 
 and gray, sitting mournfully by the fireside, while 
 many a tear ran down her furrowed cheeks. Ella 
 could see her look sorrowfully at her own little 
 empty stool which stood in its old warm corner by 
 the chimney nook, and she could not doubt that her 
 poor mamma was reproaching herself with care- 
 lessness in leaving her alone on that sad day, when, 
 she imagined, her little Ella had been burned to 
 death. In vain did the repentant queen call to her 
 mamma, and try everything she could think of to 
 make herself heard. Her voice was now the voice 
 of a Salamander, which, as I told you before, can 
 scarcely be distinguished by mortal ears from the 
 crackling flames of a cheerful fire, so that the poor 
 
58 LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-KING. 
 
 mother could not be comforted by the consoling 
 words which her unhappy daughter strove in vain 
 to render intelligible. Evening was drawing on, 
 and Ella, almost exhausted by grief, had sat down to 
 rest herself and bemoan her hard fate in a hollow 
 coal by the roadside, when she was startled by a 
 rushing sound beneath her, which convinced her 
 that the Fire-King must have unexpectedly re- 
 turned, and was now coming on his swiftest horse, 
 which traveled faster than the wind, to punish his 
 runaway queen. In another minute the iron gates 
 at the back of the grate were thrown open with a 
 loud crash, and the Fire-King galloped furiously 
 up to Ella, perfectly black with the fierce passion 
 which consumed him, and closely followed by his 
 trembling courtiers. 
 
 " Insolent creature," cried the enraged monarch, 
 " beware how you tempt my wrath ! What audacity 
 to steal my treasures and corrupt my courtiers in so 
 scandalous a manner. But I might have known the 
 manner in which you would behave, when I chose 
 for my queen a little low-born mortal, whose silly 
 mother had taught her nothing better than to be idle 
 and disobedient." " How dare you abuse my dear 
 mamma ? " returned Ella, forgetting her terror — 
 when she heard her mother thus rudely blamed ; 
 and as she was a match for the king when her spirit 
 was up, a pitched battle began between the royal 
 pair, which threatened to be serious. This way and 
 that way flew the live coals, the courtiers scuttled 
 off into all the holes and corners they could think 
 of to be out of harm's way, and there was soon a 
 clear stage and no favor for the angry couple. 
 
 In the midst of the fray the fury of the com- 
 batants was arrested by a bright blaze which sprang 
 up in the room where Ella's mother was sitting, for 
 
LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-KING. 59 
 
 the red-hot coals, which were pelted about by the 
 king and queen so plentifully, had in fact set fire 
 to the house, and thus Ella was doomed to be the 
 cause of nothing but misfortune to her unhappy 
 parent. She stood transfixed with horror at the 
 sight of the spreading flames, but the Fire-King 
 shouted with delight. 
 
 " Hurrah ! " cried he, springing out into the blaze, 
 " this is a sight worth all my treasures." Ella could 
 distinguish the shrieks of her dear mamma ringing 
 high above the roaring of the flames, the crackling 
 of the wood, and the fiendish laughter of the Fire- 
 King, and her senses failing her, she fell into a deep 
 swoon. 
 
 When consciousness returned she found herself 
 bound hand and foot in a miserable dungeon, se- 
 curely guarded by two wicked little Salamander 
 goblins, named Grizzle and Frizzle, who had charge 
 of the state prisoners. She was allowed no better 
 food than brimstone, but she cared little for this 
 hardship ; and could she only have known her 
 mother to be safe and happy she would have felt 
 contented, but the little imps, her jailers, laughed 
 so maliciously when she entreated them to satisfy 
 her on this point, that she feared the worst. 
 
 Many wretched days passed in this manner, but 
 one night when poor Ella was Iting sleepless on her 
 hard bed, her attention was roused by the cackling 
 laughter of Grizzle and Frizzle, who seemed to be 
 mightily enjoying some joke as they cowered to- 
 gether in a corner over a blue flame. *' Comrade," 
 said Grizzle, " the king will certainly bring home his 
 new bride to-morrow ; we had best make short work 
 of Queen Ella to-night, or our ears will be well 
 pulled for us." " What you say is true," replied 
 Frizzle, " and indeed it is all owing to your laziness 
 
60 LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-KING. 
 
 that we did not kill her long ago. The king is 
 coming with his bride to-morrow, that is very cer- 
 tain ; therefore let business be business, and we will 
 make an end of her before supper." 
 
 Though the hapless Ella could hear every word 
 of this, all power to move or scream seemed denied 
 her ; her limbs felt stiff and heavy, and her parched 
 tongue refused to utter a sound ; the little goblins 
 were at last so close to her that she could feel their 
 breath upon her cheek, and knew that their hideous 
 leering eyes were gloating over her ; still she lay 
 speechless and motionless. Suddenly a loud knock 
 was heard at the door, and Ella felt her bonds and 
 her tongue loosened at the sound. Springing to 
 her feet, she uttered a piercing scream. " Save me, 
 save me ! " .she cried. 
 
 " Save you ! " said her mother, entering the room. 
 " Why, Ella, have you been asleep and dreaming, 
 you idle puss? What a tremble you are in, to be 
 sure ! " " Oh, mamma, mamma," cried the de- 
 lighted child, as she clung round her mother's dear 
 neck and smothered her with kisses, " is it really 
 only a dream ? Yes, yes ! your hair is not gray, 
 the house is not burned. Then the Fire-King may 
 marry th , Italian princess with all my heart, for I 
 will never, never, leave you again." '' You are 
 talking sad nonsense, you little goose, with your 
 Italian princesses," said her mother, laughing 
 heartily ; '* but come, I have bought you your hat 
 and pelisse ; we will try them on and see what a 
 beauty you will look." " Nay," said the little maiden 
 sadly, " I do not care for finery now, mamma, and, 
 indeed, I am not a beauty, but only a vain, silly 
 child, who does not deserve to have so kind a 
 mother. Come, dear mamma, rest yourself in your 
 easy-chair, take off your wet shoes, and let me wait 
 
LITTLE ELLA AND THE FIRE-KING. 61 
 
 upon you." Then Ella bustled about, stirred the 
 fire, drew the window curtains, and made her 
 mother some hot tea and toast. As they sat by their 
 cheerful hearth that evening Ella related all her 
 wonderful adventures in fireland, and she and her 
 mother could not but agree that it is doubtless much 
 more pleasant to look at the fire than to live in it. 
 Ever since that time, I am happy to tell you, Ella 
 has become quite a changed character. She now 
 works busily for her mother, and is her greatest 
 comfort ; and though she is always pretty and neat, 
 she no longer makes fine clothes her only study. 
 Doubtless some kind fairy must have sent her this 
 wonderful dream to cure her of her faults, and to 
 make her henceforth as lovely in mind as she had 
 ever been in person. 
 
THE WONDERFUL APPLE TREE. 
 
 A SICK man, being at the point of death, sum- 
 moned his children, three sons and an only daugh- 
 ter, to his bedside, and addressed them as follows : 
 
 " My dear children, I fear my hours are num- 
 bered, and that I shall be forced to leave you alone 
 in the wide world to shift for yourselves ; but be 
 kind and affectionate to one another, and comply 
 with my last request, and you will do well. I have 
 nothing to leave you but the small plot of ground on 
 which stands the young apple tree I planted last 
 summer, for things have, alas ! gone badly with me 
 since I became too feeble to work. When I am 
 dead, I charge you, my sons, to take out my heart 
 and brain and bury them beneath the apple tree ; 
 and, above all things, do not fail to dig and manure 
 the roots four times a year ; and it must be your por- 
 tion of labor, my dear little daughter, to attend to 
 the watering of the tree, which will well repay you 
 for your care." 
 
 The kind father then closed his eyes and died, 
 to the great affliction of his poor children, who thus 
 found themselves alone in the world, almost unpro- 
 vided for. 
 
 After sorrowing for a while, they bethought 
 themselves of their dying father's commands ; so 
 the three sons took out his heart and brain and 
 buried them beneath the tree, the roots of which they 
 dug and manured as they had been directed. As 
 for the little maiden, she grieved for her father so 
 much that the spot was continually kept watered by 
 62 
 
THE WONDERFUL APPLE TREE. 63 
 
 her warm tears alone, and the tree grew and flour- 
 ished so rapidly that in the short space of three 
 months the trunk became as large as a small tower, 
 and such a crop of apples was produced as was never 
 known before. Each apple weighed more than a 
 pound, and proved to be of so rare and delicious a 
 flavor that a large sum of money was easily raised 
 by the sale of them. Three months afterward, to 
 the astonishment of everybody, a second crop ap- 
 peared, even finer and more beautiful than the first. 
 In short, this wonderful tree never failed to bring 
 forth four crops of magnificent apples every year, 
 and the three brothers with their sister lived to- 
 gether in comfort and plenty. 
 
 Things went on thus for some time, but after 
 a while the brothers said to each other : " The tree 
 is now so strong and flourishing that it can no longer 
 need the attention we have hitherto bestowed on it ; 
 let us, therefore, cease to dig and manure the roots, 
 which is rough work and quite unfit for gentle- 
 men." 
 
 The little sister begged them over and over agam 
 to cherish the tree as before, but they paid no heed 
 to her advice, and spent all their time in feasting 
 and diverting themselves. But, though thus aban- 
 doned to chance by her brothers, the maiden was 
 still constant to her beloved charge, and the tree 
 was watered night and morning by her tears, which 
 continued to flow as warmly as ever oyer the spot 
 where her dear father's remains lay buried. 
 
 Three months had passed in this manner, when 
 one day on visiting the tree as usual, the maiden 
 perceived that the ground, beneath which reposed 
 the heart and brain of her father, had been dis- 
 turbed ; and on summoning her brothers to the 
 spot, thev were dismayed at discovering that these 
 
Q4: THE WONDERFUL APPLE TREE. 
 
 precious relics had entirely disappeared. Then the 
 little sister wept and wrung her hands. " Alas ! " 
 cried she, " some misfortune will surely befall us, 
 now that the tree is deprived of its chief nourish- 
 ment." 
 
 Her brothers chid her for her folly, although 
 they had their own misgivings. " You are a silly 
 girl," said they, ''to grieve at what cannot be helped *, 
 see, the tree is loaded with apples, which we will 
 gather to-morrow, and all will be as before." 
 
 The next day, however, when they repaired to the 
 garden with baskets and ladders for this purpose, 
 instead of a flourishing and beautiful apple tree 
 loaded with tempting fruit, they found a scorched 
 and blackened trunk, furnished with only a few 
 withered and leafless branches. 
 
 Then they all began crying and lamentihg, and 
 for a while could not be comforted, but at last the 
 little maiden dried her tears and endeavored to 
 console her brothers. " Sorrow will not feed us," 
 said she ; " thei:efore we must set out into the world 
 and work for our living; but let us first divide the 
 money we have left into equal shares, and do you, 
 brothers, take a hatchet, and cut the trunk of the 
 tree into logs, which will, at any rate, serve to warm 
 us through the winter." 
 
 The brothers commended her wisdom, and each 
 seizing a hatchet, they dealt several sturdy blows at 
 the trunk, so that at last a small cleft was made near 
 the roots, when, to their great surprise, they found 
 the tree to be entirely hollow, and, peeping through 
 the opening they had made, perceived a small wind- 
 ing staircase in the interior. They now redoubled 
 their blows, and soon succeeded in cutting away a 
 space sufficiently large to admit of their entering 
 the tree with a little squeezing. 
 
THE WONDERFUL APPLE TREE. 65 
 
 They lost no time in ascending the staircase, but 
 before they had mounted many steps they found 
 themselves in a recess, in which was stored away all 
 the sap which would have nourished the tree, had it 
 lived to its full time. This sap was a syrup of so 
 excellent and cordial a nature that it exceeded the 
 choicest wine in flavor, and after tasting it the eldest 
 brother declared he would go no higher, exclaiming 
 he desired nothing more than to carry off such a 
 prize. Accordingly he commenced taking off his 
 shoes, his stockings, and even his shirt, which he 
 sewed up and filled full of the sap. His brothers 
 and sisters, after vainly endeavoring to persuade 
 him to accompany them and seek for something bet- 
 ter, were at last compelled to leave him behind and 
 to continue the ascent without him. They were 
 getting a little weary, when they arrived at a sec- 
 ond recess, in which were stored away all the leaves 
 that would have sprouted from the tree had it lived 
 to its full time. These leaves were of shining silver, 
 and the. second brother had no sooner cast his eyes 
 on them than he began to fill his pockets as fast 
 as he could with the glittering treasure, and no 
 longer thought of seeking for any richer prize. The 
 two others therefore left him busily collecting all 
 the leaves into heaps to carry away with him, and 
 continued their journey as before. 
 
 They next arrived at a third recess, in which they 
 found all the apples that would have come from the 
 tree had it lived to its full time. The apples were 
 of purest gold, and the youngest brother was so 
 enchanted at the sight of such wondrous riches that 
 he refused to go any higher. " This is the treasure 
 I love best in the world." said he ; and accordingly 
 set to work to carry oflF the golden apples as fast 
 as he could, quite regardless of his little sister, who, 
 
QQ THE WONDERFUL APPLE TREE. 
 
 deserted by all her brothers, was left to mount to the 
 top of the tree alone. When she arrived there she 
 found only a bird's nest, but as large as all the nests 
 that would have been built in the tree if it had lived 
 to its full time. In the nest she found four eggs 
 as large as all the eggs that would have been laid 
 in the nest had the tree lived out all its days. On 
 each of these eggs was written a line in golden let- 
 ters. On the first were these words : 
 
 " Seek in me a drunkard's bride.'* 
 On the second : 
 
 " Here a spendthrift shall abide." 
 On the third : 
 
 " Here a miser gold may hide." 
 And on the fourth : 
 
 ** Me you may divide." 
 
 On touching the eggs the maiden perceived that 
 they diminished so much in size that she could 
 easily carry them ; so she tied up an Qgg in each 
 corner of her apron, and descending the winding 
 staircase, found her brothers, who, having emptied 
 the tree of its treasures, were standing together and 
 disputing as to which of the three had obtained the 
 greatest riches. As soon as they caught sight of 
 their sister they flew to her, and eagerly asked what 
 luck had fallen to her share ; but when she showed 
 them her four eggs they laughed at her for a simple- 
 ton, and were very merry at her expense. 
 
 They then returned home together, but things 
 were, alas ! completely changed from the happy 
 
THE WONDERFUL APPLE TREE, 67 
 
 time when they had all lived so merrily and affec- 
 tionately with one another. 
 
 Sad to say, the eldest brother did nothing but 
 drink of the sap he had obtained from the tree, 
 from morning till night. The second brother, who 
 had secured the silver leaves, squandered his riches 
 in the most foolish manner possible, and leaving the 
 cottage he had formerly shared with his brothers 
 and sisters, built himself a fine castle, where he gave 
 himself up to all sorts of diversions and sports. 
 While the younger brother, who had taken posses- 
 sion of the golden apples, loved his treasure so very 
 dearly that he could not bear to part with a single 
 farthing. He had his apples all coined into golden 
 guineas, which he kept locked up in strong boxes, 
 and spent the greater part of his time in counting 
 them ; at last he almost grudged himself a crust of 
 bread to eat. 
 
 The little maiden now led a very sorrowful, 
 lonely life, and earned but a little money, although 
 she sat at her wheel spinning flax all day long. One 
 day, however, she bethought herself of the eggs she 
 had found in the tree, and hoped that they might 
 help her in her need. She therefore went to her 
 drawers, and taking out her apron, untied one cor- 
 ner, and out dropped the egg on which was writ- 
 ten, 
 
 ** Seek in me a drunkard's bride." 
 
 Carrying it quickly to her eldest brother, she be- 
 sought him to open it, but no sooner had he done 
 so than out jumped a most hideous old woman of a 
 repulsive and loathsome aspect, dressed in rags and 
 tatters, and shaking all over as with the palsy. This 
 horrible hag then rushed up to the unfortunate 
 young man. and clasping him closely round the neck 
 
OS THE WONDERFUL APPLE TREE. 
 
 with her skinny arms, sang out in a shrill voice these 
 words : 
 
 " I am thine, and thou art mine, 
 Till is found the charm divine 
 Which shall make thee loathe thy wine." 
 
 It is easy to imagine how the poor sister wept and 
 lamented, and resolved not to open any more of 
 the eggs lest worse harm should befall ; but by and 
 by the second brother came to her, saying : " I have 
 spent all I have in the world and have been obliged 
 to sell my fine castle ; therefore I am without a roof 
 to shelter me. Give me I pray you, the egg on 
 which is written : 
 
 *' ' Here a spendthrift shall abide.' " 
 
 So his sister brought him the egg, but lo and behold ! 
 no sooner had he broken it than it fell to the ground, 
 and formed a large iron cage which completely in- 
 closed him, and from which all hope of escape 
 seemed impossible. At this the maiden wept most 
 bitterly. " Why," said she, " am I doomed to so 
 many misfortunes? Was ever maiden so hapless 
 as I?" 
 
 While her tears yet flowed, the youngest brother 
 approached her and said : " I dreamed last night that 
 robbers broke into our dwelling and stole my chests 
 of gold, and I fear that this may really prove the 
 case, for I know not where to hide my chests out of 
 sight. Fetch me immediately, I beg of you, the egg 
 on which is written : 
 
 '* * Here a miser gold may hide.' " 
 His sister besought him to have nothing to do 
 
THE WONDERFUL APPLE TREE. 69 
 
 with such unlucky eggs. " See to what they have 
 brought our brothers." said she. 
 
 But the miser instantly replied : " Yes, one was 
 a drunkard and the other a fool, but I am a wise 
 man and fear no harm ; so bring me the egg at once 
 or it shall go ill with you." 
 
 The sister dared no longer refuse, and brought 
 him the third egg without delay. But as soon as 
 he had broken it out came a large stone coffin, which, 
 falling upon the miser and his chest of gold, shut 
 him up in a living grave. 
 
 " Xow," said the maiden, " I will open the fourth 
 egg, for no more misfortunes can possibly happen, 
 and good may yet be in store for me." She there- 
 fore cracked the remaining egg, and drew out of it 
 first one golden spade, a second, a third ; then a 
 golden spinning-wheel, and lastly, a small golden 
 casket, on which was written these lines : 
 
 " The charm contained in me 
 Will set thy brothers free." 
 
 The casket contained nothing more nor less than 
 the missing heart and brain of the good father, em- 
 balmed in sweet-smelling herbs and spices, and the 
 little maiden, overjoyed at the recovery of such a 
 treasure, lost not a moment in hastening to the relief 
 of her unfortunate brothers. She first applied the 
 charm to the drunkard, and the wine he was carry- 
 ing to his lips changed to toads and adders in an in- 
 stant. Filled with disgust, he dashed the cup away, 
 and his horrible bride at the same moment loosed 
 him from her fatal grasp and disappeared with a 
 shriek of rage. The good sister next sought the im- 
 prisoned spendthrift, whose iron cage melted away 
 like wax at the magic touch of the charm. 
 
70 THE WONDERFUL APPLE TREE. 
 
 Lastly, the miser was released from his living 
 tomb with all his chests, which, when opened, proved 
 to contain nothing but ashes. The three brothers 
 then embraced their dear sister with great affection, 
 and thanked her more than a thousand times for the 
 invaluable services she had rendered them ; but the 
 maiden replied : " All is not yet finished. Take 
 each of you a golden spade as my gift, and let the 
 first use you make of it be to dig under the ever- 
 green that shades my window, and deposit the 
 precious casket there." 
 
 The brothers gladly obeyed ; and the next day, 
 after smoothing the turf over this hallowed spot, 
 they shouldered their spades and hired themselves 
 to a farmer to dig. Thanks to their golden spades 
 they could each dig as much in ona day as an ordi- 
 nary laborer would have done in six, and you may 
 imagine their joy when they carried home to their 
 sister in the evening a week's earnings for a day's 
 labor, and found that in the meantime she had spun 
 at her golden wheel as much flax in one day as she 
 could before have done in six. 
 
 All went well, therefore, in future with the young 
 people, who lived together for the remainder of their 
 lives — happy, industrious, and united, and who 
 never regretted the lesson they had received from 
 their neglect of the wonderful apple tree. 
 
HAZEL AXD FAIR: OR. THE FLIES' 
 HOSPITAL. 
 
 A GOOD king, who had long ruled his kingdom 
 well and happily, was conquered in battle by a pow- 
 erful enemy, and at last was forced to fly from his 
 kingdom with the queen and his two sons, to seek his 
 living as best he could in the wide world. 
 
 The unfortunate king, thus driven away from his 
 beautiful palace and deprived of all his riches, did 
 not waste his time in fruitless sorrow, but setting 
 to work as cheerfully as he could, he built a pretty 
 little hut in the midst of a wood, and while the queen 
 cooked, washed, and spun for the family, the king 
 emploved himself and his two sons in making bas- 
 kets from the rushes and osiers that grew hard by, 
 which they sold at the nearest town, and so earned 
 a scanty subsistence by their labor. 
 
 Xow the two princes, who were born on the same 
 day, were both extremely handsome ; they also 
 strongly resembled each other in person, but the 
 elder prince's hair was the color of a hazelnut, and 
 the younger prince's curls shone like gold, so the 
 queen had named them Prince Hazel and Prince 
 Fair. The likeness between these two brothers did 
 not. however, extend to their tempers, and never 
 indeed was there a greater contrast in this respect : 
 for whereas Prince Fair was always contented and 
 cheerful. Prince Hazel thought himself very hardly 
 used to be obliged to work for his living, and though 
 he durst not show his ill-humor to his parents, vet 
 
 71 
 
72 HAZEL AND FAIR. 
 
 he was so cross and selfish in his behavior to Prince 
 Fair that if that amiable young man had not pos- 
 sessed the sweetest disposition in the world he could 
 not have borne it for a day. As it was, he very fre- 
 quently performed not only his own share of work, 
 but also that which Prince Hazel w^as too indolent 
 to finish himself, for, said the kind brother to him- 
 self, '' Poor Hazel seems to feel his troubles more 
 than I do." 
 
 One evening, after the day's labor was ended, the 
 two young princes were resting by the side of a 
 small stream, whence they procured the rushes and 
 osiers for their baskets, when Prince Fair's atten- 
 tion was attracted by seeing a vast number of flies 
 clustered together in the hollow of a tree which 
 stood on the banks, and the branches of which 
 dipped into the stream. A little wild honey was the 
 cause of these flies assembling, as the young prince 
 soon perceived when he had walked up to the tree, 
 and he could not help laughing to see how the silly 
 insects fought and scrambled over this bit of honey, 
 just as greedily as if there had not been enough and 
 to spare for all if they had taken things quietly. 
 " There are many kings who must have learned 
 their lesson from you," thought Prince Fair. 
 
 Just at this moment a little timid and inoffen- 
 sive fiy, which had only ventured on the very edge 
 of the honey, was roughly pushed aside by a 
 bouncing bluebottle in the most spiteful manner, and 
 falling over into the water on its back was quickly 
 submerged by the force of the current. Snatching 
 it from the water, apparently quite dead. Prince 
 Fair laid the little creature on a rose leaf, and 
 scraped some chalk over it from a lump which he 
 happened to have in his pocket, and in a few 
 minutes, as the chalk sucked the moisture from the 
 
HAZEL AND FAIR. 73 
 
 fly's delicate limbs, it began to thrust out first one 
 leg and then another from beneath the mountain of 
 powder which encumbered it. 
 
 Prince Fair was so intent upon his occupation 
 that he did not hear the approach of Prince Hazel, 
 who, being quite tired of his own company, now 
 came to see what on earth could keep his brother so 
 long near the tree. " Sugar, I declare! " cried he, 
 greedily stretching his arm over his brother's shoul- 
 der to seize a pinch of the powdered chalk. 
 
 " Do not — oh, do not eat my poor fly ! " exclaimed 
 Prince Fair, hastily intercepting the approaching 
 fingers from his little patient. 
 
 ''Eat your fly!" returned Prince Hazel indig- 
 nantly ; " pray, do you take me for a spider ? " 
 
 " Xo one could mistake you for so industrious 
 an insect," said Prince Fair, laughing; " but see my 
 drowned fly has now quite recovered, and will soon 
 flv awav as gavlv as ever. Does not this surprise 
 vou?"' 
 
 '' I think it is capital fun," said Prince Hazel, 
 mightily pleased with this new amusement ; " so lend 
 me your piece of chalk and find me plenty of 
 drowned flies, my good fellow, and I will cure them 
 for you as long as you please." 
 
 Prince Fair, with a smile, complied with Hazel's 
 request, and finding a great many drowned flies in 
 the stream, he quickly and skillfully wove a little 
 house of rushes and set it beneath the tree, placing 
 on it, in letters small enough for flies to read, this 
 inscription : " Hospital for Drowned Flies." 
 Within this hospital Prince Fair arranged several 
 neat little rows of beds formed of leaves and moss ; 
 and in another apartment he next day placed nut- 
 shell boxes filled with sugar, treacle, and, in short, 
 every dainty that could tempt a sick fly's appetite. 
 
^4 Hazel and fair. 
 
 Prince Hazel was highly delighted with the little 
 building, and passed all his leisure time with Prince 
 Fair in attending to his insect patients. 
 
 After some time, the honey being eaten from the 
 hollow tree, the flies no longer assembled in such 
 numbers, and the little leafy beds were at last unoc- 
 cupied for many days together, which greatly an- 
 noyed Prince Hazel, who now grumbled and yawned 
 more than ever for want of something better to do. 
 Even Prince Fair could not but regret the loss of 
 his occupation : and when, one evening, seated alone 
 by the stream, he saw a wounded fly crawling feebly 
 on the river bank, he felt half-tempted to push it 
 into the water, in order that he might have the pleas- 
 ure of conveying to Hazel a new patient for the 
 hospital. 
 
 The next instant he blushed with shame for his 
 cruel thought, and taking the little fly tenderly in 
 his hand, he laid it in the center of a pretty red 
 flower which grew near. '' Rest in safety, poor fly," 
 said he, " and if to-morrow you are still here you 
 shall have a charming breakfast of fruit and honey. 
 As the young prince turned to depart he was startled 
 by hearing his name pronounced in a clear, silvery 
 tone ; he looked up and he looked down, but nothing 
 could he see save the fly in the red flower. 
 
 " I am dreaming," thought the prince, " for 
 surely flies cannot speak." 
 
 " Prince Fair, Prince Fair," was again re- 
 peated, and this time there could be no mistake 
 about it ; it zuas the fly who spoke, and as the as- 
 tonished youth looked at her, she changed through 
 all the colors of the rainbow, and grew larger and 
 larger till she turned into the most exquisite fairy 
 that eyes ever beheld ; her wings were of purple and 
 gold, her dress was formed of woven stars, and in 
 
HAZEL AND FAIR. 75 
 
 her hand she held a wand, on the top of which 
 shone a ruby fly of a wonderful luster to behold. 
 
 " Xoble and generous Prince Fair," said the 
 fairy, '' I am the Fairy Firefly, and once in every 
 hundred years I am compelled to assume the form of 
 a common fly, or I should lose my fairy power; 
 while in that disguise you have twice saved my life, 
 and you shall not find me ungrateful. An old witch, 
 who is my greatest enemy, took the form of a blue- 
 bottle, and pushed me into the water on the day you 
 so kindly rescued me, and this morning she bruised 
 my wing with the seed of a fig, so that I might have 
 been trampled on and crushed had it not been for 
 your assistance. Here are two boxes," continued 
 she, " one of which will give you riches and gran- 
 deur for yourself, and the other will enable you to 
 bestow anything you desire on those you love. Sav, 
 Prince Fair, which of these two boxes shall be 
 yours ? " 
 
 " ^ladam," said the prince, bowing low to the 
 fair}', *' I esteem myself so fortunate in having ren- 
 dered you a service that I cannot do better than 
 choose the box which may perhaps give me the same 
 happiness on a future occasion." 
 
 At this the fairy blushed and smiled, for the noble 
 and handsome young man looked every inch a 
 prince, in spite of his coarse clothes, and no one 
 could turn a compliment with a better grace or a 
 more courtly wit than he could. Then she presented 
 Prince Fair with a diamond casket, and said : 
 " \\^henever you desire to perform a kind action, 
 you will always find in this box a single tear, which 
 you must drop into your right eye, and whatever 
 you wish for will instantly come to pass." 
 
 Saying these words the beautiful Firefly smiled 
 kindly on the prince, and spreading her glittering 
 
76 HAZEL AND FAIR. 
 
 wings, disappeared behind some rosy clouds in the 
 western sky, leaving him almost unable to believe in 
 his good fortune. 
 
 Soon after this Prince Hazel also wandered to 
 the river bank to see if, by any lucky chance, he 
 might meet with a patient for the hospital. As he 
 was looking about, he too perceived a wounded fly 
 crawling feebly and painfully along (for the fairy, 
 in order to try him, had again assumed this form), 
 and you may be sure that, unlike his tender-hearted 
 brother, this selfish prince did not pause to think 
 of the needless pain he might be giving a helpless in- 
 sect, but twitching the fly into the water with the 
 point of his stick, he held it under until it was to 
 all appearance dead ; scarcely, however, had he 
 taken it up to carry it to the hospital when he sud- 
 denly dropped it in a great fright, for the fly felt in 
 his hand for all the world like a red-hot coal, and 
 no sooner had it fallen to the ground than it grew 
 larger and larger as before, until it changed into a 
 fairy, but this time in the shape of a little old woman 
 in a scarlet cloak, a high-crowned hat, and red- 
 heeled shoes. With a gracious smile she hobbled 
 up to Prince Hazel, who was shaking in his shoes 
 with terror at the very unexpected appearance of the 
 old lady, and ofifered that young prince his choice 
 of the two boxes as she had before done to Prince 
 Fair. 
 
 " Oh, ho ! " thought Hazel, '' fairies are not so 
 wise as they would have one think, for this old 
 simpleton does not seem to have the least idea that 
 I gave her a ducking for my own amusement, and 
 besides is foolish enough to ask me to choose be- 
 tween rich and powerful myself, or making other 
 people so ;" then said he aloud ; "I choose the box 
 
HAZEL AND FAIR. 77 
 
 which will give me the power of being the richest 
 king in all the world." 
 
 " Take this golden box, then," replied the fairy, 
 " and whenever you wish you will only have to 
 sprinkle on the ground the pinch of gold dust which 
 it will always contain, and your wish will be imme- 
 diately granted ; but remember that though nothing 
 is so grand that you may not possess it yourself, yet 
 you can do no good to others with your wealth." 
 
 " That is of no consequence at all," cried Hazel 
 impatiently, and scarcely waiting to thank the fairy 
 for her generosity, he snatched the golden box from 
 her hand, and ran ofif wild with delight at thinking 
 of all the fine things he might now have for the 
 wishing. 
 
 The first use which Prince Fair had made of 
 his diamond box had been to wish that his dear 
 parents might be restored to their palace and king- 
 dom, for he could not bear to think that they, who 
 had once been the highest in the land, should now 
 have to work as hard as the poorest laborers for 
 their living; and when Prince Hazel reached that 
 spot in the wood where the little hut used to stand, 
 he found in its place a palace of gold and ivory, at 
 the door of which stood his father and mother 
 dressed with great magnificence, with crowns on 
 their heads and surrounded by all the lords and 
 ladies of the court. 
 
 At Hazel's approach Prince Fair sprang forward 
 to embrace him. " Dearest brother," said he, '* our 
 dear father and mother are once more restored to 
 their kingdom ; and for yourself you have henceforth 
 only to express a wish, and I will employ the gift 
 of a kind fairy to grant you instantly your desire." 
 
 Hazel turned coldly and sullenly from his broth- 
 er's embrace, for his envious temper could not en- 
 
78 HAZEL AND t^AIR. 
 
 dure that any but himself should be gifted by the 
 fairies. '' I do not need your help, Prince Fair," 
 said he ; '' for you must not think you are the only 
 one thus favored ; you may keep your precious gifts 
 for those who want them ; for my part, I shall wish 
 for a kingdom a hundred times larger than my 
 father's, which appears to me very paltry and insig- 
 nificant, and I will have, besides, a palace of jewels 
 and heaps of treasure." 
 
 Hazel then opened his box and sprinkled the 
 ground with the golden dust, and immediately there 
 appeared on the opposite side of the lake a palace 
 of diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, almost too daz- 
 zling to behold, and surrounded by trees and shrubs 
 which bore jewels instead of leaves ; the fountains 
 in this enchanted kingdom played liquid pearls, and 
 the feathers of the birds which sang in the groves 
 were pure gold and silver. Hazel next wished for 
 a dress suitable to his rank, and he instantly found 
 himself clothed in a suit of crimson velvet and white 
 satin wrought with gold and blazing with gems ; a 
 purple velvet cap looped with diamonds and sur- 
 mounted by a snow-white plume completed his at- 
 tire, the magnificence of which I want words to de- 
 scribe. A fine white horse, with suitable attendants, 
 next appeared at the prince's wish, and taking leave 
 coldly of his parents and brother. King Hazel 
 mounted his steed and departed to his kingdom, 
 leaving the generous Prince Fair more grieved at 
 his unkindness than envious of his good fortune. 
 
 When King Hazel passed the golden gates of his 
 kingdom the people ran out in crowds to welcome 
 their new monarch, and shouted with joy at his 
 handsome and noble appearance, and many of the 
 poor and the old pressed round him and begged for 
 charity. Hazel carelessly flung gold and jewels 
 
HAZEL AND FAlH. 79 
 
 among them, but no sooner had they touched the 
 ghttering- treasure than it turned into dust and 
 ashes ; so the people grew very angry and imagined 
 that the king mocked at their misery for his own 
 amusement. Nevertheless, whatever Prince Hazel 
 wished for, to add to his own magnificence, was 
 granted immediately, and it was only when he at- 
 tempted to give to others that his riches failed him. 
 
 He dined every day on the most sumptuous 
 dishes ; he lay in a bed of softest down, or reclined 
 on couches of velvet and brocade ; but there was one 
 thing which the king could not obtain, and that was 
 happiness, for the poorest subject in the kingdom 
 was less miserable than the king soon became in 
 his diamond palace. His jewels and treasures 
 served to give him no pleasure, and indeed became 
 of no more value in his sight than the stones on the 
 seashore ; and as for his servants and nobles, they 
 hated him, though they were compelled to serve 
 him because of his great power. All this did not 
 improve his temper ; he grew more cruel and selfish 
 every day of his life, and never were subjects 
 cursed with so wicked a king. 
 
 One of his favorite amusements was to drive a 
 chariot drawn by nine fierce horses furiously 
 through the streets, riding over all he met, till the 
 city was frequently strewn with the legs and arms 
 of people he had killed by the way. One day when 
 he was occupied in this manner he saw a little old 
 woman in the middle of the road, dressed in a scar- 
 let cloak, high-crowned hat, and red-heeled shoes 
 — in fact, the very same fairy who had given him 
 the golden box and all his grandeur. At the sight 
 of her the horses stopped of their own accord, and 
 would not stir a step, which made the king quite 
 beside himself with rage. 
 
80 HAZEL AND FAIR. 
 
 " Good luck and good morrow to your grace," 
 said the little woman, with a low courtesy. 
 
 *' Out of the way, you old witch," shouted the 
 king, '' or I will pound you to a jelly ! " 
 
 " Nay, your majesty," replied the fairy, " you 
 would scarcely do that for old acquaintance' sake ; 
 and besides, knowing that so great a king will need 
 a bride worthy of him, I have trudged many a mile 
 over hill and dale to bring you the portrait of the 
 Golden Beauty." 
 
 '' Who is the Golden Beauty ? " asked the king, 
 somewhat appeased. 
 
 '* She is the loveliest princess on the face of the 
 earth," replied the fairy, '' and she is compelled to 
 sit in the Crystal Cave under the seven marble rocks 
 until that prince shall seek her who can bring her 
 the most precious gift in all the world. Will you 
 not try your chance, O king? " 
 
 The fairy then presented Hazel with a small min- 
 iature, set round with pearls, and taking off her 
 high-crowned hat, she sat down on it, and it 
 mounted with her into the air and disappeared in the 
 twinkling of an eye. 
 
 No sooner had the king looked at the portrait 
 of the Golden Beauty than he fell violently in love 
 with her, and he vowed he would neither eat nor 
 sleep till he had won her for his wife. So, never 
 doubting that the golden box would prove the most 
 precious gift in the world to the princess, he 
 mounted his horse and rode for seven nights and 
 seven days till he arrived at the Crystal Cave where 
 the Golden Beauty was imprisoned. The gates of 
 the cave flew open at the approach of the illustrious 
 suitor, and Hazel was almost blinded by the daz- 
 zling beantv of the princess, whose charms threw 
 a golden light on all around her ; but when he knelt 
 
HAZEL AND FAIE. 81 
 
 before her and offered her his gift she laughed 
 scornfully and said : 
 
 *' The Golden Beauty has no need of riches which 
 turn to dust and ashes in the giving : see you not, O 
 king ! that my beauty outshines the purest gold, and 
 that diamonds are but as worthless pebbles to the 
 brightness of my eyes." 
 
 As she spoke a thick veil descended and hid 
 her from the king's sight, and though he tugged 
 and pulled, he could neither tear nor push it aside, 
 and so was forced to depart without again seeing 
 the princess. 
 
 On his way home he fell sick with love and rage, 
 and reached his kingdom more dead than alive ; 
 but when his nobles and servants saw his pitiable 
 condition they said : " We will leave him to himself, 
 for he will be sure to die, and the world will be well 
 rid of such a monster." 
 
 So they took with them all the riches they could 
 lav their hands on and decamped, leaving the sick 
 king alone in his glittering palace. 
 
 As soon as the fairy had given the unlucky Hazel 
 the portrait of the Golden Beauty, she sped like 
 the wind till she reached the kingdom of Prince 
 Fair's father, and walking into the city, she heard 
 the bells ringing and the people shouting. " Pray, 
 what is all this about ? ' ' said she to the bystanders. 
 
 "You must have dropped from the moon, Goody," 
 said they, " not to know that to-day our dear young 
 prince is to be crowned king, for his father is old 
 and tired of the cares of state, and we will have no 
 one but Prince Fair to reign over us in his stead." 
 
 While they spoke thus, a flourish of trumpets was 
 heard, and robed in purple and silver, his golden 
 curls shining beneath a diamond crown, the glorious 
 Prince Fair appeared, riding on a richly caparisoned 
 
82 HAZEL AND FAIR. 
 
 horse, and bowing low and gracefully to the people. 
 
 " Charity, noble king," cried the old woman, 
 pressing forward in the crowd till she touched the 
 king's stirrup. 
 
 " Who asks for charity ? " cried Prince Fair, in- 
 stantly checking his horse and opening his diamond 
 box ; " I had hoped that no one in this happy king- 
 dom wanted for anything; but speak, good woman, 
 and your king will give you all you ask." 
 
 As he said this the scarlet cloak and high- 
 crowned hat of the old woman flew off, and King 
 Fair beheld once more the sparkling beauty of the 
 Fairy Firefly. 
 
 " I see," said she, as the king dismounted and 
 bent low before her, '' that you make good use of 
 your gift, and before I take my leave of you forever 
 I will give you the portrait of the Golden Beauty, 
 who alone is worthy to be your queen." 
 
 Then the fairy told the young king how to find 
 the princess, and how she waited in the Crystal Cave 
 under the seven marble rocks for the prince who 
 should bring her the most precious gift in all the 
 world. And saying this. Firefly mounted on a sun- 
 beam and departed to Fairyland, leaving Prince 
 Fair more desperately in love with the exquisite 
 beauty of the picture than even Prince Hazel had 
 been before. He, too, believed that his diamond box 
 would please the princess better than anything in 
 the world besides ; and having appointed the wisest 
 noble in the land to reign in his absence, he mounted 
 his horse and rode for seven days and seven nights 
 till he too reached the seven marble rocks and the 
 Crystal Cave. 
 
 When the handsome Prince Fair approached the 
 Golden Beauty, the cave shot forth living rays of 
 gold in the splendor of her smile, but she rejected 
 
HAZEL AND FAIR. 83 
 
 the diamond box, as she had before refused the 
 golden casket of King Hazel. " Alas," said she, 
 '' this is not the gift which will win me for your 
 bride. Have you, O prince, nothing that will be 
 more precious to me?" 
 
 '* Then," said the young prince, " I offer you, 
 madam, the crown of my happy kingdom and all 
 that it contains." But the princess still shook her 
 head, and tears like diamonds fell from her starry 
 eyes. 
 
 " Cruel Firefly, you have deceived me," thought 
 the prince. 
 
 " Farewell, dear princess," said he mournfully, 
 '' we are parted forever ; for I can ofifer you nothing 
 more than the love of a true heart." 
 
 '* And that," said the beauty, with a smile like 
 a sunbeam, '' is the gift which is the most precious 
 in the world to me, and I will be your fond and 
 faithful wife." 
 
 Then she gave the prince her hand, and they de- 
 parted to the prince's kingdom, over which they 
 reigned happy and beloved to their lives' end. 
 
 But what became of King Hazel I have never been 
 able to discover ; for though when King Fair heard 
 of his sickness he sought for him anxiously that he 
 might effect his cure with the diamond casket, he 
 was nowhere to be found, and no doubt was carried 
 off by evil spirits, and his kingdom has since entirely 
 disappeared. 
 
A PIG FOR AN HOUR. 
 
 In those good old days when fairies still danced 
 on the green swards of merry England, there lived 
 a worthy farmer and his wife, whom Providence 
 had blessed with an only son, who was known far 
 and wide by the name of Fat Wilfrid. This boy 
 was the delight of his parents, who were wont to 
 boast, in the pride of their hearts, that his match 
 was not to be found in all the country round ; his 
 legs and arms were like plump sausages ; his body 
 was as round as a cannon-ball, and his cheeks were 
 puffed out to the size and color of boiled apple 
 dumplings ; and if you had only once seen him eat 
 his dinner, you would never have forgotten the 
 sight ! yet, notwithstanding the substantial nature 
 of his meals, Wilfrid did nothing but grumble from 
 morning till night at the scantiness of his diet. 
 
 It chanced, one New Year's eve, that a party of 
 friends and neighbors were gathered closely round 
 the ample chimney corner of the good farmer and 
 his wife ; and after awhile they fell to talking on the 
 wonderful things which had been done in their 
 young days by the fairies, or good people, as they 
 called them. One old gossip related how that she 
 had once wished health and happiness to the good 
 people over a mug of ale, and the next morning had 
 found her cows ready milked, and the pails standing 
 in the dairy. Another told a story of a slatternly 
 serving-maid, who, whenever she had slighted her 
 work, was punished by such cramps and pinchings 
 at night that she was fain to leave her bed and per- 
 84 
 
A PIG FOR AN HOUR. 85 
 
 form her task properly, in order to obtain any sleep 
 at all. But the only tale which at all engaged Wil- 
 frid's fancy was that of a poor woman, who, when 
 she and her children were nearly starving, did not 
 refuse to share her last crust with an aged beggar 
 at her gate, and was rewarded by finding in her mis- 
 erable cottage, the next morning, a large box, which 
 she found to be filled with no end of good things, 
 both roast and boiled ; and the best of which was, 
 that no sooner was one dainty eaten than another ap- 
 peared in its place. This tale produced a great 
 longing in Wilfrid's mind for just such another box, 
 and he wished this wish, morning, noon, and night, 
 for so long a time that at last he chanced to hit upon 
 the lucky moment when everybody's desires are 
 granted, and a large box, made of rich plum cake, 
 jumped up through the floor before him so suddenly 
 that the surprise almost took away his breath. On 
 the lid of the chest these lines were traced in cara- 
 way comfits : 
 
 Stuff your best from the fairies' chest, 
 
 Tart, custard, apple, or fig ; 
 For an hour then appear unto men 
 
 In the shape of a large white pig. 
 
 Small heed did \Mlfrid pay to these lines, though, 
 in picking out and eating the sugar-plums of which 
 they were composed, he could scarcely avoid reading 
 them. He then opened his box and wished, first 
 for roast goose and plum pudding, and afterward 
 for tarts, mince pies, custards, peaches, nectarines, 
 and sweetmeats, all of which issued from the won- 
 derful chest at his desire, and were devoured by 
 him with amazing rapidity one after another. The 
 dinner-bell sounding loudly through the house put 
 an end to his feast ; for as he was never a minute too 
 
86 A PIG FOR AN HOUR. 
 
 late in a usual way, and indeed was frequently 
 seated at the table a quarter of an hour before any- 
 body else, he feared that his absence on the present 
 occasion might cause some surprise ; therefore, hav- 
 ing no mind to share his treasure with others, he 
 closed his box with a sigh, and prepared to join the 
 dinner party. But what was the surprise of all 
 those assembled, when the door opened and a large 
 white pig walked slowly into the room and seated 
 himself with much gravity and composure in the 
 place usually occupied by Wilfrid. 
 
 You will already have guessed that the pig was 
 no other than Wilfrid himself, who, being uncon- 
 scious of the extraordinary change in his appear- 
 ance, was quite bewildered by the mingled screams 
 and laughter which greeted his entrance. He opened 
 his lips to demand the reason of this rude behavior, 
 but to his astonishment he found he could do noth- 
 ing but grunt. And the farmer setting the exam- 
 ple, kicks and pokers were employed to drive the 
 supposed intruder from the house, the door of w^hich 
 was slammed upon him so sharply that a bit of his 
 tail was snapped off in consequence. 
 
 This painful circumstance, coupled with his singu- 
 lar voice, convinced Wilfrid of his misfortune ; he 
 now remembered the sugar-plum lines on his box, 
 but consoled himself by the reflection that an hour 
 would soon pass away, and that he should then re- 
 sume his own shape. His troubles, however, were 
 not ended for that day. 
 
 Lost in his own thoughts, he was strolling gently 
 along the paths of the garden, when John the gar- 
 dener, perceiving a large white pig making itself 
 very much at home among his cabbages and let- 
 tuces, ran at him, spade in hand, and drove him out 
 into the village at full trot. A score of ragged boys 
 
A PIG FOR AN HOUR. 87 
 
 were then kind enough to take an active interest in 
 the chase, and between them all the poor pig was 
 hunted up and down with sticks and stones till he 
 was almost ready to die with heat and fatigue. 
 
 When an hour afterward he appeared before his 
 anxious mother in his own shape, but crimson from 
 his violent exercise, and panting for breath, his af- 
 fectionate parent imagined that he must be in a high 
 fever, and insisted on putting him to bed, with a 
 mustard plaster to the soles of his feet, and a black 
 draught for his supper. 
 
 Soon after this Wilfrid determined to enjoy an- 
 other feast from his wonderful chest ; but bearing 
 in mind his former misadventures, he thought to 
 manage matters more cleverly on the present occa- 
 sion. Having wished for turkey and sausages, 
 creams, jellies, cheese cakes, gingerbread, and mel- 
 ons, he conveyed each dainty, as it appeared, to an 
 empty pigsty in the farmyard, and then repaired to 
 that charming retreat to enjoy his repast in peace 
 and safety — sagely observing, as he devoured his 
 meal with much relish, that no one could possibly 
 evince much surprise should they chance to catch 
 sight of him in his present abode. Having made an 
 end of all, he accordingly turned as quietly and com- 
 fortably into a pig as he could desire, and finding 
 his sty inconveniently small, he established himself 
 on a snug heap of straw in a warm corner of the 
 farmyard, and was soon sound asleep and snoring. 
 
 Now a little black pig, who resided with five 
 brothers and sisters and a tender mother in an ad- 
 jacent sty, being of an enterprising disposition, 
 chanced to wander to the door of his habitation to 
 learn the state of things in general, and perceiving 
 our sleeping hero on his heap of straw, at first re- 
 treated with some precipitation; but after awhile, 
 
88 A PIG FOR AN HOUR. 
 
 feeling reassured by the tranquil appearance of the 
 slumbering stranger, he ventured by degrees to ap- 
 proach him, and at last began playfully to lick his 
 face and ears ; his example was followed by his 
 brothers and sisters, and Wilfrid, starting from his 
 nap, found the whole of the charming little crea- 
 tures licking and gamboling over him in the most 
 engaging manner possible. He had just succeeded 
 in freeing himself from the caresses of these little 
 darlings, when their mother, a sow of venerable and 
 portly aspect, issued forth to learn the cause of the 
 unusual commotion among her little ones. But no 
 sooner had she cast her eyes on Wilfrid than she ex- 
 claimed : " Can it be ? yes it is ; it is my long-lost 
 brother Porkus," and flinging herself upon him, 
 embraced him so fondly that, being quite unprepared 
 for so affectionate a relative, he tumbled with her 
 off his heap of straw, and rolled about in the farm- 
 yard puddle for some time before he succeeded in 
 escaping from his very unpleasant situation. 
 
 By this time the hour was on the point of expir- 
 ing, and right glad was he to reassume his own 
 shape once more. At the same moment he heard 
 his father calling loudly, " Wilfrid ! Wilfrid ! " 
 
 '' Here I am, father," cried Wilfrid, who being 
 happily ignorant that the traces of his recent roll in 
 the farmyard were faithfully transferred to his 
 blue jerkin, made his appearance before his parents 
 in such a dirty plight that he received a thrashing 
 for his pains, such as he was not likely to forget 
 till the day of his death. 
 
 You will imagine that after all this Wilfrid would 
 have had enough and to spare of his mischievous 
 box ; but no such thing, for he soon began to long 
 more than ever for another feast, and sought for a 
 suitable opportunity to indulge his wishes. One 
 
A PIG FOR AN HOUR. 89 
 
 day, his father being absent at a neighboring fair, 
 and his mother busily engaged in household matters, 
 Wilfrid perceived the coast clear for his purpose ; he 
 therefore ate and drank his fill, and then slunk 
 quietly and unperceived out of the house, hoping 
 to escape observation, in the early dusk of a winter 
 afternoon ; he reckoned, however, without his host, 
 as you shall hear. 
 
 A butcher and his son who had been to the fair, 
 in quest of fat beasts for the slaughterhouse, were 
 just then returning from their expedition with very 
 scanty success, and casting their eyes on Wilfrid 
 as he skulked along under the hedges, they were 
 much struck by his goodly size and excellent con- 
 dition. 
 
 " This fellow," said they, " is the very pig for us, 
 and is worth a long price," They accordingly went 
 to every house in the village in order to find out 
 the owner of the fat white pig, but no one claimed 
 to be its possessor. 
 
 Things being thus, " findings are havings," quoth 
 the butcher to his son, and popping Wilfrid into 
 their cart, in spite of his screams and struggles, 
 they drove of¥ at full gallop, leaving him plenty of 
 leisure to indulge his reflections in companv with a 
 couple of calves and half a dozen sheep similarly 
 situated. 
 
 Was ever boy in such a plight ? His bristles rose 
 with horror as he heard the butcher declare to his 
 son that he should kill the pig as soon as he got 
 home, in order that he might be ready to cut up 
 early the next day ; he even learned which part of 
 himself was destined for the spit, and which for 
 pickling. 
 
 " Alas," cried he, " if the butcher reach home 
 within the next half hour I am a dead pig. O 
 
90 A PIG FOR AN HOUR. 
 
 mother ! mother ! how little do you know that your 
 beautiful Wilfrid will soon be nothing but a lifeless 
 heap of pickled pork ! " And overwhelmed with 
 the poignancy of this idea, he vented his lamenta- 
 tions in shrieks and grunts that would have melted 
 any heart but that of a butcher. 
 
 Fortunately for him the butcher's drive occupied 
 some time, and when, having nearly reached his 
 journey's end, he turned round to look once more 
 at his prize, he was dumfounded to perceive that 
 no pig was there, but in its place a fat boy in a blue 
 jerkin, crying and blubbering as though his heart 
 would break. At this alarming sight the butcher 
 and his son were ready to sink with terror, think- 
 ing for certain that they were bewitched ; they there- 
 fore began to say their players as fast as they could 
 mutter them, and bundling Wilfrid neck and crop 
 out of the cart, drove off with all the speed they 
 could muster. 
 
 Bruised, stunned, and bleeding from the effects 
 of his tumble, poor Wilfrid picked himself slowly 
 up and endeavored to find his way home ; but it was 
 now quite dark, and he could no longer discern the 
 road. Many mishaps did he meet with from bog 
 and bramble before, weary and footsore, he arrived 
 in the early dawn at the door of his own home, 
 where he found a warm welcome waiting him from 
 his fond parents, who, distracted with grief at the 
 absence of their darling child, had spent the night 
 in searching for him far and wide. Wilfrid now 
 confessed his adventures to his father and mother, 
 and was easily prevailed upon by them to bury his 
 unlucky box a hundred feet deep in the earth. You 
 will be pleased to hear that his mishaps were not un- 
 attended with a good result ; and if, some few years 
 after, you had chanced to pass through the village 
 
A PIG FOR AN HOUR. 91 
 
 where the old farmhouse stood, you could scarcely 
 have recognized in the handsome, rosy-cheeked 
 young fellow, following his plow and whistling to 
 his team, the once puffed and bloated face and form 
 of Fat Wilfrid. 
 
94 AMABEL AND THE CHERRIES. 
 
 from her shoulders, and she was able to fly as easily 
 as if she had indeed been a bird or a fairy. 
 
 Out of the window flew the fairy, and after her 
 went Amabel, and the pair never stopped flying till 
 they had left the clouds behind them. Then Am- 
 abel found herself in a most beautiful orchard, such 
 as could be seen nowhere, save in fairyland. Fruit 
 trees of all descriptions were there in abundance, on 
 which danced hundreds of tiny sprites, who seemed 
 to be mightily enjoying themselves. Oranges, 
 apples, pears, plums, and figs bowed down the trees 
 with their ripe clusters, and the clear moon shining 
 over the branches made the leaves look like pure 
 silver. In the midst of the orchard stood a mag- 
 nificent tree laden with rich, ripe, blackheart 
 cherries, which evidently belonged to Amabel's little 
 fairy, who, perching on its branches, gayly invited 
 her companion to eat as many cherries as she wished 
 for. 
 
 Never had Amabel passed so delightful a night. 
 She and the fairy eat and laughed, and danced and 
 sang in the cherry tree all night long, but when the 
 daylight was at hand the fairy said to Amabel : 
 
 " Rosy streaks announce the dawn — 
 Maiden, thou must now be gone ; 
 Farewell to me, farewell to tliee, 
 Vanish from the cherry-tree. ' ' 
 
 And in the space of half a minute Amabel found her- 
 self lying in her own little bed in her own little 
 chamber, which was now faintly illuminated by the 
 first pale beams of the morning. 
 
 She would, doubtless, have thought it all a dream, 
 but when she arose and looked at herself in the 
 glass, lo and behold ! her mouth was deeply stained 
 
MABEL AND THE CHERRIES. 95 
 
 by such a black rim as nothing but an ample feast of 
 blackheart cherries could have left. " What a fortu- 
 nate thing that I have discovered this," thought 
 Amabel, who forthwith commenced scrubbing her 
 mouth as well as she could with soap and water; 
 but, notwithstanding all her efforts, no washing 
 would remove the stain of the cherries, and at the 
 end of an hour she was forced to go down to her 
 breakfast with the guilty mark upon her face and 
 ready to sink with fear. 
 
 '' What can you have been doing to your mouth, 
 Amabel ? " was the general exclamation as the un- 
 happy little creature slunk into the room. 
 
 " Ah ! you have been eating the cherries from my 
 cupboard," cried her mother angrily ; " I missed 
 the key from my pocket when I rose this morning, 
 and found it in the cupboard door ; but I never 
 suspected you of stealing, though I knew you to be 
 both jealous and suilen." 
 
 " Indeed, indeed, mamma, I have not taken any 
 cherries," began Amabel, but stopped in the midst 
 of her speech and blushed very deeply. In the 
 meantime her mother produced from the cupboard 
 the basket which had contained the cherries, but 
 which now was filled with nothing but cherrv stones. 
 This, together with the more than suspicious appear- 
 ance of poor Amabel's face, determined her fate. 
 She was locked up in her own room for a week, and 
 had nothing to eat and drink but bread and water ; 
 and when she was once more permitted to mix with 
 the family the cold looks and constrained greeting 
 of all around her were like daggers in the heart of 
 the poor little girl, who felt that she was henceforth 
 to be regarded- in the light of a thief and a story- 
 teller. 
 
 Things went on thus till one unlucky day, when a 
 
96 AMABEL AND THE CHERRIES. 
 
 delicious treat of freshly baked cakes, enjoyed by 
 Marion, again awakened the longing of her less 
 fortunate sister. When the cakes were locked 
 away in the cupboard Amabel followed them with 
 her eyes, and during all the day she could think 
 of nothing else. At night she could not rest, and 
 while tossing sleeplessly on her pillow the hour of 
 midnight struck from the neighboring church clock. 
 As the last sound died away a little voice by Am- 
 abel's bedside called '' Amabel ! Amabel ! " She 
 started up and opened her eyes with astonishment 
 at seeing a pretty little man, a span high, wdth a 
 cotton nightcap on his head and a white apron be- 
 fore him. There was no mistaking that he was a 
 fairy baker, even if the floury state of his tiny hands 
 and arms had not served to confirm this idea. Danc- 
 ing about in high glee, the little baker sang these 
 words: 
 
 ** To the fairies' bakehouse come, 
 Cakes to eat, both seed and plum — 
 Almond cakes and ginger too 
 We will bake all night for you. 
 Little mortal, feast away, 
 Till the night be turned to day." 
 
 " Oh, pray take me with you at once, dear little 
 baker," cried Amabel ; and the little fellow taking 
 her hand, stamped with his foot upon the floor, 
 which immediately opened beneath them, and the 
 both sank several fathoms deep in the earth. 
 
 When Amabel had sufficiently recovered from 
 the surprise of her journey to look about her, she 
 perceived that she was in a large bakehouse com- 
 pletely filled by busy little bakers, who were baking 
 the most delicious cakes that can be imagined. 
 Some kneaded the dough, others prepared the cur- 
 
AMABEL AND THE CHERRIES. 97 
 
 rants, sweetmeats, and spices, and others were con- 
 stantly taking from the oven newly-baked batches 
 of these tempting dainties, of which Amabel's con- 
 ductor (who was evidently the chief of the bakers, 
 from the way in which he ordered all the rest about) 
 pressed her to eat to her heart's content. 
 
 Thus the night passed in the most agreeable man- 
 ner possible, but when day was at hand the fairy 
 said to Amabel : 
 
 ** Day is come, work is done, 
 Little maiden, hasten home." 
 
 And in a trice Amabel was lying snugly in her little 
 bed, for all the world as if she had been there all 
 night ; but when she rose there were crumbs sticking 
 to her mouth which neither rubbing nor scrubbing 
 would remove ; so at last she was forced to abandon 
 the attempt, and go down to breakfast in a terrible 
 fright. As soon as she appeared she saw her 
 mother standing by the door of the open cupboard, 
 holding in her hand the dish which had yesterday 
 been full of cakes, but which now was empty save 
 for a few crumbs. 
 
 In spite of Amabel's tears and protestations she 
 was not believed. " The wicked child," said her 
 mother, " will persist in her falsehoods, when the 
 very crumbs from her feast remain upon her face to 
 prove her guilt." 
 
 The poor child, therefore, now fared worse than 
 ever. 
 
 The preference formerly shown to Marion was 
 now quite undisguised, and Amabel sometimes had 
 a hard struggle to prevent herself from showing, in 
 her behavior to her little sister, the bitterness which 
 continued injustice could not fail to engender in 
 
98 AMABEL AND THE CHERRIES. 
 
 her childish heart ; but she did struggle with all her 
 generous and affectionate soul, and bore her trial 
 meekly and bravely too. 
 
 Some time after this a large box of sweetmeats 
 was sent as a present to Amabel and Marion from a 
 kind uncle. Amabel had been ailing for some days, 
 and for that reason no sweetmeats were given to her, 
 though Marion as usual was permitted to enjoy the 
 treat which was denied to her suffering sister. 
 
 When the box was locked away in the large cup- 
 board, however Amabel steadfastly turned away 
 her eyes, and would not permit a single wish for the 
 sweetmeats to disturb her. And when she lay in 
 her little bed that night she said her prayers calmly 
 and peacefully, and was soon sleeping the happy 
 slumber of the innocent and good. 
 
 As the clock struck twelve she was aroused by the 
 sound of her own name, uttered in a sweet small 
 voice, such as she had heard twice before, and open- 
 ing her eyes she saw a tiny creature, formed of 
 barley sugar, jumping about on her pillow and sing- 
 ing: 
 
 " Come with me to the Sugar Cane Isle, 
 And dwell with the sweetmeat sprites a while ; 
 Sugar plums drop from the loaded trees, 
 Citron and orange peel scent the breeze — 
 Haste, then, to Sugar Cane Isle away, 
 And feast till the night be turned to day.'* 
 
 As he jumped about in the joy of his heart, a 
 golden light played through his transparent form, 
 and he looked so tempting and delicious that it was 
 difficult for Amabel to restrain her desire of catch- 
 ing him up and eating him at a mouthful. She 
 therefore closed her eyes, and would not look at 
 him again. So after a while the little creature 
 
AMABEL AND THE CHERRIES. 99 
 
 took himself off in a huff, and Amabel shed a few 
 quiet tears for the delights she had lost in refusing 
 to accompany him to Sugar Cane Isle. 
 
 The church clock soon after struck one, and be- 
 hold the cherry-tree fairy appeared by Amabel's 
 bedside and sang: 
 
 ** Little maiden, come with me 
 To the fairy cherry tree ; 
 There with me to feast and play 
 Till the night be turned to day." 
 
 But Amabel shook her head and said to the pretty 
 sprite, '' Xay, little fairy, I may not visit the cherry 
 tree to-night;" and though the fairy touched her 
 with her tiny hand, and did all that she could to 
 persuade her, she remained firm in her determina- 
 tion, and the cherry-tree fairy vanished at last in a 
 pet, without her playfellow. 
 
 The clock now struck two, and in the same in- 
 stant the fairy baker stood by Amabel, capering 
 about and singing: 
 
 *' To the fairies' bakehouse come, 
 Cakes to eat, both seed and plum ; 
 Almond cakes and ginger too 
 We will bake all night for you ; 
 Little maiden, with us stay. 
 Till the night be turned to day." 
 
 But the good child turned as deaf an ear to the 
 baker as she had done to the others, and after a 
 while he bustled off in a very angry and disconsolate 
 •state at the ill success of his endeavors. 
 
 The clock now struck three, and all at once so 
 splendid a radiance illumined the little chamber that 
 it surpassed the light of noonday. And Amabel, 
 on opening her eyes, found the room quite full 
 
100 AMABEL AND THE CHERRIES. 
 
 of sprites singing and rejoicing like little birds in 
 spring-time. Cherry-tree fairies, baker fairies, and 
 sweetmeat fairies were there in multitudes, but by 
 the bedside stood a fairy of resplendent beauty, 
 taller by a full inch than her companions, and of 
 so lively and majestic an appearance that Amabel 
 knew her at once to be no other than the fairy queen 
 herself. She therefore sprang from her bed and 
 acknowledged the honor of this royal visit by kneel- 
 ing at the feet of her illustrious guest. 
 
 The fairy queen smiled kindly and graciously 
 upon her, and then sang as follows in a voice re- 
 sembling that of a bird of paradise : 
 
 ** Fly with me, maiden of mortal mold, 
 To my bowers of light and my halls of gold ; 
 Such blossoms of beauty there thou'lt see 
 As beseem a royal gift to thee ; 
 Haste, dearest maiden, and fear not me." 
 
 Glancing upward at the lovely queen, and reading 
 in her mild and serene aspect the encouragement of 
 feeling that she should be doing no wrong, Amabel 
 declared her readiness to accompany her majesty, 
 and a blue and silver chariot, drawn by twelve milk- 
 white doves, appeared instantly through the window, 
 which opened by its own accord to admit it. 
 
 The fairy queen seated herself in this charming 
 equipage, and motioned Amabel to take the place by 
 her side ; and, as quick as thought, the doves flew 
 through the air with them, accompanied by the 
 whole of the fairy court. 
 
 On they went with the speed of the wind, leav-" 
 ing the clouds behind them, till the chariot stopped 
 before a palace of pure gold, surrounded by gardens 
 of such enchanting beauty as mortal eye never be- 
 fore beheld. Alighting from her chariot, the fairy 
 
AMABEL AND THE CHERRIES. 101 
 
 queen then entered the palace, leading Amabel by 
 the hand, and conducted hej J:() a .magriif'cejit ban- 
 quet hall formed of pearb and emeralds, where 
 they found a sumptuciis repast ^>vaiLir\g;lhepj ; their 
 entertainment being completed by a rnelodioas con- 
 cert from the attendant fairies, who sang their 
 sweetest songs to add to the pleasure of their be- 
 loved queen and her mortal friend. The banquet 
 being at an end, the queen conducted Amabel into 
 the gardens of the palace, where flowers of all de- 
 scriptions were blooming in great beauty and pro- 
 fusion, and after passing through such scenes of 
 loveliness as I want words to express, they stopped 
 before a parterre of exquisite blossoms, around the 
 slender stems of which hung golden labels, each of 
 which bore an inscription describing the peculiar 
 virtues of the flower it adorned. 
 
 On the rose was written beauty, on the lily purity, 
 on the geranium riches, on the azalea rank, and on 
 the tulip wit ; but peeping through its dark green 
 leaves, Amabel spied a lovely violet, on which was 
 written : 
 
 " Who chooseth me, 
 Beloved will be." 
 
 The queen then told her that she was free to 
 choose any one of the flowers for her own. And 
 Amabel pondered for a little space. 
 
 '' I should like to be very beautiful," thought she, 
 " and rich and noble, and witty ; but all these might 
 not win for me the love of my dear parents, and one 
 fond kiss from their lips would be dearer to me than 
 the admiration of the whole world besides. Dear 
 little violet, I will choose you ; ah, never, never may 
 I lose your magic power." 
 
 Now the queen could by her fairy art read all the 
 
102 AMABEL AND THE CHERRIES. 
 
 thoughts which passed through Amabel's mind, and 
 giving h<^r the violei, she alsp gathered a rose, which, 
 unperceived by ihe overjoyed Httle maiden, she 
 gently waved^ovei her,,and ai that moment she be- 
 came one of the most beautiful little creatures on the 
 face of the earth ; but she was quite unconscious of 
 this change in her appearance, and the mild and 
 gentle modesty of her countenance remained unal- 
 tered, and formed one of its greatest charms. 
 
 The little fairy sprites, who had been fluttering 
 hither and thither in a restless manner for sometime, 
 not daring to interrupt the royal conference, now 
 began to sing: 
 
 ** Royal mistress, liaste away, 
 Ere the coming of the day ; 
 See the sun begins to rise, 
 Tinging all the eastern skies. 
 Rest we safe in crystal grot 
 Where the day beams scorch us not ; 
 Till the moon, so clear and bright, 
 Comes to tell us it is night. ' ' 
 
 And In less time than it takes to tell you, Amabel 
 found herself lying in her own little bed, with her 
 precious violet clasped closely to her bosom. 
 
 The following morning everyone who approached 
 Amabel was astonished by her extraordinary beauty, 
 which they were surprised to think that they had 
 never before remarked. And as for her father and 
 mother, they overwhelmed her with kisses and ca- 
 resses. 
 
 " How gentle, kind, and forgiving is our dar- 
 ling Amabel," said they ; '' ah ! that we had sooner 
 learned to prize her as she deserves." 
 
 Even little Marion clung with greater fondness 
 than ever to her sister. And, thanks to her violet. 
 
AMABEL AND THE CHERRIES. 103 
 
 the little maiden was for the future as valued and 
 beloved as she had formerly been neglected ; but the 
 fairies visited her nevermore, though often, when 
 the sun was shedding his parting beams over the 
 earth, she fancied she could discern in mid-air the 
 golden turrets of the palace where she had once 
 feasted with the fairy queen, and hear the song the 
 fairies had sung when she left them : 
 
 *' Sweet little darling Amabel, 
 We bid you now a last farewell ; 
 Never more, dear, will you stand 
 In golden halls of fairyland, 
 Or midst its radiant bowers 
 Bend to gather sweetest flowers. 
 But thou hast a fairy spell 
 That will serve thee long and well : 
 Self-denial gave thee power 
 To take from us at midnight hour 
 The charm that wins the gift of love — 
 A gift all other boons above. 
 May'st thou that pow'r securely keep. 
 Adieu, sweet child ; blest be thy sleep ! '* 
 
THE GOLDEN COW. 
 
 A KING and queen chanced once upon a cime to 
 travel through a gloomy forest, accompanied by 
 their only child, the Princess Isora, who, being an 
 infant of tender age, was carried in the arms of her 
 nurse. 
 
 In those days the roads were so bad that car- 
 riages could not be used except in the immediate 
 neighborhood of towns and cities ; therefore, in so 
 wild a country, the king and queen were forced to 
 travel on horseback, followed by their attendants 
 similarly mounted, but the infant princess and her 
 nurse were carried in a litter, borne on the shoulders 
 of four men, and thus traveled at some little dis- 
 tance behind the rest of the cavalcade. After riding 
 for many hours, night began to fall apace, and the 
 bowlings of the wolves and wnld beasts which fre- 
 quented the forest filled the whole party with 
 affright. They galloped on as fast as they could, 
 but all at once a company of hungry and savage 
 wolves rushed out from a neighboring thicket, and 
 springing upon many of the terrified riders, tore 
 them from their horses and devoured them limb by 
 limb. 
 
 In the fight which followed, some of the fore- 
 most of the party, among whom, of course, were 
 the king and queen, escaped with their lives, though 
 half dead with fright ; but the bearers of the litter 
 containing the Princess Isora and her nurse being 
 on foot, were speedily attacked and eaten by the 
 wolves, and the unfortunate nurse, giving up all for 
 104 
 
THE GOLDEN COW. IO5 
 
 lost, thought to gain a few minutes more before 
 meeting with so Horrid a death, and throwing the 
 poor baby to the wolves, she ran off as quickly as 
 her trembling limbs could carry her, expecting every 
 moment to be seized by the fierce pursuers. By a 
 most singular chance she succeeded in escaping 
 from the forest unhurt, but when she found herself 
 in safety she dared not tell the unhappy parents that 
 she had cast their dear little baby to the wolves in 
 order to save herself, but said that one of the animals 
 had snatched it from her arms, and devoured it at a 
 single mouthful : so all hope being over, the king and 
 queen resumed their journey in the greatest afflic- 
 tion, and when they reached their own kingdom the 
 whole court mourned for the loss of the pretty prin- 
 cess ; and. as for the queen, she was never seen to 
 smile. 
 
 Xow a fairy who had been present at the princess' 
 birth had fastened round her neck a fine gold chain 
 of curious workmanship, from which was suspended 
 a small crown composed of diamonds. This chain 
 was a charm to preserve her from a violent death ; 
 therefore the wolves glutted their appetites on the 
 carcasses of the horses they had slain, but did not 
 so much as touch a hair of the royal infant's head. 
 A shepherd who lived hard by, searching in the 
 forest for a lost lamb, discovered the poor little 
 baby the next moring, nearly perished with cold and 
 hunger. He took it in his arms, and warming it 
 tenderly in his bosom, carried it home to his wife, 
 who was equally astonished with himself at the sur- 
 prising beauty of the little girl, and also at her sin- 
 gular ornament, which, with all their eflforts, they 
 could not succeed in detaching from her neck. 
 Having no daughter, they adopted the little stranger 
 as their own, and brought her up with their only 
 
106 THE GOLDEN COW. 
 
 son, a boy of some three years old, named Amyntas. 
 
 The fine linen in which the little princess was 
 wrapped when the shepherd found her was em- 
 broidered with her name and the royal arms, which 
 convinced the good man and his wife that their little 
 nursling was of royal birth, but they lived in so 
 lonely a place that they could gain no intelligence of 
 her parents, though they did not hesitate to tell the 
 little maiden their suspicions of her real parentage. 
 Accordingly, Isora became very proud and haughty, 
 and when her playfellow Amyntas called her sister, 
 she would say, " I am a king's daughter, Amyntas, 
 and princesses do not call peasant boys brother," 
 which grieved poor Amyntas sadly, for he loved her 
 very tenderly, and there was nothing in the world 
 he would not have done to give her pleasure. 
 
 As Isora grew up she was so fair and lovely to 
 behold that nothing like her had ever been seen, and 
 all the young men of the villages round about used 
 to flock to the shepherd's cottage, only to obtain a 
 glimpse of her. Isora, however, treated them all 
 with the greatest disdain ; and whenever any of them 
 ventured to ask her hand at the village dances, she 
 would reply, " I will dance with no one but 
 Amyntas." 
 
 Yet Amyntas, though favored thus far, was not 
 very successful in his wooing of the proud princess, 
 for to all his entreaties that she would be his wife, 
 Isora would reply, '' Princesses do not wed with 
 peasants ;" an answer which caused him the great- 
 est affliction. 
 
 Nevertheless his love for the cruel beauty was so 
 great that he never ceased to entreat her, till wear- 
 ied by his importunity she one day said, " I have 
 dreamed for three nights running that a beautiful 
 golden cow came to me and said, ' Pretty princess, 
 
THE GOLDEN COW. 107 
 
 take hold of my golden horns, and mount upon my 
 back, and I will carry you home to the kingdom of 
 your royal parents.' Bring me this cow, Amyntas, 
 and I will be your wife." 
 
 Then Amyntas grew very sorrowful at these 
 words, and, forsaking his companions, he neither 
 ate, slept, nor worked, but spent all his days and 
 nights in wandering about the woods and fields, 
 sighing and lamenting his hard fate. 
 
 One day, having wandered further than usual 
 from home, he came to a desolate-looking plain, in 
 the midst of which flowed a dark and lonely river, 
 and being fatigued by his long walk, he sac himself 
 down to rest a while on a large stone. As he did 
 so he perceived a little one-eyed dwarf, of very 
 singular appearance, working away with pickax and 
 shovel at a large heap of stones and ashes which 
 stood by the riverside. 
 
 The little manikin did not appear to notice Amyn- 
 tas, but dug away as busily as possible, carrying 
 shovelful after shovelful of the stones and ashes, 
 and throwing them into the river ; but the strangest 
 part of the business was, that for every spadeful he 
 threw away two more appeared to be added to the 
 heap, which therefore grew higher and higher the 
 harder he worked. As he dug, the little fellow 
 sang these words in a small shrill voice : 
 
 '* Into the water the ashes throw, 
 For one spade thrown two more will grow ; 
 Dig, dig away, for one year and a day. 
 Who digs for a year and a day, I ween, 
 Shall behold the cow of golden sheen." 
 
 " Say you so, my little friend ? " quoth Amyn- 
 tas. " Give me your pickax and shovel, and I will 
 work for you one year and a day." 
 
108 THE GOLDEN COW. 
 
 Without more ado the one-eyed dwarf handed 
 him his tools, and was for going off without an- 
 other word, but Amyntas said : '' How shall I find 
 the golden cow when I have worked a year and a 
 day ? " 
 
 Then the little man lifted up his c. icked voice and 
 Bang : 
 
 " Dig through the stones and ashes deep 
 And a golden ring through the earth will peep 
 Whichtwill open the door beneath the heap." 
 
 He then hobbled off apparently highly delighted 
 at getting his work done for him so readily. 
 
 Left to himself, Amyntas dug away with right 
 good-will ; indeed, so hard did he work that by 
 nightfall the heap was higher than his father's cot- 
 tage. He rose betimes next morning, and taking 
 food and drink with him to last him three days, he 
 worked so well that at the end of that time the heap 
 was a good-sized hillock. And this he did for many 
 weeks, till at last it was almost half a day's journey 
 to get to the top of his heap before he could begin his 
 work, so that he went home only one day in seven. 
 All this timic the good shepherd and his wife thought 
 that Amyntas had surely taken leave of his senses, 
 and he was the laughing-stock of the village ; but 
 Isora did Bot cease to say : "^ Bring me the golden 
 cow and I will be your wife." 
 
 It was very hard and dreary toil, and often the 
 heart of poor Amyntas would sink within him as he 
 beheld the heap growing higher and higher, and 
 found himself apparently further than ever from the 
 road which was to conduct him to the golden cow ; 
 but for the love of his princess he toiled on all day 
 and almost all night, till, at the end of six months 
 
THE GOLDEN COW. 109 
 
 from the time of his commencement, he perceived 
 that for every shovelful which he dug away another 
 went along with it, so that the heap began to get 
 smaller as fast as it had before increased. 
 
 He now labored on cheerfully, and at the end of 
 the year and a day he perceived, to his great joy, 
 a golden ring shining through the earth. He 
 seized it and found that it was attached to a trap- 
 door in the ground, which he pulled open, and a 
 flight of steps were disclosed, down which Amyn- 
 tas descended with a beating heart, and found him- 
 self in a charming meadow, in the midst of which 
 stood a beautiful cow of purest gold. Intoxicated 
 with delight at the sight of this object of his wishes, 
 he sprang forward to seize it, but before he could 
 reach it he felt himself whirled into the air by a 
 strong wind, and the next moment he was standing 
 on the earth in the self-same spot where he had 
 been working for the last twelve months ; but no 
 sign of the trapdoor was to be seen, only a large 
 heap of stones and ashes, and the little one-eyed 
 dwarf digging away for all the world as if he had 
 never left off since the unlucky young man had first 
 beheld him. 
 
 " How now, you ill-favored little miscreant," 
 cried Amyntas, half-choked with rage and mor- 
 tification at this provoking sight ; " I will break 
 every bone in your misshapen body if you do not 
 keep your promise." 
 
 There was no reply, and Amyntas, in a tower- 
 ing passion, seized the little man by his throat and 
 shook him till his one red eye threatened to start 
 out of his head. Yet the little fellow did not seem 
 the least concerned, but shook off the rough grasp 
 of his companion as composedly as possible, and 
 
110 THE GOLDEN COW. 
 
 resumed his work, singing in his shrill, cracked 
 voice these words : 
 
 ** Into the water the ashes throw, 
 For one spade thrown two more will grow ; 
 Dig away, dig away, one year and a day. 
 "Who digs for a year and a day, I ween, 
 Shall milk the cow of golden sheen. ' ' 
 
 " Milk it yourself," quoth the young man sulkily, 
 and strode home in a very angry and disconsolate 
 state. 
 
 The Princess Isora was waiting for him at the 
 door of the cottage, for he had told her he would 
 certainly bring her home the golden cow that even- 
 ing ; and when she saw him return alone she became 
 very angry, and would listen to no explanation ; 
 therefore, Amyntas bethought himself that, after all, 
 he had better work for the one-eyed dwarf another 
 year. Who knows, thought he, but that if I may 
 approach the cow near enough to milk her, I may 
 succeed this time in catching her. Comforted by 
 the hope, he trudged to the scene of his former 
 labors, and there stood the stones and ashes, and the 
 busy little manikin digging away like one possessed, 
 all the time singing his ditty : 
 
 " Into the water the ashes throw, 
 For one spade thrown two more will grow ; 
 Dig away, dig away, a year and a day. 
 Who digs one year and a day, I ween, 
 Shall milk the cow of golden sheen." 
 
 " Give me the pickax and the shovel," said Amyn- 
 tas, " and I will work for you yet another year and a 
 day." 
 
 No sooner said than done. Away hobbled the 
 
THE GOLDEN COW. m 
 
 dwarf, and to work poor Amyntas went in his 
 place. 
 
 All happened just as before, and at the end of the 
 appointed time the golden ring appeared through 
 the earth ; but when Amyntas opened the trapdoor 
 and descended into the meadow, an ivory stool and 
 a silver milking-pail stood by the side of the golden 
 cow. Amyntas, seating himself on the stool, began 
 to milk the cow ; but what was his wonder and de- 
 light when, instead of milk, shining gold fell into 
 the pail. He milked the pail quite full, and then 
 thought to lead away the cow ; but the moment he 
 touched her for that purpose he was whirled, as be- 
 fore, into the air, and once more stood by the river 
 brink, but with his pail of gold by his side. 
 
 The ashes and stones were standing on the very 
 spot whence he had descended through the trap- 
 door, and there, too, was his old friend the dwarf 
 working and singing as merrily as ever. 
 
 Amyntas did not stay to listen to the dwarf's 
 song, but hurried home as fast as his legs could 
 carry him, and flung his riches with sparkling eyes 
 before Isora and his parents. As for the latter, 
 they overwhelmed him with caresses and praise. 
 
 " Ah," said they, '" the good neighbors said that 
 Amyntas was mad, but some folk's madness is 
 wiser than other folk's sense, and for our parts, 
 we always thought our son was a wise youth." 
 
 But Isora was not tempted by the wealth of 
 Amyntas, and to all his entreaties she returned the 
 same answer: "I will never be your wife till you 
 bring me home the golden cow." 
 
 '' Poor Amyntas saw no help for it, and once more 
 was fain to seek his old acquaintance, the one-eyed, 
 dwarf, whose ditty now ran — 
 
112 The golden cow. 
 
 *• Into the water the ashes throw, 
 For one spade thrown two more will go ; 
 Who works for me days and nights three, 
 Shall bear the bride to her own countrie ; 
 Work, work away, by night and by day, 
 And carry the golden cow away." 
 
 Therefore Amyntas set to work with a lighter 
 heart, and for every spadeful he threw away two 
 more went with it, but he was so weary of his work 
 that the three days and nights seemed as though 
 they would never end. 
 
 At last the golden ring appeared to his long- 
 ing eyes, and when he descended into the meadow 
 there stood the beautiful golden cow decked with 
 wreaths of flowers and evergreens to welcome him. 
 
 She did not wait to be sought, but hastening up 
 to Amyntas, knelt down for him to mount on her 
 back, and he had no sooner done so than he found 
 himself, cow and all, safely landed by the river 
 brink, but no heap of stones and ashes was to be 
 seen ; neither was the dwarf visible, only Amyntas 
 heard a shrill, cracked little voice, which could have 
 belonged to no one else, singing these words as he 
 rode home — 
 
 ** Stones and ashes are shoveled away, 
 And the golden cow is won ; 
 Rejoice and feast by night and by day. 
 And carry the princess home." 
 
 When Amyntas brought the cow to Isora she 
 thanked him a thousand times, and throwing her 
 arms around his neck, she said : '' I will now con- 
 sent to be your bride, but let us first seek my dear 
 parents." 
 
 She then mounted on the cow's back behind 
 Amyntas, and the beautiful animal carried them 
 safely to the kingdom of Isora's father and mother. 
 
THE GOLDEN COW. 113 
 
 When they entered the city the good people ran 
 out open-mouthed with wonder at the sight of a 
 handsome youth and a lovely maiden riding on a 
 golden cow, and the king and queen came to the pal- 
 ace windows to ascertain the cause of all the shout- 
 ing and excitement ; but when the cow had reached 
 the palace gates it stopped of its own accord and 
 related the whole wonderful story of the Princess 
 Isora to her astonished parents, who, when they had 
 looked at the gold chain around her neck, knew her 
 instantly to be their long-lost child, and falling on 
 her neck embraced her with great tenderness. As 
 for Amyntas, the king declared that no one was so 
 worthy as he to obtain the princess' hand ; and noth- 
 ing being wanted but the presence of the worthy 
 shepherd and his wife to complete the general hap- 
 piness, the golden cow was dispatched to seek them, 
 and on their arrival at the court the wedding was 
 celebrated with great splendor and rejoicing. 
 
 The young couple lived happily forever after, 
 the golden cow never ceasing to supply them with 
 riche*. 
 
THE SILVER DOG AND HIS PUPPIES. 
 
 Two pretty young sisters named Constantia and 
 Katharina put on their bonnets and cloaks one 
 fine morning, and taking their brother, little Tom- 
 lin, by the hand, set out for a walk through the 
 gay and crowded streets of the city in which they 
 dwelt. 
 
 Many were the tempting wares displayed in the 
 shop windows which by turns attracted the long- 
 ing gaze of the brother and sisters. Now, it was 
 a fine doll, now a sparkling bracelet, or a costly 
 dress of lace or satin, which filled the hearts of the 
 two girls with a vain desire of possession. Tomlin 
 had for his part no eyes to spare from a fine dapple- 
 gray rocking-horse which graced the entrance of a 
 handsome toy shop, and which seemed to him capa- 
 ble of rendering its future owner happier than a 
 prince. Having looked and longed till they felt 
 some^vhat weary and discontented, the three chil- 
 dren at last turned their footsteps toward home ; but 
 their walk was not destined to end without an adven- 
 ture, for when they were almost within sight of 
 their own dwelling they were met by a silver dog, 
 who jumped upon and caressed them in the most 
 afifectionate manner possible. 
 
 This pretty little creature was scarcely larger 
 than a squirrel ; his two bright eyes shone like dia- 
 monds through the clouds of silver hair which hung 
 over his face, and in his mouth he carried a silver 
 basket. Constantia, who, being the eldest of the 
 114 
 
THE SILVER DOG AND HIS PUPPIES. 115 
 
 three, of course spoke first on all occasions, ad- 
 dressed the silver dog thus : 
 
 " Silver dog, silver dog, tell me, I pray, 
 Wherefore you wander here to-day ; 
 Friendless and houseless if hither you roam, 
 Dear little doggy, pray follow me home." 
 
 But the dog replied : 
 
 *' In a hole of the wall my dwelling I make, 
 My silver puppies I cannot forsake ; 
 Four silver puppies they wait for me. 
 Cold and hungry as they can be. 
 Ah ! fill my basket with bread and with meat. 
 For weary to-day are my tiny feet. ' ' 
 
 Constantia answered : 
 
 ** Dear little silver dog, have no fear, 
 Follow me home to my dwelling near, 
 Bread and meat you shall have good store 
 Then hie away home to your puppies four. ' ' 
 
 Whereupon the silver dog turned his tail over 
 his back, and followed the children gladly and with- 
 out suspicion. 
 
 As they walked along Constantia pulled Kath- 
 erina by the sleeve, and said to her: 
 
 " One does not meet with a silver dog every day ; 
 therefore we must not let him go as I have prom- 
 ised." 
 
 " True, sister," replied the other ; '' we cannot 
 be expected to give up such a prize, and must do 
 all we can to induce him to remain with us." 
 
 *' Leave all to me," answered Constantia, " and 
 do not fear that I shall let him escape." 
 
 Tomlin, overhearing this conversation, did not at 
 all relish the idea of gaining possession of the dog 
 
116 THE SILVER DOG AND HIS PUPPIES. 
 
 so treacherously, and declared his intention of giv- 
 ing him fair notice of what he had discovered ; but 
 Constantia said to him angrily : 
 
 '' You are a little simpleton, Tomlin, who will 
 never know how many blue beans make five ;" and 
 she and Katherina pinched his arms so hard that he 
 was forced to hold his peace, much against his 
 will. 
 
 On arriving at their own door Constantia invited 
 the silver dog into her chamber, saying: 
 
 " Rest you a while in my pretty white bed, 
 While your basket I fill with meat and with bread. " 
 
 But no sooner had he crossed the threshold than 
 Constantia turned the key in the lock, and laughing 
 at his dismay, told him that never more should he 
 leave his present quarters, but remain with her, 
 henceforth to be her own little silver dog and the 
 darling of her heart. At this the silver dog com- 
 menced crying very piteously, and begged and en- 
 treated with all the eloquence at his command for 
 permission to return to his four silver puppies. 
 Constantia, nevertheless, turned a deaf ear to his 
 complaints, and sitting down to her spinning, sang 
 a merry song to drown his murmurs. 
 
 After a while the little animal ceased crying, and 
 approaching Constantia, said to her: 
 
 " A gown of satin, so smooth and fair, 
 And a chaplet of pearl for your golden hair, 
 These you shall have, and my thanks withal, 
 If you let me return to my home in the wall." 
 
 Now it happened that there was nothing in the 
 world which Constantia so much wished for as a 
 white satin gown and a pearl coronet. Her eyes 
 
THE SILVER DOG A^'D HIS PUPPIES. 117 
 
 sparkled with the hope of possessing such treasures, 
 but looking at the dimunitive creature who offered 
 them to her. she could scarcely forbear laughing at 
 her own folly. 
 
 " You talk nonsense, you foolish little dog," said 
 she ; " what have you to do with satin and pearls ? " 
 
 Then the dog made answer : 
 
 " Doubt not my power, my fair young maid, 
 Quickly I'll do what I've sworn and said ; 
 Three golden hairs in my tail you'll find. 
 Scatter them each to a separate wind, 
 North, east, and west, you must blow them away 
 And a treasure rare will your task repay." 
 
 On which Constantia, looking at the dog's tail, 
 perceived amid the silver hairs three hairs of purest 
 gold. One she blew to the north, another to the 
 east, and a third to the west, and in an instant there 
 lay upon the bed a lovely dress of glossy white satin 
 and a tiara of Oriental pearl. Constantia now has- 
 tened to fill the dog's basket with ample store both 
 of bread and meat, whereupon he made her the 
 politest bow imaginable, and turning his tail joy- 
 fully over his back hastened home to his four pup- 
 pies, who no doubt gave him a hearty welcome. 
 When Katherina and Tomlin learned that the silver 
 dog had departed they were much grieved, and 
 Katherina for her part was not sparing of angry 
 reproaches to Constantia for her selfishness in part- 
 ing with the pretty creature only for her own ad- 
 vantage. Constantia excused herself as well as she 
 could, and patched up the matter by promising that 
 Katherina should be the dog's mistress if they were 
 ever so fortunate as to gain the possession of him 
 again, and though this did not seem verv probable, 
 Katherina was fain to content herself with the hope. 
 
118 THE SILVER DOG AND HIS PUPPIES. 
 
 A few days elapsed without anything being heard 
 or seen of the silver dog, but returning from a walk 
 one evening Tomlin and his sisters at last caught 
 sight of the little fellow, trotting along just as be- 
 fore, with his basket in his mouth, in search, no 
 doubt, of provisions for his puppies. It was now 
 Katherina's turn to accost him, and accordingly she 
 assumed a fascinating smile and addressed him 
 in these words : 
 
 *' Silver dog, silver dog, tell me, I pray, 
 Wherefore you wander here to-day ; 
 Friendless and houseless if hither you roam, 
 Dear little doggy, pray follow me home." 
 
 To which the dog replied : 
 
 ** In a hole of the wall my dwelling I make, 
 My silver puppies I cannot forsake ; 
 Four silver puppies they wait for me, 
 Cold and hungry as they can be. 
 Ah ! fill my basket with bread and with meat. 
 For weary to-day are my tiny feet." 
 
 Katherina then made answer: 
 
 *' Dear little silver dog, have no fear, 
 Follow me home to my dwelling near. 
 Bread and meat you shall have withal. 
 Then hie away home to your hole in the wall." 
 
 Upon which the dog turned his tail over his back 
 and followed Katherina and her companions to their 
 dwelling. When they had reached home the young 
 girl said to the dog : 
 
 *' Rest you a while in my pretty white bed, 
 While your basket I fill with meat and with bread." 
 
THE SILVER DOG AND HIS PUPPIES. 119 
 
 And the credulous little creature accompanied her 
 upstairs into her own room, where she at once se- 
 cured him by shutting and locking the door. When 
 the silver dog perceived that he was a prisoner he 
 began to cry and to moan as though his heart would 
 break. '' Alas ! " said he, " my four silver puppies 
 will die of cold and hunger in my absence." But 
 as Katherina paid no heed to his entreaties, after a 
 while he desisted, and approaching her, said : 
 
 " Maiden, I'll give you a treasure rare, 
 A waxen doll so fine and so fair. 
 With raiment and jewels an ample store, 
 If you let me return to my puppies four."- 
 
 Now Katherina had the greatest possible wish for 
 a fine wax doll, as the cunning little dog no doubt 
 knew perfectly well ; but looking down at him, she 
 thought to herself, surely such a tiny creature as 
 that cannot bestow what he promises. Guessing, 
 however, what was passing in her mind, the silver 
 dog said : 
 
 •' Doubt not my power, my fair young maid, 
 Quickly I'll do what I've sworn and said ; 
 In my right ear three gold hairs you'll find, 
 Scatter them each to a separate wind, 
 North, east, west, you must blow them away, 
 And a fine wax doll will your task repay." 
 
 Katherina accordingly looked into the dog's right 
 ear, where she found the three golden hairs, and 
 blowing them to the north, east, and west, as the dog 
 had directed, a large and beautiful wax doll instantly 
 made her appearance, seated in an armchair of gold 
 and ivorv, and accompanied by several tiny boxes 
 and cases made also of gold and ivory, containing 
 the most charming collection of doll's clothes that 
 
120 THE SILVER DOG AND HIS PUPPIES. 
 
 Katherina had ever beheld. The undergarments 
 were all of the finest lawn, edged with delicate lace 
 and embroidery. The dresses and mantles of lace, 
 satin, and velvet were of the newest and most costly 
 fashions, and the little silver-mounted dressing case 
 contained several sets of dolls' jewels, and all perfect 
 models of fine workmanship and skill. 
 
 Katherina now embraced and thanked the silver 
 dog a thousand times, and filling his basket with no 
 sparing hand bade him depart to his puppies with- 
 out delay ; therefore, turning his tail over his back 
 he made his adieux as hastily as was consistent with 
 good breeding, and trotted home as fast as his little 
 legs could carry him. 
 
 It was now Tomlin's part to feel somewhat dis- 
 appointed at the dog's release, and though too gentle 
 to reproach Katherina, yet when he looked at his 
 sister's magnificent gifts he could not forbear think- 
 ing. Ah ! if the silver dog had but given me the 
 dapple-gray rocking-horse I should not have regret- 
 ted his loss so much. 
 
 Not long, however, was Tomlin destined to wait 
 without a share of good fortune equal to the others. 
 The silver dog met him one evening when he had 
 almost relinquished the hope of ever seeing the little 
 animal again, and perceiving how weary the poor fel- 
 low looked, Tomlin had not the heart to deceive him 
 with false promises, but, patting him tenderly on the 
 head filled his basket with some cakes which he was 
 carrying home to his sisters, and bade him depart to 
 his puppies in peace and safety. Whereupon, wag- 
 ging his tail with grateful affection, the pretty crea- 
 ture said: 
 
 " Dear little Tomlin, ere I depart, 
 I'll give you a proof of my grateful heart. 
 
THE SILVER DOG xVND IILS PUPPIES. 121 
 
 In my left ear three gold hairs you'll find ; 
 Scatter them each to a separate wind, 
 North, east, west, you must blow them away, 
 And behold the steed of a dapple gray." 
 
 Tomlin joyfully did as the dog requested, and was 
 rewarded by the instant appearance of a fine wooden, 
 dapple-gray horse, far more wonderful and beau- 
 tiful than the rocking-horse he had so much desired 
 to have, inasmuch as it pranced and curveted as 
 gayly as a living steed, but possessed the advantage 
 of requiring neither stable, groom, nor provender. 
 
 The dog did not wait to be thanked, but while 
 Tomlin was engaged in admiring his horse, ran 
 home to his puppies with his basket of cakes. 
 
 Not a little surprised were Constantia and Kath- 
 erina when Tomlin galloped home on his fine dap- 
 ple-gray charger, around whose neck hung silver 
 bells, which rang out a charming melody that filled 
 the heart with merriment. Xot being insensible 
 to the great benefits they had received from the dog, 
 our three young friends resolved to seek out his 
 retreat and prove their gratitude by a daily supply 
 of provisions for himself and his puppies. Xo 
 trace, however, could they find of any place answer- 
 ing to the silver dog's description of his dwelling, 
 neither did they ever again meet with the little ani- 
 mal himself. 
 
 " Ah ! sisters," said little Tomlin, *' the silver 
 dog has doubtless gained wisdom by experience, 
 and if he has any more golden hairs at his disposal 
 has learned to employ them for the benefit of his 
 puppies, and no longer scatters them abroad for a 
 few scraps of bread and meat." 
 
THE LUMBER ROOM. 
 I. 
 
 THE LUMBER ROOM. 
 
 There were once two children, whose names were 
 William and Sarah, but they were better known as 
 Bill and Sally. In many ways they were sensible 
 children, but about one thing they were dreadfully 
 stupid — they did not believe in the Man in the 
 Moon. 
 
 One day they were left at home alone, as their 
 parents had to pay a visit a long way off, and these 
 children set to work to play as busily as possible ; 
 they played till dinner-time, and as soon as dinner 
 was over they began to play again. At last they 
 thought of a splendid new game, which was to make 
 a real toy shop, and see how all their toys would 
 look when put together ; so they hunted about, and 
 brought the dolls, and a wheelbarrow, and a drum, 
 a clockwork mouse, a printing press, and plenty 
 more things, because, being spoiled children, they 
 had no end of toys of every kind. 
 
 Well, when it was done it looked splendid, and 
 the children began to play at the shop. Bill was 
 shopman first, and Sally was lots of people coming 
 to buy ; and the way they played was, for Sally to 
 buy all the toys and put them at her end of the room, 
 and then Bill would come and buy them all back 
 again. 
 
 You can imagine what a nice game this is. 
 122 
 
THE LUMBER ROOM. 123 
 
 Bill was a sharp, funny boy, and once when he 
 came to buy toys from Sally he asked for a rocking- 
 horse ; but he only did this because he 'knew Sally 
 had none. Xo sooner had he said it, though, than 
 it struck both of them that it was no fun playing 
 at shops without a rocking-horse ; and as there was 
 an old broken one in the lumber-room at the top 
 of the house — where no one ever went — they started 
 off to look for it. 
 
 Xow, up at the top of the house everything was 
 quiet and still — in fact, if the stairs had not creaked 
 there would have been no sound at all ; but the old 
 wooden stair did creak dreadfully, and when Bill 
 and Sally arrived at the lumber-room door, they 
 were so frightened that they did not dare to open it. 
 
 Suddenly the door opened by itself, and a gentle- 
 looking old man, with sharp eyes and very untidy 
 hair, peeped out. Sally rushed behind Bill, but the 
 moment she did so the old man caught sight of her, 
 and popped his head in, saying, '' How awkward, 
 how very awkward ! " and the door was shut again. 
 Then the children looked at each other and grinned ; 
 he was evidently a shy old gentleman, and not a bit 
 frightful in any way, only it zi'as odd his being 
 there at all. 
 
 They opened the door — everything was still. 
 They went in, and saw that there was a soft blue 
 light over everything in the lumber room. There 
 stood the rocking-horse, his tail tied to his neck to 
 replace his mane, which had been lost ; cobwebs 
 hung all over him, and in the clear light a perfect 
 shadow of a horse, cobwebs and all, was thrown 
 upon the dusty floor. 
 
 No little man was to be seen, so the children 
 hunted about. At last Bill caught Sally by the 
 arm, saying, " Look at that clothes basket ! " and 
 
124 THE LUMBER ROOM. 
 
 when Sally looked, she exclaimed, " It's waggling 
 about ; he must be in it ! " 
 
 They stood still watching it, and heard a squeaky 
 little voice saying, '' This is really the most awkward 
 thing ! how very, very distressing ! " 
 
 Then they went and opened the basket, and, sure 
 enough, there was the little old man crouching in it.. 
 You see, he didn't want to be found out. 
 
 When he saw they had found him, he stood up 
 in the basket, with his thin old hands on the edge, 
 and with his eyes fixed on the ground. 
 
 Sally knew it was rude to stand looking at peo- ' 
 pie without speaking ; so she began, '' It's a very 
 nice day, sir ! and we've been playing at a shop." 
 
 The old man answered, " Excuse me, little girl, 
 but I have really so little experience of days, that 
 
 in fact, you know " Here he became confused, 
 
 and nearly tumbled into his basket again. 
 
 " Bill, say something to him ; I think he's afraid 
 of me," whispered Sally. 
 
 Bill thought for some time, and at last said, 
 " Why don't you get out of the clothes basket? " 
 
 " Oh, dear, oh, dear ! " was the answer, '' you 
 must excuse me; I am so much alone that I get 
 quite stupid when people talk to me — you see, I'm 
 the Man in the Moon. I'm wonderfully amusing 
 when I get over my shyness, but I'm dreadfully, 
 dreadfully shy ! " 
 
 No sooner did the Man in the Moon tell the chil- 
 dren who he was than they went off into fits of 
 laughter which quite shook the dingy old garret, 
 and frightened the spiders back into their holes. 
 When they left off laughing and dancing about, they 
 found that he had got into the bottom of the basket 
 again, and was speaking quite crossly to himself; 
 his voice indeed sounded so angry that they thought 
 
THE LUMBER ROOM. 125 
 
 the}' h'.i\ better go away, but as they were shutting 
 the cloof, out came his head again, and he said, 
 "' Vm not angry, I'm only hurt; I shall be here 
 i^gain to-morrow evening, and shall be glad to see 
 you again ; few people appreciate me, but I'm won- 
 derfully nice." 
 
 So the children thought ; and the first thing they 
 did was to get hold of their little brother Bob, and 
 tell him all about it ; but, unfortunately, they fright- 
 ened him, and he began to cry. So the nurse came, 
 and told them never to speak of the Man in the 
 Aloon again, and like good children they did not ; 
 but you may be sure that next evening they stole 
 ofif to the lumber room to meet their friend again. 
 There he was sitting on the ground, smiling good- 
 naturedly, and polishing his shoe buckles with his 
 pocket-handkerchief. 
 
 Bill and Sally sat down, one on each side of him ; 
 and the Man in the Moon, after looking at them for 
 a long time, said, " Look here ! I'll tell you a very 
 odd thing about me. You know astronomers and 
 telescope fellows think that the moon gives light, 
 but that I have nothing to do with it. This is quite 
 wrong. Look out of the window. Do you see the 
 moon ? " 
 
 '* No," said Bill ; " because it hasn't risen." 
 
 " Nonsense, little boy ! " replied the Aloon-man 
 testily; "it's because I'm not in it. As long as 
 the moonlight isn't wanted, I go about and amuse 
 myself ; but I never let anyone see me then, because 
 it would never do. When it's time for the Moon 
 to rise, I shall have to be ofif, and you will see me 
 riding through the sky, giving light to all who want 
 it ; and to some I will show the road home, and 
 others looking at me will think of absent friends who 
 can see me too. The worst of it is, that so many^ 
 
126 THE LUMBER ROOM. 
 
 people will come out and say poetry to me, and call 
 me, ' O Moon ! ' and say I am round and bright, 
 or that I shine in the night." 
 
 He became quite savage as he spoke, and pulled 
 his watch out of his pocket. It was a very old- 
 fashioned watch, no one knows how or when it was 
 made, but there is one just like it in the Sun, and 
 another on the Earth, and all the planets have 
 them. They never go wrong. Well, the Man in 
 the Moon pulled out his watch, and jumped up. 
 
 " Just in time, my dears ! I shall only have five 
 minutes to get home, put on my overcoat, and light 
 up the moon." He pointed with his fingers, saying, 
 " Look over there and you will soon see me." The 
 children gazed in the direction of his hand, but 
 when they looked for him again he had gone. You 
 can imagine how surprised they were ; and when the 
 Moon rose, which it shortly did, they could clearly 
 see in it their friend's funny old face ; and as they 
 went downstairs to bed, Sally thought she heard 
 his voice say, " Awkward ! very awkward ! " but I 
 think it must have been the creaky stairs. 
 
II. 
 
 AN EXCURSION. 
 
 The next night to this Bill and Sally went up- 
 stairs again in the evening to the lumber room. 
 They opened the door very quietly, for fear of 
 frightening the Man in the Aloon ; but when they 
 got in they found it quite dark and quiet, and there 
 was nobody there. 
 
 "Where can he have gone, Sally?" said Bill. 
 
 " Perhaps he has gone back to the ]Moon," said 
 Sally. 
 
 " Perhaps he hasn't," said the i\Ian in the ^loon. 
 For there he was, standing just behind them, with 
 his blue light shining round him, and lighting up 
 all the holes and corners of the room. 
 
 Bill and Sally started back in a fright at first; 
 but very soon they recovered ; and Bill said to him, 
 " Where did you come from ? " 
 
 " From the >\Ioon," he answered, and jumped 
 straight into the clothes basket. 
 
 " Oh, dear ! you've offended him. Bill," said Sally ; 
 " perhaps he'll never come out again. Please do 
 come out, sir," she said, going up to the basket; 
 but she got no answer ; and so she stood on tiptoe 
 and looked in, and there she saw the ^lan in the 
 Moon lying curled up at the bottom, and looking 
 quite as frightened as she was. 
 
 ''You shouldn't ask me such questions," he said 
 in a sad voice when she looked at him ; " it hurts 
 rny feelings." 
 
 127 
 
128 THE LUMBER ROOM. 
 
 " We'll never do it again, if you'll only come out," 
 said Bill and Sally together. And then he came 
 out like a Jack-in-the-box. 
 
 " Will you take a walk with me ? " he said. 
 
 " Where ? " asked Sally. 
 
 " In the cupboard," said the Man in the Moon. 
 
 At this they both began to laugh loudly; but, 
 seeing a pained look on his face, and fearing he 
 would jump into the clothes basket again, they 
 left off ; and Bill said, with a polite bow, that they 
 should be very glad to walk with him. 
 
 " Do you know what there is in the cupboard ? " 
 he said. 
 
 '' Old clothes," rephed Sally. 
 
 " Ah, so you think, so you think ! " said the Man 
 in the Moon. '' Wait a little ! " and he rubbed his 
 hands together and laughed to himself, just as if 
 he had said something very funny. 
 
 Then he took out of his pocket a key nearly as 
 big as himself, and opened the door of the cupboard 
 where all the old clothes are kept. As soon as he 
 opened it a flood of light burst into the room, so 
 strong that the blue light round the i\Ian in the 
 Moon seemed quite to go out. At the same moment 
 the children heard the sound of waves beating on a 
 beach ; and, as soon as they could see plainly — for 
 their eyes were quite dazzled at first — they per- 
 ceived a beautiful sea stretching before them as 
 far as they could see. 
 
 The waves were bright blue, and so was the sky 
 overhead ; the sand was fresh and white, and quan- 
 tities of little white-sailed boats were dancing about 
 on the water, some sailing races with each other, 
 and others lying on the beach, waiting for someone 
 to get into them. 
 
 The Man in the Moon laughed again as he saw 
 
THE LUMBER ROOM. 129 
 
 how surprised the children looked, and led them 
 down to one of these boats, into which they all three 
 got. 
 
 " Can vou row ? " said the Man in the ^loon to 
 Bill. 
 
 " Yes," said Bill. But he couldn't ; and he 
 didn't know what to do with the oars when he took 
 hold of them. 
 
 " Wait a little," said the Man in the Moon ; and 
 taking out his big key, he put one end of it into 
 Bill's ear. Click ! he gave it a turn, and Bill began 
 rowing as if he had done nothing else all his life. 
 
 The boat went on over the beautiful sea, where 
 dolphins with lovely colored skins were playing al- 
 ways on the crests of the waves, till they came to a 
 green island covered with shady groves of trees 
 and tinkling waterfalls. In the middle of this 
 island was what the children thought at first was a 
 mountain ; but as they came nearer Sally thought it 
 was very like some things she had seen in her 
 mamma's kitchen, only ever so much bigger ; and 
 at last, when they were quite close, she said in a 
 surprised tone, ''Why, it's a jelly-mold!" 
 
 " Of course it is ! " said the ^lan in the Moon ; 
 " that's where the jelly-fish are made." 
 
 As they went on the waves grew less blue and the 
 dolphins less gayly colored, and the light seemed to 
 be going out of the sky, till at last there were no 
 dolphins, and the only light left was the strange 
 blue light that always shone round the ]^lan in the 
 Moon ; and by this light they saw that they were 
 coming to another island, but instead of being green 
 and bright, it was quite black, and had no middle. 
 It looked just like the rim of a hat without the 
 crown. 
 
 " Look over the edge," said the Man in the ^loon, 
 
130 THE LUMBER ROOM. 
 
 " but don't tumble in, because that would be very 
 awkward." 
 
 So they stood up in the boat and craned over, 
 but they could see nothing but a great black hole. 
 
 " That," said the Man in the Moon, " is where 
 the old moons are kept." 
 
 '' Why can't we see them ? " 
 
 *' Because the_ are gone out," said the Man in 
 the Moon, quite snappishly. 
 
 " Please, sir," asked Bill, " what are they — made 
 of ? " he was going to say, but suddenly felt fright- 
 ened, and said, " What are they doing there ? " in- 
 stead. 
 
 " Waiting," said the INIan in the Moon. 
 
 "What for?" asked Sally. 
 
 " For ever ! " he answered ; and the boat went on. 
 
 Now the sea began to light up again, but in- 
 stead of being blue it was gray, and the air, which 
 had been warm before, grew colder and colder. 
 The Man in the Moon took two long cloaks, made 
 of silver paper, out of his pocket, and made Bill 
 and Sally put them on, and, oddly enough, they 
 were as warm as if they had been made of furs. 
 
 Now great towers of ice began to float past them 
 — large, glittering cities, with no living thing in 
 them ; but through the windows of one of the houses 
 (for there were houses in all of them) they saw a 
 heap of dolls, rocking-horses, and toy figures of 
 every^ sort lying together. Some were broken into 
 quite little pieces, and some seemed to be struggling 
 to get up. 
 
 '' Those," said the Man in the Moon, '' are all the 
 broken toys. They are sent out here to mend them- 
 selves." 
 
 Presently they saw no more ice towers — nothing 
 but the sea all round. 
 
THE LUMBER ROOM. 131 
 
 " Hi ! " said the ^lan in the ^loon, and the boat 
 btopped. Then he pulled out his watch. '* Oh, 
 dear ! " he said, " this is very awkward. I must go 
 back at once, or there will be an eclipse. I meant 
 to have taken you on to the North Pole, but I must 
 go back at once. This is very awkward ! " 
 
 " But how shall we get back ? " asked Sally. 
 
 " Oh, get in here ! " said the Man in the Moon, 
 and took off his hat, which suddenly became big 
 enough to hold them. As soon as they were in, he 
 put his handkerchief over the top, which made it 
 dark for a moment ; then it j^rew light again, and 
 there they were, in the old-clothes cupboard, with 
 the door open, and the moonlight coming in at the 
 window. 
 
III. 
 
 THE MOON DANCE. 
 
 When the children went up to the lumber 
 room the next night, there was the Man in the Moon 
 waiting for them. 
 
 " Here we are again ! " he cried, and began to 
 imitate a clown in a pantomime ; but he did it very 
 feebly and badly, so that the children were quite 
 ashamed for him, and he stopped short in the mid- 
 dle of a grimace and turned very red, and said quite 
 humbly : *' I can't do this sort of thing well ; I 
 know I can't ; I ought not to have tried it. But 
 there are some things I can do," he added, bright' 
 ening up, and began pulling a parcel out of his 
 pocket and untying it. 
 
 While he was doing this, Bill and Sally talked to 
 each other in whispers. You must know that they 
 wanted very much to find out what the Moon was 
 made of (Bill said it was made of cheese ; Sally said 
 it wasn't), and had made up their minds to ask the 
 Moon-man, though they both felt afraid to do so. 
 They thought they had better try to put him in good 
 humor first, and so they had got some tea ready 
 for him. 
 
 There was a candle-end stuck in a bottle for a 
 chandelier, and there were some broken pieces of 
 plate and some cheese. This was all very well, 
 but they had nothing to drink. 
 
 Just as they were asking each other what they 
 132 
 
THE LUMBER ROOM. I33 
 
 should do, the Moon-man spoke to them. " I knew 
 you were going to ask me to tea," he said, " so I 
 have brought my tea things ;" and there, sure 
 enough, was a small table, and a teapot, and a 
 sugar basin, and cups and saucers, and everything 
 you could want, all made of silver paper. The tea, 
 and the bread, and the butter, and the jam were 
 all delicious ; and while they were eating, the Moon- 
 man said he would take them another walk if they 
 liked. 
 
 Presently Bill took out the cheese they had pre- 
 pared and held it up to the ^loon-man. '' Would 
 you like some, sir?" he said. 
 
 But the yian in the ^loon looked quite shocked. 
 *' Oh, dear ! " he said, " this is very awkward ! Give 
 it to me." And he wrapped it up in one of the sil- 
 ver-paper cups and put it away in his pocket. 
 
 Now, thought Bill and Sally, is the time to ask 
 what the ^loon is made of ; so Sally nudged Bill, 
 and Bill began : " Please, sir, is the " 
 
 " Carriage ready ! " interrupted the Moon-man, 
 turning very red and working his fingers about like 
 a railway signal. '' Oh, yes ! it's been waiting some 
 time. Come along ;" and he opened the door of the 
 old-clothes cupboard. 
 
 The shelves had all disappeared, as they had the 
 night before ; but instead of the sea, and the beach, 
 and the boats, they saw a long road overhung with 
 tall trees stretching out into the distance ; and in the 
 middle of the road there was an open carriage, just 
 big enough to hold the three little people — for the 
 Man in the ^loon was not much taller than the chil- 
 dren. Harnessed to it were four horses, and a tidy 
 groom and coachman were sitting on the box. The 
 groom jumped down and opened the door, and they 
 got in and drove off. 
 
134- THE LU]MBER ROOM. 
 
 " Why does he call rowing and driving taking a 
 walk?" whispered Sally to Bill. 
 
 " Because it is, or might be, a walk at any time, 
 and comes to the same place in the end," answered 
 the Man in the Moon quite loud. 
 
 Soon the carriage stopped, and looking out at the 
 window they saw a quantity of heaps of smoldering 
 ashes on the road. " Little gentleman," said the 
 Moon-man to Bill, " what is a phoenix? " 
 
 Bill happened to know, and was very glad to have 
 an opportunity of showing his knowledge. He 
 paused a little to collect his thoughts. 
 
 " Come, come," said the Moon-man impatiently ; 
 " what is it ? Is it bounded on the east by the Cas- 
 pian Sea? Was he a great Roman general? or 
 what?" 
 
 " No," said Bill rather crossly, " a phoenix is a 
 bird that lives a hundred years, and when it dies it 
 is burnt up and a new one comes from the ashes." 
 Just as he spoke a magnificent bird sprang up from 
 one of the ashheaps, and flew away with its glitter- 
 ing wings over the tops of the trees. 
 
 " Is that a phoenix ? " asked Sally. 
 . " It is, and it isn't," said the Moon-man. " This 
 is where all the poetry is made. Each of these 
 heaps is a poet's heart, and each of them must be 
 burned before poetry can come out of it. This you 
 can't understand, but it's of no consequence. Now, 
 look out at the other window." 
 
 There they saw a crowd of children, who some- 
 how looked more like shadows than real children, 
 playing quite quietly at all sorts of games. None 
 of them spoke or laughed, and among them Bill 
 and Sally saw two very like themselves, who were 
 playing at the game of shops which they had in- 
 vented. 
 
THE LUMBER ROOM. I35 
 
 " These," said the Moon-man, " are all the old 
 games that you have got tired of. Drive on, coach- 
 man ! " And they drove on, and on, till they came 
 to the foot of a sloping hill, where they got out. 
 
 This hill was laid out in the most lovely gardens, 
 flowers of every color grew there quite wild, such 
 flowers as are generally only seen in green-houses. 
 Tall palm trees rose among them, and bent down 
 their long leaves to whisper to them. In the center 
 of each flower sat a beautiful fairy : the boy fairies 
 were all dressed in bright blue velvet, with silver- 
 braided caps and silver-hilted swords ; and the girl 
 fairies in light blue silk, with silver flowers in their 
 hair. 
 
 All of them clapped their hands with delight 
 when they saw the ^loon-man, and got down out of 
 the flowers to meet him. 
 
 Then he turned to Bill and Sally, and asked them 
 if they would like to dance ; and, going up a broad 
 flight of marble steps, they came to a great hall with 
 a marble floor, where hundreds of these fairies were 
 dancing to the sound of the most beautiful music, 
 which seemed to come from the roof above. This 
 was not an ordinary roof : it looked more like a 
 thick veil than anything else, and through it there 
 streamed the same sort of blue light which always 
 shone round the Man in the Moon. 
 
 Both Bill and Sally found a partner to dance 
 with ; but, as Bill was going round the room, his 
 foot struck against something, which, on looking up, 
 he found to be a long ladder, which seemed to 
 stretch beyond the roof. '' What is this ladder 
 for ! " he asked of his partner, but she put her finger 
 on her lips and began to dance again. 
 
 \Mien they stopped, the Man in the Aloon came 
 up to Bill and said, '' This is a very awkward thing. 
 
136 THE LUMBER ROOM. 
 
 I must tell you what you know already. I dare say 
 that the people on the earth only see one side of 
 the Moon, and consequently they think nobody lives 
 in it. This is the other side ; and the ladder takes 
 to the side you see. It's time for me to go 
 there, and I'm going up it. On no account follow 
 me, or you will never see me again, and that would 
 be a pity, because, now that I have got over my shy- 
 ness, I am really a very nice person. Don't you 
 think so?" 
 
 But without waiting for an answer, he began to 
 go quickly up the ladder, only stopping a moment 
 to say to Bill, *' These little people will take care of 
 you, and send you home." 
 
 But Bill felt the greatest curiosity to see what 
 the Moon was made of ; and, I am sorry to say, he 
 went to Sally and persuaded her to go up the ladder 
 with him, though all the little people begged him 
 not. 
 
 So they went up and up, and when they got to 
 the top step they found a little door in front of 
 them. '' Now," said Bill, '' we really shall see what 
 the Moon is made of ;" and he opened the door and 
 he and Sally went through it ; it shut behind them — 
 and there they were in the old clothes cupboard 
 again. 
 
 They never saw any more of the Man in the 
 Moon, though they went up into the lumber room 
 very often, and called for him. Once they thought 
 they heard him in the clothes basket, saying to him- 
 self, " It's of no consequence ;" but when they 
 looked in there was nothing there. 
 
THE STORY OF THE LITTLE POXD. 
 
 There was once upon a time a pretty little brook 
 which went dancing merrily along over bright, shin- 
 ing pebbles the whole long summer day, singing a 
 quiet song to itself, as it kissed the grasses and 
 wild flowers that hung over its banks ; and although, 
 when the winter came, and the sun shone less 
 brightly, the little brook did not look quite so merry, 
 it was still as happy and contented as any little brook 
 could be. 
 
 One day in the early spring, when the flowers 
 were just beginning to peep over its banks and look 
 at themselves in its shining water, the little brook 
 felt something stopping up its course, and all the 
 little waves, as they came running down, had to 
 stand and wait till the way was clear again. At last 
 there were so many little waves standing waiting to 
 get on, that, instead of a brook, it looked more like 
 a little pond. 
 
 And so it was ; the brook did not know, as we 
 do, that the miller had sent for workmen, and 
 stopped up its way just on purpose to make a pond 
 in which to keep the water for turning his mill. 
 
 Xow, the little waves soon grew very tired of 
 waiting, and they became very cross and discon- 
 tented. 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " cried they, '' how hot the sun is ; 
 and it is so tiresome having to stay here doing 
 nothing ; we have nothing to look at either ; it is so 
 dull ! " 
 
 They had not long to wait, however, before they 
 
 137 
 
138 THE STORY OF THE LITTLE POND. 
 
 had plenty of things to look at; for the fields all 
 round the pond soon filled with haymakers, who at 
 dinner-time came and sat down on the edge of the 
 little pond, and amused themselves by throwing 
 stones into it, and making ducks and drakes all 
 over it. 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " cried one wave to another, " that 
 stone hurt me very much ; I wish I could get away 
 from here and run on as I used to do ; I always 
 hoped to get down into that sea that the fishes al- 
 ways told me so much about, but now I am afraid 
 I shall be too late ; do let me pass." 
 
 " Don't push so," said the other waves ; '' you are 
 no worse off than we are." 
 
 And they all began to grumble and quarrel, and 
 to wish for something different from what they had. 
 
 Now the sun got hotter and hotter from day to 
 day; flies began to skim over the face of the water, 
 and all kinds of thirsty animals came to drink it 
 up ; the cows, too, came and stood in it to cool 
 themselves ; and the wind lay quite tired, and could 
 not even blow the slightest breeze. The poor little 
 pond grew smaller and smaller every day, and the 
 waves cried out, faintly, very often : 
 
 *' Oh, dear ! this is dreadful ! we can't stand the 
 heat of the sun, and these horrid flies will not leave 
 us any peace ! And then, as if the flies were not 
 plague enough, that large four-legged beast must 
 come and stand among us, and make us all so thick 
 and muddy ! How we wish the sun would not 
 shine so ! " 
 
 At last, just before the pond v/as quite dried up, 
 clouds came up and covered all the sky, and the 
 cold rain-drops began to fall and make great plashes 
 on the top of the water. The plowmen, at work in 
 the fields, came down with their horses to the side of 
 
THE STORY OF THE LITTLE POND. I39 
 
 it, and washed the mud off their feet, and let them 
 drink great draughts of the water. The wind, too, 
 began to blow, and covered all the face of the pond 
 with ripples, so that it looked quite black and 
 gloomy, and felt so chilly and miserable. 
 
 Then all the little waves cried out, and said : 
 " We would far rather have the nice warm sun- 
 shine and flies than this cold, dreary rain ! " But 
 still it grew colder from day to day ; the leaves fell 
 off the trees, and the little birds sang no more. 
 
 One night the little waves were very, very cold ; 
 they had never been so cold before ; and they felt 
 themselves growing stiffer and stiffer, till at last 
 they were so cold and stiff that even the strong 
 rough wind could not move them. They were quite 
 hard frozen. 
 
 When the morning came they heard the sound 
 of voices, and laughter, and children came down 
 to the edge of the pond. The poor little frozen 
 waves wondered what they were going to do, and 
 quite forgot to grumble while they watched them. 
 
 All of a sudden a little boy put his foot upon the 
 pond, but instead of stirring up mud, as the horses 
 and cows had done, he began to run very fast on the 
 top of the poor little waves, cutting long scratches 
 all over them with a sharp knife which he had fas- 
 tened to his feet, and on which he balanced himself 
 as he ran. 
 
 Then came more boys and girls, and men and 
 women, who all ran about on sharp knives up and 
 down over the pond ; and as they flew along laugh- 
 ing and shouting, the poor little waves groaned and 
 cried ; and all they could say was : 
 
 *' Oh ! we never felt anything so bad as this be- 
 fore ! " and then thev groaned and cried again. 
 
 All day long, and for many days, did these people 
 
liO THE STORY OF THE LITTLE POND. 
 
 come and run about on the pond ; and the poor lit- 
 tle waves were so miserable that at last they began to 
 think that all this pain was meant to punish them 
 for being so unhappy, and complaining so much 
 of the sun and the flies, the thirsty horses, and the 
 cold wind and rain, and they grew very sorry that 
 ever they had been so naughty and discontented. 
 
 One evening, after everything was still, and 
 everyone was gone away for the night, the sky 
 grew very black, and something white began to fall 
 from it. It came quietly, gently down on the poor 
 little scratched face of the pond, and lay there, very 
 soft and very cold ; and soon the little waves could 
 see nothing more, for it was quite dark. 
 
 After lying quietly for some time, they heard 
 voices, which they thought they knew, saying: 
 
 " Oh, look here ! what a pity ! here is the tire- 
 some snow come, and it has spoiled all our skat- 
 ing!" 
 
 The kind snow lay upon the poor little pond for 
 many days, and kept the skaters from hurting it 
 any more, till the sun grew warmer and melted it 
 away ; then the little waves grew soft again as they 
 were before, and no one could stand upon them 
 any more. 
 
 Then they were so happy ; and as the sun shone 
 upon them and made them warm again, they all 
 sang for joy; and they never grumbled any more; 
 for they said : 
 
 " It is of no use to make ourselves unhappy about 
 small things ; we know now what it is to have some- 
 thing real to grumble about." 
 
WHAT THE ANIMALS SAID. 
 
 I ONCE knew a little girl who loved all kinds of 
 birds, beasts, and fishes, and who never lost any 
 chance of showing them kindness in some form_ or 
 other I think there must have been somethmg 
 in her look which told the poor dumb beasts and 
 birds how she loved them, for, instead of runnmg 
 or flving awav, as though scared at her approach, 
 they 'used to come up to her, and look mto her little 
 eves, as if asking to be fondled. 
 ' I have seen her returning home with a troop ot 
 poor hungrv dogs at her heels, some ot whom had 
 lost their masters, and others had run away from 
 theirs in disgust at the ill-treatment they had re- 
 ceived while in their service. She would put by 
 dailv a part of her little breakfast, and would save 
 every week a part of her pocket money, to ^minister 
 to the comforts of her poor favorites. Xor were 
 thev ungrateful, as vou may well believe. After 
 satisfving their hunger, they would bark such a 
 chorus of thankfulness as is rarely heard outside ot 
 the Isle of Dogs, and would accompany their kind 
 little friend— an unpaid bodyguard— on her way to 
 school, and wait outside to escort her home again 
 They were good, sensible dogs, and never barked 
 or made anv noise while school was going on, ex- 
 cepting upon one occasion, when they fancied that 
 I^Iarv (that was the name of the good little girl) 
 was 'being punished for not knowing her lesson, 
 when in they walked without knocking— the New- 
 
 14:1 
 
144 WHAT THE ANIMALS SAID. 
 
 its while to express a wish that such a calamity 
 might be averted from her. 
 
 Mary then walked on to the lion's cage, but could 
 not help returning to look at the elephant, on seeing 
 the crowds who flocked around to feed it, and hear- 
 ing the different remarks that they made and the 
 " Humphs " that fell from its lips and trunk. One 
 gave it a turnip, one an apple, one a lump of sugar, 
 another a bit of bread, all of which it took in its 
 trunk and put into its mouth. A wag offered it a 
 newspaper ; but I suppose it found literature hard 
 to digest, as it not only rejected the proffered gift 
 with scorn, but struck the wag over the head with 
 its trunk, staving in his hat. Now the hat was a 
 new one, and had cost nine-and-sixpence. 
 
 There was a little elephant in the same stall as 
 the large one, its mother, and Mary was much 
 amused at hearing the different remarks with which 
 the old one edified the young one. '' See, my dear," 
 said she, ** how infinitely superior we are to yon 
 crowd of idle gazers, who call themselves human 
 beings ! How simple is our life compared to theirs ! 
 Before you were born, many years ago, I used to 
 roam the jungles of an island called Ceylon, in com- 
 pany with your dear father and uncles and aunts. 
 I had one day wandered away from home (for I 
 was then young and thoughtless) in search of a bit 
 of sugar cane for lunch, or tiffin, as we used to call 
 it, when I found myself surrounded by a crowd of 
 men, who bound me, set me on a bullock cart, and 
 took me to a seaport. Here I was put on board a 
 horrid prison, called a ship, and transported to Eng- 
 land. It is a hard thing, my dear, to be in the power 
 of beings that you absolutely despise, as I most 
 justly do mankind. Consider how helpless they are 
 by nature ! We with our trunks can pick up a pin 
 
WHAT THE ANIMALS SAID. I45 
 
 or pull down a forest tree ! they cannot even build 
 a bridge from Dover to Calais. We can enjoy and 
 thrive upon a diet of simple food, such as rice and 
 vegetables ; they not only eat, in my opinion, a great 
 deal too much food of every kind, but also spoil the 
 little digestion they have by the use of strong drinks, 
 and then they call a man who takes an extra dose of 
 such drinks ' a 43east,' forsooth, as if any of us 
 would have ever hit upon the idea of making or 
 using any strong drink at all. It is impossible to 
 think of any more complete misnomer." 
 
 Now, Mary didn't know anyone of the name of 
 *' Miss Xomer," so she thought either that the ele- 
 phant must have made some mistake, or that it must 
 be an elephantine name for some strong drink. 
 
 The elephant went on to describe the hundred 
 dififerent ills that human flesh was heir to — such 
 as bills, creditors, duns, east winds, colds, bad cooks, 
 barrel organs, politics, and many other evils of that 
 sort from all of which, as she justly remarked, the 
 beast creation were free. She said she had seen a 
 list of above a hundred of such complaints, but had 
 forgotten their names ; but she was glad to say that 
 there was a gentleman who professed to be able to 
 cure them all with some remedy or other, which 
 she had read of in an advertisement sheet of a paper 
 in which some sweetmeats had been wrapped up. 
 She then described how men fight and quarrel with 
 each other in a way that beasts would be ashamed 
 to do. Thousands and hundreds of thousands of 
 people, with spikes on their heads, and l)lue coats, 
 under the command of a person called a king, 
 would go and fire at hundreds and thousands of peo- 
 ple in red trousers, commanded by a man called 
 an emperor, till it was decided whether a piece of 
 rag marked blagk and white, or another marked 
 
146 WHAT THE ANIMALS SAID. 
 
 with red, white, and bkie, should be stuck upon 
 sticks all over a certain piece of ground. 
 
 When the fight was over, as many as were not 
 killed would return to their respective homes — 
 that is, provided such homes had not been burned 
 down during the war ; but, as soon as the red-white- 
 and-blue-rag people felt themselves strong enough 
 to replace their rag on the piece of debatable land 
 they would scorn all thought of the untold agony in- 
 flicted upon thousands of the human race, and pro- 
 ceed to attack their foes anew. 
 
 *' Now, with us, my dear," said the elephant, ^' the 
 case used to be quite different. The only fights 
 that we- ever had were between two champion ele- 
 phants who were in love with the same fair beast 
 and wished to make her their bride. And even in 
 this case, I used to say that they would have done 
 far better to toss up for the prize ; or, what would 
 have been, perhaps, more satisfactory to the bride 
 in question, to have let her choose for herself. 
 
 " Again, look how defenseless are mankind 
 against the weather when compared with us. See 
 how they have fallen off from their original state. 
 I make no doubt myself that they were once covered 
 with hair, much as the monkeys of the present day 
 are now, and that they possessed the gift of instinct 
 which never errs, instead of the inferior gift of rea- 
 son which leads mankind so often astray. I am 
 glad, however, to see that men are doing their best 
 to imitate the beast creation in respect of their 
 clothes : the numerous furs and seal skins which I 
 observe on the richer portion of my spectators show 
 that mankind are aware of the fact that there are 
 at least some points in which they will do well to 
 imitate us." 
 
 The elephant, I suppose, here found that she was 
 
fc) 
 
 WHAT THE ANIMALS SAID. 147 
 
 getting somewhat prosy, for little Mary began to 
 get weary ; so the wise beast deliberately swallowed 
 a turnip, top and all, winked, raised its trunk, 
 humphed, and withdrew. 
 
 Mary then visited the other beasts in turn : and 
 found that she learned something from each of their 
 discourses. She was, perhaps, most surprised at 
 the powers of the ostrich. In five minutes this 
 wonderful bird swallowed six nails, eight pebbles, 
 a bit of glass, the advertisement sheet of the Times, 
 and a cotton glove. 
 
 Mary wondered at all this, not unnaturally ; but 
 the ostrich explained that it had no wings, and was 
 therefore obliged to amuse itself with other pursuits 
 than flying. It was determined to benefit its species, 
 and was therefore engaged in a series of interesting 
 observations on the digestion, which it intended to 
 publish as soon as some one should have found 
 means to reduce the language of birds to writing. 
 It added, however, that it considered nails fully as 
 digestible and healthy as a great many dishes con- 
 sumed and enjoyed by the human race ; more so than 
 lobster salad, cold patties, and in fact than any of 
 the refreshments ordinarily provided at railway sta- 
 tions for hungry passengers. The ostrich explained 
 that it wished to convey by this insinuation no re- 
 proach against the lobster, of which crustacean it 
 had not the acquaintance, there being ver\' few of 
 such to be found in the desert. It was sure, how- 
 ever, that the lobster would rather not be digested 
 at all. Mary was not quite sure what the ostrich 
 meant by a ** crustacean " or an "insinuation," but 
 imagined that they were some kind of strange 
 animal, whose acquaintance she would probablv 
 make further on. 
 
 ^Mary could not help pausing before the cage 
 
148 WHAT THE ANIMALS SAID. 
 
 where the owl was confined, and admiring its glossy 
 feathers and large expressive eyes. She had always 
 heard this bird spoken of as the bird of wisdom, 
 and therefore approached its cage not without some 
 degree of awe. 
 
 '* Good morning, my lord," said she by way of 
 greetiiig; for she knew that it was usual thus to 
 address a judge, whom she had always heard of 
 as the possessor of the greatest wisdom on earth. 
 But to her surprise she received no answer, though 
 she repeated her greeting several times in a loud 
 voice. She even pu": her mouth to his lordship's 
 ear and shouted with all her might, " My lord ! 
 my lord ! " and then '' You owl ! you owl ! " in turn. 
 But his owlship merely winked and winked, and 
 looked like a judge who has slept through the argu- 
 ments of both sides impartially, and is now making 
 up his mind as to which of the contending parties 
 has the weakest case. Hence she was driven to con- 
 clude that neither a wig nor large eyes always denote 
 wisdom. Even these large eyes, so far from always 
 being an advantage to the bird, in many cases, Mary 
 thought, must be a drawback. For she could not 
 help noticing that when he had once fixed his eyes 
 upon any object, he had great difBculty in taking 
 them off again. Indeed, a parrot, who was in the 
 next cage, confided to her that in America numerous 
 owls are caught in this manner ; a professional owl- 
 catcher comes to a tree where he knows one of these 
 birds to be sitting, and after catching its eye, walks 
 slowly round the tree. After about ten turns or so 
 the poor owl, following the man with his eyes, begins 
 to feel uncomfortable, and after about ten more 
 it experiences a great difficulty in breathing. At 
 last, it actually drops from its perch and gasps for 
 
WHAT THE ANIMALS SAID. 149 
 
 breath. It is with difficulty restored to health with 
 chicken broth and various other cordials. 
 
 Perhaps I may tell you another day of all the 
 curious information regarding men and women that 
 she picked up from other beasts and birds ; how she 
 admired the patience of one, the grace of a second, 
 the majesty of a third ; and finally returned home, 
 more resolved than ever to continue, as she had al- 
 ways been, the warm friend of every beast and bird 
 that exists. 
 
THE STORY OF LITTLE MAGGIE. 
 
 There was once a little girl called Maggie. She 
 had no father or mother, and no home to live in ; 
 very ragged clothes, no shoes, and no hat ; she al- 
 ways put a little tattered shawl over her head when 
 the sun shone too hot, or the wind blew too cold. 
 
 Now, although she had no mother to teach her 
 what was right and what was wrong, she was a 
 very good little girl, and never stole anything, or 
 told any falsehoods ; she was very kind to all the 
 animals she saw, and never teased or hurt any living 
 creature. 
 
 This little girl was wandering about, one fine 
 summer evening, trying to find some place where 
 she might sleep all night, when she came to the 
 gate of a large farmyard, and stopped timidly, be- 
 fore she opened it to go in. 
 
 Suddenly a large rough, black dog rushed out 
 of the barn, and began barking so fiercely that poor 
 little Maggie was quite frightened, and ran away as 
 fast as her little legs could carry her. When she 
 had quite got out of hearing of the big dog she 
 stopped to rest herself and think what she should 
 do next; but while she was thinking (she was very 
 tired, and had wandered a long, long way that day), 
 she laid her poor little head down on the bank, and 
 fell fast asleep. 
 
 Now the place where Maggie was lying was a 
 pretty lane with a high bank and hedge on one side 
 150 
 
THE STORY OF LITTLE MAGGIE. 151 
 
 of it, while on the other side ran a Httle stream, with 
 a fence and a green meadow beyond it. The bank 
 was quite covered with wild flowers, and made the 
 prettiest, softest bed for the little girl, while the long 
 branches of wild roses and honeysuckles, that hung 
 out of the hedge over her head, made curtains such 
 as neither you nor I ever slept under. 
 
 Little Maggie lay and slept here, quite soundly ; 
 the moon and all the stars shone over her head, 
 but she knew nothing of it all. 
 
 Just before the sun rose she was roused by the 
 sound of little voices, just like silver bells, and, 
 opening her eyes she saw hundreds of little boys and 
 girls all round her, very busily at work, and very 
 merry. Maggie had never seen any children like 
 these before, so she lay quite still and watched them 
 and listened to what they said. 
 
 The little boys were all dressed in green, with 
 little silver caps on their heads, and little silver belts 
 round their waists ; the girls wore frocks made of 
 wild rose leaves, some pink, some white, and some 
 deep red ; little silver belts and shoes, and little hats, 
 each made of a wild heart's-ease. 
 
 These little people were all chattering away as 
 fast as they could, and each of them was doing 
 something to a flower blossom. The little girls 
 had brooms made of field-mouse hair ; and with 
 these they were busy sweeping away the dust from 
 the pretty bright flowers. The boys had harder 
 brushes, and were cleaning the green leaves of the 
 plants and the blades of grass. 
 
 " Oh, my poor little Daisy ! " cried one of the 
 little girls, ". how dirty you are this morning ; I was 
 sure you would be so, when I saw Farmer Jones 
 drive past yesterday in his gig ; the dust flew up so 
 that I could see nothing for ever so long after. How 
 
152 THE STORY OF LITTLE MAGGIE. 
 
 troublesome these human beings are, Pimpernel, are 
 they not?" 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! " said Pimpernel, who was care- 
 fully straightening out the leaves of her little red 
 flower ; " only the other day my child was so 
 thickly covered with dust that when she knew there 
 was rain coming, and that she ought to shut up, her 
 petals were too much clogged for her to be able to 
 do it. Tom the shepherd came past, and looked at 
 her, and said cheerily, '' Oh, there is no chance of 
 rain, the Pimpernel is wide open, so I can leave my 
 lambs out all night." He did leave them out, and 
 I heard from Cowslip, over in the meadow there, 
 that they cried all night and were so cold ! " 
 
 " Take care, Roseleaf," cried Wood-sorrel ; " you 
 are sweeping down all your dust on my child, so 
 that as fast asT brush her clean, she gets covered 
 with dust again." 
 
 "I have just finished," said Roseleaf; "I have 
 such a lovely bud to open to-day ; it will quite aston- 
 ish the queen when she comes ! " 
 
 When the children had done sweeping their 
 flowers clean, they all went to the brook, and filling 
 a dockleaf with water, they carried it over to their 
 flower bank ; then they gave each flower a little, and 
 sprinkled what was left over the grass and leaves. 
 
 They had just finished this work when a little 
 boy, perched on the tallest branch of the hedge, 
 waved his silver cap in the air and shouted, '' Hur- 
 rah ! the queen is coming ! " 
 
 The girls put up their brushes and smoothed their 
 aprons, made of the petals of lilies of the valley, and 
 the boys climbed up the highest plants to look out 
 . for her majesty's carriage. 
 
 Soon it came, drawn through the air by twelve 
 blue butterflies, and a crowd of fairies and elves 
 
THE STORY OF LITTLE MAGGIE. 153 
 
 flew after it. It stopped close beside ^laggie and 
 the queen stepped out. As she did so, the Httle 
 boys and girls made their best bows and courtesies. 
 
 Then the queen began to look at the flowers. 
 
 *' Daisy," she said, " your child is quite pale this 
 morning ; what has happened to her ? " 
 
 " Please your majesty," answered Daisy, " she 
 was so covered with dust yesterday that she could 
 hardly breathe, and nearly fainted, just before I be- 
 gan to wash her, and that is why she looks so pale ; 
 but she is better now." 
 
 " The mortals have been at work again, I sup- 
 pose," said the queen angrily ; " Farmer Jones and 
 his gig are to blame, are they not? " 
 
 " Yes, your majesty ; they do us all a great deal 
 of mischief." 
 
 *' Indeed they do," chimed in a dozen or two of 
 other little girls. 
 
 The queen stood and thought for a moment, and 
 then called aloud, " Ruby ! " 
 
 A pretty little fairy man flew up at once, and stood 
 with a paint brush and palette in his hand, and made 
 a low bow to the queen. 
 
 " Take your brush and make my pretty Daisy 
 look better. Ruby," said she. 
 
 The painter again bowed low, and set to work 
 to touch the ends of the Daisy's little white petals 
 with the most delicate crimson, stepping back every 
 now and then, with his head on one side, to look at 
 his work, till he had made the Daisy look exqui- 
 site. 
 
 " Oh, Roseleaf ! what a lovely bud you have 
 brought out to-day ! " exclaimed the queen, flying 
 on to the spray of roses, which Maggie had noticed 
 before ; '' but where are all those flowers you had 
 yesterday. There were six here, I think." 
 
15i THE STORY OF LITTLE MAGGIE. 
 
 " Yes, your majesty," replied Roseleaf ; '' but your 
 majesty's court dressmaker came to me and said she 
 required some velvet to make dresses for their royal 
 highnesses, the three princesses, so I gave her the 
 petals of those six roses, they were so beautiful ; 
 and here are the remains of them, going to turn into 
 seeds." 
 
 '' That v^as quite right," said the queen. Then 
 she added, speaking half to herself : '' They needed 
 to have pretty dresses in which to go to Prince 
 Dragon-fly's ball, but still it is very sad to have to 
 use such lovely flowers to make them." 
 
 After visiting many more flowers, and talking to 
 the little girls that took care of them, and sometimes 
 passing her hand over a leaf or a blade of grass, to 
 see if the boys had done their work properly, the 
 queen came to some little girls whom Maggie had 
 not noticed before. They were sitting quite still, 
 crying as if their hearts would break ; and beside 
 them lay some broken and withered white flowers. 
 
 " Alas ! " cried they, as" the queen came near them, 
 *' see what mischief has been done here to our dear 
 little children. We have taken such care of them all 
 this summer, and we did hope soon to have some 
 lovely ripe strawberries to present to your majesty; 
 but yesterday a little girl came by ; and she caught 
 sight of our dear little flowers on the top of the 
 bank, and rushed at them with a cry of joy, and 
 broke them off ; there is only one left, and it is badly 
 hurt." 
 
 The queen drew herself up and looked very sad 
 and very angry. At last she said : *' I could forgive 
 these mortals for throwing dust ov^r my fiowers- 
 for they do not know any better; but they kiicnv 
 quite well that when they break off a strawberry 
 iiO'Wtv they take away the food from one of my; 
 
THE STORY OF LITTLE MAGGIE. I55 
 
 fairy children ; and besides that, they do not remem- 
 ber that we fairies love our little flower children, 
 and that it grieves us to see them broken and hurt." 
 
 Maggie was so much interested in all that she 
 saw and heard, and so sorry for the little fairies, 
 that she started up and cried out : 
 
 " Oh ! please your majesty, it w^as not I that 
 touched the strawberry flowers ; and I will never, 
 never gather one ; I did not know that it made the 
 fairies so sorry ! " 
 
 At the sound of her voice all the fairies disap- 
 peared, and although Maggie rubbed her eyes very 
 hard indeed, she could see nothing more of them ; 
 only the flowers and leaves and grass were left, the 
 bright sun was just rising above the meadow, and 
 it was broad daylight. 
 
A STORY ABOUT A WASP. 
 
 In a storeroom which was full, as most store- 
 rooms are, of sugar and jam and all sorts of sweet 
 things, numbers of wasps were flying and buzzing 
 about. The lady to whom the store-room belonged 
 had gone bravely among them and driven many of 
 them out at the window, but for each one that she 
 drove away, or killed, two new ones seemed to 
 spring up, and at last she gave it up in despair, and 
 left them to fly and buzz as much as they liked. 
 
 In the very middle of the room stood a large bot- 
 tle with no cork in it, and with a more delicious 
 smell coming from it than came from the jams or 
 other nice things that stood on the shelves. One 
 would think that the wasps would have crowded to 
 this ; it seemed so pleasant, and so easy to get in 
 at the open neck of the bottle and feast on the sweets 
 inside. But not a single wasp went near it, and the 
 reason of this you will presently see. 
 
 There was, however, one young wasp, who, be- 
 cause his waist was a little slimmer than most wasps' 
 waists, thought that he was the cleverest wasp that 
 had ever lived. It came into his silly head that it 
 was mere folly in the others not to go into this bot- 
 tle, and though his father and his uncles all begged 
 him not to go near it, he made up his mind that he 
 would, and gave his wings a shake and began flying 
 toward it. 
 
 All the friends he possessed stopped and said 
 156 
 
A STORY ABOUT A WASP. 157 
 
 a word or two to him. " It's a pity you won't take 
 good advice," said one. " I always thought his con- 
 ceit would bring him to a bad end," said another. 
 " Good-by," said another. But he paid no atten- 
 tion, and flew to the bottle and perched on the edge. 
 The smell which came up from it was like that of 
 hundreds of honey-pots. 
 
 *' Ho, ho! " said the wasp, " I'm in luck; now I 
 shall be able to laugh at all the others ; " and down 
 the neck of the bottle he flew, but no sooner had 
 his foot touched the honey, as he thought it was, in- 
 side, than he found he could not move it away again. 
 It seemed fixed. He put his other feet down to get 
 it out, but they became fixed too — then his wings — 
 then his head — until he was quite fixed in the trap, 
 for that is what the bottle was. There he was 
 stuck fast, and there he is still. 
 
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